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

Its in the bag: February Edition

Much cleaner purse this month! It is a smaller purse I am using right now. It also helps that I just switched to this purse in January. 7 lip products instead of 12.

The breakdown:

• Hockey tickets: A friend of ours houses hockey players. These are tickets from past games that can be exchanged for a cheaper ticket for an upcoming game. 
• Epi pen
• Lense cleaning cloth 
• Weight Watchers Active Link activity monitor: yeah... I should be wearing that. 
• Black glam bag from Ipsy for storing my feminine products
• Midnight Monarch hand cream sample
• Lil' Firehouse coffee card: My newest addiction! 
• Key from work
• Zip Fizz energy drink mix in Pink Lemonade

Here are the lip products I was carrying around from left to right:

• ELF lipgloss
• Blistex Moisture Melt
• Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Coquette
• Popbeauty lip crayon in Rose Romance- obsessed with this pencil! 
• Chapstick Hydration Lock- not my fave, probably meant to grab my Noya
• Ulta Lip Butter in Vienna
• Bath and Body Works Liplicious lip gloss in Raspberry

Birchbox, February 2014: A Review

I love a fresh month of samples! This month Birchbox seemed a bit of a let down to me though. Part of it is me, I live for makeup. Hair and body is secondary to me. I also know that skincare and haircare is a part of Birchbox. It is also good for me to try these types of products as well. I also got my first repeat which just made me feel blech about the whole box. Silly, I know. Again, no unboxing vlog but hopefully back in March! 

This month in my Birchbox: 

• Previse Hydromilk 
• Bain de Terre Color Preserving Shampoo and Conditioner
• Joan Vass L'Eau de Amethyste
• Ruby Wing Color Changing Polish in Ride 'Em Cowgirl

So let's look at the breakdown.

Previse Hydromilk:

Previse breaks down skin types into 6 different types, as you can see this lotion is for any of them. To me, it was an average lotion. At $48 for 2 oz I will pass! It wasn't bad, it just wasn't halfway to a hundred for me! 

Bain de Terre Color Preserving Shampoo and Conditioner:


















Have I told you lately that I love Argon oil? I do. This is my second hair product with argon oil, and it will certainly not be my last! It makes your hair so super soft. I love the scent- passion flower. It smelled floral, but a tropical floral, not an old lady floral. It will run you 12 bucks a bottle which is a little more than a bottle of say, tresemme, but this stuff works really well. I have also found that higher quality shampoo and conditioner do make a difference in my hair. (Trust me, I wish I didn't know this to be true).

Joan Vass L'eau de Amethyste:

I love trying perfumes. Love it. I know people get tired of it, but not this girl! The perfume possibilities are endless. This perfume reminds me of a grapefruit! That is not surprising as the top notes are grapefruit and bergamot. It also has notes of red currant, ylang ylang, rose oil, patchouli, vanilla, and veviter (dry woody scent). So a well rounded grapefruit. It is CRAZY strong. If you like a strong scent, this will do the trick. Not necessarily overpowering, just strong and long lasting. I like that it is a clean crisp scent. Its just a tad citrusy for me, but I would recommend it if you like fresh citrusy scents. Its 75 for 1.7 ounce which doesn't really surprise me for a quality perfume.

Ruby Wing Color Changing Polish

This is my second Ruby Wing polish. My first was a plain rather than glitter polish. You can check out that review here. I found a bunch of Ruby Wing polishes on Amazon for 8 bucks here. Other stores sell them for up to 11. It was not a very bright day outside, so this was after a couple of minutes and NOT fully changed. These polishes are quite fun. I just wish the outside color wasn't such a rusty red. 

If you are interested in having your mailbox become exciting once again, consider joining Birchbox. It is a $10 recurring monthly fee to have deluxe samples in lovely packaging delivered to your door! It's a like a mini-christmas every month! Plus you can review products and earn points to buy items in the Birchbox store. Check it out here: Birchbox

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

Anatomy of a BB Cream

I first heard about BB creams about a year and a half ago (maybe more?). I had no idea what to think about them. I have read they came to us from East and Southeast Asia. (Although apparently invented in Germany). After I heard this strange new beauty term I had to know more. I read they were hailed as the secret to porcelain skin by Korean and Japanese women. Intriguing. They are mostly called blemish balms or blemish base by those markets, but here in the US are frequently called beauty balms.

So here is what you need to know about BB creams. They are a handy all in one product. Think of it as a super charged tinted moisturizer. Here is the combo of products that you can expect to see in your cream:

• Serum
• Moisturizer
• Primer
• Foundation
• Concealer
• Skin Treatment
• Sunblock

This is a great product for streamlining your routine. I never skip moisturizer but I do tend to skip primer, and serum on some days.

What you won't find in a BB cream

• Acne treatment

Due to FDA regulations they can not combine the sunscreen and ingredients to combat acne. From my understanding a lot of acne treatments can make your skin photosensitive so it makes sense that they are not combined with sunscreen as it might ruin the efficacy of the sunscreen's SPF.

So what about CC creams? Color correction or color control. While I haven't tried any of these they are supposed to give a more even skin tone than the BB cream and is a lighter formula. However, each individual brand can vary.

The downside of these do it all creams and balms? Color. Most of these BB creams come in very limited shades. As this is more of a tint than a full on foundation this may or may not be a problem for you. But I would say if you like a minimal beauty treatment, try one out today! Just about every beauty brand has a BB cream on the market. I am in the process of reviewing a few BB creams and I'll have those up for your viewing pleasure soon!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter

Lip gloss too glossy? Lipstick not your thing? You want color, but you don't want too much. You, my friend, need to try Revlon lip butters. I'm a HUGE fan and for very good reason. It is very soft and smooth on your lips. It gives them a wash of color and has a nice sheen without being glossy. They are made with mango, shea, and coconut butter. They feel luxurious. Some lipsticks have this grit to them that drives me crazy. This is just a super smooth moisturized feeling. The best part is that you can pick these up at your local Walmart, Target, or drugstore for around 7 bucks. I've had my creme brulee for about a year now and I even though I wear it frequently I have still not run out.

This is my own little lip butter collection:

Creme Brulee, Berry Smoothie, Peach Parfait, Candy Apple

There are more colors but I feel like these are a well rounded group of colors. 

Creme brulee is my go to nude. I have yet to find a nude lipstick that actually works for my skin color. I feel this lip butter does the trick. It is probably the lightest nude I can pull off without being too light. The great thing about these is that the color is sheer to medium. 

Peach Parfait is another great color to have on hand. It is not an orangey peach. It does have a golden shimmer to it. It works great on so many occasions. Its a great color if you are color shy.












This is probably my favorite color! Berry Smoothie. It is definitely a berry color. It has  pink under tones without being too purple/blue of a berry color. I love berry colors because they add a touch of drama to a look.

I have a hard time wearing red lipstick at times. It seems like work. Finding the right red is a pain. Too blue red. Too orange red. I just want a red I can throw on when I'm in the mood. This definitely is a warm red. It is not overwhelming.