Nail Polish Haul

Hello everyone! So sorry I’ve been out of blogging for a bit. I was busy moving in to my new apartment…which still needs more decor so I can’t show it to you. So far I’m loving my new place, but I can’t imagine having all this apartment to myself. It’s really sad, but I’ve never slept by myself before. I’ve always had roommates and my family’s home is never empty. I was considering bringing Happy here but she’d be so lonely by herself in this apartment. But if I get a cat I’m highly allergic to them so I’ll have to take allergy shots to keep one…

Anyways I’ll specifically dedicate my house to another blog. Today I just wanted to talk about a HUGE nail polish I’ve been collecting recently…all for very good deals.

Top row from L to R: Orly Artificial Sweetener (purply pink mauve), Oh Cabana Boy (neon pink), Glowstick (neon yellow), OPI Innie Minnie MIghtie Bow (strawberry red with shimmer), OPI Flashbulb Fuschia (sparkly fuschia).

Bottom row from L to R: Essie Shop Til I Drop (peachy orangey pink; soft coral color), Revlon Girly (sheer light purple with big glitters), OPI Magazine Cover Mouse (red liquid sand), OPI Chic from Ears to Tail (bubblegum blue based pink), OPI A Definite Moust-Have (bright tamale red), L’Oreal Mauvelous (mauvy brown pink), and L’oreal Violet Vixen (Barney purple).

I was lusting after this minnie set after I saw my friend (wordpress blog hungrynails) feature one of her nail polishes from a Minnie mouse OPI collection (though I think hers is from a older one). This collection is called OPI Couture de Minnie, and they were 12.95 or so at Ulta. After trying them out with my sister we decided we absolutely adored the Innie Minnie Mightie Bow color so I gave her my little size of it and bought a full size of the same color. It’s the color on the top row 2nd from right to left. It’s a cute strawberry red color that I think is very flattering on my skin tone.

The OPI full size nail polishes were on sale at ULTA for 2 for $15 so I took that offer up immediately. The other OPI polish I got was Flashbulb Fuschia (the other OPI polish on the top row). I heard really good things about these OPI polishes. Once I try them on I’ll post swatches and reviews :).

I got the Essie polish for $6 at ULTA because I got a coupon in my email. I knew I had to use this coupon since Essie hardly goes on sale. After some hard reflecting at the ULTA store, I decided to purchase the color Shop Till I Drop. I tried this one already…it’s a peachy-orange coral shade with a jelly finish. With one coat it’s sheer color, two coats semi-opaque color, and with three coats it’s pretty opaque. It seems I tend to gravitate towards these colors for blushes, so I was curious to see how it’ll look on my nails. The nail color does take a bit of time to dry especially if you want to add thicker coats for more opacity. However the layers go on without streaking, and I do enjoy the color and finish on my fingers. It’s a nice color for the summer since it seems to make my hands more goldeny tan. So far there seems to be no issues with chipping but I’d have to update you on that.

On my toes I tried on the Orly Oh Cabana Boy color

The neon Barbie pink color is absolutely gorgeous on the toes. Perfect for tanned summer skin. The color applied evenly without hassle, and the color was completely opaque by two coats. I don’t know how this color was missing in my collection. The Orly polishes were buy two get one free at ULTA! 🙂

Update: The Mauvelous L’oreal had amazing longevity on my nails. I’m so excited by how Mauvelous applied and lasted on my nails; I can’t wait to try on other L’oreal nail polishes. They’re pretty cheap too unlike Essie or Orly, etc. I got the Mauvelous for 3.99 and Violet Vixen for five bucks. (Browse through my previous post for more info on Mauvelous).

As for the Revlon nail color, I purchased it at Target for 3.99. I wanted to try, because I thought it would look absolutely gorgeous on top of the L’oreal Violet Vixen color or another light lavendar nail polish I have. We shall see!

I’ll try to review and swatch all of the nail colors I’ve purchased. Hope this helped!

IKEA House Stuff Haul~

Today was a tiring but very satisfying day. I was able to buy a bed frame, desk, and clothes drawer. Additionally my mom and my aunt bought me tons of kitchenware for me from Macy’s! Totally excited! Now I’ve been watching room tours on youtube all day to get inspiration for my new apartment.

Also went to a friend’s house to have fellowship and worship with my church folks. Had an amazing time and I will miss them so so much when I move.

Yesterday my church also hosted a talk about homosexuality/sexuality, and I found that the lecturer really opened my eyes up to the topic. I would love to blog about it sometime soon!

To make this blog entry a little more interesting…I lined up my nail collection earlier just to see what colors I have and what colors I am lacking. I also wanted to see whether I would want to bring all of them when I move…and I kind of do :O.

Obviously I have a bit much of red and blues. On my shopping list for nails:

Solid black nail polish (it’s a staple and yet I don’t have it), a neon colored nail polish, and a decent pink nail polish (I honestly don’t really love any of the pink nail polishes I have except that Layla hot pink polish).

Haircut!

From drab:

To glam:

Btw the blush among wearing above is the “Too Faced Sweethearts perfect flush blush in Candy Glow.” It’s the heart shaped blush I hauled a while back. I had mentioned that the blush seemed too shiny but actually I find that this is the perfect blush to both illuminate/color the cheeks. For people with dry/normal skin this would be the perfect blush for you!

As I am moving to a drier area pretty soon, I realize my skincare/makeup will have to change. I have been sticking to matte makeup products here because the humidity makes my skin more oily/shiny. But where I am moving to I realize my skin becomes more normal…so this blush actually will work perfectly to help my skin not look so dry or flat from any matte foundation.

Here’s the link to the blush if you are interested:

http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod4980055

Natural Shock Maybelline EyeStudio Quad

Hello! As you can tell from the title I am dedicating this blog post to an eye quad I bought a while back. I never used it until now. I know it’s really sad…I have so much makeup that some of them I don’t have time to try them on until later. Plus compared to the Coral Oasis quad I felt these shades were not particularly unique so I kind of forgot about them.

When I swatched them they ended up being quite pretty. Description from L to R: glittery frosty “shocking” white, pink metallic, metallic glittery warm brown, metallic glittery chocolate brown.

I was quite surprised by how my eyes turned out. The colors were coordinated in such a fashion that putting together a look was a no brainer. I used the pink as an all over lid color, the warm brown as my outer third, and the dark brown to darken my outer crease by making a V. I put the white as an inner corner highlight and I put a little bit of the color on the browbone. The white was quite frosty and glittery when worn (which I didn’t mind on my inner corners). There’s a slight sparkle from the other colors when applied to the lids…but the colors weren’t as metallic and glittery as some Urban Decay eyeshadows can be. They were metallic and sparkly but not so distractedly.

I also tried on for the first time the Corallina blush from Milani. I think the color leans slightly reddish coral (which I don’t prefer) but I still loved it on my cheeks. Light hand is recommended for this blush since it’s highly pigmented. On my lips I’m wearing Neutrogena moisture smooth color stick in Juicy Peach and on top I wore Revlon lip butter’s Peach Parfait. I absolutely love the Peach Parfait color, and to avoid my lips from peeling I layer the Juicy Peach underneath. This is my current favorite lip combo.

Overall I love both the eyestudio quad and the blush, and I can’t wait to use these products more often.

Huge Makeup Haul

Okay so before I went on this youtube fasting thing (which btw only lasted two weeks) I saw this this girl’s youtube video and if I could I would have liked this video a thousands times; she hauls all sorts of blushes in this video…and as you know…I have a slight problem with my blush hoarding. In the video she talks about how she got these beautiful Jordana blushes from cherryculture.com. And since I don’t have any Jordana blushes in my local drugstore, I decided to copy her and purchase these blushes at the same website…along with other things…Cherry culture during that time had a memorial day sale which was 15 or 20% off all your merchandise. Plus it was free shipping on all purchases $40 and up! So…I splurged a little…honestly I think I got a great deal buying these products from their website since some of the items were already discounted price from normal retail prices.

Soon after I saw that Mac was coming out with a collection called All About Orange…and I knew I had to get at least one thing from it. They sucked me in with the description of their collection:

“Orange. Its vibrant energy and modern edge ignites fashion and beauty big time in Korea, the rest of Asia and the world. It’s one of the new global super shades that pops with sizzle and cool sophistication. M∙A∙C translates the trend with international impact into a colour collection for face, lips and nails.”

Plus the model for this collection reminded sooo much of IU…the Korean singer. The way her makeup looked and her pose…everything! So I went on a makeup hoarder mode and checked until 3 am…I would refresh the website every thirty minutes and see if the collection came up online. Alas I couldn’t bear it no more…I decided to wake up at 9 am and check the website again. Unfortunately by that morning most of the lipsticks were gone and only the blushes were left. But I didn’t mind! I actually wanted the blushes so I immediately placed the order for Royal Sunset.

http://www.maccosmetics.com/whats_new/10986/New-Collections/All-About-Orange/index.tmpl

This is the result of all that beauty shopping:

Yeah I know that 6/11 items are blushes…but hey! They were all so gorgeous…TT.TT. I also accidentally ordered 2 of those Milani shadow eyez so I gave one to my sister and she absolutely loves it! I love how they had the NYX Caviar and Champagne eyeshadow palette since I think NYX discontinued it so I can’t find it at Ulta or NYX’s website. As the Casey (the youtuber) mentions in the video the website carries some discontinued or hard to find makeup as well so go check the website out!

The first blush I decided to try was the Mac Royal Sunset blush (which is technically the only Mac blush I own at the moment since I gave my The Perfect Cheek blush to my mom).

Note: This was a quick swatch of the blush on my skin…I know I’m not completely made up in this picture but no judging! 🙂 It looks rather sheer and unattractive when I swatch it on my hands but on the face it’s a beautiful satiny orangey coral blush. It has a coolness to it that it different from any of my other coral blushes…and I actually love it! When I saw some other blogger (with a cooler undertone) put on this shade she looked more gray…it was a strange effect! So I think in my opinion this blush shade works best with those with neutral-warm undertones. When I wore this the other day the color lasted on me all day and the color blended beautifully. The texture of this blush is soft since the powder is finely milled. I give this blush an A!

Strangely the color of the blush in this photo looks nothing like the color it is in person. In person, the blush looks more like how it’ll apply on your skin…cool orange coral. It’s more orange than coral I would say. Anyways I hope that this quick swatch of this blush helps! I will try to coordinate a whole makeup look with this blush color…but honestly this blush looks great with no makeup too! Perfect summer blush color I would say.

And then yesterday I went to Walgreens…returned the L’oreal products I bought and decided to buy them instead at Ulta. This is what I actually ended up getting as well:

So I got the same thing as I did in Walgreens except I decided to buy mascara instead of concealer because honestly I’m more in need of it right now. I heard good things about the telescopic mascara and the other L’oreal mascaras I’ve tried are decent so crossing fingers this works on my lashes. The HIP duo eyeshadows were on sale for 2.19…and when I swatched them yesterday they looked gorgeous (especially the shade on the left). I’ll have to do a tutorial on it sometime. The nail polish I got because what I really wanted was the pink Layla nail polish I got last year (which I did a blog post on sometime ago). Cat was telling me how she adored the shade so I went back to my local Ulta to see if I could pick one up for her. Unfortunately there were no pinks and the lady in the counter told me they most likely will not restock up any more polishes from this brand! :O I’m terribly sad and confused as to why they wouldn’t continue having this nail polish for purchase :(. I decided to buy this bright blue nail polish instead. I love the Softouch effect kind from this brand cus they last much much longer than most nail polishes even without a top coat.

Yes so you see…I did this HUGE makeup haul…and this doesn’t even include other makeup items I got here and there some time ago. I hope to review alot of the products I bought and give informative descriptions on all of them!

P.S. Right now Victoria Secret is having a sale on their swim wear and I highly recommend you try the Beach Sexy bikini top…looks absolutely gorgeous even on my flat chest >.<…However they estimate I’ll receive the top around August…which is absolutely ridiculous…but I still bought it.

Beauty Haul! Walgreens and CVS savings

So I cheated a little and watched some youtube videos with my sister yesterday :O

This particular video really got our attention. This lady spent 49 dollars for 140 dollars worth of health and beauty products from CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. Isn’t that crazy? We were greatly inspired by her savings (plus my sister has been watching way too many Extreme Couponing episodes) so we were on the hunt to get good deals at our local drugstore.

So at Walgreens I purchased these items:

The Batiste dry shampoo was on sale for 5.99 when it’s usually 7.99. I think this was a nice save since even at Ulta or Urban Outfitters this dry shampoo goes for 8 dollars. I didn’t necessarily purchase it with a coupon however.

The next item I bought is L’oreal nail color in 320 Mauvelous. It’s a beautiful Mauvy color that looks more mauvy pink with one coat and mauvy brown (coffee with cream color) with two coats. Picture below with two coats.

So far I absolutely love this color, and I’ve only heard good things about the formula and application of L’oreal nail colors so this was an awesome grab for me. The normal price of these at Walgreens is 5.99 but all L’oreal nail colors were on sale for 3.99 through manufacturer coupons which you can grab at the cosmetics counter. Even at Walmart these nail colors are 4.97 so I saved money!

I bought the Batiste and L’oreal nail color at the same time all for around ten dollars but I also had some points saved (2000 which are equivalent to 2 dollars). So after using the point system I spent around 8 dollars total.

Next are the L’oreal cosmetic items…one True match crayon concealer in W4-5 and an infalliable eyeshadow color in Amber Rush. I heard only good things about the concealer and the L’oreal infalliable eyeshadows are my absolute favorite eyeshadows from the drugstore (I have seven of them already). At Walgreens all L’oreal Cosmetics were BOGO 50% (buy one get one half off) plus online Walgreens had coupons for $1 off face, lip, and eyes cosmetics from L’oreal. So the concealer was 8.99 normal price but I got $1 off. Then the infallible eyeshadow is normally 8.48 or so but I got it half off for 4.24 plus I got a dollar off through the coupon I printed online. Total I spent around twelve dollars. In the end I have a Balance Rewards Savings of 4.25 and Store Coupon Savings of 2.00. HOWEVER…I realize that if I really wanted discount on L’oreal I should have gone somewhere else…

Would I have gotten the same deal if I spent my money elsewhere you ask? Even at Walmart the eyeshadow is 6.97 and the concealer is 7.97…a total of around 15 dollars. HOWEVER Ulta also has right now BOGO 50% on L’oreal products…and the pricings of their cosmetics is similar to Walgreens. Additionally they have a 3.50 off coupon at Ulta for 10 dollars or more purchase. THEREFORE if someone was needing to purchase L’oreal cosmetic items I would recommend they spend at ULTA at the current moment.

OVERALL what do I think of this couponing of sorts for beauty purchases? I think Suni and I amateurs at this at the moment and I have a lot to learn if I ever want to coupon like Tati (the girl in the video). Couponing takes lots of patience and smart calculation…obviously reflecting back on this experience I actually could have saved more if I purchased my L’oreal items at Ulta (I may return these items since I haven’t opened them). And sometimes these couponing deals may make you spend money on things that you don’t necessarily need in order to save more on the things you do need.

For example, my sister spent 22 dollars on the two Nexxus shampoos yesterday at CVS. However, if you spent 20 bucks on Nexxus haircare you receive 10 extra bucks back into your card. Basically she spent around 10 dollars for two Nexxus shampoos…which is a great deal since Nexxus is such a luxury shampoo. The 10 extra bucks is essentially you receive 10 dollars in store credit back…so with that money my sister got two Revlon diamond lust eyeshadows for 99 cents (since the eyeshadows were around 5 bucks each). Plus if you buy two Revlon products she got $4 dollars extra bucks which I used to buy my mom some Lamisil. The Lamisil normally costs 10 bucks but with the $4 extra bucks it ended up being around $6. Essentially my sister did the most savings yesterday at CVS. But did she necessarily need two Nexxus shampoos and the eyeshadows? Not really. All in all it was amazing savings since the total cost without extra bucks would have been around 42 dollars but we actually spend 26 dollars.

I really wish I knew more about the CVS extra bucks or the Walgreens point system sooner cus I would always see these in my receipt but I would never use them cus I didn’t know how. Hope this helps you guys in the future as well! Savings are always a plus!

Uncanny Resemblance

Hey guys sorry again for being so MIA. I just finished my Spring Preview yesterday at my medical school. I am relieved that I was able to meet awesome people and build new friendships. I will describe my trip from Atlanta to El Paso in more detail in another post. Right now I’m enjoying my time with Harry in El Paso…but just to stop by I wanted to share this Youtube video:

This girl has an UNCANNY resemblance of my face….without her makeup. Please watch and see…it’s very scary.