UPDATE + LORAC COSMETICS

OMG! So sorry I have been missing from the blogger world :( I was pretty much working last week and the day I had off I just slept because I was exhausted! School started today and I was EXHAUSTED! I got home after running errands at around 3pm today and was going to get some things done for class but I fell asleep until around 7:30pm.. Also I fell asleep in chemistry class during the last 20 minutes! UGH, I'm so mad at myself, but I got all my notes written so I'm not sure how "sleeping" I was haha!

HOPEFULLY tomorrow I don't knock out again and I will spend about 2-3 hours reading & commenting blogs :D I also need to go out and buy the rest of my school books tomorrow and send out a package(S?)! PLUS go set up a new bank account for the boyfriend at wells fargo and then maybe I'll get a savings account with them too tomorrow to put my financial aid stash in?!?! IDK yet, I'm inbetween chase, wells fargo, and bank of america. At the moment, I'm banking with chase so.... idk who are you girls banking with? :)

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Website Review: Okay, so onto my lorac stuff! ^_^ I ordered online from loraccosmetics.com a few weeks ago and haven't posted it yet. It didn't take long to get here but it wasn't like quick, I'd say it was moderate. I really like their "VIP DISCOUNT" section because the products there are so inexpensive! ^_^ Yeah I am cheap, you might not think so but I like good deals for good products LOL! LORAC stuff is kinda pricey when you buy it regular price, but trust me they are very good quality. After buying my lorac double stacked book thing from sephora I became addicted to lorac stuff! I really want to buy and try out a lot of their products, but I'll save that for the future :) OKAY, back to the review! The shipping is free after $50 purchase which I would prefer because shipping is around $8 I think and I think it's kinda pricey if my purchase is gonna be $30 already and after tax and shipping it'd be about $40 so I might as well pay the extra $10 and get more things right?! IDK, my philosophy haha :D

So I received my package on Monday and didn't get to open the products until Wednesday night because I was busy at work. I checked the package to see if I got everything though and everything was there so I was like cool and just left it in my room and went to work. So I opened all the products and swatched them and of course the liquid liner I'm gonna swatch last because I mean it's an eyeliner?! What else is it gonna look like lol. But yeah, it was dried out and I was waiting for it to flow through but it never did so I waited to swatch it in fives minutes or so. Still didn't work so I closely examined it! It was CRACKED on the bottom so it must've done something to it!

Customer Service - I emailed them around 2am I guess I would say thursday morning and didn't get a response until around 4pm on thursday. It felt like it took a while because too faced email me back already (I contacted them both at the same time) but I guess honestly it didn't take long because it wasn't even more than a day. I told them my situation and they said they've never heard of this happening before but they didn't ask any questions and asked for my address to send out a replacement. I was like wow no questions asked? I thought they were lying just to shut me up so I waited for my replacement to come before I posted about it. It came in about 2-3 business days so pretty quick! ^_^
Shipping - It comes in a reasonable box that fits everything really well! My items came in bubble wrap so if you're ordering powder products they don't break on the way. I think the shipping is pretty pricey if you're just buying a few things but they offer free shipping on purchases $50 and over. Took a reasonable amount of time to come so I'm not complaining.
Free Gifts - LORAC doesn't offer any kind of free gifts so that's kinda a bummer but they have some pretty nice sets that change pretty often for a reasonable price so you get a lot of things.

I will definitely order from them again especially their special sets that they have! ^_^ I really love the quality of the products and they are definitely worth the money.

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So here's everything I got:

• Showstopper Palette ($17.50)
• Cheek stamp in Hibiscus ($4.99)
• Matte lipstick in imagine ($4.99)
  
• Cream lipstick in Premiere ($4.99)
  
• Front of the line liquid eyeliner in black ($20 -- now on sale for $10! #$@!%)
  

So the expensivest thing I bought was damage! If it were a lipstick, I probably wouldn't have contacted for a replacement lol but since it cost a lot I did!
The showstopper palette! I like the colors, it's neutral and they have a navy shade in there plus a blush ^_^ I really like the packaging because it's super sparkley, like a fancy shamncy dress or something :D Comes in a bag thing like high end brands like dior, but my double book palette didn't come it a bag, it came in a biggo box thing lol!
Cheek stamp! Cool concept, but you still need to blend out the edges so I just stamp it on and then go over with a brush to "perfect" it. It's great to put on the right amount so you don't over apply. FYI, it's really small though! But then again, it fits perfectly on the apples of your cheeks ^_^
The lipsticks are really pigmented! I'm not sure which is which on here though lol, but my favorite is premiere and I'm gonna guess it's the one on the right HA! Packaging is lightweight though, feels kinda cheap but not really?
And the crappy liner... ahh look at the tip of the pen! It's like gray.. the replacement I got is saturated and flows right on contact with your skin. Not like the revlon colorstay pen or the MAC penultimate I have. I think I'm gonna buy a few to stock up on lol! It actually stays on all day including my inner corner of my eyes which usually fades away by the end of my work day ^_^
See the crack?!!? OMG.. I didn't even notice it until I had to closely examine what could have caused it to dry out.. SEE THAT LORAC COSMETICS! I DIDN'T LIE ABOUT MY DAMAGED LINER!! But the weird thing was, the box was sealed and it's one of those boxes that if someones open it you'll know. LIKE.. you gotta break the seal!

OKAY, so tomorrow I'll try to catch up on blogs. I feel so out of the loop and I feel like a bitch for not reading your posts! LOL.. Linda & I have planned me on going to a no buy sometime soon. So my birthday is MARCH 22 (mark your calenders!) and I like to spoil myself for my birthday so I'm planning maybe in april? But my anniversary is on April 13 and then my mother's birthday is May 28 and then there's mother's day.. and then we're going to have secret angel thing in the summer.. So then we realized that a no buy isn't going to work! Instead, I am going to set a $50 limit to spend on whatever I want each week and then the rest I am going to save for a special occasion (like roadtrip, or maybe car failure?!) and for school I guess -___-".. yeah, so that's the plan! I am not looking forward to it, so I'm trying to get my spending out of the way before I start this I guess after my birthday?! I'll probably do it until middle of the summer or maybe at the end of summer (because all the good mac collections comes out during the fall/winter in my opinion, haha!).. WISH ME LUCK EVERYONE!!

<333

SEPHORA HAUL + CARGO VIDEO

OMG.. I am a terrible person! I've been online shopping so much more than I've been actually in the stores shopping! :( Today's edition is the sephora haul... I took advantage of their under $10 steals and I thought I should get my dior mascara set at the same time! Plus, they had a online VIB nail polish thingy I wanted to claim ^_^

I'm just trying to get all my hauls posted up and then I'll start to post reviews and swatches of things.. in about two weeks! :) I have so many hauls laying around my room from the past month and haven't had a chance to post them up so it's not ALL from one week! :X

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Website Review: Sephora has yet to mess up my order and I am very glad. It usually takes about a week for me to receive my order which isn't bad. If I get regular ground shipping it takes about 7 days. If I upgrade my shipping (it's only $3 extra after you qualify for free ground shipping) and it takes about 5 days to arrive at my house. I always receive an order confirmation within 5 minutes of placing my order and there's also a shipment confirmation the day they send it out.

They always ship using UPS and I know that it's limited to different countries they send to so if you have a sephora in your country then I'm sure you can order online. I'm not familiar with international shipping and communication because I am located in the US.

Customer Service - I got a "recycled" tracking number from UPS on my most recent order and I freaked out because it says that it's been delivered already to Plano (which is a surrounding city to me) and that it was signed by "LINDA".. so of course I was like I was never in Plano and I never signed for anything?!?! I immediately called them and they told me that it should update the information later. They were real nice and very helpful and I wasn't on hold for a long time, although I called in the morning so maybe it wasn't too busy since everyone's working.
Shipping - Everything is nicely package in a pretty big box depending on what you get. Even if you don't order big things I would still say the box is huge. They fill it up with tissue paper -- tons of it -- so that your powder products don't get broken on the way. The box on the outside has the sephora logo on it so no need to look at where it got shipped from. :) Also they do free returns! Each order comes with a return sticker in case you want to return something, you just have to drop it off at UPS or I think you can schedule UPS to pick it up from your house?
Free gifts - Sephora always gives complimentary samples with every purchase. The supply changes a lot and you get to pick 3 that you want to try out. The "supply" is always viewable before you even order anything and there's a link to it on the home page. When the sample is out of stock they'll throw in a different sample for you. I was kinda mad when I ordered from the F&F sale and got something else instead of what I originally wanted, but hey you can't get upset because it's complimentary -- it's not like I paid for it. If you're a beauty insider, every 100 points (or I guess $100 you spend) you get a free deluxe sample. You can either choose a sample or you can save it for next time. If you save up to 500 points, you should be a VIB insider and then you can choose from a "full size" gift. The selection changes but not too often so you'll have "time" to save for it.

Overall, I will continue to keep purchasing from sephora for probably the rest of my life! Everything isn't available at my sephora (such as illamasqua, givenchy, guerlain) so it's nice to be able to order it online instead of driving 30 minutes out to another one that may have it.

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Okay so here's all I got:

• Benefit to go beauty bestsellers ($10)
• NARS duo concealer in custard/ginger ($10)
• Bliss vanilla + bergamot body butter ($4)
• Dior diorshow lash essentials set ($29)
• Sephora by OPI 500-point gift (FREE, but I guess it costs 500 points)
• Fekkai shampoo/conditioner sample, striVectin sample, philosophy unconditional love sample (FREE)
  

These are nice samples to try out :) I think the high beam and posie tint will last a little while because you don't need much when you use it. I'm not so sure about the some kinda gorgeous or that gal brightening primer because I haven't tried it yet though.
The NARS concealer matches my skin perfectly! ^_^ It was on my wishlist too and I'm so glad they had my shade on sale for only $10! That's definitely a steal :D You can already see my finger marks in it already LOL..
This is great to throw in your purse! It's super portable :) The scent of it I'm unsure of.. it smells good but I guess I'm not too fond of the bergamot scent?! It's really thick and hydrating though ^_^
I was excited to see another kit for my dear iconic mascara.. I love this mascara because I don't have to work with it! :D But priced at $27 a tube really scared me away and now I'm currently in the search for a more affordable holy grail.
yup.. I had to snag it! I'm gonna wait to use it though.. like until my other ones run out :)
my free gift! :X I haven't had a chance to paint my nails yet but I know I would like this more than the kat von d one they have in stores! A lot of people said that the shadows were chalky so I was glad I didn't waste my points on them ^_^
My free samples! ^_^ I have ALWAYS been interested in the fekkai shampoos! I wonder if they're really good as the hype.. I know bed head liters are on sale right now for $9.99 so I'm gonna stock up on those next week and hopefully will start a 2 week no makeup buy -___-" I already stocked up on my skincare already last week because my face wash is almost gone so I think I am okay in that department too! :D

Swatches and review will follow. I've already reviewed the mascara so you can check that out here!

Also, here's a video of all the things I got from CARGO because sephora is kicking them to the curb! Everything is 50% off so I would suggest going to check out their selection! ^_^ I went back today and pretty much everything is sold out -- including their foundation! Sucks I couldn't get more things today but whateverrr :P


Until tomorrow (no seriously, I'm trying to get all my haul posts posted this week LOL) my lovely ladiesss!

<333

TOO FACED BITCH

Hello girls :) Back with another haul! OKAY, so I got this on sale for 30% off using the code "luckybreaks" on toofaced.com. The offer ended on January 5, 2010 and I was deciding that day whether I was gonna get the walk of shame set ($38) and the teddy bear hair brush set ($65). I ended up changing my mind about the brush set because I can get more brushes for that amount and the fact that they were incredibly soft so I thought maybe it won't be able to pick up enough pigment as I'd like?!?! Eh, I think I made the right decision! ha, but I did manage to get some things on my wishlist from too faced.. BTW, I've always loved too faced products! :) I swear I'm not a MAC snob :P

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Website Review:
Right after I placed my order on the website it goes to the page where it says "an confirmation email has been sent". Okay, so usually things don't send right away to my email sometimes but I waited for like an hour and was like WTF!! Where's my confirmation email?!?! I've read on Clara's blog (http://frugalmakeupholic.blogspot.com/) that they had GREAT customer service so that's why I ordered from the site! I know that sometimes it takes forever for something to ship.. *cough* STILA *cough*. Well I never received an email for my confirmation of my order but I did have my browser page opened still so I had the order number! I emailed them the next night after waiting for the confirmation. When I woke up the next morning, I had an email from them saying that the order has been fulfilled and I'll get an email when the order ships.

I was really impressed with the speed of their response! That made me feel more reassured that I was going to get my order! Surely enough, the email did send when it was on it's way to my house. It sent by USPS so you can track it on there.. BUT when I got the email it said "your UPS tracking number is..." and I went to go track it on UPS and was like WTF! I mean it was odd when I didn't see letters AND numbers on the tracking number and I was freaking out. I went back to the email and looked at the number again and was like dude this is a frickin` USPS tracking number! Everything got sent to me really fast, but my area gets mail from USPS pretty fast so it depends on how long it usually takes you to get USPS mail :)

Customer Service - very responsive and quick!
Shipping - only $5.95 for the entire order (and it comes super cute.. you'll see with my photos!) and they offer free shipping after you've purchased $50 worth of items.
Free gifts - every purchase made allows you to choose a sample of their lip injection, shadow insurance, or lipsticks! They also have "online exclusives" that change pretty often and you can qualify for it depending on how much you have to spend on your order. The amount to qualify also changes often depending on the product they offer. (okay I think I repeated myself but I guess it makes sense too?!)

Overall, I will definitely purchase from the too faced website again. The order took 5 days to get to me and that is extremely fast, like maybe faster than sephora?!?! ha :X (I ordered on January 4 and it got to me on January 9). I highly recommend anyone in the US to order from them! I'm not sure if they do international though?!

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Okay, so here's my actual haul! :)
OMG, isn't the box so pretty?!?! It was like a small-medium sized package, not too big or small but I can see this from the street in front of my door! It's gorgeous but I'm afraid someone will go and steal it from me! x(
Everything that I ordered..

• Walk of Shame set
• Girls dig pearls in mermaid
• Lip of Luxury in Centerfold and Free Love

Everything I got free..

• Beauty addict palette (might use it for a giveaway)
  
• Mini shadow insurance (keeping this for a giveaway)
  

gosh I'm so glad I didn't order those brushes! But when they have another big sale and I have money to spare, I will definitely snag them! ahah :D
Lipstick boxes.. I adore their packaging! :) It's so vintage-y feeling and do cute! The lipsticks have this champagne smell to them and depending on my mood I may like it or I may be disgusted lol
I really like the lipgloss.. it reminds me of resort life from MAC unfortunately -__-" but I still love it because of all the sparkles! ^_^
Walk of shame set, it's a great deal if you wanna try out their things! :D The pouch looks like a bathing cap doesn't it?!?! hahaha!
It's so small.. no lie either :P
I opened it to check it out, it looks kinda cheap o_O! But whatever, I got it for free.
The contents inside the walk of shame set. It comes with a toothbrush, full size shadow primer, sample size face primer, full size lipstick - totally nude, compact with two eyeshadows and bronzer, and mints! Well don't forget the "showercap" inspired clutch lol ^_^
All the lippies! The one on the top is the girls dig pearls lipgloss in mermaid. The lipsticks from left to right is centerfold, free love, and totally nude!

Again, I am pretty satisfied with my order! This year I've already started it out with spending a TON of money :( Like... you can calculate it in your head! IDK if you want to include warm & cozy or not but everything I've posted so far is purchased this year and I still have a lot more hauls to post up. ZOMG I'm a shopaholic for real now! haha :)

I'm catching up on reading some blogs. No let me rephrase, I'm catching up on COMMENTING on blogs since I've already read them LOL xD

I hope you girls check out toofaced.com, they have pretty fast shipping and really reasonable rates for the US considering that super cute pink box I got :D

<333