Am I doing a haul right now? Is this real life?

Hi folks.

I’ve done some shopping recently and I wanted to share my purchases with you.

In a prior post I mentioned that I was looking for a new foundation. Well, I found one.

I heard good things about Lancôme, so i trucked over to Macy’s one day to see how much it was and to find out which one would be best for me. The sales associate was very helpful and gave me a sample that she said would be good for about 3 wears.

I must say, I liked it a lot.

Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra 24H Makeup in 460 Suede

After about a week and a half, I decided that I was going to make the purchase. When I arrived, both sales associates at the Lancôme counter were occupied, so I walked over to the MAC counter to ask a question and check off one item from my wish list.

While at the MAC counter, I wanted some advice on the type of brush that I should use for my foundation. I had been using stippling brushes for the longest. I went through several of those, simply because I was cleaning them wrong. Then I was afraid to ruin another expensive one I bought, so I stopped using it all together.

MAC 187 Stippling 

That's the one that I was afraid to ruin...

Then I transitioned into brushes that are like flat topped kabukis, but I found that those soaked up unnecessary product. We talked about a brush that might be a better alternative, but that wasn't on my list.

I thought of this immediately just now, haha

Haha...

In conversation with the MAC artist, I told her that I wasn’t completely satisfied with my MAC Match Master in 7.0.

I felt that it made me look ashy. We tried on two different colors in other foundation lines, but I let her know that wasn’t the purpose of my visit. Gotta stay focused son.

I took a look at my makeup shopping list that I keep in my phone. The only thing from MAC that was on there was the Mineralize Skinfinish. That had been on my list for over a year. Every time I ran out of my powder, I either wasn’t near a MAC store or didn’t have the funds to get it, so I just stuck with my Cover Girl Queen Collection.

Partna' let me upgrade ya!

YAY!!!

I returned to the Lancôme counter and purchased the foundation. One cool thing was that it came with some free gifts. Nice.

The next week, I took a trip to Ulta, your beauty destination, aka, my part-time job. I really do work there y’all. Like for real.

I picked up some of my favorite lashes, some makeup remover wipes, a Clarisonic brush head, and some other insignificant things that I won't discuss here.

I picked up some lip products by NYX and Ulta. I’m not at the point where I try it on and take a pic for you, maybe one day, but here are some pics I found online.

NYX LSS 505A - Shiva

NYX LSS 601 - Castle/Château

NYX SN01 - Simply Nude - Peaches

Ulta Nude Collection

I only picked up two of these, but I don't know which ones. The green dot that indicates that I didn't steal them from the store is covering up the numbers. Sorry.

Per a previous post, you know that I have lots of Urban palettes. Andddd, I picked up another.

Urban Decay Shadow Box

I haven’t used it too many times. I’ve had it for about a week now. It had a few colors I was really drawn to.  That coral color was calling my name!

Mascara Time!!!

Urban Decay Perversion

It Cosmetics Hello Lashes

I bought these two, at two different times. Never say never, but I never thought that I would use two different mascaras simultaneously. They give two different looks, so that’s my justification. If I am using both of them on the same day, I use Perversion on my upper lashes and Hello Lashes on my bottom lashes.

The It mascara gives more lash definition while the Perversion gives more drama. Just by looking at the brush alone, I can tell that the Perversion will start clumping when its close to expiring. For now, I love it. I prefer it to the Benefit They’re Real. The Perversion is actually reminiscent of Maybelline's Falsies, which I used for about 5 years.  Falsies will always be a favorite of mine.

Me and you, us never part. Makidada….

A few months ago I purchased the Electric Palette from Urban Decay. In many pictorials, people put eyeshadow along the water line. I’m not a fan of that. I think it is hard for the shadow to stay put. It ends up looking messy on me. I say all that to say, I finally picked up some brightly colored eyeliners. Here are the colors I picked up.

Ulta Automatic Eyeliner in Tropics

Ulta Automatic Eyeliner in Grape

I still would like to purchase a pink eyeliner, but that can wait.

Also during my most recent trip to Ulta, I picked up this...

Urban Decay Naked Illuminated in Luminous

I have Albatros by Nars, but that doesn’t always give me the highlight that I desire. The cool thing about the one by Urban, is that it comes with a mini fan brush.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

I think that pretty much sums up my Ulta visit.

But that’s not all folks, this past weekend I went back to the MAC counter. Let me tell you why…

More often than not, I don’t want to wear liquid anything. Foundation, tinted moisturizer, BB cream. Nada. On those days I would wear just my Cover Girl Queen Collection pressed powder and my choice of blush for the day. Me and my CG have been homies for a minute, but I don’t think she photographs well. I tried my liquid-less routine with the MAC Mineralized Skinfinish, but it did have the coverage that I needed.

So, I picked up this…

MAC Studio Fix Foundation NW45

I must say, I like this a lot. Very light, very natural looking. Quick and easy.

The woman at the counter was very informative and in the most perfect way.

Tangentttttt startttinggggg NOW!

One of my biggest pet peeves in LIFE is when someone is underestimated. Underestimation especially grinds my gears in stores, especially in the beauty and hair world. I do a lot of research before I buy anything. If I have a question, trust, its an educated question. If its not as educated, its because I’m trusting you as a professional, therefore I trust your opinion. We all come to the table with a wealth of knowledge. Respect that.

Ok. I’m off the soap box.

Back to the MAC counter…. I found an artist who was cleaning her brushes. She gave me some great advice on how to clean the stippling brush that I was afraid to clean. She informed me that if brushes (of quality) are cleaned properly, they should last you 10 years. Say whaaat?!

She helped me find the powder foundation that matched my skin tone and she also recommended a brush to use.  She was informative, but she didn't talk at me.  I really appreciated that.

Now, if the artist a week prior was more like that, I could have left with a MAC foundation instead of the Lancôme one, I'm just saying.

Now I’ll be honest, I partially fell for the up sell okie doke. I say partially because I was willing to fall that day.  I was fully aware of the fall. Lol...

Oh, you don’t know the MAC up sell okie doke? Let me explain.

You go in for lipstick. Then you are sold on the lip liner to match. Then you have the lipgloss to accent in your hand. What just happened here?!?! Why do I have $60 worth of products in my hands??? I KNOW I’m not the only one... 

Be real with yourselves ladies.

NB: That’s one reason I almost exclusively buy NYX lippies now. Can’t beat the price.

Back to the story. I bought the brush. And for good reason, I didn’t have a brush that served that same purpose.

MAC 130 Stippling

I could use this brush for my liquid foundation and for the powder foundation. This was the same brush that was recommended to me the last time.  Am I winning? Hmm....*scratches temple*

I also picked up some of the brush cleaner.

Let me tell you something, I tried it as soon as I got home. Love it! Brush cleaning has never been so easy.

I used to soak them like this for fifteen minutes…

Then gush them around like this...

That’s how I ruined 2 stippling brushes, one of which was over $40, smh…

I’ve tried Dawn and olive oil, baby shampoo, you name it…

The MAC 187 stippling brush that I avoided using was now clean. When I say clean, I mean the synthetic fibers were white! Yes chile’...

I'm sure there are alternative brush cleaners out there, but for right now I'm satisfied.

Oh yeah, it is wise to put this is a spray bottle, as not to waste the product.

A few more things to discuss…

My Ulta store won a Christmas contest for who could sell the most Urban Decay in the month of December. What was the prize you ask??? The Naked palette of your choice. Awesome right?! I already owned the 1st and 3rd, so I took this baby home with me last night!!!

Lastly, this past weekend I took a trip to the hair store with my line sister.

Hair stores are equally as dangerous as makeup stores for me. But lately, they haven’t been as dangerous, because my hair has been in protective styles.

But, back to my shopping lists… This has been on my hair store list for half a year.

I have this one by Creme of Nature. I don’t really like it much. For those of us with really soft hair, it doesn’t keep its promises.

Let's see how the Hicks does.

So, that does it...

Later gators.