Becoming a Benebabe

 

I have lovingly stared and the bright beautiful packing of Benefit for some time.  I see them everywhere- hello, airport kiosk. I love the Benefit branding. Benebabes on rollerskates handing out makeup samples? Super cute. However, price point has always driven me to other brands.

For example, my beloved mousse blush from Ulta is almost constantly on sale for $3. Benefit blushes and bronzers run almost 30. 10 times the price?! What kind of crazy am I?!

I've sampled the Benefit BB cream, Porefessional primer, and Lollibalm. I wasn't in love with any of them. But this nagging little voice kept urging me to try the Hoola bronzer.

As it turns out, I AM the kind of crazy who blows all her money on bronzer and blush. When you see lots of beauty blogs, and watch lots of beauty vlogs you can't help from constantly running across this magical Hoola bronzer.

I have very fair skin and finding a bronzer I like is next to impossible. Too orangey. Too shimmery. Not blendable. I have tried my fair share. I've never really been in love with a bronzer. I hop, skip, and jump to a wide variety of brands.

Ulta had a 10x points promotion going on, and I figured now was as good a time as any to get my crazy on. I went completely round the bend and not only ordered Hoola but also ordered Dandelion, a pink blush.

If you can afford the splurge, I do in fact love this bronzer. It is works well for a pale girl like me and that is saying something. It is completely matte. It blends beautifully. Perfection for every day wear. It comes with a brush and the lid has a nice little mirror. This my friends is the one for me.

I have no idea what drew me to dandelion. It is described as a "ballerina" pink blush or can be utilized as a "face brightening finishing powder". It does have a shimmer but an appropriate amount to make it luminous not disco ball.

 

My opinion is skip the overpriced Porefessional and go right to the blushes & bronzers. They also offer other varieties including Rockateur, a rose gold shimmery blush, and Dallas which appears to be more of a mauve, and also Coralista which not surprisingly is coral in color. Worth the splurge!

Ulta Brand Ulta Haul: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Everything Ulta except brows and foundation

I'll forewarn you. This is a lengthy mostly picture post. Ulta was running a promo that if you bought 19.50 in Ulta brand products you got a 14 piece Ulta brand makeup gift set. I haven't really explored the Ultra brand name so I thought this was a great opportunity at a low price!

Ulta Gift Set

I had no idea where to start with what I wanted to purchase myself. I figure I own way too many lip and eye products even though I felt that is where I should start. 

My purchases:

• Ulta Pressed Mineral Blush in Tiger Lily
• Ulta Extreme Wear Mousse Blush in Peach Glow
• Ulta Glitter Eye Top Coat in Glitz Girl

Ulta Pressed Minerals Blush:

 I was not prepared for the tiny blush container. Again, I normally buy BareMinerals so this little blush container caught me off guard. I love the color, and the pigmentation. Its very satiny and smooth. It has a sheen but is not glittery. I was surprised by the fallout but it is a mineral blush. It was $12 but I used a 20% off coupon on it. I am in love with the peachy bronzey Tiger Lily color! Not my normal pink and I love it. I would buy this again!

Ulta Extreme Wear Mousse Blush:

Another win! This blush is only 8 bucks and is a creamy dream. I tried to swatch it but it is just blends so well into my skin I couldn't get a good picture. This peach color works great for my fair skin. It gives me a light glow and is such a natural looking blush. This would be great for a BB cream and mascara kind of day. Highly recommend!









Ulta Glitter Eye Top Coat:

Ulta Glitter Top Coat over Classic Eyeshadow Quad
Ulta Mascara

Hello gorgeous! Look at that glittery goodness! As you can see it is glitter without being a chunky ugly glitter. Sophisticated glitter? Is there such a thing? Who cares. Admit you love glitter, and go buy this. 8 bucks. I perhaps played it a bit safe with this color, but I think this color will be versatile for me.

Now onto the reason I ended up ordering in the first place!

Ulta 14 piece gift set

• Ulta Blush in Sweet Cheeks
• Ulta Nail Polish Mini in Fuschia Mania
• Ulta full size Lip Butter in Vienna
• 3 Ulta mini eyeshadow quads in Classic, Dramatic, and Chic
• 3 Ulta brushes: contour, eyeshadow, and sponge tip
• Ulta full size Voluptous Volume Mascara
• Ulta sample size Matte Prime
• Ulta mini Lip Gloss in Illusion
• Ulta dual ended liner in deep brown and black

Ulta Cheek Color:

This blush has a glitter to it. Meh. I don't really want glittery cheeks. Possibly shimmery but this is pretty chunky glitter for blush. On my swatch you can see its not terrible on, but in the top left you can see it catches the light. It would be better without glitter. I know just a few minutes ago I said I love glitter, but not from head to toe. I'm not a disco ball.

Ulta Nail Polish: 

 Average nail polish. Pretty pink color.

Ulta Lip Butter:

A peachy color. This is a peachy post! I like this lip butter. It will cost 8 bucks so around the same as the Revlon lip butters. These might even be just a tad more pigmented. This is definitely a hit with me and I look forward to trying other colors. This seemed like it might to be orangey brown but I was VERY pleasantly surprised with it on. It actually a great nude shade on my lips without washing me out.

Ulta Mini Eyeshadow Quads:

When I swatched these out on my arms I immediately hated them. However, I used a bit of Nyx eyeshadow primer before I applied to my lids and that seemed to help me get more bang for my buck with these less-pigmented shadows.

Dramatic Eyeshadow Quad:

As you can see they are shimmery in nature except for Lock & Key being a matte color. After Hours looks so gorgeous in the quad, but on my skin it was washed out and not very pigmented at all. Lots of fall out. Kinda disappointed. The matte color probably had the best consistency. Classic Eyeshadow Quad:

So much for my high hopes for this one. Again, very pretty in the quad, but as you can see, lots of fall out. Not very pigmented at all. You can't even see the first two colors! Not very smooth. Boo. 

Chic Eyeshadow Quad: 

What is with the horrible ugliness of Glittering Sand? Gross! The blue Mosaic has potential. I am not even sure where to begin. I am hesitant to ever buy any ulta eyeshadow! Granted these quads from what I can tell online are what they always offer in their free gift sets. Is the quality less than their actual eyeshadow they sell? I hope so. But I'm not entirely sure I want to take that risk! Wow. I hate to be so negative but unfortunately from sampling so many products I'm starting to notice things I might have ignored before. However a little eyeshadow primer seems to salvage these from the garbage.

Ulta Brushes:

Arg. Total garbage. A foam tipped brush?! The contour brush is okay. Not great. The only benefit to getting these brushes is that the eyeshadow brush works okay for my glitter top coat so I can dedicate it to that. Again, these were a free gift with purchase, so hoping not the quality of their actual brushes. But I still love my cheapy coastal scents that are crazy quality for the price. 

Ulta Voluptuous Volume Mascara:

This is a legit product of theirs and will cost you 8 dollars. I felt like it gave me good length but not much volume for being a volumizing mascara. It was not clumpy or too wet. I would buy this again. 

Ulta Matte Prime:

Another actual product sample of the Matte Prime. It contains salicylic acid used in many acne treatments so I would be hesitant to use this if you do not have oily skin! A full size will cost 18 dollars. I felt that it really accentuated any dry spots I had. It might be a product for summer heat more than winter dry skin! 

Ulta Super Shiny Lip Gloss: 

Average pigment for a lipgloss. Full size 8 bucks. Nothing bad to say here but nothing to blow me out of the water. 

Ulta Dual Ended Eye Liner:  

I was surprised by this eyeliner. Its not a creamy dreamy smudgey liner, but it is a liner that is going to stay put. I liked the pigment to it. I think the deep brown will come in handy!

To summarize:
The products I was pleased with: Primer, lip butter, mascara, eyeliner
The products that are neither here nor there: Lip gloss, nail polish
The products I was disappointed by: Eyeshadow quads, makeup brushes, blush

Would I get one of their gift sets with purchase again? I wouldn't aim for it but if I needed some Ulta products anyway... I did like the blushes I purchased and the eye glitter I purchased a lot!

Ulta Samples with Purchase

I picked perfume because I already subscribe to Ipsy and Birchbox for makeup samples (although I do get perfume from them too) I just was in a perfume sampling mood. I received

• Encounter by Calvin Klein 
• Wonderstruck by Taylor Swift (the sample was a air freshener, how fun!)
• Couture La La by Juicy

Ipsy, February 2014: A Review

This month's theme was the Look of Love. Happy Valentine's day! First of all, cute glam bag! No ugly design on the outside. The products inside were fun this month as well. Overall very pleased with this month. Sorry no vlog unboxing as I've been a bit under the weather.

This month my Ipsy Glam Bag contained:

• City Color: Be Matte Blush in Melon
• POP Beauty Plump Pout Mini in Peony Petal
• Zoya nailpolish in Odette
• J.cat  Beauty Eyelashes
• Phyto-C Velvet Gel

Lets dig in to the reviews!

City Color Be Matte Blush:

 

I was excited to get a blush sample because I'm trying to expand my blush horizon.This blush

 will run you 2.99 over at their website. I'm not a huge compact blush fan as I've been using loose powder mineral blush for years now. This does not blend well and is quite chalky. The melon color doesn't seem so bright here, but it is a little much for a natural look. I love the kind of products where you are surprised at how cheap it is because it performs so well. Not the case here, just your average cheapy blush. Their website calls this blush "ultra blendable". Nope. Now, if you like BOLD blush.... this might work for you. 

POPbeauty Plump Pout Mini:

POPbeauty for the win! This is the second Pop beauty product I've fallen in love with. (The first is their crayon! review here) Look at that pigment! You can buy it at Zappos which I find a bit odd but I guess they do makeup now. It runs 16 for the full size (this is a mini). But the next time you pick up some shoes, you can add a lipgloss to your order. Of course you can also buy it at stores like Ulta as well. It seems a bit pricey for a lipgloss but this has some actual color to it so it could replace a lipstick. They have a nude color that would be fun to try. I would highly recommend, and will be buying the full size. Its got peptides that help plump and vitamin E and avocado oil for moisturizing.

Zoya Nailpolish:

I like Zoya brand. I don't really have anything new to say about the wear and tear. I like clear bright colors and this has a dusky look to it. Not for me, but I'm willing to give it a try. Odette is a cream finish in a cool color tone. It is a purpley mauve color. I am more into a metallic or shimmery finish personally. The great thing about Zoya which I don't think I mentioned in my last review and is important to mention: Zoya is Big 5 free! That means it is free of these toxins: formaldehyde, DBP, toluene, formaldehyde resin, and camphor. ALSO Zoya is not tested on animals. More reasons to love this brand. Zoya runs 8-9 bucks and you should check out their website here as the color choices blow me away.  

PHYTO-C Velvet Gel:

Hmmm... I'm kind of stumped on this one. Here is what I can tell you: This product is crazy expensive. 100 bucks for 30ml. That's one ounce, people. One. Ounce. Apparently it can reduce fine lines and wrinkles. I have been using this in replace of my normal serum but I can't tell the difference. Ingredients are Hyaluronic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin, Alpha-Tocopherol, Retinol, Vitamin B12, Caffeine, Arginine, Glutamine, Taurine, Lysine, Glutamine, N-Acetyl Carnitine and Pentapeptide. I recognize that quite a few of those are known to be fantastic for your skin, but I also know I can find them in other preparations for a nicer price tag. I do not know enough to tell you if this exact mixture is more "special" than anything else out there.

J.Cat Beauty Eyelashes:

Not the best application, but you get the idea

Love 'em! I was not graced with full voluminous lashes. I have short stubby lashes. There isn't a magical enough mascara to fix that, and I'm not about to put crap on my eyelashes that could potentially alter the color of my iris (lookin' at you Latisse). My next option? Falsies. I really love the look of these lashes. Very lush. I have a lot of "natural" ones but these just seem so glam. They also have 30 other styles and only cost 3.99. I'd buy these again. Hope Ipsy sends me some more of this brand for sampling! 100% human hair, cruelty free, and latex free glue. Plus the glue is black which I really like (I know the white stuff says its dries clear...)

Join me on ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag! You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10. Michelle Phan curates the bags! Check it out here