The Saga's of a Makeup Addict.

The Saga's of a Makeup Addict. Welcome to my confessional.

Friday, September 2, 2011

The Much Delayed Holiday Haul.

This is a Saucony Shoe box.
This is a Saucony Shoe box. It contained my new running shoes once upon a time... But since, it has been set to a better use. It has been use to harbor a lot more precious cargo than JUST shoes...


Viola!
BEHOLD!!! My treasure chest of all things makeup that I procured during my great North American adventure. Shall we dive in, yes
ELF Makeup Wipes, Blush and Bronzing Duo, Translucent Fave Powder, Candid Coral Blush, Mechanical Eyelash curler, Lipsticks in Seductive, Classy, Voodoo and Gypsy, All Over Face Stick in Pink Lemonade and the Conceal and Highlighting duo.
The E.L.F. extravaganza!!! Now for those who are still unfamiliar with ELF, it is a North American brand that sells its entire collection online, however, some of their products are retailed at Target. I happened to hit up a Target in Buffalo and managed to snag these goodies. I've enjoyed using them, but I will say this - they really are a true representation of their prices. The lipsticks are not built for Pakistani weather and the bullets have broken down on me already. The Blush was a bad choice of color for my skin tone, but that said, it does give a pretty flush. I've LOVED the face color... It almost reminds me of the NARS Multiple in the shade Portofino. The lash curler has been a true joy to use. Its mouth is big so it grips all the lashes and doesn't pull, its got a comfortable grip, and you can't beat the $1 price tag.

Sephora Collection Mono Eyeshadow in Choco Excess 19, Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights in Dusk, Too Faced Mini Peach Leopard Brightening & Perfecting Bronzer, Sephora by OPI nail colour in I'm Wired, Fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Treatment, Guerlain L'Or Radiance Concentrate with Pure Gold Make-Up Base, Tarte Lights, Camera, Splashes! Mascara in Black, Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Make-Up Setting Spray, Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Pop. 
So after I took the picture, I realized I forgot to include the Guerlain product (muh baad!! - but I did photograph it later!! See below.)

Okay, so this set had some hits and misses. The Sephora eyeshadow has a really pretty color!! Too bad its choc full of glitter that has its sights on your under eye, your cheek bones, your lashes and even your browbone! But it will never stay on the lid. The smashbox soft lights is divine!!! I'm already a proud owner of the Soft Lights Baked Fusion Mini and now this one has been welcomed to the family with the same amount of love. The Too Faced blush has been a bit of a disappointment... It's been a real challenge to coax the product out of the pan and onto a brush to that I can wear it.. I've had to wrestle with it some and discovered that I need a kabuki brush to make it work. Once that got sorted, its been fun. But the product is hard and difficult to work with. You better put aside a couple of extra minutes if you really MUST have this product on your face. I haven't gotten the chance to try the nail polish, but it looks like exactly my kinda color! The Fresh Lip treatment is a pink tinted balm that feels great after a lip exfoliation! A little on the greasy side, but its never run on me, so I like it! Although I do fear it breaking in the tube.. fingers crossed!! If there's one thing I absolutely LOVE in this kit, it's the Tarte mascara. It's a waterproof formula that has flaked on me AFTER several (14) ungodly hours of wear. Curl your lashes and apply two coats and that curl is locked in until you go after it with waterproof makeup remover. It ain't goin' no where otherwise. The Urban Decay setting spray has been compared to MACs Fix +, but in my opinion, it can't even hold a candle to it. It has a scent to it, and does more of a splatter than a mist - which resulted in uneven setting. Not cool :( I haven't been able to love the Smashbox lipgloss as much as I want to, as its light and milky on its own. But the disadvantages end there. I've paired it with several lipsticks and it does really well! Plus its full sized! Not like the usual smashbox travel sized puny glosses.

Posie tint, Benetint and Highbeam
This trip, I found myself drooling at the Benefit counter. With its adorable packaging, catchy titles and GREAT products, its been a joy to spend money on them. Theses were a real snag! The "feelin' cheeky" minis are a great way to try out benefit's range of lip and cheek products. The only ones I'm missing now are Moon Beam and Cha Cha... I will have them... Someday soon!

Sephora Waterproof eye makeup remover, Bare Minerals Mineral Veil, Benefit's They're Real Mascara, NARS lipstick in Dolce Vita, MUFE HD powder.
These were some other Sephora goodies. Of these, I've only used the makeup remover and the Guerlain product. I can't really understand it - I mean, its supposed to be a primer with pure gold flakes, but it hasn't done things that my other primers can't do... altho I will say that it feels lighter on the skin. The makeup remover - I wish I got the full size! This is what a makeup remover should look like... the water and oil combination, when shaken to an emulsion, are no match for any form of eye makeup. I got a backup of the mineral veil as its an essential part of my makeup collection. The Mascara was a gift form my bestie, Jenn. It hadn't launched as yet, but they were giving away the sample size for 100 beauty points so Jenn got us each a mascara. I love her! The NARS lippie has been a summer staple for me. A muted pink, in my opinion, its the perfect color - I mean, if lips could naturally look like this, you'd never need lipstick ever! The only painful part was the price tag. I've heard so many good things about the HD powder, so when I saw a travel size for $10, I had to have it! No questions.
Pro-longwear foundation in NC35, Woodwinked Eyeshadow, Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium plus, Crosswires lipstick.
My MAC grabs! I'm kinda disappointed I didn't pay more attention to the MAC stuff, but these were 4 things I needed and so I got. The Pro-Longwear foundation is by far, the best foundation I've used, ever. It has a sheer to medium coverage that buildable. It goes one smooth and doesn't feel heavy, and doesn't MOVE! Plus, its forgiving and works well with makeup brushes for a streak-free application. Woodwinked eyeshadow has been raved and ranted about so much, I picked it up without much of a thought - and a good thing I did. It's the perfect gold for any skin tone. How can I say that? Cuz I tried it on 4 different kinds! And it was gorgeous! The MSF natural was a spur-of-the-moment purchase which turned out to be a brilliant buy! Use this over the pro long wear foundation and spritz down with fix + and it looks like your own skin, only perfect! Or wear as is for a lighter finish.
Its almost like a golden taupe, but its GORGEOUS!

Crosswires is a pinky coral in a cremesheen finish. Its my new favorite coral lippie!

Sleek Rose Gold blush, Revlon Mineral blush in Petal, Maybelline Eye Definer pencil in Bronze Gleam, Boujois Metallise in Aqua, Crackle Nail polish, Revlon Age Defying tinted moisturizer, Sleek face contour palette.
These were some drug store products - from Canada and the UK that are just so much fun to use! I'm not too thrilled with the sleek blush as it looks more gold than rose but the revlon one is lovely! It's the perfect 'wind-burn' blush to complement fair to medium skin tones. The crackle polish, I'm still trying to understand.. I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet and it flakes off super fast. The two eye pencils are re-purchases, so you can only guess how much fun they are! One its brown with gold glitter and the other is a turquoise blue - SOOO much fun when applied to the waterline! The contour palette has been a great bargain product. I LOVE the highlighter end of it! But be very careful using this product, especially if you're going to be photographed.
Duo Fiber brush from Sephora, Baby Kabuki from the Balm, Lipgloss from Fruits and Passion, CoverGril Liquiline blast eye pencil.
These are some more randoms that I found towards the bottom of my box.. Sephora's duo fiber cheek highlighting brush that I prefer to use for foundation really.. gives it a fabulous airbrushed look! The baby kabuki is from the Balm cosmetics and is the brush that broke thru the peach leopard blush. The gloss is from Fruits and Passion and is super sticky - use with caution! And the brown eye pencil is another summer favorite from covergirl. the Liquiline blast pencil.


These were some nail polishes I got because I adored the colors and the SIZED!!!! And here's the interesting part - they're all MATTE finished!! It drove my manicurist mad as she is a great fan of the glosses polishes and almost chased my outta the salon with a topcoat claiming that the nails didn't look nice as a matte finish!!! I was rather amused.


Now that concludes my great shopping spree and the trouble I've run into is the space issue. My makeup vanity has gone beyond capacity and that has given my mom an odd feeling of accomplishment, evident by the smug expression she wears each time I mention I'm running out of space.

She thinks the lack of space will curb my incessant spending and product hording.

So she thinks...

Hee hee hee :D

6 comments:

  1. Glad to have you back. GREAT haul.Next time try Urban decay's de-slick instead of all nighter. I have found it works better in our humid conditions. You got me craving for the NARS lippie.Cant wait to see you create looks and do reviews on your new stash. Have a lovely weekend.

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  2. You have an award waiting at my blog.
    http://pandorasssbox.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-top-ten.html

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  3. hey such a great haul would love to read reviews

    m new follower i would love if u follow back

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  4. You picked up some great items. :)

    Crosswires is a gorgeous shade.

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  5. I have this product and I love it I don't really use it alot because sometimes I just don't have the time to put it on but when I do it works great. Thanks for sharing

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