Thanksgiving Black Friday Haul

Every year my parents brave out the crowds on Black Friday for all the Thanksgiving sales.  I normally go with my guy later in the afternoon/early evening when the crowds have dissipated. 

The Gap had a really great deal of buy one sweater get a second sweater free so we took advantage of that. 

I popped into ULTA and they had buy 2 Essie nail polishes get 1 free.  I don’t think this was a special Black Friday promo as they always seem to have this deal whenever I’m at ULTA.  I bought Lovie Dovie, Mod Squad, & Lolipop.  I also picked up Essie’s Matte About You which is a top coat you can apply to any nail polish and it will give you a matte finish. 

Matte About You, Lovie Dovie, Mod Squad, Lolipop

I also picked up 2 Too Faced Girls Dig Pearls lip glosses.  I was telling bestie the other day that I will not buy any more lip glosses but I can’t seem to follow my own rules.  Smh

I picked up Shell and Pink Bling.  These are made using real crushed sea pearls.  It has vitamin E and peppermint extract for a slight minty taste.  It’s glossy & has a lot of shimmer but it’s not too tacky/sticky.

Shell and Pink Bling

Shell

Pink Bling

Then I ventured into MAC to check out the new Baroque Boudoir collection and to pick up Viva Glam V.  After reading Temptalia's posts on the collection I was convinced I wouldn’t haul anything but I swatched two of the lippies and I walked away with Prive.  The lipsticks in this collection are more expensive than normal MAC lipsticks but I’m happy I bought it.  I’m in love with the damask design on the tube!  :D

Prive

Viva Glam V

Swatches: Viva Glam V & Prive

For Thanksgiving I made mini pumpkin pie bites.  They were so delicious.  I was running late and had to jump into the shower so I had my guy pipe the chocolate drizzle.  It was supposed to look like this

But when I got out of the shower I went downstairs to the kitchen and found this lol!

I laughed so hard when I saw this.  I figured he must’ve gotten frustrated and impatient since the design had to be so small and intricate.  These bites wouldn’t be complete without the chocolate so I’m very proud of the huz for steppin up to the task.  :D  Doesn’t it look like plaid?  Hahaha.

Hope you lovelies had a great Thanksgiving!  Did you brave the Black Friday frenzy?

Japanese brand cosmetics: my scanty stash

Recently I’ve been hauling a lot of Asian brand cosmetics & skincare.  I’ll save the skincare products for another blogpost but for now I’ll share my meager collection with you.

*Click on the pics to make them bigger so you can really see how cute the packaging is!*

Shiseido Majolica Majorca: BR751 Trick on Powder

Coffret D'Or

Coffret D'Or: Blend Color Blush PK-24

Coffret D'Or : CM Eyes 04 Lavender-Purple Mix

Jill Stuart Cosmetics

Jill Stuart: Blush: 03 Coral Glow

Jill Stuart Eye palette: 02 Fantastic Light

Jill Stuart Eye palette: 04 Aqua Crystal

So far my favorite brands are Jill Stuart and Coffret D'Or.  I love the packaging of Jill Stewart line.

There are so many other brands I want to try.  These are the brands on my lust list:

Kanebo Lunasol

Kanebo Kate

Kose Visee

Kose Esprique

Hope you lovelies have a safe & happy thanksgiving!  Eat lots of bird! :D

xoxo

Eye spy … a well rested eye?

Not really!  Lately I haven’t been getting enough sleep.  This past Friday I didn’t get to sleep until 2AM.  Saturday we went to a party to watch the Pacquiao vs. Cotto fight and didn’t get home until 3AM.  I woke up at 9 AM on Saturday & Sunday.  That might be enough sleep for many of you but I would like to try and get 8 hours on the weekend. 

As we age, our skin begins to thin and dark under-eye circles appear.  Now that I’m dangerously teetering into that age bracket where I need to pay more attention to my skin, I feel justified in throwing more of my money at a fancy skincare regimen.  I’m no spring chicken you know!

I have an arsenal of eye creams, serums, depuffers, anti-wrinkler’s, brighteners & whiteners.   Each of them promise help treat the delicate skin around your eye and make it more radiant.  No one wants to have bags, dark circles, uneven skin tone or wrinkles!  That’s why I never forget to apply my eye creams at night & in the morning before I apply my makeup.  Even on my no makeup days I still apply my eye creams with my moisturizer.  When choosing my eye cream for the day I made sure it had an SPF in it as well.  SPF will block against harmful UVA/UVB rays which cause premature aging & wrinkles.   

Concealing is my best friend when it comes to disguising darkness.  I love using Benefit’s Erase Paste (concealer) or Maybelline’s Dream Mousse Concealer to make my peepers appear more awake.  Don’t you want to look bright eyed & bushy tailed too?  But you can’t always just cover it up then pile on the makeup.  You have to treat the skin underneath your makeup to create that beautiful clean canvas we all strive for.

*Click pics to make them bigger

1. Clinique All About Eyes (reduces puffs, circles) use in PM
2. Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Recovery Complex (good for lines, dryness, puffiness, dark circles)
3. Clinique Repairwear Intensive Eye Cream (good for lines, wrinkles)
4. Doctors Dermatologic Formula Erase Eye Gel (minimizes dark circles, puffiness)
5. Loreal Advanced Revitalift Double Eye Lift (Under eye wrinkle cream + upper eye lifting gel = double awesomeness for under $20)
6. Clinique Advanced Stop Signs Eye Preventive Cream SPF 15 (prevents photoaging & brightens)

I don't use all 6 every day.  I switch back and forth between products but my favorites are #2 Estee Lauder, #4 DDF, #5 Loreal and #6 Clinique Advanced Stop Signs.

1. Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer (Light 4-5)
2. Benefit Erase Paste (No. 1 fair)
3. Benefit Powderflage

After I apply my serums/creams in the morning I use these concealers + Powderflage to set the concealer.

My name is Jenn and I am an eye cream junkie fanatic.

Hard Candy: A Drugstore Haul

This past weekend a new Super Walmart opened near me so we went to check it out.  It is HUGE and all of the makeup shelves were fully stocked.  :D

I had heard that they were carrying HardCandy cosmetics which is a brand exclusive to Walmart. 

I bought 3 eye shadows which were $6 each.  Two are baked shadow duos.  I’m impressed with them so far.  I’ve read reviews from Musings of a Muse that the baked blush was awful.  She really had to work her brush into the product to get anything to show up onto her cheeks.  You can read her review here:Musings of a Muse

These eye shadows are different.  They’re pigmented and easy to work with.  You can use the baked duos wet or dry.  They are on the shimmery side but not too shimmery to make you look like a disco ball. 

The 3-pan palette had three colors that are perfectly coordinated.  This palette was more matte with a little shimmer.  It also came with a teeny tiny black eyeliner. 

I didn’t have any interest in their lipsticks or glosses because the packaging looks a little immature for me but the eye shadows were cute and I’d definitely haul more.

Click on the photos to make them bigger :)

Rush Hour

Secret Rendezvous

Eye Love You

The Eye Love You trio has perfect colors for the office!  I love it.  You can also order these on Walmart's website.  What do you think?  Do you have anything from Hard Candy?

Sephora VIB Exclusive Holiday Shopping Event Haul

Sephora had a V.I.B. Exclusive Holiday Shopping event where V.I.B. members received a 20% discount. I placed my order on Tuesday morning and my package arrived two days later! I didn’t even choose expedited shipping. I chose the standard free shipping 5-7 days. I’m so freaking lucky the Sephora warehouse is in Maryland. It’s so close to me! I also bought a few Christmas presents for friends but that will stay under wraps. ;-)

I wanted to try the NARS Multiple trio set but I read reviews online that they were teeny tiny so I bought a full size of the newest Multiple in Luxor (recently debuted in NARS’ Holiday Collection). It’s an iridescent pink with cooler tones with just the right amount of shimmer. It’s sooo pretty!

NARS describes The Multiple as “the original all-in-one, cream-to-powder, multi-purpose makeup stick. With fingertip application, The Multiple highlights, sculpts, and warms eyes, cheeks, lips, and body in an array of shades from sheer accents to mauve and bronze.”

I won’t be sporting this on the eyes & lips but just as a highlight on my cheeks.

Ooh la la!  It's pretty, eh?

Next I bought Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero. I have heard so many people talk about how this is the best eyeliner for the waterline. I heard it has amazing staying power & doesn’t smudge or move for the whole day. I can’t wait to try it! Hope it lives up to the hype! :cross fingers:

Next I bought the limited edition Glitz & Glam Shimmer and Shine deluxe sampler. Sephora has a ton of sampler sets with a good price tag. They’re only being sold for the Holiday season so I have a feeling these won’t stay on the shelves for long. The set is a $113 value and is sold for $38.

This set contains:
- Tarte Celebutante Dry Oil Shimmer Spray
- Smashbox Artificial Light Luminizing Lotion in Flash (iridescent pink)
- Tarte Glam Gams
- Tarte Lock & Roll in Bronze (shimmering true bronze)
- Guerlain Meteorites Powder Pearls for the Face in Beige Chic (golden glow)
- Tarte Cheek Stain in Eco-Cheek (coral with a touch of shimmer)
- Sephora Super Shimmer in Desert Gold (rosy tan with pink and gold shimmer)
- Laura Geller Blush-N-Brighten in Sunswept (bronze, coral, and rose)
- Smashbox Eyeshadow in 24K (true gold shimmer)
- Laura Geller Lip Shiner in City Lights (pink and gold flecked glimmer)

So did you haul anything from the V.I.B. Shopping Event?

Kirkland Borghese Brush Set from Costco and NOTD

Hi lovelies! First I want to show you my NOTD since I haven’t done one of those in a while. I picked up Essie’s Mint Candy Apple from the winter 2009 collection. It’s a pretty minty jade color & I absolutely love it. These unique colors always put me in a good mood. I got it from ULTA for around $6. You can also get it from Essie.

 

Every year Costco puts out a brush set around the holiday season. I miss it every year but this year I finally got my hands on a set! I’m so excited. The Kirkland Borghese brush set is only $19.99! These brushes are super soft! It includes 8 full sized brushes in a bag, 4 travel size brushes & an eyelash curler. It is made of synthetic hair that is anti-microbial & cruelty free. My only complaint so far is the eye shadow brush isn’t as dense as I’d like it to be. It’s too fluffy so it doesn’t pack on the color as intensely as my other brushes but other than that the other brushes in this set are great.

Click on the pics to make them bigger.

Full size set:
• Powder brush
• Flat top bronzer brush
• Angled contour brush
• Eye shadow brush
• Blending brush
• Smudge brush
• Flat eyeliner brush
• Angled eye shadow brush with spoolie

Travel set
• Blush brush
• Eye shadow brush
• Blending brush
• Flat eye liner brush

LUSH and Sephora F+F Haul

On Halloween I went to my local LUSH store because they were having an event. I try to go shopping only during their events since I always walk away with a goodie bag & other freebies. I picked up a bunch of stuff for my bestie while I was there as well.  I bought one Satsumo Santa (bath bomb), two Gnome Name’s (bubble bar) & two Christmas Eve (bubble bar). I prefer bubble bars over bath bombs so I had to get two of each because they smell amazing! Since I RSVP’ed to the event I was able to pick an item out of a basket so I picked the Cobweb Bath Bomb (from their Halloween collection). Also, since I spent over a certain amount they let me pick out a bath bomb so I chose a Jacko Bath Bomb!


Inside the goodie bag I got a chunk of Demon in the Dark soap, Pied de Pepper, Mask of Magnaminty, Goth Juice Syling Gel & Tramp Shower Gel. I have way too much fun shopping at LUSH.

Here’s a pic of the goodies in my new white box I made.

The white box was super easy to make.  I love it.  I just need one more lamp. 

I also received my Sephora friends & family package.  I bought Benefit's Coralista & Thrrrob.  I also picked up a tube of Smashbox's O-Gloss.  I love this stuff!  It goes on your lips clear but reacts with your chemistry to create a unique shade of pink. 

I had a lot of fun testing out the new white box but I need another lamp.  The shadows are driving me crazy and one more lamp would pick up the true color of the products.  It would also help if I had a new camera but I'm saving up for that.  Hope you lovelies had a great weekend!  xoxo

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween my lovelies!  Here are a few photos of my look for Halloween.  I named it Deadly Dame because she will crush your heart.  This look was inspired by the lovely Pam.   I used Freshlook Colorblends contacts in Sterling Grey.  For the heart I used Calypso Minerals eyeshadow (from Etsy) and NYX Jumbo Eye Shadow pencil in Black Bean.  On my lips I used black eyeliner & MAC's Russian Red.  Excuse the massive spot I have on my cheek.

Madame Mochi turned into a pumpkin that night.  She wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a good shot of the cuteness that she is.

Also, here is a shot of my first Konadicure that was decent enough to show you.  I'm still struggling with the rolling of the stamp so you can see where the white smudged.  I used image plate M57 with white Konad nailpolish.  The pink is China Glaze in Mom's Chiffon.

In another note of randomness I decided to make sinigang ng isda for lunch.  My guy & I finished our whole bowl!  It was awesomeness.  I used salmon. :)  You might not be able to see from the photo but there is a mound of rice in the bowl as well  *.~  Here are the obligatory food p0rn pics:

my bowl

his bowl

and done ...

So I hope you lovelies had an awesome weekend & a safe Halloween!  Ciao! xoxo