Haul - DermStore, Sephora, and Urban Decay

I made it through my March no-buy only to go on a buying binge. Oops! I got a few packages this week to share.

Dermstore

I had a $25 off of a $50 purchase code for Dermstore that I received in my March GlamBag. It was set to expire on May 1, so I wanted to get it used. Here's what I got:

I picked up the LaVanila Healthy Sunscreen because I was down to a couple of deluxe sample moisturizers with sunscreen, and I don't particularly care for either of them. I had a sample of this one already, and I liked it. I will say that darker skintones might have a bit of trouble with this because it contains physical sunscreens, so I can leave a little bit of a white cast to the skin. Being ghostly pale, I don't have an issue with that.

I picked up the Skindinavia setting spray because it has been on my wishlist for a while now. I'm liking it so far, but I haven't done any specific tests to see if it has helped my foundation stay longer. I do like that it helps get rid of the powdery look after I set my face makeup.

I threw in the MOR lip balm to get me to the $50 limit to use my coupon code. I was disappointed when I first opened the tin because the balm had shifted and there was a huge glob on the lid. I knew it was older stock though (they have oval tins now), so it didn't bother me too much. I've got it on my bedside table to use at night.

My order included a couple of freebie samples, which I always enjoy. I haven't tried either of these yet.

Sephora

I couldn't resist the Sephora 15% off sale, so I placed an order with them too:

I tried a sample of Nars Sheer Matte foundation in Siberia over the summer, and I liked it. It took me until now to bite the bullet and actually buy a bottle. The color is a perfect match for me, so I'm loving it.

I've been wanting to try Benefit's Erase Paste for a while now, so I went ahead and grabbed that too. This product glides on like a dream. I don't have to tug at all to get it to blend into my skin, and I think the color does a nice job of helping to hide my under-eye circles.

I included a picture of my freebies too. I was glad that Wonderstruck was one of my freebie options because I've been wanting to give that a try.

Urban Decay

My final order that arrived this week included:

I had looked for something colorful to purchase from DermStore and Sephora, and nothing was jumping out at me, so I decided to grab the Book of Shadows IV since it was on sale for $29 (Of course went down to $25 on HauteLook this week. *sigh*). I liked that it was a nice mix of neutrals and wearable, muted colors.

I'd also debated picking up the Shadow Pencil Stash before Christmas, so I figured I would grab it on sale for $12. The pencil in Sin will probably get a lot of use on lazy days.

I also grabbed a sale Pocket Rocket lip gloss. I wanted to get both Doug and David, but I waited too long, and Doug sold out. I was sad about that because I have and love Doug already, so a backup would have been nice. I'm happy to try a new color though, and I love the scent of these glosses. Yum!

Again, I got a couple of freebies. I haven't tried ay of UD's face primers, so I'm interested in trying those out.


What about you? Have you hauled anything recently? Or have you been good about not adding to your stash?

Blogger Appreciation Award

First of all I want to thank Shortylegsbeauty for giving me this award. Even though my blog it still really small, the positive feedback that I've received has made me feel amazing.

There are some rules for this award and they are:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award with a blog link on your post
2) Answer the following 4 questions
3) Award the Blogger Appreciation Award to as many readers/commenters/supporters/followers as you´d like
4) Let the blogger know you´ve awarded them, either by commenting on their blog or sending them an e-mail.

THE QUESTIONS ARE:

1) How long have you been blogging?  

I started my blog on January 1, 2012, so it is just over 3 months old. 

2) What are 1-2 reasons you started blogging?  

A blog seemed like a good way to put my obsession with makeup to good use. I get to share my passion, interact with a lot of wonderful people, and practice my writing skills with one activity.
 
3) What types of blogs do you like to follow/read? 

I mostly follow beauty blogs, but I have a couple of book and home blogs that I read as well.

4) What is 1 thing you would like to improve as a blogger on your blog? 

I'm going to cheat here and list more than one. The first thing has been one of my goals from the beginning. I want to improve the details that I include in reviews. I'm not very good yet at noticing little details about products, and I want to keep improving on that. I also want to get better about posting more regularly. AND...I want to figure out better lighting for my pictures. It isn't horrible lighting, but I want it to be a lot better.

THE AWARD GOES TO:

I'm passing this award on to:

Discovering Beauty at Discovering Beauty

Emi at Project Swatch

Kori at The Musings of an Awkward Panda

SilhouetteScreams at Silhouette Screams

Please check out these wonderful ladies! What other blogs should I check out? I'm awful about finding new ones, so I'd love some suggestions. 

And the Winner is....

mojemakaze!!!!

Congratulations! I have already emailed you.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I appreciate your interest in my blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!

(Note: Winner was chosen using Random.org)

Silk Naturals Spring Collection Order

Silk Naturals released their spring collection last week. It includes two new eye shadow formulas: mattelight and glimmer. They also released some new lip products, most of them in a new lip color formula: kissable cream lip gloss. The final addition to the collection was to add a recent gumball product to the permanent line: equalizer powder.

I made my order on Sunday night, and I got my order yesterday! This is one of the things I love about Silk Naturals. They have shipping down to a science. Here's what I got:

I got five of the mattelight eye shadows. I didn't get any of the glimmer ones because they were bright rainbow colors that were gorgeous but not my style. I got one of the new kissable cream lip colors, and my free sample was of a cream blush. I'll show the GWP later in the post.

Here's a closer look at the eye shadows:

L to R: Driftwood, Flourish, Kind, Giggle, Whimsy

Driftwood

Flourish

Kind

Giggle

Whimsy

L to R: Driftwood, Flourish, Kind, Giggle, Whimsy

These are perfect colors for spring and for me. Flourish is shimmery gorgeousness in a jar. I've been loving nude colors on my lid lately, so I can see myself grabbing for it a lot. I'm also really looking forward to playing with Whimsy. My pictures really don't do it justice. SN says that it has a green shimmer base with lavender highlights that make it an interesting grey. I don't see how it is a grey, but it is really pretty to look at.

L to R: Swing and Panache

I love the feel of the kissable cream formula, and since it has cocoa butter in it, it has that lovely scent to it. Yum! Silk Naturals describes it as a plummy pink with a lot of aqua shimmer in it. It looks more like a peachy pink to me though. It is on the sheer side, which is great. If it was more opaque, I don't think I could pull it off. Even though I'm really fair, I need a pop of color on my lips. If they are too light, I look dead.

Panache is a gorgeous coral color. I wouldn't have bought it on my own, but I'm excited to have a sample of it to try.

Gift with Purchase:

This week's gift with purchase was a trio of blushes with any $24 purchase. SN's site says it will be sent with any order placed by April 5, so you might still be able to get it if you order tonight.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot to mention that I ordered a new bottle of the Kiss Foaming Cleanser. My current bottle is getting low, so I wanted to make sure I had more on hand.

Overall, I'm really happy with my order. I don't order as much from indie companies anymore because I have been seduced by the convenience of pressed makeup, but SN almost always comes out with something that calls my name.

Did you order anything from the new SN collection?

My First Giveaway!!! (CLOSED)

I've been hinting at it for a while, and I'm finally getting around to posting my first giveaway!

The lucky winner will receive the following:

Please excuse the picture quality. I tried taking pictures in a new location, and it didn't work out very well. I figured I would go ahead and post the poor quality pictures in order to get this up sooner.

The Details:

Wet n Wild baked eye shadow palette in Bake-Off Contest
Milani Minerals blush in Luminous
Silk Naturals eye shadow sample in Adorn
Benefit High Beam mini
NYX Roll On Shimmer in Purple
Tarte Lights, Cameras, Lashes mascara
Milani Glitzy Glamour Gloss in First Class
C.O. Bigelow Lemon & Black Cherry lip balm
Darling Girl Hologloss in Zombie
Darling Girl Kiss Me Tinted Lip Balm in Little 15

The Rules:

I'm keeping this simple, so everyone only gets one entry. Please leave me one comment with the following information:

1) At least one thing on your makeup/beauty wishlist. If you feel like listing more than one, that's good too.
2) How you follow my blog (GFC, Bloglovin', etc...)
3) Your email address so I can contact you if you won

This giveaway will end on Thursday, April 12 at 9 p.m. central time.

My Current Skincare Routine - Evening

This is part two on my skincare routine,which will cover my evening routine. You can read about my morning routine here, but for a quick recap about my skin, I have oily, acne-prone skin.

Evening Routine:

Confession: I'm lazy. I know I should probably remove the bulk on my eye makeup with an eye makeup remover before I wash my face, but I don't. Instead. I wait and wash my face in the shower. I remove what remains with an eye makeup remover after I get out of the shower and I'm sporting what my fiance and I fondly refer to as my Courtney Love look.

For a while now, I've been using a backlog of facial cleansers that I'd accumulated. The backlog is nearly gone, and I plan on going back to using Silk Natural's Kiss Foaming Cleanser with their foaming bottle. I talk more about this cleanser in my morning routine post, so I don't plan to repeat myself here. Instead, I will mention that this cleanser does a pretty good job at removing makeup. I may have to take care of some waterproof eye makeup (particularly eye liner) after my shower, but it removes everything else easily.

After I get out of the shower and make sure that all of my eye makeup is gone, I use my eye cream. Just like with my morning routine, I apply my eye cream before my acne treatment because I don't want to have to wash my hands between my acne treatment and my eye cream to prevent getting said acne treatment in my eyes (remember, I'm lazy). As mentioned, my eye cream will be changing after my current one is gone. It is primarily in the picture above to signify that I use an eye cream. I'm looking for recommendations if you have any.

My evening acne treatment is Neutrogena's On-the-Spot Acne Treatment 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. I would love to cut benzoyl peroxide out of my routine. I tried to cut it out a few years ago, but my skin freaked out, and I stuck it back in. I'm glad that I've gotten down to only using it at night though. I've read that 2.5% is really all you need for treatment, and a higher concentration can have the tendency to irritate skin. This BP cream is the only one I can find in the drugstore with this low of a concentration, so I stick with it.

My night moisturizer is relatively new too. I picked up the Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Moisturizer - Night back in the fall because I wanted to add retinol into my routine. Retinol is, of course, a good anti-aging ingredient, and I've read that it can be good for acne as well. If you haven't used it before though, take it slow. When I first got it, after a few night my skin was burning slightly because retinol is strong stuff. I stopped using it for a few days, and then I started using it every other night for a week or two. After my skin adjusted, I was able to start using it every night. I haven't noticed any major differences in my skin, but I know that retinol is good for it, so I plan on sticking with this for the time being.

Extras:

I regularly use an exfoliator on my skin when I'm in the shower. I LOVE Kate Somerville's ExfoliKate, but it is expensive, so I've been using this sparingly since I got it over the summer. The .5 oz size retails for $19. I have a feeling I will end up repurchasing when I run out though. It's a strong exfoliator, so I typically only use this about once a week. Other days, I might grab for the Giovanni D:Tox Purifying Facial Scrub. This is intended to be used daily, and I do use it most days. It is likely this I will pick this one up again as well.

Face Masks

I don't use face masks regularly, but I have a bunch on hand. I don't love any of them. When I do use them, I use a makeup remover wipe to get the bulk of my makeup off, put on the mask, let it sit for the required amount of time, and then remove it in the shower. I like doing it this way because it is easier to get the entire mask off in the shower. I hate having little green flecks left on my skin from a mask that I used.

What are your must have skincare items? Are there any that you feel are good enough to splurge on (like ExfoliKate)?