Properly Made Up

And lastly in this bunch…

…I picked up some MAC staples which I’ve never had before, but really needed in my personal collection.

I picked up the ever so beautiful Up The Amp lipstick.  I also picked up two permanent eyeshadows in Saddle and in Bronze.

Here is a close up of my Up The Amp lipstick and a swatch.  I saw it on a girl on Specktra.net in an FOTD recently, who said it was her favorite MAC lipstick, whose skin tone was around an NC45 so I immediately added this lipstick to my shopping list.  I’ve seen Up The Amp on other girls, but not on women of color (where have I been?) so I was amazed at how beautiful it looked on her.  Price $14.00

Swatch!

Here are close ups of my eyeshadows (left is Saddle and on right is Bronze) and swatches (top is Bronze and bottom is Saddle).  And I was in desperate need of a blending eyeshadow so I finally picked up Saddle.  I bought Bronze by accident meaning I swatched it and immediatley like it because it caught my eye.  It’s a GREAT all over eyeshadow for when I need to go out in the evening and don’t have time to do my eye look properly. I  also do that with NARS Galapogos too, but that’s another story.  Price: $14.50 each

And in this bunch…

…I picked up a few things from the MAC Spring Colour Forecast collection.  I got two lipsticks in Radiccio (lustre finish) and Bronzilla (frost finish). Two lipglasses in Gold Dust and Kumquat.  I also picked up Vintage Grape ombre blush.  I didn’t get any of the single eyeshadows or quads because none of them looked unique to me. I went in wanting  Straw Harvest eyeshadow, but when I swatched it it came out more corally pink than orangey pink so I passed!

Here is a close up of my lipsticks (left is Radiccio and right is Bronzilla) and swatches (top is Radiccio and bottom is Bronzilla).  I love both of these lipsticks a lot and they were the only ones I liked from the entire collection. Bronzilla makes a great nude lip for me that gives some sheen to my lips so I’m in love with it.  Radiccio is such a sweet, frosty, pink purple that is so pretty! Price: $14.00 each

I do not know what happened, but I was so mad when I got home.  I was missing a lipglass.  I asked the MA at my counter to get me Lavender Wind lipglass and she did…it just never made it into my bag. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!  I know they are all sold out now so no need to cry over spoiled milk.  I wanted to put Lavedar Wind over Radiccio and Faultlessly, but oh well.

I, however, am not missing my Kamquat and Gold Dust lipglass and I’m happy about that.  I find that these two lipglasses are very pigmented and show their true colors on my lips.  I really love these two lipglasses a lot and they are unlike any other MAC lipglasses I own.

Here are close ups of my lipglasses (left is Gold Dust and on right is Kumquat) and swatches (top is Gold Dust and bottom is Kumquat).  Price: $14.00

Last, but not least, I picked up three blushes and the reason why you only see Vintage Grape in the picture below is because I ended up taking Azalea Blossom because it came out too light on my skin and I guess I’m too dark for it.  I also gave away Ripe Peach, which I totally regret now because it’s sold out everywhere, because it only gave my cheeks sheen.  I have a lot of MSFs that can do the same thing so I dumped it right away.  I should have kept it because the shimmer was light and it probably could have looked nice over another blush (I’ll never know).

I kept my Vintage Grape because it shows up on my skin and it’s beautiful.  It is my first purple blush and I love it.  I’ve been wearing it a lot recently.  It’s really hard to swatch so I didn’t because I find that I have to build up the color to get pay off, but the pay off is well worth it.  Price: $25.00

Haulage alert!  This is my last haul before MAC Liberty of London collection comes out.  I can’t wait for that collection to come out because I see a lot that I want for myself.

Back on topic!  Here is my MAC Spring Colour Forecast and some other stuffs haul.

Let me start off with the most exciting products I bought the day after they came out.  I’m talking about Viva Glam GaGa and Viva Glam Cyndi!  I went in knowing I was getting Cyndi, but after looking at and swatching GaGa I knew it would look good on me…NC45/50.   Both lipsticks are lustre finishes.

I am very happy with my new lipsticks although I’ve only rocked GaGa so far.  Ha! GaGa goes on sheer so you have to build it up if you want a hotter look.  I don’t do that or I’ll look like a fool. I totally missed out on the limited edition MAC Viva Glam GaGa makeup bag for $25.00, but whatever.  I’m mad ‘cuz nobody told me. 

The packaging for these products are kind of cool both having the signatures of the musicians.  Pure love!  I kept my boxes.  Price:  $14.00 each

From left to right…MAC Viva Glam Cyndi and GaGa:

Swatches! On the top it’s Gaga and on the bottom is Cyndi.

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

Unfortunately I am very disappointed in the fact that I didn’t want anything more than what I picked up from this collection, Warm & Cozy.  I am devastated that I didn’t want anything from the All Races, Love Lace and Lilyland collections as well.  Eeeeek!

So what this means is that I am not really in a good mood right now.  I had a list of stuff I wanted and I came up with that list from looking at bloggers/youtube guru swatches and reading the descriptions of each product from the MAC website.  I went to my MAC counter and I was only able to purchase two things…YES TWO THINGS…in good faith in the fact that I will use these products for sure.  If I had bought anything else I probably would be trying to make trades or sell by the end of next month from non-use.

OK so this is what I bought and I am very happy with my purchases.  Honestly, I am still thinking about picking up 5N lipstick from All Races and that Raven kohl power pencil from Love Lace.  I may just go back and get those soon.

Spiced Tea Lipstick $14.00 and 3N Lipglass $14.00…

Swatches!  On the top it’s Spiced Tea lipstick and on the bottom it’s 3N lipglass.

And I did very good this time around too.  I was happy to find everything in the clearance shelf  at Target that my wonderful hubby located this past Saturday.  Here is my haulage…

Well, I was gawking at this mascara (yep I’m late) called Telescopic by L’Oreal when Hubby came to me with this Eco-Tools brush set and my face lit up like a full moon because I love my Eco-Tools Powder brush and angled liner brush A LOT.  It was the limited edition Alicia Silverstone brush set that I wanted to get when it first came out, but I wasn’t able to find it at my home Target.  The box was a little bit beat up so I opened it up to check out the condition of the brushes and I found that the stippling brush was twisted and kind of damaged.  Hubby came back with another box and so we checked it out and switched the bad stippling brush out for the good one in the other box so it worked out perfectly.

The brush set came with a brush bag and four brushes (blush, stippling, angled shader brush and lash/brow comb brush).  I was happy to have come into this because I was debating on whether or not to purchase a MAC 187 brush which I don’t have, but need.  I have yet to try this brush out, but I hope it works just like the MAC 188 that I do have.  I don’t know the original price of this set, but I got it for $3.47!

There is also a bookmark that came with it that has Alicia’s picture on it that explains what she uses each brush for.  Included is a dollar off coupon on any Eco-Tools product.  I’m not sure what I’ll use it on…maybe another liner brush.

This brush I’m very excited about…the Eco-Tools Finishing brush (stippling) which is dense, firm and very soft.

I also picked up the limited edition Eco-Tools Earth Friendly Train Case which I love and what I’ll be taking with me on vacations.  I also go this lovely case for $3.74!

Another coupon…

Yes To Carrots…a brand I had never heard off until I spotted it on the clearance shelf.  I was able to get a stick of C Me Smile lip butter (berry flavor), a squeezy tube of C Me Shine lip gloss (flirty pink flavor) and a tube of C Me Blush lip tint (sunset pink flavor).  These products are 95% organic USDA approved (it says it on the products)…ummm ok.  LOL!  I never heard of that before.  Something is either organic or not, but anyway I am happy to try out these products.  The packaging also says, ” All Natural.  Free of  Parabens.  Three delicious and organic ways to nourish your lips.”  I’m not really into flavored lip products, but I’ll give them all a try for $2.48.

I also picked up two eyeshadows by Almay Pure Blends in Steel (a silver color) and Ivory (an ivory color) to try out because the price was so good on them. I never thought to look at these shadows before, but I’ll see what I can do witth them.  I swatched them and they come out a bit ashy.  I will let you guys know how it comes out on the eye when I get around to using them.  Price: $1.61 for both.

Swatches!  The top color is Steel and the bottom is Ivory.

Last, but not least, I got a Rimmel Shock32 Magnifying lip gloss in Amp’ed for $1.48.

I’m going to keep this one short.  NARS baby!

I figured I was in need of more NARS and since I love NARS blushes I decided to pick one up.   I swung by Sephora in my favorite mall (Willowbrook Mall in Jersey) and decided on Taos.  Taos had been on my list for a long while after I got Love Joy so I went for it.  Taos reminds me of Love Joy, but it has a brick red color in it with flects of gold glitter which is what I love about NARS - I love the shimmer and the pow of their colors.  Both blushes are different, but remind me of each other.  I was happy I made the choice to get it because it is beautiful on me and it shows up very well.  Price: $25.00

I also picked up a NARS eyeshadow.  Yay!  It is my very first NARS eyeshadow and that’s because I am a MAC eyeshadow hoarder.  I had seen this shadow time and time again and have swatched it time and time again, but never bought into it.  I know people rave about this shadow a lot so I decided to get it.  This color is goregous.  It is a deep brown color with flect of gold glitter in it.  I wore it today and it came up on me so beautiful!!!  I paired it with Glamour Check! by MAC — GORGEOUS!  The eyeshadow I’m talking about is Galapagos! Price: $22.00

Swatches!!!

I am totally in love with my purchases. 

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!

Hi everybody!!!  I haven’t been posting to this blog like I should, but I still have been hauling like crazy (of course) in while MIA so here goes a bit of a collective haul.  I collected these items over a period of about three weeks, I believe.

OK so I visit Costco about once every two weeks to pick up organic brown rice, organic spring mix salad, fresh shrimp cocktail, bottled water and to check out the beauty and skincare aisle.

So I’m on the skin care and beauty aisle and I run into Bliss.  I had never tried any products from Bliss before so this was a good opportunity for me to.  The package came with two products and they are called, “tried+blue body lotion pour le corps (a moisture milk with marine botanicals) and tried+blue bubbling body wash (with moisture-binding marine active)“.  And this is what the packaging says on it.  These products smell soooo so good!  I use these when I need some comfort and want to feel all cuddly.

These products do not do anything so don’t buy them if you want to exfoliate or scrub because you read on the packaging that they contain ingredients from the sea.  These products are simply “comfort and soothing” products.   The shower gel makes my skin very soft and makes me feel really clean.  The lotion is light and it really does moisturizes my body superbly.  I have used these before I go to bed so when I jump into bed…I feel soooo nice and I smell so good!  I paid $12.99 for both.

I also picked up the makeup removing wipes made by the Costco brand, Kirkland.  These wipes OK, but I find that I don’t use them a lot.  They remove most of my makeup, but I have to use two sheets in order to get all of the makeup off the surface of my face.  It’s not good with removing eye makeup and I wear a lot of eye makeup so that could just be all my fault, I don’t know.  I paid $14.99 for a four pack of 15 (I think) wipes.  Sorry about the blurred pic…not sure what happened.

Next, my wonderful husband bought me these from Costco…

It’s almost Christmas time so Costco has all of their gift items out and of course, they are selling high end fragrances.  They had D&G, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Juicy Couture and more.  My husband got me Princess by Vera Wang (which I love love love) in a 3.4 oz. bottle and on another visit to Costco, he got me Luscious Pink by Mariah Carey (which I love now that I own it) 3.3 oz.  Both fragrances for the sizes I have go for $72.00 approximately elsewhere.  I think they can be bought cheaper on Beauty.com, but their prices are not as low as Costco.

I’ve never owned any of these perfumes before, but I love Princess.  Every time I go to a counter that has it I spray myself all over with it.  I really wanted M by Mariah Carey because I love that one too, but they didn’t have it so I picked out Luscious Pink not knowing what it smelled like.  I now love Luscious Pink.  It smells so sexy.  I love love.  The only thing I don’t like about Luscious Pink is that it fades away kind of quick for a perfume.  I spray on my Princess and it lasts all day long and I can still smell it myself, but that’s not the case with Luscious Pink.  I am not one to spray loads of product on, but I have to do that with Luscious Pink if I want to keep the smell going throughout the day.  Also, there is no label on the Luscious Pink bottle at all - what is that about?  I wish the whole container was in glass, but it’s not.  The bottle is in glass, but the top (butterfly) is plastic.  :(  Take a look. Both fragrances cost him $45.99.

Moving on…I picked up a few nail polishes from Walgreens. I have a love for Sinful Colors nail polish over both OPI and China Glaze AND Zoya.  I don’t know, but I LOVE the colors and I love the staying power AND I love the price.  Each bottle, including the base and top coats all cost $1.99 each.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

So right now, I’m on Sinful Colors.  I picked up (from left to right) the base coat (love), Vacation Time (a creamy, opaque light coral color), Let’s Meet (a yellow cab color with flects of gold sheen) and not pictured Purple Diamond (a light lavender violet color with flects of silver sheen - very pretty) and Gorgeous (a royal turquoise metallic color - swatched below.

Last, but not least…I went on a visit to Ulta on Black Friday.  And although I didn’t get any Black Friday deals, I had to have these items.  I picked up Urban Decay’s Deluxe Eyeshadow Box ($36.00), Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide On Eyeliner Mini Pencils ($34.00) and Stila’s Kajal Eyeliner in Topaz ($18.00 and worth every penny!).

On my visit to the CCO last Saturday, I wore Urban Decay’s Honey eyeshadow on my lower lash line with Urban Decay’s Eldorado 24/7 eyeliner on my water line and I had gotten so many compliments and questions as to what it was.  Nice!!!  Love!!!  So I am loving my Deluxe Eyeshadow box.  All of the shadows are shimmery, but not overly shimmery and are easy to work with.  The colors are highly pigmented as well.  I really do enjoy this product and it makes me happy!  This box came with a mini bottle of Primer Potion as well.  To me, it works just like Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

PENCILS PENCILS PENCILS!!!  The mini 24/7 glide on pencils are short, but you get eight (8) different colors so IT IS WORTH IT TO BUY if you have never tried out the 24/7 pencils or if you don’t want to pay full price for just one full size. I didn’t want to pay for full size Urban Decay pencils so I got these.  I am in love with my MAC kohl pencils and Stile Kajals…anyway.  This was a great deal. The only thing I don’t like about these pencils is that they wipe away or dissolve easily/quickly.  I will have to definitely set these liners each time I use them.  I can usually get away with not setting MAC kohl and Stila Kajal liners most of the time.

I’ve only so far wore Eldorado (a 24kt gold color) and Corrupt (a dark brown color with gold glitter).  From left to right in the image below, here are the pencil names…Zero (a matte black color), Oil Slick (a very dark gray black color with silver glitter), Corrupt (a dark brown color with gold glitter), Eldorado (a 24kt gold color), Graffiti (a Christmas green color with silver glitter), Binge (a matte navy blue color), Ransom (a dark matte purple color), Rockstar (a very dark burgandy brown color) and Stash (a metallic dark brown color).

Stila!!! I am so in love with Stila Kajal pencils!  I fell in love with them way back when I got my first Kajal pencil in Onyx a while back when Sephora was celebrating their 10th Anniversay and it came in a Stila kit that contained a mascara, convertible color and a decorative can.  Now, I’m very much in love with the Topaz pencil.  Some time ago, I wanted to make my eyes look larger because I have chinky eyes and white eyeliner was not working out for me.  I am an NC45/50 so I was looking kind of crazy wearing white eyeliner.  Then months later I saw Michele1218 (my favorite Youtube guru) had hauled one of these pencils in October or November (I can’t remember) and she said that Topaz looks good with day looks and it looks great on skin of color so I was sold right away.  I love this pencil. It is a cream peachy color so it goes well with neutral looks perfectly.  I wore it only once and I got so many compliments on this one too.  Amazing!  I will be using this pencil A LOT.

And as for this mess below…I will explain that major CCO and small NYX haul later, but for now take a look at my new goodies!!!!

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: