Collective Haul

Multi-Haul! Ulta Macy's Mac Shiseido Carol's Daughter Manicure

From Macy's Ulta and the drugstore.

As you can see, I am a nail polish addict. One time I picked up over a dozen colors. I wonder if I've used them all yet? I'm just not sure.

I picked up a couple of Essie polishes on clearance at Ulta. "Your Hut Or Mine" and "Braziliant", polishes number 1 and 3 in the above photo. The other two I got there were regular price, one was China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy". I saw this on a girl at work and just had to have it. It's so much more fluorescent and beautiful in real life, pictures just can not read the polish like your eye can. I also bought a Butter London color called "Trout Pout" I get so many compliments when wearing this one. It's the perfect pale coral. I picked a color up at Walgreen's too. It's the new Sally Hansen Magnetic polish in "Ionic Indigo". I did not get a chance to try this yet, I have another brand and really think these are cool.

I have been gelling my nails for a while now. I have applied the base and top, then I use regular polishes over the top. They last much longer that way. I am assuming its because my nails are more sturdy and hold polish better since it's not so flexible underneath.

I bought the Carol's Daughter Monoi shampoo and conditioner and received a free travel size hair mask for buying the 2 full size products. They run about $20 each. I have been trying these ones for about a week and really like how shiny my hair is. I have super fine, slick straight baby hair. The Monoi products do not weigh my hair down at all, which I thought they might do just because they are oil based, The shampoo lathers because of the coconut oil in it, it has no sulfates which usually cause the lathering. This stuff smells so good! As I wash and condition, it smells like gardenia or magnolia flowers. After about a half a day, my hair takes on a more coconutty scent. I really like it. It's not a heavy scent, I have to be close to my hair to be able to notice the scent. I have used the mask twice, once after coloring my hair and again today, so about weekly. I like the feel of this more than I like the feel of the regular conditioner, but I would not think to use it daily. Maybe I will use it a couple of times a week instead of once. So far, I LOVE IT! It's claim is to grow hair longer by preventing breakage. I contacted the company and asked about the gentleness of the product, they recommended that I use it daily for at least 6 months. I wrote them because I was concerned about using a repair shampoo daily for so long. But they assured me that it would be fine, since the proteins are so gentle in the products. I hope I see wonderful results from it.

I picked up a cool brush I heard about from Shiseido, it is the Perfect Foundation Brush. This thing looks amazing! I found this video on line a while back about how the brush is made. Pretty cool. I have tried it a few times, and each time I use it I like it more and more. I am using it with a foundation from Clarins, the long wear fountain. I think it dries to quirky to work well with this brush, but I sprayed the brush with Mac's fix+ and it works much smoother. I have ordered a different foundation to try with it as well. We will see. The brush lays down the most airbrushed look I have ever seen. It does go through more product than with other application techniques, but I think it's worth it. It really looks flawless. The actual brush looks really tiny, but I think the size seems to work for better control as you stripe the product down your face. It's super soft synthetic densely packed bristles are such a great feel on the face, it does not drag or blotch the makeup on like other foundation brushes or sponges. Much better than fingers, which is my usual foundation applicator.

I picked up another Clarins Everlasting foundation in #03. It's called Ivory and I think it's still a tad too dark for me, but it's the closest I can find. It's my third bottle, I like it except for the slight color mismatch. I just ordered a Mac foundation in NW15. We will see if it's too light/dark?? when it arrives. I'll keep you posted on that.

I bought a bunch of M•A•C products at Macy's this week as well. I am going to try the Prep & Prime SPF 50, it's made for oily skin. I had it on the past couple of days. Not bad, doesn't feel too heavy.

I picked up a few brushes too. I needed a new spooky so I picked up the lash brush # 204. I am going to use it to tame the brows after pencilling them in.

I also grabbed the # 212, the push brush to put eyeliner into my lash line. It packs the color on in the right spot, it's super thin ad tapered so soft on the ends, I don't even feel like I'm poking my upper waterline.

I purchased another # 217 crease brush, I thought I'd try it for concealer but I don't like it for that. I'll just have a spare # 217 for eyeshadow.

I also picked up another M•A•C Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light. Good, light coverage to finish off foundation for a more natural finish. Not too matted down, beautiful natural skin sheen. If you have not tried it, go for it, it's so beautiful. I also like it for the light coverage, not like a finishing powder since it provides just a hint more coverage over my redness and whatnot. 

Last but not least, I purchased another big bottle of Mario Badescu Enzyme wash. Good, gentle cleanser, non-foaming, removed makeup and controls flakiness.

Well, I am giving up on this haul for tonight. I'll let you know if my views change on any of these products. Let me know if you've tried them and what you think. Have a good one!

NOTD

Nails with China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy and a Kiss brand 3-D charm.. Photo does not do this amazing color justice! Light pinky coral full-on flourescent! Amazing!

Quick NOTD

Nails of the day for yesterday and today.

Yesterday was Orly Haute Red with a matte top coat by Essie, finished the tips with a stripe of Seche Vite.


Today is a beautiful corally pink by Butter London called Trout Pout.

Living Proof Full - Review

I hauled this product a few days ago and was super excited to try it!

Well, I have given it 5 days. I must say that at first I really liked the way my hair felt. But as I used it, my hair got more and more tangled, fly-away static.. and so on.

I guess if you really need the added unmanageable texture this provides, it's OK. LOL

Anyway, I will give up on Living Proof. Not as great as I thought it would be, with all the hype.

I'm going to try the Monoi Carol's Daughter line next. A completely different concept. This one will hydrate the hair and make it not break, so making hair fuller and longer over time. As long as it feels good in the hair, I will want to use this one a long time to really see the effects. It's around the same price as the Living Proof set. I think they are round $25-$29 for the travel size set.

I'm going to pick some up this week because the Ulta near me just started carrying the Carol's Daughter line. I heard about this one on QVC. You learn a lot from watching that channel.

I'll put up an Ulta haul when I get a minute after my shopping spree this week. I'm also going to pick up China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy. It's lovely. I can't wait to show you that one.

Questions, comments or your review of this product would be appreciated!

Living Proof Full

I picked up a travel size pack of a hair care line I have been wanting to try for a while. It's called Living Proof Full. It's a body building product line.

Living Proof products were designed by scientists. Here's a link from their web page:

About Us

The kit has four products. Shampoo, conditioner, thickening cream and root-lifting spray. I am trying the entire system. I wash my hair everyday so I was wondering if this would be too much for me. It was not, usually I have tangled hard to comb hair by the third day of using most volumizing shampoo/conditioners. I really like this line so far, the shampoo gives a bit more texture to my hair but then, the conditioner tames it and detangles it just enough, without destroying the texture it had from the shampoo. I towel dried my hair, combed through and sprayed ½ dozen pumps of the root-lifting spray on the crown of my head, then put about a dime sized dollop of the thickening cream throughout the rest of my hair. I then blow dried my hair with a large round brush.

I like the shiny look of my hair! It looks so healthy and feels natural. The products provide moderate texture. It keeps my hair styled to my liking through about half of the day. My hair loses it's style rather quickly anyway. I wonder if I should try more of the thickening cream. We'll see.

I also noticed on the third day of use that my hair got some fly-away static after about 10 hours. I usually just get like that in the winter, so it's odd. I'll try again to see if more conditioner or thickening cream will alleviate this problem. I hate static in my hair!

So, I like the feel of my hair and it's glossy look, but don't like the loss of style or static. I don't think I'll repurchase these. I'll still use up my travel sizes and see if my views change by then. I'll keep you posted if I change my opinion on this brand.

Holographic Nails

I think I've found something WONDERFUL!

Have you seen Holographic nail color? Oh my goodness.. I just tried some at Ulta from Layla. This is amazing. I put it over my coral gel polish. The coolest one is the silver, it has the most amount of flash! I can't pick up the differences of the colors very well on camera. 

Just beautiful. It flows and changes with every move you make. So pretty. It has a lot of micro glitter per swipe.

Silver

I have photos of two other shades. One is pink, the other is beige. They kind of look the same but have changed the color of my underneath polish slightly.

Beige

It's kind of spendy. It's $15.50 a bottle. Yipers.. So, I was trying them to see which one I should get. I think it's the silver. I want to try some more colors, I think there were 6-8 colors to choose. They had purple, blue, grey, black, pink, beige, silver and maybe more. But it just seemed like a light see-through color with the sparks of holographic micro glitters floating in it.

Pink

If you have tried other brands, let me know what they are and what you think of them. I'd like to see the differences by brand.