Haul: Sephora

Below is what I got in my most recent purchase. I have liked the melted matte lip glosses so I decided to get a couple of the other colors. With that said, I will be returning two of them! :-( The packaging color is deceiving (keep in mind I bought these online anyway), so keep that in mind when purchasing. I love "Feelin' Myself" though! Such a pretty coral!

Mostly though, my purchase was based on the Better Than Sex mascara in their new waterproof formula! I grew to love the original formula, and have used it daily for a long time, but noticed that it started to transfer just below my eyebrows and knowing that I'm going to Hawaii this summer I opted to look into waterproof mascaras. Unfortunately, there haven't been any that I've loved. There was staying power, and I didn't have any transfer, but I wasn't getting the fullness and length that I was getting with other mascaras, specifically my favorite Better Than Sex. When I saw they had a waterproof formula I was thrilled. I sure hope I like what it does to my lashes like the original but without transferring! A couple of things were bought with points and others are just samples. I'm never super thrilled with the Beauty Insider reward options or samples though, and they rarely get used, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to use them!

Haul: Sephora & Ulta

Sephora:

ULTA: 

Mostly, these purchases were made for the upcoming weddings in my family. I'm in charge of doing my little sister's makeup for her wedding in Hawaii, somewhere I've never been, and in a climate completely different from the one in which we live. I also do not claim to be good at doing others' makeup so I am feeling the pressure! However, the countless hours I've spent watching YouTube videos has led me to these products that I have tried and have fallen in love with. The Bite Beauty lipsticks are strictly a splurge for spring/summer in some fun, season-appropriate colors.

I just got some Makeup Geek shadows in the mail today, so tune in for some looks using those soon! Thanks for reading! :)

Sephora Haul

That dang VIB Rouge sale was far too tempting, so I got my staple items and then they sent me $20 off a $50 purchase, so I picked up a few more things! I'm excited to try all of these! I seriously have so many new lip products to try it's not even funny!

Haul: Ulta & Sephora

I went to Ulta last week with the BFF to check out the UD Naked Smoky palette, which we didn't buy—long story—but I ended up buying these! Activated charcoal is a buzz phrase in beauty right now and I had to test it out too! The Freeman Avocado & Oatmeal Clay Mask is a repurchase. I bought a sample a while back and loved it! I'm so glad it comes in a nice container! The sample was hard to keep from drying out before I could use it because it was just in a pouch, so this should keep me stocked for quite some time! So far I have tried all three charcoal products and they weren't what I expected, but they worked so well! I expected the mask to be similar to the avocado one where it's easily smeared on, dries after a few minutes, and is then washed off, but it's not! It's chunky because of the sugar in it, making it more of a scrub, so it took some getting used to, but my pores seemed to have shrunk with just one use. The Biore scrub was just on my skin a minute or so before being washed off, so again, something I hadn't expected because I didn't read the packaging in the store. It worked really well though, as did their nose strips! They were way more effective than the normal strips. I'm excited to incorporate these into my skin care routine!

Yesterday I went to Ulta and bought the Too Faced Love Palette:

I'm excited to use it! I think it'll be very versatile because some shades can also be used as cheek highlights, blushes, or bronzer as well!

I also ran over to Sephora and bought the Too Faced Natural Matte Palette and I'm excited to use it for transition/brow bone shades because I'm going to run out of Nooner one of these days and I won't know what to do!

I love the packaging! The only let down is that there is a repeat shade, Sexpresso, from their Natural palette that was gifted to me a few years back. It's one of my favorite shades though so I can see why they did that, especially for those who don't have the other palette. I will have a LOTD using this palette tomorrow. :) Thanks for reading! What are some products you're loving this summer?

Haul: Ulta & Sephora

Today I went shopping with the BFF and bought a few things for a birthday gift but this is what I ended up getting for me:

I can't wait to try the Living Proof hair protectant and the Olay hair removal cream. Here's to hoping I look like Jennifer Anniston afterwards! Haha

Haley Awards: 2014

I don't know about you, but 2014 was a pretty epic year for me! I graduated from college (finally!!!) and have had lots of fun with my time when I would normally be worrying about class, homework, studying, books, commuting, etc. so that has been nice and I'd say I've adjusted well! :) The year 2014 brought more make up my way to review as well and yet I've relied heavily on no-brainer products when in a rush. I thought it would be fun to start doing Haley Awards for products I think stood out in the crowd and became no-brainer-go-to products. So to you, I present these products...

Best Facial Exfoliator
PMD Personal Microderm Pro: I had used exfoliants and scrubs on my face for years but nothing has improved my skin like this has. I purchased this in September and since I started using it as instructed, my skin is looking revitalized, healthy, and now has a nice glow. I still have breakouts, but not as extreme or for as long.

Best Facial Moisturizer
dōTERRA Essential Skin Care Hydrating Cream: This has helped my skin stay nourished this winter and has helped my skin rebound from the microdermabrasion treatments quicker than anything I've previously been using.

Best Face Primer
Smashbox Oil Free Photo Finish Foundation Primer: Even though the PMD has greatly helped my skin, it is still exfoliating and causing abrasions to promote healthy skin renewal and with that comes some flaking and uneven skin at times, so this primer became necessary to create a smooth canvas for my foundation.

Best Cream Foundation
Make Up Forever HD Foundation (N115): It was certainly a splurge but I have found a foundation that doesn't feel cakey, look cakey, provides excellent coverage, photographs well, and yet doesn't feel like I'm wearing it. It pairs perfectly with the Smashbox primer as well!

Best Powder Foundation
bareMinerals Original SPF 15 Foundation (medium): I have been wearing this for years but have started wearing it over my cream foundation and it it warms up my skin a little while setting my foundation.

Best Concealers
bareMinerals Original SPF 15 Foundation (fairly medium): For slight acne or red areas, this works perfect. Stick concealers wear oddly on my skin and later on in the day they tend to emphasize the blemishes and even appear flakey, which is even more disgusting than a little red area, so I've started patting this foundation on the area and because it's lighter in pigment than my bareMinerals foundation and it's covering an area darker than my normal skin, it blends a lot better. With that said, for blemishes more intense, I use benefit Fake Up (01 Light). It has a clear product surrounding the concealer and although I haven't researched it, I have gathered that it aids in blending the concealer and making in last longer.

Best Bronzer
The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder (Light Matte): This is truly perfect for winter! I am more fair but still need to warm up my skin and this does the trick! I think I'll try a darker shade for summer because the formula is that great!

Best Blush
e.l.f. Blush in Berry Merry: This blush goes well with any look and is what I tend to use day after day because it's a no-brainer!

Best Mascara
blinc Mascara Amplified: This mascara's unique technology of "tubing" lashes is revolutionary! I would reach for this on the many mornings that I was in a hurry or didn't want to have to think about which mascara to use. I stare at computer screens all day and my tired eyes would inevitably cause flakes of mascara to fall onto my cheeks and either unattractively stay or get smeared. After long shifts, I would walk away not realizing I had looked like that for who knows how long UNTIL I started using this fabulous mascara. I have even more recently started putting it over Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara because it provides great volume but flakes like cray! Ain't nobody got time fo' dat! It has helped, but I still get some flaking if I don't cover all of the Too Faced Mascara with it.

Best Setting Product
Make Up Forever HD Pressed Powder: This truly does set not only the foundation, but also the blush and highlighters I have on.

Best Enhancer
MAC Fix +: This makes any blush or eyeshadow last longer, photograph better, or give a foiled appearance for a different look. (BTW, did they change the name of it?!)

Best Brow Pencil
MAC Automatic Eyebrow Pencil (Lingering): It's not only the fact that the color that was suggested to me is on point (so important!), but the formula is as well. This lasts all day and I don't worry about it running, clumping, or fading.

Best Eye Primer
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (Original): This formula leaves me never wanting to try another primer! It blends well (never looks weird on my fair skin), keeps my eyeshadow in place, makes the eyeshadow more true to color, and never causes creasing.

Most Used Eyeshadow Palette
Urban Decay NAKED 3 Palette: This is still my favorite go-to because it makes my blue eyes pop, creates a natural look, and just always looks good no matter what I'm wearing!

Favorite Eyeshadow Palette Released in 2014
LORAC PRO 2 Palette: Although the NAKED 3 Palette is a no-brainer, this palette is one that also creates a number of looks that can be used everyday! LORAC's eyeshadows are so fragile and need to be used gently, but they are highly pigmented and this particular palette is very diverse and wearable!

Best Lip Exfoliator
e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator: Winter time comes and my lips get rough! This scrub works great and I have made it part of my lipstick application routine!

Best Lipsticks
Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick: These are so creamy and yet stay on! The pigmentation is to die for!

Best Lip Primer
Lush Honey Trap Lip Balm: I haven't ever used a legitimate lip primer, but after I exfoliate, I put this on and it's perfect to create a smooth canvas for my lipstick. It is great to put on by itself too!

Best Body Moisturizer
The Body Shop Body Butter: I received this as a gift from the BFF, and oy! It sure prevented my skin from getting so dry and having to play catch up most of spring!

Best Tools
2X Sigma Spa Brush Cleaning Glove: This made brush cleaning fun, much easier and more effective for me! I just use dish soap and follow the steps on the glove. So simple!

Benjabelle Daisy Brush Tree: After cleaning my brushes, I put them in this tree and it helps dry them so much quicker! Gravity is working in your favor with this product!

Best Brush
Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki: I use this to blend my foundation after I have applied it. It makes a big difference in ensuring that the foundation is smooth and evenly applied on my skin and it's super obvious on my fair skin when it's not blended well!

As you may have noticed, Haley Awards 2014 was mostly high-end products. I think sometimes quality is more important than quantity. I guess it was a year of "treat yoself!" If you read this far, you're a trooper! Thank you!! I would love to hear which products were your favorites during 2014!

Haul: Sephora

I had a $20 off a $50 purchase from Sephora, so I bought some high-end lip products I don't normally go out and buy! I got the Skin Rev-er Upper to have as a back up. The small lipstick is a 100pt reward. It's Urban Decay's F-Bomb. I didn't get to pick the color, but I'm looking forward to trying one of their lipsticks in a smaller size to decide whether or not I want to buy the full size. Samples are great way of trying products for free in a small, manageable amount to prevent purchasing a product you don't like.

Haul: Sephora

These are a few of the things that I got during the VIB/VIB Rouge sale at Sephora. I also bought a few Christmas gifts. Gotta love a sale! Normally, I would not have splurged for Makeup Forever products, but I talked myself into it because of the 20% off. Did you take advantage of the sale? What did you get?

Haul: Sephora

I wanted to try the bareMinerals BARESKIN foundation but was not willing to pay for the kabuki brush and the foundation not knowing if I would like it or not. It just so happened that Sephora had a trial size with purchase so I bought a few things I had been wanting to try and got it. I repurchased the blinc mascara that I have fallen in love with and I got another Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick, this time in the coral shade of Cin Cin. I'm anxious to try all of these products!

Review: Blinc Mascara Amplified

I've been using a new mascara the last couple of days. It's by Blinc and this one is supposed to use a new technology that "tubes" your lashes instead of just painting them. The shade I have is black.

4.5 hours after application:

12 hours after application:

As you can see, it did not flake! That is a miracle! It also kept my eyelashes curled just as they were when I first applied the mascara this morning. Also, when I applied the mascara this morning I noticed it helped to keep the lashes lifted, which can oftentimes be a negative result of putting on mascara. I'll continue to critique this as I use it, but so far I love it! I will say I didn't love the first application, so when trying something remember to give it a few chances. This can be purchased at Sephora and is $26. It is pricey, but if you're getting a sweet tax return this wouldn't be a bad choice of what to put your money towards. Thanks for reading!

LOTD: NAKED Mustard Yellow & Tan

I've had this shirt for a couple of years and really like how cheerful it is. Below is the look I do when I wear yellow using Urban Decay's original NAKED palette, but today I used my MAC Fix+ to enhance Half Baked. I think it added a nice pop of shimmer. It transformed the look and I will definitely be doing this more often—even when I'm not wearing yellow!

For my face, I used my bareMinerals Skin Rev-er Upper and Purely Nourishing for Normal to Dry Skin as moisturizers. Next, I used NAKED Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup foundation in shade 3.5. I then buffed bareMinerals foundation in Medium and Too Faced's Chocolate Soleil Bronzer over my skin. For blush I stippled Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Pink Frosting on my cheeks and swept Laura Geller's Blush-N-Brighten in Pink Grapefruit over that. As I'm sure you've noticed, I had quite a few blemishes, so I used Benefit's Fake Up for those. From there I curled my eyelashes, applied Sephora's Full Action Extreme Effect Mascara in black, and then curled them again. I applied Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion on my eyelids and then pat Smog on my lid up into my crease slightly. Then I applied Sin from where Smog left off above my crease up to my eyebrows. I even dotted some in my tear duct area. After that I pat Darkhorse in the outer one-third of my eye and my crease. Then I applied Ulta's Automatic eyeliner in Black/Brown on my upper lid, making the line thicker towards the lateral side. I then used the same eyeliner in Black on my lower waterline. After that I applied a coat of Too Faced's Better Than Sex Mascara. Then I sprayed a brush with Fix+ and applied Half Baked to the center of my eye, just above my iris. This transformed Half Baked! The one with Fix+ is on the left. It was also harder than the other to get off my arm. I am really loving this Fix+ stuff!

I filled in my eyebrowns with MAC's eyebrow crayon in Lingering. Once all the dust settled I sprayed Urban Decay's All Nighter long-lasting makeup setting spray over my fave. On my lips I used a little travel-sized Sephora lip gloss in Rosy Glow. Thanks for reading! I'll be sure to do more looks with Fix+! I think it's a cool concept.

Haul: Sephora

Allie, from Pocket of Perfection suggested the blinc mascara, and I had a gift card, so I filled up my shopping cart! 

The Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara won an Emily Awards, and I am always willing to give new mascaras a try in an attempt to find the perfect one, so I got that and the bite crème lipstick was also a winner of Emily Awards, so I picked Palomino, a fun spring color, and decided to try it out. I can't wait to use these products!

FOTD: Sephora MicroSmooth in After Glow

When my schedule is hectic I tend to lean on things that I know will work for me. In times of great stress, I find myself listening to the same songs on my iPod, wearing outfits that are no-brainers, and using makeup that is tried and true! So this summer I've attempted to branch out a little more with some products I don't use or experiment with as much. This is a "palette" if you will that sephora.com recommended to me based on my profile. It claimed that these shadows would make my blue eyes pop, so being the sucker that I am I bought it and have had it for a while but rarely use it. It's one that can be used dry or wet, so I tried it wet this time. I've done this in the past, but wanted to see if it would hold up on such a humid day.

Just moments after application:

Hours later, after much running around in the humid heat:

I'd say it held up pretty well! Please forgive the fly-away hairs!

I first applied Urban Decay Primer Potion and then sprayed my clean brushes with water and then dipped into the shadows carefully to not mix them. (I have also used Palladio Herbal Eyeshadow Primer before. Just use some kind of primer!) I applied the taupe shade on my lid and then the pink from my crease to eyebrows. Lastly I used the purple as a crease color. Once it was dry, I was able to blend it better and I think I even applied a little more in areas I needed it. It's very shimmery and yet very warm. It might be the sucker talking, but I think it makes my blues eye pop!