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?

Lush Review

I love LUSH cosmetics so much! Recently, I bought these fabulous products and thought I would share what I like about them. First of all, with my purchase, they sent me a free chunk of citrus scrub soap that smells so fresh! I haven't used it yet because I don't want it to go away!

Silky Underwear, with its jasmine and cocoa butter fragrance, is a light powder that left my skin feeling amazingly soft! Dab it on oil/sweat prone areas of your body to stay fresh and dry!

This Tea Tree Water spray is the most refreshing toner I've ever sprayed on my face! It has antibacterial tea tree and grapefruit juice to help clear skin of gross blemishes. Trust me, I get my share of them and this stuff keeps them on lock!

The Smell of Weather Turning perfume is soooo awesome. I am not at all a perfume wearer. I can never find a scent that I don't mind smelling all day. This one changed my mind for sure! It starts out sort of minty-sweet when you dab it on and then settles into a woodsy/outdoors type fragrance! It's that smell in the air when October rolls around. Perfection.

Have you used any LUSH products?

Click on the LUSH ad banner in my sidebar to check them out!!

Product Review: Julep Maven Box

I got another Julep Maven beauty box the other day! I'm sooo in love. So I'll tell you a little

 bit about what I received in this month's package...

Bare Face cleansing oil - This magical product has immediately become one of my favorites!

You squeeze about a dime size out onto your hand and massage it onto your dry face. It literally

wipes everything away! Even the stubborn purple haircolor that stained parts of my face when 

I recently colored my hair (I'm kind of messy when I do my own hair).

Nail colors - Daria (grey) and Karmen (sparkly reddish-gold) are super cute colors. I haven't

used Karmen yet...I'm waiting until fall actually gets here. But I have used Daria and it's such

a pretty, smokey grey. It lasts forever on my nails too! I painted my nails with this color a 

few days ago and even though I work all day with my hands in bleach, color, water, etc. it

STILL hasn't chipped off! I am completely amazed.

Sample Polish Remover -  This little polish remover pad makes taking my nail polish off even easier!

I usually just use polish remover and cotton balls, but I'm weird and hate how cotton balls feel (gives

me goosebumps when it makes a squeaky sound). Haha. So I'm definitely hooked on this

little product.

See...?? No stains! :) 

If you want to become a Julep Maven, click the banner below.

Beauty Review: The Vivids

So I saw a commercial for these Maybelline "The Vivids" lipsticks on tv the other day

 and the bright colors reminded me of my favorite lipsticks by Lime Crime! I just

had to try them out. When I got to the store, I saw that most of the colors were sold out.. 

They really are hot items right now, I suppose! Of the few that I had to choose from, I was

immediately drawn to the purple "Brazen Berry"... Mainly because I don't have any

lip color in purple. I am pretty impressed with this product! 

When I first applied this lip color, I was pleasantly surprised by the intense pigment. It

didn't take much to get this lovely, opaque color. I decided to apply it without putting 

chapstick on first to see if it was moisturizing at all, and it was! It glided on smoothly 

and I didn't even miss my chapstick.

After several hours of wear, the glossiness wore off but most of the color stayed.

It looked like a pretty, berry stain! I loved it. I would definitely recommend this

as an inexpensive alternative to some of our favorite, more expensive brands.

It's only $5.54 at Target