My Black Friday Haul!

I had my Black Friday haul out on the kitchen table, admiring my handiwork, and I snapped a quick pic so I could share it with everybody!

Mario Badescu Skin Care kit - $10 at Ulta, and came with deluxe size samples of the Enzyme Cleansing Gel, Glycolic Acid Toner, Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater, Peptide Renewal Serum, Seaweed Night Cream, and a packette of the Ceramide Eye Gel. I'm not terribly well versed with Mario Badescu skin care - but for $10, this seems like a stellar way to introduce myself to the line.

And then I went a little NYX crazy, and bought;

Matte lipstick in Alabama. This looks like a lovely, brown toned red. People talk about how everyone needs either an orangey red, or a blue toned one. I find I do better with the brown tones, myself. My skin isn't particularly warm or cool (I say I'm more neutral), so that's probably why.

I also got the Soft Matte Lip Creams, in Milan and San Paulo. San Paulo looks like a medium/deep pink, with Milan very similar, but coming in a few notches lighter. I've never tried either color, but I have tried the soft matte lip cream before. They go on with a doe foot applicator, like a lipgloss would, but dry to a nice stain. If that dry feeling isn't your thing, keep a lip balm handy. The bonus, of course, to the stain, is that they last longer!

Also, I got the Jumbo Eye Pencil in Sparkle Nude. By the by, if you like the jumbo eye pencils, CVS has a lot of them for 50% off right now, which made this little find a whole $2.50!

I stepped a little out of my zone on this one, but got the pressed Illuminator powder, in Enigmatic. Now, a pressed illuminator isn't the part of it that's unusual for me, but Enigmatic is a nice, girly pink tone, which is the unusual part. Typically, when I'm in the market for illuminators, I go for something more in a gold tone. We'll see how well I like this one! If you're wondering why one might need an illuminator powder, it's the "highlight" portion of the "highlight and contour". :)

And lastly, the "Stay Matte But Not Flat" foundation, in Nude. I've been a dyed in the wool BB cream girl for a while, so this will be unusual. But I'm going to my husbands company Christmas party next weekend, and wanted more of a polished look than BB cream might give.

I also got a Too Faced "Beauty Experts Darlings" kit. For $20, this kit included deluxe sized samples of the Chocolate Soleil matte bronzer, La Creme lip cream in Naked Dolly, Better Than Sex mascara, and Shadow Insurance eye shadow primer. I'm not sure which one I'm the most excited to try! The Chocolate Soleil is dark enough that it makes me nervous, but it smells delicious, so it's a toss up. I bought it for the mascara, but who knows?

And lastly - you know it, you love it, you've probably got some in your own bathroom, TIGI Dumb Blonde shampoo and conditioner. It was a deal I couldn't refuse. Normally $18 a piece, on sale for $7?! Yes please!

Look for my reviews, and with any luck, my much happier hair, coming up soon!

Later lovelies!

Ooh! I feel so naughty!

I received a large sample of Perversion mascara from Urban Decay in my last Ipsy bag, and I've been really on the fence about it, but today tipped me over the edge.

Obligatory product beauty shot:

Isn't she lovely? Unique look. Sleek, bold, will stand out on your vanity, or in your makeup bag. Unless you've got a black one, I suppose. Or, heaven forbid, you're trying to put on your makeup in the dark. And I mean, do what you gotta do for your beauty, but I don't recommend putting on makeup in the dark. :D

From urbandecay.com;

Get bigger, blacker, badder lashes with our ultra-creamy, lengthening and volumizing mascara. Includes a deluxe sample of Subversion Lash Primer! So intense you might need a safe word, Perversion glides on and gets you sexy in one stroke. (Yet it won’t quit until you say when.) It’s insane how black it is…the purest, deepest, most intense black color imaginable. Perversion has a creamy, full-bodied texture that’s not too dry, not too wet. This allows just the right amount of “pull” so it glides through lashes. The result: incredible control for insane lashes. Go ahead and pile on coat after coat. Want to apply more before you go out at night? No problem. Even if it’s been all day since you applied, more Perversion always means more beautiful lashes. Our formula NEVER gets brittle or clumpy.

Alright, back to me...I don't know that I think this has the pigment that it says that it does. It didn't seem markedly darker than any other sort of mascara that I'd tried. So, that might be a bit much. And I don't think this is especially volumizing either.

Know where they really sold me though? The lengthening. The crazy, crazy lengthening. This formula is rich and creamy, and layers nicely, so you can build up enough coats to suit you. Although, they do also sell Subversion mascara primer, so if you're really needing some sticking power, try that one. At any rate, builds well, without getting stiff or clumpy, and lengthens, like crazy. Like, looks like false eyelashes level of lengthening. Check out my pictures!

For the sake of the comparison, check out my bare lashes here, and my lashes on Wet N Wild, here. See what I mean? This stuff lengthens, like nothing I've tried in a while! While I stand by my saying that the Wet N Wild is a steal for the price tag, I've finally come around to the...aah, 'perverse' side?

Look at my WILD lashes!

Mascara is one of those products where it's pretty tough to reinvent the wheel, even though everybody claims that they have. Think about the advertising for mascara - everybody is always claiming that their's is the latest, greatest thing in lash building, lash curling, lash darkening technology. And they're usually good, but they usually never live up to their own hype.

Now, having said that? Let's talk about this.

Wet N Wild Megavolume mascara. With it's cheerful, bright yellow tube. I especially appreciated the packaging, given my black, overcrowded makeup bag. :D

This mascara promises a 5x increase in the natural looking length and volume for your lashes.

Y'all, I kid you not - it delivers. This is one of the first mascaras that I've ever seen that does exactly what it says it will. The brush is wide set, and the formula is thick, goes on without clumps, and both dries and builds well. Really impressive, especially for the price!

I will say though, that this doesn't even play at pretending that it's waterproof - I washed my face with this on, and washed around my eyes, and still had racoon eyes when I stood up. This takes another round with the makeup remover, for sure.

I do alot of the picture taking for this blog with my iPad, and I downloaded a collage app over the weekend, so rather than show you five different pictures, you can see most of what I'm trying to show, all in one shot. :)

The product! You can tell, a tube that bright would be easy to spot, for sure! :)

The collage, so you can see the mascara in action. The bottom right square is no mascara at all. You can tell in all the others, even the one with the heaviest liner, that there is a definite increase in definition, length and volume in my lashes.

I don't often buy the same mascara twice, but I would definitely give Wet N Wild mascaras a second look! Try them out, you might be surprised! :)

Later, beautiful!