a little ulta, sephora, & drugstore haul (and a dior addict extreme rave)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, lovelies!! Well, technically, it ended an hour ago, but I know the partiers have a few more hours to go (at least!). I spend the day at home and at work, but don't pity me, I'm a total granny and I wouldn't have gone out anyways! ;)  Totally unrelated to St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to share a few purchases I made last weekend. It was rainy and gloomy and Daylight Savings meant an hour of my weekend lost, so what better way to cheer myself up than with some new unnecessary (but totally necessary, right?) beauty buys? ;)

c.Booth Strawberry Fields body scrub & cleanser, c.Booth Ginger Sugar body scrub, Vitabath Cupcake Couture Heavenly Coconut Creme body wash

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser & Toleriane Soothing Protective Skincare

Dior Addict Extreme lipstick in 336 Saint Tropez, Sephora by OPI Betsey Johnson collection: Cartwheels on the Catwalk nail polish & lip print lacquer strips

Dior Addict Extreme 336 Saint Tropez (I seriously LOVE this! <3)

Dior Addict Extreme 336 Saint Tropez (outdoor lighting)

Dior Addict Extreme 336 Saint Tropez (indoor lighting, no flash)  

And I don't normally do this, but I've been wearing this color the last few nights I've worked, and check this out:

Dior Saint Tropez after six hours of wear (at work!)

That is about six hours after applying! Usually I reapply throughout the night, but I was so impressed that I felt like doing an "experiment" to see if it would dry out my lips.  As you can see, there are NO FLAKY BITS!! Hallelujah! It is definitely much drier than the initial application at this point (duh), but I love that the color seems to just fade down evenly and doesn't gather at the center of my lips (as SO MANY shades do - "so many" meaning all but like five I own...).

So, to answer questions about whether these are drying, I have to say my final verdict is NO. They don't dry out my lips during wear, and my lips don't feel dry after removing either. (I know some lipsticks don't have noticeable drying effects until the next day, but that's not the case here!)

I can see myself buying a second tube of this stuff, that's how much I love it. HG status, baby! <3

Sephora by OPI Cartwheels on the Catwalk

elf Matte Lip Color in Nearly Nude and Coral

Dior Saint Tropez, elf Nearly Nude, elf Coral

I forgot to take lip swatch photos for the elf Matte Lip Colors. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see lip swatches - perhaps I'll update this post with them later!

I also did a little video on this haul if you care to watch. Worst lighting ever, be warned!

Thanks for reading, watching, etc. You know I love you, right? Good. :)

xoxo,

<3 Jess

vacation haul + swatches (sephora, ulta, target, nordstrom, aldo, etc.)

Sephora:

Sephora cleansing pad (love this!!), theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer, Carol's Daughter Tui Moisturizing hair sheen, MUFE Smoky Lash, YSL Volupte Sheer Candy #06 Luscious Cherry, Boscia MakeUp-BreakUp cool cleansing oil, Boscia BB Cream, Sephora tinted body mist

YSL Volupte Sheer Candy in #06 Luscious Cherry

theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer

ULTA & Drugstore:

Oscar Blandi Dry Shampoo (colorless) - free w/ULTAmate Rewards pts, Revlon Colorstay Aqua setting powder (Revlon was BOGO 50% off), Revlon New Complexion one step makeup (like this to set my makeup, actually!), Wet 'n' Wild Gilded Age palette, Sonia Kashuk blush in Sunset, Philosophy Microdelivery exfoliating cloths

Revlon Craving Coral, Essie Too Too Hot, OPI Guy Meets Gal-Veston, Sally Hansen Without a Stitch

Sephora Favorites In the Glow kit - total steal!

Sephora Favorites In the Glow kit -

I'd been wanting to try almost ALL of these products for a while, so I couldn't resist this set!

Burberry Lip Cover in Nude Beige, Guerlain Rouge Automatique in 143 Nahema, YSL Rouge Pur Couture #23 Coral Poetique

Burberry Lip Cover in Nude Beige

 Guerlain Rouge Automatique in 143 Nahema

YSL Rouge Pur Couture #23 Coral Poetique 

MAC Cremeblend Blush in Something Special, Stila Convertible Color in Petunia ($4.99 at J.Crew!)

MAC Something Special, Stila Petunia

Unlike the other Stila Convertible Color I own, Gerbera (which is too dry for lips, in my opinion), Petunia also works really well as a lip color. Love it!

FREEBIES and SAMPLES! Score!

I actually had more samples, but I used a few - Kate Somerville Exfolikate Gentle and Ojon's new color-treated shampoo & conditioner (two packs of each) were notable ones!

The DDF Ultra-Lite Oil-Free Moisturizing Dew was a 100pt perk at Sephora, and I was surprised that it's a full ounce - the full size is 1.7oz! I've been using it daily and LOVE it so far - no breakouts to speak of, yay!

The Nordstrom tubs are the Estee Lauder Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator and MAC Studio Sculpt foundation (which I'm too scared to try - MAC foundations scare me!).

Trina Turk for Clinique makeup bag (GWP - Mom got this w/the Pore Refining Solutions serum she purchased, and she gave it to me - I love it! Each bag's design was slightly different)

(back view)

Jewelry from Aldo and Target (ring)

Aldo necklaces (the feather one and the one pictured above were BOGO free)

Aldo braid headband, Nordstrom animal print headband/wrap, J.Crew flip-flops ($9.99!), and Target belt

Aldo "Kemfort" tote

I actually got this tote for my Mom as part of her birthday gift, and seeing her use it on the trip made me realize how fab it is - so I bought one for myself, too! haha

Okay, so last but not least, I got this little piece of fabulousness:

Peacock pillow from Pier1 (rosette pillows from Target)

And since I posted that pic above anyways, I thought I'd share these other pics I took recently of my bedroom, for inquiring minds!

Okay, I suppose that's all for now! I'll be back soon with some recent FOTDs. Oh, and there will absolutely be a June Favorites post this month - I already have my list made! ;) 

As always, thanks for reading!

xoxo,

<3 Jess

haul (sephora, lush, topshop, drugstore)

Some things I gave in to from the past few weeks...

bareMinerals Pretty Amazing Lipcolor (in Free Will), Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Mutt, Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof liner in Rose Platine, Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner #11

I went to Sephora to make a return (YSL Volupte Sheer Candy in #3 Juicy Grapefruit - really disappointing!), but you know how that goes... They had loads of new products in stock, and after a loooong browse, I decided on three things. I'm happy to say I was really pleased with my little haul! The bareMinerals Pretty Amazing Lipcolor is like a lipstick/lipgloss in one, and the shade Free Will is a really flattering pinky nude (not brown at ALL, which is what I feared!). I've been using the Buxom Stay-There eyeshadow in Mutt over a base of MUFE Aqua Cream in #13 (a metallic beige) - I really love this combo!

I wanted the MUFE Aqua Liner in #4 (the teal/turquoise), but it was out of stock. Upon swatching the other shades, I fell in love with #11, a really unique burgundy. I rarely stray from black liquid liner on the lid, but shockingly, I've used this almost every day since I got it. It's surprisingly versatile, and I'm not joking, it does NOT move, smudge, smear, or flake. I still want #4, but I'm thinking I need a black, too.  It's that good.

While I was at the mall, I popped into Nordstrom, wanting to swatch the Chanel Rose Platine liner. Well, of coooourse it was gorgeous, and I couldn't walk away without it. So here we are.

Buxom Mutt, bareMinerals Free Will, MUFE Aqua Liner #11, Chanel Rose Platine

Buxom Stay-There eyeshadow in Mutt (I love the texture - spongey?)

bareMinerals Pretty Amazing Lipcolor in Free Will

 

MUFE Aqua Liner - such a precise point!

Lush Dark Angels cleanser, Ocean Salt (sample), Catastrophe Cosmetic face mask

I haven't bought anything from Lush in ages, but sometimes I like to go in the shop and scope out the face masks. I'd always wanted to try the Catastrophe Cosmetic mask (the blueberry one), but whenever I checked, it'd be out of stock! There happened to be one in stock that day, so I grabbed it, along with what is probably my favorite face cleanser/exfoliator ever, Dark Angels. I loooove this stuff (I've repurchased three times at least!). You only need a tiny amount, so this tub will last a good month or more (because I tend to use it daily...). It really helps keep my skin clear - I just have to be sure to rinse really well so there's no black residue left behind. And be warned, this is NOT to be used in the sink - way too messy!

Topshop lipsticks in Nevada, Ooh La La, and Coy - the rest were freebies! (hair pins, black felt liner - which is crap, some not-too-shabby face wipes, and a little bag)

I wasn't planning to buy from Topshop (their usual flat rate shipping is RIDICULOUS!), but they had a rare complimentary shipping promotion, so I took advantage and bought three lipsticks I'd had my eye on. They also had a promotion for a bag of freebies when you buy three cosmetic items - so it was definitely the right time to make a purchase! I really love the bullet lipsticks, but the pencil was a bit disappointing. It's very similar in color to NARS Bolero (which I expected, and as I looove Bolero, was part of why I wanted to try it), but it's much drier and less smooth than NARS Bolero. Oh well, at the least the other two are winners!

Topshop lipsticks in Ooh La La and Nevada

Topshop lipstick in Ooh La La

Topshop lipstick in Nevada

Topshop Coy (similar to NARS Bolero, but not nearly as smooth!)

NARS Bolero lip pencil vs. Topshop Coy - very similar shades!

CoverGirl Lip Perfection lipstick in Fairytale, Revlon Just Tinted nail polish in Dawn, Revlon Grow Luscious lash liner in Emerald

The nail polish purchase was out of sheer curiosity, but I'm so happy with it.  It's like a matte finish jelly, if that makes sense.  I used it with a top coat and it looked so pretty! Don't be fooled by the new lipstain of the same name - it looks like it'd be a pretty coral/orange, but it's actual a dark blood red/brown. Yuck!

Topshop Nevada, Ooh La La, Coy; Revlon Emerald, CG Fairytale

I tested the Revlon Emerald pencil on my upper lashline, and it wore surprisingly well without smudging.  It's also quite pigmented, and such a great shade (put it this way, I'm as much a sucker for this shade in eye products as I am for a nude lipstick).  

CG Fairytale (I didn't apply this very well! haha)

I practically never buy CoverGirl products - aside from their LashBlast mascara, I find most of their products to be below par, and besides, I think they are a brand that does animal testing (boo). However, this shade was hard to ignore after a while, as it looked like a dupe for two of my favorite red/corals, YSL Rouge Volupte #27 Rose Paris and Chanel Rouge Allure in Genial. I also think red corals are pretty universally flattering, and require so much less bravery than a straight up in-your-face red. I've gotta say I like the "flavor" of this lippie, too.  It reminds me of candy necklaces, of all things.

  

top to bottom: CG Fairytale, YSL Rouge Volupte #27 Rose Paris, Chanel Genial

Of all the items in this haul, I have just one regret - the Topshop Coy lipstick pencil. NARS Bolero is just better, in my opinion. But it's not a 100% regret, because having three items in my basket was what enabled me to get all the freebies... I think I'd just rather have purchased a different product from them instead.

What have you all bought lately? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading, lovelies!

xoxo,

<3 Jess