Sephora & Ulta Haul!

After three months of using up tons of products, I finally accumulated enough reward money to do some shopping! In case you are curious, in order to curb my shopping and encourage myself to use up things in my collection, I use a reward system where I get $4 for every full size item I finish, $2 for every deluxe/travel size item, and $0.50 for foil packet samples. The rule is I can't buy anything if I haven't accumulated the money to purchase it. On a limited budget, I made use of some of my ULTA rewards as well as their BOGO sale on NYX items to keep myself in check.

The goodies!

As you can see, I went a little bit crazy with lip products but I am super pleased with all of them! The palette is from Mally and it's a blush/bronzer/highlight palette which I thought would be great for travel purposes.

First up, the Mally Shimmer, Shape and Glow palette ($40, 11.4g). I chose the "Deeper" option, but the "Lighter" option is very similar with a more champagne highlighter, a slightly lighter bronzer, and a pink blush. The highlighter is a really nice gold, sort of similar to NARS Albatross. The bronzer is a cool brown with a matte/satin finish, which is similar to Benefit Hoola. The blush is a gorgeous peachy coral with some subtle gold sheen. It's the perfect combo for the summertime!

  

I've been seeing reviews for the Too Faced Melted lipsticks ($21, 0.4 oz) all over the internet, and for once, the nude shade is one that doesn't wash me out! This is a really rare thing, so I knew I needed to snatch this up. This is a browny pink nude and the formula is divine. It's smooth and non-drying with a fuzzy felt tip applicator which makes application a snap.

Believe it or not, these are my very first NYX Butter Glosses ($4, 0.27 oz). The original line didn't have any colors that appealed to me, but NYX recently doubled their color selection and I went straight for two of the nude options, Praline and Ginger Snap. Praline is a pinky brown, while Ginger Snap is pretty much just a brown. I love the texture and scent on these, though they aren't very long wearing. These are perfect to wear on their own, or to pair with light nudes or brights that you want to tone down.

This was a new display in Sephora, and it's called the Luster Matte Long Wear Lip Color ($16, 0.14 oz). It was basically love at first swatch with this product. They are super slick and although they dry somewhat matte, they still have a really nice natural slickness to them and don't look dry. The formula is smooth and moisturizing, and doesn't emphasize fine lines. This color is a fall one, but it was the one I was most drawn to. Who cares about makeup rules, I'm gonna rock this vampy color whenever I feel like it! I hope to pick up some other colors once I use up more products.

I also picked up a Nano lip liner in Chic Choco ($5) from Sephora, but I couldn't get it to stop rolling long enough to take a close up picture. It is however swatched in the picture below :)

Everything in the haul is super wearable, and I have already started incorporating these products into my daily routine!

Modern Pewter

Please excuse the bangs, I didn't realize they were in the way until I went to upload the pictures.

Eyeshadow Base: Maybelline Color Tattoo Nude Compliment 90

Lid: MAC Modern Pewter Extra Dimension eyeshadow

Crease: Jane Clay

Outer V: Jane Willow

Winged Liner: Bobbi Brown Black Mauve Shimmer Ink

Waterline: MAC Graphblack Technakohl liner

Mascara: Too Faced Lash Injection (not really in love with this, but am going to keep testing it out)

Perfect Pink: Too Faced Pink Chocolate

As a general rule, I have a hard time wearing lighter pinks. For some reason my skin tone really pulls the pink shades out of lip colors (I have a hard time wearing corals that don't have enough orange in them because the pink is the only thing that will show up). For this reason, my "pinks" tend to be things that are like Revlon Fuchsia or MAC Girl About Town. Unfortunately, those kind of pinks aren't exactly the everyday kind so when I saw the promotional pictures of Too Faced's spring collection, Pink Chocolate immediately caught my attention. I already own two other lipsticks from the La Creme line, and they are buttery soft, smooth and quite moisturizing with a light sheen. They last about 3 hours on my lips, and Pink Chocolate has the same consistent qualities. Not to mention they come in lovely luxe gold packaging.

In the bullet, Pink Chocolate looks like a dark browny-pink, which is probably what it will show up as on people who don't pull pinks as much as I do. I think the color on it's own is lovely, but on my lips it actually shows up a bit "pinker" which I think helps make it a true everyday pink. On lighter skin tones this would be a phenomenal fall color.

This is seriously one of my favorite lipstick formulas, and there's a wonderful selection of permanent shades. If you're interested in pinks/plums, the spring collection is definitely something worth checking out :)

Matte Matchup: My Favorite Matte Eyeshadow Palettes

I LOVE matte eyeshadows. Don’t get me wrong, shimmer and glitter definitely attract me, but I honestly just get the most wear out of my mattes. Matte palettes are my go-to during internships where dress code is business casual/business since they don’t attract too much attention and tend to come in a variety of neutral colors. With that said, let’s get down to my top picks!

1. Meet Matt(e) Nude

I ordered this on sale through Hautelook (0.9 oz, $42 regular retail but I got it for $21). The eyeshadow portions are quite generous and there’s a mix of both cool and warm tones split amongst the 9 colors. The texture is very smooth and buttery, and while the finish is matte, I would describe it as a satin matte (similar to Lorac’s baked matte eyeshadows). I love how the names are all different ethnicities, and who can complain about a picture of a handsome man? This palette is really well rounded and includes a little bit of subtle color, pale yellow and grey purples, for people who like to stretch their definition of neutral.

2. Too Faced Matte Eye

This is the first matte eyeshadow palette I bought (0.39 oz, $36). I went into Sephora in search of a palette because I didn’t want to pay for individual shadows since that always ends up being more pricey. The sales lady immediately ushered me over to the Too Faced counter, and at the time it was the only all matte palette they carried. The palette contains 9 colors, all of which are on the cool side. The texture is once again, very smooth and buttery. The palette comes with “look” cards, which can be really useful if you are just starting out and aren’t sure what will go well together. The palette is laid out in sets of three to guide you if you don’t know what to put together. My only problem with this palette is that the highlight shades are much bigger than the lid/crease shades. I would have really preferred to have equal amounts of all the shadows. Too Faced recommends sweeping the highlight color all over the lid and brow bone, which is why they include a larger amount of it. If you love cool tones, this is a great palette to get.

3. Stila In The Know

Oh man. This is my favorite one. The colors are just so gorgeous and you can really build anything from a “no makeup” makeup look to a dramatic smoky eye. The palette includes 10 eyeshadows and a smudge stick eyeliner in halfmoon (0.49 oz, $39). Again, similar story for the textures. This is a more truly “neutral” palette. The only exception would be the color fire, which is a beautiful rusty orange and is amazing for warming up the crease. Most of the colors lean on the warm side, with only a few cool toned colors. I never get tired of using this palette and I find that the combinations you can create are endless. It’s a nice bonus that it comes with an eyeliner, which fits into a slot so you can carry it with the palette. The packaging is sleek and simple, and I love the earth inspired theme.

That wraps up my top three palettes. There are other matte shadows which come individually that I also love, but I really think you get the best deal in terms of quality and price when you go for a palette. Let me know what your favorite matte shadows are!

Photos of Products and Swatches!