Missha Haul

Hello chickadees,

Today I decided to do a quick post sharing my recent haul of Missha products. Missha is sold at some smaller Asian beauty stores in NYC but I haven't tried anything from the brand before now (except for a gel exfoliator which I will review at a later date) because I usually stick to drugstore products or Sephora products that get a lot of buzz. But you know I can't resist a great sale.

I placed my order on July 3 and received my order on July 18. Apparently one of the items I had ordered was out of stock which somehow caused a tremendous delay in the shipping of my order. Missha packages things old school with packing peanuts but I have to say I love the design of their products. Let's take a look.

I can never resist the promise of a good concealer. This one had some good reviews so I decided to just take a risk and try it out. 

The packaging is very pretty...

...though a bit wasteful given how much of the container actually contains product.

I swatched the product. It seems very creamy though it might be a little light for my complexion. We'll see how it works out. I'm not quite sure why the product is tilted to the side like this. 

Longtime readers will know that next to concealer, mascara is the other product I struggle with. Generally I have the best luck with L'Oreal but I couldn't resist the chance to try one of these vibrating mascara wands when one of my number one complaints is how so many mascaras uncurl my lashes once I apply them.

I did a brief test. The mascara wand has two settings and it does vibrate. I'm a bit wary of putting this near my eye so I'll probably finish off my current mascara before testing this one out. You can also remove the cap and presumably switch out the battery. If this works well I might wash off the brush and keep it as a makeup tool and buy replacement batteries to power the wand. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It comes with a simple wand with plastic bristles.

CVS Beauty Haul (Coupon Crazy)

Hi chickadees!

Mama did some truly impressive coupon-aided hauling today at CVS.

I picked up L'Oreal's Lineur Intense Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in 610 Black Mica after hearing Allison/Amarixe rave about it in one of her videos. As of right now, I haven't had much luck with pencil liners but I love my Maybelline gel eyeliner which I first heard about from Allison so I'll try this one out as well. They've been doing some interesting thin-lined eye makeup looks on Gossip Girl that I want to try out. Hopefully, this liner will help in recreating those looks.
(Original price: $11.49) Yes, I know NY prices are ridiculous, people who don't live in NY.

I picked up another Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black because I love them. I just started using my second jar (I threw out the first after a few months when it was starting to smudge and it didn't glide as smoothly. I still had a healthy amount of product left which is why I'm always going to prefer drugstore eyemakeup. I don't feel terrible when I toss it to avoid breeding bacteria for too long and risking an eye infection.) It is going in my safety/giveaway bag where I keep duplicate items I get on sale or in a big online order in case I run out of a product or I ever get enough followers to do a giveaway.
(Original price: $11.99)

Also from Maybelline, I got the new Maybelline Colorsensation Lipstick in Tigerlily Treat from the Spring 2012 Pastel Collection. Swatching it, it seems a little sheer but I'm OK with that as it's a bright Barbie doll pink. It was the only one left in the display and no one had swatched it so I took that as a sign it was meant to go home with me. My lips are kind of a mess right now but I'll be testing it out soon.
(Original Price: $9.99)

I also picked up another L'Oreal Magic Perfecting Base even though I usually don't use primer. I find that primer with my skin tends to cause makeup to look heavy. But I still think it's a great primer and it's useful when I do have some dryness or unevenness and I don't want to bother with foundation. I'm still in the testing phase but right now I'm loving my new Benefit moisturizer. It might just be that my skin has calmed down with the rise in the temperature but I really think I've seen an improvement with this new product. Can't wait to tell you about it. OK, getting back on track...
(Original price: $14.79) Yes, I know. NY prices are RIDICULOUS. And I know it's cheaper at Duane Reade. But I had CVS coupons.

Now, I was undecided about what to get from Rimmel so I picked up the lipstick AND the eyeshadow. I have few red lipsticks. Less than the average beauty blogger but probably more than the average girl who rarely wears red lipstick needs. To me, red lips requires pulling back a bit on the clothes or the eyemakeup which is just not as fun. :) But I couldn't resist this special Kate Moss Rimmel collection red lipstick, especially after Sineady Cady mentioned it among her favorite drugstore lipsticks in a youtube video. So yeah. I got it. Lack of willpower, people. Lack of willpower. I compared it to my other reds once I got home and I actually still don't have a dupe. This is somewhere between a true red and a red that pulls slightly orange.
(Original Price: $5.79)

Love love love the packaging. :)

It's so pretty in person. It's probably weird to like the shape of a lipstick but I prefer this to a lot of the other drugstore brands. For example, the Maybelline lipsticks kind of curve in at the top. (Photo below.)

From left to right: Maybelline Colorsensational Lipstick in Red Revival

Rimmel Lasting Finish Kate Moss collection Lipstick in 01

Covergirl glossbalm in Peony

Revlon Lip Butter in Red Velvet

From top to bottom: Maybelline Colorsensational Lipstick in Red Revival

Rimmel Lasting Finish Kate Moss collection Lipstick in 01

Covergirl glossbalm in Peony

Revlon Lip Butter in Red Velvet

I also picked up Rimmel's Glam Eyes HD Palette in 05 English Rose. You know how much I love English Oak. http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-of-rimmel-london-glameyes-hd.html So I'm excited to try this one out because I've been searching for good pink eyeshadow that isn't too sheer and doesn't make you look tired or diseased.
(Original Price $6.79)

And finally, because I've been so in love with my fake Cartier LOVE bracelet in rose gold lately, I got a bottle of Orly nail polish in Rage. For some reason this CVS is the only drugstore in the city where I've seen Orly polishes.

$11.49+ $11.99 + $14.79 + $5.79 + $9.99 + $7.99 + $6.79= $68.83. $74.94 with tax. Wow. That does seem like a bit too much to drop on one trip to the drugstore right? Well, how about we

...subtract $1 for any L'Oreal product (tear-away manufacturer's coupon from a previous display)
...subtract $1 off coupon (received for spending a certain amount at CVS in a given period)
...subtract $3 off any L'Oreal item (coupon printed out with previous purchases from CVS)
...subtract $2 off any Rimmel item (coupon printed out with previous purchases from CVS)
...subtract $1 off any Maybelline item
(tear-away manufacturer's coupon from CURRENT Spring 2012 Pastels display)
...subtract $2 off any L'Oreal Studio Secrets item (Allure magazine coupon)
...25% off coupon (coupon printed out with previous purchases from CVS)

...Leaving us with $41.87 or $46.38 with tax. That's right. With a combination of CVS and manufacturer's coupons, I ended up saving $28.56 AND getting another $10 off coupon for spending $25 on L'Oreal products (special for this week only).

Yes, I am rather proud of myself right now.

Let's start a conversation in the comments. Link me to your blogs so I can see what you've hauled lately. Let me know if you've tried any of these products and what you think. Is there anything you want me to priority review?

Talk to you soon,
Cat

Sephora CHIC Week 15% Off Haul

Hi darlings!

My Sephora Friends and Family haul is one of my more popular posts so I thought you might also like to see what I picked up during their "Chic Week" discount week where 15% was taken off your total purchase in store or online. As an aside, I highly recommend signing up to be a Sephora Beauty Insider to take advantage of these and other discounts if you love trying out beauty products or even just a few high-end skincare and makeup products. It is totally free with plenty of perks.

Anyway, let's get started. I agonized over the decision of what to get until the very last day when I made my choices in store. I thought I was going to get big ticket items but I actually picked up pretty reasonably priced items and two more expensive lip products. I will leave swatches until I have used the products for a while and write up full reviews.
I think I'll share my haul in the order I found the items. (Haul items after the break...)

Mini Drugstore Haul

This is less a haul and more of my weekly infusion of drugstore products to feed my makeup addiction. These are pretty much all of the new items I'll be trying out in addition to the Milani face powder I showed you in a previous haul and the L'Oreal Lumi primer which I've been using as a highlighter.

Inexpensive Haul

I was going to call this a drugstore haul, but let's be honest. This was just me wandering into every available shop on my way to the subway. Here are the results...

First stop, CVS...

After having so much luck with Confetti's Rhapsody in Blue, I wanted to try another color. Sadly the display was pretty empty, but I did spy this color which looks like my old favorite, O.P.I.'s I'm Not Really a Waitress at a fraction of the cost. This is in 037 Crimson Cutie.

Lately, my dry skin has been plagued by a new problem...acne and blemishes. I watched missglamorazzi's video where she raved about this product so I decided to try it out. This is supposed to help with breakouts and be good for dry skin. We shall see. I started using it today.

I did not like the tricky way they hide the drug facts under a peel-away sticker. These things are important!

For this cleanser and the nail polish, I spent a grand total of $1.90. What!?! I know. I had a $10 cash card reward left over so I handed that in and only had to pay $1.90. Yes, the cleanser was still expensive but that's what I get for living in NY.

Next stop Ricky's....

I spent $8 on this Essie polish in Go Overboard. I usually try and restrain myself until Duane Reade gets the polishes I want so I can keep adding to that Essie Club promotion but sometimes a girl just needs her Essie polish. I figured that since I haven't heard a lot about this Go Overboard collection and it only seems to include 3 polishes, I would just get it already. I did stop myself from picking up Essie's Navigate Her in the prettiest pistachio green since that is in the spring collection and will probably end up at Duane Reade in a few months. I'm hoping Go Overboard will be a dupe for O.P.I.'s Ski Teal We Drop but regardless, it seems like I can never have enough dark blues. Teal is my favorite color after all.