(Low) Maintenance Beauty Massive Haul - part 2 (make-up)

This is the second part of the haul which I think will be quite a long one, so brace yourselves. You should probably get something to drink, go to the toilet etc. so you can properly enjoy it in one piece afterwards.

So, as mentioned in my previous post, the shopping was a bit out of control. If you are not into this kind of posts, please click out and return another day when I will be discussing my thoughts on other subjects. Because this is a shopping haul post and it is what it is.

And just a simple disclaimer about the order - this is the exact same order I would use the products in, which makes the most sense for me.

PRIMERS

Primers were bought in large quantities, but this doesn't mean I deviated from what I think is the best price-quality product. So I stuck to the Maybelline Baby Skin pore eraser and just went for it. I actually had to go to three different drugstores to get my hands on four of these babies. But they are mine now.

These are by far the best primers I have tried in my life so far. They are soft, but not too soft, they stick to the skin but don't make it stick and they definitely work the way they are supposed to. I see that my make-up goes on much more smoothly and actually stays in place. So well done, Maybelline. These guys are pretty inexpensive, I think they cost about $6 each. I can't get them in Slovenia so I really stocked up, obviously.

For eye primers, which are virtually impossible to get in Slovenia, I really really wanted to get the Urban Decay potion, but that stuff is so expensive I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price. So instead I opted for two drugstore products - Wet n' wild Fergie eye primer which was about $5 and the E.L.F Studio eye primer & liner sealer which I think was $3. None of these I can get in Slovenia so I cannot compare the price. I also got another mini primer in Sephora but we'll get to that later.

First opinion - I love the WW primer and I'm NOT loving the E.L.F one which I think has to do with the texture, not the results for my eye make-up. The Wet n' wild one is liquid and the E.L.F. is stick, so it's much more difficult to apply. But I'll have to test them more to give my final verdict on these puppies.

Next up after primer is the foundation. I decided that I wasn't going to buy any foundations at all, but succumbed to the pressure at the Covergirl stand. For some reason, this Tru blend (in warm beige) was just screaming my name and I had to pick it up. After trying it out, I'm happy I did, but I'm not happy about the fact that I won't be able to get my hands on it in Slovenia. It cost about $9.

Along with that, I also picked up the Instand Age Rewind (in 120 - cream ivory) from Maybelline which I've heard so many Youtubers rave about. It really is the perfect under-eye concealer and I also use it as a brightener down my nose. This puppy was quite expensive for drugstore make-up, I believe it cost about $12 in Walmart, but you can pick it up cheaper in Ulta. For some reason unknown to humanity, this is not sold in Slovenia, which is a crime by itself.

Now on to the blushes and bronzers. I picked two things up - a Tarte Amazonian Clay Matte Waterproof Bronzer in the only shade existing - the Park Avenue Princess Matte. This beauty (I mean, just LOOK at the packaging) cost $30 at Sephora and  - surprise surprise - is not available in Slovenia. This product will probably deserve its own review, but for now let's just say that it is beyond anything I ever hoped for.

To continue the face theme, I also picked up the Milani baked blush in the classic 01 - Dolce pink ($8 at Walmart). Some Milani products can actually be obtained in Slovenia, but not this specific baked blush. It's a perfect summer blush with the added strips of shimmer and instantly lights my face up. It's also super pigmented. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't get another one in a peachy shade (like the Coralina), but there's nothing to be done about that for now.

What I really intended to buy on my trip were the Real Techniques brushes - the Core collection and Starter brush set to tie me over until I invest in some really quality brushes (Sigma, MAC, Zoeva etc.). But as my luck would have it, they were not to be found anywhere. So eventually I settled for the Eco Tools Day to Night 6-piece collection which cost about $16.

The set contains 5 brushes - pointed concealer brush, round powder brush, lip/liner brush, shadow brush and smudge brush. It came in a lovely brush travel bag, which is impossible to close but beautiful when closed. So I didn't exactly get what I wanted but I'm quite satisfied with all but the shadow brush, which is really hard (it might change at some point during the use) and is doing quite a lot of damage on my palettes. This set can also be bought in Slovenia (without the bag) and costs about $35. I mean, really?

In this place, I must also include a nice little purchase from Sephora. Being a real newbie, it's hard for me to commit and buy really expensive products in full size, because I'm not yet really sure about what I really like and what I just think I like. So this Too Faced Beauty Bloggers Darlings set was perfect for me. 

It cost $20 ($42 value, apparently) and includes a small Chocolate Soleil bronzer, a small size of Better than Sex mascara, a small Primed & Poreless Face primer and a small Shadow Insurance Eye Shadow primer. For now, I can only say that the bronzer is fabulous and really smells like chocolate, so the only issue I have with it is that it's really hard not to munch at it. The rest of the products are yet unused and will have to be talked about at a later date.

Now for the eyes bit. I picked up four palettes, because sometimes a girl just can't help herself, right? Starting from the drugstore ones, I first picked up the Wet 'n' wild Comfort Zone palette which was about $5 and cannot be bought in Slovenia - shocker, I know. I love the colors of this palette because they are not too crazy. The pigmentation is there, the fallout can be contained and they blend beautifully. (note: if anyone told me I would ever be able to judge eye shadows by all of the above factors, I would proclaim him crazy. Oh, how my life had changed...). For this price, it's an absolute steal. If I knew then what I know now, I would have bought this palette in every color. 

You can see from the photo it's being well loved...

Next up, another drugstore item - the Hard Candy palette "Pinking on you". This palette mainly caught my eye because of the lovely nudes and pinks and also the packaging which is detailed with a lace and is absolutely beautiful. It was about $6 at Walmart, I believe and is not available in Slovenia. Which I don't really care about because this one is absolutely horrible. 

I really had high hopes for this palette but the quality is just not there. The light colors look pretty much alike - there are 4 or 5 in this palette which are indistinguishable from one another. Also, the fallout cannot even be called that, but the term landslide would be much more appropriate. I literally have stuff all over my face when using this palette - it could probably be used with a tissue but then, why bother? I am not loving one color in this palette enough to deal with that. So this one is going in the very back of my make-up closet and will probably remain there. Verdict: not worth your $$$. 

The third palette I picked up was the Maybelline Nudes Palette. Right before we left for the States, saw this being tried out by some Youtubers which got them before the stuff even hit the shelves so I didn't have high hopes of finding one on the shelves when I got there. But surprise, surprise, there it was in Walmart ($12), just waiting for me. This I think will eventually also be available in Slovenia, because nudes sell out pretty well here I believe. 

For the quality of this palette, I will discuss it more in-depth another time. I have to say that so far, I am quite pleased with it but it hasn't gotten that much use yet, because I'm really neglecting all the palettes for my NEW LOVE - the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette ($49 at Sephora, not available in Slovenia). 

This stuff is magic. It's like the dust of fairies, mixed in with chocolate, colored by unicorns and bewitched by Gandalf the White. It is perfection in a tin case. It is awesome, everything I hoped for and more. I will of course include this in my palettes post, because I cannot do it justice here. But in short - incredible pigmentation, no fallout, perfect blending plus the smell of chocolate every time I open it. It doesn't get any better than that. 

Besides the already mentioned Better than Sex mascara which is waiting to be tested out, I also picked up some different mascaras to try out. 

Left to right: Maybelline The colossal Volume Express, L'Oreal Voluminous waterproof mascara, Covergirl lashblast fusion, Maybelline Great Lash and Maybelline The falsies volume express.

 The thing is, mascaras are probably the one item of make-up where the difference in price is most apparent between Slovenia and USA. The Covergirl mascara is not available over here, but most others are. I won't go too much into the prices, but suffice it to say I would be paying about $14 for each of these over here in Slovenia, whereas they were about 50 % cheaper overseas. So I stocked up. So far, the number one from these purchases would have to be the Colossal Volume Mascara by Maybelline. I'm thinking of a side by side comparison - is this something you would be interested in? Comment below...

Next up, we have lips. Starting off with the balms, I picked some up from Baby Lips (which became available in Slovenia about a week ago). These were priced at about $3 at Walgreens, while in Slovenia they cost $3,40 which is great, because I love them. I picked up the 05 - Strike a Rose (middle left) and 15 - Cherry Me (middle right). Both are a bit pigmented and smell amazing. I also picked up a bunch of EOS balms which are perfect to throw in the bag - these were about $4 each and are not available in Slovenia. The flavors are in the description below.

EOS Balms left to right: Pomegranate Raspberry, Honeysucle Honeydew, Blueberry Acai, Lemon Drop

For actual lipsticks, I bought two pairs - one are the NYC lipsticks ($3, not available in Slovenia), which claim to be Applelicious lip balms but are so pigmented that I prefer to call them lipsticks. Mine are in the colors Garnet Gala, which is a bit darker, and Pink Lady, which as the name suggests is a nice soft pink. I love both of them. Also, they have a lovely apple in the middle of the applicator, which you can see better over here.

NYC lip balms

The other lip products I bought were two of the Revlon Colorburst Matte balms (about $6.50 in Walmart, a whooping $14 in Slovenia) in shades Romantic (left) and Crush (right). They are still unopened since I'm going through a couple of lip stains from Catrice, but I will report back on them. On the other hand, I opened the Maybelline Color Elixir (shade Captivating Carnation) the moment I stepped out of the store. I love the packaging and the shade is beautiful on my lips. They are really pigmented and not sticky at all. Not available in Slovenia yet, priced at $9 which I think is quite a lot of a lippie...

Maybelline and Revlon

Last but not least in the make-up department was a fixing spray. I have never owned one of these before so I was quite curious as to what it's actually supposed to do and how well it would do it. In the end, I decided to go all out and buy the travel sized Urban Decay de-slick Makeup Setting Spray ($14 in Sephora, not available in Slovenia) which claims to "prevent makeup meltdown, control oil and deflect surface shine). Since we haven't had a proper warm day in Slovenia yet since I got back, I cannot really comment on this yet, but I will after (if?) it gets sunny here at all.

 If you actually read up to here, congratulations. Please leave me a comment so I'll know that there's someone out there I'm actually doing this for :)

Next up will be two smaller online hauls from Slovenia, so stay tuned. Until next time, stay beautiful!