Beauty Haul! Ulta, Sephora & Misc.

Hello! I meant to post more regularly but two weeks ago after attending a lovely theater show with some friends I suddenly came down with the chills. I was very ill and running a fever. My doctor prescribed some antibiotics and then I spent the next week trying to get over a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotics. I broke out in hives all over my face that then blistered. Thankfully I am all better now. 

Wanted to show some new products I picked up over the past couple of months. I'm super excited to try these out and report back on them in the future. 


Ulta Haul:

I took advantage of the 21 days of Beauty sale to get the first three items listed. I love Butter London polishes so I was excited to pick those up. I've been wanting to try the Anastasia Brow Gel for awhile and I was happy to pick that up for 50% off. I love NYX Butter Glosses so got a few new shades. And with a recent 20% off coupon finally picked up the It Cosmetics eyeshadow palette. I'm super excited about this palette. I kept telling myself I didn't need it; then I happened to swatch it one day and was blown away by how pigmented and soft the shadows were. And I was thrilled that I got a free It's a 10 treatment. It's 4 oz and a $20 value! I've heard people rave about it but couldn't bring myself to pay that much for it so was excited to get it for free. But on the downside, what if I love it?  


Butter London Nail Lacquer in Primrose Hill Picnic 
Butter London Nail Lacquer in Molly Coddled
Anastasia Clear Brow Gel
NYX Butter Gloss in Creme Brûlée 
NYX Butter Gloss in Merengue
It Cosmetics Natrually Pretty Palette Vol 1 Matte Luxe Transforming Eye Shadow Palette
Free Gift with Purchase It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Plus Keratin



Sephora Haul:

 


The Sephora Spring's Hottest Ticket event offered 15% off and I couldn't resist getting a few items. I've heard a lot about Bite Beauty and was eager to try them out. The shade I got is limited edition but it's a lovely midtone lavender. Everyone raves about Nars concealer so I finally caved and picked one up. I already have one of these Josie Maran blushes and love the formula. So easy to apply and gives the most believable looking flush. I love the Beauty Blender for applying liquid or gel products and could not resist the beautiful limited edition purple one! I've been on the lookout for a new makeup remover. My regular cleanser does a good job but I wanted something that would help dissolve makeup quicker with less rubbing; so I picked this one up from Clinique, hope it works out. And they actually had a 100 point perk I was interested in and got the Buxom gloss. 


Bite Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick in Lavender
Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Light 2 Vanilla
Josie Maran Coconut  Watercolor Cheek Gelee in Berry Bliss
Limited Edition Beauty Blender in Royal Purple
Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Milk
Buxom Full-on Lip Polish in the color Sophia 100 Point Perk


Misc Haul:

 
And recently picked up a few items from various places. I'm excited to give this new Paula's Choice powder a shot. If you look at my previous post I had some great luck with a few new beauty products they recently introduced so I expect thus will be no different! The Balm was on Haute Look not too long ago so I picked up their new highlighter for 50% off. How cute is their packaging?! Could not pass up that Deborah Lippmann polish. It's the prettiest periwinkle blue. And decided to try out a MAC blush. My first ever if you can believe it.  


Paula's Choice Resist Instant Smoothing Satin Finish Powder in Light/Medium
The Balm Cindy-Lou Manizer
Deborah Lippmann nail polish in Blue Orchid
MAC Blush in Peony Petal



So I hope you enjoyed reading about the new stuff I picked up; I did some serious discount shopping recently. The only items I paid full price for were the Deborah Lippmann polish and the MAC blush. Please let me know if you have any questions! 


If you've never tried Paula's Choice and are interested in trying out some of her products here is a link for a $10 discount on a $15 purchase! Keep in mind that Paula's Choice offers a full 60 day money back guarantee if you are not fully satisfied with your item(s).

New Paula's Choice Favorites!

Hello everyone. Hope you are all doing well. I apologize for neglecting my blog for awhile. Life unfortunately got in the way for a bit but now that everything has settled down I'm ready to jump back in.

I have a batch of new favorites from Paula's Choice. These have been purchased in the past couple of months so I've had time to try them out.

First item I want to talk about is my new holy grail skin product. It is the Paula's Choice RESIST Weekly Retexturizing Foaming Treatment 4% BHA. This is designed to be a once a week treatment to improve, texture, redness, breakouts, blackheads and enlarged pores to name a few. I was super excited to try it out when it arrived and that night I eagerly cleansed my skin and prepared to use this for the first time. The product in the bottle is liquid. But when you pump it out it becomes a foam. One pump is recommended for the entire face and you should avoid the eye and lip area. I smoothed one pump over my skin and worked it in gently. It adsorbed quickly and I followed with my regular routine. In the morning when I woke up I looked in the mirror and was shocked that with one use I could see and feel a difference. I have rosacea and my redness was very minor. My skin felt super soft and noticeably smoother; some small bumps I had the day before were gone. I've been using once to twice a week ever since I've received it. It's made a huge difference in breakouts, smoothness and improving redness from rosacea. I absolutely love this product and cannot rave about it enough. I fully recommend giving it a try!

The second item I want to talk about is also a skin care item. It is the RESIST C15 Super Booster. It is a concentrated vitamin C that you can use to mix in with your serum to give it a boost! It helps to fade brown spots, improve collagen production and help improve the look of wrinkles. I use it by mixing it with my RESIST Retinol Serum. You can also mix it with your moisturizer or use it alone. I feel it gives me skin a nice glow that it never had before. I've definitely noticed it boosting my serum and keeping my skin smooth and tight.

Now for some makeup!

First makeup item I want to talk about is the new Paula's Choice MegaLength Lash-Extending Mascara. This is my new holy grail mascara. I absolutely love this mascara. I love the formula, the brush, the wear everything! Lets start with the brush. It is a skinny brush (but not to skinny) with bristles that wrap around the brush in a spiral pattern. It allows me to get super close to the base of my lashes and really catch every single lash as I sweep up. I usually do two coats and the brush is great for keeping the lashes separated and preventing clumps. The mascara formula is a dryer formula. It's not super wet. Which I actually quite like because it prevents transfer when I blink. I always get transfer from other mascaras as soon as I apply them and have to try and not to blink so I don't get little black marks on the skin. And for $12 you can't beat the price. My lashes look super long and really open up my eyes.

Second makeup item is the new Paula's Choice Sunkissed Custom Color Bronzer. It's a huge disc with a split pan and one light shade and one dark shade of bronzer. You can then customize the application by using either one or the other or mixing for your prefect shade. I love this bronzer. It does not look muddy and I like that I can use different shades. I use the darker one for contouring my cheeks and the lighter one for bronzing around the perimeter of my face. I also love that this bronzer is matte so it's great for using everyday.

And my final makeup item is the Paulas's Choice The Nude Mattes Eyeshadow Palette. This is a great neutral palette for everyday where. It has 12 eyeshadows, they are all matte except for 1. The shade Pink Sugar. This color is a soft pink with a soft satin finish. I love this shade! I like to apply this to my entire lid and inner corners and just gives such a beautiful eyeopening effect! I also like the shade Cafe Au Lait, I think it's the perfect crease blending color. I also like to use the color Onyx and use it as an eye liner with a damp angled brush. These shadows are nice and soft with a nice pigmentation. They build and blend up nicely. I'm really loving it! I've not used any other palette since I received this one.

I hope you enjoyed these reviews and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

  

If you've never tried Paula's Choice and are interested in trying out some of her products here is a link for a $10 discount on a $15 purchase! Keep in mind that Paula's Choice offers a full 60 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with your item!

Stiletto Nails

I was recently looking at some nail pics on Instagram and it got my thinking about the current nail trend, Stiletto Nails. While I get the appeal of this trend it's just not my cup of tea. They don't seem very practical for day to day and I'm afraid of stabbing myself in the eye.

I personally prefer a short rounded nails. I just like the way the look, simple, classic and chic. I also like to try fun colors as well as classic colors. I love glitter, textured polish and nail strips. But the current nail trend made me back away slowly. It can easily look tacky. For now I think I will just stick to my short rounded nails. Not to mention the fact my husband would probably be afraid to sleep next to me if I had sharp pointy nails!

Beauty Haul Video

New beauty haul video is up on the LizzyandEve channel! Hope you'll check it out! http://youtu.be/T51pTiUoVFo Please subscribe for future posts!

Sephora vs Ulta Perks

So this year for the first time ever I reached VIB status at Sephora and Platinum status at Ulta. And in comparing the rewards and perks I realized that one reward program stood out to me in particular.

So in case you're not familiar with the rewards programs I'll explain what they are. At Sephora you register for their Beauty Insider program. Every time you make a purchase you give them your card or email address and you get 1 point for every $1 spent. You get a gift in your birthday month. You save up your points and when you hit 100 points they have deluxe samples at the check out that you can trade in for. And they also occasionally have 250 point perks and 500 point perks as well. Once your spend $350 in a calendar year you qualify for VIB status. This elevated status gives you access to pre-sales, special gifts and promotions. Example of 100 point perks are small perfume samples, a mini lipstick or nail polish etc. Example of a 250 point perk is a bag with several samples in it or a phone case. And a 500 point perk I saw recently was a Tarte goody bag with samples of a mascara, oil, cream eyeshadow, blush and a finishing powder or a mini bottle of perfume. You can earn points both online and in store.  

At Ulta they have UltaMate Rewards. You use your card or phone number for your membership. At the initial level you earn 1 point for every dollar spent. Now I do know that how the rewards vary from state to state. In my state you get a discount off of your purchase with your points. For example 100 points gets you $3.00 of your purchase. The great thing about these points is they can be used on high end cosmetics! In other regions they have a points level you reach that gets your free stuff like a free nail polish etc. You also get special member only offers, discounts and you can earn points for online purchases as well as in store purchases. The points expire at the end of the quarter one year after you earned them.

Now once you spend $350 in a calender year you become a Platinum Rewards member. You earn 1.25 points for every dollar spent. You get a birthday gift and as long as you maintain your platinum level your points never expire.

Now this year I hit the levels at both Sephora and Ulta and the perks have been dramatically different. At Sephora one I hit VIB status I got a welcome kit that gave me a 10% of my entire purchase coupon, a free shipping coupon and a free makeup consultation. And recently there was a promotion that gave me 3x the points for my purchase. I eventually racked up enough points to get one of the Tarte 500 point perks.

At Ulta once I was near Platinum I got an email I got an email for a bonus 250 points if I made a $35 purchase. This was in addition to my 1.25 points per dollar. 250 points = $8.00 off my next purchase. Pretty sweet deal. Took advantage of that. Then in August I got an email for 3x's the points all month long. Picked up a few necessities. Then this past Monday I got the mother of all deals. 10x's the points on any online purchase for one day only. My jaw dropped open, my heart started beating a little faster. I had just made a purchase the week before with my 3x's the points. Should I make another purchase? Then I did the math. A $100 purchase would get me 1000 points. 1000 points = $50 off my next purchase. That's like getting 50% off! It was a no brainer. I went ahead and splurged on a couple of high end items I'd had my eye on. Since becoming Platinum in the month of July I've gotten enough points to get $142.50 worth of free stuff. It has become clear to me that Ulta has the best rewards program for me. Now granted Sephora carry's several brands that Ulta does not but for the items I can get at Ulta it is totally worth it!

What do you think? Which rewards program has worked better for you?

YouTube

My sister Eve and I decided to start a channel and talk beauty. Please check us out and subscribe! We should be posting new videos shortly. We will be collaborating on some of the videos but others will be individual ones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWPbzxo-2zY Hope you're having a wonderful day!

July Favorites

My sister and I started a new channel on YouTube. We are both makeup junkies and decided to brave the YouTube world together and put ourselves out there. Our first video was July Favorites. Check it out. And hopefully you will subscribe for future videos.We were nervous and need to figure out our lighting and camera but I think it was a decent start :-).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWPbzxo-2zY