Properly Made Up

And I spent a little over $100 too.  It felt great.  I was in heaven.  I love my CCO (Jersey Shore)!  I did hear that the CCO in Phili has a great CCO too.  I may take a day trip down with my family for a day to check it out.  Maybe after my Rocky run I can swing by there.

I was too happy when I found that they  had Bright Future available!  I mixed that eyeshadow from the Style Warrior Collection when it had came out because it had been on my must have list for a while now.  I’m so glad that I have it now.  So that was the highlight of my CCO shopping experience.

I picked up a bottle of Prep & Prime (which I like better than Matte so far), a tube of MAC Matte (sorry I threw the box out because I can’t return it), two MAC blushes in Raizin (love love) and Well Dressed (which I’m taking back because it doesn’t show up on NC50 skin tone), two MAC eyeshadows in Bright Future (from Style Warrior collection) and Star by Night (from Starflash collection) and two MAC kohl power eye pencils which I cannot remember the name off (I’ll update later)… and a MAC 227 large eye brush.

Swatches!!

From top to bottom:  ??? and the bottom swatch is ??? (will update this later)

From left to right:  Star by Night eyeshadow, Well Dressed blush, Raizin blush and Bright Future Eyeshadow

I did not wait in traffic for 3 hours to go to Tannersville, PA Tanger Outlets this past weekend in the pouring rain, sleet and cold to hit up the CCO, but I did anyway (I really went to cash in on my 20% Coach Factory Store offer I got in the mail - I’ll post that lovely haul tomorrow).  I will say again how much I dislike this CCO.  They have a nicer selection of MAC eyeshadows than my CCO (Jersey Shore), but that’s about it.  I didn’t particularly care for the staff here either (the younger girls that helped me in the past were better than this set I had to deal with but that’s another story).  They are lacking in MAC products like it’s nobody’s business, but I am over it.

Anyhoooo!  I picked up three MAC eyeshadows ($10.25 each) and a MAC brush ($17.50).

From left to right…MAC Top Hat (a true purple color), Glamour Check! (a shimmery reddish-brown color) and Brown Script (a matte tannish brow).  Brush:  MAC 239

Swatches!

Long over due, but here it is (from the Fragrance Outlet & Cosmetic Company Store - CCO)…

NYX single syeshadow in white and lip glosses (from left to right in upper left hand corner of above image) in Cady Shop and Ice Princess

MAC Kohl eyeliner pencil in Feline (bottom right off above image)

MAC Greasepaint Stick in black (bottom right off above image)

MAC lipglass in Liberated… (Style Warriors packaging)

MAC 165, 134 and 129sh brushes

MAC 129sh brush w/ Fafi protective case

MAC eyeshadows in (top pan) Flip and (bottom pan) Bold and Brazen and mineralized eyeshadow quad in Fashion Patch

MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC50 and Mineralized Skinfinish in Perfect Topping

MAC Nail Laquer in (from left to right) Fluid, Naturally Rich and Firehouse

Not sure what’s up with me, but I’m forgetting to post hauls.  I went on a drugstore / MAC haul maybe a week ago…a day before the haul I posted last.  Ha!  I also got a new Sonia Kashuk Fluffy Eyeshadow brush I forgot to post about as well and I love it.  I won’t post a pic of this because I just bought it one day.  OMG! This reminds me of the Studio Tools medium eyeshadow brush I picked up too.  LOL!  OK so I got two brushes from Target that I am not going to post about, but I’m letting you know that I have them and that I love the Sonia Kashuk brushes better than my one Studio Tools brush.  I honestly haven’t used my Studio Tools medium eyeshadow brush enough yet so I haven’t learned to love it.  I will let you know!  Price: $4.99 (Sonia) and $2.00 (Studio Tools)

OK…moving on!

I was out of eye makeup remover (what a tradegy when you don’t have any and you have to remove your makeup!) so I decided on Clean & Clear Eye Makeup Remover because 1.  I was at Walgreens so I couldn’t get the Target brand ha!, and 2. it was cheaper that Neutrogena Eye Makeup Remover by 2 bucks.  It works just like the Target Eye Makeup Remover brand. *shrugs*.  Price: $6.00

Walgreens had Maybelline products as a buy one get one half off so I decided on mascara.  I always wanted to try Colossal and Lash Stiletto mascaras so this was almost a good time (I like BOGO better, but oh well).  I’m in love with Colossal and will pass on the overrated Lash Stilletto because it’s just plain sloppy.  It’s not as sloppy as Rimmel, but it’s sloppy.  Colossal rates higher than the overly overly over rated CoverGirl Lash Blast mascara (which I have but don’t use anymore).  Price: sorry…I forgot what I paid, but it wasn’t much.

I was tired of wasting my MAC Studio Fix Fluid because I was pouring too much out.  Once I pour product on my hand, I do not put it back into the container do product is wasted.  So, to remedy the problem I went to get a foundation pump.  While I was there I thought I’d give that MAC Kohl Power Pencil in Feline, a repromote, from the Style Black collection a try.  I was reading on Specktra that it is the blackest black eye liner MAC has.  I love it.  I’ve been using it everyday since I got it and I will go back to get a back up because I love it so much.  Price: $5.00 (pump) and $14.50 (eye pencil)

Here are pics of my drugstore (Walgreens) and MAC haul:

As usual, nothing worth a damn when it comes to MAC products at this CCO, but I always manage to find something to buy.  I never do much damage here, but what I picked up makes me happy so I can’t say that I’m upset about my purchases.

I’m going to be fair and give credit where it’s due.  This CCO has a great selection of limited edition eyeshadows.  My CCO, which is the bomb, sucks when it comes to eyeshadows so I thought I’d be fair and state this on the record.  I didn’t have time to go through any of the eyeshadows at this CCO, but next time I go I will be doing a major eyeshadow haul so look out.

OK so I picked up a MAC Creamsheen Glass in Partial to Pink which is just a joy to put on and wear.  It’s not sticky, it’s thick and it’s very pigmented.  Love.  Love.  Love.  The only con about it is that it doesn’t last as long as a regular MAC lipglass.  I paid $11.25 for this glass.  I also picked up the MAC Fafi #1 quad which I love and which I’ve wanted since I saw it online - Yay!  My CCO has the #2 quad which is glittery and I’m not fond at all about the colors in it so I passed on it.  The colors in quad #1 are beautiful and look great on my eyes.  Love.  Love.  Love.  I paid $25.25 for the Fafi quad.

And that’s all folks…that’s all I got which is weird because I’m known to spend over $100 on a CCO visit, but it’s totally OK because I saved some money. 

Here are the pics of my mini CCO haul…

Last Friday I went to the CCO…I make it my business to get there at least every two weeks to purchase items to add to my collection. I love my CCO! I hear it’s a very good one so while it’s still new and nobody really knows about it then I’ll be getting all the goodies all the time. Yay!

OK so here is my haul…

- MAC Fix +
- MAC Brush Cleanser
- MAC Hello Kitty Dazzleglass in Kitty Kouture
-MAC Passionate Eyeshadow
- MAC Petticoat Mineralized Skinfinish (MSF)
- MAC 188 Brush
- NYX Suede (had to have it - not a fan of NYX shadows - but this one rocks! Thanks ColouredBeautiful)

Everything was new to the CCO except for Passionate, Petticoat and the 188 brush. I was happy to purchase my first bottle of Fix +. I have used it a couple times and I must say that it does wake my face it. Makes it feel fresh. I spray it on before my face and eye primer.

OK so I love Dazzleglasses now. Who would have thought? They are not too sticky and they give this wonderful, glittery shine. Love my Kitty Kouture Dazzleglass!

Passionate eyeshadow is just a very pretty pink (it’s more of a hot pink, but when put on the eye it has to be built up in order to get that hot pink to come out which is fine for me). I am wearing it lightly today and it looks great with MAC Tempting and NYX Suede eyeshadows. My NYX Suede eyeshadow a single eyeshadow (it’s a matte medium brown color with very little shimmer in it) and I love it because it is very close to my skin color, it doesn’t go on chalky like the shadows in the trios and it makes for a great blending color when I need to really blend out my lines.  I, of course, picked it up at the Fragrance Outlet because my local Ulta store didn’t have this color in so I paid full price.  Awww.  But I Love.

Petticoat MSF is just beautiful. It comes out on my cheeks as it does when I swatch it onto my hand. It’s shimmery like hell, but it’s so pretty. I love using it.

Love love love…what don’t I love? Love my 188 brush. It is hella small, but it picks up just the right amount of my NARS blush. NARS blushers are highly pigments and my Taj Mahal is very pigmented. I was using my Essence of Beauty Finishing brush to pick it up, but it would pick up too much. My 188 picks up the right amount. I just need to dip twice and I’m done! Love!

I have yet to use the brush cleanser and I should be ashamed of myself because all of my brushes are dirty and have been for a week.  Gross.  Yeah, I know.  Anyway!  Here are pics of my lovely CCO haul!

I really need to start reviewing some stuff since I am a NW45, NC45 and there are not many reviews out there for people with my skin color. I’ll do that soon.

…I came back with a couple more things in addition to it!  I’m not surprised.  Ha!

I visited my CCO today because since my last haul I’ve been a little annoyed at myself for not purchasing  a Mineralized Skinfinish in Brunette when I picked up Blond and Redhead.  I was able to get it today and I must say that I love it.  The women of color on Youtube who I watch that bought Brunette were right…it is definitely a great MSF for dark skin.

When I swatch it it doesn’t come out chalky like my MSF in Blonde.  I sort of regret buying both Blonde and Redhead and I’m thinking about swapping it for something else on MUA or wherever.  I have tried them both a few times trying to work with them, but they don’t do anything for me that my MSF in So Ceylon (which I love love love) cannot do so…I thin they have got to go, sadly.

Someone suggested that both MSFs in Blonde and Redhead works well as highlighters for dark skin. Well, I found that concealer under my eyes works well as a highlighter and that my neutral and ligt brown eyeshadows work well on my brow bone.  I won’t say that I’m disappointed with Blonde and Redhead,b but they are just not for me.  Brunette on the other hand works well as a overall face color, as a blusher and brow highlight.  If I want to highlight parts of my face then that works too.  It does not come out chalky when swatched or applied which is weird to me because none of them should come out chalky if they are all from the same collection.  I’m not expert, but it’s what I expected.  Price $19.75.

Also, I’ve been seeing that Mineralized Skinfish Natural/Shimmer at the CCO too on the last two visits and I’m still trying to make a decision as to purchase it or not or to just go to a MAC store and just get the Mineralized Skinfish Natural in Dark.  Still thinking…I really need a natural.

Moving on, since my best friend and I are big fans of MAC pre-made quads, we had to get the Stowaways quad right away.  That was something new that came to the CCO since the last time I was there (two weeks ago) - Yay!  I noticed that Crest the Wave eyeshadow is in that quad and that is the same eyeshadow that came out in a recent collection that was released by called, “Makeup Art” (I didn’t get anything from this collection, but I will get Off the Page eyeshadow sooner or later because I’m really into the color orange right now).  It is a very lovely quad so I am happy with my purchase with this one as well.  Price $24.50.

Lastly, I came across a new addition to my CCO.  I was able to pick up a Viva Glam VI lipglass.  This was the one I really wanted two weeks ago, but they didn’t have it so I had gotten Viva Glam V lipglass which I really love too.  So now, I have V and VI…I want the others and I will definitely look out for them. Price $10.00

Oh and before I end this I wanted to add that I picked up a few Breast Cancer Awareness cards and ribbons from my CCO.  Estee Lauder donates to and supports the Breast Cancer Campaign and so do I.  I will be sporting my ribbon everyday in the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  The card is very informational.  It tells you things like get screened for lumps, to check yourself regulary, eat healthy foods, exercise, watch your weight, don’t smoke and drink less…which I apply all of these plus more to my life each and every day.  I registered to do participate in a walk coming up in mid-October 2009 in support of Breast Cancer Awareness…it will be my first walk for charity ever so I am very excited!!!!

And now…here are the pics of my haul!  Again, excuse my camera as it is acting really funky today.

So, the day after I said that my next haul will be from the MAC Black collection I ended up back at the CCO…not my CCO, but the one in Tannersville, PA and I must say that I was sorely disappointed in it.  They are definitely MAC challenged and deprived.  The selection was very limited, but of course I found things to buy.  They had no MAC Matte…and I really need that!  Bleh!  They had more pigments than my CCO though.  They had Cocomotion which I thought was neat.  MSFs were limited.  All that could be found were the natural/shimmer ones  I was not happy at all.

Anyways, to make myself feel better about going on that long trip (1 hour and 35 minutes) to Tannersville I purchased these items:

Shadowy Lady Quad
Tempting Quad
Silverthorn e/s
Haunting e/s (Alexander McQueen packaging)
219 brush

I originally had two lipglasses in my hands, but I put those back for the 219. I think I had a lipglass from the Blonde Brunette Redhead collection and a lipglass from the Heatherette collection. I’m not a big fan of MAC lipglasses so it wasn’t hard to make that swap.

Hubby put his foot down and went Principal on me and said “No More!” So it’s no more until the MAC Black collection or maybe even Dsquared. Eeeeek! And on a happier note…here are pictures of my haul!

Yep! My BFF and I hit up the CCO again for the 2nd time in two weeks. We won’t be back for a minute so it’s OK. Really. OK so here is what I got from my CCO and Fragrance Outlet (pics to follow)…

CCO:
-Two Fafi figures (I had one of them so why not have them all?)
-MSF Blonde
-MSF Redhead
-Spiced Chocolate Quad
-HK Pink Fish (backup)
-Viva Glam V lipglass
-Fafi Squeeze It Lipglass
-224 brush

Fragrance Outlet:
-NYX e/s trio in Tropical/Yellow/Lime Green (TS10)
-NYX blush in Cinnamon

The funny thing is that today I was telling my BFF about wanting a Spiced Chocolate quad so bad and once we were at the CCO she spotted it and went bananas. We both got a quad…there was only one left after we bought ours. Woot!

Also, the CCO had the Blonde, Brunette, Redhead MSFs in as new items so I got lucky there. I think that the Fafi Lipglass was always there, but I just spotted it today. I almost picked up a 165 and 134 brushes today. I think I’m going to go back on Saturday and get them. The 134 is the most expensive brush MAC has and my CCO has a few. They also have a bunch of 165s too which is being repromoted in the MAC Black collection launching at the end of this month. Sweet!

I’m still thinking about going to the MAC store and buying that 131 brush, but if I decide to try MAC Studio Fix Fluid foundation then I’m going to need a 187 brush. Hmmm. I am so used to Bare Minerals foundation and Bisque so I don’t know. Choices!

Enough of my rambling…here are pics of today’s haulage:

My next, next haul will be a fragrance and clothing haul for sure.

My best friend Lisa dragged me (oh yeah I was really kicking and screaming LOL) to my CCO because 1.  she wanted quality makeup and 2. she had never been before so we had to go last Wednesday night.

We arrived at Jersey Shore Outlets around 6pm and we literally stayed there for close to two hours swatching and looking through everything.  The people at my CCO are wonderful always!  I’ve only been twice and both times the customer service was phenomenal.  Everyone was eager to help us out there despite our being loud and going back and forth throughout the store.

Earlier in the day we had called down to the CCO just to make sure that the Fascinating palette from the 2008 Christmas collection.  I have it and Lisa wanted one too so we got it.  She really adores the smokey look so why not just get it all in one palette and save than to spend lots on pans at the MAC store?  So, that was a go.

We get into the store and locate the Fascinating palette.  An employee told me on the phone earlier that they had So Ceylon MSF in so I went and grabbed that and she grabbed one as well.  My best friend and I were talking about Gorgeous Gold eyeshadow some time ago because we saw it at a counter in Macy’s and it was a color we wanted so we picked that up at the CCO.  We made our way over to the brushes because finally they were all back in stock so we picked up our first MAC brush ever which is the 217 and I truly adore it!

Over where the brush display is I noticed that they had Hello Kitty stuff plastered down too. EEEEEEEEEEEK!  The last time I was at the CCO an employee told me they were all sold out of Hello Kitty so when we saw it we went for Pink Fish immediately.  I was kind of bummed because two weeks before I hunted down a Hello Kitty Lip Conditioner in Popster at Bloomingdales and bought that.  Had I gone to the CCO I would have gotten both Popster and Pink Fish at the discounted price, but how could I know?  *shrugs*

My CCO also had one of the Hello Kitty quads and my best friend picked that up.  Both beauty powders were available as well, but I passed because the compact is not big like the Heatherette one so I didn’t like it and I love my Smooth Harmony so I may just go back and get another one.  They also had the Hello Kitty mystery powder, you know the one with the Swarovski crystals in the compact?  Yes, that.  They only had two available at $68 bucks and I didn’t have the money for it so I passed on that.  It was a very good deal though.  There are were no Dazzleglasses unfortunately or we would have gotten a few.

My best friend bought two of of the Christmas collection lipglasses - I forget what they are called.  So she got 6 lip glosses (all neutral colors) and 6 dazzelglasses for $28 bucks.  The sizes of the lipglasses were half the size of a regular lipglass.  Still a good deal because these will last her for a long while.  She also got a compact of 3 lipsticks and another compact with 6 eyeshadows in it from the Christmas collection as well.

We hit up the MAC store in Shrewsbury, NJ at the Shrewsbury Mall because she wanted the 226 brush.  We also picked up a 239 brush as well.  I didn’t get a contractable lip brush, but she did so she ended up with four MAC brushes.  Sweet!

To make things even better, everything I got that evening my best friend paid for as a gift to me.  She said that I’m always helping her out and stuff and that I deserved my goodies.  Because of her I was able to get my first MAC brushes.  Yay!  I’ve been giving my Essence of Beauty brushes the evil eye for a while now because I hate them despite all of the rave reviews.  I do LOVE LOVE LOVE MY ECO-TOOLS POWDER BRUSH THOUGH - so go figure!

Here are pics of my lovely CCO and MAC haul with the Viva Glam promo card with Fergie on it!!!

239, 226, 217 MAC brushes

MAC Gorgeous Gold Eyeshadow

Hello Kitty Tinted Lip Conditioner in Pink Fish

MSF in So Ceylon

Swatches: Pink Fish, Gorgeous Gold & So Ceylon