Discovering New Brands Online This Quarantine

When everything was still normal, I loved going to the malls to stroll and check out new brands that deserve to be discovered or get me curious at the very least so I can share them with my readers. That's a thing of the not-so-distant past for now and this love for discovering new things, I have channeled to online browsing and shopping.

While everyone's all over Lazada, Shopee, and other popular shopping websites, I'm lurking further and 

searching for websites that offered something new and different. Through diligent surfing and playing with keywords, I was led to these two local websites, Hemera Philippines and Brightbrands PH that carry international products I've never heard of, which eventually and surprisingly became my favorites!

Hemera is a new local online website that caters to luxury seekers and the adventurous; the website is home to some of the finest, most expensive luxury lifestyle products I have encountered. 

Hemera offers beauty, fashion, food, aromatherapy, and home brands that seem to be mostly European and Middle Eastern in origin; I've always been curious about non- mainstream brands from these continents so Hemera is truly a pleasant discovery for me.

Hemera mostly offers beauty products, but since I still have a lot stashed away in my condo, I picked up food, candle, and a new fragrance--I know I said no beauty stuff, but I just couldn't resist fragrances, most especially the never-heard-of kind!

I purchased Parfums De La Bastide, a fine French perfume brand inspired by the essences of nature. I picked up Insouciante, a warm rose scent with a hint of spice; gosh, this smells really, really good and I can't help but wear it everyday; I have to keep it out of sight. Otherwise, I would use it up fast! Saving the rest of my thoughts for a detailed review!

Next is a candle from the same brand in the scent Bois De Genevrier; Diptyque is my favorite luxury candle brand and I have this notion that the French are really good when it comes to aromatherapy and home fragrances so I didn't think twice about picking up this candle even if it's completely a blind buy; I trusted that it will smell good and boy am I right!

My final purchase from Hemera is Sumsum, a food brand that specializes in Halva, an ancient dessert that originated in the Central Asia.

Man, this one deserves its own spot. As primer, Halva is a traditional dessert that's made up of sugar, flour, sesame paste, and various nut butters; it's generally nutritious and you can eat it on its own or mix with bread or cake recipes to add an interesting texture and flavor. I'm here to tell you that this thing IS.SO.GOOD. I had to force stop myself from finishing my Halva block in one sitting!

Sumsum's Halva is traditionally- made and has zero preservatives that's why it's pretty pricey for a slim block, but trust me, it is worth it; you don't need to eat a lot since it's very flavorful, rich, and exquisite; Sumsum didn't skimp on the ingredients so a die-sized amount or two is enough to cap off a meal, unless you get really addicted to the taste like I did. :D

I got Pistachio Halva; it comes in Cocoa, Berries, and Coffee flavors too. Pistachio Halva has an excellent, creamy taste and I love that there are tangible bits of crushed pistachio in the block. Sumsum's Halva has a pillowy-crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth texture; it has the right amount of sweetness to clean your palate, and is quite versatile enough to be used as a topping or spread. I swear I will repurchase this in the flavors Berries and Pistachio again.

Hemera offers next day delivery and various payment options including COD. Visit HEMERA OFFICIAL WEBSITE to check out Sumsum and Parfum La Bastide.

Next up is Bright Brands PH, a baby- centric website because they carry Australian, American, and other brands that specialize in baby accessories and solutions, but they have lifestyle products for adults too.

One brand that they are carrying is The Beauty Fridge, an Australian beauty brand that specializes on one of 2020's most promising and trending beauty tools, the skin care fridge.

Hallelujah, finally, a beauty fridge that I can call my own and that makes me feel guaranteed that it's of high quality. The cool thing about this beauty fridge is it has removable racks to accommodate almost any kind of packaging height, cools moderately to ensure that your skin care is just cold enough and not too freezing that it actually burns your skin, and has a warming option as well that's great for hair masks. Oh, the peach shade is too cute too! I shall be saving the rest of my review for a dedicated blog post on this product.

There are other beauty products that they carry as well such as Happy, a brand of semi- precious stone facial massagers. I have their Rose Quartz roller with a smooth and textured side. The roller feels luxe and it's really made of real Rose Quartz. I wrote in this blog post why it's important to choose authentic semi- precious stones for your facial massagers and how to spot fakes too.

I also saw that Bright Brands is carrying Scrub Daddy. If you're a fan of ABC channel's Shark Tank, you are definitely familiar with this brand! I'd love to get one!

Bright Brands offers more than a dozen brands in its portfolio. Visit BRIGHT BRANDS OFFICIAL WEBSITE to shop.

Which products and brands would you like to try from these websites? Do share your new brand and product finds too!