Birchbox Haul March 2014

I had some Birchbox points that were expiring this month, so I decided to put in an order at the Birchbox shop. 

First Look!

Enbryolisse lait-créme concentré This is a refill for my current bottle. I originally tried this from a sample box and loved it. I use this as a nighttime moisturizer. 

Stila stay all day liquid lipstick in "Patina" I received another sample of this product in my Birchbox August 2013 box in the color "beso" I really liked how long this stayed on my lips and decided to try out another color since I had the points to use. This lipstick is slightly drying, but it lasts most of the day.

I also picked out the Mystery Sample Pack which came for free with a $35.00 purchase. 

Omni Potent Duosity double whipped repairing treatment 

Beauty Protector  Protect and Detangle leave in conditioner. I really like this product and will probably repurchase from the Birchbox shop. This is the only place to buy this brand.

If you would like to sign up for a monthly subscription, please consider using my referral link.

Julep Haul February 2014

This month Julep put out a coupon code in honor of the Oscars.  

I saw one of these products in the past and wanted to try it out, but it was out of stock. During the promo, I saw that the item was back in stock, so I decided jump on the offer and put in an order. 

Keep reading to see what I got. 

All of the products I ordered. 

The promo code offered a sequined clutch and two nail polishes for free with a $25.00 purchase. The 'Everybody Wins' set is still for sale on the Julep site, however, the coupon code is expired. Here is a close up of the clutch. It's a nice bronze color with tiny sequins throughout.  The sequins are on both sides of the bag, which was highly padded. I was surprised how well made this bag was, especially for a gift with purchase item. There were two options that could have been chosen in the nail polish selection. Keep reading to see which one I chose. 

The inside of the clutch is lined in this leather silk. There are two pockets on one side of the clutch, one of which is big enough to hold an iPhone. The clutch closes with a gold zipper. 

This is what was contained in the 'Party's Over' glitter nail polish removal kit.  The kit included ten nail caps and five packets of nail polish remover pads.  The nail covers are black rubber, all are the same size, aside from two caps (top) which are to be used over the thumbs. Each pack contains ten nail polish remover pads.  The idea behind this kit is that you place a pad on the nail and then place the finger caps over the nail and the pad.  I'm excited to try this out, to see how it removes glitter polish.  I though that it would also be good for gel nails. Review to come. 

Here are the polishes that I received. 

Left to Right: 

'Rita' - magenta shimmer

'Oscar' - gold glitter

'Courtney' - spring green

'Clara' - creamscicle orange

Rita and Oscar were the two polishes that were included in the 'Everybody Wins - Rita Royale' set. The other choice in the 'Everybody Wins' set is 'Holly Would'.  'Holly Would' had a mermaid green color ('Holly') and 'Oscar'.  

'Courtney' and 'Clara' were add ons. I used the add on function to get me to the $25.00 minimum purchase I needed to get the 'Everybody Wins' promo.  I don't currently have colors like this and I though that it would be nice for the spring time. 

If you would like to sign up with Julep and become a Maven, for discounted prices on all Julep products, please use my referral link.

January 2014 Sephora Haul

I put in another Sephora order this month. When I was in Pittsburgh, I purchased a Make up For Ever eyeliner and when I went on the Sephora website, I saw that there was a box set that was a better deal. I knew that I had to get it and couldn't pass it up.

Sephora Favorites: Skin Cleanse Volume 2

Everything came in this black and white bag. The front and back of the bag are made of black vinyl with raised bumps throughout.  The sides of the bag are in white with a white zipper pull.

0.7 oz. boscia Luminizing black peel off mask. When they say black, they mean black.  I tried this out and it really dried tightly to the skin.  I thought that the mask was hard to peel off and would come off as strips. It was especially hard to peel the mask from around the hairline. I ended up needing to use a cleanser to take the rest of the smaller pieces off my face.

0.5 fl. oz. Kate Somerville 'ExoliKate' exfoliating treatment 

1.0 oz. First Aid Beauty Skin Rescue deep cleanser with Red Clay

0.25 fl. oz. dr. brandt "Pores no more" pore refiner

0.33 fl. oz. Dr. Jart+ Black Label Detox BB Beauty Balm

.33 fl. oz. Murad oil control mattifier with SPF 15/PA ++ 

0.5 fl. oz. Peter Thomas Roth "Firm x" Peeling gel

0.3 oz. Glam Glow "Supermud" clearing treatment I really liked this mask.  It's a mud mask that applies a dark grey color and dries to a lighter gray.  The mask pulls out the oils in your pores and those areas remain a dark grey color, helping you see all the impurities that were pulled out of your pores.  As far as the rest of the mask it dries really tightly.  After washing off the mask you can see and feel the results immediately. All the hype behind this product is well deserved.  I really want to try the moisturizing version of this mask. 

0.5 fl. oz. Ole Henriksen "Ultimate Lift" eye gel

Make up For Ever: Ever Lasting Liners - Aqua Liner Set

This is the set that I got because of the good deal that it was. I basically got three full sized liners and three mini liners for the price of two full priced liners. 

Full Sized Liners:

0L - matte black

25L - matte brown

3L - iridescent navy

Mini Liners:

20L - forest green

11L - eggplant purple

23L - champagne

Swatches Left to Right: 0L, 25L, 3L, 20L, 11L, 23L

Nails, Inc.: The Special Effects Collection

Electric Lane - holographic top coat. Silver glitter

Marylebone - 3D glitter. Purple glitter

Strafford - Mirror Metallic. Brown Shimmer

I ended up having to return this polish to Sephora.  When I received the polishes two of them (Electric Lane and Marylebone) were completely dried out. 

Delux Samples:

0.1 fl. oz. Illamasqua Hydra Veil rehydrating gel

1.0 fl. oz. Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser

Extras:

I didn't order this, but it was included in the shipment. I though it was worth mentioning. There was an envelope including cards with scent swatches of a few of the fragrances that Sephora offers. 

Samples: 

0.35 fl. oz. Glam Glow "Brightmud" eye treatment sample

(2) 0.07 oz. Elizabeth and James Nirvana in Black and White **Sephora Exclusive**

0.33 fl. oz. Living Proof restore targeted repair cream

Pittsburgh Haul January 2014

Here is the haul from my recent impromptu trip to Pittsburgh. 

From LOFT at Ross Park Mall:

I saw this shirt and it reminded me of 90's era Drew Barrymore. I had to have the shirt. There was a sale going on when I showed up so I got the shirt for 40% off. 

There are tiny cream colored, embroidered daises all throughout the shirt.  The base of the shirt is very sheer, so I have to wear something under it. 

From Gabriel Brother's:

Another sheer shirt. This one is black and long sleeves. The only thing that I don't like about shirts like these is that they are easily snagged.

From one of two different Marshall's stores: 

Here is another cream colored shirt. This is a long sleeved sweater on the front and the upper half of the back.  The bottom half of the back is made out of the same color chiffon.  There is a single pocket on the breast with a little chiffon flap to close the pocket. I thought that this shirt would be long enough to wear over leggings, but also nice enough to wear with jeans and still look put together. 

I found this shirt in the clearance section and it was my favorite piece that I picked up.  The sleeves and back of the shirt are made out of a heather grey sweatshirt material and the front of the shirt is made out of a white, cable knit sweater.  This shirt is so comfortable and its different. I haven't seen this style of shirt, made out of these two types of fabric before. 

These boots are from American Eagle and they were on clearance for $16.00! They are made out of a khaki suede and the sides of the boots are not stiff and structured so they have a lot of movement when you walk. 

**Fun Fact** 

American Eagle Outfitters corporate campus is in Pittsburgh. I ended up coming across the campus while we were leaving. We saw the big American Eagle mascot looming on the side of a building, we drove closer by to see that it was headquarters. 

Cobalt Blue peep toe d'Orsay flats by Franco Sarto.  I have been obsessed with finding a comfortable d'orsay flat recently.  Most of these shoes cut into the top of my feet from the toe section of the shoe. These shoes were really comfortable when I tried them on. I will have to store these shoes away for the spring time, because the shoes look weird with stockings or tights and it's currently too cold to wear them without it. If the toe wasn't open I think that these shoes would look fine with tights, the open toe shows the hem of the socks, which is weird. 

MOR candle in Black Currant Iris. This is the second one of these candles I have found. I really love the brand MOR. They make some delicious scents. My favorite scent from MOR is Neroli Clementine. I have a tube of the Neroli Clementine hand cream on my desk at work, the Lychee Flower hand cream by my bed and a Neroli Clementine sugar scrub in my shower. I have been finding this brand all over the place in clearance sections of Marshall's and Ulta. You cannot order from the website right now, it will be opening up again sometime soon. I have a suspicion that they will be rebranding and clearing out their old product to get ready for the new stuff. 

From Sephora in Ross Park Mall:

Soap and Glory "Beginners Luxe" set. This included "Clean on Me" shower gel, "Scrub of Your Life" body scrub, full sized "The Righteous Butter" body butter and a set of exfoiliating gloves. I have been using the body butter a lot recently, the scent is really nice and it absorbs quickly in the skin. The body butter also seems to last for a really long time on your skin. 

Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil hand cream in Vanilla Apricot.  I wasn't planning on purchasing this and haven't heard anything about this hand cream before. I was walking around the Sephora store, had dry hands and found this hand cream first so I tried this product with one of those testers, and continued on my merry way. As I continued to walk around the store, I kept feeling my hands and see how soft they were. I had to pick up a tube of this! Even when I was at the checkout counter, the girl ringing me up, commented that this hand cream is the best in the store. 

Sephora Haul December 2013

This December I had a gift card to Sephora and all the holiday sets were out, so I decided to put in a order. 

I received a sample of Ren's Glycol lactic radiance renewal mask and ended up loving the mask. I could immediately see and feel the results. How the mask works is that you apply it to your face, leave it on for ten minutes and then use a warm, wet cloth to wipe away the mask. It's very similar to the hot cloth cleansers that are all the rage right now, just in mask form. I was looking through the Sephora site and found that the mask was selling for $55.00. This set sold for $58.00 and included a full size of the mask that I was already planning on purchasing. How could I NOT get this set?!

Here is a list of what was included in the Ren Rediscover Radiance Kit

1.7 fl. oz. Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask

0.34 fl. oz. Radiance Perfection serum

0.5 fl. oz. micro polish cleanser

2 0.7 fl. oz. Resurfacing AHA concentrate

Muslin Cloth

I just checked the Sephora site and the kit is still for sale on the website. 

December is my birthday month so I also got my birthday gift as being a part of the Beauty Insider program. I'm sure that you have already seen this set or have it yourself, but being as my birthday is the last month of the year, I'm always last to get the birthday gift after everyone else has received this gift. 

Just in case you are the last person on the planet that doesn't know what was included in the birthday set, this is what was in it:

0.08 oz. Watt's Up highlighter

0.1 oz. they're Real mascara

Here is a link to 2014's Beauty Insider birthday gift.

I received a nice sized sample of Amore Pacific's Color Control Cushion Compact in my September 2013 New Beauty Test Tube and I really liked it. In fact I was initially going to order a full size of the sample during this purchase. I ended up seeing this sample for free, so I decided to just get this to sample to make sure that I really liked it. The full sized product is pricey ($60.00) so I wanted to make sure I was justifying my purchase.

As with every online Sephora purchase, you get to pick three samples. I picked Lancome Dreamtone corrector for fair skin tone, Tata Harper resurfacing mask and Wei Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask.

Ulta Online Haul November 2013

I ordered some items from Ulta because they were having a sale on everything in the store. Even the premium items that NEVER go on sale. My sister is is love with Urban Decay's Cannonball Mascara, so I decided to pick one up for her to add to her Christmas gift. 

I was really impressed with the packing that Ulta did to ensure that all of my products came safe and damage free. All of this bubble wrap was for one $4.00 eyeliner!

I needed to order some other stuff to put myself over the free shipping minimum and I remembered that this eyeliner was highly recommended by Tati/Glam Life Guru on You Tube. Finding the perfect eyeliner is my current purpose in life, so I added this to my cart. I was surprised how bad this eyeliner was! I have never had an eyeliner run as badly as this eyeliner did on me. I lined my eyes one weekend and went out shopping with him mom. On the car ride there I got stuck in traffic and decided to see how the eyeliner was doing. What I saw was horrendous. The liner was lining under my eyes, despite me not actually applying it there. I tried to wipe it off and I couldn't get it off! Apparently this eyeliner is only budge proof AFTER it runs down your face and makes you look like a panda bear. It was so bad that the first thing that I did once I got to the mall was find the Sephora to remove it all. I will not be using this product again because it's going in the trash. 

I was really impressed with the color of this eyeliner. I thought that it was really black and creamy. It applied very smoothly. However the liner stick was not made very well and it broke apart and crumbled as I was applying it to my eyes. 

Pink Teasing comb. I needed one. They were cheap. I bought it. 

Japonesque Makeup Brush Cleanser. I needed a spot cleaner. 

NYX The "it"list lip set in 'the pinks' This set included five of their lip gloss products.  I decided to get this to try out the different lip glosses that NYX offers. I received: 

Butter Gloss in Eclair
Mega Shine in Beige
Lip Plumper in Pamela
Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul
Xtreme Shine Lip Cream in Nude Peach Fuzz

I also ordered another Mega Shine lip gloss in Plush Red

Swatches of all the colors (L to R) Plush Red, Eclair, Beige, Pamela, Istanbul, Nude Peach Fuzz

As with each online order, you can pick a sample pack to add to the shipment. I received samples from Sebastian, Benefit and Ahava

As you might have noticed, this post is missing a pic of the Urban Decay Cannonball mascara that caused me to make this online purchase in the first place.  Apparently whomever did the packing of my box forgot to add it into the box. I contacted Ulta Customer Support and explained the situation.  They responded quickly and said that I would be sent out another mascara soon. 

CVS Winter Cosmetics Clearance Haul

A lot of drug stores are having cosmetics on sale to clear out their inventory for the upcoming years new makeup from the different brands.  I stopped by two CVS's to see what they had on supply and ended up finding a lot of items. CVS has a lot of cosmetics for 50% and 75% off. Keep reading to see what I got!

Cover Girl 'Lipperfection Lipcolor' in Entwined for $4.25 Saved: $4.24

Cover Girl 'Lipperfection Lipcolor' in Embrace for $4.25 Saved: $4.24

Revlon 'Just Bitten' lip stain and balm in Midnight for $2.45 Saved: $7.34

(4) Lipsmacker lipbalm in Dr. Pepper for $0.62 Saved: $1.87 I know, overkill. But this was my favorite flavor of Lipsmackers when I was in high school. I won't even drink the actual soda, but loved this product. I got two for me and two to throw in my sister's Christmas stocking.

Physicians Formula 'Organic Wear' bronzer and blush for $3.99 Saved: $12.00

Revlon 'ColorStay Mineral Lipglaze' in Timeless Nude for $2.62 Saved: $7.87

Revlon 'ColorStay Mineral Lipglaze' in Endless Lilac for $2.62 Saved: $7.87

Sally Hansen 'Lip Inflation Xtreme' in clear for $2.49 Saved: $7.50

Revlon 'Colorstay Aqua' mineral makeup in Light Medium for $3.69 Saved: $11.10

Neutrogena 'Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover' for $3.49 Saved: $3.50

Rimmel 'Lasting Finish PRO' in Hot Cocoa for $1.19 Saved: $3.60

Coty 'Airspun' Loose Face Powder in Translucent Extra Coverage for $1.99 Saved: $6.00

Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable' balm stain in Darling for $2.45 Saved: $7.34

Sally Hansen 'Vita C' lip plumper in Tangerine/Clear for $1.32 Saved: 3.97

Black Friday Beauty Haul 2013

Black Friday 2013 has come and is on it's way out.  This is the first year that I didn't have to work on Black Friday in a while so I decided to take advantage of having the day off and went out shopping at 12:00am.

I decided to go to the mall and stopped by Sephora first.  Sephora usually has $10.00 deal sets that they offer on Black Friday and I wanted to check them out.

Clean Sweep set from Ole Henriksen. This set included a 1.5 fl.oz.  'African Red Tea Foaming Cleanser' and a set of 10 'Truth to Go' facial wipes. 

Next I got the 'Draw the Line' Eyeliner sampler.  This set was $30.00 and has a retail value of $79.00. I am currently on a mission to find the perfect eyeliner.  Included in this set were some eyeliners that I was going to purchase full sized and full priced to try out but seeing this set made that easier and cheaper for me. Some of the eyeliners in the set were full sized. 

 FULL SIZED Eyeko 'Skinny Liquid Eyeliner' in Black.

FULL SIZED? Sephora 'Long-Lasting 12 HR Wear Eye Liner' in Glitter Black.

0.01oz Double ended Urban Decay '24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil' in Perversion (black) and Demolition (dark espresso brown).

0.01 fl. oz. Stila 'Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner' in Intense Black.

FULL SIZED? Stila 'Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner' in stingray (black).

0.025 oz. Make Up For Ever 'Aqua Eyes' waterproof eyeliner pencil in Black. 

 I received this sample from Yu Be  of their Moisturizing Skin cream. I have a big bottle of this and I use it regularly as a hand cream. I was actually going to pick up a small size of this as I was going through the checkout line to put in my purse, but stopped at the $16.00 price tag.  

Next I picked up some items from Bath and Body Works.  They were having their three wick candle sale (2 for $22) and their Wallflower two packs were $5.00 each as part of the Black Friday deals. 

 Cranberry Pear Bellini Wallflowers 

Peach Bellini 3 Wick Candle

'Tis the Season 3 Wick Candle

Red Velvet Cupcake 3 Wick Candle

Leaves 3 Wick Candle

Caribbean Escape Wallflowers

Bath and Body Works usually does a gift bag that you can purchase on black friday that contains some of their most popular products and scents in it for a discounted price with a minimum purchase. This years 2013 Holiday VIP Tote was $20.00 with a minimum $40.00 purchase.

FULL SIZED Forever Midnight Body Cream 

0.25 fl. oz. Forever Red fragrance

FULL SIZED Japanese Cherry Blossom Body Lotion

FULL SIZED Eucalyptus Spearmint Body Wash and Foam Bath 

Mini Champagne Toast Scented Candle

FULL SIZED Fresh Sparking Snow Anti-Bacterial Gentle Foaming Hand Soap

FULL SIZED Cream White Body Poof

That was it for the beauty items that I picked up this Black Friday. I think I found some really good deals and it wasn't too hectic shopping at 12:00am. The line at Sephora was really short and I didn't have to wait long.  The line at Bath and Body Works was really long. It wove from the back of the store where the registers were to the entrance of the store. The line wasn't too bad to wait in and it moved along.  There were a lot of Bath and Body Works employees directing the line  and they placed large red dots on the floor to help guide the line along.  Normally the overly happy, giddy BBW employees that are in every store are often a little too much for me. But I think that attitude helped BBW with the often stressful BlackFriday shopping.  The employees made everyone feel like we were in it together and would get out alive. I think this was a successful Black Friday Haul and I am happy with what I got.