Mini Beautylish Haul!

Now that the holidays are over, I'm free to shop again! ...except I've decided to "low buy" for the foreseeable future. Since I saw some items I had been wanting were back in stock on Beautylish, I placed a small order right after Christmas to make sure I got my hands on them. 

Earlier in the year, I purchased the beautiful Chikuhodo x Beautylish brush set and fell in love with it. I've been in the market for a new highlight brush, and the Chikuhodo Passion Series PS-3 brush. This brush has a flatter, tapered shape which I think will be great for precise highlighting. I've already washed it once and had no shedding or dye issues, so I'm excited to try it out.

I also picked up Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Celebrity Skin. This shade has been out of stock constantly, and went out of stock again a couple of days after I ordered mine. I keep hearing more and more hype about this formula, so I decided it was time to try it for myself. There's a few other shades I want to try if the formula works out for me, but I'll have to wait til they're back in stock!

I've had a cold for the past week, and it has wrecked havoc on my lips. I had added the Jeffree Star Velour Lip Scrub in Mojito to my order before I fell ill, but I'm really glad I did. The container size is much more generous than I assumed (1 oz) and smells delightful. I fully plan to exfoliate my lips this week before trying my new liquid lipstick!

I'm happy with my purchase, even knowing it's probably my last "haul" for a while. Have you tried Jeffree Star products? What do you think?

October 2015 Favorites

Could this be more late? Probably. But November hasn't ended yet so it's not toooooo late to put this up!

1. Real Techniques Duo Fiber Face Brush - I love this brush for finishing powders. It has that stipply end, so it doesn't pick up too much product, and deposits it nicely. I use it the most with my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder, and my Guerlain Meteorites. Unfortunately, this brush came in a limited edition set last year, BUT there's another version in the RT Duo Fiber set!
2. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 51 Vanille Clair - This has been my go to foundation lately when I need a little bit more coverage, but not quite full coverage. I also mix in a pump of Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl, which really helps with a natural looking finish. I find that this stuff lasts most of the day on my skin, and applies beautifully with a damp BeautyBlender. Unfortunately, it can be a little bit harder to track down in the US, but can be ordered online from ASOS!
3. Benefit Roller Lash mascara - Okay. I usually will avoid Benefit products like the plague. I find the packaging gimmicky, and the products to be underperforming for the price. I was curious about their new mascara (even though I hated I'm Real...) so I picked up this mini as a 100 point perk from Sephora. I love this! The mascara separates, lengthens, and gives a little bit of volume. I'm going to test the brush with a different formula to see if its just the brush, or if I really need to shell out for the whole deal. It is a little pricy, especially for a mascara. But I really like it so far. Best part, it doesn't flake!
4. Kat von D Studded Kiss lipstick in Cathedral - I don't think I've done a full review on this lipstick, but I've reviewed some other Studded Kiss shades. In general, I'm a fan! This one is a matte "coco rose," and is one of those "my lips but better but also a little darker?" shades that is perfect for fall. This is a great one to pair with a bold eye, since it's neutral but will make you look put together. 
5. Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Queen perfume oil - This is my favorite indie fall scent. My bottle has aged a year, and it is wonderfully complex, better than when I first got it. It isn't an overwhelming pumpkin scent (which I also love!) but the pumpkin is there, mixed with peaches and bright fruit scents, and hay. It's a seasonal scent from Haus of Gloi, so it isn't available at the moment. It seems to be one of their regular autumn scents, so if it sounds like your type of thing, definitely keep an eye out! (I may or may not have ordered like five whipped soaps in this scent. It's that good.)

I've already got this month's favorites settled, so it won't be so late! Let me know what you've been loving lately, I always want to find new things!

September 2015 Favorites

I've been MIA for a while! I'm back to pick up where I left off - I have a ton of stuff to play with and review. Here are the things I found myself reaching for the most in the month of September:

1. Kat von D Shade and Light Eye palette - When this came out, I told myself I didn't need it. I have so many neutral shadows, so many matte shadows, so many matte neutral palettes...but I caved and bought it. Since I picked it up, I've been using it near daily. The shadows are extremely blendable and smooth, and there are shadows for every occasion, whether you want dark or light eyes. I'm really happy I picked this one up!
2. ColourPop Super Shock Shadow in I Heart This - A basic shimmery champagne color, I've been using this on the lid constantly with my KvD palette looks! I like applying this with the finger, and then blending out the edges with a synthetic hair brush.
3. Sixteen92 The Masquerade Party - I have a full review of this Birthday Collection scent from a few months ago. Now that the weather has cooled off, I have been reaching for this pumpkin scent at least two to three times a week. I purchased a full size, and kept my sample as well so I'll be well stocked. I'm all about pumpkin everything during autumn, and this scent fits the bill.
4. Hakuhodo J5522 - This is my new favorite crease brush. My eyes are small, so the shape of this brush is a little bit too big. I find that although it's big, the end is able to deposit color in my crease and blow it out just the right amount. It makes putting transition shades down that much faster, since I'm depositing color and blending out the edges in one fell swoop. Also, it's super soft and fluffy - what's not to love?
5. Tom Ford lipstick in Richard - This shade is a limited edition shade from the Lips and Boys collection - but it is also an exact dupe for another LE shade, Negligee. I've started wearing this more often since the collection is rumored to be making a comeback - I can pick up a backup! This shade is a great My Lips But Better shade on me, perfect to go with more bold eye looks. The formula is also extremely comfortable, another plus. Hopefully the collection is back soon, before I run out of this one!

Chikuhodo x Beautylish Brush Collection

Beautylish recently released their collaboration with Chikuhodo - the Sakura Collection. I was given the opportunity to pre order the five brush set of hand crafted Japanese brushes, and of course I jumped at it. I have been contemplating making my first Chikuhodo purchase, so this was a perfect opportunity for me. This post will be picture heavy, so everything else will be under the jump.

Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner!

So I wanted to pick up Cinema Secrets brush cleaner during the Sephora sale, but of course it was sold out. When I saw it came back in stock, I jumped on the chance to pick it up! I try my best to wash my brushes once a week, but some of my brushes get more nasty more quickly than others. I tried to remedy this by buying extras of my most used brushed (Zoeva Concealer Buffer, Hakuhodo J5523) but nothing beats a nice, clean brush. Cinema Secrets is supposedly one of the items that the big bad pros use between clients on their brushes to keep everything clean and sanitized, so why not keep a bottle on my vanity?

To test this stuff out, I decided to clean up one of my concealer brushes. These are easily the gunkiest of my brushes, since the concealer I use is a a thicker consistency (NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer.) The brush pictured has about four days of concealer yuckiness built up. The directions say to spray the brush while holding it 1-2 inches from the spray nozzle and rotate to be sure you get the whole brush. Wipe it off on a clean tissue, and then wait for the brush to dry.

My brush looks great! I don't think anything replaces a good deep cleaning, which I intend to keep doing, but I think this will be great for mid week de-gunking (look at that before shot...urgh.) 

Look how much concealer was in that brush!! I also cleaned up one of my fluffy blending brushes, the brush I use for swatching (oh god the amount of stuff in that brush...) and the base shadow brush I use daily - all looked great! When the brush is dry, it also smells like vanilla.

The spray bottle is 2 ounces, and is $8 at Sephora. You can also get bigger sizes of this, and there are instructions available for dunking and swishing your yucky brushes around, too!

IMATS NY Haul

Here's what everyone really cares about, what I bought from IMATS! I didn't take home too much stuff due to the Sephora sale being the next day, but I did take advantage of some of the super awesome discounts that some of the brands had. Hopefully next year I'll be better prepared!

Bdellium and Sigma brushes

I picked up three Bdellium Tools brushes - 781, 780, and 777. These I plan on using for cream eyeshadows like my ColourPop shadows, and my By Terry Ombre Blackstars. I was also given a mini Sigma E70 brush as a freebie at another booth - look how cute! This is my first Sigma brush.

Hakuhodo brushes

The Hakuhodo booth got some serious love from me. These three are for me, but I got about 13 other brushes for friends! I picked up two new eye brushes the J142 and J5522 for crease work, and the B002 for powder. The B002 is so, so soft.

Lit goodie bags

I got these ADORABLE Lit goodie bags tossed into my Lit purchase! I had a few dupes of some shades, so I sent them to friends, but I kept the purple one. They're full Lit kits, just micro sized!

Lit glitters and base

I love me some glitter. I picked up Lit glitters in Cher, Magic Dragon, Rich and Famous, and Cayman. I was also given the Naturally Lit trio to try out! I also was given a mini Waterproof Glitter Base to play around with.

Sugarpill haul

I was so excited to pick up some Sugarpill goodies! I snagged their new nail polish in Celestia, Sinnocent lashes, a tapered blending brush, as well as Chromalush loose eyeshadow in Charmy and Clickbait.

OCC Sebastian pencil and lip tar, and Z Palette

A large Z-palette for some depotting, and a mini Sebastian lip tar, and the matching pencil from OCC!

Real Techniques Nic's Picks Brush Set - Pictures and Thoughts

I was happy to receive the Real Techniques Nic's Picks brush set for Christmas from my mom (hi mom!) this year. I'm going to post some pictures and talk a little bit about each of the brushes in the set, but I'm not going to give it a graded review, since brushes can be quite the personal thing, and everyone is looking for something different in a brush. Also, this set is Limited Edition, so it may be hard to track down now.

Real Techniques Duo Fiber brush

The Duo Fiber brush has longer, somewhat stipple like bristles, and is somewhat floppy. According to Real Techniques, it is "for lightweight application + blending of face powder or pigments." Lightweight is right - with how long and not very dense the brush is, you don't pick up much product at all. I used it to apply my finishing powder (Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Diffused) and I barely noticed how much was on the brush, or how much was on my face. I honestly don't think it would be a very good blending brush, just because you'd end up bending half the bristles onto your face when you applied pressure. I can see this being used for very light application of a loose powder or a finishing powder.

Real Techniques Cheek brush

The Cheek  brush that comes with the set looks like a larger, more elongated version of the Expert Face Brush in the Real Techniques line. It's dense, a little denser than my Hakuhodo J210 brush that I also use for blush. I've been using this brush for blush application only, as I feel it's a bit too large, round, and dense for anything like contour or highlighter application - at least for my face. The brush picks up a decent amount of product, and you can also use it to blend out the edges of your blush. This brush is exclusive to the Nic's Picks set, but I hope they make it available to buy as a single brush, as it's something a lot of people could definitely make use of.

Real Techniques Base Shadow brush

The Base Shadow brush that comes in the set is really only good for just that - base shadow. It's great for putting down a nice wash of a shade, but other than that...it isn't really that great. It definitely isn't the brush you'd want to pack color on, or to get something to look vibrant. I've been using it to place my base shadow, and it gets the job done quick. This brush is pretty soft, and distributes eyeshadow nicely. It can also be used to blend out edges, but I would want something that's a little more dense at the tip of the brush for that. 

Real Techniques Angled Shadow brush

The Angled Shadow brush is another exclusive to this set. I'm not a fan of angled brushes for my eyeshadow, but I did use it for contouring my nose with great success! This brush is a little more dense than the Base Shadow brush, so it picks up more product, and deposits it in a more bold fashion. I did use this brush with eyeshadow, but since my eyes are small, the brush was too big for sweeping on a nice arc of color, I had to blend it out a bit. 

Real Techniques Eyeliner brush

The Eyeliner brush is another set exclusive - here's hoping they release this one as a single so those wanting a quality angled brush can get their hands on it. I tried using this for eyeliner, but it is too big for what I would normally do with gel liner. The bristles are this are firm, but a little flexible, so you can glide the brush along your lash line. I will probably keep experimenting with this brush, use it with dark eyeshadow for liner, and try it in my brows.