I hope everyone has a fantabulous October. There's a lot going on here this month. I guess to make up for a lackluster September. I picked up some things and put some old favorites to use again. I'll try not to go on too much about stuff I've already talked about before. Keyword being here is try lol! Let's get into some favorites shall we!!
Eyes
I enjoyed using the smashbox Mega Op palette this month but I'm not calling it a favorite for the month. I didn't use it the entire month (surprise, surprise) because after a lot of back and forth I picked up the Maya Mia Palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills. I got it from Nordstrom. It's not longer on their site but the Tamanna Palette is still available. I got the Tamanna Palette on sale at the time since Nordstrom priced matched it to someone else selling it. I was like say what now!?! I had no clue that Nordstrom did that. Even at full price these palettes area a good deal. Ok back to Maya Mia. Even though it doesn't look like it, this is a neutral palette (minus the Aqua shade of course). The matte shades are phenomenal! Matte shadows can be really good or really bad. These are smooth, pigmented, apply and blend nicely! The Deep Brown shadow is er'thang! I prefer a nice dark brown shadow in a palette instead of black any day!l Caramel and Sienna are wonderful warm brown shades for blending. I was going to get two MAC single eyeshadows similar in tone to these two. MAC single eyeshadows are $16 each (potted). So yea I made out better getting this palette. There shades in the palette are just enough to make it interesting and not like every other neutral palette. This is a good accompany palette if you need some neutrals to pair with a look. I think this is a better buy than the Urban Decay Naked Basics 1 or 2. I'm glad I passed on those. I now have my eye on the Catwalk Eyeshadow Palette. I need another palette like I need another hole in my head. This will probably one of the last palette purchases I make. I have my eye on a couple of others but I'm not sure if I will get them. Eyeshadow palettes are my weakness.
I ordered the Bobbi Brown Bobbi's Chocolates Long Wear Eye Trio from QVC. This set is also available on her website. The product I have been loving from the set is the gel liner in Dark Brown. Bobbi Brown makes some of the best gel liner in the business be it drugstore or high end. They go on smoothly and last ALL DAY! On the days that my eyeshadow end up creasing, my liner stays in place when I use a Bobbi Brown gel liner. This set also come with a Mini Dual-Ended Cream Shadow/Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush . I already have two and I was yea ok another one. But I really used it this time around. I really enjoyed the Ultra Fine Eyeliner side of the brush. When I first used this brush I was still new to makeup and it was awkward for me. Using it more recently for some reason it was very easy to use. I like that you can really get close to the lash line and can make your wing as big or as little as you want.
The Bare Minerals Big & Bright Eyeliner in Black Coffee was THEE liner for me. But oddly enough I hadn't really reached for it much this year since I have been reaching for Urban Decay's Demolition for my dark brown liner needs. Mainly because I'm trying to use it up (Out of My Face - 2014 Edition). For whatever reason I have been using Black Coffee more so lately and I have been smitten yet again lol. It is a really good liner for the lower lash line. It's no longer available but I have seen it on eBay.
I picked up the H2O Dual Action Eye Makeup Remover from TJ Maxx. Again me trolling the beauty section and was like sure why not give this a try. I do really like this. It's one that you shake to mix together. It's not irritating at all. How can you have an eye remover and that joker stings your eyes? I've used some like that. Also this is great for removing lip products that stain your lips as well. I would repurchase it.
Lips
Marlena from Makeup Geek did a video on the "90s lipstick trend". I refuse to give the young lady credit (Kim's and dem's little sister) for this trend. Don't get me started on that foolishness! Anywho...I love that Marlena picked lipsticks available at the drugstore. One of the lipsticks she mentioned that you would be good for deeper skin tones is Revlon's Rum Raisin. I picked it up last month and have been wearing since then. I think with the cooler temperatures finally setting, I have been reaching for this more. Rum Raisin is a warm brown kinda of a brick color. It's a great lipstick to slap on and go.
Every month I pull out a red lipstick to play around with. This month it was Urban Decay's Gash lipstick. This is from their old line of lipsticks. It's a deep red which is right up my alley. It's comfortable to wear and wears nicely throughout the day. It leaves a nice stain on your lips and it's not drying.
My beauty pusha strikes yet again. Crystalis007 mentioned the NYX Butter Gloss in Angel Food Cake in her "Six Things Under $10 I Love!" video. I've heard people talking about these and how good they are. First I was leery after buying into the hype of their Mega Shine Glosses. I had some but pulled a bunch from my stash and only have 2 left and I don't plan on purchasing anymore. Then I was like I do not need any more lip gloss! But still I found myself at Ulta when some NYX products were buy one, get one 50% off. So I did get Angel Food Cake and Devil's Food Cake. Ironic right? Well I can say that they are worth the hype. The go on smoothly, they are not drying and have nice color payoff for a lip gloss. I went by Ulta today and picked up two more in Red Velvet and Raspberry Tart. I have my eye on a few more *shifty eyes*
Face
La Femme Blushes (round pans)
First column: Mulberry, Grape Passion, Grate
Second column: Bordeaux, Russet, Red
Third column: Fucshia, Oragne
Some of these are washed out. Grrrrrr!
I picked up new foundation towards the end of September and I love it! Of course it would be from Bare Minerals. Their matte foundation is my holy grail. So it had to be something interesting to make me pick it up. Bare Minerals launched a new foundation called the Blemish Remedy Acne-Clearing Foundation and its exclusive to Sephora . I had seen a blog post about it but I thought it was a re-launch of their Blemish Therapy product which I have used before and like. The coverage is amazeballs. I want to say it has a hint more coverage than their matte foundation. The foundation makes several claims. I can't speak to the acne clearing claims of the foundation since I didn't have any breakouts at the time but it did not break me out. All Bare Minerals foundations claim to be good for the skin. I can say that for me it has been good for my skin. One of the claims I saw was about less oil production or something like that. It did help me skin in that area. When I would blot with a blotting paper there was some oil but not as much as I'm used to seeing. I also like the packaging. It not as messy as with their normal packaging for their mineral foundations. But it's hard to tell how much foundation you have in the jar. I just got it so I don't have to worry about that just yet. So all in all this, is a good foundation for me. Now will it be my new holy grail? Time will tell.
I picked up 4 more La Femme blushes (Mulberry, Grape, Russet and Bordeaux). I really got into them this month since I didn't really touch them last month. These are pigmented inexpensive blushes. I ordered them from Makeup Mania. The blushes I reached for the most this month are Russet, Mulberry and Grape. They look crazy in the pan but they are great everyday shades for my skin tone.
I reached for the Black Radiance Shine Control Primer a lot this month. I'll leave it alone for a while and use whatever else. But when I use it again I'm like why did I leave this alone? This is the second tube I had scooped on sale during the CVS Beauty sale for $3 last year. I'm hoping that it's on sale again soon so I can get some more. But even at full price it's still a good deal for a primer. This is my holy grail primer. I've been tempted to try some other mid range/high end primers. But for what right? There's no need. Between this and Rimmel's matte primer I'm good.
I have been really been enjoying the L'Oreal Youth Code Texture Perfector Day/Night Cream. For my oily acne prone skin, this is an awesome moisturizer. It's just enough moisture for me yet it's mattifying. And we'll stop here. LOL! If you interested in the L'Oreal Youth products, I have seen them on sale at CVS and Walgreens. Also Ulta has a buy one, get one 50% off promo going on.
Nails
I enjoyed playing around with all the Essie nail polishes that I pulled out for October Polish Play. I've gushed about Essie before. It's my favorite nail polish brand. Nothing else to say lol.
I reached for Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear polish in Black Out. This is in the old formula and I really like it. It goes on with ease and very opaque. I'm wearing in the pic above. Now I can't speak to the new formula. When I run out of this I will not repurchase it since I've hear they the reformulated polishes are not a good. Boooooo!
Body
I found out about the Key West Organic Unrefined African Shea Butter via Instragram. The poster had said that she uses it for her hands since she washes her hands a lot. So it got me thinking. I love Shea Butter for my hair, so why not my body? This is really nice! It absorbs nicely into the skin, keeps it moisturized and makes your skin nice and soft. I ordered this from Amazon. So between this and the Aveeno I think I'm set for body moisturizers.
Hair
We have a hair section this month! I've been cheating on Wen for the last month and a half. Shocking I know lol. I'm not giving up on Wen just yet. I still have some of it on hand plus there will be a December TSV that I'm tempted to get. Just weighing my options on what's out there. Wen is good but it's pricey. Last month I did some poking around online and picked up some shampoos and conditioners at the drugstore. I scored the items on sale or at The Dollar Tree. For co-washing I picked up several of the V05 Conditioners. I picked up the Herbal Escapes Clarifying Conditioner in Kiwi Lime Squeeze, Tea Therapy Clarifying Conditioner in Vanilla Tea Mint and Moisture Milks Moisturizing Conditioner in Passion Fruit Smoothie. I also have the coordinating shampoos in Kiwi Lime Squeeze and Vanilla Mint Tea. I've used the Kiwi Lime Squeeze shampoo its ok. Not bad but the conditioner is the winner. I've only used the Kiwi Lime Squeeze conditioner. I got side tracked by another product. The Kiwi Lime Squeeze conditioner got my hair clean and left my hair with just enough moisture. And they are CHEAP! CVS has a sale and they were 69 or 79 cents. I've seen couponers add coupons on top of sales and get them for practically nothing. So if you're looking for a conditioner to cowash with try VO5. If it doesn't work for you then you won't be out a lot of money.
I was going to mention another shampoo and conditioner here but it's not a meh product that you'll read about shortly. I had some issues with it. What helped my hair and scalp get back on track was Wen's Bamboo Green Tea and Fall Apple Spice Cleansing Conditioners. It's funny I wasn't all that wowed with Bamboo Green Tea until I stopped using it lol. Fall Apple Spice is a previous favorite. Both get my hair and scalp clean along with keeping them moisturized and not stripped. So my Wen babble above is pretty much null and void. I might still play around with the VO5 conditioners and such since I didn't have any issues. But I'm definitely not giving on Wen now. And you best believe that I'm getting the December TSV now!
I've heard awesome things about the Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango Butter Moisturizer. I knew that you could find it at Walgreens but I never went on the hunt for it. I was in a newer Walgreens that's close to my house just looking in the beauty section. I was looking in the ethnic hair care section, I saw it and it was on sale! It's inexpensive anyway but saving some extra pennies is always a bonus. This is an awesome hair moisturizer. It's not heavy and it doesn't make your hair or scalp greasy. I've used at various stages of my hair (right after a relaxer to when my hair NEEDS one badly) and it worked just fine. I'm not sure right now if it'll take the place of Shea Moisture's Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque which is my holy grail hair moisturizer. I have enough hair moisturizers on hand right now that I don't need to pick anything else up. So I don't need to make any decisions on what to repurchase just yet. Buuuuuut I'd probably stick with Shea Moisture but it's nice to have an alternative with Elasta QP.
Random Stuff
The Safeway near my office always seems to be out of the large size of their store brand coffee creamer in French Vanilla. I like the regular version. They always seem to have the fat free and sugar free versions. Hmph! LOL! Anywho they were running a sale early in the month and they didn't have still didn't have the large size. I had meant to go to store near my house but it's not "on the way" during my morning and evening commutes. It's not out of the way honestly but you know how it is when you have a route that you take during the week, you try to stick to it. I don't mind stopping off somewhere it's on the way. So the last day of the sale I check the Safeway near my office one more time and no dice. So I look to see what's there in the larger size. I picked up the Salted Caramel. In my mind I was like this is either going to be really good or really bad. Happy to see that it's really good. Then during another Safeway run I picked up Sweet Italian Cream and it is good as well. So now I have some alternatives to French Vanilla isn't available. Thank goodness! Its the little things I tell ya.
Randomly pursing the cereal aisle at Safeway, I stumbled upon another cereal I like. I picked up the Special K Protein cereal. What got me was "satisfies huger longer" printed on the front of the box. It did just that. It wasn't overly sweet. It has a hint of cinnamon and the flakes don't get soggy in milk. Very tasty and I would repurchase it.
Next we have a deodorant. Yes a deodorant. Usually I can use whatever deodorant and not have any big issues. But maybe within the last year or so that has not been the case. I had tried this and that and nothing was working for me. So I was in Walgreens one day trolling the deodorant aisle. I bet the cashier thought I was nuts walking back and forth looking at deodorant. I picked up the Arm & Hammer Ultra Max deodorant in Powder Fresh. I haven't had any issues with this. It keeps me dry and I do like the scent. I usually don't like powder scented items due to the fake smell. So if you're looking for a deodorant then check this one out.
Surprise Products of the Month
This month has been the month of samples. Sampletober! I had some from Sephora that I had picked and some I had gotten from people. So I went through them and started using them and I have been really enjoying some. I decided to group them here instead of listing them.
- Urban Decay Supercurl Mascara - this reminds me of Bare Minerals Curl & Lengthen Mascara. This does a good job of curling and separating your lashes.
- Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser - I really enjoyed this cleanser. I used it in the morning 2-3 a week and it help even and clear up my skin. I toyed around with getting a full size but its $36. I think the Alpha Hydrox brand has something similar. Need to investigate that.
- Murad Vitamin C Eye Cream with SPF 15 - a nice eye cream that isn't greasy and I like that it has SPF in it
- Supergoop! Everyday Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 30 - this was very very nice! It didn't make me greasy which is always an issue with moisturizers with SPF. I would definitely purchase this. I'm going to add it to me Sephora loves list so that I don't forget about it. Also it's not that expensive. It's $19. I've seen some at the drugstore for $12. The Cetaphil one I purchased from Ulta is $17.99. So price wise it's comparable.
- Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream - OMG!!! I sprayed this on as soon as I got the sample and fell in love! It's not too heavy. It has jasmine, blackberry, musks and some other notes I enjoy. I hopped on to Sephora's site and saw that there's a roller ball set that includes this scent. I swear I do not need any more fragrance. I have samples of some of his other fragrances too. *sigh*
I mentioned in my Beauty Plotting and Planning post that I was pre-ordering the November Tarte TSV from QVC (if you would like to pre-order it, the item numbers are in that post). It comes with 3 eyeliners (Bronze, Plum and Charcoal) that I was kind of meh about and had debated on gifting them. I've used their retractable liners in the past and they were just ok, I didn't think that these would be all that pigmented but was I wrong! They are nicely pigmented and go on without any pulling or tugging. I will get some use out of these.
Meh Products of the Month
It's funny how you can like something one month and not so much the next month. I had mentioned the You're The Balm lip balm in my August 2014 favorites. I continued using in September and through the earlier part of this month. I had noticed that that I had glitter on my lips. Of course I thought it was from whatever lip product I wore for the day but that didn't make sense on most days. Especially if I was wear a matte lipstick. Then I finally noticed as I dug into the lip balm that it has glitter in it! WTH! I had also noticed that my lips would feel kind of gritty. I don't mind shimmer/glitter in lip products as long as if I can't feel it. I put it aside to remember to talk about it and now that I have it's going in the trash. With the cooler temperatures and drier air, I need a little more moisture on my lips.
This was originally going to be mentioned as a favorite. I picked up Herbal Essences Hello Hydration shampoo and conditioner. I had heard good things about the conditioner. I really enjoyed using both of products and was excited to find something else to use while I was check out Wen alternatives. I was at work and one side of my scalp was itching and I did notice some flakes. Thinking about it, I had noticed it the prior week when I used to products but didn't really think anything of it. This was on a Monday. I poked around online and saw some reviews where people experienced the same thing and for some the issue got worse. So of course I started to freak out a little bit. I was going to wait to wash my hair at the end of the week but I jumped in the shower as soon as I got home and washed my hair with Wen. I haven't had any issues since. Prior to using Wen I would have flakes and issues with my dry scalp. I went ahead and gave the shampoo and conditioner to my mom. Usually stuff that doesn't work for me work for her. I have had good things going on with my hair and scalp. So I don't want any setbacks and I'm not going to try and make something work. I also picked another Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner that hasn't been opened that I'm not even going to bother with. Lesson learned here when something is working for you just stick with it. Oye vey.
I got a sample of Benefit's The Porefessional. I used it in the past and I could remember if I like it or not. It seems like everyone raves about it on YouTube. Gave it a go and it's not for me. I love how it goes on and it does mattify my skin but it does not help keep me matte throughout the day.
And there you have it! Phew! I think I forgot something but this is more than enough and my eyes are getting crossed. So I apologize yet again if something doesn't make sense.
Moving right along to November and Thanksgiving! I know everyone loves Christmas but I love me some Thanksgiving! Good eats and football all day! Woot!
