Sunday, 30 June 2013

Paul & Joe Beach Baby Haul and Elle Hong Kong

Paul & Joe is the only brand that I faithfully purchase from each season, thanks to the appeal of their quirky prints and designs. From the Beach Baby collection, I purchased the Pressed Powder UV, Hair & Body Mist, Blotting Paper and Eye Liner WP & Eye Crayon Duo 004 Las Palmas. The collection is no longer available on ASOS.com but you can still find it on BeautyBay which has marked down several of the items and offers free international shipping. If you are in the US, Beauty Habit also offers the collection, including some value sets that are not available on Beauty Bay.

The Pressed Powder UV comes in two shades, 003 Beach Baby and 004 Summer Sand. 003 Beach Baby was a good match for my MAC NC20 skintone. This is a finishing powder with a soft focus effect. The fine sparkles are not that visible when applied.


The Eye Liner & Crayon Duo felt a tad overpriced at £22. I experienced some tugging and stiffness with this, but once applied, it stayed on remarkably well, especially on the lower lashline.



The Hair & Body Mist is a charming sweet floral that is not too generic or cloying. The middle notes of neroli and rose come across the most clearly rather than the top notes of lavender, orange, bergamot and lemon. The scent is not very intense, so even spritzing it generously won't fill up the room.

The gift with purchase was a mini tote bag with a matching card case in a dolphin print. The gold dolphin charms add a lovely touch.

The card case is similar to the one released for the Manhattan collection from Fall 2011.


One advantage of shopping at Fenwicks in London is that the SA is usually very generous with samples. Aside from the usual skincare samples, she threw in a miniature 10ml bottle of their new Protecting Foundation Primer 01 that debuted in spring. Although Selfridges also has a Paul & Joe counter now in their Beauty Workshop area, there isn't a dedicated SA and I've never seen any GWP offered there as well.

Thanks to Yumeko, I learnt that the June issue of Elle Hong Kong was offering a Paul & Joe pouch in two designs. AhCapp very kindly helped to arrange a CP, and I received this pair of pouches earlier this week direct from Hong Kong. Although Kinokuniya in Singapore stocked the magazine, they did not include the pouches unfortunately.


These are very well-made and sturdy with a gold logo charm on the zipper pull. The material is vinyl on the outside with a polyester inner lining. Many thanks to AhCapp for helping me snag these for my collection of P&J accessories!


6 comments:

Laura D.P. said...

*____* that pressed powder has a gorgeous packaging with leopards!! I've never purchased any Paul &Joe products because I can't see them "in real life", but it looks like the quality is quite high!

Jamilla Camel said...

*FAINTS* What a gorgeous haul!!

Anonymous said...

since kino doenst have the pouch, may I know where to purchase elle hk anywhere else? online or brick n motar?
thanks

Haru said...

Hi,
I'm afraid I don't know of any websites or stores selling the pouches. The issue is also no longer on newsstands in Hong Kong, I think.

ning xin said...

hello! i'm looking to get the paul joe pressed powder. i'm a NC25-NC30! would beach baby or natural sand suit me more?

Haru said...

hi ning xin,
I haven't seen Summer Sand in real life, so I'm not sure how much darker it is compared to Beach Baby. I think Beach Baby should suit you as it's not that high coverage.