My First Ulta Haul

My best friend and I went on our first visit to Ulta today in Holmdel, NJ (great city by the way) and we thought the place was awesome.  As we walked through the front door we noticed that the cosmetics aisles were located on the left and the fragrances were located on the right.  We headed straight for the cosmetics aisles of course. My best friend said that Ulta reminds her of Sephora, but I don’t think so.  Ulta is so much bigger and they carry a wide range of cosmetic lines from high to low and lots of fragrances, skincare and hair care products…A LOT!

We walked around every aisle that held high-end cosmetics and swatched products here and there.  We then watched a MA make up a customer with Urban Decay cosmetics.  The lady’s face came out really cute.

After our little tour of high-end cosmetics was over we went looking for NYX cosmetics.  We both have been wanting that NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk and we were able to snag a couple.  We’ve been wanting this pencil for a long time and could never find it at our fragrance outlet store or anywhere else for that matter – I cannot wait to try them.   I also picked up a dark brown jumbo eye pencil as well and when I got it home, my 22 month old got a hold of it while I was taking haul pics and yeah, she made a little mess of it.  I won’t be able to line my waterline with it now, but it’s OK.  I need the practice filling in my waterline with a brush anyway.  Price $3.99 each, but I got a buy one get 50% the second deal.

We were then off to look around at more low-end cosmetics and we I found Eco-Tools (which was on my list).  I picked up an angled liner brush and a eye shader brush.  Both brushes are synthetic though, but soft and I’ve heard great things about both brushes so I thought I’d give it a try before I go for the MAC equivalent brushes.  I already have the Eco-Tools Powder brush (which is my favorite brush) so why not get more brushes in the same family?? Price $4.99 for each brush.

So, we were off again and I wanted to check out the nail polishes because I’ve been wanting to get my first bottle of China Glaze nail polish and the only color I found interesting within the inventory left was a burn orangey color called “Cruisin”.  It’s a beautiful, sheeny undertone type of burn orange and I love it. *****TOTALLY OFF-TOPIC, BUT I MUST SHARE***I was like I had to get it because today I ordered NARS Blusher in Taj Mahal which is a burnt orange blush and though I have never seen it in real life before, I love it.  I love NYX Cinnamon blush, which is an orange colored blush, but I heard that orange looks great on the cheeks of women of color so I decided to go ahead and order.  I will go more into the story as to why I ordered NARS blusher in Taj Mahal + backup once I get it in the mail.  I’m so excited.****OK NOW BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND****  Plus it’s almost Fall so this color fits the season so I’ll be sporting this polish on the 21st.  Price $6.50.

I wanted to get China Glaze base and top coats, but there wasn’t any.   I may have to just order them online.

After I picked up my nail polish, we decided to explore Ulta some more and my best friend eyes got caught upon the cosmetic bags shelf and made my way over to the skincare shelf where the sales where.  I didn’t get much of a sale, but I picked up Cetaphil Facial Cleansar that came with a free squeeze tube of Cetaphil Lotion.  I can’t wait to use it, starting tonight, as I need help with these breakouts I’ve been getting all summer.  I just wish it would stop.  Please excuse the flash off of the Cetaphil bottle in the picture, but it was wrapped in plastic so that’s why the flash bounced off so hard.  Price $9.34

That’s it!  I’m not sure what’s up with my camera today, but it’s actiing crazy.  Here are pics from my first Ulta store haul:

My Brush Collection is growing.

As I stated before, I have a love hate relationship with my Essence of Beauty Brushes, but I think I love them more than hate now. I’m learning how to work with them and they are great for the price. I will not throw them out. I’ve come to the realization that I hate dual brushes. I just don’t like how they look is all. I hate them.

It’s really sad that I have to report that the MAC logo and numbers of the brushes on my 239 and 217 brushes are rubbing off. I don’t know what’s up with that! I am so broken hearted. I am now careful to hold my MAC brushes on the ends of the wands when I’m washing them so that I don’t rub off the logo and numbers. So sad. They are still MAC brushes so it’s not really a tragedy, but it still hurts like hell.

Here is a pic of my brushes drying after their deep cleaning today. I use Johnson’s Baby Shampoo Extra Conditioning to deep clean my brushes. The only brushes missing from this picture is my Essence of Beauty Blush & Powder dual Brush that I don’t use because I don’t like it so no need to wash it and my Bare Escentuals Mini Buki Brush (which I’ve never used).  The MAC 224, MAC 219 and Sonia Kashuk Fluffy Eyeshadow brushes are my newest brushes. I have shaped them and here they are…

From left to right…

Eco-Tools Powder Brush (love love love)
Essence of Beauty Comb/ Eyebrows & Eyeliner dual Brush
Essence of Beauty Finishing Brush
Essence of Beauty Crease Brush (sorry the pic is cut off)
Essence of Beauty Blending & Eyeshadow dual Brush
Essence of Beauty Foundation & Conceal dual Brush

Bare Escentuals Flawless Face Brush (love love love)
Bare Escentuals Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush
Bare Escentuals Kabuki Brush
Bare Escentuals Contour Shadow Brush (love love love)

Sonia Kashuk Fluffy Eyeshadow Brush (I have yet to try this one out)

MAC 239
MAC 217
MAC 226
MAC 224
MAC 219

The next brush I’m going to get is the MAC 134, 109 and 209 brushes.

CCO & MAC Haul With My Best Friend!

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

Drugstore Mini Brush Haul

I went on a mini brush haul at CVS this past Sunday and picked up a few dual and small brushes made by Essence of Beauty.  Here are my drug store brand brushes that I’ve heard so many good things about…review is coming soon for each.

Essence of Beauty Brushes

From bottom to the top…

-Finishing Brush

-Dual Foundation and Concealer Brush

-Dual Contour and Face Brush

-Dual Blending and Eyeshadow Brush

-Dual Comb/Eyebrow and Eyeliner Brush

-Crease Brush

All of these brushes cost me about $23.00 all together so that’s not bad – CVS had them on sale for 20% off each.

I also stopped by Target on the same day to pick up some odds and ends for my house and got sucked into the beauty aisle.  I liked how the Eco-Tools Powder Brush felt (it’s so soft and dense) and plus it’s cute so I got one of those.  I don’t like the other brushes though because they were either too short (I hate short, SE type brushes) or they didn’t feel right on my skin.  I also picked up a Rimmel Eye Magnifier Waterproof Mascara when I was supposed to buy a CoverGirl Lash Blast instead.  I bought the Rimmel because it was on sale for about four and a half dollars so I say what the hay and picked it up.  I will also do a review on this too – I really like it.  I picked up a cheap eyelash curler because I never had one because I don’t really have any lashes to use on them – the curse of having Asian eyes – but whatever.  And lastly, I bought a travel sized Almay Eye Makeup Remover pads to try them out and yes, they work really well – again – a review about this haul is coming up along with all of my other hauls.  I just have to learn how to edit my videos!

Mini Target haul.

My Eco-Tools Powder Brush

A close up of my Eco-Tools Powder Brush

That’s all folks!