Spring Sephora Makeup Haul

Happy Spring, my little birdies!

I hope everyone is doing just dandy today. I'm back from my little hiatus. Thanks for the patience. Sometimes when you don't have inspiration you just can't force it. I've gathered plenty of inspiration the past month and a half and have been super excited about getting back into it!

The other day I decided to do a little makeup shopping with my friend at Sephora. I originally was just going there to grab a Tarte Rain Forest of the Sea Color Splash Lipstick after watching Kathleen Lights' March Favorites video. I grabbed some more goodies apart from that, that I wanted to share with you!

So as you know, I grabbed one of the Color Splash Lipsticks after watching Kathleen's video. She had mentioned that she mostly loved the colors Pink Lemonade and Beach Babe. After seeing those I knew I had to get them for myself. I'm such a nude lipstick lover .. well.. I'm a lipstick fiend in general but nude shades are my favorite. They are 21 bucks a piece so I decided to just pick up Beach Babe for now. Besides it being the most beautiful nude lipstick I've set my eyes on, the packaging won my heart. It's in a blue packaging with stokes of white and dark blue faded into it. It reminds me of summer time by the pool side or the ocean. It's just gorgeous. With this type of packaging, it'll certainly be in the forefront of my lipstick stash.

(I apologize for the blurriness of most the photos! I took them with my iPhone because I couldn't find the charger to my camera. For some reason, when I put them in, they're blurry and I'm unable to fix it.)

As I was wandering around Sephora I noticed that they had some Huda Beauty lip products. I feel like Huda Beauty is a popular brand but hard to get your hands on here in the States. At least at my Sephora it is. They have a few products of hers but not much at all so I was very excited to have seen them. I decided to grab a liquid matte lipstick in the shade Muse. There were several beautiful colors to choose from but I decided to go with Muse as it's more of a deep mauve shade that's borderline berry and I don't have any like it so far.

As I went to go check out of Sephora I was suckered into those minis that they surround you in as you wait to pay. While looking around I noticed the Kat Von D Lock It Setting Powder. Now, I love my Rimmel Stay Matte powder I've been using for years but I've heard such great things about the Kat Von D one I decided to give it a try. It's a loose powder where as the Rimmel is pressed so I'm looking forward to seeing how I do with that. Hopefully won't make too much of a mess - and if I do - I hope it's worth it. ;)

Since April is my birthday month, I was also able to receive my birthday goodies from Sephora. I choose the Tarte mini duo. It has the Amazonian Clay Blush in the shade Paaarty and it also has the Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint in the shade Birthday Suit.  They're such beautiful colors and I'm so excited to try them out.

Last but not least, I picked up a MAC Lip Prep and Prime. (From MAC, not Sephora - of course) As much as I love lipsticks, my lips are ALWAYS dry. No matter how much lip balm I put on them, they always have dry spots that lipstick loves to cling on too. This Prep and Prime is supposed to help hydrate the lips while giving the lip colors a good base to stick too. Bonus point for stopping liquid lip colors from feathering out.

So that's all I got on my makeup shopping day out. It's been a while since I went out shopping for makeup so I feel this was long over due. Plus, I decided to splurge a little for an early birthday present to myself.

If you've tried any of these or know of any others like these leave me a comment down below!

I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Jay

High End Makeup Haul

Good Evening, lovelies.

Last Saturday some of my coworkers and I decided we would go make up shopping specifically. So after work we headed straight to the mall. (Before I begin with anything, I just want to add a disclaimer that I am not bragging whatsoever. The majority of my makeup is drug store and I wanted to splurge just a bit with some money that I received for my birthday.) Back to the regularly scheduled program. :)

We went into Forever 21 as our "meeting place" and I ended up buying this really adorable shirt that I'm sure I'll show you in a future post. Funny story about this shirt is that I like the look of it better backwards than how it looks front side forward! I really hope no body calls me out for wearing this shirt backwards haha!

After we all met up we booked it to Sephora. Sephora is like a makeup girls playground and it felt like we got the OK to go completely wild in there. I got everything that I essentially "needed" to grab when it comes to make up.

First I went for the Too Faced Shadow Insurance. You've seen me talk about this before because beside's the UD Primer Potion, the TF Shadow Insurance is my absolute favorite. I was going between buying that one which I know is a good one or the MAC Painterly Paint Pot. I was given a little bit of background from one of my friends that the Painterly Paint Pot creases a bit. I'm sure it could be different for everyone but my purpose for a primer was so that my eye makeup does NOT BUDGE and I usually get that peace of mind with the Shadow Insurance. I bought the full sized version which is the first full sized that I got of these. Totally worth it.

Next, I went for a Kat Von D Lock - It Featherweight Primer and my goooodness is it good. My friend Nicki recommended it and I've never had any of Kat Von D's products before so I thought I would give it a whirl. It's such a great primer because it's not really silicone based. It's a waterbased formula so I kind of dissolves into your skin? I'm not sure if I'm doing this primer justice but my first impression of it is that I love it already. How did I go so long without it!?

After getting those I knew I wanted to grab a NARS foundation. I've only ever had one high end foundation before and I hear great things about it but it just wasn't my cup of tea. Amazing brand though. Any who, I knew I wanted a Nars foundation but I wasn't sure on which one. I asked a girl who worked there on her opinion on what she thought depending on my skin routine and what type of skin I have. We talked a lot of what she thought was best. (Thank you so much for your insight and input! It means a lot that you really listened and helped me out!) We came to the conclusion that I do like more coverage because my cheeks tend to be red so I would like to cover all that up without being cake-y. We choose the Nars All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Gobi. I tried it for the first time today and my first impression is that I'm HIGHLY impressed. Of course I didn't think any less could come from Nars as they always have great reviews but I am so glad that we chose this one. Definitely going to be one of my favorites and quickly.

So that was all I got from Sephora. While I was checking out the girl at the register said I was eligable for my free Beauty Insider birthday gift so I chose the Marc Jacobs eyeliner and lipstick duo. Two thumbs up from me. The lipstick is a bit darker than I usually wear but it lasts a really long time and the eyeliner didn't budge. They were great picks for being a birthday gift. Thanks Sephora. :)

Our last stop was MAC and the only thing I really wanted to buy from there was the Mac Fix Plus. I really wanted a setting spray and I've used the Urban Decay setting sprays before and I loved them. Hearing all the wonderful things about this Mac Fix Plus I knew I just had to give it a try, so I bought that as my last thing.

I just wanted add what Mia from confidentlycurly.com bought me for my birthday! Oh my goodness! When I opened her present to me, I found not one but two Anastasia Glow Kits in Gleam and That Glow! (Thank you Mia!) Gleam has the shades Hard Candy, Mimosa, Starburst, and Crushed Pearl. Absolutely gorgeous highlights! My favorites are the ones in That Glow. The shades are Sunburst, Golden Bronze, Bubbly, and Dripping in Gold. Those are my favorite kind of bronzey highlight. Both palettes are stunning and I nearly jumped out of my seat when I opened them. I've used them all already - using one shade one day and another the next. I saw on instagram this girl mixed all four from one palette and applied it. It came out beautiful. I think I'm going to try that out!

I've very excited with all that I got especially because I know it was things I "needed" when it comes down to makeup.(I used the word needed loosely as I know I don't ever NEED makeup.) I had a great time laughing and being mini make up artists with my friends. Coming home, I was excited to play with all my stuff which by the way - first impressions of all is really good! Top notch.

If there is a certain product that I mentioned in this post that you would like an in depth review about just let me know down in the comments. As I continue to test them out I'll be looking out for all that they claim to do!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Until next time,

Jay