Ulta M•A•C and Lush HAUL

My neighborhood Ulta just remodeled so they've now got a Benefit "area". You can go there and try all the products, get a foundation color match ( you get a free 10 day sample of your foundation just for getting a match done this week), get your brows and/or face waxed. Pretty cool. Anyway, I always love their lipstick formula so I picked up a new one from there today.

Benefit Lipstick, Lady's Choice

It's called Lady's Choice. It's a wonderful nude with a hint of peachy-ness. This one is one of their Full Finish lip colors. The formula is so smooth, soft and glidey on the lip, comfortable to wear all day. However, I do have to reapply a couple of times per day while working an 8 hr shift. It's non-drying but you do still need to put more on through the day, if not just for color fade. I used it right w=away so did not take pics.. Sorry.
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I also went to the mall and shopped M•A•C and Lush inside Macy's. I really wanted the new lip color from M•A•C from the Shop Cook collection, also the Reel Sexy collection. Sadly, they did not have it. It was called Watch e Simmer, a beautiful pinky coral. I did find some wonderful items from the new stuff, and a lipstick from the permanent line.

First, I got the new Extra Dimension Eyeshadow ($20) in "Warm Thunder" A lovely long wear eye color. It's a medium grey shimmer, maybe with a glint of rainbow pearl. The consistency of this one is smooth, almost liquidy or damp feeling. It keeps the shimmer where you put it.

I also grabbed Lightscapade in the repromoted Mineralize Skinfinish ($29). It's a pretty pale beige, almost a regular translucent powder with loads of beautiful veining of teensy shimmers in it. Rainbow colors of tiny shimmer particles, looks much more natural than the usual robotic metal gleam of most MSFs.

I always have to buy a lipstick when at M•A•C. Since they did not have the one I came in for, I picked up one called Faux ($14.50). It's a satin finish so very natural feeling on the lip with full color. This one is called a muted mauvey pink. Light to medium shade. I'm pale so it's a nudey natural pink on me.

The photo does not show true, color is a bit darker than what you see.

That's it for my M•A•C haul, now on to the few things I picked up at the Lush counter. I went in for Ocean Salt ($34.95 for 8 oz, $19.99 for 4 oz.) which is a face and body scrub. It smells like a margarita, but what it does is so much more awesome than even the amazing scent! You can scrub your face everyday with it if you can handle it, I can do a couple of times a week. I get the softest smoothest baby skin from this great stuff

When you first get this stuff, stir it up to mix the blue and big salt chunks through it. If not, you'll get an extreme scrub your first time. There are big and small crystals of salt mixed into a softening base.

I also got a bunch of Bath Bombs, these are bath fizzers that color, scent and soften your bath water.

Big Blue ($6.35) Lavender, lemon, sea salt and seaweed. Haven't tried this kind yet.

Avobath ($6.25) Lemongrass, avocado, olive oil. Turns your water green.

The Rocketeer ($6.95) Sweet candy scent, blue w/yellow streamers through water, as it fizzes it scoots around the tub! It's cute, too.

I also picked up some solid lotion called a Massage Bar in Strawberry Feels Forever ($9.95) Strawberries and cream scent. This product melts in your hand, I rub the bar on my arms and let it melt there, or I will melt it in my hands then rub in for a lighter coat. It locks in moisture very well.

I did pick up some more Toothy Tabs in Ultra Blast, mint ($3.95) They are little pills you crush in your mouth to brush your teeth. They taste kind of bitter or salty but clean your teeth so well. Nothing better.

I got one more soap to try, it's just a hand and body bar called Miranda. You buy these by the size of the chunk. Mine was about ¼ of a lb. ($9.17) Kiwi, bergamot, orange, ylang ylang, juniper berry. It smells like fresh clean skin, and it's got a stained glass look to the surface.. Pretty!

I did cut this one down the center so I wouldn't have one big square in the shower. Easy to cut with smooth knife. You can see the stained glass effect on the top in this picture.

Well, that's it for this haul, I'll post reviews for products I really love or really hate.. We'll see. Any questions or comments? Post below! Later!

Caviar Nail with silver foil

I micro beaded the ring finger and did silver foil with a kit I got at Michael's. The microbeads were also bought there. They came in a 6 pack of colors for about $7. The foil kit came with a glue pen and 6 silver sheets, it was around $8. I top coated the foil with Seche Vite. The microbeads look best without a top coat so we will see how long it will last.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow

I just received an Urban Decay eyeshadow in the new formulation. This is my HG eyeshadow. The color, I have been wanting in a single for YEARS. It's called Mushroom.

It's the perfect melted lead color, a hint of brown thrown in. It's a deep gunmetal color but not as sharply grey. It's muted with a bit of brown.

Of course, the color won't translate very well on camera.

I think I should swatch the Mushroom shade along-side Gunmetal to show the difference. Both of these shades are Urban Decay brand colors..

Mushroom on the LEFT, Gunmetal on the RIGHT:

They both have the most beautiful grey sheen to them, almost like an oil spill.

If you have the Urban Decay Stray Dog eyeliner.. Mushroom is a perfect match. The colors are wonderful together. Here, let me swatch Stray Dog eyeliner next to Mushroom eyeshadow and Gunmetal eyeliner next to Gunmetal eyeshadow:

I did one pass of color to the left of each eyeshadow swatch, down below I ran the pencils over about 3 times to show depth. Gunmetal vs. Gunmetal.. They are not exact matches like Underground vs. Underground. Hmm.. Oh well. Anyway, as you can see, the Mushroom vs. Stray Dog are a wonderful match. These two are my absolute faves in the Urban Decay collection!

The new eyeshadows pop out of their containers to add to the new click n go palette type thing Urban Decay has just released. I prefer my mac magnetized palettes, I can fit more than 6, unlike the Urban Decay one. However, the deputing of the products is quite time consuming.

Received Sephora Haul

    I finally received my Sephora haul. I guess it did not take that long to get here. I have product pricing on my last post about the Sephora haul, if you want to know.

    First of all, I did get to choose a pretty cool 100 point free gift for being a beauty insider. I picked the Clinique skin type 2 mini face kit.

    It comes with a face wash, toner, and a face lotion. I have tried the lotion and like it when my skin seems very flakey and bumpy. The others, I haven't tried yet.

     I got a body scrub from soap & Glory as well, It's the Scrub 'Em and Leave 'Em Body Buff.

     I tried it on my hands and it is so yummy. It made them super smooth and soft without the sting of a usual sea salt scrub. It smells so good. I'd say a combo of soap and Philosophy's Amazing Grace. I can't wait to try this in the bath!

     I also got some anti-static detangler from Bumble & Bumble, just a travel size. I like that they make the small size to try to see if I like it. I have not sprayed this in my hair yet, I am going to color my hair so I washed it with a sea salt shampoo and left it bare today til it dries.

     Oops, I didn't turn my pic, but you get the idea.

     I also received something so AMAZING!
It's the Too Faced Better Than False Lashes system:

     It cost a fortune ($35) but it's, like I said.. AMAZING! I tried it on my lashes and it extended them by double! I could not believe it. It looked like it might bunch up or clump but I had smooth, slightly volumized, extremely LONG lashes. i think this will be HG status. Seriously. Here are photos of each step:

My lashes untouched:

     Puny, short, blah.

     Lashes with step 1:

     This is just the thinnest coat of the product. It dries very fast so you should put step two on right away after step one doing one eye at a time, mine dried as I was snapping a photo. It still worked pretty good. The next set of pics are step two: one of the product, one of my lashes with step 2 applied:

     The product is little fuzzes, you brush them over the damp step 1 so they stick to it. It felt very strange like the fibers were getting in my eye, but they did not:

     The next shot is of the step 1 applied again. It is the step 1 AND 3 of this system:

     I did go ahead and apply yet another coat of fibers (step 2) and a third layer of step 1, the mascara:

     I can not believe how non-clumpy this looks, how easy it is to use, how lovely my eyelashes look. Yes, up close it looks a bit spidery, but in a natural view, they are smooth and soft, not overly done. I can't wait to try this with a face full of makeup! It's going to look awesome!!

     One last photo I took of the fibers in the tube, it looks like a cotton ball in the tube. Kinda cool:

     I'm going to recommend this product to EVERYONE! I love this. Too Faced has some nice things but this thing is killer! 

     The mascara stays on, no flaking or smearing. It stays soft but not gummy or plastic feeling like some tubing type mascaras. 

     So far so good, everything I tried so far I love. I hope you have enjoyed this haul. Any q's or c's.. Anytime, I'll answer as soon as I can. 

     Later!