Sephora Friends and Family Order Ideas

Sephora's Friends and Family Discount is almost over and I have ran through Sephora's site and made my list!

Originally, NARS Multiple Coffret Set was on it but after reading the reviews I think I'm gonna have to pass. I absolutely am a fan of the powder blush Orgasm but I'm not too sure about the creamy consistency of The Multiple. Plus, the sizes are itty bitty according to the reviews. About the size of your pinky nail for each tube. Not worth 40 bucks for 3 tiny Multiples :(

I'm wanting to branch out and try Benefit Cosmetics. I saw several holiday sets on Benefit's website that I'm lusting over. All but one of the sets is offered on Sephora. I'm thinking of the Celebutante b/c it has SO MANY "BEST" of Benefit in it. Many trial sizes! And then adding in a CORALista Blush and Some Kind of Gorgeous completion perfector - the Sexy Starlet Set includes both & a mascara but really I don't need anymore mascaras, very much so set for quite a while on mascaras ;)

--- Anyways, it would be cheaper to buy just the two and then there's the discount :)

I would also like to try Benefit's Get Even blotting powder. I have been using Stila's Sheer Pressed Powder and am in love but I really don't wanna reorder it. No cons just wanted to change it up a bit. Maybe I should stock up on it ... hmm

I feel like my order is uber boring but I really don't need any more eye palettes and nothing else is really catching my eye.

Woo Whoo - Friday! aka this month's payday :)

So excited - nonbeauty related reasons, sorry :(

Tomorrow is payday which means:
1. Can finally get my car's oil changed - definitely due and I won't feel guilty driving my car and wondering if it's pastdue.

2. Time to stock up my savings account with some more cushion :) I did a GREAT JOB this summer stocking up my savings account (several thousand, actually) but I have paid several months worth of student loans and when I went to Coach last month I had to dip into the funds a lil' bit.

3. I get paid once a month so each paycheck is well needed and I feel like it's a fresh start! Aaahhh!


Problem is, I have already thought of several makeup "essentials" that I would really appreciate! And there is Sephora's Friends and Family Discount - tough desicions! I held back last month and did NOT purchase the Sigma Pro Brush Set (so many GREAT RAVES on youtube about these brushes! Comparable to MAC?!)

I guess we'll just see how much this check really is before I make any decisions, but I have a feeling tomorrow will be shopping day ;)

Everyday Minerals???

I am an avid user of powder foundation. Liquid just makes me cringe. Thinking about putting liquid foundation makes me feel claustrophobic and heavy :(

I tried Bare Minerals - without success. Here's my experience with Bare Minerals. I guess the one good thing that did come out of battling with Bare Minerals is that I found out Bismuth Oxychloride is NOT MY FRIEND ;)

Anyways, I wanna try Everyday Minerals. It seems like there is no trace of Bismuth Oxychloride. I'm completely clueless as to what kind of formula to purchase though. I have oily skin but around my nose and chin tend to get a lil' dry with powders. Intensive? Matte? Semi-matte? & are the sample sizes worth the $2.50 plus shipping for the amount you get?

Someone please help!

Such a Sucker for Packaging!

I'm constantly receiving giftcards from Victoria's Secret for $10 or $20. Not complaining, just trying to justify my purchases. I'm not an addict of VS makeup, nor do I run to check out their latest from their beauty line. But I have become quite fond of some of their makeup, especially Heidi Klum's Limited Edition (aka: trying to make more people purchase the item) makeup line ;)

I originally walked in to VS thinking I would see if they had any of the blush beads that I had seen in one of the latest magazines ( I would give credit to the magazine but I honestly am not sure what magazine it was. Cosmopolitan perhaps???). The blush beads are very similar to Guerlain's Meteorite beads (Pink Fresh shade) but much more wallet friendly. VS's is only $22.

To my astonishment, the store actually had a full display of the "Heidi Klum Luminous Face Powder Gems". I was beyond excited until I read the list of ingredients (lil' OCD, I know. But I had a horrible breakout/infection from Bismuth Oxychloride) and stumbled upon that B-word! UGH!

The packaging is BEYOND BEAUTIFULLY AMAZING that I actually debated on whether or not to still use my FREE $20 giftcard and pay $2 for the blush beads! Can you believe it, the packaging itself was luring me into possibly having another breakout. I figured for 2 BUCKS I could give it a try but then realized just how "luminous" the beads truely are and decided even if I only paid 2 bucks for something a skin irritation was just not worth 2 bucks.

But FREE MONEY is just that, FREE MONEY that must be spent or it'll burn a hole right through your wallet and most likely through your favorite bag ;) All the items in the new Heidi Klum line are GORGEOUS and I fell in love with the eyeshadow palette. Beyond all else, I am a total eyeshadow junkie.

And drumroll, please. Here are the pics from the much-hyped line :)
My apologies for the poor lighting. I need to figure out the best place to take pics still.

Just the colors alone drew me towards this! Favorite colors, all glammed up with gold and jewels!

The inside: Champagne, Nude, Berry, Violet, Black
The colors are shimmery - especially the berry & violet. The black is the only shadow that isn't shimmery. There was even a card on display that gave ideas on how you could apply the shadow.

The swatches! Don't let my bad picture-taking skills fool you, these are very pigmented and I was really impressed with the staying power. I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance with all eyeshadows b/c I have oily eyelids. I tend to have a lil' less faith with random makeup brands like Victoria's Secret (stores that specialize in something but try and branch out in makeup).

From left to right: (same order as palette) Champagne, Nude, Berry, Violet, Black

I love the colors when blended together. I haven't taken any pics of when I have makeup actually on b/c:

1. I don't feel my camera does the products justice

2. I'm a bit camera shy for now. I'll work on both :)

I really do love this palette the only CON would be the dinky lil' brush it comes with but I'm sure that would be a problem for very few. I actually went back and bought a couple more of their palettes and have my eye on several of their individual eyeshadows. VS's eyeshadow formula is ultra silky, it makes it fun to apply!

So much to blog ... so lil' time!

At some point, I will get my act together and post all my latest.

*Sephora Blockbuster Palette
*Stila Gift of Appreciation
*Kat Von D (Insider 500 pt perk)
*Stila Made in Your Shade Foundation Wardrobe (have yet to try this out)
*Several Urban Decay shadow boxes (including Book of Shadows Volume II)
*Sephora Brand Makeup Palette to Go (warm colors)
*& some Victoria Secret eye shadow palettes
*Plus random drugstore buys :)

I get so caught up reading everyone else's blogs & then think, "oh! I should review this too!" Just easily distracted, lol. They will be coming shortly though!

A Love/Hate Relationship --- UGH!!! Why Can't I GET OVER ...

Bare Minerals. So many women LOVE this stuff and go crazy like it's crack, raving about it. Last fall, I caved and went with a friend (another Bare Minerals user) to a boutique to try out Bare Minerals for myself.

I had been using about 5 or 6 months when I started to develop hard bumps under the skin's surface. Especially on my cheekbones. They would also turn into white bumps sorta like a white head but much worse than your typical white head. I ended up resorting back to Proactiv and having to get on an oral antibiotic to clear the darn mess up.

I used the whole sha-bang: Bare Minerals Foundation, Warmth, Mineral Veil, & the Prime Time make up primer. My friend that had gone along with me to try Bare Minerals only uses the foundation and thought my breakouts could be due to the Prime Time.

I have NEVER had bad acne, even during my highschool days people alway complimented me on my skin. I had been an avid Proactiv user since 2003 (never had "acne" but when you're a teen any lil' blemish can melt your world) but stopped using it in the spring of 2008 because I had heard it was too rough on skin.

Well, now having that scary experience in the past, I would like to keep it there. I use Proactiv again and I am scared to death to use Bare Minerals. I tried using Bare Minerals again this summer b/c South Dakota summers are always so humid and I have oily skin to begin with. I thought Bare Minerals would help absorb some of the oily-ness that the humidity added to my face. After about 2 wks I started to notice some minor blemishes/bumps and immediately threw Bare Minerals to the back of my makeup clutter. And that's where it has remained ever since.

Has any one else had this problem??? I have given it several chances and even for some unknown reason ordered a summer kit off QVC in July. I wanna love Bare Minerals but I have even worn the Prime Time the past two days and have noticed a hard bump on my cheekbone. It could just be a blemish but why take the risk?

Still love other Bare ESCENTUALS products. I have MANY eyeshadows and kits, Buxom Lips, and blushes. After doing some research this past spring, I think I have found that the ingredient "Bismuth" is what sets it off for me. I try and look @ labels now before buying makeup and steer clear of that B-word b/c it's a real Bitch!

Yes, I ran to Walmart too ;)

For quite a while now, my dashboard kept showing me posts about the buzz Hard Candy was making on everyone's blogs. Not too familar to the line but a makeup line that is coming to Walmart and getting such fabulous reviews?! I made sure to make a stop @ my local Walmart ASAP!


The saying, "don't judge a book by its cover" - well, I definitely am drawn to makeup due to its packaging. Total sucker, especially if I only walk down a makeup aisle or browse through Sephora. This line reminds me so much of Urban Decay but everything that Hard Candy offers @ Walmart is under $10. The punk/edgy packaging and the colors are amazing! This isn't your everyday makeup :)

***Click on pic so that you can read the colors
I also bought some Sheer Envy Tinted Moisturizer but was NOT A FAN :( Naughty, I know, but I returned it after trying it out. Maybe the color was wrong but it looked horrible and showed on my face.




















Alright, the Kal-Eye-Descope Baked Eyeshadow Duos are my absolute favorite! The swatches were very hard to photograph - they are VERY PIGMENTED :) The color payoff is very much like how the shadows look in the pots - INTENSE. And there is A LOT of shadow in each pot. They remind me of Laura Geller Baked Shadow pots only Hard Candy's are probably double the size and raised up like a beach ball.

1st Rock N Roll - shimmery, light and dark lilac purples

2nd Rush Hour - shimmery, copper browns

3rd Secret Rendezvous - shimmery, light pink and wine

In the Shadows Eyeshadow Collection in Splendid was a bit of a let down. This palette took me the longest to pick when in the aisle @ Walmart - probably stood there trying to decide on just a palette for 10mins!

The swatches look more in the lavendar family but if you look back to the Hard Candy haul pic, you can see the second color from the left looks like a medium blue and the farthest to the right is suppose to be the darkers color - black. It also comes with a lil' eye primer (I stick with Too Faced Shadow Insurance).

It takes A LOT OF RUBBING to get any kind of color payoff from these and they are kind of chalky like and crumble easily b/c you really have to put some muscle into digging the color out. Would NOT RECOMMEND even though the colors look pretty in this picture.

The Blush Crush Baked Blush in Living Doll is AMAZING! I forgot to do a swatch of this, my apologies :( It looks like the MAC Mineralized blushes (although since I do not have any MAC that is all the comparing I will do). It's a very bright, shimmery pink with flecks of yellow in it. I love it! It's buildable and it says on the back of the compact that you can use it dry for a "soft" application or wet for an "intense, dramatic" look. I have never heard of using blush wet and have only used it dry.

The Walk the Line Liquid Eye Liner colors are gorgeous and Flipside (the metalic navy) has amazing staying power. Does not come off until you want it to! Licorice (black with multicolor glitter) is a lil' harder to apply and get a fine line without gaps due to the glitter.

Overall, I would highly recommend the Blush Crush Baked Blush and the Kal-Eye-Descope Baked Eyeshadow Duos - in fact, I will probably be adding to my collection during the next trip to Walmart.

Kinda like a 1st entry *** a ReBirth if you will : )

Alright so I'm no blogger by any means. I don't even know why I chose to open one of these accounts but anywho, too late to go back now. Even though I haven't posted anything, I am definitely a frequent blogstalker. I follow so many great beauty gals on this thing and it's my guilty pleasure for sure!

Wish List - Christmas is coming up! *I've tossed around the idea of just telling family that I would rather have whatever they were going to spend on material gifts to be given to a _______ what's that word ... foundation, gosh what am I trying to think of ... hmm, that I will come up with later. And if you know me @ all, I will most likely already have purchased this stuff by Christmas. *thought of the word FOUNDATION!

- purse hook I have invested (yes, INVESTED) in several bags in the past year and I baby them like no other. Even named them. Juicy Couture - Juicy Lou and Coach - Zoe. Lil' cookoo, I know. But when you spend that kind of money it's like going through labor to have a kid and you have EARNED the right to name your baby ; )

- several sephora items ... get to that later

Oh, and so excited! On a recent trip to Branson, Missouri I found the greatest lip balm! It's the cutest lil' thing:

http://www.evolutionofsmooth.com/products_lip_sphere.html

***by the way, how the heck do you change the link so it's not the website and just a word??? Back on track, bought it @ a Walgreens and somehow it got misplaced @ work - Most likely, some lil' hands ran off with it but fortunately I have found the website that carries it b/c after checking 2 of the Walgreens I have yet to replace it.