Marine Life/Beauty/ Forever 21 haul

Hey Lovelies! Just wanted to share with you what I hauled these past 2 weeks. This is my first haul posting here on my blog, nothing big compared to what I've seen on other folks' blogs since I'm really trying to hold myself back from spending since I'm gonna get quite a lot of things at IMATS. 

Now I'm not one to jump the gun whenever MAC, or any other cosmetics company releases a collection that will be LE because I just don't want to fall in love with a product and know that I won't be able to get it again. Also,  I don't buy any beauty product just because it has cute packaging. All I care for is the product to work for me & is of good quality. Yet, I got pulled into the whole Marine Life hype and bought it today after seeing all the early reviews, swatches and talk about it all over the blogosphere/youtube world.

Marine Life was the only thing I hauled from the To The Beach collection since nothing else sparked my interest. I called my local MAC store this morning right when they opened and asked them if they had any left because they had released the collection a day early (yesterday) and to my luck they had only 2 left! So of course I asked the SA if she could put it on hold for me to pick up later. When I got there to pick it up,  the same SA that put it on hold for me, grabbed it out of the drawer for me and HELLA girls looked and asked her if they could get that! LOL...JACKPOT FOR ME!  I was tempted to get more stuff but I restrained myself & got just what I came for, although I did swatch the Marine Life tester at the store so that I can see if I had anything like it. When I got home I swatched a few of my La Femme blushes and one of them looks exactly like the coral/red side of Marine Life and another looked similar to the pink side. For now, I'm just gonna let it sit in my drawer looking pretty.

I also went to a CCO to see what they had but I just picked up MAC Light Over Dark Mineralize Blush Duo which was just re-promoted with the Pret-A-Papier collection but only payed $15 plus tax.  I decided I will include Light Over Dark in my 100+ follower give away which I'll be posting about it soon. Maybe next week, so stay tuned!

Here's a pic of the haul:

Orly Bonder- rubberized base coat

China Glaze Visions of Grandeur, Solar Power, Bare If You Dare

MAC Mineralized Blush duo Light Over Dark

MAC Marine Life

L'oreal HIP crayons in Perfectionist, Meticulous, Authentic(LOVE)

Seche Vite Restore

L'oreal HIP Shocking Shadow Pigment in Progressive

Kolinsky England French Nail brush/dotter ((to help perfect the smile line for french manicures)

My forever 21 haul:

This tube dress reminds me of a sailor cuz of the navy blue and the stripes & I love that it has pockets! Well I love all the dresses or skirts that come with pockets!

You can't really see the detail of this skirt but its pretty & kinda edgy. It also has pockets!

I've been searching for a cute romper that would flatter my figure since i'm more on the curvalicious side but nothing looked right till I tried this one on. The color & light fabric is perfect for summer!

At first, I was unsure about this shirt since stripes tend to make me (or anyone else for that matter)

look wider but the bow on the top suckered me in. I love things with bows on them and I think that it KIND OF distracts you from the stripes..

I have so many black belts and not even one brown one so I picked this up too.

That's it for my haul. Feels kind of weird to post about it cause I feel like I'm bragging and I'm not one to boast for that matter. Maybe I'll do an OOTD soon.

BTW Thanks to all my followers! I went from 42 to 100+ followers in 2 weeks=) I'll be doing a give away soon so don't be a stranger and check back for it!

L'oreal Lash Boosting Serum so far

Several weeks ago I picked up L'oreals Lash Boosting serum since it was on sale. I thought why not give it a try. I've seen some reviews for it and most of them happened to agree with less fall out and somewhat longer/thicker lashes.

As far as less fall out is concerned, I do agree with that. I noticed that I didn't really have any lashes coming out as I removed my eye makeup and when it did, it would be 1 or 2 lashes each week compared to every other day before using the serum. Now for the length & thickness, I'm not sure about it at the moment.  I've been using it for almost 4 weeks every night except for maybe 2 nights that I forgot.   I'll let you guys decide and tell me if you notice any growth/thickenss with my lashes. You can click on the pictures to make it bigger.

To my naked eye, I don't notice much change. What do you guys think?

FOTD: Quick Bronze look

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share with you my quick FOTD using mostly drugstore products. I'm not all about labels so I usually mix high/low end stuff together as long as it's good quality.
Anyways,  the weather today sucked! It was so cloudy, totally different from yesterday. It has me feeling so BLAH, so that's why I went with a simple bronze look plus

I was in a rush to go to class. It's not one of my best looks when it comes to eyeshadow but it's something that's a no fuss kind of look that will go with anything.

Products used: 

Face:

 L'oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base

Revlon Photo Ready in 008 Golden Beige

Revlon Age Defying Spa Concealer in medium

MAC PRO Invisible Set Powder 

N.Y.C. Bronzer in Sunny

Ulta Afterglow blush

 Eyes:

TFSI

Wet'n'Wild Vanity Color Icon palette (I used all 6)

N.Y.C. Smooth Mineral Loose eye powder in Espresso as liner

L'oreal Voluminous Mascara Blackest Black

Maybelline Define-A-Brow Light Brown pencil

Bare Escentuals Auburn Brow powder

Revlon Colorstay  Brow Enhancer in Light Brown 

Lips:

Revlon Super Lustrous l/g in Life's a Peach (LOVE LOVE LOVE!)

Blue EOTD

Here's an EOTD that I wore today. The sun was out, not a cloud in the beautiful blue skies so I felt like wearing something bright, but still subtle for day time. 

I hope everyone's weekend went well. Mine was pretty mellow and somewhat productive.  One more week of May and summer is also just around the corner, I can't wait. Time to bust out the shorts, dresses & skirts. Is it just me or am I the only one really anxious for  Summer to get here?!!

Onto the pics, hope you enjoy!

Products used:

TFSI

MAC Painterly PP

NYX Ocean  (lid/lower lash line)

MAC Wedge  (crease)

MAC Contrast (outer corner/lower lash line)

MAC Brule (highlight)

MAC Shroom (inner corner/lower lash line)

L'oreal HiP e/s duo in Forgiving (lower lash line)

N.Y.C. Smooth Mineral Loose eye powder in Espresso as liner

L'oreal Voluminous Mascara Blackest Black

Maybelline Define-A-Brow Light Brown pencil

Bare Escentuals Auburn Brow powder

Revlon Colorstay  Brow Enhancer in Light Brown

Hot Pink & black NOTW

Just wanted to share with you my NOTW, I saw Stephs' nails from Nailbabble  and decided to do my nails since I haven't done it in a while & have been feeling unmotivated to do anything with my nails since I always do something to mess them up after a couple days wearing the polish. I did something similar to hers except used hot pink instead of white since I couldn't find my white nail polishes & cause it was fairly simple (compared to all the crazy cute 3d nail art I've seen).. I also need to show some love to my Konad plates as I've been neglecting them lol...

Please excuse the little mess, I took the picture with my phone before I cleaned up the excess nail polish on the sides of my nails.

FOTN: WET LUST

Hey everyone! I just wanted to share with you the look I wore on Friday night out with my friends.  I was too lazy to mess with fake lashes but I hate how my eyes look soooo small without them! 

I used the Wet' N' Wild Color Icon Palette in Lust, hence the name of the FOTN lol...

I must say that this palette is quite impressive. I saw a few reviews saying that it was hella pigmented and that it blends & glides on easily which made me go out and buy it. I got both the Lust & Vanity palettes and I don't regret purchasing it. Maybe I'll do a review with some swatches soon but I'm sure you've already seen some reviews for them.

I also want to thank all of you lovelies that have followed/subscribe to my blog. I love reading all your blogs as well as your sweet comments you leave me. Hopefully I'll reach 100 followers soon. I plan to pick up some things at IMATS for a giveaway whenever I reach 100.

Here's the look. Hope you all like it and have a great week!

Products used:

Face:

 L'oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base

MAC Studio Fix Powder NC40

Revlon  Age Defying Moisturizing Concealer

Ulta Afterglow blush

N.Y.C. Bronzer in Sunny

Eyes:

TFSI

MAC Painterly PP

Shade 1 (lid)

Shade 2 (crease)

Shade 3 (outer corner)

Shade 4 (inner corner/lower lash line)

Shade 5 (outer 3rd of lower lash line)

MAC Brule (highlight)

MAC Blacktrack Fluidline

MAC Fascinating eye kohl (water line)
L'oreal Voluminous Mascara Blackest Black
Lips:
MAC Viva Glam V

Product Review: La Femme Blush On Rouge & IMATS

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a good weekend and started your week off well. I can't believe it's already May. The year has been flying by so fast! I was so wrapped up in my sister's wedding and now that it's finally over, I have IMATS LA to look forward to in June, among other lil vacations planned this summer. I bought my tickets last weekend for the show and feel like a kid in a candy store just thinking about all the wonderful cosmetic goodness that will be at IMATS!!! I'll be going with one of my best friends who is a Hair Stylist and 5 or 6 of her classmates from her Beauty School.  I have been making a list of what I want for my self & need to get for my kit so that I don't get carried away buying things that I don't necessarily need. 

Just wondering if any of you lovely ladies & gents are going to attend IMATS LA this June and if so, it would nice to meet you face to face! 

Anyways, about 2 months ago I ordered a customized palette of the La Femme Blush On Rouge blushes from Makeupmania.com . From what I've heard and when I spoke to Eva(she manages company and the site), La Femme does private labeling for companies like Napoleon Perdis & Ben Nye. Now I'm not exactly sure which products they do it for except for the blushes and I think eyeshadows.  Although I know for sure that the Color Discs from Napoleon perdis are made by La Femme. I can't believe the price mark up for them!  They cost $22 on the Napoleon Perdis website.

I got to customize my palette through the palette lab on Makeupmania's website which was 12 colors for 35 dollars including the empty palette! If you bought the blushes by itself in the regular containers they would cost you about 3.00 dollars and the empty palette itself is 14 bucks. Each blush cost only 2.50 each and the palette pretty much cost only 5 dollars.  There was no tax, just the cost of shipping which was almost 5 bucks. You only get this price if you do it through their palette lab. It's pretty cool cause when you put it together, you can place the pans in what ever order you want and it'll get shipped to you like that. This is available for both the La Femme Blushes and the eye shadows which you can mix together I believe.

These colors are super pigmented and last all day on my cheeks, which is good cause I have combination skin, mainly oily with dry patches here and there. They blend easily & are not chalky/powdery at all. I suggest using  a light hand with these blushes. Most of the time I use my MAC 187 stippling brush to apply them as I don't want to look like a clown! I find my self using Peach Sparkle & Mocha most of the time for everyday wear. The rest are so dramatic so I save them for nights out but you can sheer them out. I just wanted to get a variety that will suit different skin tones. The palette is refillable just like the MAC palettes, you can re-arrange them as you wish just by sticking a pin into the little holes at the bottom of the palette to push each pan out. 

Pros: Great pigmentation, lasts all day, cheap price, blends easily, variety of colors to choose from

Cons: I don't really have any cons about the product itself except for the cardboard packaging but honestly it's not a big deal to me, It seem to be sturdy enough. Also from what I see, you can only order these online so if you're like me, who actually likes to see & feel the product in person, you can only rely on your judgement and  if you can find swatches online from other beauty bloggers such as myself. Luckily there were a few bloggers that had previously reviewed/swatched them like Ms. Christiana and birkinbagbeauty . 

Also, the shipping took longer than I expected. About 2 weeks, so just expect to wait a lil while.

These are a great buy if you're on a budget & you don't have many blushes to begin with or if you are a makeup artist trying to build your kit. Don't let the price fool you too. I'm a firm believer that high prices don't always equal good quality. Even some well known high end brands have some crappy products.  This brand of blushes are used by other makeup artists and are mentioned on celebrity makeup artist Kevin-James Bennett's website INMYKIT which if you haven't seen his website, he lists a variety of different brands of cosmetics and skin care products that a lot of makeup artists use in their kits.

On to the Pictures and swatches! These were swatched on NC35 skin. BTW, if you're wondering why there's one missing in an odd place, They were out of stock of one of the colors that I wanted but they'll ship it to you once they get more or they'll replace it with another color of your choice. You can click the pictures to make them bigger.

With flash

No flash

I hope you find this review helpful! Till then, TTY beauties later!