My Birthday Haul!

Hi, everyone!

My birthday was on Friday 7/31, and I decided to treat myself and do what I love most; makeup shopping! My husband and I were going away for the weekend, so I had a limited amount of time in which to go by Ulta and Sephora. I actually made a list of the things I wanted to pick up most (yes, I'm a list maker), and managed to get most of what I wanted! While I was packing for our trip, I purposely didn't pack the type of  makeup I would be buying. For example, I knew I needed a new color of my UD Naked Skin concealer; therefore, I didn't pack a concealer.

Let's start with what I picked up from Ulta! I had a 20% off prestige coupon (I LOVE when these come around!), and wanted to take full advantage! Last year, I bought myself the Lorac Pro palette for my birthday, and this year I grabbed the Lorac Pro 2! I'm usually not a fan of cool toned shadows, but I've been drawn to them a lot these last few months, and I actually didn't own but two or three of them! I certainly didn't have any cool toned palettes! Another thing on my list was the Too Faced Twice the Sex mascara duo. For the price of a full size mascara, you get one full size and one deluxe sample. Then, thanks to the beautiful @coffeebreakwithdani, I knew I needed to pick up the new Stila Lash Stunner Extreme Lash Primer. I am a huge fan of lash primers, and she made this one sound amazing. A few days before, while browsing the "new" sections of Ulta and Sephora, I saw a new hairspray by Living Proof called "Humidity Shield" and thought that sounded wonderful for my curly hair. While at Ulta, I spotted the travel size and scooped it up! I had forgotten to pack an eye makeup remover, so I needed to grab one while I was shopping. I usually use the Kroger brand of the Neutrogena one because it's inexpensive and it works. Since I was in Ulta, I went ahead and grabbed the actual Neutrogena one, and it works fine. It does the job. I've been loving the Rimmel foundation that I mentioned in my July Favorites, but I also forgot to pack my moisturizer with sunscreen, so I picked up the travel size It Cosmetics CC+ Cream in Medium. That covered my sunscreen, moisturizer, and the need to match my self tanner. If you read my post about the Lorac Alter Ego Lip Set, you know how much I love those lip glosses. I picked up a new color while at Ulta; a pretty peach called Super Model. One thing that was not on my list was a new foundation, However, the new Too Faced Born this Way foundation sucked me in and "Sand" found it's way into my bag. If you purchased anything from Too Faced, you got a sample pack of three different shades of the Born this Way foundation, which is what you see in the bottom of the picture above. A last minute impulse purchase was the Mario Badescu Facial Spray. It was on an end cap of travel things for $5, and I had heard @emilynoel talking about it, so I grabbed it. I love all things rose scented, and this smells wonderful. The last thing from Ulta was my birthday gift! Platinum members get two gifts for their birthday; a $10 off coupon and the makeup item all other members get. July birthdays got a deluxe sample of the Urban Decay Perversion mascara. I've tried this one a few times, and I'm not a huge fan, but maybe it will work better over the Stila lash primer!

There were two things on my list that were out of stock at Ulta, so next stop was Sephora! As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I needed a new shade of the Urban Decay Naked Skin concealer. The one I had was Fair Neutral, which is too light with my tan. Ulta was out of the shade Light Neutral, so I purchased it from Sephora. The other thing that was on my list and sold out at Ulta was the Tartelette palette. @makeupbymaci, who is the queen of photographing her eye looks, was telling me how much she loves this palette, and she uses it in so many of her looks, I had to have it! The Kat Von D Ink Liner Trio was the other thing on my list. I already have and love the shade "Trooper", and this trio comes with that one, a navy, and a brown. I used the navy Saturday night and loved it! Sephora is great about offering samples, and the sweet girl who helped me gave me a sample of the First Aid Beauty Triple Remedy eye cream and the Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration moisturizer. As I was walking by the clearance table, I spotted the Kat Von D blush in "Wish" (no longer available on-line) and two bronzers on sale for $11.99 each. The bronzers looked similar to ones I already own, but "Wish" had been on my wish list for a long time, so I was happy to get it more than half off! A few weeks ago, I noticed that the Sephora automatic, waterproof lip liners were on the sale page on-line for $7, but all of the colors were sold out. My Sephora in JCP had them on the clearance table for $5.99! I've mentioned "Petal" in a post before, and I love it. They only had one left, which I bought, and then I bought two each of "Mauve" and "Naked". The last thing I picked up was the Josie Maran Argan Oil Light. I've used the regular version before, and loved it for my dry skin, but I thought the light version might be better for summer time. And then this happened...

Yep. Hello, Rouge!

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*All items mentioned were purchased by me and all opinions are my own, 

Lorac Alter Ego Lip Set-Updated!

Hello, Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk about a Lorac product that I ordered from Ulta a few weeks ago. This was an "Online Only" set that, I believe, was exclusive to Ulta. At this time, it is no longer available on their website, but you can buy each item individually. This set originally came in three different "colors", Nude, Pink, and Plum; Pink being the set that I have. Each set contained two Alter Ego lipsticks and two of the new Alter Ego lipglosses in the same colors, with mine containing Girl Next Door and Sex Kitten.  Ulta was (and still is) running a "gift with purchase" promo that allowed you to get a deluxe size of the Alter Ego lipgloss in Goddess when you purchased $25 or more of Lorac products.

I'll start with the lipsticks. The gunmetal colored packaging is beautiful, but can hold onto fingerprints, and I LOVE the fact that the bottom shows the color of the lipstick inside. They smell absolutely divine, better than Mac lipsticks; like a whole sweet bakery shoved in these little tubes. These lipsticks are extremely pigmented, which is good and bad. The good being it only takes one swipe for full color; the bad being that these lighter colors can look chalky since they are so opaque that none of my natural lip color shows through. The Alter Ego lipsticks are very creamy, and I don't find them drying on the lips even though these two colors are matte. Girl Next Door is a lighter, peachy pink neutral, that looks pretty with my skin tone and doesn't wash me out, while Sex Kitten is a bright, almost neon, pink. I don't feel like I can quite pull of Girl Next Door without gloss on top though, due to the fact that it does look rather chalky. As for the Alter Ego lipglosses, they have the same gunmetal color on the top, while the rest is a clear cylinder that you can easily see the color through. Each of the colors match the lipsticks perfectly, with the same delicious sweet smell. Each of these glosses are opaque, and can easily be worn on their own for beautiful color payoff. The formula is creamy, not streaky, and doesn't feel sticky to me. They're very comfortable to wear and can last three-four hours depending on the amount of eating and drinking you do during that time.

Alter Ego lipstick in Girl Next Door topped with the matching lipgloss

Alter Ego lipstick in Sex Kitten

Alter Ego lipstick in Sex Kitten topped with the matching lipgloss

 

I neglected to take a picture of me wearing just Girl Next Door because I immediately topped it with the lipgloss, but I assure you, it wasn't exactly flattering. I do own one other color in the Alter Ego line, Duchess, and it's not as light in color, so it doesn't have the chalkiness issue that these can. All in all, I love these lipsticks and glosses. I haven't worn Goddess on my lips yet, but I have a feeling I'm going to want the lipstick and the full size gloss. ;)

**Update- all three of these sets (Pink, Nude, and Plum) are back in stock on the Ulta website! 

 

 

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*None of the links above are affiliates

*All items were purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

Urban Decay Naked 3 vs Coastal Scents Revealed 2

 

Hello, Everyone!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts. I had this planned to go up last night, but an unexpected trip to the ER for my gallbladder pushed it back! Anyways, on to the post!

Today, I want to discuss the comparison between the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette ($54) and the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 palette ($19.95).

(Photo Credit: Sephora.com)

 

(Photo Credit: Coastalscents.com)

 

Both palettes contain neutral, rosy shades with variation in finishes. The UD palette contains 12 shades, and only three of those are mattes, while the CS palette contains 20 shades, and seven of those are mattes. The rest are a mixture of satin, metallic, or frost. First, are my swatches (bare skin, no primer) of the Urban Decay Naked 3:

(From L to R: Strange, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, & Blackheart)

 

 

The Naked 3 swatches beautifully. The problem is, they're not as beautiful on the eyes. Dust and Buzz have horrible fallout and lack pigmentation once applied. If I use either color on my lids, my cheeks are glitter city throughout the day. Not a good look. Trick is a beautiful rose gold color, but the top layer has to be scraped off to maximize it's potential. Burnout swatches like a pretty satin pink color, perfect for the lid, but once applied, it is rather dull. By far, my favorite colors in this palette are Limit and Nooner, two of the three mattes. Those two are perfect crease colors. Liar, Factory, and Mugshot are beautiful (how many times can I use the word beautiful?!) taupe-y colors, but all three look the same once applied. :(  Strange is a matte creamy color, perfect for the brow bone. I was happy to see this color in here, as I prefer a matte brow bone highlight. Darkside and Blackheart are good for adding definition to your looks and darkening them up, but neither are mattes. Blackheart is a matte black with red glitter, which swatches really pretty, but once you blend it out, the red glitter disappears. Overall, I don't like enough colors in the palette for it to be worth the money. There isn't enough variation to create different looks. No matter which color combinations I use, each look comes out looking the same.

 

Here are my swatches (bare skin, no primer) of the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 palette.:

(There are no shade names for this palette)

 

You get eight more colors in the Coastal Scents palette than in the UD 3 one, and four more mattes. There are great dupes for Burnout, Limit, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, and Mugshot. The CS 2 palette even has the same annoying, glitter everywhere, shade as Dust. There is a similar shade to Blackheart, except it seems to have more of a silver glitter instead of red running through it. The second shade on top is a great matte highlight color, but it is more pink toned than the UD 3 one, which is more white. You also get a matte burgundy, brown, and black in this palette, and none of those colors in the UD 3 palette. The CS palette also has a gold and a few bronzy shades as well. As with most palettes, there are some texture variations. Some are smoother and creamier than others, and some feel rather gritty. However, there are a lot  more that are creamy than there are gritty. I love that the Revealed 2 has the burgundy colors included, as well as the matte brown and black. I am a huge fan of matte shadows. Both palettes flatter my green eyes incredibly well. I am able to get more variations in looks with the Revealed 2 than I am with the UD 3, which I love. Once again, the Urban Decay Naked 3 will run you $54 dollars on the Urban Decay website, Ulta, or Sephora, and the Coastal Scents palette is $19.95, but occasionally goes on sale for $9.95, which I what I paid for it.

 

Final verdict? I prefer the Coastal Scents palette over the Urban Decay Naked 3. I can get more looks out of it, there are more mattes, it has the burgundy colors that I love, and it's less expensive. The quality is just as good, and with some shades, even better than the Urban Decay Naked 3. If you're looking for a rosy toned palette, I would suggest trying out the Coastal Scents Revealed 2. It is absolutely beautiful and a great bargain!

 

Do you have either palette? Both? Leave me your thoughts below!

 

 

 

 

*none of the links above are affiliates.

*All items were purchased by me and all opinions are my own.



Brows: Yes, They are Important!

Hello, Everyone!

I never thought eyebrows would be as important as they are to me now. When I was in high school, I took Cosmetology for three out of the four years, and we were taught waxing. And in the early 2000's, thin brows were "in". I waxed and tweezed the top, bottom, and in between my brows constantly. I'm pretty sure I looked like I had two almost straight lines above my eyes. I cringe when I look at old pictures. After almost 10 years (I'm only 28, people!) of constant waxing and plucking, this is what my brows look like now:

 

I've been trying to grow them out for the past year or more, and this is as full as they get. Unfortunately, the top part of my brows are lighter than the rest, so they can look a little more sparse than they actually are. Which is why I hardly ever leave my house without my brows filled in. If you're a teenager and reading this: drop the tweezers and walk away. You'll thank me later. If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen this collage, but I didn't go into details. For this post, I'm going to show you my every day, "natural" brow look, I sometimes just use pencil, and for the past two days, I've only used powder, but for this post, I used pencil, powder, and gel.   If I'm going out, or want a glam look, there are other products I'll use and it takes a little longer. But this post isn't for that.  :)

 

Like everyone else, I love the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, but it's $21 for a pencil. Let's face it: we got through eyebrow pencils extremely fast. $21 every 5-6 weeks, is expensive. Then NYX came out with their Micro Brow Pencils, which are $9.99 at Ulta and come in seven different colors. NYX often goes on sale for buy one, get one half off or 40% off; plus you can use the Ulta coupon for $3.50 off $10, making these a GREAT value. I picked up Taupe and Ash Brown, but the Taupe is a little too light for me. I don't like my brows too dark, and the Ash Brown is perfect. I use the darker side of the Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Taupe, and the Anastasia #7 Duo Angle/Spooley Brush to apply it with. To top it all off is the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up the tinted version last year during Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty Steals. I actually bought the powder, gel, and brush in this Bold Brow Kit from Ulta. On to the pictorial!

 

I always like to brush all of the brush hairs up before applying any product to them. This helps me to see the shape, as well as any hairs that may need to be trimmed or stray hairs that need to be plucked. The spoolie at the end of the NYX pencil isn't bad, but it's not nearly as good as the ABH one.

 

After brushing all of the hairs up, I always make my line under the brow to start my guideline. For this picture, I used my pencil to do this.

 

Next, I draw my guideline on top of my brow. I know that a lot of people advise against this, but keep in mind, I am basically reconstructing my brows, not just filling them in. Once again, step away from the tweezers. This step is done with my pencil, as well.

 

Last, I fill these babies in! Sometimes I will use my pencil to do this part, and add a little powder, or I'll just stick with the pencil. For the picture above, I used only the powder to fill them in. Using the powder covers a lot more area in a short amount of time, which is perfect on work mornings when I'm trying to get me, four kids, and a husband out the door before 7am!

 

I love great eyebrows. I went to the dentist this morning to get my teeth cleaned and the dental hygienist sat down and stopped mid-sentence to say "you're eyebrows are perfect". I just grinned and thanked her.

 

What is your eyebrow routine? Or are you one of the lucky ones with perfectly full brows? If you are, I'm very slightly jealous.  ;)

 

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*All items were purchased by me and all opinions are my own.