What's In My Makeup Bag? #2

Hi ladies! So this past weekend the boyfriend and I went back to his for the weekend to visit with his parents. That and he also needed his dad's help to fix his laptop. Anyways, here's what I brought back with me!

Eyes:

Sleek Storm Palette: This is the ONLY eyeshadow I've been using this month. It's one of the four products in my 4 For The Month challenge, and I've certainly stuck to it! I mostly make use of the top row, but I'll talk more about it at the end of the month. Anyways, I love the neutral colors in this palette and it's excellent for very simple, everyday eye looks.

Urban Decay Primer Potion: Last time I traveled, I didn't bother bringing an eye primer, and I regretted it! So this time I brought along the very travel friendly version of UDPP. It's the primer I've been using the majority of this month and I've fallen back in love with it. Good thing, since I have the professional size of it to get through!

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Zero: The only pencil I use for my waterline. Stays all day, it's amazing, that's all I have to say.

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara: I definitely prefer this one over the One By One mascara that I picked up along with this one. This one just does an amazing job of lengthening my lashes. I've never used something that made them look so long. But at the same time, it's not clumpy and my lashes don't look spidery. I can see why everyone raved about this one.

MUA Mascara in Shade 1: I just use this to brush and set my brows.

3 brushes: One's from e.l.f and the other 2 are from the Studio Tools line sold in Target. They're cheap, but I find they work well for simple eye looks.

Lips:

NADA! I know, how terrible have I been with the lips lately. I had my Summer Fruits EOS lip balm though!

Face:

L'oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base: Probably the first and last primer I'll ever use. It does such a good job of smoothing out my skin and making my makeup last that I don't see a point in searching for anything else!

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation in Opal: I'm still not quite ready to review this yet, because I'm still in the process of finding what sets it best and whether it's best used as an all over foundation or a concealer and blah blah blah. But at the moment, I'm using it as an all over foundation and I apply it with my fingers. The color matches me pretty well and it does an excellent job of covering, BUT, I feel like it's almost equal to the coverage I got when I mixed Neutrogena Healthy Skin and Revlon Photo Ready. But then again maybe I'm just not using enough, we'll see!

Garnier Tinted Eye Roll On in Light: I love this for my undereye circles. It just blends in so well and covers amazingly.

Bare Minerals Mineral Veil: I didn't want to use the Bare Minerals foundation to set my foundation, since the Vichy foundation is supposed to be so full coverage. But I found that this just didn't keep me oil free long enough, so I tried setting the Vichy with my Bare Minerals foundation and it worked out much better, but this did well enough at the time.

e.l.f Complexion Brush: Used this to apply the Mineral Veil. It's nice, doesn't put too much product on your face or make you look powdery.

What do you make sure to bring along in your makeup bag when you travel?

NOTD: Models Own Lilac Dream and e.l.f Glitter Glam

Hi ladies! It's March which means we can now hide away our dark polishes and take out our bright and pastel colors! Which is just what I did the other day.

I used Maybelline's base coat, 1-2 coats of Models Own Lilac Dream, and then layered e.l.f's Glitter Glam over the top. While the e.l.f polish can be a bit goopy, it's just so gorgeous over any color that it's worth the goop. ;)

What do you think?

Collective Haul: Boots, China Glaze, and Clinique.

Hi ladies! ANOTHER collective haul post. I know, I'm terrible. ;) I plan on trying to watch my spending now, but who knows! I also plan on trying to find a job for the weekends, since at the moment I only work a couple hours during the week. Anyways, onto what I got:

Eighty Eight Beauty Supply: http://www.8ty8beauty.com/

I've heard about this website from a few YouTube guru's and figured I couldn't say no to China Glaze nail polish for $2.88 each! It is an American company so shipping to the UK was expensive ($16), but when everything is converted into pounds, it only cost about 19 pounds for FIVE China Glaze nail polishes, including shipping, which I believe is a very good deal. The only thing about the website is that when you order, you don't get an exact shipping amount, but get sent an invoice a couple days later. So essentially, you need to order and give your details before even knowing exactly what you're paying, which can be a bit of a con in my eyes, but when I googled shipping prices, they seemed pretty reasonable so I went for it. But other than that, once the nail polishes shipped, I had them rather quickly.

No Flash:

Flyin' High, For Audrey, Sea Spray, Frosty, and Innocence.

With Flash:

How pretty do they all look!? Perfect Spring colors, if you ask me.

Boots:

It was 3 for 2 on Maybelline products (although in the end the cashier forgot to give me the discount, sighs) and a lot of my mascaras have hit the 3-4 month period when you're supposed to throw them out, so I decided to pick up some mascara. Also, I've been needing a base coat for awhile now, and Maybelline had one on sale, so I grabbed it.

Maybelline The Falsies: 8.19, Maybelline One By One: 6.49 (sale), and Maybelline Forever Strong Pro base coat: 3.09 (sale).

Maybelline The Falsies brush:

I had to pick up this mascara because it's a favorite of soo many bloggers and YouTubers. I've only used it once, so I can't say anything yet, but I'll try and review it in a later post.

Maybelline One By One brush:

The newest mascara from Maybelline, and since it's on an introductory price, I figured I'd grab it. I've used this one twice, and again, really can't give my full thoughts yet and will review it at a later time. But so far so good!

No7 Beautifully Balanced Purifying Toner for oily/combination skin: 3.50ish with 5 pound off voucher:

I've run out of toner and decided to try a new one, specifically this one because I had a 5 pound off voucher and because I liked the packaging. It has a pump! It was only 3.50 which I think is a great deal for a toner.

Glamour Magazine:

As I'm sure you all know, Glamour magazine are currently giving out a range of Clinique samples with a purchase of their magazine for only 2 pounds. Nothing really stood out to me other than the moisturizer and the lipgloss. I've heard loads of raves about this moisturizer, but unfortunately I'm only realizing now that it's for dry skin and it's far too greasy/oily for my skin type. As for the Long Last Glosswear with SPF 15 in Air Kiss, it's sheer and sticky, but not so sticky as to annoy me, but in the end, it's nothing special and I'd never purchase a full size of it.

On the lips:

Boots:

And FINALLY, I made an order on the Boots website for the Vichy foundation. Lisa Eldridge used it in her Acne Covering YouTube video as a spot concealer, and it convinced me to try it for myself. I have some acne scars that just aren't covered by my concealer/foundation. I'm not sure if I'm going to use this as a concealer or as an all over foundation as it's meant to be used, but I'll test it out and review it for you and use it in a FOTD very soon.

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation in 15 Opal: 14.30 pounds

Well that's it! What have some of your recent buys been?

CVS Haul / Review

Hey ladies! Been meaning to do this post for awhile, but I just haven't had time to get around to it. Dissertation due the 26th, ugggh, lol. But anyways, my nana, right before I left again for London, gave me a Christmas card and it had a $20 CVS gift card in it! Really sweet of her, but part of me was like, uh oh, we all know I'm just going to spend this on makeup, LOL. So completely forgetting that CVS was doing a huge clearance, I thought of what things I wanted. I decided I wanted to try out the Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation, so I went there with the intention of getting that. I then saw loads of things on clearance but stuck with the foundation anyways, cos I was there with my friends and didn't want to bore them to death looking for ages, LOL. SO, in the end, I grabbed the Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation, the Brightening Eye Perfector, AND, the Maybelline Pulse Perfection mascara because it was 75% off!

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup with SPF 20 in Buff:

$7.24 (BOGO half off, this one was half off)

What was I thinking? This shade is too dark and too orange for me! I was looking at the lightest shade they had, Natural Ivory (which turns out isn't actually the lightest shade) and thought I couldn't possibly be the first shade, because I'm usually the second shade in! But ANNNT I was wrong, this color is all wrong for me. =( Which is really sad, because I was really excited to try it out. Ah well, save it for the summer months maybe?

Here I've just taken a photo of my Photo Ready foundation in Vanilla, which I feel is a good color match for me, and put it next to the Neutrogena foundation in Buff, to show you the color difference. Sadly this photo doesn't do it justice, because there's a much bigger difference in color in person!

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Brightening Eye Perfector with SPF 25 in Light:

$14.49

It was buy one get one half off for Neutrogena, so I decided to try this out! For being called light, this doesn't seem that light! Although I think I might be able to pull it off. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I think I might like it? LMAO. So undecided about these products sadly. In the photos it looks quite good, but I felt like in person it wasn't quite right? Maybe because the SPF of 25 bounces off the flash to make it look brighter/lighter, hence actually making it the right color, who knows! What do you think?

Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara:

Because this was 75% off, making it only $3.75, I figured why not!

The brush is very similar to the Define A Lash mascara by Maybelline, which I also own, because, according to the package, it's "brought to you by" Define a Lash.

(Define a Lash on the left, Pulse Perfection on the right. The only difference I can see is that the Pulse Perfection brush looks ssllllightly longer.)

I decided the best way to test out this mascara and whether the vibrating was just a gimmick or not was to test it side by side with the regular Define A Lash mascara:

As you can see, I think the vibrating did make a difference. I felt like it actually curled my lashes!

Then both eyes with the Pulse Perfection mascara:

Nice! I'm pretty impressed, the only thing is the vibrations tickle! Lol...I kept having to stop cos I was giggling. Silly me, ah well, it's a good mascara, especially at such a cheap price. Woo hoo for clearance sales!

So overall, I like the mascara, I think I like the eye brightener (I will keep testing it out, and who knows, maybe it'll end up in my January favorites!), and I hate the foundation. I still want to try out the Neutrogena foundation, so I'm tempted to go out and buy the lightest shade, but I don't think the UK sells Neutrogena cosmetics!!! Am I completely wrong about that? Could somebody point me in the direction of Neutrogena cosmetics in the UK? Thanks!

Stila, Walgreens, and VS Haul!

Hi ladies! Sorry I haven't been posting very much, I still have some things from Christmas to post about! But seeing as my trip here in the US was cut in half, I've been spending loads of time with family and friends. Also, I had a funeral to go to the other day. =( RIP Uncle Randy. I go back to London tomorrow morning, and when I get there, I have to prepare a presentation and finish my dissertation, so I may not be posting much! Although I'm sure I'll find time to post when I take breaks, hehe.

The other day I went shopping with my mummy and sis. We went to JC Penny and my sister discovered this tiny Sephora section in the shop, and it had loads of makeup on clearance. When I saw the Stila travel palette I grabbed it up because it was only $4.99!! It's usually $10, which is a great price as it is, but I couldn't pass it up for only 5 bucks.

Stila Pretty In Paris Travel Palette No.2:

This is so tiny and compact, AND has a mirror, which makes it perfect for travel. It contains 4 eyeshadows and a lip/cheek cream.

Top Row: Crepe and Cherie:

Bottom Row: Jolie and Chocolat:

Rosebud:

Swatches:

Creamy, pigmented, and gooorgeous!

On the lips:

Then we stopped at Walgreens, because I wanted to check out the Wet N Wild makeup, but I was sidetracked by the amazing clearance sales they had going on. We spent ages looking at all the makeup and picking out what we wanted, hehe. They were pretty cleared out, but I'm happy with what I did find!

Maybelline Mineral Power Finishing Veil Powder in Light:

($4.99)

I wanted to try out a new powder to set my foundation with. Just because when I finish up my Bare Minerals I'm not sure I'm going to be willing to shell out the money to re-purchase, just because I'm not entirely convinced it's worth the money. Because this was one of the items on sale, I figured I might as well give it a shot!

It twists out to reveal a sponge applicator and a mirror, which makes this compact great to throw in your purse for touch ups. I've been using it the past couple of days. I do like it, but I'm not sure if it keeps me oil free for as long as Bare Minerals does. I found that I had to touch up with this powder about 2 hours after I applied my foundation/powder because I was already getting oily. Perhaps that's because of the Photo Ready foundation though, not sure, I'm still just testing a lot of these new products out and don't know for sure yet how I feel about them all.

L'oreal H.I.P Kohl Eyeliner in Gold Kohl:

($3.29) I'd seen this used in a tutorial by one of the Fowler sisters awhile ago, and thought it looked nice. I've been really getting into gold/natural eye looks paired with a pink lip lately, so I thought this would be a perfect addition to my gold family.

I haven't actually tried using this yet, but I'm not sure how easily it will apply. I mean, look at the fall out that occurred when I swatched it. I can only imagine the mess that would make on your eye! We'll see. It's a gorgeous color though. =)

Wet N Wild Mega Last Lip Color in Mauve Outta Here:

($2.99) This wasn't on sale, but come on, 3 bucks for a lipstick? That's a great deal regardless. I've heard soo much about these lipsticks, all good, and was excited to try one for myself. Extremely pigmented and moisturizing for a drug store lipstick. Not sure it's the type of color I'd find myself reaching for on a daily basis, but I am definitely interested in trying out more from this range.

Wet N Wild Mega Last Long Wear Lip Color in Endless:

($1.09) This isn't the type of product I'd normally pick out (I don't really buy into the whole long lasting lip products because they NEVER do last long. You eat something, you drink something, your lip stick is going to wear off, and I'm not sure how any product could stop that, but I digress), but I grabbed it because of the color and because it was on sale.

On one side is the lip color, and on the other, the glossy lip balm. The packaging doesn't actually tell you how to apply these, but I read online that you apply the lip color, and then put the glossy balm on over it. Can't really say yet if it's long lasting, but maybe I'll do an updated review on it. In terms of pigmentation, I'm not hugely impressed, but it's nice for a subtle lip.

L'oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Lip Conditioner in Soft Bloom:

($2.59) Not something I'd ever pay full price for, but it's a nice tinted lip gloss/balm!

Swatches:

(from left to right: Mauve Outta Here, Endless Lip Color, the gloss balm, and Soft Bloom)

FINALLY, I know I know, long post much? But a few days before the JC Penny / Walgreens trip, my sis and I went to the mall to check out the semi annual sale at Victoria's Secret because she has a gift card. Unfortunately, she couldn't find the bra she was looking for, BUT, there was tooons of boxes full of makeup on sale, and of course I spent most of my time looking through them. She was sweet enough to offer to grab me a few things!

I picked out two of the Beauty Rush Luminous Shadows in Gold School and Plum Passion. I wasn't sure if these were cream shadows or what, but was interested in trying them out anyways.

The applicator:

Swatches:

(from left to right: Gold School and Plum Passion) I wasn't sure how I'd feel about these, but omggg, they're so pretty!!! I used the Gold one the other day and loved it. And here's the best part, they were only $1.75 each!

VS Sheer Gloss Stick in Shy:

($3.00) None of the lip colors that were on sale stood out to me, they were all reds or browns, but I did notice this product. I wore it the night after I got it, and I do rather like it. It's a 'my lip but better' kind of color. Once again, I'd never shell out the full price for this product, but at $3, I think it's really nice.

So that's it!! Has anyone else been taking advantage of the sales recently? Do tell!