Walgreens Mini Haul

Hello my Fellow Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

I know this is my second haul in a week or two, but I have done some serious makeup shopping since I came back to college. If you remember from my last post, I went to Ulta looking for a new foundation and concealer. I had purchased the Maybelline FIT ME foundation in the color 315: Soft Honey, and found it to be a bit too dark for my skin. It would be perfect for the summer, but since I am losing my tan, I need a lighter foundation shade. So instead of going back to Ulta, I decided to visit my local Walgreens. There I picked up:

• Rimmel London Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder in 005: Silky Beige
• Loreal Paris Colour Riche Balm in 818: Nourishing Nude
• Maybelline FIT ME Foundation Stick in 310: Sun Beige
• Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer in 60: Brightener

At Walgreens Maybelline was having a buy one, get the other half off, which to me was a good deal. I have been using these products for the past week, and I love them all. I do not have oily skin, but sometimes my foundation feels a bit wet after I apply it. The Rimmel Stay Matte powder makes sure that the foundation does not move around and looks nice and matte. The only issue I have is around my nose as for some reason it keeps getting really oily. I might need to do a face mask in order to fix that problem. What face masks do you recommend?

Swatch

With the colder weather approaching (especially in New England where the weather changes every hour), a nourishing lip balm is needed. I am a sucker for nude lip products but have a hard time finding one that does not make my lips or face look washed out. This Loreal lip balm in Nourishing Nude is a beautiful sheer color that makes my lips feel very moisturized and does not give my face that "washed out" look.

Swatch

Since I first saw this foundation on YouTube, I knew I needed to have it. I have never tried a stick foundation so i was curious how it would turn out. The Sun Beige color fits my skin tone a lot better than the Soft Honey one, even though it makes my face look a little lighter (nothing bronzer cannot fix). If you have dry skin, I definitely would not recommend this product to you as your dry patches will show. However, if you have normal to oily combination skin, try this product out as it is amazing. I am excited to see what other products Maybelline brings out.

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For me, concealer is my holy grail product. When I first started wearing makeup, I swore by high end concealers because to me they were the best. However, over the past couple of years, drugstore brands have been stepping it up. In their video DiamondsonDeck76 talk about the best and worst drugstore concealers. Their number one drugstore concealer was the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind in Brightener. I have heard many gurus praise this concealer, but I was a bit skeptical. I had previously purchased the Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour concealer, and was not to impressed. However, the Instant Age Rewind in Brightener is amazing. It is light, but conceals. I love the sponge applicator and I never feel like it settles in my fine lines. This product is definitely a favorite and I will repurchase after this one finishes.

 

Swatch

Blended Swatch

What new makeup products have you purchased? Are you loving the new fall collections coming out? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time my lovely makeup addicts. XOXOXO

First Ulta Haul

Hello my Fellow Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

I know it has been more than a month since my last post and I apologize for that. The past few weeks have been so hectic from moving back to college to my senior year classes. With that, I will try to post at least once a week.

If you love makeup, then you must know about Ulta. If you do not, then just think about Ulta as a Sephora mixed with a CVS/Walgreens. Yesterday was my first time in that store, and I almost went crazy. On one side of the store was high end brands such as Urban Decay and Stila, but on the other side, they had Maybelline, Revlon, NYX, and Almay. I wanted to buy it all, but as a college student, $80 worth of makeup products is a bit too steep, especially with graduate school applications and GRE test preps. Although I could not buy everything I wanted (i.e. Real Technique brushes at buy one get one half off), I did get some products that I have been eyeing for a while.

The products I got:

• NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul ($5.99)
• NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Tokyo ($5.99) 
• NYX Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee ($4.99)
• Revlon Photoready Concealer in Light Medium ($9.99)
• Maybelline FIT ME Foundation in 315: Soft Honey ($7.99 - $2 = $5.99)
• Maybelline FIT ME Pressed Powder in 315: Soft Honey ($7.99 - $2 = $5.99)

I won't review them now, but I can tell you this. I am obsessed with the NYX products. If you love nude colors, whether it is a pinky nude or more of a brownish nude, you will love these colors. I tried the Revlon concealer under my eyes, and noticed that it would settle into my fine lines. Hopefully I learn how to use it better since it was expensive. I love Maybelline products and I love the foundation. The color might be a bit dark but blending can take care of that. Overall, I fell in love with Ulta and definitely will be returning to that store, especially for those Real Technique brushes.

                                Picture: (From left to right: Istanbul, Creme Brulee, & Tokyo)

Disclaimer: I purchased these products with my own money. I am not being endorsed for my review.

Maybelline

Hello my Fellow Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

I know that in my earlier post (at 1:30 am...man, I really need to get my sleeping patterns back on track) I said that my next post would be about IPSY. Well, I just could not wait and decided to write a post about one of my favorite drug store companies, which if you can guess by the title is...MAYBELLINE!

Before I tell you all about how I became obsessed with Maybelline, I think it makes sense for me to tell you briefly on how my love for makeup came to be.

I am not sure if I already wrote this or not, but the first time I started using makeup was for my senior prom. Instead of going to the drugstore, my mom (who is amazeballs by the way) took me to Sephora (big mistake). To make a long story short, I left the store after spending $300 on makeup, crazy right? At the time I did not even know how to put on makeup and looking back on that moment now, I think I should have just stuck to drugstore makeup for my first time.

Jump 2 years later, I discovered Maybelline products...well I knew about them but I had never tried them before. I knew the commercial "Maybe it's Maybelline," but I did not understand the hype, until I tried the product that would change my view on liquid liner forever. The Maybelline Line Stiletto is by far, my most favorite eyeliner I have ever tried (even surpassing high-end ones). The thin flexible brush made it easy for me to learn how to create a cat-eye line on myself. From that moment on, I have tried several Maybelline products throughout the years.

Looking at this picture, I realize that I do not own that much Maybelline but my collection is still growing. Looking at it now,I also realized that all of the products I own and have tried are for face. Hm...maybe I should try a lipstick next. What do you ladies think?

These products are the:

1. Maybelline Line Stiletto in Black
2. Super Stay 24 Concealer in Medium Beige
3. Great Lash Clear Mascara
4. 24 Hour Color Tattoo Metal in 70 Barely Branded
5. 24 Hour Color Tattoo in 35 Tough as Taupe
6. Eyestudio by Maybelline in 80 Pink Persuasion

I decided to swatch them for you guys if you are interested in the colors. Each color arrow corresponds to a different product.

• Black Arrow - Maybelline Line Stiletto
• Brown Arrow - Super Stay Concealer
• Eggshell Arrow - Barely Branded
• Grey Arrow - Tough as Taupe
• Pink Arrow - Pink Persuasion

* The Mascara is clear so there was no sense in swatching it.

I know there are so many other Maybelline products out there to try. Some of them are:

1. Baby Lips
2. Color Tattoo Pigments
3. All of their Mascaras - Which one do you recommend?
4. Color Whispers
5. Vivids Collection
6. Dream Lumi Line
7. Fit Me Foundation

Leave a comment below telling me what drugstore line is your favorite as well as what are your holy grail Maybelline products?

Check out Maybelline.

Bobbi Brown Concealer

Hello to my Fellow Makeup Obsessed Addicts!

It is currently almost 1:30 am on a Tuesday morning in NYC and all I can think about it makeup and how I have not written a blog in several weeks. I promise to get better at blogging. To show you how much bettter I am becoming at blogging, I can tell you that the post after this will be about, surprise: beauty subscriptions. I feel like all I have written about on my blog are beauty subscriptions, but hey, I do love them. Anyways, let me get back to the reason I am writing this blog, which is concealer. But I am not writing about any concealer, I am writing about the Bobbi Brown concealer.

When I first started out with makeup, I did not know the difference between concealer or foundation, mineral or liquid, yellow or pink undertones, sheer to full coverage, and other beauty terminology. One day, a boss of mine at a summer internship introduced me to Bobbi Brown as he was also a makeup artist for this company on the side. The first product he gave me was the Bobbi Brown creamy concealer kit (in the old packaging).

 *Pictures from Who So Loves Blog* (Check out this blog, it is amazing)

The color he matched me in was Warm Beige, which came with the Pale Yellow powder. From the moment I used this foundation, I was hooked. LOVE does not even cover what I feel about this product. It was creamy and glided beautifully under my eye, especially after I applied the Bobbi Brown EXTRA Eye Repair Cream (amazing product, I highly recommend it). It did not cake up, crease, or settle into the fine lines under my eye (yes at 21 years old, I do have fine lines). I would just wear this concealer along with the powder as well as some mascara (which was also Bobbi Brown) and be set for the day. Also, a little goes a long way. This concealer lasted me 6 months even though I used it everyday. When I finished it, I decided to try other concealers (i.e. Benefit Erase Paste in Number 2 and MAC's Pro Longwear Concealer in NC30) but I just do not love them as much as I loved my Bobbi Brown creamy concealer.

After researching the concealer, I realized they changed the packaging, which made me bummed. I loved the old packaging. Eve though it was bulky, I though the lose powder on the bottom. I am hesitant to buy it now because I have heard negative reviews on the new packaging, especially with the powder. At $34, I want to make sure this concealer is still the one I fell in love with during my sophomore year of college (2 years ago).

*Picture Courtesy of Bobbi Brown*

Have any of you tried the Bobbi Brown concealer in the new packaging? Would you recommend it? Ugh Bobbi, why can't you make the old packaging again? :'(

If you have never tried Bobbi Brown, I HIGHLY recommend you try this line out. Every product I have tried from them, I have loved. They are amazing quality and you will not be disappointed. What Bobbi Brown products have you tried? Let me know which products you recommend to try.