NYX Jumbo Pencils, finally!!!

I finally got my hands on two of the NYX jumbo pencils that I've been wanting! I was going to order from the NYX/Cherry Culture websites, but milk was sold out. I got these at Ulta on the first Tuesday of the month (so that means 20% off for college students with a college ID!) and it was buy one get one free so I think I paid $2 for each. I don't know how long the sale is going on for, but I saw that the L'oreal HIP line was also buy one get one free. I wanted to get the hot pink and purple jumbo pencils, but they didn't have any. Usually when I go to ULTA for jumbo pencils, I walk away empty handed because all the ones being sold are opened and have been tested by someone else, so I'm glad I finally got some that are new and unopened!




Blended out

Eyeko

Anywho, this was a sudden splurge, but I couldn't resist cuz of all the raves it has been getting. (Plus the cute packaging it has!) I want to use these for contouring. As much as I love my MAC sculpt and shape, I want to see if cream works better for contouring. and I want to see if I can use the tinted one as a bronzer cuz I've had a really hard time finding a good bronzer that doesn't make me look orange and fake.

It wasn't much of a splurge though considering each cream was only about $7! Great deal right? And there's free shipping! AND if you enter in E165 you get a free gift! It's the cheapest to get it from Eyeko.com. Cherry Culture sells it but it's $12 there and you have to pay for shipping.

CCO!

I went to Davis the other day to visit a few friends for their house party and on the way back to SF, we stopped by the CCO in Vacaville! It was the first time I've ever gone to a CCO. I've been to outlets before, but I can never find the CCO store! We only had about 20 minutes to pick out what we wanted though, but it was really exciting! Hahaha. They had paint pots, pigments, eye shadows, blushes, tendertones, mineralize satinfinish foundation, sculpt & shape, fix+, palettes from novel twist, and some lip sets from the finery collection.

I got some thangs cuz you know I couldn't resist! :)







By the way, the Comedy Jam was awesome!!! BUT Russell Peters wasn't there!!!!!!! I don't know what happened... maybe he canceled? But I know for a fact that when I bought the tickets, his name was up there as one of the performing comedians. The radio even said it a million times! I really wanted to see him :( The other comedians were funny too so I guess it wasn't a total waste of money since the only reason I bought the tickets was to see him. Anywho, Edwin San Juan is really funny. Look him up if you get a chance!

Shadestick Swatches

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! School started on Monday and I've been busy ever since... I even took the week off from work. It took me two hours to do my chemistry homework yesterday... There weren't that many problems, but each problem had an a, b, c, d, etc so it was like 4 problems in 1. Chem is my fav subject though so it wasn't too bad. But I still have more homework to do! Anywho, here are the Shadestick swatches that I've been meaning to put up. My favs are the first three: Lucky Jade, Penny, & Bei-Jing.





I also ordered some pigments from the Overrich collection cuz they are BEAUTIFUL! I ordered them from The Body Needs though cuz I know I'd never use up a full pigment jar. I'll do some swatches when they get here. Nothing from the Cult of Cherry collection caught my eye in person so BLAH :\ The Tempting quad did look good, but I have Eyepopping from the C-Shock collection and they're close enough in colors and I don't even EVER use Eyepopping. It just looks good in the pan... I was hoping to get the Spiced Chocolate quad, but that one and the Shadowy Lady quad just didn't seem pigmented enough for me to get. Maybe it's just me? I don't know. The colors barely transferred when I swatched them.

Anywho, if any of you are wondering, the Heritage Rouge pigment is nothing like Cranberry e/s (cuz I thought it was haha). Heritage Rouge is more purple and actually, Artifact p/p makes a good dupe for it since it has more purple tones in it whereas Cranberry has more red tones.

I'm getting less excited about new collections that come out now. It just seems like MAC keeps coming out with colors that aren't unique anymore. Like I already have something similar if not the same and I don't want to buy another one. I think I'm just waiting for them to "wow" me again like when I first got into make up. (or maybe since when I first got into make up, everything wowed me since I didn't have any of the colors yet lol).

I'm going to the Comedy Jam tonight! I'm really excited! Some comedians that'll be there are Russell Peters, Katt Williams, and Bobby Lee. I really only bought the tickets to see Russell Peters cuz I LOVE that man!! He's HILARIOUS! :)

Another little haul :)

I got a case of boredom yesterday so I went to the mall and stopped by the MAC counter! Lol. I realize I never posted a swatch of the Artifact paint pot so here it is. Artifact reminds me a lot of MAC's Cranberry e/s and NYX's Copper e/s. Next to it is Girl Friendly p/p. I was surprised that the counter still had these! I thought they were LE so I had to pick one up :D I also got Satellite Dreams e/s, Romp e/s, and a Penny shadestick.




I don't know why at the MAC counter, the Penny shadestick reminded me a lot of the Rubenesque p/p only it's more bronzy. It must've been the lighting lol. Rubenesque seems to have more of a duochrome goldish pink color and Penny is more bronzy. It's really pretty though and the picture does it no justice! Lol.


Swatches of Romp (L) & Satellite Dreams (R)


Swatches of Romp compared to other brown/golds
L to R: Amber Lights, Romp, Woodwinked, Mulch


Swatches of Satellite Dreams compared to other purples
L to R: Satellite Dreams, Beautiful Iris, Nocturnelle

Why?

Why don't I like any of the new MAC collections? Don't you want my money MAC? lol. Nothing from New View up until now has really caught my eye... Which really sucks since my friends got me some awesome gift cards for my birthday to feed my MAC addiction. My birthday was on Monday and we went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was suppppperrrrrr fun and I learned that I'm really good at laser tag!! Haha.

I did manage to squeeze in a mini haul. I got the 217 brush that I've been wanting for a while. I'm going to give my 224 a little break. And I got another paint pot! I love paint pots! I think I use them more as an eye shadow than as a base though because the colors are too pretty to cover up as a base.


Artifact Paint Pot & 217 Brush

I'm waiting for the Cult of Cherry collection to come out. I saw the MAC MAs getting ready to label their testers when I was there. The collection isn't out until the 21st though. Their palettes look promising... But then again, I'm usually a sucker for palettes :P

:(

I ended up buying the safari train case from Sephora (the first one in my previous post). It's a standard mini sized train case and I really liked it, but I just got home and I realized that my MAC palettes don't fit in there. Booooooooo!!! So now I'm sad and am forced to return it and get a larger case :( Sephora had the large black case, but I decided to get this mini one because Amina was right that the larger one is kinda heavy (and it was empty! imagine how heavy it would be if it was filled...) and I didn't want to lug something so heavy around... But, thanks to Vivian, there's still hope! I can possibly order one from Crown Brushes. Theirs are dirt cheap and shipping is only $7... I most likely won't get it in time for my trip of course, but maybe I'll order one just to have one for future traveling...





I also FINALLY got UDPP! I couldn't justify spending so much money on a primer before, but then I thought what the hell since I've been beating around the bush and basically buying every OTHER primer there is that's cheaper lol... and now when I add it all up, I probably should've just bought UDPP in the beginning! and I signed up for their Beauty Insider card which is free so for every $100 you spend, you get a free gift... So I picked the Philosophy body butter :)



I also got a super cute giraffe print traveling bag. It was so cute that I couldn't resist!!! I've always wanted a bag like this, but I could never find one that I liked.





It was also my friend's birthday so she got a hotel room for the night and we went swimming in very windy weather LOL. it was fun though! I ended up getting her the pop up Sephora safari brushes and a Pop Beauty palette in brown eyes that I also got my other friend as a present a while ago and I totally forgot about it!! hahaha so my other friend was like HEY, that's what you got me before!!! LOL I completely forgot. Hey, it's a good palette though! I might even end up getting one for myself! I think I almost got my boyfriend's mom that palette too for Mother's Day! haha.

Dried up paint pot!

I did end up going back to MAC and purchasing the Rubenesque paint pot (and it's GORGEOUS!), but when I got home, I was getting ready to wrestle that baby open since paint pots are sealed TIGHT and I noticed that the cap was already loose and twisted open... So I opened it and lo and behold, a dried up paint pot. *TEAR* So I just wanted to show you guys what a dried up paint pot looks like. Don't let this happen to you! Then I took it back to the store. I didn't know if I wanted to exchange it or just return it, but I ended up just exchanging it since it's a really pretty color and my fav MA was there. Here are some swatches! I can't wait to wear it :)

Oh and P.S. for Erica (and anyone else who's wondering lol)--The Moss Scape paint pot did crease on me, but I don't know if it's because I wore them on really sunny days where I was sweating a lot. It only creased in the inner corners of my eye though where my eyelids crease to begin with even with no makeup on. However, I wore it today (and the weather is freezing cold) and it has not creased at all on me yet and it's been 9 hours. I think I'd only recommend this if you're going to use it as an eye shadow as well and not just as a base because if you just need a base, I'd suggest UDPP or some other kind of primer. Hope this helps!


Dried up paint pot :( The MA saw this and was like "Holy moly!" Haha


Brand spankin new paint pot!
It looks gold in the swatch, but it's also very peachy, pink, and shimmery! It's like a duo chrome color. It's beautiful! :D

My first paint pot!

I went to Nordstrom yesterday with the intention of pre-ordering both brush sets and all the lipsticks from the Colour Forms collection, but when I got there, I decided that I only liked the advanced brush set enough to pre-order that one... and I only pre-ordered 1 l/s (Naked to the core) since I didn't think I'd actually wear the other ones... The 187 brush in the set is definitely more flimsy than the regular sized one (which could possibly make it a better fiber optic brush for really pigmented blushes than the regular sized one). My regular sized one is packed very densely and the bristles don't flair out in like a "V" shape. It could just be the way I shape mine after I wash them though. I also *barely* remember thinking while I was there that the white and black bristles on the 187 SE are seem to be the same length... I could be wrong though, but that's just what I can remember from seeing it at the counter... I didn't get the other brush set because the 129 SE felt HARD. It wasn't stiff, but the bristles were just hard and scratchy. The 190 SE in that set however was a total drool... but I couldn't justify buying the whole set just for that one brush (might as well get the bigger version!)

So anywho, instead of getting what I intended to, I totally got sucked into buying my first paint pot!!! I didn't realize how big the pots actually ARE haha. I thought they were the same size as fluidlines, but they aren't. I got moss scape and it's BEAUTIFUL! It's an olive green and could definitely work as a base or even alone! Before, I had envisioned paint pots as super creamy so I never even bothered to try them out... Well they aren't that creamy. Once they dry, they are set in stone. I tried swatching these as a base and put some random e/s on top to see the outcome and it definitely makes the e/s brighter and bolder. (I didn't take a pic of it though). I remember thinking to myself that I wanted to get Rubensque too while I was there, but I totally forgot about it and I think I'm going to go back some time later for it lol.

Then I also got the lucky jade shadestick since I've been eyeing it for a while now, but never got the balls to actually purchase it haha. It's a really pretty shimmery light green with yellow gold undertones. I asked the MA her opinion on which I should get between this and the paint pot and she said the paint pot, but I ended up getting both cuz they're both so pretty!

Product Review: L'oreal De-Crease Eye Shadow Base

Product: L'oreal De-Crease Eye Shadow Base
Packaging: 4 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5
Price: $6-8
Would you buy this again? Probably not

PROS: Conveniently comes in a clear tube so you can see how much product you have left. It's easy to apply and is more creamy than it is watery. It's super cheap compared to Urban Decay's Primer Potion and I think it's a bit thicker in consistency.

CONS: It creased on me after a few hours :( I don't know if the product in my tube was dried out or if it's supposed to have a dry chalky consistency. If you're looking for something fast to use for a short amount of time, this could be it, but I wouldn't use it for long days where I need my eye shadow to stay put.

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Anywho, I'm back from my camping trip a day early... My co-workers and I were camping around Northern Cali (around Santa Rosa/Calistoga) and we had to come back because there's been TONS of wildfires lately and all we've been breathing in is smoke. During the day, all you see is this hazy smoke way off in the horizon lol. It's even worse in the morning. I thought it was fog until the sun came out and it never cleared up!! We knew something was up the first night we got there because everyone with asthma started having problems... But even though we left early, it was still fun and we made the best of it :D There were about 30 of us in one little house so it was crazy! We also got to go to an observatory and look at stars and planets! We saw Jupiter & Saturn and a whole bunch of constellations.

The boyfriend and I are okay. We worked things out (thank God lol). I'm going to LA next month and I haven't a CLUE what to do there. I don't want to go to Disneyland or Universal Studios since the lines for the rides are so dang long! Anyone have any ideas?

Product Review: MAC Microfine Lip Refinisher

Product: MAC Prep+Prime Microfine Lip Refinisher
Packaging: 2 out of 5
Overall: 4 out of 5
Price: $14.50
Would you buy this product again? Yes

PROS: This works as a great lip exfoliant especially if you have dry chapped lips. I usually get dry peeling lips after my lipstick dries off and this is a great exfoliant to get rid of that dry skin. It leaves soft smooth lips that last all day into the next. When you purchase this, it also comes with some instructions. The instructions tell you to apply it flat on your lips (some of the black stuff will come off) and you're supposed to rub your lips with your finger to remove the dead skin. Then rinse your lips with water or a damp cloth and apply lipstick like usual.

CONS: The packaging is horrible! You have to make sure that the cap is popped on tight or else it could dry out. I also dropped this yesterday and now the plastic part inside the tube that holds the stick is a little wobbly. This is also a great exfoliator and conditioner, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are only looking for a lip conditioner since there are other chapsticks out there that condition just as well.