Quick Little MAC Haul

 

 I haven't ordered anything from MAC in soo long!! I got a couple things I've wanted for a while and a few new limited edition items.

I bought Well Dressed Blush and Sketch Eyeshadow. These are the two I've wanted for a long long time. Well Dressed is a pale pink blush with a satin finish and the slightest trace of silver shimmer. I've seen this blush on ladies of nearly all skin tones and it always looks beautiful! Sketch is a deep red plum color with a ruby shimmer. 

Sketch and Well Dressed. Sorry it's a bit blurry

I also bought two new limited edition Mineralized Eyeshadows from the Apres Chic Collection. I bought Fireside and Silver Birch.

Fireside is one of those duochrome red-brown/teal shades that I love so much. I couldn't resist! It is absolutely STUNNING! Silver Birch is a light taupe silver shade with lots of gold sparkle. I'm not going to lie, part of the reason I bought this one was because it looks like a planet. Both of these shadows are more subtle when applied dry, but when used wet they are more pigmented.

Fireside Wet/Dry; Silver Birch Wet/Dry

I'm so excited about all of these! I'm going to use them all in a look tomorrow, and hopefully I can make a video :)

ELF Haul 6.15.11

I hope you all have been doing well! This is actually a couple of days late, because I had to be put Photoshop back on to my computer. I really excited for this haul, because I picked up a bunch of stuff from ELF that are brand new to their line of products, as well as one that has been out for a while, but I still hadn't tried it.

First, I bought one or their Studio blushes, which I had never actually tried before. I got the one in Peachy Keen, which a peach color with a slight sheen. I got this one because I wanted to find a shade that would  warm up my skin when I don't feel like using pink. This is a really pretty summery shade.

Next I got two of their new Glitter Glosses. I got the ones in Glam Guava and Crystal Cranberry. Glam Guava was actually sent to me by mistake. I ordered Twinkle Pink, and I sent them an email asking them if something happened. I'm not going to make a big fuss about it, because Glam Guava is a really pretty shade anyway. It's a nice medium peachy pink with gold glitter. The color reminds me of Nymphette by MAC, but Nymphette is a little more peachy and it has shimmer, rather than glitter. Crystal Cranberry is a reddish magenta. These are fairly pigmented, but they don't last very long. You can also feel the glitter on your lips a bit, so if that bugs you, I would skip these. I'm not bothered by it, and I'll probably check out some more shades of these. They also released "Glossy Glosses" right after I had already made my order, (go figure, right?) which are supposed to be like these, but with no glitter. Those might be worth a try.

I bought their Radiance Enhancers in Sunrise and Golden. I've been seeing more and more of their click up highlighting products. Just about every brand has their own version. ELF has three shades. I didn't get the one called Spotlight, because it looked like a pale pink and I already have one like that. Sunrise is a medium beige color. It is a LOT darker than I thought it would be. I thought it would be more pale, so that is a little disappointing, because I don't think it works with my skin tone. Golden is exactly that: a shimmery gold. It's really really pretty. It suits my skin better than Sunrise does. The consistency of these are thicker than my beloved Nars Illuminator. It is nicely pigmented, so a little goes a long way with these.

The thing I think I was most excited about was the new Smudge brush from their Essentials line. ELF has had a "Smudge Sponge" on their site for a long time, but I never got it because I wasn't about to buy something that I normally throw away. I've been back and forth about getting the Sigma version of this, but when I saw that ELF had finally made a $1 dupe for it, I snatched it up. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I do imagine that it's not quite as dense as the Sigma or the MAC versions of this brush. But it's good enough for me, and I'm really liking the results I get from using this. I use it to smudge liner and shadow on the lower lash line.

Let me know if you've tried any of these or if you think you might pick some of these up!

Inglot haul!!

First of all sorry I've been MIA for a bit. As I mentioned last time, I went to Florida to work at Disney for a week, which was a lot of fun because my sister came along so I'd work and then meet up with her in the afternoons to play in the parks. So sorry for being a bit lazy and not posting, but I haven't been wearing much makeup.

So the other day I placed an order with Inglot! These are the first Inglot products I've ever used and I am so impressed with the stuff I bought. First, I want to point out the fact that shipping took NO time at all! I ordered early Tuesday morning, and it was at my doorstep Thursday afternoon! So, before I even opened the box I was already impressed with Inglot's efficiency. The products were very well packaged (as you can see in the picture to the left).

Inglot has this amazing system called the Freedom System, which allows you to create your own palettes in all shapes and sizes. You can choose from face powders, blushes, eyeshadows, lip colors, brow powders and waxes. 

The one complaint I have about Inglot is that none of their products have names. They are all numerical, and the website does not offer any information on their products. So unless you are actually in an Inglot store (which, given that there are only 5 stores in the US, isn't a likely possibility for me), you need to scour makeup blogs looking for swatches. It took me a couple days to finally decide what I wanted to get. But anyway, I bought 5 eyeshadows, a five pan palette, and a gel eyeliner. I also got samples of their Under Makeup Base and YSM Cream Foundation in shade 43. I haven't tried these yet, but I'll let you know what I think.

Oddly enough, I realized as I was checking out that I bought one of each of their eyeshadow formulas:

• Matte 352- Pale pink flesh tone color. It's a great dupe for MAC Blanc Type, but Blanc Type is more of a neutral beige. The texture is identical to the Matte 2 formula.
• Shine 46 - Peachy pink shimmer. The shine textures are meant to be a bit sheer, but the shimmer is very noticeable, so this would work perfectly as a highlight.
• DS (Double Sparkle) 465 - Medium toned neutral brown with gold glitter. Usually I'm not a fan of glitter in eyeshadows because it usually doesn't transfer well, but this shadow looks just as gorgeous on the eyes as they do in the pan.
• Pearl 434 - Dark purple-grey color. The texture of this reminds me of Frost eyeshadows by MAC. In fact, 434 looks like a darker version of Satin Taupe.
• AMC (Advanced Makeup Component) 64 - Very pigmented black with gold glitter. The texture of this is similar to the DS shadow. I was worried it would feel like MAC Beauty Marked, where none of the glitter actually transfers and you just have a glorified matte black. NOT the case with this! I can clearly see the gold glitter in this shadow.

The eyeshadows are all buttery smooth, very easy to work with, all the while retaining excellent pigmentation. I am absolutely AMAZED by Inglot! I'm a convert! As soon as I fill up my MAC 15 palette, I probably wont be purchasing many other shadows from them. The quality of these Inglot shadows are just as good or better, and at a fraction of the cost. What is brilliant about Inglot is the fact that they automatically give discounts on the Freedom System, so the more you buy, the less you pay per product (like Magic Your Way tickets, but that's just the Disney nerd in me talking. LOL!).

• Face Powders (.46 oz):
• 1 - $15
• 2-10 - $13
• Blushes (.25 oz):
• 1-3 - $11
• 4+ - $9
• Square Eyeshadows (.09 oz):
• 1-3 - $7/each
• 4-9 - $5/each
• 10+ - $4.50/each
• Circle Eyeshadows/Lip colors/Brow Powders/Concealers (size varies by product):
• 1-3 - $5/each
• 4+ - $4.50/each

These all fit snugly in the Freedom System 5 pan palette. This is a perfect travel size palette. They also sell them in 2, 3, 4, 10, 20, and now 40 pan palettes for eyeshadows, as well as 2 more palettes for face powder and blush. The palettes reduce in price by 50%-75% when you add any Freedom system colors in your cart.

Sorry the photo is blurry

Last, but not least, the Matte Collection AMC Eyeliner Gel is easily the best eyeliner I've ever used. It is super pigmented, very soft and glides on so easily. It's a waterproof formula so I didn't need to set it with powder. I also used it on the waterline, and it has not budged. It's amazing!! They have 20 colors available, so you can get this amazing liner in any color you want. They are $12/.19 oz, compared to $15/.1 oz for MAC Fluidline.

Sorry this review was so long! I am just so excited about these products and I will most definitely be purchasing from them again! If you are interested in any of these products, I highly suggest you check them out. They have webstores for the US as well as Australia, and jump at ay chance to visit one of their stores. If you've used any Inglot products, leave a comment letting me know what you think and what your favorites are.

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

Haul / First Impression: Real Techniques brushes

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I didn't wear a lot of makeup in April, didn't really go shopping, and couldn't think of anything in particular to include in a favorites post, so I haven't had much to talk about. I do have some exciting news, however! My sister and I will be taking a trip to Florida in less than two weeks! We're going to Disney World, because a.) it's our favorite vacation spot, and b.) since I do work their seasonally, I want to work and play a bit. In fact, this upcoming trip inspired my most recent purchase!

I'll be honest: I am only a recent fan of the Pixiwoo girls on Youtube, which is odd because I think they are an absolute delight to watch. I've been watching their videos for a couple weeks now, and when I stumbled across a video in which Sam announced that she was releasing her own line of affordable brushes, I was immediately interested. Her line, called Real Techniques, is a collection of face, eyes, and finishing brushes made of "ultra plush taklon bristles" which can be used with powder, liquid, and cream products. The brushes are color-coded according to their purpose (face brushes are gold, eye brushes are purple, and the finishing brushes are pink). Most of the face and finishing brushes have a flat bottom so they may stand upright on your table top. I purchased the dual-fiber Stippling Brush ($9.99), as well as the eye enhancing Starter Kit ($15.99).

On the back of the stippling brush packaging, it reads:

My dual-fiber stippling brush is the trade secret for creating airbrushed, high definition resultswith all types of makeup. Look pixel perfect even in harsh light.

What immediately drew me to this brush was the fact that the bristles are a lot shorter than you would find on most dual-fiber brushes, so it is dense enough to buff in the product you are using, while still giving a nice, soft airbrush finish. I plan on using this brush for foundation, since it provides a lighter application which will be nice as the weather gets warmer.

The eye enhancing starter kit comes with five brushes:

• Deluxe Crease brush: "soft, oversized design for effortless blending"; this brush is a rounded dome shape
• Base Shadow brush: "applies a smooth, flawless foundation of color"; it is wide and tapered on one side, and flat on the other.
• Accent brush: "designed for precision detailing, spotlighting, highlighting, and smudging"
• Pixel-Point Eyeliner brush: "tapered cut is ideal for dense or fine eyeliner application"
• Brow brush: "distinctive shape easily defines eyebrows"

The Starter kit is cleverly packaged in a "panoramic case", which basically means it can be closed and secured by a velcro tab, or the back can be folded backwards to serve as a stand for easy use. The case also contains extra slots to store additional brushes. I was able to fit the Stippling brush, as well as 2 other face brush, and 2 eye brushes comfortably in the case.

This set of brushes could not have been released at a better time! Since I am going on travel, and I'm flying, I'm limited by how much storage and makeup I'm going to take with me. I found that I was trying to cram all of my most used brushes in my tiny makeup bag, so it's great to have a compact case and set that carries all the brushes I need.

I definitely want to check out more of these brushes. At the moment, they are being exclusively sold at Ulta stores and online. Online they are buy one, get one half off, so I actually only paid $4.99 for the Stippling brush. Be sure to check out Real Techniques to see video tutorials from Samantha using these brushes!

Challenge Day 01/Mini Haul

When did you start putting on makeup?

I started using makeup when I was in high school, but I had no idea what I was doing. I would use a liquid foundation, 1 eyeshadow, an eyeliner and mascara and wonder why it wouldn't last past 2 hours. I didn't start learning how to use it until my freshman year of college.

Also, I have a mini mini haul. I picked up the Kiss Complete Salon Acrylic Kit from Walmart for about $16. It comes with everything you would need to achieve an acrylic manicure (tips, powder, liquid, etc.). I have to say that, for an novice try, the results are pretty awesome! It does take some patients but I'm really happy with my nail.

HAUL: ELF

I ordered some nail polishes from ELF last week. I've always really liked their nail polish formula, and they are super cheap, at $1 per bottle. They have released some newer polishes that I've wanted to try for a while. I also picked up a pair of lashes and a new eyelash curler (mine is pretty worn out).

Now, I had bought 8 polishes, actually. I had bought Light Red, but when I opened the package I saw that the Light Red polish had shattered during shipping, and there was red polish EVERYWHERE. It looked a little disturbing, actually. All the other polishes were fine, though, so I just cleaned off the bottles. Since it was only a dollar, I'm not going to sweat it too much. I'll probably email them or something. Plus I can probably find that particular polish at Target. The only thing that confuses me is that normally, ELF packages their polishes in boxes. This time only two of them were in a box, and the rest were just thrown into the bag. Weird.

Here are some pictures and swatches. I only painted my index, middle, and ring fingers, and the ring fingers have a coat of the Matte Finisher over top of them.

I bought the Matte Finisher Top Coat, which I have been really curious about since they released it, and I am so happy I picked that one up. Innocent is the perfect nude shade for me, and Desert Haze is more like a light taupe color. Innocent and Desert Haze are very similar, in that they are both light shades that need about 3 coats to be completely opaque. (For the Innocent swatch, the matte coat is on the middle finger, because I was going to put Golden Goddess over the ring finger and didn't want to redo it.)

Golden Goddess is a nearly clear polish with both fine and chunky glitter. It's great over other polishes and used as an accent nail. The swatch has three coats, and that is about as opaque as it's going to get when used alone. Blush is a bronze frosty color. I was expecting this to be either a pink or a more champagne color, but no. It's bronze, and that typically doesn't look good on me. But I'm sure I'll use it eventually.

Party Purple is a dark purple with a lot of purple glitter. The first coat can be a little light, but you can definitely build it up to be as dark as it is in the bottle. Metal Madness is this awesome dark grey with multicolored glitter. It's completely opaque with one coat. I actually love using the Matte Finisher over this. It looks like OPI Suzi Skis.

I did end up doing a full manicure on myself, which I am enjoying. I used three coats of Innocent on all of my nail, and on the ring fingers I used Golden Goddess. Then I went over all of them with the Matte Finisher.

Haul: Urban Decay

I got my first Urban Decay item ever this morning! I ordered this from their website and it came in the mail today. They have recently come out with 3 palettes to showcase different styles and personalities, and this their new Dangerous Palette (the other 2 are their Fun and Feminine palettes). Each palette costs $34, and I actually thinks its a really great deal.

This is how Urban Decay describes this product:

"We like to describe everything we do as "feminine, dangerous, and fun"... but you appear to be rooted on the wild side. These six intense, bewitching shadows help your inner "Femme Nikita" come out kicking. Feed your dangerous desires with Greed, our gilded eyeshadow primer and a naughty purple eye pencil."

Top: Haight, Mildew, Virgin, Rockstar Eyeliner
Bottom: Oil Slick, Rockstar, Gunmetal, Greed Primer Potion

As you can see it came really nicely packaged. Each of these palettes come with 6 eyeshadows (which are a tiny bit smaller than their regular shadows, but nothing major), a miniature Primer Potion, and a mini 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliner Pencil. This palette comes with Haight, which a gorgeous teal color, Mildew, a dirty green with brownish undertones and gold sparkle, Virgin, a shimmery beige (this one is from the Naked Palette), Oil Slick, a black with silver glitter, Rockstar, a deep eggplant shade, and finally Gunmetal, a dark grey with silver glitter. All of these shadows are incredibly smooth in texture and very pigmented. The palette also comes with Greed Primer Potion, which is a neutral shimmery gold color, and an eyeliner in Rockstar, which is again an eggplant purple shade.

I'm really happy with all the colors in this palette. I'm actually pleasantly surprised with how much I like Mildew, since normally I am not a big fan of greens, but I think the brown undtertones make it a bit more wearable. I don't know, maybe my eyes are seeing things. I'm also really excited to try out the primer and the eyeliner. While I like my MAC Painterly Paint Pot, it is not a primer, per se, and I can only get a couple of hours worth of wear before it creases. I tried Too Faced Shadow Insurance a long time ago in a sample size, but I don't remember if it worked well for me or not, and I never repurchased, so it's about time I give Urban Decay's primer a try. And I've heard these eye liners are awesome for the waterline.

L to R: Haight, Mildew, Virgin, Oil Slick, Rockstar, and Gunmetal

I'm going to be making looks with this soon, when I feel up to wearing makeup. I'm feeling kinda crummy today.

Haul 02.12.11

This is just another mini haul. I went to Target tonight on a mission to look for a new curling iron. If you have seen my holy grail list, you'll see that I have the Instyler listed as my favorite styling tool, and while I like the finished product when I use the Instyler, actually using it is a pain in the butt. Straightening is super easy, but if I want to curl my hair, I have to wrap my hair around the barrel and I'm always afraid I'm going to burn myself. Plus I'm never able to run through my ends and they look all frazzled. So I wanted to get something a little more straight forward.

I decided on a Conair Tourmaline Ceramic 1 1/4 inch Curling Iron. I used it when I got home, and I like it so far. It took me a bit of time to get the used to the technique, because I've not used this type of iron in a while. It took about the same about of time as it does with the Instyler, but I think now that I know how to use it, this will be a much quicker way to curl my hair.

I also picked up a bottle of Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray. I've been through 2 bottles of this heat protectant and I really like it. What I like is that it protects you hair against the heat from the blow dryer as well as a flat iron or curling iron. Then I picked up a tube of Clean and Clear Finishes Moisturizer. My favorite moisturizer of all time is the Clean and Clear Soft, both the Day and Night ones. But that line was discontinued, which is a shame because I really like the products from this line. However they came out with the Finishes line and the moisturizer is the same exact formula as the Soft ones. The only downside is the tube is just over 1/4 the amount of product as before, but at the same price. Lame.

Here's a quick picture of what my hair looked like after using my new curling iron:

Tiny update: changed the background a bit. Still playing with the styling.

Haul 02.08.11

I placed an order through MAC last week and it got here this morning. I had been putting off buying these items for a white but I finally gave in.

I picked up Studio Sculpt in NW15 and Pinch O' Peach blush.

Now, I had promised myself that I was not going to buy a MAC foundation until I had finished the ones I already had. I had been using Revlon Photoready foundation for almost a year and I really really don't  like it. I kind of knew I wouldn't like it from the first time I tried it, because when I put it on my face, though it covered alright, there was just too much glitter everywhere. I just never got around to returning it, so I was determined to use it up. I have about 1/4 of that bottle left, but I just really don't think I want to finish it.

So I caved and bought Studio Sculpt. The reasons I picked this over Studio Fix Fluid or any of their other full coverage foundations was 1.) I wanted it to be something that wasn't very dupable (like SFF is to Revlon Colorstay), and 2.) from what I've heard, SFF has a tendency to turn orangey, and on my extremely pale skin that would look awful.

I've only used it once but for a first impression, I'm really happy with it. I love the finish, there's no damn GLITTER, and is photographs beautifully! I'll do a more in depth review after about a week to see if my skin reacts to it. But the color matches me perfectly, which I was a little nervous about, since I did buy it online. It's weird, though, because on the back of my hand it looks about half a shade too dark, but it matches my face really well. I don't know.

Pinch O' Peach is a beautiful and flattering as it is decieving. They named it Pinch O' PEACH, but there is not even a hint of peach in this blush. It is straight pink. It's a sheertone color, so it just gives a lovely flush to the cheeks that is nearly impossible to overdue. In the picture to the left, I did a heavy swatch  and a sheered out swatch to show what it would look like on the skin. If you'd like to see what it looks like on my cheeks, take a look at my FOTD post below :)

I think that about covers everything for now <3