Category Archives: Hauls
What I Bought This Month – July 2016 Haul
I had promised you guys a Too Faced Totally Cute Challenge Week for today… but I’ve had to push it to next week because I just didn’t get enough looks done in time. I’m sorry! (But seriously, the upcoming MAC Star Trek collection blew my world and I spent a lot of evenings filming, photographing and editing for that blog post and video!)
So instead you’re getting my monthly haul!
At the very beginning of the month, I finally conceded that I was not going to be able to breathe life back into my precious Inglot red gel liner (I tried Duraline and it just did not get it back to where I wanted it . Was far too goopy.). And I didn’t really want to spend the money on another huge pot of gel liner only to have it go goopy again (not that Inglot is expensive, I just mean that the pot is rather large and I barely made a dent in it). So instead, I opted to pick up NYX’s Vivid Fire liquid eyeliner. The dip pot variety of liner is not my favourite (I’d rather have it in pen style), but when you’re looking for red eyeliner, you really CANNOT be picky since there is such slim pickings for a colour like this. So far I’ve been very, very impressed with it. It’s a touch brighter than my old Inglot one, but that’s okay!
I used this liner in a makeup tutorial I posted a few weeks back… this is basically the only way I wear red liner… with red lips too!
This item was actual a giveaway win! I won this Smashbox Be Legendary lipstick in the shade Canadian Flare on the Smashbox Canada Instagram (one of those follow us and tag a friend kind of things). I’m already in love with the Be Legendary lipstick formula (see my previous review here) so I know I’m going to love this one as well. Seriously though… the Be Legendary formula is phenomenal. Really, really lightweight, longlasting and so comfortable!
And the last item is Melted Sugar by Too Faced. I’m actually in the process of creating a lip swatch video for ALL of the Too Faced Melteds and this was the very last shade I needed to complete the collection. My lovely friends have loaned me roughly six shades that I didn’t have, and this was the only remaining shade I needed to buy! I’ll be honest… this isn’t the kind of shade I find myself reaching for, but I wanted to make sure this was a comprehensive video. If you’re looking for that swatch video, I should have it up on my YouTube channel next week!
And that’s it for this month! A very, VERY small month of purchases, but hey, that’s okay – I saved me some cash!
What I Bought This Month – June 2016
Monthly haul time! Looking back, this month ended up being pretty palette heavy!
I was really excited to get my hands on the BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Face Palette earlier this month… although it may have been really late May.
I got my review up a week or so ago, and I’ve been really enjoying the palette. I love each of the blush shades quite a bit. I was predominantly drawn to Pamplemousse, but Rose Spritz has been my most used shade so far! Prosecco Pop looks a bit odd on me (more yellow than I expected), but I’ve been using it regardless!
The BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Eye Palette was very short lived in my collection. As my review said, I didn’t suffer with inconsistencies like some other people did with the formula. However, I discovered it was so similar to my Ombre Rouge palette that I just couldn’t be bothered to keep it, so I returned it shortly after my review was posted.
The palette was no longer available by the time I wrote my review (and had subsequently pulled from Sephora’s lineup for this collection), but I wanted to get my thoughts and opinions out there regardless. The frenzy and hype surrounding this palette was fast and furious, as was the subsequent hate that came out of the production issues. I was nervous to put my post up, but it was incredibly well received and Jaclyn Hill actually read it herself and thanked me for it on Twitter. I was more than a little bit surprised by that, but it was really nice to get some reaffirmation from the person who helped to create that palette, regardless of the outcome. And in case I’ve piqued your curiosity and you still have no idea what I’m on about, you can read that post here: BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Eye Palette (Swatches + Discussion).
This was easily the item I was most excited about this month. The Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette kind of popped up on Instagram suddenly and beauty lovers went NUTS for it. This is the first permanent palette for ABH and it’s a good one. I’m amazed at how many RED shades there are in here! I’ve already done a Swatch Sunday, and there will be an upcoming Challenge Week featuring this palette soon!
I also picked up some more Makeup Geek shadows and some Z-palettes to go with them. My quest to own ALL of the Makeup Geek shadows keeps being hindered by the fact that Marlena keeps releasing new ones! ACK!
While my parents were in France a few months ago, I asked if they could grab me an Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre while they were there since it’s a fair bit cheaper. This is a staple moisturizer in my routine and I’ve gone through about 6 tubes or so now over the years.
This is a smaller sample size of the Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizer that my mother in law isn’t a fan of. I’m okay with the scent so she gave me the freebie that came with another product. If you haven’t tried this, it’s an after shower moisturizer that sinks into your skin no matter how wet it is. So a unique formula.
And of course, what’s another month without me purchasing some more Too Faced products? My friend Julie of Swatch and Review was in Chicago with Zoe (of Writing Whimsy) and they were at a Nordstrom Rack that was selling discounted Too Faced La Creme lipsticks. So she snagged me two shades I didn’t already own! LOVE this formula so, so much.
One of the items I was trying to get my hands on this past month was the Lancome Juicy Shaker in Mint To Be. As it turns out, this particular shade isn’t available anywhere on the Canadian market. So I had my lovely friend Sara in Baltimore order it from Macy’s, she then had it shipped to my in laws in Wisconsin who then brought it up to me in Canada while they were visiting in early June. What an ordeal for a lip product!
That’s it for June! Did you pick up anything new and exciting this month?
What I Bought This Month – May 2016
Another month passes, and another crop of beauty products ends up in my collection!
A while ago, my friend Sara sent me a trio of items from Laura Geller because she knew I was lusting over the Guava blush. That same trio was also for sale with the shade Plumberry alongside a different lip gloss and a different shade of Spackle. Natalie was at Nordstrom Rack in the US telling me about all of these deals and I demanded she pick one up for me! I was supposed to pay her for it but she keeps insisting it’s a present! <3 Those vivid swirl blushes though… holy heck man. So freaking gorgeous.
Next up are some swap items that a bunch of us Canadian Beauty Bloggers did the night before Gen Beauty! I really, really love the scent that Mary Kay used in their “Into The Garden” spring collection, so I snapped up the foot scrub, the fizzy foot balls (which I really just use as a bath bomb) and the soaps all in the same scent!
My love for silver glitter polish with rainbow holographic bits knows no bounds (they’re my year round toe nailpolish colour of choice) and no one wanted these, so now they’re mine! 😀
I’m also eternally in love with The Body Shop‘s different shower gels and creams and it seems us bloggers have far too much of them! So I got a few varied products in Satsuma, Shea Butter and Coconut!
I also snagged some minis of the Frosted Plum scent which I hadn’t gotten around to picking up during the holidays. I love these little ones for travel.
I know the Too Faced Love palette doesn’t really have great reviews, but since I’ve become quite the collector of Too Faced products, I wanted this one regardless (there’s a reason why I didn’t spend my own money on it though…). I’ve photographed and swatched it for an upcoming Swatch Sunday and holy heck guys… so much shimmer. Almost too much really. This palette is definitely one of my least favourites by the brand… but hey, every brand has their dud product!
I always come out of these swaps with an incredible amount of body products and face cleaners. No one wanted the Biore Baking Soda Pore Cleanser, so it came home with me. Since I don’t have skin that reacts to hardly anything at all, I can pretty much gobble up all the cleansers and creams that don’t work for other people!
My friend Natalie had received this Too Faced Born This Way foundation in a shade that didn’t work for her (Porcelain) so she offered to give it to me. I was SO excited – I had never used this foundation at the time and I kept hearing everyone rave about it. And now that I’ve use it, I get the hype! I also posted a full review of this foundation this past month, and you can check that out here.
Another gift from a friend! This time Zoe mailed me the Smashbox Be Legendary lipstick in the shade LA Sunset. Like most bloggers, we all get to review a ton of things, and while we may like the formula, we often acknowledge that a particular shade isn’t quite for us. Zoe felt this was more a “me” shade (doesn’t hurt that I was cooing over it!) and sent it on over. I wore it this past week and loved the crap out of it. You really cannot go wrong with these Smashbox lipsticks – the formula is so comfortable and the shades are beautiful!
And finally, the one item I actually ended up buying this month… the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Luminous Blush in Snapdragon. I was so excited by this blush that I actually already got my review of it up last week! Snapdragon is the kind of coral shade that I want on my cheeks all summer long. Love, love, love!
Of course… Gen Beauty also happened in May! So if you’d like to see what I also picked up there, you can see that in this video: