Trip to the States Haul

Back in April after Easter my family and I took a quick shopping trip to the states so I have decided to share my makeup haul from the trip with you guys.

Everything I bought in the States.

Sephora in JCPenny and Ulta

Haul from Sephora in JCPenny and Ulta.

As I mentioned in my Sephora haul the other day, I absolutely love the Sephora Favorites sets so of course I had to buy some. I noticed that JCPenny sells their own favorites sets that are not available on the Sephora app or website so definitely check out Sephora in JCPenny for some different sets! The first set I purchased was the Let Love Glow set for $42 valued at $145. This set includes a deluxe sample size of the Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Sweet Cream, Fresh Soy Face Cleanser, Korres Wild Rose Brightening 24-Hour Moisturizer, L'Occitane Almond Delicious Hands, Origins Plantscription Anti-Aging Power Eye Cream, Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Gel Mask, and Tocca Florence Mini Rollerball. It also includes a full sized Boscia Tsubaki Oil Deep Hydration Hydrogel Mask, Caudalie Beauty Elixir, Farmacy Lip Bloom in Strawberry Basil, and the Josie Maran Cosmetics Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter in Vanilla Apricot.

The second set I got was called Blushing Beauty and was $36 valued at $112. This set includes a deluxe sample of the BECCA Pressed Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal, NARS Blush in Orgasm, and the Tarte Tarteist Glossy Lip Paint in Obvi. It also included a full sized Bubble Beauty Blender, the Lancôme Définicils High Definition Mascara in Black, and the Urban Decay Iconic Eyeshadow in Scratch. Finally, the third set I purchased was the Sun Safety Kit for $26 valued at $106. This set includes only deluxe samples and no full sized products, but they are all higher end expensive products where even some of the smaller sampler are worth $6. These samples include; the Dr. Brandt Skincare Pores No More Multi-Performance Stick Broad Spectrum SPF 45, Fresh Sugar Nude Tinted Lip Treatment Sunscreen SPF 15, Josie Maran Cosmetics Argan Daily Moisturizer SPF 47, Murad Invisiblur Perfecting Shield Broad Spectrum SPF 30, Peter Thomas Roth Max Sheer All Day Moisture Defense SPF 30 Sunscreen Lotion, Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 50, Shiseido Urban Environment UV Protection Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 40, St. Tropez Gradual Tan Tinted Body Lotion, Supergoop! Defense Refresh Setting Mist SPF 50, and the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer in Medium/Deep.

Next at Ulta I first picked up the Animal Koala Hydrating Mask Sheet pretty well for the reason that I absolutely love koalas so I jumped at the chance for my face to look like one. I also bought the IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream in Fair because I have heard so so many people talking about it and wanted to see what the hype was about and if it really is as good as people say it is. This is not available at Sephora in Canada and the IT Cosmetics website does not ship to Canada so this was my chance to get it to try it out! Finally, I bought two Spring Fling Products that were on clearance; the first was a set of three sponges for 99 cents and the second was an eyeshadow palette with 12 shadows also for only 99 cents. I think this palette will be perfect for travel since it is so small, the only downside on first appearance is that there is no mirror, but that is not a huge issue overall.

Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory

Haul from Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory.

First off I knew I had to buy the E.L.F. Hydrating Bubble Mask when I went to Target. Jessica Braun aka JamBeauty89 on YouTube has spoken about this mask a few times and with my mask addiction I knew I wanted to try this! Next at TJ Maxx I purchased the Boscia Green Tea Oil-Control Peel-Off Mask for only $10.99. Boscia is one of my favorite skincare brands and I already love their Charcoal and Sake peel-off masks so when I saw this I knew I had to get it. I also found a Tatcha skincare set for $29.99. Tatcha is an expensive brand that I have never been able to try before so to find this set I was so excited. This set includes their Luminous Deep Hydration Firming Serum, their Polished Classic Rice Enzyme Powder, their Supple Moisture Rich Silk Cream, and their Pure One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil. Next I went to Marshalls and purchased the Luxe Beauty-Care Signature Dead Sea Spa Treatment Mask just because of my face mask addiction. Finally, at Burlington Coat Factory I also bought face masks. I bought the SpaLife Retinol Anti-Aging + Hydrating 3-Step Anti-Wrinkle Treatment, and this set interested me mostly because of the three steps involved (and the fact that it was another face mask for my collection :p).

That concludes my haul from the States, I definitely recommend looking in Marshalls and TJ Maxx to find some higher end products for great prices! Thank you all for viewing my post and I will have another one up for you all very soon!!

Big Sephora Haul!!

 Over the past while I have purchased quite a few things from Sephora, most of them during the VIB sale, but all of this stuff was bought over a large period of time so I have compiled it all into this haul. Also since there is quite a bit of stuff I am going to break it down by category to make it a little easier. So let's get into the haul!! :)

The complete haul.

Sephora Favorites Sets

The different Sephora Favorites sets I bought.

First of all, I love buying these sets, they are a great value in which you get deluxe samples of products and most sets include one to two full sized items. These sets are also great for someone just starting out shopping at Sephora or diving into more high-end beauty brands to kind of dip your toes into a bunch of products. I know this is where I started when I first started shopping at Sephora and still gravitate to them now. They are also great if there are some more expensive brands that you can't afford, but a deluxe sample size is available in one of these sets to try.

The first set I purchased is the Sunkissed Glow set. This set includes a deluxe sample of the BECCA Pressed Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal, the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer in Luminous Bronze Light, the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer Radiance, the Milk Makeup Liquid Strobe in Beam, the Tarte Brazilliance PLUS+ Self Tanner, and the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer in Medium/Deep. It also included a full sized Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon in Ro(cocoa), a NARS Lip Gloss in Orgasm, and an Urban Decay Iconic Eyeshadow in Half Baked. This set costs $54 Canadian and is valued at $180 Canadian. To put it in perspective, the Urban Decay eyeshadow is $22, the NARS lip gloss is $33, and the Marc Jacobs Highliner is $31. So the price of the three full sized items in this set alone put together is $86. Also I think this set is great to get you bronzed and glowing with summer coming up.

The second set I got was a skincare set called Quench Your Skin set, which cost $59 valued at $180. This set includes a deluxe sample of the Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Intensive Eye Contour Cream, the Peter Thomas Roth Blue Marine Algae Intense Hydrating Mask, the Boscia Sake Treatment Water, the Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Oil Balm, the Belif The True Cream Moisturizing Balm, the Korres Wild Rose Brightening 24-Hour Moisturizer, the Nude Progenius Rescue Oil, the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask, the Fresh Seaberry Moisturizing Face Oil, and the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream (1oz). This set also includes a full sized Too Cool for School Egg Cream Mask and L'Occitane 100% Pure Shea Butter.

Next I got another skincare set called the Ultimate Skincare Vault for $46 valued at $92. This set includes a deluxe sample of the Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream, the GLAMGLOW GRAVITYMUD Firming Treatment, Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel which is three treatments, Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Face Cream, Fresh Soy Face Cleansing Milk, Laniege Water Sleeping Mask, and the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum. It also includes a full sized Caudalie Beauty Elixir, which I have yet to try but have heard good things about.

Finally, the last set I purchased was the Power of the Petal set for $48 valued at $94. This set includes a deluxe sample of the Caudalie Reserveratrol Lift Face Lifting Soft Cream, the Estée Edit Pink Peony Overnight Water Pack, Fresh Rose Face Mask, L'Occitane Almond Milk Concentrate, and the Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Pure Retinol Express Smoothing Eye Mask. Also included was a full size Farmacy Hydrating Coconut Gel Mask with Echinea GreenEnvy - Deep Moisture (cucumber), and a Karuna Age-Defying+ Hand Mask.

Palettes

Palettes I purchased.

Next I bought four palettes; three eyeshadow palettes and one face palette. The first palette I purchased was the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette which I have been eyeing for a while but never purchased. My younger cousin had asked me to order it online for her back in January and she kept going on about how much she loves it which gave me the final push to buy it myself. It has such beautiful deeper berry tones that I have not really seen in other palettes before. The next palette I purchased was the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette. This palette has been hyped on YouTube for a while now and I wanted to purchase it when it first came out last summer, but it was limited edition at the time and I was too late when I finally decided to purchase it. However, I am happy to add it to my collection now and have always loved the peachy shades and the fact that it smells like peaches. The third palette I purchased was the Too Faced Natural Loves palette. Not only does this palette have really pretty colors for the spring, but it is also a great value as Too Faced palettes usually contain 16-18 shadows and cost $59, whereas this palette contains 30 shades for $69. I am excited to try this palette out as I feel it is not as hyped on YouTube as other Too Faced palettes like the Chocolate Bar and Sweet Peach palettes. Finally, I purchased a face palette. More specifically I purchased the BECCA and Chrissy Teigan collaboration palette. This is the first product I have purchased from BECCA and I just couldn't resist, it looks so pretty and I can't wait to start playing with it and review it for you guys!!

Skincare

Skincare products I purchased.

Since I am obsessed with skincare and it is so important I had to purchase some skincare products to try. First off, I noticed that all four of the GLAMGLOW cleansers were on sale on the Sephora app and with the VIB sale I was able to get an extra 15% off them. I have started using these cleansers already and plan on doing a battle of the GLAMGLOW cleansers for you guys to give the pros and cons of each one. Also, since they have been talked about a lot on YouTube lately, I had to buy one of the new Dr. Jart+ Rubber Face Masks to try, specifically the firming one. The next item I bought was something I bought purely because it caught my eye and intrigued me. The Brightening Sparkling Capsule Mist by Laniege is a face mist that is supposed to hydrate, refresh, and bring a cooling sensation to the skin. However, what intrigued me most about this product was that it comes with two tablets that you let dissolve in the bottle and it is said that it works best within the first six months of activating the capsules. I am a sucker for anything interesting and different so this really caught my eye and I am excited to try it! Finally, I purchased the Boscia MakeUp-BreakUp Cool Cleansing Oil. There is no particular reason why I bought this cleanser, it was more of an impulse item, but this is one of my favorite skincare brands and I always love trying new stuff from them.

Makeup/Other

All makeup and other products I bought.

Since Milk Makeup is a newer brand I wanted to buy some of their products to try out. I purchased a mini lipstick in the shade C.R.E.A.M. and two mini duo sets; one with their Sunshine Oil and their Cooling Water Stick and the other with their Liquid Strobe Highlight in Beam and their Matte Stick Bronzer in Baked. Next I purchased the Cover FX Illuminating Setting Spray as per the suggestion of Tati Westbrook aka Glam Life Guru during her review of new setting sprays. I am always looking to try new setting sprays and if Tati suggested it then I know I have to try it! I also purchased the new Benefit Hoola Cream-to-Powder Quickie Contour Stick, which I am very excited to try, and one of the new Smashbox Be Legendary Metallic Liquid Lipsticks in Mauve Squad since I've been obsessed with metallic liquid lipsticks lately. In addition, I bought the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask as it was suggested by RachhLoves on YouTube. I have already started using this product and I love it and have already seen a difference in my lips. It is nice and smooth and not too thick and sticky like some other lip masks, plus it comes with a cute little spatula and case for the spatula so that you do not have to stick your fingers into the jar. Finally I bought one of the new Bite Beauty Lip Pencils in the shade 42 and the Bite Beauty Love, Bite Lip Set. Bite is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, brand of lipsticks so I am excited to try all these new products from them!!

That concludes my Sephora haul and I will keep you all updated as I try out these products and will have some dedicated posts for some of these items. Thank you all for viewing my post and I will have another one up for you all soon!!

Shop Miss A: AOA Wonder Metals Swatches and Review

I have recently become obsessed with metallic liquid lipsticks and just recently hauled these ones so here are arm and lip swatches of all 24 shades of the AOA Wonder Metal liquid lipsticks from the site Shop Miss A, with a review at the end.

Swatches

Swatches of the first 12 shades.

Swatches of the second 12 shades.

AOA Wonder Metal in OMG (2201)

AOA Wonder Metal in Aura (2202)

AOA Wonder Metal in Diamond (2203)

AOA Wonder Metal in Cyber (2204)

AOA Wonder Metal in Saint (2205)

AOA Wonder Metal in Forever (2206)

AOA Wonder Metal in Icey (2207)

AOA Wonder Metal in YASS (2208)

AOA Wonder Metal in Princess (2209)

AOA Wonder Metal in Moon (2210)

AOA Wonder Metal in VIP (2211)

AOA Wonder Metal in Digital (2212)

AOA Wonder Metal in Candy (2213)

AOA Wonder Metal in Unicorn (2214)

AOA Wonder Metal in Obsessed (2215)

AOA Wonder Metal in Sleek (2216)

AOA Wonder Metal in Vanity (2217)

AOA Wonder Metal in Solo (2218)

AOA Wonder Metal in Naughty (2219)

AOA Wonder Metal in Truffle (2220)

AOA Wonder Metal in Cosmo (2221)

AOA Wonder Metal in Dazzle (2222)

AOA Wonder Metal in Bella (2223)

AOA Wonder Metal in Rouge (2224)

Review

Overall, these all applied really smoothly and dried quickly and for the most part were transfer proof, but still easy to remove compared to other liquid lipsticks. I am going to start off by sharing some of my favorite shades. I actually really loved Diamond (2203), it was a beautiful almost rose gold color that I immediately loved when I put it on. I also enjoyed Forever (2206), which was kind of a nice metallic mauve color, which I tend to be drawn towards mauve shades anyways. I also loved Solo (2218), it was really different and almost had a greenish blue undertone to it and was really unique, if you are looking for something different I would definitely recommend this one! Finally, another favorite of mine was Naughty (2219), it is sort of a red velvet kind of shade that I loved; however, it was not as metallic as most of the other shades, which I will further discuss in a moment.

Although with these being so metallic compared to other metallic liquid lipsticks not all of them may be so wearable for everyday use, but at the same time I say do whatever makes you feel good!! That being said there were no shades that I really hated, I know there were some that didn't look so great on me, like Aura (2202), Icey (2207), and Princess (2209), but they still had a beautiful metallic shine to them. There were only two shades that I noted that were patchy. The first was Icey (2207) was really patchy and needed three layers to look smooth and opaque. The second shade was Sleek (2216), which was also a little patchy, but not as bad and a second layer easily solved the problem. One other thing that I would note is that if you want a metallic liquid lipstick that really has that metallic shine to it there are three shades that I would not go for. These shades are Unicorn (2214), Vanity (2217), and Naughty (2219). These darker shades have almost a velvet finish, but not as much of a metallic sheen as the other shades. That's not to say that these shades are not as good, as I mentioned Naughty (2219) was one of my favorite shades, the more velvet looking finish is also beautiful, just if you are looking for more of a full on shine these shades would not be for you.

Once again, as some of these shades may not be wearable on their own I noted a few that could potential double as a liquid highlight and I believe most of them could be used as a lip topper for other lipsticks. In particular, as I mentioned previously, Icey (2207) was very patchy, but I believe this shade would work nicely as a lip topper and/or a highlight. Just from swatching these on my lips I also think the shades YASS (2208) and Princess (2209) would look really nice as highlights. I think I will continue to play around with these and in the future create a post of other ways you could use these and which shades in particular would be good for different uses. That way even though these are only $1, $1 is still too much for something if you can't get a lot of use out of it. So I'm hoping to find more uses for these for if anyone is interested in buying some to get more regular use out of these.

Thank you all for viewing my post and I will have another one up for you all soon!!

Huge Shop Miss A Haul

As I have become more active on Twitter in the last few months I have heard so many people talking about this website called Shop Miss A where almost everything is only $1 ($1.33 Canadian)!! In particular people were talking about the lipsticks from the brand AOA and how amazing they were so I knew I had to try those! And I also purchased some other items I wanted to try.

Part 1 of the Haul: Lip Products

Lip product haul!!

So I may have went a little crazy, but with everything $1.33 I figured why not so I can review the complete shade ranges for you guys! The top row of the haul is the complete 24 shades of the AOA Wonder Matte liquid lipsticks that I heard so many people talk about. The second row is the complete 24 shades of the AOA Wonder Metallic liquid lipsticks that I am excited to try as I have not heard people talking about these like they do the matte ones, but I have recently become obsessed with metallic liquid lipsticks. Finally, the last row is three different brands of peel off lip stains. A while back (at least a year ago probably) a bunch of people were testing out these peel off lip stains on YouTube so I figured I would try these three brands and also compare them and do a little battle of the brands for the peel off lip stains.

Part 2 of the Haul: Face Masks

Face mask haul!!

As you have learned from my Mediheal face mask haul yesterday, I have a face mask addiction and these being $1.33 just further justified it. I will not be doing an update on all of these face masks as there is just one of each, but if there are any in particular that stand out to me I will let you guys know in a future post!!

Part 3 of the Haul: Contour Kit

Contour kit

At the time that I placed this order this contour kit was being offered as a free gift on orders over $25, but it is currently on clearance on the website for $1. I have not decided if I will do a separate review on this palette or not yet, if I have a polarizing opinion on it, positive or negative, I will.

Before I finish off this post I just want to throw out a disclaimer that although everything I purchased from this site was only $1 USD, not everything is, but it is all very reasonably priced.

Thank you all for viewing my post and I am working hard on getting lip swatches done so I can get those up soon amidst all the hauls I have to show you that I have fallen behind on. I will have a new post up soon!!

Mediheal Face Mask Haul

A couple of months ago I ordered a bunch of Mediheal face masks from Hautelook to try because I have a face mask addiction! All the masks I purchased are sheet masks and I thought I would share my haul with you guys and after I've tried them give you guys an update and review! So I had purchased six different types of masks, each a set of 10 and will give a brief description and picture of each!!

My face mask haul!!

Pomegranate Face Mask

Pomegranate Mask

"Fresh Punica Grantum Fruit Extract water and nutrition of Hydrolyzed Collagen delivered to your skin. The mask allows pores to fully absorb essential nutrients and moisturizing ingredients for hydration care."

It also states on the packaging that this mask is particularly good for skin firming and hydration.

Pumpkin Face Mask

Pumpkin Mask

"The nutrition of fresh autumn squash and the elasticity of elastin are delivered to your skin purely. This is a lifting-up mask which makes your skin smooth and elastic."

It is also noted that this mask is particularly good for face lines and revitalizing the skin.

Acaiberry Face Mask

Acaiberry Mask

"Fresh Euterpe Oleracea Fruit Extract and the nutrition of Vaccinium Angustifolium (Blueberry) Fruit Extract to boost radiance, smooth, and moisturize skin."

It also states that this mask is good for "skin energy"and "light-up". This to me sounds like it could be referring to it being a brightening mask, but we shall have to wait and see!

Kiwi Apple Face Mask

Kiwi Apple Mask

"Fresh Apple's cleanness and Kiwi extract's sedatives are delivered to your skin purely. This is a smoothing mask which makes your skin comfortable and clean with no skin problem."

It states on the packaging that this mask is particularly good for pore care and clearing the skin. I'm still going to test this mask on myself, but I tend to not have many issues with my pores so I'm going to try this one on my boyfriend too as he has larger pores.

Snail Aquaring SOS Solution Mask

Snail Face Mask

"It is a SOS moisturizing system that supplies ample moisture to dry skin with main ingredients; hydrolyzed collagen, Aquaseal (Xylityglucoside, Anhydroxylitol, xylitol) and snail secretion filtrate. The moisturizing mask pack and the snail aquaring SOS Solution mask hydrates dry skin and leaves skin healthy looking."

This is a two step mask and it is suggested to be used twice a week for four weeks as a one month concentrated skin management program.

Placenta Revital Essential Mask

Placenta Face Mask

"Energizing ingredients like Chitosan or Tocopheryl Acetate give your skin sufficient elasticity and nutrition and keep your skin that can easily turn rough shinier and healthier. Use of the cellulose mask sheet with silky touch fitting even your fine wrinkles aids intensive care and delivers the efficacy of the high-concentrated essence more mildly."

Same as the snail face mask this one recommends using it twice a week for four weeks as a one month concentrated skin management program.

Thank you all for viewing my post and I will keep you updated on how these masks worked and I will be testing out the last two masks as the one month concentrated skin management program as suggested. I will have a huge haul of all $1 items from the website Shop Miss A very soon!!

How They Wore: Makeup Geek

Day 1: Iconic Lipstick

Iconic Lipstick in Shady.

10:51 am: Applied Iconic Lipstick in Shady; as mentioned in my previous post it was very patchy upon first application and I had to work with it quite a bit in order to get the color even.

4:00 pm update.

4:00 pm: After lunch there was still a light wash of color on my lips, but it also stuck to and emphasized any dry patches on my lips.

9:52 pm: After supper and the rest of my day the color was pretty well gone, except for a light stain that stayed.

To me it seems as though it almost stains the lips a little, where after it wore off over time and from eating there was still a light layer of color to the lips at the end of the day.

Day 2: Plush Creme

Plush Creme in Old Soul.

9:39 am: Applied Plush Creme liquid lipstick in Old Soul; it applied nicely for the most part, but as I mentioned previously the applicator is a little long and awkward to work with at first.

1:55 pm: After lunch it help up pretty good and the color lasted for the most part with just a little bit of fading.

8:58 pm update.

8:58 pm: After supper it was pretty well gone completely.

Day 3: Plush Matte

Plush Matte in Tomboy.

12:09 pm: Applied Plush Matte liquid lipstick in Tomboy; it applied nice and smoothly and has a slight mousy texture to it.

5:31 pm: After a late lunch/early supper it lasted very well and you could barely tell the difference besides some light fading on the inner lip.

10:59 pm update.

10:59 pm: After some snacks throughout the evening it still held up except for the inner lip as you can see in the picture.

Overall my favorite out of these three lip products was the Plush Matte liquid lipstick. It lasted the longest, I liked the applicator the best, and even though it was a matte liquid lipstick it was nice and smooth and comfortable.

Thank you all for viewing my post and I will be posting a haul some time in the next few days!!