Sephora Haul, yay!

My newest obsession is Ebates. If you don't know what Ebates is, basically you sign up through them and shop through a link they provide, and you get cash back for your purchases. Anywhere from 1% to I think I've seen 18%, but only on ridiculous sites I would never order from. Sephora has 8% cash back on Ebates, so I placed an order [without knowing that they were going to be celebrating their birthday with a 12% cash back offer just days after I ordered, GRR]. Anyway. This is my haul.

oooh, the box. sidenote here, Asa opened my box while I was sleeping because he is a nosy shitconcerned for my safety because he didn't know what Sephora was. 

 the samples! Sephora lets you pick three free samples with every order. DKNY be delicious is my favorite perfume EVER. A mango body butter I probably won't use but will give to a friend. Girl meets pearl sample from benefit. then I had a code for the benefit's b.right skincare samples. I thought they would be bigger and I'm disappointed that I chose them over the code I had for a full size Buxom lipstick.

 the actual stuff I bought:)

 Korres lip butter in pomegranate. Everyone raves about these, but I'm not sold on it. plus 12$ for a lip balm is kind of ridiculous compared to my beloved Blistex that costs .97 cents!

 Benefit Feelin' Cheeky minis. This was 10$ and probably my favorite thing I got. The big bottles of these go for 24-28$ but I feel like I would never go through an entire bottle, and their shelf life is six months for high beam and twelve for the tints.

 here they are compared to a pocketbac from Bath & Body Works. These are limited edition btw, so I would buy them now if you want them.

 The Sephora Give Me Some Lip sampler. The mascara version of this is really popular but I have too much mascara as it is, so I went with the lip version.

 From Sephora's website:

- 0.01 oz Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Stick in Amsterdam (rosy nude)
- 0.1 oz Tarte Rise & Shine Gloss Duo in Mauve (muted plum)
- 0.12 oz Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lipgloss in Wallflower (nude creamy pink)
- 0.28 oz Lancome Juicy Tubes in Moulin Rose (sheer pink)
- 0.14 oz Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Pout (true color/ baby doll pink)
- 0.14 oz Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Precious (sheer petal pink)
- 0.02 oz Sephora Collection Nano Lips Liner in Candid Candy (pale neutral pink)

 Compared to the pocketbac again. I like the tarte lip stain so far, haven't played with the others yet!

anyway, there is my haul.
I ordered some scent shots from Candles by Victoria so that will be my next haul:)

giant enormous collective haul

see also, I have a beauty product buying problem. and I'm okay with that.
let's start with the crappy cell phone pictures [sorry, big camera battery died so these kind of suck] also, keep in mind that this is literally from the past 4 months or so and most of this stuff was on sale/clearance/under 10$

from left to right: alllll from target
some elf glosses that came in a set at Target but I lost one [these suck anyway]
new york color extreme lip glider in chinatown cherry
a bonnebell Dr. Pepper set with a tinted gloss, lip smacker, and clear gloss
Simply shine lip shimmer in ruby red
Simply lip balm in acai berry with spf15
love & toast lip butter in coconut lime[I bought this for the brand name. yep]
neutrogena naturals lip balm [I had an allergic reaction to this..boo]

left to right: from target, blog sale, walmart, and ebay
wetnwild megalast eyeliner in dark brown[sucks. so hard and pulls at my eye. no me gusta!]
MAC MSF in Redhead. [I bought this at a blog sale for 40$, don't judge. it was limited edition I think in 07 or 08 and I have been needing it since then. SO PRETTY]
jane no show concealer in no2/light
elf clear mascara/eyebrow gel duo
maybelline the falsies mascara in black drama
jane eye zing in hip bone
jane blushing cheeks in blushing orchid shimmer [when my walmart redid everything and updated they stopped carrying jane so I got all this stuff on super clearance!]
nyx jumbo pencil in blackbean
nyx jumbo pencil in milk

left to right: from target and walmart
Sally Hansen Insta-dri in blue away
Sally Hansen quick dry top coat [I thought this would be comparable to Seche or Out The Door because I read somewhere that someone used this instead, but it isn't. it's useless. not quick drying at all]
Sally Hansen HD polish in no9-byte [loooove this on my toes]
clean & clear dual action moisturizer

onwards to the better pictures [oh, btw you can click any of them and they should open in a new window as bigger pictures!]
I already hauled these but I'll show em anyway: both from target

elf brush shampoo and eye brushes

elf 32 eyeshadow palette in the bright eyes version


newer stuff! from target, walmart, and walgreens

Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail stickers
previously mentioned sucky Sally Hansen topcoat and wetnwild eyeliner
Hard Candy lash ink- 4 day stain mascara [I have a rant to do about this soon]
wetnwild 8 pan palette in petal pusher
elf blush brush and elf powder brush

this I just bought today! [target and walmart]
elf cream liner in coffee with mini brush
sinful colors nail polish in pinky glitter [this is a pink based with holo glitter. surprized and can't wait to try it. it's a little thick though]
Sally Hansen Insta-dri in presto pink [I only bought this because I though the sinful colors would need a base color]
Hard Candy glossaholic gloss in tipsy[pink] and fabulous[red] [these are HUGE glosses. think MAC wonder woman collection. they are pretty decently pigmented but my lips are naturally very pigmented so these only give a nice tint to mine. also, smell and taste amazing]
Hard Candy just face it 1 step foundation in fair[can't wait to try this]

blurry picture to show the glitter. the gloss has FLAKIES in it you guys. holo flakies at that and it looks so. freaking. cool!

OKAY! that's it:) I know it's a lot but I cleaned out my collection over the past few months so I figured I would add to it! if you want a review on anything, have a question about anything, or anything else, leave a comment or send an email:)

St Patrick's Day eotd

 it's easier to see the colors in these pictures. You can click any of them to make them bigger

What I used:

VS pro primer
NYX jumbo pencil in milk, blended out
Physician's Formula gel liner in green eyes- the green in the tower
Maybelline The Falsies mascara
Shamrock by virus insanity in the inner third of my eye
Drunken Leprechaun by virus insanity in the middle third
Kiss me, I'm Irish by virus insanity in outer third and in the crease
Rich Sable by revlon matte in crease
Cloud Coverage by glamour doll eyes as highlight

mermaid eyes!

I did this look last week and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Asa told me I looked like a mermaid and it matched Scarlett's outfit, so I rolled with it.

for the green, I used virus insanity eyeshadow's kiss me i'm irish wet, for the blue I used glamour doll eyes aqua foil wet, and then the highlight is glamour doll eyes white cloud.
I know I've been slacking again! I have photos edited to use in posts it's just getting around to writing the posts. anyway. until then!

virus insanity eyeshadows, first impressions

through another company on facebook, i caught out of the corner of my eye virus insanity eyeshadows. while looking through her albums, i saw the st patrick's day collection and nearly died of love. i love greens and golds, they are only second to my love of purple. jenn is the owner and is awesome. 

currently they are only available to purchase on facebook. i know some people are wary of that, but i promise this is legit. paypal is accepted or you can use the 'shop now' tab on her page. 

i bought the st patrick's day collection for 20$ including shipping. i chose not to get the glitter that came with the collection because honestly, i never wear glitter and it would be a waste. including the glitter, it would have only been 2$ more though. 

jenn is always having promotions on her page, like the
10 random shadows for 25$ or something similar. she posts them regularly so it's never hard to find a good deal to try the shadows out.

anyway! on to my package. which got here super quick! i received a shipping notice on march 9th, and when i went to get my mail yesterday, the 12th, there they were!

they arrived in a simple bubble mailer which i prefer because i have a little mailbox and bubble mailers always fit. 

inside were my pretties!

they were wrapped up tight in a ziploc bag that was taped so they had no breathing room. that's a good thing because loose pigments in the mail can be a big disaster if not properly packaged.

here's the bottom of the shadows^^

and here's the tops. the little white things are stickers over the sifters to make sure no product spills out of them.

close ups of all the labels.

unreal is a sample i received with my order. it's pretty common for mineral makeup companies to send a free sample with every order. it's packaged in a clamshell, which i hate. i feel they are too messy. much like sample baggies. i understand they are probably cheaper though and that's why so many companies use them. personally, i just wish they would go. away.

as always, i swatch over a primer. this is the one i used because this is my everyday primer. i swatch over a primer because i wear eyeshadows over a primer, so i would like to see how they really look. you can buy this at victoria's secret or their website for i do believe 8$. very similar to too faced shadow insurance, but that's another post.

on to the swatches! virus insanity describes the colors like this:

Shamrock: Shimmery white with green and lime glitter.
Kiss Me, I'm Irish: Bright green with gold glitter.
Luck of the Irish: Light gold.
Drunken Leprechaun: Light green with red iridescence.
Pot of Gold: Medium gold with lime glitter.

you can click these to make them bigger!

i swatched these with my fingers over primer.

can i just say that luck of the irish is the softest eyeshadow i have ever touched? when i dipped my finger in it, it felt so smooth and soft. like a soft buttery cloud, but better. they are super pigmented- the swatches are just me touching the shadow from the pot and then putting it on my arm. no packing on, just a touch. amazing!

can't wait to use them on my eyes and do a full review!

have you used these before? let me know what you think.

elf haul!

my target put out a seasonal elf display much like they did at christmas time, with a bunch of limited edition stuff. then i went to super target in pensacola and they had an actual elf area with regular line and studio line products.

i've bought a few elf products before, the 1$ eyeshadow brush [my favorite brush ever], the all over color sticks, and the giant makeup box thing i got for christmas a year ago.

so this week, i bought their brush cleaner for 3$, 4 studio line eye brushes each for 3$, a 32 eye shadow palette for 4.99$, and not pictured i bought a 5 pack of glosses for 4.99$ as well. both the glosses and palette are limited edition. all available at most target locations currently. you can also find elf on it's website, occasionally at dollar tree, if you're in the south i've found it at kmart and dollar general as well.the limited edition stuff is target exclusive i do believe.

here are so pictures!

excuse the mess. and yes, that is my stove. the kitchen is the only place with decent lighting after dark.

the outside of the palette

inside look

full on view. it has a mirror and sponge applicator. this picture also captures the colors most accurately. there's a more neutral version of this palette as well.

the brushes. these were really soft taklon. i was surprised.

after one use of the cleaner. i washed the brushes above.

if you click any of the pictures, they get bigger:)

if you want a review on anything, just let me know. 

until next time,

Updates && News

hi loves!

i apologize for being gone for so long. i've moved into my own apartment with my other half, and we had a baby, so that has taken over my life. thankfully i am no longer working so hopefully i can get back into the swing of things.

a few new things:

i am changing the way i review things to model temptalia's grading scale. you can read about her grading system here. any questions? just ask. i feel like it's a lot more streamlined and easy to follow.

i will be redoing my glamour doll eyes review to update it and follow this new scale.

also, i will be doing a first impressions, then a full review on lucky 107's eyeshadows and virus insanity's eyeshadows, along with my love letters necklace. i also have an elf haul to add.

i'm going to also start categorizing things differently. i'm going to try to focus on four main things: swatches, hauls, first impressions, and full reviews.

i changed my blog name, obviously. but now i'm also trying to make it pretty and easy to navigate. let me know if you have any suggestions.

i think that is all for this update loves:)