Tag Archives: butter gloss

Jul11

Buying Stuff: Episode 18

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Dianna

Today is my husband’s birthday, and to celebrate, I bought myself some stuff. Because I have to go take him to see that dang Planet of the Apes show, and I tried to convince him it’s cool to go the the theater by yourself but he wouldn’t agree, so now I am forced to watch a boy movie for 11 hours straight. Give or take 9 hours or so.

In other words, all things below immediately and undeniably JUSTIFIED.

First up:

I was running out of cleansing milk – you know, what they call an emergency – so I thought I’d try something new. Picked up the Le Couvent des Minimes version. I haven’t used it yet because per usual, I think I’m about out of a product so I rush around to get my replacment ready, when suddenly my almost empty tube replicates itself and I get another two weeks of use out of it. I did smell it, and it’s a very delicate rose scent. I squeezed a little onto my fingers to discover the consistency is quite loose. Not sure how I feel about that, as I like a thicker cleansing milk, but we’ll see. I’m almost certain I have only 1 or 2 days left of my current product, as long as the planets are aligning properly as they should.

Then I got the Lorac Pro 2 eyeshadow palette. I already have the first one, and it’s amazing and beautiful, so naturally I had to grab the little sister. This time around, the shades are quite colorful versus the more neutral shadows of #1. And as expected, this palette is perfect. Using the same concept from before, there is a row of mattes and a row of shimmers. The shadows are pigmented, buttery, smooth, glorious. I am so happy I bought it. If you have just $42 and you’re wondering what to do with it, stop thinking and put this in your basket. No, I’m serious. Do it right now.

Fine, here’s a close up first:

I have been using Light Brown or Nectar in my crease, which are both great. And the shades Rose, Chrome and Jade are beautiful lid colors. Love Cocoa, Plum and Navy in the outer V. Honestly, you won’t regret getting this palette unless you hate perfection. I mean people are weird, sometimes. But if you are a normal human and do as I tell you, you’ll be sitting home on Saturday night playing with your makeup while all your cool (stupid) friends are out having “fun.” Such fools.

Perhaps one of the funnest (most fun?) lipglosses I’ve ever owned is Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie in the shade Hypnotist. It looks like the future, like something Judy Jetson would wear. That’s not even a joke. Look:

How pretty is that? Who doesn’t want an iridescent lipgloss? (Crazy people.) However, I will say that this lipgloss doesn’t do a whole lot on it’s own. It’s mostly clear with shine. It fares slightly better on top of lipstick. Gave my nude lipstick a bit of extra dimension although nothing crazy. In fact, it’s more of a novelty than anything else. I don’t mind it. It’s pretty to look at, smells like mint chocolate, and feels good on the lips. I will most likely repurchase cuz I enjoy spending money on pretty things that don’t work. You probably should too.

I know. I’m ridiculous. But my lipgloss is holographic so try arguing with that. (You can’t.)

Picked up this batch too:

I’ve never used any of the Body Shop body butters before, and Ulta had them on sale for 40% off. And naturally I can’t walk away from a good coupon, so I put the coconut one in my basket. This smells so good, like summer and the beach. Can’t wait to start using it, but as usual I’m constantly trying to finish up other products first. Hopefully I’ll get to it by the end of the month.

I’ve been feeling a little oily this summer so for the first time in my life I’m buying products to fix it. I have a few sheets of some Tatcha Japanese blotting linens left, and I really love them. Figured I’d try something different, especially cuz the Tatcha ones are kind of pricey. Decided on these little NYX matte ones. And guess what? Do not like. Of course I wouldn’t since they’re practically free compared to the other ones.

First of all, the packaging is awkward. It’s not easy to remove the papers. I have to unfold the whole packet and then put it all back together. It takes too much energy. If the choice is to remain oily or break a sweat fiddling with the dang packet thing, I suppose oily isn’t such a bad deal after all.

And second of all, I’m comparing them to the lovely texture of the Tatcha papers, and there’s just no comparison. Granted, the NYX ones are cheap, and Tatcha has made me spoiled.

Long story short, I bought some Boscia papers so I’m gonna try those instead.

I also picked up another NYX Butter Gloss. I own like 7 or 8 of these. That’s probably not a lot compared to some, but I carry them all in my purse so they take up a lot of space. However, I didn’t have a brown so what is there left to do but buy a brown? Got the color Praline and it’s so pretty on top of my nude lipstick.

Then of course at the check out counter they had these sample tubes of Peter Thomas Roth peeling gel. It says right there on the package that your dead skin will roll right off your face. I challenge anyone not to want to buy 15 tubes of this stuff. Seriously, dead skin. Rolling. Right off your face. I can’t even.

I used this the other night, and it really is quite amazing. After washing, apply this gel to your face in circular motions. Quickly, little balls of product and dead skin starts to ball up and fall into the sink. Then afterwards you literally feel as if you replaced your old face for a new one. It’s fantastic. I have a suspicion I’m about two seconds away from buying a full size.

Have you ever wanted a purple lipstick so bad that you ended up buying a purple lipstick? I did, and it was the Make Up For Ever one in #15. Now, the color is gorgeous. It’s true purple. There is a lovely pearl finish. However, the drawback is the formula. It’s so incredibly dry it practically drags across your lips. I have to do extra extra swipes just to cover all the surface area evenly. It was cumbersome and effortful. I had a lot of thinking to do.

Decided to go with it anyway cuz did I mention how bad I wanted a purple lipstick? Sometimes I do things against all practicality. However, it turned out alright in the end. Here is me wearing purple lips topped with the iridescent Hypnotist gloss mentioned earlier:

Ooooh, purty! Totally worth it. I don’t even care about the formula anymore. I will spend the rest of my life applying this lipstick if the end result looks like this every time.

Last haul is this one:

Another emergency – I was running out of eye makeup remover. So I thought I’d give this Mario Badescu one a try. It’s a gel, not a liquid, so it’s kind of weird. Also you have to really enjoy smearing black mascara all over your eye socket cuz that’s how you remove it with this stuff. But I will say it works really really well. And when you get it in your eye, it only stings for like 5 seconds. Success!

Then as a gift with purchase, I got this teeny sample of the Mario Badescu glycolic face wash. I had every intention of using it, but you know how I have like 7 or 8 tubes of cleansers in line already? One more might send me into an anxious fit. My daughter has it now. I have to bribe her for two-armed hugs you know.

Replacing my dried up pot of Maybelline gel eyeliner, I got the Napoleon Perdis China Doll one. I used it and it’s very creamy and easy to apply. I like it. Plus it was on sale at Ulta for $15. If I didn’t buy it at that point, I’d be accused of a mental imbalance, for sure.

Got a beautiful matte balm stain from Revlon called Sultry. One of my YouTube beauties raved about it so naturally it went on my wish list. And then about two seconds later I went ahead and bought the dang thing. This color is one of the prettiest I own, and I literally own a billion. Give or take. And this matte formula was not drying on my lips at any point, which was a nice surprise.

And finally, I bought a nail polish. No,
you did not misunderstand what I just said. I thought this Revlon color in Chameleon was so unique, I knew I had to have it. I love how the gold turned to green in different angles. I had never seen another color like it.

Well, sadly, it wasn’t quite as pretty on the nail. Mostly it was an antique gold/bronze and the green wasn’t that evident. A bit of a bummer really. I mean, I freaking bought nail polish; the least it could do was be amazing. Hmmmphf.

Well that’s it. You’re free to go about your weekend as you please. Bye!

Mar24

Buying Stuff: Episode 8

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Dianna

Standard

Huge haul alert. Just a warning, in case you have something important to do within the next 15 hours. Otherwise, get comfy; we gonna be here for a bit. I’ll try to make it short and sassy, but sometimes (i.e., every time) my eyes sort of glass over when talking about makeup and skin care. I’m so addicted, I can’t focus on anything else anymore. Seriously, my husband could be standing in the middle of Ulta completely naked and I’d never notice.

So let’s get started. You know how I am about wanting to own all the things. Pretty sure that will never end, although I’m giving my best effort. Every time I am on YouTube, one of my gurus starts talking about some brand I don’t own, and that gives me the hives like no other. I need to have something, anything, from every brand or I can’t function properly. OCD sucks so bad sometimes. It manifests in many different ways, one-track-mindedness being one of them.

Here is an eyeshadow palette from Lime Crime:

I chose the Alchemy palette because it is new and all the shadows are duochrome. They are absolutely gorgeous shadows, and surprisingly wearable, especially the purple in the middle. Very very pigmented as well, which is nice. I think my favorite of the five colors is the green. It’s vibrant and bold, looks beautiful on the outer V and lower lash line. Reminds me of spring, not Easter spring, but green grass spring. It evokes a feeling of warmth and sunshine in me, and effectively cures my Seasonal Affective Disorder. In other words, this palette is a medical necessity and therefore justified.

Next!

I used the Carol’s Daughter Monoi Repairing Hair Mask yesterday, and I’m so in love. This is some amazing stuff. But in order to get a bigger picture, let me describe my hair to you. Naturally wavy. Dries frizzy and poufy (the bad poufy, not volumized poufy). Fine texture. Oily scalp but dry ends (I know; I told you I was my own oxymoron). In simpler terms, I just don’t like. I wish I could let my hair dry naturally and love the results. But no, that would be too simple, and my life is all about the complicated. Wavy hair is not the same as curly; it’s can’t-commit hair, the worst kind. Be curly if you wanna be curly. Don’t look as if you thought about it and changed your mind in the middle. Cuz what I’m left with is straight and fine in the scalp region, lumpy in the middle section, and frizzed out at the ends.

I use a hair dryer and a flat iron or curling iron, so there’s heat damage to add to all that other mess. It’s not color-treated, or at least not since 2011. But it does break easily, and even after I get a haircut or trim, my ends still look like they’re split. As if my hair is not committed to being curly or straight, but dadgummit it has no problem being broken. And you should just see how much hair swirls around in my bath water. I spend more time picking errant strands off my body or untwining them from around my fingers. What am I supposed to be doing in the tub? Nothing. What am I really doing? Trying to save myself from being attacked by my own hair. No. Bueno.

Enter the Carol’s Daughter mask. First off, this stuff smells like the Garden of Eden. Use this mask for that sake alone; it’s heavenly. In fact, I’m sitting here typing this blog with a swatch of hair strewn across my upper lip like a makeshift mustache. You literally can’t stop smelling it. It’s made with monoi oil, which is apparently derived from 15 gardenias and coconut oil combined over a 15 day sacred ritual. That’s quite specific, and I wish I could tell you I was kidding, but I’m not. And it comes from Tahiti. Tahiti. Are you convinced yet?

The result? Glorious. My hair was less poufy and so extremely smooth and silky. The silkiest it’s ever, never been. And my ends look very healthy, even though it’s been 3 months since my last haircut. I will never be without this mask now. I’m so happy I could cry.

As for the tiny jar of Tarte eye treatment, I haven’t used it yet. But of course I needed it right this second. Bought a sample off eBay because I didn’t want to commit to a $38 full-size. I’ve heard great things about it, so I’m excited to use it. After I finish this horrendously large tube of Glytone that seems to replicate itself after every use. I’ll never be done.

More good stuff. See below:

Cutie pies! All of it, just adorable little cutie pies. I work as a buyer, and one of the departments I buy for is a spa. This is a relatively new job responsibility, and it’s proving to be quite dangerous because now I know exactly what products they’re ordering and I need to own every last one of them. These three things are from the Farmhouse Fresh line, and I barely walked away with the small shopping bag as opposed to the industrial sized platform truck I really wanted. Everything was simply precious. I swear, if there’s an idiot CEO out there that claims packaging isn’t that big of a deal, I will karate chop them in the throat. Because honestly, it gets me lured in every single time.

What I bought was a jar of Honeysuckle Orange Custard body cream, a tube of Front Porch Punch hand cream, and a Sundae Best chocolate face mask. All food scents, so delicious and summery. I’ve mentioned before how boring body lotion or hand lotion is, how I never ever buy it, unless it is in cute packing or it smells like fruit. This stuff’s got both.

I’ve brought the hand cream to work, so now I’m using it all day long. It’s a mixture of strawberry, mango, melon and grapefruit. So good. If my hair isn’t stuck up underneath my nose, it’s my fingers. Yummy and delicious. I haven’t used the body cream, as I’m trying to finish my Ahava sample, and then I have the Josie Maran sweet citrus body butter next in line. In other words, it’s gonna be a while. But just having it in my bathroom, owning it and claiming it as mine, satisfies me to no end. Plus it has a wooden spoon applicator. A wooden spoon applicator! You need this in your life, at the very least so you can own your own tiny wooden spoon. As for the face mask, it smells and looks like chocolate pudding. It’s divine. I may eat it if I don’t use it soon.

Last bit of goodies is this small haul from Ulta:

I actually finished my Urban Decay pressed powder, so thought I’d give the loose powder a try. Someone on YouTube said it gave them flawless skin, and well, you don’t have to tell me twice. Flawless is a magic, evil little word, isn’t it? You tell me something is going to make me flawless, and I’m buying it about 2.5 seconds later.

The tube of Too Faced LashGasm mascara is a really good one. I actually owned this not too long ago, and it made my lashes look amazing – or as amazing as my lashes have the capability to be. Then one day I dropped the tube on my tile floor, and ruined my life just like that. The tube cracked at the top, and all the mascara oozed out of it. I tried to salvage it for a few days, but it was just too messy, and then I started having OCD panic attacks about all the poo germs getting into it because it’s stored on the counter right next to the toilet. Needless to say, I had to give it a sad little goodbye. But now that I’ve replaced it, my heart has healed.

I own a lot of the NYX butter glosses. They are some of the best lip glosses that ever lived. Not sticky one bit, smells amazing, colors actually show up even though they are sheer. Thought I’d try the purple because I live on the edge, and also the name of it is Raspberry Tart, which makes me think of pie. I love pie. And cake. Cake and pie. With whipped cream on top. And chocolate shavings.

What are we talking about? I dunno.

I actually have a Sephora order delivering to my house today, and I was thisclose to calling in sick so I could sit home and wait for it. You know how it is. The excitement becomes almost too much to bear sometimes. I’ll do another haul on that later this week. Still got 6 beauty boxes to review and only 7 days left in the month. Pressure’s on, people. It’s hard being a blogger sometimes. So. Hard.

Toodles!

Snacks On Rotation

surprisingly, not a food blog