Haul from Taipei!

I didn't get to do much shopping while in Taipei -- the one department store I went into, my mother glared disapprovingly of me every time I picked up a bottle of nail polish -- but I did raid a drugstore on my last day there. And that was more than enough for me.

Well, not really. But I got some good stuff! And picked up some Japanese and Taiwanese nail magazines at a bookstore!

(While in the department store, my mother would say, "You must have a HUNDRED nail polishes by now!" And I'd say, "Uh. No." Because I don't have a hundred nail polishes. I have... many hundreds of nail polishes.)

Canmake 17, 18, 25, & 35

The first three of these are sheer but the last one may be more opaque. I never know if this is supposed to be pronounced using three syllables or two syllables.

Shiseido Majolica Majorca BL555, BE115 & BL501

The one on the left might be a nail art brush, not quite sure. The one on the right is the really gorgeous one: dark blue jelly with teal and light blue glitter!

OPI Sugarplum Yum, Merryberry Mauve and I Love the Holidays!

Way overpriced but I preferred to pick them up and regret the purchase later rather than not pick them up and regret not buying them while I could. These are names of polishes released in the US awhile back (if I recall correctly, they were shimmer+glitter duos) but I don't actually think the glitters corresponded to these glitters. At least, not Sugarplum Yum, which is gorgeously holo and sparkly...

Integrate RD701, RS361, BL321

Never heard of this brand but they had a few pretty polishes. Mmm glitters. This company is also Japanese, I believe. A LOT of the nail polish brands in the drugstore I was in were (that or American). Very few were Taiwanese or Chinese it seemed.

Missha VL04, Bourjois unnamed, Bourjois Bleu Violet, Neuve (can't read the name) & Kanebo Kate PK22

The Missha looks likes a Claire's Magic dupe (and is available in the US for relatively cheap from their US website). No idea what the Neuve is numbered because Japanese companies actually seem to stamp the production date (and, haha, expiration date) onto nail polishes. Bourjois is, of course, a French company that used to be more widely available in the US but seems to be harder to come by these days since Sephora stopped carrying them. I don't think I've ever seen the nail polishes in the US though.

Nail Venus 2011 Winter issue

I LOVE these nail art magazines. First of all, they're huge and feel nice and heavy, printed on thick paper with bright colors. Second, they've got TONS of nail art ideas inside: literally hundreds and hundreds of designs. Too bad I can't read Japanese.

Lovely Nails Vol 4

This is the lone Chinese language nail art magazine I found. It looks like it's put out by the Japanese magazine, Nail Up.

Nail Up Winter 2011

This one came with a pull out calendar for the year: a nail a day! :D

Now... really, if only I could read Japanese. Or Chinese. Or any other language besides English...