Collective haul + new daily staples

It's not new news that I disappear then re-appear on my beauty blog every now and then. Sorry, again... and hi. :)

I haven't been able to splurge as much as I'd like to lately, but I've managed to buy total must-haves, except maybe the VS lip gloss since I'm not a big fan of lip gloss. It was on sale for $1.75 during their semi-annual sale.

Victoria Secret lip gloss in Ms. Mojita $7.00 - I wanted to give lip gloss another go, and since this was only $1.75, it wasn't heartbreaking. I can stand using lip gloss indoors, but I don't like it outdoors where my hair blows all over my face. I end up licking off this lip gloss because it smells so yummy. It doesn't taste as it smells, but it doesn't taste nasty.

Chapstick in green tea mint $3.99 - One day I was "craving" for that minty feeling on my lips and so I got my fix at Walgreens and bought this lip moisturizer. I've been using it everyday because I love it! Alternatively, I have other moisturizers that I love: MAC lip conditioner SPF 15, Rosebud Perfume Co. strawberry lip balm, and Ole Henriksen African red tea lip salvation.

MAC pro long wear concealer in NC42 $16.50 - MAC pro long wear is the best foundation and concealer at the MAC store suitable for my oily skin. I use this concealer to cover my dark circles as well as attempt to highlight my face, but I need more practice on that. I apply this with my Revlon crease brush, it's like a mini MAC 224 brush, sort of. Sometimes I skip concealer and just go straight to foundation.

Make Up For Ever HD foundation in 153 $40.00 - This is the most expensive cosmetic product I've bought so far, and it was worth it. I don't use foundation everyday, so this will last me a long time. I think I'm a closer match to 173, but I got 153 because I apply just a sheer layer of foundation to my face to give me a brighter complexion since my neck gets lighter than my face. I'm a number of shades all over my body, but I can't avoid how much the sun hits my face. The consistency seems thin, but it has good coverage. I love it because I have oily skin so that's a plus. Also, I could never find the right shade of department store foundation elsewhere besides at MAC, so that's why I got this too. It's a notable foundation as well as more affordable compared to other higher-end brands that I'm not willing to splurge on. This is a great buy. I've stopped reaching out for my MAC studio fix and pro long wear foundation. Then again, I've stopped reaching out for them because it takes too much effort to get to because I've packed a bunch of stuff on top of my train case.

Eco Tools bamboo finishing kabuki $6.99 - Eco Tools brushes are famous for being soft, and this one doesn't beg to differ. It's a typical stippling brush, but just softer and I got this mainly for travel purposes. Cheap and effective, love it.

MAC paint pot in quite natural $16.50 - I use this on my eyebrows in place of an eyebrow pencil ever since I colored my hair brown. Then I apply dark brown eyeshadow to make it darker since the paint pot is just a brown, not light, not dark. This product lasts forever. I've been using it everyday for two months now and barely made a hole in it.

Bobbi brown gel liner in black ink $21.00 - My beloved Smashbox gel liner has been nearing the end of its lifestyle so I decided to try out a new one. My eyelids are extremely oily and it does a good job at staying put when the weather's not too humid here. However, summer's been humid here in Hawaii, so I use some UDPP to make it last longer. Sometimes I give into the hype (not that it's a bad thing) and buy things that are being raved about, but I tend to take a while to buy it. I like this eye liner, but I think Smashbox's gel liner is better for me.

Bdellium Tools studio brush #957 (travel-sized) $15.00 - I've always wanted a brush like this and so I got it. It's a very pretty brush and my current favorite brush to apply and buff foundation and powder to my face.

Tweezerman Tweezerette tweezer $7.00 - This tweezer grips onto hairs really good. I haven't tried the original Tweezerman tweezers so I don't know how they compare. However, I have a hard time tweezing my super thin and super short hairs with this tweezer but I blame my hairs more than I blame the tweezer. I'll probably look more into the Tweezerman pointed tweezer for my next tweezer purchase. (I've never used the word tweeze so much before!) Switzerland is the best place for steel tools! ;)

Review: Sally Hansen "flirty eyes" eyelash curler & haul

Even though I know that you should stay away from curling your eyelashes, I do it anyways because it's the only way to make my single eyelids bigger to seem more awake. I naturally always look tired because my eyes are so small. :( So thank goodness for eyelash curlers and mascara when you don't feel like wearing falsies or investing in eyelash extensions, eyelash growth products, or the patent pending lash mascara that lasts for weeks. 

I can get away without wearing make-up... except for my eyebrows. When I'm drawing in my eyebrows, I tell everyone it isn't make-up just to make myself feel better... hahaha. So, I don't tweak my eyes every single day of my life because sometimes I get lazy or run out of time since I'm not quite a morning person. 

On another note, I love great drugstore beauty buys. One of my favorite drugstore brands from the very start is Sally Hansen. I was always fascinated with nail polish so I would be excited to see 40% off sales and would bulk up on products. Sally Hansen just came out with a bunch of beauty utensils that don't look like it's from the drugstore. I don't care whether or not things look like its from the drugstore, I just care if its decent or great quality for a bargain.

I got a nipper $10.99, brow scissors $6.99, and eyelash curler $5.99 from Walgreens. I know they're currently on sale at CVS (in Hawaii for sure) and they're 40% off which is the best deal ever. I bought mines too early. :( Oh well. 

Here are the corresponding captions to the following pictures:
First & second pic: right eyelash curled with no product on
Third & fourth pic: both eyelashes curled with two coats of Maybelline falsies mascara (my HG product! <333)

Review: I personally like this eyelash curler. It fits my eye just right so don't get it unless you have small eyes like me. It's not as wide as other eyelash curlers like Shu Uemura's or MAC's, I know that even though I don't own any of those. They do have another type of eyelash curler, so maybe it'll be a hit... or miss... for you beauties who have bigger eyes than me. :)

LOTD: mash up/review of Borghese, Jordana, Coty, Rimmel (LONG POST!)

So for the past many months that I haven't been blogging, my make up collection has been expanding (but that's not new!). Part of my collection is a bunch of Jordana color effects eye shadows as well as a set of Borghese brushes from Costco. They're great make up buys since the eye shadow retails for $1.69 at my local CVS and the ten-piece brush set for $23.99.

I like how the brushes have a label for usage, although most of the time brushes are indeed versatile. 

Included are:

Round foundation brush

Duo-fiber blending brush

Angled eye contour brush

Eye powder fluff brush

Concealer brush

Domed smudge brush

Eyeshadow brush

Angled eye/brow brush

Powder kabuki brush

Products used
Foundation: Rimmel Match Perfection foundation in 420 warm sand set with Coty airspun loose face powder in translucent
Concealer: Kat Von D concealer in almond
Lips: Jordana lipstick in mauve
Eyeshadow base: Too Faced shadow insurance and MAC paint pot in painterly
*Eyelashes: Falsies from eBay
Eyeliner: Stila smudge pot in black.
Blush and contour: MAC blush in blunt

Eyeshadows - all Jordana
Mauve my way
Gunmetal
Ms. brown
High maintenance
Creamy vanilla
Total blackout
Pretty peach

Brows
Wnw eye brow pencil in charcoal
Jordana color effects eye shadow in total black out

*Eyelashes: I personally don't like the eyelashes that I got. They're a boxed set of like a dozen lashes. They're too heavy for my single eyelids, so I wouldn't wear them out. I've used them for many of my past looks but just for the added dramatic look.


REVIEWS
Borghese brush set: Overall they're all great brushes. Some shed during the initial uses, but that's expected and it stops. The duo-fiber blending brush is practically a smaller version of E.L.F.'s stippling brush, of which you all should know by now is a highly-raved product although I haven't done a review of it. The eyeshadow brush and eye powder fluff brush were pretty big but still useable for blending. The powder kabuki brush is also HUGE! This is a total must for all you make-up lovers. Think of it as buying ten brushes for the price of one at Sephora, Nordstrom, or MAC! =)

Jordana color effects eyeshadow: Some are hits and some are misses so you don't necessarily get what you pay for. My favorite is total blackout and creamy vanilla, I guess because those are the colors that I use in almost every palette for personal use. I do believe that having a good eye shadow primer applied to your eye prior to usage is very important! It's VERY, VERY, VERY important, emphasis on very. I love UDPP and Too faced shadow insurance topped off with MAC paint pots. Try it out, you'll love it! And a little goes a long way!

Coty airspun loose face powder foundation in translucent: Great, great, great powder for setting foundation since it's very finely milled, and cheap! I've got oily and problematic skin, and this doesn't break me out so it's love. <3

Rimmel match perfection foundation in warm sand: It's a great drugstore foundation. A bit sheer so if you're looking for medium-heavy coverage this isn't for you. This type of foundation is my "everyday" foundation for when I go to work or school, meaning when I don't want to use my expensive foundations or don't have much time to put on make up I'll turn to this. It's hard to find a drugstore foundation that's the least bit closest to my skin color, but this one seems to blend in well even though it may be a tad bit light for me. I like going lighter rather than darker anyway.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts:

• Comparison of Borghese duo-fiber blending brush and E.L.F.'s stippling brush
• Swatches of Jordana color effects eye shadows

Phew, now that was a mouthful. I hope you all have a great Mother's Day weekend!

LOTD: Wnw lust palette + reviews (Wnw, Revlon, Lucido-L)

Last week, Revlon had contacted me via email and wanted to give me some products, so I was like sure. When I received and opened the package, I instant knew I would love the more dramatic falsies (even though I haven't worn it yet). :) 

I've never tried Revlon's falsies, neither have I tried any brand of fake nails. I have yet to try on the fake nails once I give myself a manicure, so stay tuned for that post. 

Please excuse my ugly fingers :( Here I have applied Revlon's lash adhesive to the falsies they gave me. This is enough product to provide for a great application. It looks blue-ish when you put it on the falsies, but it dries clear... thin and clear. 

Today I bought a bunch of wnw products, two palettes, and five lipsticks in fact, and I wanted to test one of the palettes. After all, many are currently raving on them. I'm using the 6-color palette in lust. Most of its swatches have matte colors... which I find rather on the difficult side to blend :( or maybe it was because the brush I used to apply the purple was still damp from a cleaning... which explains why it's like that. :P Over all, it's a great and affordable ($4.99) palette found at your local drug store. Great color pay off. I think that Wnw has been stepping it up, ever since they came out with more pigmented nail polishes.  

So I tried Revlon's false eyelashes in 91168? (The less dramatic ones on picture above). On it's packaging it says "ultra lightweight" which I definitely agree on! I've never bought their falsies because I tend to go for the cheaper ones ($1 for the win!). I believe they cost $3.49, but they're really, really ultra lightweight so I might actually buy these. I've only seen them in certain drug stores... I think Walgreen's carries them. But what I loved best about these lashes is they're the perfect size for my eyes. ^_^

I went outside to eat dinner after putting on my make up (lol, I put make up when I get bored or have nothing else to do even though I have no destination to go to... people do it all the time!) and my grandma instantly noticed that my eyes appeared bigger. She complimented me on how she liked my make up, but really I think the cause of my bigger eyes were because of the falsies. I love these eyelashes, it's no wonder a lot of other bloggers love them too. I'm late when it comes to product wonders at times. 

Revlon falsies

Price: n/a (but I think they go for $3.49)
Product: 5/5 Ultra lightweight... an absolute love!
Packaging: 5/5

Wnw palette in lust
Price: 5/5 $4.99
Product: 5/5 Great color payoff.
Packaging: 4/5 because I think it could go without the make up applicators I never do use.

Now I'm going to review the Lucido-L hair curl lotion. It's always great to apply some sort of styling product to your hair before you curl it because a lot of times if you don't, your curls end up looking crisp. Always use a heat protectant though! It's supposed to create an "airy" (as its bottle says) curl, and it really does. I used Conair's 1" hair curler to curl my hair, scroll down for my results. The spray has a light scent that goes away in an instant. Keep in mind to set your curls with a hairspray because this product alone won't do that for you. I love Lucido-L hair products, I actually bought two other hair products (can't read them though... lol) when I went to Hong Kong and I had a great experience with them. Incidentally, I think Lucido-L is the female version of the popular male hair styling products under Gatsby... I THINK. 

Lucido-L hair curl lotion

Price: 5/5 $5.99

Product: 5/5 Smooth hair! Great!

Packaging: Along with the rest of the Samy hair care line, their packaging is colorful and eye-attracting.

(products not shown have been shown in previous posts) 

Products used
Foundation: MAC studio fix in NC44
Lips: Wnw matte lipstick in 915B
Eyeshadow base: UDPP and MAC paint pot in soft ocre
Eyelashes: Revlon falsies
Eyeliner: L'oreal lineur intense

(My cheekbones are highly defined, and a lot of times it seems like I've added contour to my face, but I didn't. :P I love exaggerating my cheeks by contouring it with Benefit's hoola bronzer, MAC blush in harmony, or MAC blush in blunt.)

Eyeshadows
Wnw palette in lust

Brows
Ardell brow liner in black
Jordana eye shadow in black

Review: Samy hair products

Walgreen's had a bogo free sale, and I just couldn't resist. I needed a heat protection spray for when I blow dry or curl my hair (I haven't been using one all this time >_<) and decided to get the ultra-lightweight conditioning serum for free. 

Samy heat guard: When blow drying my hair, this product leaves my ends really smooth. I spray a spritz on the top of my head and 4-5 spritzes to the rest of my hair. I don't have much to hype about it, but I'm guessing it does its job. :)

Price: 5/5 $5.99

Product: 5/5 Smooth hair! Great!
Packaging: Along with the rest of the Samy hair care line, their packaging is colorful and eye-attracting.

Samy ultra-lightweight conditioning serum: I love love love the smell of this. I've been applying it to my hair at night after I shower and I've been waking up to smooth and silky hair. I love this product. Sometimes I even re-apply it in the morning just because it smells good and it really lives up to its name. It doesn't bring my hair down, maybe because I use just a tiny bit of product, like half a pump.

Price: 5/5 $5.99
Product: 5/5 Smells great and works
Packaging: Pretty! And the pump is great!

Haul: Nov. 21 - nail polish, make up, lip conditioners

Behold, this must be my real first haul :) Most of which were bargained for (details throughout this post). Most products were bought on a whim and all were purchased in a span of 2 weeks. Sometimes I forgot to mention products that I buy on a weekly basis because sometimes I just forget that it even exists, lol. 

On a side note, I've begun to utilize iPhoto just for the sake of importing pictures from my memory card since it automatically puts them into a folder by its date. Then, I transfer by dragging the folders into other folders in my external hard drive because that's really where I archive anything and everything... it's my baby; it's my life! 

Well before I start talking about other things, I hope you enjoy. :) 

Color Club nail polishes

• Who are you wearing? 
• High society
• Best dressed list
• Charity ball
• Uptown girl
• She's sooo glam
• Ms. socialite

I bought these at Ross for $7.99, that'd be about a dollar plus tax for each so it was very much a steal. Fortunately this was the last one there, unless they restocked on it after I left. One thing that I don't like about these packs (this is my third Color Club pack) but then again it doesn't even matter to me is the fact that the nail polish bottles don't have labels of their color names on them. I'm really not the type to remember each and every name for color, so I don't care for it. It just sucks because I can't refer to the color for fellow bloggers to indulge upon.

This is a color test of the fourth nail polish in that line of Color Club nail polishes. The no-flash picture is more true to its color but I couldn't get a good picture of it due to the dim lighting that I currently have. The consistency is pretty alright and typical: 2-3 coats of nail polish. I needed 3 with this application because with just 2 it turned out orange. After all it's a brown with an orange undertone. I love this color, it's sort of but not really comparable to a nail polish color that came out with MAC's Tartan themed products. 

 

Sinful Colors nail polishes 

($1.99 each at Walgreens)

• Nail junkie
• Hottie
• Pinky glitter

Sally Hansen nail polishes

($5 for both on a bogo sale at Walgreens)

• Disco ball
• Purple pizzazz

All that glitters ain't gold...

I've been falling in fancy with things that glitter lately, and news on the block is that they're in this holiday season (when are they never?). All of these colors contain glitter and are perfect for a top color on top a base color for a cool effect because the colors you see are quite sheer and translucent, except for the last one which has more of its own color. I'm not sure when I'll get to give them all a test drive but I can reckon that it won't be in quite a while... lol. 

Korres lip butter glaze

($24 for a 3-pack at Sephora)

• Jasmine
• Pomegranate
• Raspberry

My favorite lip product ever is Korres' lip butter in pomegranate because of it's subtle color when applied on my lips. I purchased the pack at Sephora because it was a holiday special unknowing if they were going to be available for single purchase after that. Having to use my finger or find a lip applicator to use my original lip butter was too much of a hassle for me. I like squeeze tubes better and so I used my logic that told me it was a win-win situation... lol... help me. 

Aquafina lip balms ($5.99 for a 3 pack with a bonus lip oil)

I'm not sure where the other lip balm and lip oil is... lol. I have a habit of losing lip balms which is why I often buy more, and more, and more for assurance that I'll always have one or some. :) 

Next of the mash up is dedicated to my eyes.

Actually most of these prices are an estimation because I can't give you the exact amount because I don't know where my receipts are.

MAC paint pot in bare canvas ($16)

Paula Dorf eyeshadow primer in deep ($12)

The Balm batter up ($22)

Prestige eyeshadow in onyx ($2.50) 

Wet n' Wild eyeshadows

($1 each, originally $1.99 each but I had some coupons)

• Sugar
• Lagoon
• Penny
• Envy
• Kitten

Revlon contour shadow brush ($5.99 each but one was 50% off, bogo ftw! from Walgreens) I love these brushes. They're really good drugstore brushes, not too soft and not too stiff, perfect for the crease area and for blending.

Revlon precision lash adhesive ($4.99 at CVS) I love this lash adhesive. I swear that I have the worst luck with squeeze tubes because of my butter fingers that can never give a consistent amount on the whole lash... but this is love... for me at least because of my eyes. Prior to purchasing this, I had got to a cancer fundraiser and my falsies hadn't been applied at its best manner so I was forced to take them off because I forgot to bring the glue with me and in turn forced to look for a better, more reliable adhesive. 

Bobbi Brown lip balm ($18 at Bobbi Brown) This just caught my eye... just another lip balm for my collection.