What I Got for Christmas: 2012 Edition

Since quite a few people are showing what they got for Christmas, I thought I'd show you all what was under my tree this year! I also thought this would be especially interesting since I won't be buying very many beauty products in 2013. But, I digress. Here is what I got for Christmas this year:

Real Techniques Your Eyes/Enhanced Starter Set: this set contains five eye brushes and a "panoramic case" that functions as a brush stand and a case for traveling. The brushes in the kit are: Base Shadow Brush, Deluxe Crease Brush, Accent Brush, Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush, and a brow brush.

Real Techniques Your Base/Flawless Core Collection:  this set contains four face brushes and a case. The brushes are the Detailer Brush, Pointed Foundation Brush, Buffing Brush, and the Contour Brush.

OPI The Top Ten: this set contains some of the most popular OPI nail polish colors.These colors are: Alpine Snow, Bubble Bath, Tickle My France-y, Kiss Me On My Tulips, Red Lights Ahead... Where?, Big Apple Red, I'm Not Really A Waitress, You Don't Know Jacques!, Vampsterdam, and Lincoln Park After Dark.

Bare Minerals Cool As Ice Lip Gloss Collection: this set comes with six of the Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie mini lip glosses. The colors in this set are: Hot Ticket, Dare Devil, Fashionably Late, Socialite, Gutsy, and Rebel.

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette: this palette came out recently and has taken the beauty world by storm. It contains six neutral eye shadows (all with matte or satin finishes). The colors are: Venus, Foxy, Walk of Shame, Naked 2, Faint, and Crave.

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette: this was Urban Decay's cooler-toned answer to the original Naked palette. It features 12 colors (Foxy, Booty Call, Tease, Suspect, Verve, Busted, Half Baked, Chopper, Snakebite, Pistol, YDK, and Blackout), a dual-ended brush (crease and shadow), and a mini lip gloss in Naked.

Pink Sugar Eau de Toilette Roller Ball: I have a tough time sticking to one perfume. I only wear the LaVanila Pure Vanilla for special occasions, but other times I do like to switch it up. Pink Sugar is sweet and it doesn't give me a headache (I can't even list all the fragrances that DO give me headaches), so it's a winner in my book.

For non-beauty related things, I got a Nook HD and a new (digital) point-and-shoot camera. I think what I got most excited about was the nice stack of cookbooks I received (one in particular was very special to me for different reasons). My boyfriend gave me a bottle of honey (we both really love honey) and a Stormtrooper tank top (if you don't know what a Stormtrooper is... it's a Star Wars thing).

Just a little side note: I am in no way trying to make it seem as if I am bragging. Normally I try not to put any disclaimers like this on my posts, but I know that hauls (particularly birthday/Christmas hauls) can be seen as controversial. But this is a beauty blog and I did focus on the beauty products I received.

What did you get for Christmas?

My *First* LUSH Haul!

So I realize that I've promised not to buy makeup, skin care, hair care, or body products until September 1, but I had to break my promise once again and this time it was fair if I say so myself. I recently went on a mini-vacation and I do not live close to a LUSH store or counter, so when I happened to come across a LUSH store I had to at least check it out. I went into the store and pretended I didn't want anything (the store didn't even sell Honey I Washed the Kids soap and that is probably the main thing I have been curious about). The next day, I was regretting my decision to pass things up and I gave the LUSH website a lengthy visit. Since there was a LUSH counter at a Macy's we would be going by, I decided to stop in. The people working there were incredibly helpful and friendly and from what I have already tried, I know I will be ordering some more products online in the future since I have an idea of what some of the products smell like (I am very sensitive to smell and I have a difficult time trusting a description of a scent). But, on with the haul!

The most unusual products I came across were the "Toothy Tabs" - I bought them in the Sparkle (vanilla, lemon, and grapefruit) and Ultrablast (lavender, peppermint, and spearmint and I believe it also has wasabi in it) varieties. Toothy Tabs are just solid toothpaste and I think they would be perfect for travel.

I don't normally take baths, but I figured that a bath bomb would be worth a try. I purchased Honey Bee because it smelled nice.

I don't necessarily need a new conditioner, but I saw the bottle of American Cream and thought it would go nicely with the solid shampoo bar I bought since I can't convince myself not to buy a conditioner when I buy a shampoo.

The second strangest item I decided to try was Lovely Jubblies, which is a breast cream. I am only 20 so loss of firmness in my skin is not an issue I have, but I just thought the concept of this cream was interesting. The container of it is tiny, but a little goes a long way. It can be used anywhere, really. It is most commonly used on the breasts, butt, neck, and eye area. I normally have problems with 

As I mentioned before, the item I've always been eager to try from LUSH is the Honey I Washed the Kids soap because I love sweeter fragrances and I heard that this was one of their most popular soaps. I cut off a chunk in my hotel room and it is a nice product.

Another line of products I was intrigued by was the solid shampoo bars. I heard they tend to last anywhere from 50-80 washes and I love that they are so compact. The sales associate suggested that I try Jumping Juniper since my hair is oily at the roots. I also bought a tin for my shampoo so I could prevent it from melting away in the shower.

I will do my best to post some reviews of these items once I have used them for a while and once I am allowing myself to buy beauty products again, I will be trying some more products.

What are your favorite LUSH products?

EDIT: another thing worth mentioning about Lush is that the packaging is gender-neutral, which was one of my biggest gripes about the Bellaboo line. I showed my boyfriend my haul and then some other products by Lush and he said he would have no problem having some of the products stocked in his bathroom (particularly the Toothy Tabs, but I'm sure if he ever wanted to use a new shaving cream or try a new soap, he won't feel like he is low on options - Grass and Dirty are two particular scents marketed toward men, but none of the shower gels I sniffed in-store were overly feminine and were overall gender-neutral. The bar soaps are a bit different. I think Rock Star, Lust, Queen of Hearts, and The Godmother might be too feminine for MOST guys to want to use... but considering how many other soaps there are by Lush, this is far from being a problem). I'd also like to note that a lot of the products are not sulfate free, but I have learned to accept that if I ever wanted to go sulfate-free, my hair would probably have a long transition period and I would probably look like a hot mess for months.

What I got for my birthday!

I turned 20 yesterday (June 4) and my parents gave me some exciting makeup items I plan on reviewing and hopefully doing tutorials with. I did also get some games, but since my blog isn't about games I won't be mentioning them for the time being. I'd also like to mention that I'm posting this blog so you can see my collection and ask me questions about products or ask for a review. I intend to review as much as possible, but if there's something you're really curious about, then I can push the review ahead of others so I can be helpful. That being said, let's get on with the post!

I was really surprised to get the Butt "Naked" Eyes palette by NYX. I never actually spotted it in my local Ulta when it first came out, so I had all but forgotten it. It features 15 neutral eyeshadows, a mirror the size of the palette itself, 4 blushes, 1 bronzer, and 2 highlight colors. I love palettes because I travel quite a bit (even if it's short distances like to my grandma's house for a night or a friend's house... you get the idea). I just like having everything in one place and I like having wearable colors. This set doesn't have a color I wouldn't wear (except maybe the bronzer because I'm not keen on bronzers just yet). In fact, if you're new to makeup and you want to get a good starter kit... this would be the place to start if you can still find it at Ulta. I think it's $25, but don't quote me on that.

My mom told me she made several trips to Ulta and Sephora and agonized over which Too Faced Palette she thought would suit me best because she knew she wanted to buy me a new Too Faced palette. She always says I'm neutral-toned (I'm not convinced), but I agree that some colors (like the copper eyeshadow in my beloved Too Faced Glamour to Go palette) do not suit me well. She gave me the "Romantic Eye" palette and I'm very happy with it.

My dad actually picked out the Covergirl blushes. I mentioned to him that I wanted to try Covergirl blushes so I could experiment with colors. I know I had a trio similar to these blushes before and I've already tried one. My dad bought these in "Natural Rose" (the one on the left with the label carelessly ripped off by... me) and "Deep Plum" which I have yet to try.

And finally...

Why yes, those are lightsaber chopsticks! My boyfriend gave these to me because we both love Star Wars and sushi. While I love the makeup my parents bought me, I think this gift tops all others because it's special.

What do you usually get for your birthday?

Mini Haul: May 13, 2012

I did some shopping today at Ulta and Walgreens! Walgreens had a buy one, get one half off on both Covergirl and Revlon products. There were some Covergirl eyeshadow quads and trios I hadn't seen so I snatched some up (the quad is "Fairytale" and the trio is "Smoke Alarm"). Recently I've realized that I am not a big fan of the Maybelline Eyestudio Master Drama Eyeliners and that the best twist-up eyeliners (in my opinion, this can be different for everybody) are the Revlon Colorstay Eyeliners. I used to have the shade "Black" but the lid cracked and I replaced it with the previously mentioned Maybelline eyeliner. I still haven't replaced the Revlon in black, but I did buy "Teal" and "Charcoal" because I think they will add something unique to my collection. I really like "Blackberry" and I may buy that in a few weeks.

Ulta now has Bellaboo skin care! I am a few weeks away from turning 20 and I realize that the Bellaboo line is designed for younger teenagers, but I've heard so many positive things about the Bellaboo products that I felt like I needed to try something. I bought the EZ Blitz serum and once I finish up some other skin care products I have, I plan on buying more Bellaboo products. Ulta also now has the OPI Spiderman collection! I was immediately drawn to "Just Spotted the Lizard!" and I spotted a few other colors in the collection that look nice, so I may pick up those.

As always, if anybody specifically wants a review, just ask so I can review it here or on my YouTube channel sooner rather than later.