A Few Purchases

I recently scored two gift cards - one for Nordstroms and one for Bloomingdales - just in time for a make up binge shopping trip. I normally don't buy several products in one trip, especially not at department stores, so it was super satisfying to be able to get a bunch of stuff all at once. 

I figured I would do this quick haul as my last post before I go off to Cabo for a little vacay with my good friend Nisha, who also blogs =). Hopefully I can do a few vacation related posts while we're there? 

Anyways, I haven't used this stuff properly yet, but I can comment on my first impressions and show you how beautiful they are.

Lots of lovely things that I'm really excited about =D

My first Dior product! Yay =D. I originally wanted to get a blush, but I was a little underwhelmed by the color selection so I went for this gorgeous highlighting powder, amber diamond. It is so beautiful I don't even want to touch it. The packaging is so luxurious; the little velvet pouch it comes in makes me so happy. It's buttery smooth and the color is gorgeous - I can't wait to use this. 

I also got the Clarins instant light natural lip perfector in 02. I've been wanting one of these for a while, as many people say it's the best lip gloss ever. This pinky peachy color is probably my favorite shade of makeup, although it's very sheer so the color doesn't show up that much on my pigmented lips. The formula is light and completely non-sticky and I have a feeling I'm going to love this. 

I mentioned before that I love the Bobbi Brown long-wear cream shadows...so I got another one in the shade ballet pink. This one is a pale rosey pink color with some shimmer in it. I don't usually wear pinks on my lids, but this one is really light so I thought I'd give it a try. The color looks really pretty in the pot, but is not as striking on my lids. Still not sure how I feel about this...

MAC peaches sheertone blush. I'm surprised that I didn't have a shade like this in my collection because this is the color for me. It is also supposed to be a dupe for Illamasqua's lover, which I am excited about.

And finally from The Body Shop, I got this bronzer...for 5 dollars! It retails for around $18 and I was shocked because I have been stalking this out for the longest time - I would literally go into The Body Shop just to look at it, and walk out without it. This is the shade 01. It is matte and a lot warmer than hoola. It also has a really nice silky finish and good pigmentation. Love the gold packaging too =)

I am happy now, and probably will not be buying any more makeup anytime soon. Hope you guys are enjoying yourselves; I'll be back next week, hopefully with some fun posts!

~Vida

Imats Purchases

Shopping at IMATS was a very different shopping experience than I am used to. With dozens of people picking at the same things, there was not a lot of time or space to try things on, swatch every other color, and definitely no time to go home and ponder. I picked things up pretty impulsively, but I am very pleased with everything I bought. Anyway, let's get on to the haul:

I picked up two blushes at Inglot - face blush in #24 and cream blush in #88

The cream blush is so different to any cream blush I have ever come across. It has a very watery, thin consistency and blends into your skin so smoothly. I haven't worn it out yet, so I don't know about it's lasting power, but I imagine that it would feel really nice and light on your skin. I liked the powder blush because of the color. I was looking for a light pink/peach nude blush, similar to NARS sex appeal, and I found this one. It is pretty light, and I have no idea whether it will show up on my skin or not, but here's to hoping. 

I have seen several blogposts about these little tubes of paint-like lip color by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and I am so glad I got to see them in person and pick out two that I really like. 

Cha Cha looks exactly like my beloved Orange Soda lipstick by NYX and Interlace is a beautiful peachy nude color (though for some reason it looks more pinky mauve in the picture). These are really impressive - one tiny dab on my finger goes such a long way. They seem like they would be super sticky, but they are not at all and easily spread across your lips. I really like them so far, but their smell is a bit nauseating. Also, the packaging is annoying and can get messy because the product oozes out - when I first got mine it poured out everywhere and it was a b*$#% to clean. 

Lastly, I got a bunch of brushes:

The white goat hair pencil brush is from Confidential Brushes, which is such good quality. Their brushes are very similar in quality and style to the MAC brushes and I was very impressed. I only got one but there were so many others that I wanted.
The black crease blending brush, the angled blending brush, and the small stippling brush are all from Royal & Langnickel. They had every brush imaginable, with some very unique ones like this one, which is now my pride and joy:

How amazing is it? It is so soft and dense and the angle is perfect for the contours of your face. The quality of the Royal & Langnickel brushes is not quite as nice as that of the Confidential ones, but they are more affordable and are still very good.

And that is all. I'm actually surprised that I didn't get more things, but I am trying to work on my self control so I guess this is a good thing =P

~Vida

Haul: Allcosmeticswholesale and MAC

Hello everyone =) I recently ordered a few items from allcosmeticswholesale, which is an amazing site that sells a number of designer brands at a discounted price. They've got some really unbelievable deals and it is a lot of fun shopping on their site. I mainly went on there to check out the Michael Todd stuff, a brand that I was turned onto by Lisa from Lisasz09 on youtube. Of course I ended up with a billion other things in my basket, like a YSL rouge volupte that I eventually put back (regretting it? maybe). But, I finally narrowed it down and this is what I got:

Bobbi Brown Long-wear Cream Shadow - Slate

I am obsessed with all cream eyeshadows like the MAC paintpots, and I really want to try more from different brands, so I was really excited when I saw this. It is a really nice slate gray color with a hint of purple running through it. This is not very pigmented and is easily blended out, so it gives a very subtle smokeyness to the eyes. This has more of a cream to powder finish, which I like, but I'm not sure how it will hold up as an eyeshadow base. 

Michael Todd eyeshadow base

I have heard many good things about this eyeshadow base. I have never used urban decay's primer potion, I have only used paint pots as my bases. I used this yesterday and so far I really like it. It dries slightly opaque, creates a nice, sticky base and does not crease. I really like the doe-foot applicator too. 

Michael Todd powder blush - Lilia 

The color of the blush was a little different than what I expected from the pictures, but it is still a pretty color nonetheless. I think I was most disappointed by the blush, first because of the color and then because of the quality. It is quite powdery and chalky and barely shows up in a swatch on my hand. I haven't given it a good go yet, but I don't have high expectations. 

Michael Todd creme glace lipgloss - Natural & Perfect Mauve

I am really excited about these. They are meant to be lipglosses, but they have a much creamier, smoother texture and they go on very opaque. They are a mix between lipgloss and lipstick, almost like liquid lipsticks. Both colors are really pretty and wearable, but natural is more lipgloss-like, and perfect mauve has more of the lipgloss-lipstick hybrid qualities. 

Finally, I stopped by MAC and picked up the Viva Glam Gaga 2 lipstick, which I was incredibly excited about. 

I don't have the first Gaga lipstick, but this one is much more wearable to me. It is a browny nude, which doesn't look as unnatural on me as pinky nudes and it is super creamy. I am absolutely in love with it, and might go for a back up. 

Swatches:

So that is my haul. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while and I can't say that I will be posting within the next few days because I will be gone for a mini spring break vacation! But I am excited to come back and resume blogging.

I hope you guys are having a great week!

Some Sleek Stuff

I have been wanting to try Sleek Cosmetics for such a long time. It is a brand that is always talked about by UK bloggers, and from what I saw, I wanted it. 

As it is based in the UK, shipping from the Sleek website itself would have cost me 13 bucks, not to mention the website at the time was sold out of many of the things I wanted. So, I went on ebay to hunt down the items I wanted and probably paid an exorbitant amount compared to what UK natives would have paid, but it wasn't too bad and the important thing is I now have them in my possession...obviously.

Here are the items that I got. I didn't do swatches of the eyshadow palettes because I'm sure you guys have all seen them before, and if not, there are plenty of blogs and youtube videos that have wonderful swatches of them.  =)

The Original i-Divine Palette 

Storm i-Divine Palette

I haven't gotten to fully play with all of these eyeshadows, but from first impressions I really love the colors. The original palette is bolder than I expected, but I thought it would be a nice palette to have because it has a lot of bright colors that I would not normally buy individually. The storm palette is of course the more wearable of the two, and the one I was most excited about.
One thing I have to say, after just a few dabbles into these palettes, is that they look much prettier than they actually are. I don't think the pigmentation is that great, and the eyeshadows don't feel very smooth. Nevertheless, each palette is packed with 12 pretty colors so the convenience factor is a plus.
I still have a lot of experimenting to do before I can really make my mind up about these, but I really want to love them!
Also, I noticed that the packaging on the two palettes is different - the storm palette eyeshadows are raised with spaces in between the eyeshadows. Is this normal? Or have I got a weird palette (fake Sleek??)

Glo - Peach Shimmer

This is a beautiful peachy powder highlighter that is similar in style to the Bobbi Brown shimmer bricks. The texture is very soft and it is not glittery. I'm not really sure how I feel about this product yet. I'm not used to using powder highlighters, and I think I much prefer cream/liquid ones. Also, the color, as you can see, is a golden peach, which I don't think suits me for everyday wear.
I do really like that you can use each strip individually or in different combinations, and I think this could possibly work as a subtle shimmery blush.

I am still very intrigued in the Sleek Cosmetics brand, and would love to try more things from them!
What do you guys think about Sleek? What are your favorite products from them?

Inglot

I was so excited when I found out there was an Inglot in Vegas, as I've heard so many things about the company. Naturally, I had to go have a look for myself. 

The store itself is like a playground for makeup addicts, with rows and rows of eyeshadow, lip, and cheek colors.  Everything is really sleek and modern and looks really expensive, but the products are surprisingly affordable. 

With their freedom system, you could pick any one of their palettes ranging from 2 pans to 10 pans and customize the shape of the pans (circle or square) and of course, the colors and products. I stuck with the eyeshadows, which were overwhelming enough on their own. With so many colors, it's so hard to choose which ones you want. I ended up picking out the colors that I absolutely had to have and then choosing the palette that would fit them. I ended up with this:

Unfortunately there are no catchy names for the eyeshadows so I can only give you the "code" that is on the back of the pans. 

KE31CF                                                                KD29CW                                                             K123CJ

Yes, I only walked out with 3 eyeshadows! But if I had to pick more, I would have spent too many hours in that store. Each of the eyeshadows is the same size as a MAC eyeshadow and for all 3 of them I paid $16. Also, refills for the palette are only $5 each. 

I can safely say that I am obsessed with my purchases! The shadows are such good quality and they all have the same buttery smooth texture, even the really glittery ones like the one on the left. 

One thing that really impressed me was the quality of the lighter colors. Sometimes with lighter eyeshadows, the texture can get a bit chalky and not as smooth or rich as the darker ones. But at Inglot there were so many golds and shimmery champagne colors that swatched amazingly, like the light gold one that I purchased. The gold is the only one I've worn so far. It is such a unique color in my opinion and looks really nice as a wash of color all over the lid. 

The palette is durable, compact, and comes with a little mirror on the inside. I didn't really think about getting colors that went well with each other, but this palette would be great for traveling. Not all the palettes are of the same design though, some of the other ones have a translucent magnetic cover, which is nice also. 

I am really lucky that one of the five Inglots in the U.S is located in New Jersey, so I can conveniently revisit it again in the future. 

If you get the chance, you should definitely go to Inglot - it's just really fun =) 

NYX lipstick haul

Hey guys =) I wanted to share with you the NYX lipsticks that I ordered. I get my NYX stuff from this ebay seller, joy017. If you're having trouble getting hold of NYX makeup, this is a great place to order from. She has so many items in stock and many of the items come in package deals so it is extremely inexpensive. Shipping is cheap and very fast and all in all it was a good ebay shopping experience. 

My NYX orange soda lipstick was running low and I wanted to get a new one. Another NYX lipstick that I loved, Circe, was brutally destroyed in a washing machine accident - I left the lipstick in one of my jean pockets and threw it in the washer. It was a disaster for my clothes, but I was able to undo most of the damage. 

And so, I was prompted to order 6 new NYX lipsticks. Here they are:

So far my favorites are tea rose and pumpkin pie, in addition to orange soda and circe. 

On my lips tea rose is a deep pink color, almost like a magenta - not really very rosy. 

Pumpkin pie looks very orange-y in the swatch above, but on my lips it is a slightly nude, my lips but better shade. 

Circe is a really nice brown-y nude, which I say would work well on medium to darker skin tones. 

I love orange soda, but it can be too much if you just slap it on all over. It is a lipstick that can accentuate the cracks in your lips, but if applied sparingly and blended out with your fingers it is a really pretty peachy nude.

Strawberry milk is like the name implies a very milky bubblegum pink - a fun lipstick, but not for everday, at least not for me. 

And thalia is way too dark for me, but maybe I'll find some way to make it work. 

The color variety of NYX lipsticks are so fun and at such an affordable price they are addicting to buy. Some of the colors are not always spot-on, but they are definitely fun to experiment with =)

What are your favorite NYX products?

Look who's on the naughty list

Yesterday I went shopping for some Christmas presents (along with the crowd of other last minute shoppers...what a nightmare). I did end up buying the gifts that I had intended to, but of course it was one of those days where every store is stocked with the cutest things and irresistible sales were thrown at me left and right. So... I cracked and I bought a few things for myself. It happens to the best of us. 

It's actually a very small haul and that, I am proud of =) 

Urban Outfitters Blazer 

When I saw this on the mannequin, I fell in love. And when I saw it on the "$59.99 and less" rack, I knew I had to buy it. I love the cuffed sleeves that show off the pattern of the inner lining and I love the color, it's a bit more casual than black. 

Urban Outfitters Thermals

These thermals were 2 for $30. They are soo comfy and warm and I love the cherry pattern. 

MAC - Lord it Up, Black Swan, Taupographic 

I could not resist but get a back-up of the black swan eyeliner, seeing as they only had a few left at my MAC counter. I also picked up another pearlglide from the Tartan Tale collection, Lord it Up, which is a beautiful sparkly brown. And finally, I got my first shadestick in taupographic! I love this color; it's a shimmery, light taupe color that is great on it's own for a no-fuss subtle smokey eye, and would be a really good base for eyeshadows like patina and satin taupe. 

I also recently received my NYX order in the mail, so I will be posting about that soon.

I hope you guys have been better than I in this season of giving! ;)

It's my birthday and I can buy if I want to

My birthday is tomorrow (21!!!) and I thought it'd be nice to treat myself to a little present, especially after receiving a $15 gift card from Sephora for being a beauty insider! It was the perfect opportunity to get something that I've always wanted, but could never justify paying full price for. For me, this translates into a YSL Rouge Volupte. At $34 a pop, this is the big daddy of all lipsticks. 

Now I've heard loads about shades like Lingerie Pink and Tender Peach, and they are beautiful. But something about this one screamed "birthday indulgence"

No 30 FAUBOURG PEACH

It's the perfect bright coral with a hint of red/pink. I have pretty pigmented lips so when I put on lipstick the berry/red tones in my lips change the shade of the lipstick. I have been longing for a bright coral lipstick like Costa Chic or Jazzed by MAC, but when I tried those on, the colors did not show true on my lips. The Rouge Volupte defines opaque - what you see is what you get and that's what makes this lipstick so unique for me.

Excuse the frizzball hair =x

Ah! I love it and I'm so glad to have it in my collection =)

The $15 off only worked with a $40 purchase, so... I also got this nail polish

SEPHORA BY OPI HAVANA DREAMS

Teehee! Let the birthday celebrations begin...

Bling!

I love jewelry, but up until now I never really felt like spending money on it while shopping... I always gravitated towards clothing or makeup. I also didn't have a very good storage system so the jewelry that I did buy would be scattered around in different places or hidden away in a jewelry box so I never ended up wearing it. 

Recently I've had the urge to spruce up my jewelry collection and to add more bling to my outfits. Naturally, I have gone on a jewelry craze and I also got this cute jewelry holder to organize it all. I love it because it leaves everything out where I can see it, so I'm much more inclined to pick things out to wear!

Asos.com has the most amazing jewelry collection, most of which is very affordable, and this is where I got most of my goodies. I thought I'd show you some of my favorites out of the bunch that I got. 

ASOS enamelled ring with metal surround

I love this ring! It can be dressed up or down. 

ASOS skinny bracelet with hanging rose charm & skinny bracelet with skull charm 

These are separate bracelets, but I like them together. It's kind of girly meets punk. They're also a bit big on me so I'll have to figure out some way to get around that. 

Talullah Tu Swarovski skull stud earrings

I've wanted these for ages ever since I saw them on Tanya Burr's (pixi2woo) channel. These are the true definition of bling and they look so good on!

ASOS set of three pretty rose stud earrings 

These are so cute. I love the colors that they come in; the red ones are my favorites.

ASOS set of four vintage style rings 

All together they may be too much for me, but in pairs or even separately I think they'd be nice.

ASOS anchor stud earrings 

Mayan earrings from Francesca's Collection's

I absolutely adore these, they're so colorful and unique

Yellow flower ball necklace from Francesca's Collections

This necklace is so delicate and pretty, and surprisingly the yellow matches well with a lot of things 

And last but not least,

AE hematite cluster studs

As you can see I like a lot of different styles of jewelry. I did get a lot of gold and black, which I love because it's so classic. I also liked a lot of things with skulls, which is something I wouldn't normally go for, but these particular ones caught my eye =)

I hoped you guys enjoyed this, and I'd love to know what your favorite jewels are and how you organize them!