WEDNESDAY SELECTION: Sephora shopping list

I am fortunate enough to do quite a bit of traveling, but since the long travels will have to be postponed for a year or so with the baby in the house, I’m also lucky enough to have friends that travel and are willing to indulge my obsessions (addictions, insanity – however you want to call them). 

Anyway, I have a very good girlfriend leaving for the States in a couple of weeks and this is my shopping list for her. Let me just say that June is also my birthday month so technically I will be getting some of these things as gifts, so it’s not as crazy as it looks. Really, it’s not. I promise. 

I’m a sucker for the value sets which really are great value for money in my opinion. This time, I have four  quite a few on my list.

SEPHORA LASHSTASH TO GO (28 $, 57 $ value)

 

This set includes five deluxe samples of mascaras (Marc Jacobs O!Mega Lash, Milk Makeup Ubame, Too Faced Better then sex, Tarte Tarteist and Ciate London) and a voucher for a full size mascara of any of the above. I’m debating whether to go for a repeat of Too Faced mascara or try the Marc Jacobs one – I’m still undecided about this. 

SEPHORA PAINT IT PINK (40 $, 122 $ value)

  

I really hope this set will still be available by the time my friend hits the stores. It includes: Benefit Cosmetics Roller Lash (deluxe sample), Deborah Lippmann nail polish in Baby love, Laura Mercier Velour, Lovers lip color (full size - $28), MakeUp Forever Artist Plexi-Gloss (deluxe sample), Urban Decay eyeshadow in Scratch (full size - $19), Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Rose Gold (deluxe sample), a Beautyblender (regular - $20) and the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Blissful (deluxe sample). As you can see, the full size items alone are $67 so it really is great value. I haven’t used a single item from this except for the Beautyblender so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Alternative: BECCA SHIMMERING SKIN PERFECTOR (20 $) 

Since I really want to see what the fuss is all about with the Becca Shimmering Skin perfectors so if the option above fails, I would like to get my hands on the Glow On The Go set that includes deluxe samples of Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal in both pressed and liquid version.

SEPHORA FAVORITES TIME TO PRIME (25 $, $51 value)

 I am a big sucker for primers and so far all of the best ones in my life were purchased at Sephora. But these are not just face primers – no, no – these are ALL the primers: Bite Beauty Line & Define (lip primer), Formula X Prime Base Coat (nail base coat), Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer with SPF 15 (face primer), Living Proof Prime Style Extender(hair primer), Smashbox 24hour Finish Shadow Primer (eye primer) and Urban Decay Subversion Lash primer. Let’s get primed!

BEAUTYBLENDER TWO BB CLEAN ($40,00, $58 value)

Ever since I tried the Beautyblender for the first time I’ve been hard pressed to find a sponge that would be just as good. This set includes two regular sized Beautyblenders as well as a Blendercleanser fluid that can be used on other sponges as well if I don’t use it up on my Beautyblenders alone. Since a single BB costs 24 € here (27 $), it’s a great value and I plan to stock up for some time.

BENEFIT COSMETICS CHEEKATON BLUSH & BRONZER PALETTE ($58, $145 value)

This palette seems almost too good to be true, but it isn’t. It includes  six full size bestselling blushes and a bronzer from Benefit: Dallas, Dandelion, Coralista, Rockateur and Hoola Bronzer. Check out the value – I’m getting five products for a third of the original price and they are all neatly stored in a lovely palette. What more could a girl ask for?

And that is it for my wish list. I’ll probably be adding some last minute items to it but these above are the ones I’m really looking forward to using and I can’t wait to get them. Let’s all say a big thank you to Urša who will be schlepping them around the world for me (but then again, she is flying business class so she’ll at least be well rested while doing so) :)

Do you have a MUST TRY from Sephora for me? Let me know in the coments!

Until next time, stay beautiful!

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All photos property of www.sephora.com or Pinterest

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A very OLD Make-up Haul & Mini Reviews

So the thing is, my clients obviously ganged up and tried to see how much I can take before I crack under pressure. I'm still alive, though, so they've been doing a poor job so far. But the thing is that I spent every free second of my days sleeping and recovering and wasn't really up to blogging. It also explains why this post was originally supposed to be just a haul, but now it's going to be a haul with reviews, which is just as well or even better I guess. 

Because, let me be tell you one thing. I can be dead tired, but my make-up will be great nevertheless. Just so we're clear on that front. 

Anyway, this is what I picked up since end of December until the middle of January. 

As you can see, we've got a little bit of everything. Let's start with face and eyes, shall we? I picked up two Real Techniques sponges - one for me and one for my friend (and one of the very few people in my life who know about this blog). I've had the last sponge for about 6 months and it was really time to get rid of it. This costs about 8 € on Licila.si, but they always have special deals you can take advantage of. 

Next, I really, really needed a new foundation. This L'Oreal Infallible was on sale in DM for about 9 €, so I picked it up since I remembered using a similar one from L'Oreal before and being satisfied with it. But, alas, I completely missed the mark on the shade - I got True Beige when I should have gotten Natural beige, a couple of shades darker. So now I basically look half dead before I apply my setting powder. It's an OK foundation, nothing special. What I really want to know, though, is about the primer from the same line - have any of you beauties tried it yet? What do you think about it?

Last thing in this package is the NYX Powder Blush in Taupe. Now I've been obsessing over my bronzers for the past few months ever since I hit pan on my beloved Tarte blush (which I'm now saving for special occasions - is this something you do as well with your beloved products?). I learned that this is supposedly a perfect contour color, since it's not too dark and not too brown and has grey undertones. As I understand, the bronzer used for contour is not supposed to be brown but rather grey-ish, since that's the color that the shade on your face produces. 

Now it's a nice color, but I'm slightly bothered at how unpigmented this thing is. I have to swirl my brush in the pan about 10 times before I can get enough product for one side of my face - and no, I don't contour that heavily. It seems like the whole pan has a thin layer of something over the top which prevents the brush to really get into the product. Perhaps it will wear out in time. 

Continuing with the other swatch in the photo above, it's from my first ELF Smudge pot in the shade Gotta Glow. I got this to wear around New Year as a base for other colors and I must say it works like a dream. I doubled this with some shades from my I heart makeup palette and it created an absolutely beautiful look that stayed in place all night long. It literally costs pennies, so I would recommend this highly.

I had to open some new mascaras since the old ones dried on me. Disclaimer: the word "had" is really not appropriate for this sentence. I actually COULD NOT WAIT to open some new mascaras. 

 
Above is my very first Essence mascara - Get big! lashes Triple Black mascara. This mascara felt kind of funny going on, since it was quite dry despite being brand new. But I've learned the trick - I let it sit for about a week and it became considerably more wet after that. I cannot phantom why this happens but I don't care. I must say I'm quite impressed, especially for the price. It gives a lot of length and a lot of definition to my lashes. The only thing is that it really does not hold the curl very well, so I usually have to touch up during the day. 

The other mascara I opened was the Clarins Wonder Waterproof Mascara. I tried it only once and then ran out of my good make-up remover, so I dare not put in on my lashes until I purchase a new one. I'll probably do a separate review for this one.

Nails... ah, this will require a story of its own, I believe. Let's just say that I had clip-on nails in this picture below. But the color starring on them is the Essie in Double Breasted jacket, which for some reason seems a wildly inappropriate name for this color. But I absolutely love it, it's the perfect color to brighten up the gloomy winter days.

And then lipsticks, or better said, one lipsticks and  three beautiful, fantastic lipglosses. 

I added another NYX Round Lipgloss to my collection, this time in Frozen Frosted Plum. I absolutely love the darker red or plum colors for winter and this one has a slight shimmer to it which makes it even more special. On lips, it's similar to Alverde Lipgloss Maximize Effect in Forest berry, but as said, the Alverde doesn't have the gold sparkles and is a bit less intense as well. I'll put it like this - I would dare to put the Alverde on without mirror, but I can't say the same for NYX gloss. 

I also picked up the Becca Glossy Lip Tint in shade Frisco a while back from eBay. I love this as a substitute for a regular lip balm as it gives me just a minimal amount of shimmer to look like I've made an effort. 

Last up was an attempted bravery on my part - I bought a Sleek lipstick in Raisin Razzle. Now... I got the package at work and put it on in my car while I was driving home. My hubby never, never notices anything about my make-up (except the sheer quantity of products in the bathroom), but he laughed so hard at me when I walked through the front door that I was just... OK, let's just say that I think I'm going to keep it for Haloween only. I know the swatch below doesn't do it justice but it's way too dark for my skin tone and I just look like a girl playing with her mom's make-up. 

Now, I think that I'll be able to actually get two more posts up this weekend - one of them my new empties since I've got nowhere else to put the empty packages and bottles. Keep your eyes open. 

Until next time, stay beautful, stay awesome!