Recent Collective Haul - October/November

I have some things that I've purchased over the last month or so that have collected enough to do a haul post. I just want to preface this post by saying that I definitely went overboard with the NARS blush palettes. I set out to purchase one of the past three, the one pictured here, and the brand new one, also pictured here. But I did end up buying the other two past palettes because I got them for a good deal on facebook. Those aren't pictured because I think I'll do just a post comparing all my NARS blush palettes and I had already taken the pictures for this post.

I'm also probably not going to go into great detail because a few things are going to be included in my favorites post and I'm planning on doing a hauled it but how was it? type post.

I've been blush crazy lately, so that's why all the blush. These are also the last two bronzers that I plan on buying, because unlike blush, they're all pretty much the same. I found that the Estée Lauder one is a bit too dark and orange toned for the winter, so that is getting pushed aside. The Vincent Longo bronzer is perfect for the winter because it isn't too dark and bronze, which is what I'm looking for.

This is the NARS blush palette from Nordstrom, the Joie De Vivre limited edition from a couple years back. I originally wanted the Guy Bourdin one more, last year's release, but found this one first. I will seriously never need to buy a full size NARS blush or bronzer with all these palettes.

These are my Tarte blushes in Fearless, the purple one, and Achiote, the top one. I haven't really worn Fearless because it's so dark. Maybe soon!

I got these two Sigma brushes for a fantastic deal on facebook. I rotate my F50 blush brushes now and I really like this F30 powder brush to blend out my blush and bronzer.

I picked up two more NYX matte lipsticks in Pure Red and Whipped Caviar and got free shipping on Ulta by finally buying this Urban Decay sharpener everyone raves about.

I also bought one lipstick from MAC's holiday collection in Salon Rouge. I haven't worn it or the NYX lipsticks yet.

Everyone keeps comparing the Mario Badescu Rose Water spray to MAC Fix+, so I decided to give it a go. I haven't used a spray since the summer though, so this might sit for a while longer.

I stopped into Bath and Body Works for the first time in ages and bought these two lotions, which I've been using all month. I would consider purchasing other scents, but I have a Cocoa Pink haul to do and I bought six or seven body butters so I definitely don't need any more of those.

I bought two heads for my Clarisonic because I needed to change those out. One is for normal skin and the other is acne prone skin and I've been rotating them.

I also bought another Alpha Hydrox AHA Souffle because it was half off on Ulta and I knew I'd need another one at some point.

Little Clinique haul included here. Nordstrom was doing 10% off a ton off high end brands either early November or late October and I thought that was the perfect time to buy a full size of the Moisture Surge. I should have bought that Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick I was lusting over, but that was $40 and I decided to spend wisely and get some Clinique Acne Solutions instead because my skin had been freaking out.

I still want that Shimmer Brick.

The Repairwear Laser minis were a gift with purchase and I have yet to use those.

These goodies are my latest. I talked about the Queen Helene Mint Julep Mask in my favorites last month and I recently bought the scrub because I liked the mask so much.

I bought another Smashbox Photofinish Primer because I'm almost out of my mini. It was on sale for 20% during Beauty.com's friends and family sale.

I also picked up that NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette because I found it new for almost $20 off the original price on Facebook. I was going back and forth about getting it, but who was I kidding? I was going to kick myself for not getting it at $50 and wanting to pay like $80 in a few months.

Then also from Beauty.com, I finally bought the NARS Ita brush! I've wanted this for the longest time, but didn't want to pay the $50 for it. So I waited for a 20% off sale and nabbed it.

Then probably one of the most exciting things I've hauled this month: beautyblender! I've always wanted to try a Beauty Blender, but I had bought a few Real Techniques sponges that I enjoyed for a while. My last order had some really weird sponges in there though and it jacked up my makeup to the point where I spent more time fixing it then actually applying it. So I decided to spend the money on the real deal. I do prefer beautyblender to Real Techniques, but I wouldn't pay the full price! I liked getting 20% off so that they were only $23 for the pair.


Whew. That's it for now! I have a couple separate hauls I wanted to do because it's a bunch of things from one brand. I'm sure the random couple things I buy until next month will collect enough to do another post eventually. After all, cyber Monday is soon and I'd rather buy things at 20% off, especially when I'm going to buy them anyway.

October Monthly Favorites

Favorites post! I feel like I had a lot of favorites again this month, and some of them are repeats because I haven't stopped using them. I'm sure I'll have a few different ones next month because I've used up a few products in this post. 

Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque - I've only been using this for two weeks, but I love it so much that I had to include it in my favorites. Two weeks is long enough, don't you think? I've used this four or five times and have also used this as an overnight spot treatment. It smells so minty and awesome and I bought it on sale for less than $4. The best part is that my nose just looks so clean. I can't think of any other way to describe it. 

Baviphat White Grape Lifting Yogurt Cleansing Foam - I thought I was going to kill this cleanser because it was running low in the beginning of the month. I've used this pretty much every day and night and there's still a teeny bit left in the tube. I'll probably cut the top off to get the remaining at some point. This is just the creamiest cleanser and I love using it with my Clarisonic.

Nature Republic Soothing and Moisture Aloe Vera 90% Toner - I bought this a couple months back in a SaSa order where I purchased a ton of toners. I replaced last month's favorite toner with this for no particular reason. I had just noticed it was sitting in my travel makeup bag from vacation in August and I left it on the side of the sink so I could use it. It's probably my most moisturising toner and I love it.

The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner - Yep. Another toner. I was having some skin issues earlier in the month and I swear by tea tree for clearing up my skin. I used to hate this toner because I was spoiled by my holy grail tea tree toner by Lush. I wouldn't use this all the time because it has the tendency to dry my skin and I always follow it up with another toner.

Baviphat Lemon Whitening Sleeping Pack - I use this every night before I go to bed. Sleeping pack is just a Korean name for an overnight mask. It has the consistency of a thin lotion and it smells like lemon. The whole purpose of this product is to lighten the darker spots of the skin. Since I was breaking out near the time of the month during last month and this month, I've been consistently using this to lighten my darker scarred spots and I feel like it speeds up the healing.

Paintbox Soapworks Avast! Sorbetto - Sorbetto is a body scrub from Paintbox Soapworks and my favorite scent is Avast! The scent notes include coconut milk, cardamom, coffee beans, and musk. This is a repeat purchase for me as I bought the entire scent line last year as well. This scent is from the summer seasonal offerings from Paintbox Soapworks, which is an indie brand that sells only on Etsy. I also have the soap, solid scent, and lotion in this scent. Sorbetto is my favorite type of scrub, indie, drugstore, or high end.

Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief - I got two mini sizes of this gel lotion with a gift set last month. I've already finished one of the minis and I did purchase a larger size because I love it. I use this every morning after my SPF because I feel like it helps everything absorb into my skin better and my foundation primer doesn't pill up as much with this underneath it.

Clinique Turnaround Overnight Radiance Moisturizer - This also appeared last month and I've yet to stop using it. This moisturizer is usually what I use after my AHA and retinol and before my sleeping pack if I'm really tired and don't have time to use a bunch of products. If I'm using other things, it's usually sandwiched in there somewhere. 

Alpha Hydrox AHA Souffle 12% Glycholic Acid - I seriously credit this little product for turning around my skin. AHA is supposed to be really important in skincare and since I've added this, I've seen a difference. I always make sure I have enough on hand and it's the one thing I don't mind buying advance backups for because I know it will get used. I use this every morning and night and try to limit other acidic products because I like this the best.

Skinfood Black Raspberry Eye Cream - I usually use more than one eye cream just because. This is the cream I use after my Clinique eye cream because this is much more moisturizing. I like the herbal smell it has, which I suppose is weird because it's labeled as black raspberry. Skinfood has always made some nice skincare and I haven't found anything from the brand that I like more than this.

MAC Face and Body Foundation in N1 - Yes, this little baby is still going strong. It does provide lighter coverage than I need sometimes, which is why there are a couple other foundations sitting next to this one. It's perfect, really. I wish they still made the 3oz bottles because I'm going to need to repurchase this soon. I haven't found anything makes my skin have a nice finish like this one does. So worth the $27 because it contains more than all the other foundations I own.

Illamasqua Skin Base in 2 and 3.5 - I bought shade 2 to mix into my MAC Face and Body, but it's a bit lighter than what I was looking for, so I also bought shade 3.5 to mix in. I can use shade 3.5 by itself or mixed with Face and Body and the finish is really nice. I don't get the same effect as the Face and Body, but if I just mix in a little then it doesn't mess around with the finish. When I do a paler face in the winter, I'll probably add in more of shade 2, but I've mostly been using shade 3.5 and I love them so far.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser - You can actually see how much of this I used from last month and it looks like a lot! I seriously haven't used anything else under my eyes and I love the way this blends out.

Clinique High Impact Mascara - I've had a love/hate relationship with my eyelash curler this month because the pad keeps coming out of the base. I actually don't mind my eyelashes with this mascara even if I don't curl them. That's saying a lot because I don't usually go without curling my lashes if I'm going to wear mascara.

Innisfree Mineral Stick Concealer - I seriously swear by this concealer stick. I don't even know why I stopped using it. I think when we moved that it somehow got lost in the packing and I magically discovered it. This just blends into my skin like magic and I love it more than my expensive concealers.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in El Dorado - I don't know what it is, but I've been really loving gold eyeliner on my lower lashline. I'll wear a black liner in my lower waterline and draw this around the tear duct and under the lashes and it just gives a little bit of shine without being super noticeable. The best part is that this fades gracefully after many hours and the shimmer doesn't get all over my face.

Noir Eyeliner in Black - Hands down, best black eyeliner that I've used. I pulled Urban Decay Perversion out of my makeup bag when I got this in my Birchbox. This liner seriously lasts all day on my waterline and clings to my lower lashline like nobody's business. The best part? I don't know where it goes! There's always a little less liner on my waterline when I get home, but it doesn't settle under my eyes like Perversion did. It's perfection.

Tarte Pin Up Girl Blush Palette - For the most part, when I was going to wear blush, this was what I reached for. The three colors that I wore the most were Embraced, Bashful, and Irreplaceable, which are the top two colors and the second to the bottom. I wore all the colors, but those were the ones that got the most use.

MAC Aphrodite's Shell Bronzer - I think at one point I said I stopped using this for another bronzer, but I couldn't go without it. You can see that my wave pattern is fading even more. I just really love this bronzer. It's the perfect color for me when I don't want to be too bronzed, and it is getting colder out and the time for pale skin is now.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess - This was the bronzer that I kept using in place of Aphrodite's Shell. I love this bronzer, but I think it's a little dark for the winter. I wish I had bought this sooner so I could have used it this summer. I've used it a lot this month, but I think it's shifting to the back of my organizer already because it's a little too dark at the moment.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed - The pattern on this blush is already starting to fade away, which is saying a lot. It takes a ton of uses to make that go away. I love this color. It's been the perfect fall nude cheek this month. I have accumulated a lot of other blushes recently, though, so this might fade away if I go for a brighter cheek.

Inglot Eyeshadow in Pearl 450 and DS 494 - Since dyeing my hair a darker burgundy color, I had to find something new to color in my brows. I love this little three pan palette because it holds my shadow colors that I used to shade in my eyebrows and a highlight shade that I barely use. I first go in with the purple, DS 494, and define the shape and then go over it with Pearl 450 to color match my hair. My brows last all day with these colors and always look nice.

MAC Studio Sculpt Powder in Light - There used to be a really defined pattern in the powder when I first bought it, but you can barely see it anymore. I use this to set my foundation in place so that when I use blush and bronzer that it won't move around underneath. I love this because it doesn't even look like I used a powder to begin with.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light - I've been trying to use this more because my powder has unglued itself from the pan and doesn't like to say in there. I do like this for a lighter makeup look and it sticks to the areas of blemishes that don't like to hold foundation. I just like it because it helps my makeup look more flawless.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade - This is probably one of my favorite highlighters ever. I had a couple other MAC ones, but I hardly ever use them unless I'm in a rush and grab the wrong one. It doesn't show up in the swirled colors, but rather just a nice glow. I love it.

Innisfree Pink Beam Mineral Pact - I'm sad to say that I dropped this a week or two after I got it, but the powder was soft enough that I was able to press it back into the pan for the most part. This is what I use to set my undereye concealer. It's meant to be used as a highlighter, but it doesn't show up too pink under my eyes and it just brightens them. If I'm running late, I'll also add it to my cheeks, but I like it mostly for a glow under my eyes,

Small Haul - Tarte, Tarina Tarantino, and More.

I've had a few of these things for about 2 weeks, but I wanted to do a collective haul because it isn't any fun to post about a single bronzer you just bought second hand from someone on Facebook. Anyway, here it is. Sorry the collective picture is a little dark. I forgot something in the picture and had to retake it and it got really dark out within the 10 minutes of picture taking. You get the jist, and you can still see everything anyway. 

First up are a pair of foundations. These are from Illamasqua and their Skin Base line. I bought these on LiveJournal from a blog sale. Shade 2 was a little light for me, so I went back and bought shade 3.5 from the same sale. I find that I like mixing both of these with my Face and Body Foundation for a little more coverage. Both together make a great shade, but I can wear 3.5 on its own and I'll continue to mix 2 into my other shades of foundation.

I bought a pair of Benefit Fake Up on ebay to try before comitting to the full size, which is like $20 and I don't want to hate something that expensive. I had one in the packaging and opened the other so you can see the little nubbin of a sample. So tiny. I feel like this is going to be used up quickly.

The gold liner in the middle is El Dorado from Urban Decay. I bought this new from another sale and I've been loving this on my lower lashline in conjuction with my Noir liner on my waterline. I already need to sharpen it, which is saying a lot.

The Voluminous Butterfly mascara was a cheap extra that I tossed in with the Illamasqua foundation, eyeliner, and something else that I forgot to photograph. I haven't tried it yet because I don't like to have too many mascaras open at once, but I'm pretty sure this has gotten fairly good reviews.

Starting from the top and going down are my Tarte blushes and bronzer. 

I've been really into more subdued blush colors, so I was excited to get Exposed from Tarte. It's a really nice nude blush and I have loved it everytime I've worn it so far.

Next in the square compact is the Park Avenue Princess bronzer from Tarte. After all the fabulous things I've heard about this bronzer, I knew I needed it in my collection. This is my only non-MAC bronzer and I haven't even touched those more than once since getting this one. I will definitely be putting this in my favorites. Although it does have a bit of sparkle, it isn't overkill and can definitely be sheered out.

I wasn't expecting Wonder from Tarte to be quite as shimmery as it is. That said, I think it resembles Nars Orgasm, which is a blush that I don't own. Wonder is a nice pink with a golden duochrome and shimmer. This is not a blush that I would wear every day, but I still really like it. 

On the other side are my Tarina Tarantino blushes. 

The top color is Neopolitan Lane, which does resemble both Tarte Exposed from above and also Estee Lauder's Nude Nuace. However, this comes off a little more pink on the skin and is an every day blush. This is a color that I would wear all the time, just like Exposed. I prefer a blush color like this when I know I'm going to wear a lipstick that would clash with a coral or bright pink blush.

The second color is called Feather, and it is shimmery pink. Even though this kicks up a bit of powder, it barely looks used in real life. I do feel like this is similar to Tarte Wonder, but I guess that's just the color blush I've been going for outside of the nude cheek color.

Leaving you with a few comparason swatch photos of my new blushes and bronzers paired with ones I already own. I guess I'm just not original and like the same thing over and over. 

From top: MAC Aprhodite's Shell, Tarte Park Ave Princess, MAC Golden.

Can I just point out how much darker Park Ave Princess is compared to both my MAC bronzers? I'll probably be switching back to those once my skin goes back to being winter pale, not that I have a tan or anything. Bronzer is my tan, and there's no need to be that tan in December.

From top: Estee Lauder Nude Nuance, Tarte Exposed, Tarina Tarantino Neopolitan Lane.

So maybe I was wrong. Exposed comes off pinker than Neopolitan Lane. They're all great blushes for when I don't want to pile on bronzer. I can't wait to use these even more in the winter for when it's okay to be a little pale.

From top: MAC Mighty Aphrodite, Tarina Tarantino Feather, Tarte Wonder.

Boom. I love this color, obviously. Can we talk about how much sparkle is in Wonder? I wasn't sure I was digging it at first, but now I am. I think it's my favorite of the three for now, but I don't know how much glitter I want to wear when we get into the winter months.

What's In My Makeup Bag!

I feel like I'm one of those people who's makeup bag becomes a catch all for the crap they need to carry on a daily basis. That said, I did myself the honor of removing a few thngs that don't belong, such as my bottle opener key chain, my wine key, and a handful of Jolly Ranchers.

I don't even attempt to close my makeup bag any more, thanks to that red brush handle sticking out. On days when I drag all my face makeup to work, there's even less space and a second bag.

This is the first handful of stuff.

• Inglot Brow Powder in 561
• Inglot Eye Shadow in Matte 366
• MAC 266 brush
• MAC 208 brush
• Urban Decay mini 24/7 eyeliners in Sabbath, Perversion, and Smoke
• MAC Extended Play Gigablack Lash Mascara
• MAC Prep+Prime Lip
• MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Brow Set in Red Chestnut

And this is the second handful of stuff. Ignore my Bud Light coozie and the other junk in the background. That definitely doesn't fit in my makeup bag.

• One Hand Washes the Other (OHWTO) perfume oil in Besos Del Sol
• Real Techniques Retractable Kabuki brush
• MAC Lipsticks in Toying Around, Speak Louder, and Lady at Play
• MAC Brow Gel Creme in Dirty Blonde
• Paintbox Soapworks Solid Scent Balm in Avast!
• Crabtree & Evelyn Ultra Moisturising Hand Therapy in Citron
• MAC Sheer Select Powder in NC5
• Generic brow spoolie
• Missha lash curler

I guess for the most part these are the standard items in my bag. I usually switch out my perfume oil, lotion, and lipsticks. These are just the lipsticks I wore the last few days and I just took then out of my bag and added two different ones. 

I doubt she has one, but I want Jessica to post what's in her bag whenever she does start using one!