Eyes
I enjoyed playing around with the tarte palettes I pulled out for the month. My absolute favorite was the Exotic Eyes palette. It only has five shades but for me, it has everything for me to do an eye look everyday without reaching for another palette or single shadows. I think this came out around the time of the first Naked Basics palette. I get that the Naked Basics palette is more of a companion palette but you can still do everyday looks with it. I don't have it but I have looked at it when I've been out and about but never had the really urge to get it. When I saw Exotic Eyes presented on QVC, I was like yep I'm getting it. You can do so many different looks with this palette from simple everyday looks to night time looks. I got mine from tarte's website. I've also see it on Ulta's website.
I've been playing around with a bunch of Bare Minerals brushes this month. Three eye brushes I have been enjoying are the wet/dry brush eyeshadow brush, the buffing eye brush and the tapered crease defining brush. The wet/dry and buffing eye brushes are great for applying shadow on the lid. They are also great for one eyeshadow looks since the have some give to them and you can pull shadows up into the crease. The crease brush is great for darkening the outer corner and perfect placement of shadows in the crease.
Lips
I picked up 2 Wet n Wild lipsticks from the Fall 2014 Limited Edition Megalast Matte Collection. There are 4 lipsticks but there was only 2 left in the display I came across. Grrrr! From what I read on various blogs and Instagram posts, this collection was only available at Kmart. This irks me to no end when limited edition drugstore makeup collections are available only at certain stores. Anywho enough ranting lol. I picked up Sunset Siren and Bordeaux Boulevard. Sunset Siren is a classic, old school Hollywood orange red and I really reeeeaaallly like it. Bordeaux Boulevard is a nice medium purple color. It's not too bright or too dark. The collection also has nail polishes but I didn't pick any up,
Face
I had pulled out the Feel the Love lipstick from Bare Mineral's True Romantic collection that launched in January, to see if I wanted to keep it or not. Then I decided to pull out the other items I picked up from the collection which included the blush in Swoon. I had other blushes that I pulled out to play with this month but I wore Swoon just about everyday. It was an automatic reach every time I went to apply my blush in the morning. I had my Z Palette with my La Femme and Mary blushes in reach but I kept grabbing Swoon. Swoon is described as petal pink satin. It's buildable which I can appreciate and it goes with just about and eye and lip combo. Temptalia has some nice swatches of it on her blog.
Nails
I picked up 2 Butter London polishes during Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty. I picked up Brown Sugar and Pistol Pink. Both are pretty on and are good transition colors going into Fall. But y'all know me, I'd wear these shades year round, especially Brown Sugar. It goes well against my skin tone.
Body
I picked up Dial's Coconut Water Body Wash from Walgreens. They had a buy one, get one free promo going on. So I got two since I like coconut scents. If for some reason I ended up not liking it then I was going to give the extra bottle to my mom. But that's not going to happen since I really like it. I picked this up based of my beauty pusher's glowing recommendation in one of her Makeup Monday videos. The scent is just right. It's not too sweet or fake smelling. It lathers nicely, feels good on the skin and rinses nicely. So if you're a coconut fan then check this one out. I may check out some other Dial body washes next time there's a sale. I want to try some other body washes at the drugstore. I still enjoy philosophy body washes but I'm enjoying finding gems at the drugstore and saving here and there.
I picked up Essence of Beauty's Shea Indulgence Rich Body Butter for .99 cents to try out as a hand cream. I'm still enjoying the Nivea Cream but I wanted something a little more "convenient" to keep by the bathroom sink at home. Plus I used up the little tin quickly at home. I've been trying this out at work and I really like it. The 6.5oz tube is $7.99 on the CVS website. So I would think that it's the same price in store. So we shall see if I get a larger tube. Maybe when I have some Extra Bucks to use I'll grab one. There are some other hand creams I might try first. With the cooler temperatures setting in, I need to find a good hand cream. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
Meh Products of the Month
I am NOT a fan of foam products. Nope nope nope! I had picked up some Gentle Foaming Hand Soaps from Bath & Body Works Memorial Day weekend. I got down to my last two and said I'm not using these. One I was saving for the kitchen and I'll still put it there. The other one I gave to my mom. I prefer the Deep Cleansing soaps. I like them because they have the "scrubbies" in them and they are moisturizing to me. If I don't put lotion on my hand right after, it's ok because they don't feel dry. With the foam ones my hands felt dry once I rinsed them off and still felt dry even after putting lotion on. I don't have time for that.
Another foam product that I'm not wowed by but I don't hate it is the Ambi Even & Clear Foaming Cleanser. I got this a set from the Ubiquitous Health and Hair show last month. The set came with the face wash, fade cream, moisturizer and a t-shirt. The moisturizer is nice. the fade cream kind of freaks me out. I've only used it a few times. It's the version for normal skin. They have a combination skin version and I'm wondering what the difference is between the two. The tube is HUGE too. Ok back to the face wash. I've been using it since I got it. I can seem to the get the number of pumps right. Either I pump out too much or not enough for my face and neck. I've been using it the morning and it's just ok. I'm going to try using it in the evening with Garnier's Cleansing Oil to see if I like it better and to help me use it up. If not I'll pass it on to a friend who I know like Ambi products.
I'm over lip products that I have to baby. I got rid of 3 Wet n' Wild Megalast lipsticks in Bare It All, Think Pink and Just Peachy. Bare it All was ok but I have other 'traditional' nude lipsticks that I am more comfortable wearing. The same goes with Think Pink. I have other pink lipsticks that I like more. We've already discussed my "fear" of peach/coral/orange lip colors. So Just Peachy had to go. I already pitched them, so I don't have them to show you.
I picked the Rose Argan Hand Cream from Ulta. I'm leery when it comes to rose scented items. Sometimes they can come off powdery or old lady like. I actually like the smell of this. It absorbs nicely into the skin and at the time of application it does feel moisturizing. After a while though my hands feel dry. I'll add a bit more but overall I'm just now wowed by it other than the scent. I've passed it on to my mom. She's the recipient of the bath and body stuff that I no longer want or care for lol.
I picked up NYX's Matte Finish Spray during a 40% sale on NYX products at Ulta. I was hoping that this could be an alternative to the Urban Decey De-Slick spray that I enjoy. NYX is inexpensive anyway but an additional 40% off is quite nice. I had read reviews and they were mixed. When I first used I liked it. Then it was just ok. Now I don't care for it. Some of the reviews had said too much product sprays out. At first I didn't think so but with continued use, I noticed that it does. Whatever top I had on when applying this would be really wet. Also it didn't do much for keeping me matte or my makeup in place longer that on the days when I didn't use it. So long story short, I don't plan on repurchasing it and I will definitely pick up another bottle of Urban Decay's De-Slick.
And there you have it. See not too much. I have quite a few posts sitting in draft status. Going into Fall has had me in blah mode lately. Let's see what I can get out. On to October!
