LiquidLipstick

“Treat Yo’Self”

Courtney Salinger

What’s fresh at ULTA?!?! Spring is here! When seasons change, fashion and beauty looks change. When a new movie comes out, new makeup themed palettes are created. (Hint, Hint 😉) New products are being packaged and sold! The theme here is new, new, new! So, what did I buy for my latest ULTA Beauty haul? Let’s take a peak!

First off, we have Lorac’s newest collection; Disney’s Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Collection, which features the latest installment of the movie franchise. This collection features an eyeshadow palette, a cheek palette and dual ended lipsticks. I bought the eyeshadow palette and the cheek palette. The ULTA that I shopped at didn’t have the lipsticks in yet. The eyeshadow palette comes with 18 shades, a mirror, and a mini black eyeliner pencil. The cheek palette comes with 6 shades; 2 matte blushes and 4 highlighters. The cheek palette fits inside of the eyeshadow palette, in a secret compartment. I figured, I HAD to buy both of them. As a gift with my Lorac purchase, I received a mini sample of the Light Source Illuminating Primer. The eyeshadow palette runs for $52, whereas, the cheek palette is $30. Stay in touch for an upcoming review of this collection, coming up real soon 😊.

Next, we have a few new items from ULTA Beauty’s line of products. At the time of my purchase, ULTA had a sale going on; buy two ULTA Beauty products, get the third free. I took advantage of that and bought; the 3-piece liquid lipstick kit, the bronze gel eye liner, and the rainbow highlighter. The lipstick kit features three metallic liquid lipsticks; a red, a gold and a berry. This kit runs for $16. The bronze gel eye liner isn’t new, I just wanted to try it and was what I saw when it came to choosing three items for the deal. The eye liner is $10. The rainbow highlighter is really pretty. I have another rainbow highlighter from Forever 21 that’s comparable, but this one from ULTA swatches golden hues and is creamier. ULTA’s highlighter retails for $10.

Buxom recently launched limited-edition shades of their super popular lip-creams. I had never tried Buxom, prior to this purchase. As soon as I saw the diamond sitting on top of the bottle, I knew I had to have it. So cute! I bought the shade; “Blushing Margarita,” which is a pretty nude. Buxom’s lip products are known to plump lips. As soon as I put this on, my lips started tingling and looked fuller. I am so obsessed with this product, that I’ve been using it every day. This product sells for $21.

Tarte cosmetics launched a rose gold clay pot, which is an Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liner. This product retails for $21. The pigment is super smooth and creamy, it swatches pink with silver glitter.

Too Faced Cosmetics introduced their newest collection; Natural Love, which features and eyeshadow palette, melted matte liquid lipsticks, highlights and brow pencils. I bought a melted matte liquid lipstick in the shade; “Wicked.” “Wicked” is a deep forest green shade. These lipsticks sell at $21 apiece.

Sun Bum creates sun care products. I’m obsessed with their lip balms! Each lip balm has spf 30, aloe vera and vitamin and ranges in different scents.  My favorite scent is Key Lime. These lip balms sell for $3.99 each.

Lastly, we have a Capelli New York set of 2 chokers. One choker features a string daisies, the other consist of white lace. These retail for $4.99.

As the saying goes; “treat yo’self!” Hauls don’t come often. It’s always fun and therapeutic to spoil yourself from time to time.

Holiday Advent Adventure

Courtney Salinger

NYX “Box of Goodies”

‘Tis the season for hot chocolate, candy canes, holiday music, and advent calendars! Count down to the holidays with a beauty advent calendar. NYX’s “Box of Goodies” advent calendar, to be exact.

I first saw the NYX “Box of Goodies” advent calendar in ULTA’s weekly catalogue. The Black Friday edition catalogue. Right when I saw it, I knew I had to have it!

It was the day after Black Friday. I drove right up to my nearest ULTA and picked up the “Box of Goodies.” ULTA had quite a few left at the time. It retailed for $50, but was on sale for $25.

As I entered ULTA, I saw the calendars on display in one of the shelves right between the skincare and fragrance products. I went back to my house and pulled my advent calendar out of my bright plastic orange ULTA shopping bag. Here’s what I had experienced…

First, I acknowledged the boxing of the calendar and made some distinctions… The advent calendar is folded into a box. The detail of the box is very pretty and sultry. When you open the box, you can see that it lays vertically. The inside of the calendar has a light pink shade of black lace with flowers and leaves swirled around the area. Each side of the calendar has 12 pockets. The outside of the box is black and has pink lace wrapped around it. The front of the box explains what is in the advent calendar. The back of the box shows the exact colors and names of each item you find within the calendar.

Content in Advent Calendar

Then, I investigated the products that the calendar entails… The calendar contains 12 limited edition eyeshadows and 12 Lip Lingerie lipsticks. As I opened each cut-out by numerical order, starting with number 23, I realized that the eyeshadows and lipsticks coordinate with each other. When I opened number 23, I found an eyeshadow in the shade “Honeymoon.” Next, I opened number 22 and found a lipstick named “Honeymoon.” Is it more than a coincidence that the shades of the lipstick and eyeshadow have the same name? I think not. So, then I opened number 21, which was an eyeshadow named “Teddy.” Next, was a lipstick in number 20, named “Teddy.” The shades of the lipsticks and eyeshadows of the same name match each other. “Ruffle Trim” eyeshadow has a very similar color to the lipstick in “Ruffle Trim.” Next, I noticed that every other box has a lipstick. For example, I started off with number 23, which had an eyeshadow in it. Then, number 22 had a lipstick in it. Next, number 21 had an eyeshadow in it and number 20 had a lipstick in it, and so on.

After trying out the colors and checking out the packaging, I have to say I think NYX’s “Box of Goodies’ advent calendar is the cutest! The joy and excitement of carefully opening each “day” in the advent calendar makes for a fun little surprise. If it’s still on sale, I would suggest purchasing it. A normal sized NYX ‘Lip Lingerie” liquid lipstick runs for $7. This box gives you a smaller version of every color available in the “Lip Lingerie” collection, plus 12 limited edition matching eyeshadows. It’s truly a treat!

See Swatches Here: