Beauty Haul

I have a lot of special event and commercial hair and makeup sessions coming up, so yesterday, I went out to restock the beauty products that I use for these occasions. Now, I know that high-end makeup, which I use at these sessions, obviously performs much better than drugstore beauty products. One reason being, the companies usually pay much more attention to ingredients and pigments. It does get very pricey, though (even with my MUA and cosmetologist discounts)! So I am always on the look-out for affordable "drugstore" products that are comparable to high-end makeup brands. Here are a few inexpensive gems that I found during my shopping trip...

Left: NYX jumbo lip pencil in "Pecan" and "Chaos". These lip colors glide on so smoothly and add just the perfect pop of color!

Right: Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow in "Tough as Taupe". This shadow really does last 24 hours! I never really use cream shadows because of how they tend to cake up in the crease of my eyelids. But to my surprise, this cream shadow does not crease at all... and I've been wearing it all day! I'm definitely impressed!

Left: Baby Lips balm in "Strike a Rose". I love the sweet smell and semi-sheer red pigment of this balm. However, it doesn't last as long as it says. At least not on me. I decided to just wear it for the color and still have my regular chapstick underneath it. Perfect!

Right: Sephora 12hr (waterproof) jumbo liner in "Beige". It. Does. Not. Budge. Seriously, I almost couldn't get it off even with a makeup remover wipe... and that's what I was hoping for! A+ for that, my friends. This particular color is really pretty too. I like to wear earth tone hues on my eyes, and this is a gorgeous natural color with just enough shimmer to brighten my eyes. I literally just flirtatiously fluttered my lashes while I typed that. 

This is what the Color Tattoo cream eyeshadow and Sephora jumbo liner look like.  I really love to mix matte shades with shimmery colors! These blended wonderfully.

Kevin.Murphy Anti.Gravity.Spray: This product is an exception to the affordable treasures in this beauty haul (i.e. It's a bit pricey). I ordered it a few weeks ago for myself, along with a shipment of other products I bought for the salon, and just had to share it. This product is great for pretty much any hair type! It adds sooo much volume. I posted a picture on Instagram the other day of my massive hair after using this product and blowdrying my hair. It was pretty intense.

Aside from giving incredible volume, this spray contains large amounts of vitamin C and E which adds shine, helps promote hair growth, and reconditions dry, damaged hair! So yeah, it's a miracle product. 

Nails Inc. gel effect polish: These days, I neeeeverrrr paint my nails. Partly because I'm lazy, and mostly because the polish chips almost immediately! And it definitely doesn't help that my hands are in water, chemicals, and products every day at work. It's quite frustrating... so unless I get a salon gel manicure (who has the time for that?!), I don't even bother. Anyway, as I was perusing the nail colors section in Sephora yesterday, I ran across this line of nail lacquer! It's not technically gel polish, but it's gel-like. It contains plasticizing agents that give it more durability, and you don't have to cure it under UV light! For me, it lasted about twice as long as regular polish, and that was without applying the Nails Inc. gel effect topcoat. I'm sure it would've lasted much longer had I bought the topcoat.

So tell me, have you ever used any of these products? What did you think about them?