I am currently staying in Louisiana visiting my family so the review will be posted on Sunday! (hopefully) I do start my job Monday so I might be slower getting things done on my site but please bear with me! Thanks!!! I am going to test out a bunch of the products tonight for a dinner with my parents & husbands parents! Gotta look my best so I can't wait to play with all my new products! Hopefully I can use several so that I can give you a well-rounded review on half of the products I bought. Please stay tuned to see my thoughts on my beauty spurge this past weekend!
Also... I have some serious Adult Acne that is not wanting to go away no matter what I try on it. I've never had a problem my enntire life with acne so this is hard for me. I don't know what I'm doing so I've tried toners, gels, creams, and lotions etc! You name it I've recently bought it and it has failed me : ( I don't think I have the typical acne but rather whiteheads - like these tiny bumps along my jaw line from my chin to my temples with a random pimple here and there. I've decided to go with the Skin ID program and have it being mailed to me. I figured since it's more specific to my type of acne it might work better than the Proactiv. It's a money-back trial so if it fails me then I'll order the much-loved Proactiv. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!?!?! I will be sure to add on my blog the Skin ID (plus questions to my skin indicating why i got the formula i did) and keep you updated on the results! I hope this works because I can't stand this feeling! Yuck! Should have the product in next week or so... I'll let you know what I think after the first week of trying it out. If you have used it before please let me know your thoughts on it! THANKS!
Ulta - Sephora - walmart shopping spree!
Over the past week I have been on a little shopping spree! I've bought tons of stuff to test out and I can't wait to write reviews on it all. Only thing I've tried so far is the Maybelline Baby Lips and I LOVE THEM!!! They smell great, they taste wonderful, and they work beautifully! They glide on like butter leaving your lips with a slight coating of color that doesn't feel heavy. I like to wear the grapevine (berry color) over the pink punch (bright pink color) so that it gives me a nice combination color. But both on their own are gorgeous!
I've never been to a Sephora before so I just had to go! I ended up finding the NARS blush that I wanted to try out and lucked upon an eyeshadow kit at the front counter. I swear they put stuff on those counters by the checkout for impulse buyers like me! I can't resist no matter how hard I try! They don't even try to rush you along to buy your stuff, they just sit back and watch as you go crazy with sample size and newly released items. I'm a total sucker! They get me every single time I go shopping! Anyways, thats how I came across the KAT VON D eyeshadow kit and I thought, why not!
I've also been tempted to try that Benefit They're Real Mascara so Sephora was out of it and I had to make a trip to Ulta again! Darn the luck, right? So I will let you know if it is worth the price or if you should just stick to your cheaper drug store brand that works equally as good.
The Burt's Bees Tips & Toes kit was part of a present for my belated birthday from my friend Tiffany (THANKS!) so I decided to add that into the mix as well. I've always been a fan of Burt's Bees products so I'm excited to test this out. However, I hate hate hate coconut everything coconut so the Coconut Foot Cream will not be tested. I'm sorry but I just can't do it! You will never see me buy or test any product that smells like either coconut or bananas... I just can't make myself go there. So I'm sure some lucky friend of mine will be getting some new foot cream to test out for me. Everything else is the kit is coconut free to my knowledge! Well, I guess that's about it for now so stay tuned to see my reviews on everything! THANKS!!!!
NARS Highlighting/Bronzing Blush
Laguna/Orgasim Color Duo What it is:
A blush-bronzer duo compact.
What it does:
These complementary pairings, ranging in shades from shimmering iridescent pink to deep golden brown, deliver summer's quintessential glow both with ease and convenience—anytime of year. benefit They're Real Mascara
Description:
THEY'RE REAL! lengthens, volumizes, lifts, curls & separates. Benefit cosmetics jet black, long-wearing formula won't smudge or dry out!
maybelline Maybelline Baby Lips Moisturizing Lip Balm
Pink Punch & Grapevine - Moisturizing lip balm with SPF 20 sunscreen
- Gives eight hour moisture plus lip renewal
- It's clinical care for baby soft lips
- Available in 2 clear or 4 tinted shades
burt's bees Tips and Toes Kit Fingers and toes need a little love? This amazing collection of rich creams and softening butters will do the trick. Seriously softening and happily hydrating. Your fingers and toes will thank you. • Softens skin with butters and rich creams Contains: - Almond Milk Hand Creme (0.25 oz)
- Hand Salve (0.3 oz)
- Thoroughly Therapeutic Honey & Grapeseed Hand Creme (0.75 oz)
- Coconut Foot Creme (0.75 oz)
- Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (0.3 oz)
- Replenishing Lip Balm (0.15 oz)
Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Shampoo Get the most intense smoothing yet from Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Shampoo. The formula with ultra-smoothing argan oil and apricot locks out frizz for a full three days, even in 97% humidity. - Smoothes for long-lasting frizz control and shine
- Stays sleek for 3 days, even in 97% humidity
- Moroccan argan oil and apricot
| kat von d Mini True Romance
Eyeshadow Palette
Little Sinner - Color What it is:
A set of four shadows that create mysteriously beautiful smoky eyes.
What it does:
Achieve Kat’s gorgeous smoky eye or get that rocker-chic look you‘ve been trying to perfect with this palette of four eye shadows, each with a deep, rich pigment that will make your eyes pop. From an iridescent white to pretty, pearlized hues, these luxurious formulas can be used wet or dry, alone or layered, to create numerous looks for both day and night.
This set contains:
4 x 0.05 oz eye shadows in:
- Galore (pearlized golden nude )
- T-Rex (pearlized olive)
- Swan Song (iridescent white)
- Brave Awakening (pearlized maroon) covergirl Smoky Shadowblast
Eye Shadow
#810 - Purple Plume n.y.c. SMOOCH PROOF
16HR LIP STAIN
#490 Persistent Pink NYC New York Color Smooch Proof 16HR Lip Stain stays put, providing a sheer to intense flush of color that sticks around longer than most guys in the City. This is no on-again, off-again relationship. Color stays faithful for up to 16 hours. not your mother's Beach Babe Texturizing
Sea Salt Spray Now everyday can be a day at the beach, minus the sunburn. Beach Babe has everyone fooled into thinking you just left the beach (you little liar!). It adds sexy, tousled waves and a light matte finish to any hair type. - Spray
- 8 fl oz
- Texturizing
- Dead sea salt and sea kelp
Sleek & Shine Conditioner Get the most intense smoothing yet from Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Conditioner. The formula with ultra-smoothing argan oil and apricot locks out frizz for a full three days, even in 97% humidity. - Smoothes for long-lasting frizz control and shine
- Stays sleek for 3 days, even in 97% humidity
- Moroccan argan oil and apricot
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overall look
| From my Ulta haul the other day... these are some of the test results. I will show you all the hair products that I used as well as the new product I tested out. I will also show you all of the make-up products that I used including the new items I bought. I'll let you know what I liked and what didn't work so well. Please forgive the picture quality - took it with my webcam and they aren't the best but they will do for now. If you have any suggestions on what camera works best for things like this please let me know - thanks! BTW flower & blue tank tops are from Target :D ENJOY!
hair
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Yes... I know I use a lot of hair products! I blow dry and flat iron my hair so I like to have as much in between my strands and the heat as possible. I have thin hair that is naturally curly. I need a lot of product to keep it weighted down and straight as well as healthy from all the torture I put it through. Since my hair is so thin and fine, it gets oily extremely fast! I like to cleanse the roots to avoid build up as well as get that oily crud out of the way. Then I color treat and style my hair often so I like to use oils and conditioners to help the ends from splitting. I use a Chi Hair Dryer and a Chi Flat Iron.
eyes
lashes & Lips
| eyes & cheeks
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My review
Okay, so here are my thoughts on the Smashbox makeup kit I got from Ulta as well as the Hemp Thickening Cream. I did use some of my basics from my fave product list, but this review is mainly about the new stuff. ENJOY!
HAIR PRODUCTS
I love, love, love this Hemp Thickening Cream that I got - plus I found it on the clearance, even better, right!?! A little goes a long way and I could see an obvious fullness and volume at my roots with this product. I will use this in the future and recommend you try it as well. Doesn't stink which is a huge deal with hair products for me. I don't want stinky hair so it has to smell yummy for me to even buy it. Weird, I know, but that's me! Secondly, the price on sale was about $12 but I think it was worth it. I like to combine drug store products with higher-end products to make an overall look. So I can't really complain about a splurge for a product that works when I skimp on other things. Drug store shampoo and conditioner, healing oil, blow out cream, molding cream/putty. I even think it has helped with the oiliness of my hair, if that makes any sense. I don't find that it is as oily today as it typically is after a night of sleeping on it. Only thing I used that was different was the thickening cream so I am guessing that is what is helping it? IDK, I could be totally wrong but I for one like this products A LOT!
MAKE-UP
When I was in Ulta testing out the samples I came across this Smashbox Beauty Kit. It was about $40 which I thought was a steal considering the eye shadows alone, if I bought all the ones in the kit, would probably have cost more than the kit itself. I've been on the lookout for a neutral eyeshadow without a lot of shimmer. Something calm and basic for an everyday look. Bonus was I've also been looking for a new pink blush so this kit had everything and more. I forgot to use the primer but I have a similar primer by Smashbox that I've used before and I would suggest it if you are going to be taking pictures or needing your makeup to last extra long. I personally don't use it for an everyday item because it cost a lot and I don't think the outcome is worth the extra step and money. I have combination/normal skin that isn't dry and isn't oily so I don't have problems per say with my foundation fading throughout the day. I do however have issue with my eyelids... I find them to be rather large and oilier than the rest of my skin. So I do use a primer on those before I apply eyeshadow. I used the MAC's Paints in a neutral shade after applying my foundation and powder etc.
I liked the eye shadows that came in the kit. I thought that had staying power as well as the nice matte look with the slightest hint of a shimmer. They ranged from a dark to light mix of shades of brownish-pinks. There was a nice pearl color or the highlighting and a variety of colors to play up or down the overall look. Like I said, this was an everyday, simple look that I have in the pictures above. Just something that you can slap on before running errands or if you are running late for work. Quick and easy without looking or trying so hard.
For the eye liner that came in the pack - yuck! I did not care for it one bit! It didn't glide on or have a nice color to it. I use brown liner all the time but this wasn't a pretty shade of brown and the pencil itself was hard to use. I felt like I was having to press extra hard and coat over and over just to get a faint outline on my top lids. I would not recommend using the liner or buying it separate from the make-up kit. I personally think that drug store eye liners like the one I mentioned in my favorites work so much better and are so much cheaper!
As for the blush, lets just say I was disappointed. I had high hopes for this blush but it fell short of my expectations. I love blush! I Dolly-Parton-It-Up on an everyday basis! The more the better and most the time I have to remember to calm down with the blush before I get too carried away. This was a gorgeous color in the sample and packaging but that was about it. It came off very, very faint and translucent. Not the kind of blush I like to use, but if you like a light dusting of pink on the cheeks then you might like this product. I felt like I kept applying and applying and didn't see a result. But like I said, I like to overdo it sometimes so I prefer the MAC blushes because they appear on the skin as they do in the packaging. This blush felt like some false advertisement - it looks like a bright, cheerful looking bubblegum pink which I thought would pop against my olive completion. Wrong! It was barely there and I was extremely sad that it did not give me the results that I was looking for.
But on a happier note... I have recently discovered tinted balms and lip stains and have fallen in love! Normally, I am a chapstick (carmex) kinda girl but lately I have been lipstick obsessed! I didn't even look twice at the lip gloss that came in the package to be honest. I was like ahh whatever just give me the shadow and blush please! Surprisingly the lip gross was one of my favorite items from the kit. It was rather "sticky" but it is a gloss so I suppose it's suppose to be. The color looks a little different in the packaging than it appears on my lips, which was a good thing. It was a pretty pinkish tone that made my lips glisten. Smelt decent and didn't taste horrible (no, I did not do a taste test but I would of known if it left a funky aftertaste on my lips).
Overall I think the kit was well worth the $40 I spent on it. The eye shadows were wonderful and the lip gloss was terrific! Like I said I haven't used the primer but I am sure it is just as good as the other one I have from the same name brand. The eye liner was a waste of space in my opinion and the blush was a let-down. But, once again, I'd like to say that the blush is a pretty color and gives a faint dusting on the cheeks that might work for you but didn't work for me. If this sounds like something you might be interested in then I would say to check out the samples that Ulta has on display. I spent, I know, 30 minutes in the store looking for the perfect eye shadow kit. My poor hand was covered in smudges of shades and shimmers by the end of my journey. So I had a decent idea of what I was getting into before I made the purchase. I did buy some eye shadows and a cheek stick from NYX that I will be posting up next to let you know what I thought of those.
BONUS:
I went shopping at Wal-mart and got some new things that will be coming soon to my next blog. I will be out of town for a while so I don't know when I will get a chance to post it. I will probably bring them all with me so I can test them out while I'm gone and write the review when I get back.
Okay I went to Target & Ulta the other day and went hog wild! I had to have some new items for my new job... obviously, right? Anywho, I was on the search for some new eye shadows because I can't seem to find the perfect one just yet. Also picked up some nail polishes that were on sale at Walgreens but I haven't tested them out yet. Today I am just going to upload the items and tomorrow I will try and give you a better idea on which ones I loved, which ones I liked, and which ones I'd suggest you didn't waste your money on!
Ulta & wal-greens
Target
Since this is my first beauty blog I figured I would start out with letting you know all of my favorite hair products and make-up. Now cute me some slack because these pictures were taken with my cell phone so they aren't the best quality. Along with that, the products are half used because they are my all time favorites. From this point on I should be able to just blog about the new products that I've bought to test drive. I'll post my latest haul from target and ulta next. I figured the best way to start this is to make a slideshow for each type of beauty item - ie: hair - makeup - clothes etc. I will list in the captions the name and colors that are shown. I will also list the items by brand at the end of this posting. Hope this gives you a few ideas of what works best. Please let me know your thoughts and give me suggestions on products to try next. Enjoy!
Okay... So I started to cheat and copy pictures off the product's website. You kinda get a half & half but you get the jest of it. I will list in detail tomorrow all of the brands and colors that I use the most!
Make Up!!!
Hair products!!!
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