First Lush Mini Haul!

I normally don't go shopping on December 26th but this year I'm really glad I did. My sister and I both had $10 gift cards to Lush and they happened to be having a buy-one-get-one-free sale!!!! I've been trying to turn my family onto Lush ever since I saw my first youtube video about their products. Finally, I have convinced them of it's amazingness and I got the gift card for Christmas.

My sister and I each chose an item around $7.50 so we could combine what was left over on our cards for a joint item. Lo and behold we were both able to get another thing free! They really wanted to get rid of any holiday items. My sister and I both chose bath things because our mom has a big bathtub that is never used. We wanted to give the bath some love. Here's what I got:

 The Golden Wonder Bath Bomb: from their Christmas 2014 collection and my sister picked this one up as well. I used it today and loved it. It smelled so nice and relaxing and fizzed up beautifully. There were gold stars, gold glitter, turquoise, blue, and pink swirling around my bath. The color settled to a teal blue with the glitter still swirling around. The glitter rinsed right off the tub when I was done but I did notice some lingered on my skin. It gave me a nice shimmer. I absolutely loved it. Here are some pictures of the bath:

 The Wizard Hat Bubble Bar: So derpy, so cute. This is a Halloween bubble bar they came out with this year. I originally was going to get Candy Mountain but that smelled too sickeningly sweet so I chose this guy instead. My sister bought the Penguin Bubble Bar and her bath was so bubbly and nice today so I'm excited to use this one. The bubble bars also can be used multiple times. This one has about 2 uses.

The Ickle Baby Bot Bath Bomb: My sister and I are splitting this one in half. It's meant for kids to use before bed because of the soothing chamomile scent but I'm sure it will make for a relaxing adult bath as well.

Lush is honestly so amazing I wish I had spare cash to buy more of their products, but alas, a struggling grad student needs to save her pennies ;)

XO Alyssa

Review and Swatches: Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Ink (and some extras!)

I've been to quite a few different Christmas/holiday events in the past couple of weeks and wanted to share some of my looks with you as well as a review on Sephora's Rouge Infusion Lip Duo that my bestest friend bought me for Christmas. This set was exclusively sold for Christmas so I don't think you can find it anymore but they sell the full sizes of both of these colors for $14 each at Sephora. 

 The packaging was super cute, one deluxe sized lip ink and one full sized lip ink were included with a description on the back.

 The colors I got are Fuchsia Concentrate (full size) and Red Essence

 She also bought me a color I've been lusting after forever. I haven't worn it yet but I already know I love it. It's Kat Von D's Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in A-Go-Go and it's a bright matte orange. I'm in love.

 Here are the swatches of all three lip colors she bought me:

 As you can see the lip inks do not dry to a matte finish like the Kat Von D lipstick does. The truly are an "ink". They are lightweight and spread out evenly on the lips, but they are quite slippery and their lasting power isn't the greatest. They look amazing for pictures, though. The scent is indescribable and very unusual to me...but not necessarily bad. Here is Red Essence:

(Sorry about the iPhone quality)

 And here is Fuchsia Concentrate, my favorite of the two:

Overall, I absolutely love this gift. Here are the full makeup looks from both nights:

XO Alyssa

Favorite Matte Red Lip: Stila Beso

My friend bought this as a gift for my birthday during the summer and I am literally in love with this color. It feels soft, lasts forever, and makes my teeth look whiter! It's super matte so I don't recommend wearing it with dry lips, but it's a great Christmas/holiday red. Also a great gift for any matte lip lover. To be honest, I would never spend $22 on a lip product but, as a gift, it's perfect!

XO Alyssa

Favorite Holiday Lipstick: Revlon Cherries in the Snow

This $5 lipstick from Target is the greatest thing ever for the holidays. It looks and feels so great on my lips. I wore it to an Ornament Party last weekend and got so many compliments.  Here are some selfies just to prove to you how perfect it looks. Just buy it, you won't regret it.

XO Alyssa

BH Cosmetics That's Heart Palette Thanksgiving 2014 Look

For my Thanksgiving makeup look I used the bottom row of eyeshadows, the bronzer, the highlighter, and the blush. I really loved the look and blend-ability of these products. I definitely recommend this! One thing though, if you only like matte shades, this palette is not for you. Anyway, here's the look I did (Lips are Bachelorette from Kat Von D):

 And an iPhone selfie after wearing the look through dinner:

Hope you liked it!
XO Alyssa

First Impressions: That's Heart Palette

I just ordered a palette for my mom on bhcosmetics.com last week because they were having a buy1get1 sale on select products. BH cosmetics is honestly amazing because the have deals and sales everyday on their website. I have their Take Me To Brazil eyeshadow palette already and I adore it. I figured I would give this palette to my mom because she's allergic to fragrance and she would like the eyeshadow colors...and of course I gave the free one to myself (oops).

The 2 palettes were about $14 together but with the coupon code, that was split in half. However, shipping and handling on this website is kind of ridiculous. I recommend only buying from them when there are huge deals or if you plan on spending $50 on their products (shipping will then be free).

On to the swatches!

 This palette comes with 8 eyeshadow shades, a bronzer, a highlighter, and a blush. There is also a cute heart-shaped mirror. By the way, that scrape in the blush and the little bits of blush on the palette were caused by my fingernail accidentally scraping the edge. It came to me packaged securely and pristinely.

 The bronzer, highlighter, and blush. All three look gorgeous and build up so nicely. The highlight is my favorite, but all three look like they would work well with my skin tone.

These eyeshadows are swatched on top of Smashbox 24 hour eye primer. A good mix of shimmers, satins, and mattes. The purple, pink, and white are less opaque than the others but they all seem to build up and blend nicely on my arm.

My first impression is that I love this palette and can already think of looks I can do with it. I will have a look up on the blog soon.

XO Alyssa

Gift With Purchase Review: Sephora Bright Night Out

Last week my friend told me about Sephora giving a free gift with purchase for Beauty Insiders after spending $25 (online only). I bought the First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser for $20 and a Nails Inc. Polish that was on sale for $5. I've been wanting both of those items for a few months now so I figured this gift with purchase (GWP) bag would be a good idea. I got my items including the "Bright Night Out" GWP (there were 2 other GWPs you could choose from) yesterday and I am beyond happy to share with you my thoughts on the sample products and makeup bag that were included:

 The makeup bag: pretty small but I love the color and I'm going to use this to store all of my samples I get when I online shop!

 The giveaways: Pharrell Williams GIRL perfume sample and Marc Jacobs Lust for Lacquer Lip Vinyl in Kissability. I know I won't really reach for these since I don't wear gloss often and already have a bunch of perfume samples, so these are going to be stocking stuffers for a friend or family member.

 Chloe Eau De Parfum: I've been wanting to try Chloe for so long because I love the way it smells at the store. I don't wear perfume often because I break out in hives if fragrance touches my face. I tend to go for lighter scents to spray on my body for special occasions. So this is actually a nice size for me since I already own so many mini/sample size perfumes.

 Lancome HYPNOSE Drama Instant Full Body Volume Mascara: I love Lancome's mascara samples and this one has such an interesting applicator. It's a slightly twisted bristle brush. This is in Excessive Black.

 Smashbox 24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer: Now, I'm all about my $1 ELF shadow primer, but I figured I would give this one a whirl. It's a pretty decent size for a sample as well.

 Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencil: I've been wanting to try this for so long and I'm happy it's in the color Black Velvet! I have watery eyes so my eyeliner tends to go from my waterline to under my eye pretty quickly.

 Philosophy Loveswept Body Lotion. Great size for travel and a soft, light, perfume scent.

 Kat Von D Everlasting Love Liquid Lipstick in Bachelorette: This is the reason I picked this GWP over the other 2 options. I've been wanting this product in A-Go-Go and Bauhau5 for so long but didn't know if the super matte formula was worth the money or looked good on my lips. Finally I get to test it out.

 Here's my naked face with some Maybelline Babyskin primer (~$6)

 Then some of that Smashbox Photo Finish eye primer (full size: $20, GWP size: free)

 I used the shimmery mauve shade and highlight shade from my Tarte Rainforest After Dark Palette (Limited Edition- no longer available but I think it was around $36 when I bought it) on my eye lids

 Added some of that UD 24/7 eye pencil to my tightline and waterline (full size: $20, GWP size: free)

 Then 1 coat of the Lancome mascara (which was amazing, by the way, just compare this to the before picture above) (full size: $27.50, GWP: free)

 Then my normal face routine: Loreal True Match in W2 and W3, mixed together (~$8)

 My favorite setting powder and brush combo: EcoTools Buffing Brush ($6.99) and Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder ($3.99)

 Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser ($6.99) for my under eyes and any other red spots on my face.

 Aw yiss!

 Favorite everyday blush: Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso (~$8)

 I adore this blush for fall/winter! It gives the perfect color to my cheeks!

 Kat Von D Everlasting Love Liquid Lipstick in Bachelorette: Unscented, gorgeous reddish-pink, and truly matte. I put some chapstick on first to make sure there wouldn't be any application problems. The one thing I did notice is the tackiness of the lipstick after it dries. Not sticky, just slightly tacky, like the back of scotch tape. (Full size: $19, GWP: free)

 Finished look! After this I put on a shirt and did my hair. I babysat for a couple of hours and then came back home and had dinner:

The makeup stayed put! After eating chicken, broccoli, and ice cream for dessert of course there was some fading and smudging of lipstick. But the lasting power impressed me! It didn't leave a stain on the glass when I drank water and the color is still vivid enough where I didn't feel like a re-application was necessary. Also, the mascara kept it's curl and nothing leaked around my eyes.

All in all I think this was a great set of samples that will probably last me quite a while since I have a lot of makeup. Mini things are just adorable anyway. Hope you liked this very detailed post!

XO Alyssa