Last haul for a while! Holiday buys

I like to think that I'm all shopped out for a while.... now that I have basically anything I've ever wanted to add to my collection there is no need to buy anything for a loong time. Everyone was right about shopping in the US, everything is so cheap! Except there's one little thing that is not mentioned to often and that is service tax, a % charged on top of your purchase, for those who didn't know. But in the end that doesn't really matter too much because everything is much cheaper than home & it's just like if the GST wasn't included in our products.

So anyway, in almost each place we visited I went to Sephora more than once. My Fiancee didn't mind once he found out they had free Wifi so that was good to keep him happy while I shopped, and in some places where wifi was harder to find, he actually asked if we could find Sephora which is something I never thought he would say! So we both won. I also enjoyed visiting MAC on a few different occasions and loved what most of the drugstores had to offer. So let's stop blabbing & get into it!

**Disclaimer: Sorry for the huge post with lots of photos. Everything bought was paid for with my own money & over a period of 5 weeks. I'd hate to come off bragging which I'm not because I'm just so happy with my new goodies!

 Palettes: Wet n Wild Going into the Wild, Too Faced Pretty Rebel, Smashbox Masterclass Palette #2. I was kinda hoping that Urban Decay would have released a new palette that caught my eye, unfortunately not but when I saw the Too Faced & Smashbox palette I knew I had to have both. The Smashbox one wasn't a hard decision as it was I think $59 when it's worth around $269. Perfect for traveling & in a makeup kit.

 

Single eyeshadows & bases: MAC Swissh, Aquadisiac, Steamy, Parafit Armor, All that Glitters, Nylon, Naked Lunch, Woodwinked, Embark. MUFE #92, Urban Decay Last Call, Revlon Diamond Lust in Plum Galaxy, Stila Smudgepot in Kitten, Maybelline Colour Tattoo's in Inked in Pink, Electric Blush, Barely Branded, Bad to the Bronze.

I didn't plan to buy that many single eyeshadows, but they slowly crept up on me, especially as most times I visited MAC I bought one or two haha. I'm soo glad I bought MUFE #92 which I didn't buy until last minute, and I decided to get more of the colour tattoo's instead of paintpots because they are very comparable.

 Eyeliner & mascara: Jordana Best lash extreme, Maybelline big eyes mascara, Maybelline Mega Plush Lash, Benefit They're real, L'oreal voluminous smoldering eyeliner, Forever 21 Love & Beauty Shadow Stick, Tarte Amazonian clay waterproof gel eyeliner & brush, Maybelline Colour Tattoo Pure pigment in Never Fade Jade (forgot to include it with others) Kat Von D Taboo liner set, Sephora Deco daze glitter eyeliner

Lip Products: MAC lip pencil's in Cherry & Lasting Sensation, Top row: MAC Angel, Snob, Impassioned, Ruby Woo, Maybelline Vivids Vivid Rose; Bottom row: Creme d' Nude, Please Me, Candy Yum Yum, Girl About Town, Maybelline Vivid Fuchsia Flash. MAC Snob lipglass, Nyx Butter gloss Peaches & Cream, Rimmel Show Off Lip Laquer in Apocalyptic, Nyx Glam Gloss Aqua Luxe in The Last Party, Buxom Full on lip polish in Katie, YSL Glossy lip stain #19, EOS Lip balms, Sugarfresh lipbalms. Also forgot to include the Too Faced la creme in Juicy Melons

Brushes: Sonia Kashuk brow brush, Real Techniques Stippling & Expert face brush, Lash & Brow comb, Eye Shader brush. MAC 168, 239, 217, 268, Eco Tools Bronzing brush

 Blush: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hr wear in Frisky, MAC Melba, MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Dainty, Stila Convertible colour in Petunia, Illamasqua Hussy, Benefit tints in Cha Cha, Sunbeam & Posie, NARS Torrid & Sex Appeal

Bronzer & Highlighters: Sonia Kashuk Undetectable in Rich Bronze, Benefit Hoola, Stila ALl over shimmer duo Kitten, The Balm Mary Lou-manizer, NARS The Multiple in Cocobana

 Foundations, concealer & powders: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in light, Revlon Colorstay Whipped, L'oreal True Match, MAC Face & Body, YSl Touche Eclat, NARS Sheer Glow, L'oreal True Match powder, Benefit Erase Paste, Revlon Colorstay concealer, Benefit Fake Up, MAC Pro-longwear concealer, Clinique Airbursh concealer.
I think it's safe to say I wont be needing any more foundations or concealers in a long time! I thought I may as well stock up since a) most are not readily available & b) they are double the price.

 Setting Spray & Powder: MAC Fix +, Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray, MAC Prep & Prime, Benefit Porefessional + mini & That gal, Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer

 Nail Polishes: Julie Nail Colour Cabana Boy, Wet n Wild Fergie Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night, Sally Hansen Instadry, Essie Pop Art Pink, Tart Deco, Bikini So Teeny, O.P.I Koala Beary. So I didn't go too crazy with nail polishes, as it was quite hard for me to decide on colours so it was a bit overwhelming. I do wish I bought a bit more O.P.I, I got this one as a backup because it's one of my faves!

 

 Perfume: Ni Amore XOXO, Brittney Spears Believe, Vera Wang Princess, Chloe.
I will be doing a more detailed post on my perfume collection which is now never going to run out haha as well as separate reviews on these ones.

Brush Cleaner- So I wish I had a look at the one from MAC but by the time I remembered I was after a brush cleaner it was a bit late but I found the Sephora brand brush cleaner & bought a few because they were quite small & cheap haha.

 So from the first time we visited Sephora I signed up for their club card... which was such a good idea because over 5 weeks I ended up earning over 600 points lol. I was also able to get a 'birthday gift' which was the Sugar fresh lip balms up with the other lip products, and at the end I used up most of the rest of my points with the MUFE sample pack. One happy customer =)

So umm I said there would be a lot & I think I delivered on that statement- and in case you're wondering I packed light but had to buy a smaller bag anyway, & kept all the powders in my carry on so I knew I would be handling them safe- especially as a (cheap & old thank god) blush broke in my beauty bag!!

Oh and to let you know, I think I stuck to my wishlist pretty well- considering that I didn't list everything I wanted, but I think I bought 7/10 items as I found some to be overwhelming or found other things instead. I also wish I went to Inglot!! But, no regrets! (I've also ordered a couple of limited edition palettes but that will be it!!

Finally- pat yourself on the back even if you scanned through everything I had written, & please let me know what you're most interested in hearing about first, but I will eventually get around to reviewing everything!

Take care loves
xx

Make Me Blush | Collection Part 1: Drugstore

So I've done my lipstick collection and that was over 5 parts sorted by their colours, now I'm doing my blush collection. I was actually going to do my nail polish collection first but that one will probably take the longest so I might leave that one till last. Not that I plan on doing it on absolutely every type of product you can have, I want to do the ones that I seem to collect haha such as lipstick, blush, nail polish, perfume & maybe eyeliners, but we'll see as I go along.

I have decided to break this up into 2 parts, Drugstore & High End. I definitely have a lot more drugstore blushes as obviously they are cheaper so I don't feel as bad to have multiple colours by the same brands. It would be way to hard to go by colour, and I was going to go by brand but since I only have a few of some brands & more of the others I thought it would be easier to group like this.
Some of the swatch pictures have been enhanced the tiniest bit with contrast as my camera washed out the colour, and the top pictures are natural light & the bottom are with flash.

Milani & Jordana

 L-R: Fantasico Mauve {satin}, Coralina {shimmer}, Dolce Pink {shimmer}, Luminoso {shimmery/satin}.

Jordana blushes can also be purchased from Cherry Culture & Beauty Joint and they have the hugest range. I am really happy with my colour selection although Redwood is the least used as it is easy to go overboard and look tooo flushed. They are so pigmented & are only $2.50!!!

 L-R: Redwood {matte}, A Touch Of Pink {matte}, Coral Sandy Beach {shimmer}.

 E.L.F

E.L.F can be bought from Beauty Joint & IKatehouse (only some products). I much prefer their studio line from their $1 one (more $ when bought in Aus, big surprise there!). I do not use their powder blushes too frequently but they're pigmented for $4 (note the similarities in packaging to NARS) but love the HD Blush as a base or on it's own. The shimmering facial whips' are ok but a bit too shimmery for my tastes, especially Golden Peach which I thought was going to be more of a highlighter colour but I find it too bronzy to wear as a blush or highlighter. For $1 who cares I'm sure friends or family wouldn't mind it!

L-R: Pink Passion {glitter}, Peachykeen {matte}, Headliner {liquid, matte}, Pink Lemonade, Golden Peach {disco-ball-like shimmer}

Nyx
Nyx is the first brand I started collecting when I was getting into makeup because I found a really good seller on Ebay who sells them in "bulk" so I could get multiple colours for a really good price. Has any body depotted their Nyx blushes or eyeshadows, I haven't depotted anything before and want to know if it's easy with these!

The cream blushes look nasty so sorry about that!

Their powder blushes can bit a hit or miss but I find these ones quite pigmented, especially with Pinky & Spice so you may want to have a lighter hand especially with such a bright pink! Angel would be a perfect summery colour & Peach is a misleading name as it pulls more baby pink than peach. They are $6 on Cherry Culture but if you want to get a few definitely look at the eBay seller I linked above.

 L-R: Angel {shimmer},Peach {satin}, Pinky {satin}, Spice {satin}

 Nyx's Rouge Cream blushes ($6 on Cherry Culture) are perfect as a base for other blushes but they go not last well on their own, but you can just apply translucent powder if you are happy with their colour. I used to use Natural & Glow with a stippling brush which made the product in the pan look horrible but now I prefer my fingers. I need to use Hot Pink & Orange more!! Except you need an extremely light hand! I also love the Stick blushes as bases but same goes as the cream blushes.

L-R: Natural, Glow, Hot Pink, Orange {all creme}, Orchid & Tulip {stick}

Bourjois & Assorted 

 I've found that after a few uses with the Bourjois blushes they can become dry & pigmented, so I have to scrape the top of occasionally as it develops a film on top. I had stopped using my older ones for a while because of this & found when I had gotten rid of that film they were pigmented again! They also have a lovely rose smell. The scrapping doesn't bother me as they will last forever!
I apologize that Bourjois may not be available to you but there are plenty of substitutions out there!
The Essence mousse blush from their Ballerina Backstage collection was LE & it's not something I reach for too often as it is quite matte so it would be good for oily skin, but if I do wear it I pair it with MAC's Pink Swoon.
I've posted about the L.A Girl Blushes before & don't have anything new to say, I think I will be finding a new home for them as I have similar colours already and they are nothing too special.

 L-R: Bourjois 16 Rose Coup De Foudre {Shimmer}, 34 Rose D'or {shimmer}, 54 Rose Frisson {satin}, Essence Prima Ballerina {mousse}, LA Girl Just Pinched {matte}, LA Girl Nectar {satin}

 I'm not sure if you can get this Revlon blush from I believe their A Floral Affair collection ( probably discontinued years ago) but I had found this in a dump bin & it was one of the first blushes I had so as you can see I don't use it enough.

This Fyrinnae blush is a loose powder and because it is such an extremely bright red colour it is so hard to use without applying waay too much! I dip my brush in it a little bit and tap off the excess & also onto my hand and it is still sometimes too bright, so for this reason I haven't given it enough love for the couple of years that I've had it, but don't want to throw it out!

L-R: Revlon Hushed blush in A Floral Affair (Peach side, pink, & highlighter side all swatched separately, and then together although I would only use the highlighter separately) {Shimmer}, Fyriannae Powder blush in Intrigue (Not on their website anymore, Sorry!!!) {matte}

Alrighty so that ended up being a bit more of a review then anticipated, but that's never a bad thing, right? Sorry that there is way to much to read but I appreciate if you just look at the swatches too :)

So I have waay too many blushes that are similar & I clearly don't really need any more but it's going to be hard to downsize. I can't pick any fave blushes but my fave formulas would have to be with the Milani Baked blushes and the Nyx powder, cream & stick blushes.

I will be posting my High end blush collection soon so stay tuned!

Whats your favourite drugstore brand for blushes?

xx

Lip Inventory 4: Nudes

This post has been the longest time coming! But here we are for the 4th installment of my lipstick collection, nude lipsticks. As this has been a while in the making I may have bought a few new ones since I've put together these pictures. I think my lip colour will be forever growing so it would be impossible to keep this properly updated.

Here are all my current nude lipsticks. Most of them look very similar and some are varying shades of nude that probably push the boundaries, but what the hey.

L-R. MAC Hue, MAC Myth, Nyx Black Label Lipstick in Nude, Revlon Lip Butter in Creamsicle, Revlon Matte Lipstick in Smoked Peach, Revlon Matte Lipstick in Nude Attitude, MUG Shy, BYS Champagne Rain, Nyx Round Lipstick Summer Rain, Nyx Round Lipstick Iris

Hue is a pink based nude, very creamy and can go on quite sheer if you prefer that look.

A light beige colour that is also extremely creamy, can you see the digs on the side of the bullet? It happens a lot to heaps of my lipsticks it is so frustrating. I find it sits on top of my lips so I have to use my fingers otherwise it settles in the lines but sits on top elsewhere, does that make sense? I also need to use a slightly darker blended lip liner otherwise it makes my lips look too stark or something.

This lipstick is so similar to Myth, however it is probably a bit more peachy, but it could still be a dupe. Still very creamy & opaque, but I find it doesn't last too long.

 A sheer & moisturizing formula, this is a milky-pink nude.

 This is not a typical nude but it is a matte formula and as the name suggests is peach toned & perfect for smoky eyes. I haven't noticed this being extremely drying.

 A matte true nude lip colour that is extremely opaque & perfect if you're after a muted lip colour.

 A MLBB with mauve undertones, nice with a light pink lipgloss over the top.

 This is the first nude lip colour I have ever bought (that is the end of the bullet right there) and I even bought a backup ages ago but took that out and lost it (typically it had to be the new one -.-). But I always thought this was similar to Hue, it is a pinky nude that is so creamy so I should swatch them side by side to have a closer look.

 Summer love is brown toned which in turn makes me look a little bit corpsy, similar to MAC's Honeylove which is another post. So not a fave, will probably swap away.

Iris is a frosty light peachy-nude colour that I am not a fan of on it's own but it is pretty over the top of a matte nude colour such as Nude Attitude.

My favourites out of all of these nude colours would probably be Revlon Lip Butter in Creamsicle, MAC Hue & Revlon Matte Nude Attitude for the perfect nude lips. However I don't think I have found my HG nude lipstick yet.

Stay tuned for my Berry/ Purple inventory coming up which will still probably be far away yet as I have to force myself to do lip swatch after lip swatch.
See Previous: Lip Inventory 3: Oranges & Coral
Thanks for looking!

What are your holy grail nude lip colours?

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