Collective Haul: March 2013

So when I said at the end of February I wasn't going to get too crazy...yeah, that went out the window! March was a month of retail therapy for me and I don't regret it one bit. So let's just dive right in.

Color Club Halo-Graphic and Angel Kiss, Studio M Spring Fling, Illamasqua Fragile and Mottle

So I randomly found the Color Club halos at Meijer and of course Studio M is a Meijer brand so Meijer was an all around win this month! I broke down and ordered Mottle from Sephora but found Fragile in store and got that one too! Both of those will be up next week (and I'm so proud of myself for not letting all of these languish in my untrieds for months on end!)

Skin79 VIP Gold Super Plus BB, Skinfood Good Afternoon Rose Lemon Tea BB, Holika Holika Moisture Petit BB, Mac Mineralize Moisture foundation

YAY for Asian BBs! I ordered the Holika Holika on Ebay at the very beginning and loved it so much I ordered the Skin79 and Skinfood. They just arrived yesterday so I haven't been able to do anything other than swatch but I'm so excited to test them out. I'm hoping to get a review of the Holika Holika up some time this month. MAC's Mineralize Moisture foundation was something I was so interested in as soon as I saw the PR so after some adventures at the counter trying to find the best shade for me, I got a bottle in NC15. And it's perfect!

Nars Amour blush, MAC Melba blush

So I noticed during March that I don't actually own any matte finish blushes and only a couple satins. MAC Melba (which I keep wanting to call Peaches for some reason) was recommended to me at the counter but I'd had my eye on it for a while. Nars Amour was a complete impulse purchase at Sephora. When the mua put it on me, it was pure love at first sight. 

Revlon Lip Butters in Juicy Papaya and Wild Watermelon, Cover Girl Lipperfection Jumbo Gloss Balm in Blush Twist

I happened upon the new Revlon Lip Butters in Target one day and picked up three of them. I already passed along the third, Pink Lemonade, to my sister as I just couldn't pull it off. If you're looking for them, check the permanent display. I decided I had to have another of the chubby lip pencils from the drugstore (just not a Revlon one) and went with this one from Cover Girl, Blush Twist. It's been my favorite everyday lip color lately!

Wet N Wild Nude Awakening palette, Smashbox Entice Me palette and Full Exposure mascara (deluxe sample size)

I found the WNW palette at Meijer at the very beginning of March and it was the last one in the display! See, I told you Meijer was full of win this month. It's a great palette for sure, but I don't find myself reaching for it as often as I thought I would. The Smashbox goodies were a prize from their Love Me promo! I also got my entry on their billboard in Hollywood, even if it was for like 30 seconds.

Zoya Remove+, Bath and Body Works Beautiful Day fragrance mist, First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream, Batiste Dry Shampoo in Cherry scent, Beautyblender

I needed new nail polish remover and justified the cost of Remove+ because I had a gift card and I can reuse the bottle. I've used it a couple times and it's ok but not incredible. I had a coupon for BBW and decided to get Beautiful Day because I hardly ever see them have scents with green apple in them, which I LOVE. I threw the FAB cream in my Sephora order so I could get free shipping but it's so awesome! I got the Batiste with my gift card as well and I love it! It does exactly what I thought dry shampoo should do and it smells nice. Also in my Sephora order, I got a two pack of beautyblenders. Yes, they are worth all the hype they get.

So that's it. April shouldn't have even have half this amount because damn, that's a lot. I did place my first Candles By Victoria order a couple weeks ago but that shouldn't arrive until tomorrow. I also ordered during their April 1st sale so I guess I'll try to get a collective haul for you together whenever my sale order gets here. If you want a review of anything, let me know!

Disclaimer: The Smashbox things were sent to me for free from Smashbox for participating in their Love Me promo. Everything else was purchased by me with my own money.

Birthday and Christmas Haul!

It's been a while since I've actually purchased more than one thing at a time so I'm so excited to show you guys my birthday and Christmas haul! You probably already know that I've been doing project pan since September so my purchases were pretty far and few between. This month I went a little crazy but I'll still be working on project pan.
First, we started with a little pre-birthday shopping at Ulta to get some Skyfall polishes

Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, GoldenEye, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies, Top Coat (free from an Ulta promo)

If I'm not getting them all at once, I have a strategy. You can't be sure that certain colors won't sell out or I will even have the extra cash later to go back for others. So I pick my favorites on the first trip and I don't get my heart set on any of the others. So these 5 were the colors I was most excited for.

Then, on my actual birthday, my present was to go shopping after dinner. So we went to Macy's (which for me is just the MAC counter) and Ulta.

The Spy Who Loved Me, Skyfall, Die Another Day, The World Is Not Enough, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Skip The Gift Wrap, Gift Cards for Everyone!

Ulta didn't have The Spy Who Loved Me or Skyfall so I did have to get them at a salon. The last two are Ulta Holiday Exclusives, so I got them for free for buying 4 OPI polishes.

 

Also at Ulta, I got my first Real Techniques brush, the blush brush! At the MAC counter, I decided to get my first MAC lipstick, Speed Dial. I had heard my very very favorite youtuber, Amarixe talking about it and it looked so perfect on her. I just had to check it out and it ended up being beautiful on me.

On my birthday, I placed a Sephora order for my Christmas present from the boyfriend. I had a promo code for a bag full of samples, I wanted to get my VIB birthday gift AND one of the girls from the group Sam and I are in gave me a gift card so I threw in a little something extra.

Sephora Anti-Shine Foundation Primer, Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish, Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, Sephora Instant Moisturizer, Benefit Coral My World! kit, Fresh Sugar Kisses VIB gift, Tarte Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder, Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara, Urban Decay De Slick makeup setting spray

  Acqua di Gioia, J'adore Dior, Thierry Mugler Alien, Hello Kitty, Kate Walsh Billionaire Boyfriend

I'm not very good at using up samples but I'm hoping I can fix that soon. The perfume will be a little more difficult to use and form opinions on, simply because many perfumes give me a headache.

The thing I was most excited about was my Christmas present!

The Sephora In The Glow Kit! It comes with nine mini sized highlighter, bronzers and blushes (3 of each). Except for Benefit and Too Faced, these were all new to me brands and eight of the products were brand new to me. The highlighters were Lorac Perfectly Lit in Spotlight, Benefit High Beam, Bare Minerals All Over Face Color in Pure Radiance. The bronzers were Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Golden Mosaic, Nars Laguna, and Too Faced Chocolate Soleil. The blushes were Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Splendor, Tarte Natural Cheek Stain in Flush, and Stila Convertible Color in Peony.

Let's move on to stuff I got on the actual day of Christmas. I won't show you everything because that would be ridiculous but I do have a few things I want to share with you!

If you remember my October Wishlist, I specifically posted a pic of this. Well my sister ended up getting it for me! I'm such a Benefit fangirl and I'm super excited to try all of these! This comes with It's Potent! eye cream, The Porefessional primer, Hoola, Badgal Lash, Stay Don't Stray, Ooh La Lift, Cha Cha Tint, Sunbeam, Bella Bamba, and That Gal.

I also got this Burt's Bees set. It comes with four of their lip balms in peppermint and vitamin e and a little keychain pouch. Burt's Bees lip balms are so awesome! The mint is crazy cooling but my favorite of their scents! I also got an Ulta gift card. Not sure what I'm going to get yet so I'll be holding onto it for a while.

Lastly, I got this beauty. My sister introduced me to Vera Bradley at least a year and a half ago and I've been in love ever since. This is the mini hipster in my current favorite pattern, English Rose. I'm just so excited! I haven't carried a little bag just for me in a long time.

I also got some cash for Christmas but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. If I get anything awesome, I'll be sure to tell you guys about it.

I love seeing what other people got so post a comment about what you got or a link to a blog post or something! Have a happy New Year!

Current Wishlist: October 2012

I could make a lot of excuses about why I haven't been blogging lately. I could explain to you that it's difficult to come up with something to write about when you are using the same products over and over. I could even tell you how I've been so busy since fall is our favorite season around here and October is the birth month of MonkeyToes. And if I really wanted to push you over the edge I could lament my computer being 2 years old and the screen dying, forcing us to rig up the boyfriend's 6 year old laptop to just be able to check Facebook. But let's not get into that. :)
With the holidays around the corner I figured I could show you a couple things I've been lusting after lately. Now is the time when my family starts Christmas shopping and my birthday also happens to fall in December. Plus with this limited purchasing thing I've been doing, I have the urge to buy new stuff!

1. OPI's Skyfall Collection
Swatches of these are just starting to appear online and they are incredible! Check them out here and here. I'm going to skip You Only Live Twice because I have something way too similar. But they are looking awesome and I love that OPI did actual Bond names instead of doing silly puns. There are still a couple I want from the Germany collection but as soon as I see these, I'll be picking up a couple.

2. New ELF products
It's been over a year since I've made an ELF order and there are a lot of new things I want to try. No matter how much I'm loving Benefit, MAC and other higher end products, ELF products always attract my attention.

3. Holiday 2012 Gift Sets
Swoon! I love holiday sets! They usually give you a great opportunity to try out a ton of new products for a great price. And of all the holiday sets, I fall the hardest for the Benefit kits. I'm a Benefit fan girl and the packaging is ADORABLE. I've never tried Tarte but I've always wanted to try their blushes and that kit seems like a fantastic place to start. I've also been wanting to try a ton of new perfumes but I can't commit to a full size bottle without using a sample first. The new Sephora sampler has four in particular that I've been wanting to try: Coach Poppy, Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy La Fleur, Marc Jacobs Dot and Prada Candy.

Hopefully my dad can fix my computer so I can get back to blogging regularly. I really kind of missed it. Any other holiday releases that I might have missed and would love?