Christmas 2012 - The Goodies I Got!

The holiday season came and left in a hurry. At least that's how I feel what happened, who's with me?
I don't ever expect to receive anything. Ever! I'm liked everything I got this year and I didn't expect any type of cosmetic items. The boyfriend's family surprised me with a little goody bag with samples in it! (His cousin works at ulta so I don't feel bad/guilty about it either)

Here's what it included:

 Tons of samples that I'd actually use, score!

 Philosophy Living Grace

I got a body wash, body emulsion, and fragrance sample. It smells nice but I've only used the emulsion so far and Philosophy's products are pretty consistent so I expect nothing less when I try the other samples out.

 Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream

The scent is a bit heavy for my taste but it moisturizes nicely. I've used a few other products in their skincare line but it just wasn't for me.

 Benefit That Gal Brightening Primer  |  Benefit Posie Tint  |  Lorac Lips with Benefit Lipgloss  |  Urban Decay Primer in Sin

These are all deluxe samples. I've owned the primer before, it brightened like the name says but other than that I don't think it helped with increasing longevity.

I used the stain on the back of my hand and it gave it a nice color. I've never used a cheek stain before so I'm waiting for an experimental day to try it out. If all else fails, I can always use it as a lip stain!

I also have not tried the lipgloss, I'm very afraid to ruin the swirling.

I've owned the full-size version of the primer before and I can say that it does it's job. For my own preference though, I like a neutral primer with no shimmers.

 Philosophy Purity Cleansing Oil  |  Kinerase Ultimate Night Moisturizer  |  Ouidad Botanical Boost

I was very excited to see the purity sample. I LOVE their cleanser, in fact it's my holy grail face wash! It's been keeping my skin clear since I started blogging and I don't think I'll ever change cleansers! Haven't tried the sample yet but I have high hopes for it!

I've been trying different samples of facial moisturizers and I'm glad to have another to try since I've not found one I love. Hoping that I won't love this one though, it's quite expensive and I'm not wanting to shell out that much money but I'm very picky so I don't think I'll "love" this.

I've always seen Ouidad in sephora but I'm just not that into hair as much as makeup. I googled this product and it says it's supposed to preserve moisture, prevent frizz, and enhance shine. Sounds promising, and it had 4 out of 5 stars on Sephora. I have not used this and I actually plan to work this into my daily routine since I've been having hair struggles this past year.

Benefit They're Real Mascara  |  Smashbox Waterproof Shadow/Liner

The mascara is awesome! I've actually owned this before and when I saw a full size inside the makeup bag, my eyes lit up hardcore! I'm waiting to finish my current mascara before I pop this open.

 

I swatched the shadow/liner stick on the back of my hand and it's brown. What else can I say about this? I can't vouch for the waterproof but it seemed to smear easily when I smudged it. I can't recall waiting for it to set like the Urban Decay liners though so that might be why. I plan on using this as a bottom lash line base for my eyeshadows but I'm not sure it's dark enough for how I wear my makeup.

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I'm really happy with what the boyfriend's family got for me. I also got a hot pink robe from Ulta too! It's nice to have something to slip on after my shower since I like to wander around the apartment before actually getting dressed.

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Take care ~

December Ipsy Bag!

I know it's very late posting this -- and honestly I've been looking for it but I misplaced it inside of another bag and I just found it!

I received my first bag in November and I posted information about it on that post.

Here are the contents of the December ipsy bag:

(all images are clickable if you'd like a better look)

 I think the makeup pouch included is lopsided.

 Don't you agree? I've even stuffed it with tissue paper and all it did was confirm there isn't much quality management going on with ipsy. I say it's from ipsy since the interior says "ipsy" and from that I'm concluding it's their product.

If it were more uniform, I'd say it's a very nice makeup bag to throw in your purse since it's remotely small and won't take up too much room.

 Mai Couture Highlight Paper in St. Barts

I've always seen this on youtube/blogs and have always been curious about it! It's a nice concept and I like it's small size because it's travel friendly. I'd like to think you could get more than one usage out of a sheet since it's pretty big and the areas I highlight are basically my cheekbones. The one included in the ipsy bag contains 25 sheets which is very generous. The actual product is a shimmery champagne shade and I quite like it! It doesn't look like shimmer dust exploded all over your face which is problems I encounter with some highlighters.

 Be A Bombshell Lipgloss in True Red

This lipgloss is very opaque! I've only worn it on it's own for a few seconds so I can't say much about it but I'd like to try other shades in the future. The packaging is practical but it is bigger than a MAC lipglass. It's a little sticky but I'd say compared to other lipglosses it's bearable.

Mirabella Prime for face and eyes

I haven't used it on my face or eyes, only the back of my hand. When I first applied it, it looked like it would have the silicone texture that most face primers have but it didn't. It was still smoother than my naked skin though. I immediately disliked this because of the scent. It wasn't very strong or anything but if I had it on my face all day, I can see a headache develop just from prior experiences with other products. It's a shame though, it seems that a lot of people said it's a good product on the ipsy website!

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero

I'm sure we've all seen these and I'm tired of having a million of these sample eyeliners laying around in random corners of my room. It's a great product but since Urban Decay came out with the shade Perversion, which is jet black, I can't say I love this shade as much as I used to. On the plus side, since I have so many of these I don't have to sharpen too often!

 

NYX Loose Pearl Shadow in Charcoal Pearl

I really like this shade! It's like a charcoal black color. What I don't like about this product is the tiny opening so it's inevitable to not make a mess when using it. It's a loose pigment which can already be messy in the first place. I don't see myself using too much of this since it's so dark and I have plenty of dark shadows already, but I saw some others receive lighter, wearable shades.

Here are swatches of everything. Sorry my hands are dry, I didn't think the new camera would capture it but you can see the lipgloss bleeding so lipliner is a must!

Highlighter is on the top half. On the bottom is the primer, eyeliner, shadow, and gloss.

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I really enjoyed this bag and I'm excited to see January's ship!

~ Take care everyone ~

Cheers to 2013!

Year started out great -- spent a lot of time with family I haven't seen in YEARS!

The significant other was sick --still sick, possibly getting me sick-- so we stayed home but I still got to play with makeup! I did a gunmetal smokey eye but then I over killed with glitter and didn't like it so much afterwards. Wish I could've gotten a photo of it but I didn't think about it until after I had glitter everywhere.

On the bright side, as one of my gifts for Christmas I got a new camera from him. He actually listened to the details and I ended up with something I really like for a basic point and shoot! I photographed some makeup with it and it's a lot clearer than my previous camera which I shall keep for rainy days.

I got a ton of small makeup items from my boyfriend's family so I can't wait to post that! :)

Take care everyone ~

Farewell 2012

It's been a rough year -- and it's finally over!

Back to regular posting soon. PROMISE.

xx.

haul: november ipsy bag

I finally signed up for a monthly subscription! Everything else seemed like it was either too expensive (i.e. glossybox) or it wasn't worth the monthly price for the items. The past two ipsy bags I've seen on the blogosphere had me very interested in signing up, and for only $10 with shipping included, why not?! Plus I figured it would get my monthly dose of "makeup exposure" and would keep me sane from buying more makeup, haha.

 

November's ipsy bag comes in a small brown makeup pouch and includes 5 items, 2 which are full-size and 3 sample sizes.

The contents inside. It also included a $20 off discount for justfab but I don't know where that went since I was too excited when I got it that I opened everything and used it, lol.

Nailtini Nail Lacquer in Millionaire

This item is full size! You can wear it over a base color for some added sparkle, or put multiple coats and make it opaque enough to wear by itself! I may have enjoyed a different color, but I already have many plain nail polish shades so this glittery concoction is a nice addition to my collection.

Above is displayed, from left to right, 3 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat, and bare nail.

It's definitely a buildable color, don't you agree? The glitter definitely clings on better when there is a textured surface. Hence why the second coat is much more opaque than the first!

theBalm Meet Matt(e) eyeshadow palette

November's bag also included an eyeshadow from the Meet Matt(e) palette by theBalm! I've always wanted to try out theBalm's product to see if they were any good and turns out the eyeshadow is very pigmented, smooth, and just overall good quality.

I spy the "nudetude" palette on hautelook right now, I may have to purchase that since that's what I've been on the fence about.

I received Matt Batali, which I believe is what everyone else got from all the bags I've personally seen. The shade is a rich, dark, chocolatey color. It's not exactly black but I wouldn't classify it as just a brown. It has this really nice smokiness to it and I used it to deepen my eyeshadow a few times already. It's very pigmented, so beware!

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss

This lipgloss looks so dark in the tube, but when you apply it alone it really isn't that dark. It gives a nice berry tint to your lips but if you want the full effect I'd recommend layering it over a vampy lipstick. It's also minty, which I like! It makes me feel like I'm wearing lipbalm or something and I'd say it's a sticky lipgloss which means it'll keep my lips hydrated as I wear it and will be more prone to actually lasting.

A closer look at the shade. It's not quite this dark in my opinion but the bathroom lighting was not cooperating with me.

The applicator is an angled doe-foot wand which works nicely. My preference would be a brush applicator but this is more common.

Above is one normal layer of the lipgloss. I should've taken a naked lip picture for comparison but the gloss tints my lips just a little bit.

This is with an additional "globbing" on the gloss. It doesn't look much different from the other swatch, but I got confused while uploading the photos for this blog post so I'm sure none of y'all will notice a difference either.

Starlet Intense Eyeliner

Another full-size product. It's a black pencil liner but I would've say it's a deep black but rather an mediocre black. I used this to line my eyes, top and bottom lash line, and I fell asleep and it didn't smear or migrate. It did have some wear on it when I woke up but in my opinion it held up pretty well!

It's dull because I've used it a few times by the time I took this photo, sorry! I didn't want to sharpen it because one of the first things I noticed about this was it looked as if my grandmother had sharpened it with a knife instead of a sharpener.

Chella Defining Eyebrow Gel

I've never heard of this brand before but after trying it out I'm not quite sold on the product either. The packaging it comes in feels very cheap and so does the wand compared to my previous experience with the Anastasia Brow Gel. I do understand this is a sample size so the full-sized version might be better in the quality of the packaging but I can't say I'm remotely interested in purchasing that. I've used it on my brows and it gives a soft natural hold while still defining your brows. I can't say how it holds up during the day though since I didn't really recheck at the end of the night.

Here's the wand. It's just simple and basic. From what I remember the wand on the Anastasia one is more of an oval shape and it was actually soft. Maybe my standards are too high?

Above I used the Chella brow gel over my eyebrows with nothing else applied on there. I also lined my upper lash line with the Starlette liner and then I used Matt Batali on the lower lash line and I ran a little in the crease to show that it can be used lightly for a light wash.

I personally wouldn't use the eyeshadow on my brows just because it would be too harsh for my liking and I don't think it'd compliment my skin tone very well. Sorry for the red eyes, they were irritated and it was about 2am when I took these photos!

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If you're interested in signing up for ipsy, check out their website. It's $10 a month and so far I'm a happy customer! I actually received mine about a week and a half ago, I've just been lazy to take photos and post but I read on the comments on the site that some people haven't received theirs yet so that might be a factor in not purchasing.

Hope this helps anyone!