Monthly Favorites: May 2011

There are a lot of products, but since I didn't have a monthly favorites post last month, I guess it's alright. I'm really excited to talk about these things, so lets get right down to it!

• Nars Orgasm/Laguna Duo - I've had this for almost a year, and have used it almost everyday ever since. I usually alternate between MAC Pinch O' Peach blush and Orgasm. I've been using Orgasm a lot this month, and I use Laguna for an all over bronzed glow.
• Nars Copacabana Illuminator - I'm in LOVE with this highlighter! It's a gorgeous pale pink shimmer color, and you only need the teensy tiniest bit to highlight your entire face. I use it on my cheekbones, down my nose, on the browbone, on the eyes, on the cupid's bow and on my decollate. It's amazing, and I definitely enocurage you all to try it.
• MAC Harmony Blush - This is a really great contour color for me. It's about 3-4 shades darker than my skin tone and a nice neutral color. 
• Maybelline Mineral Power Concealer in Fair - I really liked the Instant Age Rewind Concealer, so I was encouraged to try out more of Maybelline's concealers. It's the perfect consistency for the summer. It's a liquid formula so it's nice and light and perfect for the under eye area, while still being opaque enough to cover any blemishes (which I have had plenty of this month. LAME!).

• Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden - This is a really really great eyeshadow primer. My eyelids are naturally really oily, so a good primer is a necessity. I do have to set it with a powder, and my eyeshadow last for 12+ hours.
• MAC Reflects Antique Gold Glitter - This glitter is BEAUTIFUL! I either use this as an all over lid color, or just lightly over told of a shadow to liven up any look. It's just beautiful and I will definitely repurchase it.
• MAC Eyeshadow Quad - I know I got my 15 pan palette this month, since I depotted all my shadows into it, I was able to pick my favorite fun colors (Burmese Beauty, Twinks, which is another monthly favorite, Skintone 2, and Satin Taupe) and bring it along to Florida. I took this and my Physicians Formula Matte Quad, and I had all the shadows I needed for the entire week.

• Real Techniques Brushes by Samantha Chapman - I've been really impressed with these brushes!! I brought these with my to Florida and I only needed 2-3 extra ones to be set for the week. I like them all, but I feel like these in particular stand out from the rest. I use the Stippling brush for my foundation (since the weather is getting warmer, I want to get in the habit of using less foundation). The Deluxe Crease Brush is perfect for blending, and the Accent Brush is great for smudging as well as lining the eyes. I want to try more of these brushes sometime soon.
• ELF Angled Contour Brush - I've had this brush for a long time and have usually just been using it for blending on the brow bone. But I have found that it is perfect for my Maybelline Mineral Powder Concealer. It's nice and fluffy and blends the concealer effortlessly.
• Aerie Superfruit Vitamin Gloss in Coy - This is a really nice color that just adds a little interest to my lips without being too much. It's a sheer peachy beige color, with multicolored micro-glitter. If you have a chance to find these at an Aerie store, pick up a few. I got mine for $2.50.
• Johnson's Melt Away Stress Lavender and Chamomile Lotion - Lavender and Chamomile is probably my favorite scent combonation ever. I use the body wash, the body oil, the spray and now the lotion. I bought this because I wanted to bring a small tube of something on my trip, and this is a really lovely moisturizer. I'll probably end up getting the full size soon. 

What have been your favorites this month?

Sephora/MAC Haul!!!

I have a really exciting haul for you today! Some of these things have been on my wishlist for a really long time so I'm soo happy to cross those off now. Yesterday I went to Sephora and picked up a couple things, and then when I got home I recieved a MAC box so I knew this was going to be fun.

I'll start with Sephora: I went in there with the sole intention of picking up the Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden, because I've been having issues with my Painterly Paint Pot. I find lately that it's been really unreliable. One day my eyeshadow will last all day (like 8-10 hours) and then the next it will be creasing after 4. VERY frustrating. I have oily eyelids (yeah, what kind of crap is that. Oily eyelids. Pff) so I have tried powdering my lids before applying the Paint Pot, and that helps to some extent, but I heard that UDPP was good for oilier lids and the fact that it's a matte skin tone color really appeals to me, because it will even out my lids while preparing for eyeshadow (the color is a little darker on my skin tone, but I'm not worried) I also wanted to get it while they were still in their new squeeze tube packaging. Here's what Urban Decay has to say about it:

All the benefits of our #1 product in a nude matte shade. Apply this weightless primer before your shadow (or alone to even out skin tone!) for ridiculously long wear, more vibrant color, and absolutely NO creasing! Out new squeeze tube hold 10% MORE Potion 

Left: Copacabana, UDPP Sin, and UDPP Eden

So once I had that in my hand, I started browsing a little bit, and I made my way to the Nars section. Nars is very dangerous for me. The colors are all gorgeous and I love the texture of their shadows and blushes. Unfortunately, they are not the most affordable products. But I had had my eye on the new Illuminators they released earlier this year. I wasn't interested in either Orgasm or Laguna (Orgasm is too brown looking and cream bronzers scare me), but I tested out Super Orgasm, and while I loved the color (it's a pinky peach with gold glitter. The color is more similar to the Orgasm powder blush rather than the Super Orgasm, which is odd) I found that the glitter was a bit too much for me. Then I swatched Copacabana, which I knew I was going to fall in love with. It's a light pink toned white with a very fine glitter. It's absolutely STUNNING! It is not overpowering at ALL! The tiniest bit will give you a gorgeous sheen, but you can still build it for a more opaque color. If you're unsure about the glitter, you may want to try it before you buy it. Nars says you can use these all over your face or as a highlighter, over or under makeup, and it may be mixed with your foundation for an all over glowy look. Use it on your face, neck, shoulders, or decollete. 

The girls at Sephora also gave me a couple samples. So I got a sample of UDPP in Sin, which is a warm brown, a Clarins Ecran Multi-Protection Moisturizer with SPF 40, and Boscia Oil-Free Daily Hydration with SPF 15. The girl that checked me out was a friend of mine and my sister's and knew we were going to Florida next week, so she made sure I had a lot of sunscreen. What a sweetheart! It's good that she did because I bought the Cetaphil moisturizer a few weeks ago, and I think it's been breaking me out. I thought it might be a hormonal thing, but I started seeing a few blemishes on my forehead, and that doesn't happen. Not cool, man, not cool. 

So, like I said before, not long after I got home, I got a MAC order I had placed earlier this week. I don't know if they have changed their shipping policy, but the last couple orders I have placed, I wont get a tracking number until the day it's supposed to get there, which is odd. But I only placed my order on May 4th, and I got it on May 6th! I don't know if they rushed the shipping without charging me for it or what, but I'm a fan. ANYWAY I've had the same stuff in my shopping cart for a really long time, and these were things I wanted to have while I was in Florida so I went ahead and order them. First I got a 15-Pan Palette, which I have been needing. It's just so sleek and pretty, so I'm really excited to have that. While I was at it I bought Twinks (Veluxe Pearl) and Smut (Velvet). Twinks is a plummy bronze and Smut is a dark grey plum color. When swatched, it's very similar in color to Showstopper (Matte), but I like the texture a lot better. I find Showstopper kind of difficult to work with. 

I also got a blush in Harmony (Matte). It's a medium neutral brown color. It looks like it would be a perfect contour color for fair to medium skin tones. 

So if you made it through all of that, kudos to you! I know I can ramble a bit. But I'm really excited to use all this stuff, and I'm even more excited that I got it all at the same time so I can show you all!

I'll end with a picture of my new palette! I went ahead and depotted my Burmese Beauty quad. Another order or two and it will be full :)

Top: Blanc Type, Skintone 2, Satin Taupe, Twinks, Showstopper
Middle: Trax, Beauty Marked
Bottom: Prized, Burmese Beauty, Smut

Opps! 30 Day challenge catch up

Yeah, I'm kind of failing at this 30 Day challenge. I lost my memory card, which you all know. It just vanished. I've looked everywhere for it and I have no idea where it could possibly be. I finally borrowed my brother's, but it's much smaller in capacity and I can only keep 4 pictures on my camera at a time. LAME. On top of that, about an hour or two ago, I found out that my monitor on my Macbook will not turn on, so I need to take it to Geek Squad or something because I don't have a Mac store near me. Until I get it fixed, I am using my dad's computer, which is a PC and I am having just a merry time trying to adjust back to this OS.

But, I will TRY to catch up on my posts. So let's get to it:

Post picture of your makeup collection.

I am going to also post these on my Flickr account so I can add annotation for what everything is.