Chickie Adventure Box: April Edition

In an attempt to keep each other at bay and not buy entire makeup collections at Ulta, Sephora or wherever makeup is sold really, I have a bestie called Chickie whom I brainstormed this beyond amazing idea. Much like Louise at Sprinkle of Glitter who lives in the UK and her girlfriend Marie from the States who goes by the YouTube name Bits and Clips share boxes back and forth filled with fun things, we decided to do the same! I mean, the boxes are just traveling up and down the East Coast of the US but it's still a fun little friend thing we get to do together. Each of us takes a month and with a monetary limit (we both have shopping addictions so a limit was necessary!), we buy makeup items and other cutie pie things for each other. Too. Cute. Since March was Chickie's birthday, April was deemed my month and clearly upon receiving my box, I was excited, huh?

My nickname is clearly Bunnie as illustrated. I think the stars really highlight the magic inside the box... also they hide where I live so all my crazy fans don't show up outside of my home, begging for makeup tips and autographs with eyeliner. Peasants. (JK but seriously.)

Since I literally reacted as violently as an overexcited child at Christmas, I didn't give myself enough time to take a picture of the inside of the box. Chickie is one fun, creative chick (haha) and she wrote me this cutie pie letter where every item she bought was written out with a description why she bought it for me, why she thought I would like it. Best of all, on said cutie pie letter, the descriptions were blocked off with different scraps of fancy wrapping paper so I had to bend each back to see what they were! Like a makeup Advent calendar! I also had to find the corresponding number on the wrapped presents on the inside. It truly was a magical adventure box! To say I tore into this thing would be an understatement. I attacked it, unable to control myself. I actually squealed multiple times (I'm not proud, okay.) but everything was just so fun! See how many exclamation points I used in those sentences!!!!!!!!

Okay... so here were the items inside my adventure box:

Can you even??? She rocks my socks, man. Okay, first things first: there were two items that I didn't take pictures of. They were two magazines: One the UK Cosmo from March with my girl from the Saturdays, Mollie King on the cover. I'm obsessed with her and her cat eyes which Chickie knows all too well. The other was the TV Guide with Game of Thrones people on them AKA Robb Stark (Boss of the North), Catelyn Stark (Momma Hostage) and Jon Snow (Sweet Beautiful Half Stark). Now while my heart pitterpats for Robb, it can't be contained when it comes to Jon Snow. Those lips. The unruly hair spending this season thus far matted with ice. The fact that he's so bastardly (but literally, he is). I just can't. I may make a montage on my wall with the pictures from the articles. Like I'm in sixth grade again.

Because she's such a good friend, she sent me the correct shade of the ELF liquid foundation in Sand. It's still a little dark but nothing like my flirting with Beyonce status when I got the deceiving dark color Buff. Even my half Italian-ness couldn't pull that off! She also sent me the ELF gel eye liner in black. She swears by gel liner but my first attempt was pitiful and looked as though I was trying to be Captain Jack Sparrow. No joke. More like Captain Jack Sparrow after being punched in the eyeballs. I desperately need to practice and get a solid brush from either MAC or Sephora or something. Otherwise, I may just stick to liquid! The last ELF product she got me was the tone correcting powder (see below). It's a bevy of magical colors that are supposed to even you out. I have yet to figure out if it goes on first or last or middle for that matter. I used some after I applied my foundation and didn't notice that much of a difference but after playing around with it, I'll probably figure it out.

I was then gifted with not 1, not 2, not even 3, ladies and gents, but 4, (I know!) 4 lipsticks! Being the lipstick queen, I was very excited to say the least! The first soft pink top one is called Princess and it's by CoverGirl. Technically, it's a lipslick so it's creamy, shimmery and while not matte, it will be pretty after I get a bit of a tan and need more moisture on my lips. Now the next two are both Revlon, a company that I love love LOVE to death, almost as much as I love NYX, I would do anything to be their spokeswoman like the most embarrassing degrading shit, and both are part of the Super Lustrous lipstick line. Both are also pearl and creamy but not balmy like the CoverGirl lipslick is. The top color is called 425 Softsilver Red and the one under it is 410 Softshell Pink. To be honest, I haven't tried either one, I just swatched them. I'm not the hugest fan of cream lipsticks, as I've now said a thousand times, but they seem to be decent colors for the summer. The last bottom color is by Sephora, it's their Rouge Shine lipstick in No46. The stick looks quite dark but actually when I wore it, it applied almost like a fuchsia which you can kind of see as the swatch. I got a TON of compliments on this color. My only big complaint was that since it's not matte, it wore off quite easily. I had to reapply maybe 5 or 6 times over the course of the day. Next time, I'm going to try and wear it with a lip primer to see if that will help it stay but otherwise, I am a big fan despite the lack of lastability (that's really not a word? I call bullshit.)

Okay, I may have thrown up in my mouth (in a good way!) when I opened the Urban Decay Naked basics eyeshadow palette. I mean, just look at it. I literally am going to give no other description. So you can just throw up in your mouth too. BTW, why is the third one in called W.O.S. and WTF does that mean? I'm not losing sleep over it or anything, but it's just an odd name for such a pretty color.

Aside from being a lipstick junkie, my other makeup kryptonite is blush. Surprising, but true. I enjoy a good blusher. Even though I didn't add it to my Must Haves, I also have a little brain like a chipmunk (or a bunny! Get it because my nickname is Bunnie? Shut up.) so just add blush into my mix. I'm a big huge fan of coral and peach colored blushes and this coral one is just to die for. It's by Stila and it's custom color blush that self-adjusts. Basically, in layman's terms, you slap some on and it finds the right pigment to compliment your skin tone. Magical. I know. This one is in the color Coral and when I put it on, it ended up more pink than orange which I found surprising considering I believe I have more yellow undertones. Irregardless, it's lovely. Subtle but noticeably pretty in a truly soft blush kind of way. I enjoyed the bit of shimmer it gave me and didn't even need to use a highlighter with it.

Lastly, she hit me up with the Rimmel London Scandeleyes mascara in Black and it packs a punch. Really pretty, not flaky, thick gorgeous lashes were acquired after using it. Would look great for a night out. I also got a set of 4 blending sponges which are fun pastel colors and different shapes. Love! And last but not least, she gave me a sample set of benefit's they're Real! mascara and Watt's Up! highlighter. Can I tell you how in love I am with these two products? The mascara is out of control. The most beautiful mascara I've ever used. The wand is odd and really spiky like it has this rounded spiky ball on the top? It's hard to explain and I failed to snap a pic but essentially you can use it for the lashes in the corners and your bottom lashes. I literally looked like I was wearing false eyelashes. The highlighter is just as magical. It's this stunning champagne like color that applies creamy on a stick but dries matte. It blends beautifully and does literally makes you glow. I had to have been at least 100 watts. I put some on my cheekbones, down my nose, a dot on my forehead and a dot on my chin. I felt like Athena. Or Aphrodite. Or the Goddess of Makeup whom I don't think exists. I can't recommend them enough!!! Look more exclamation points so you know I'm serious!

Okay, you've read enough. You poor things. Your eyeballs are probably bleeding. I'm wordy, I'm sorry. I'm also way too excited so my brain keeps telling me to write stuff. Sharing a fun passion like beauty with your friend is such a cute, feminine bonding experience. Getting to try products you would have never even thought to try before is a exciting way to amp up your look- go for the soft ladylike face or the sultry smoky eye, bold lip, anything and everything! It can't be wrong which is what makes it even better! So surprise a pal with a fun adventure box! Go on, do it! Then you'll get a fun adventure box in return! Fun adventure boxes to go around!

I'm done.

Target Haul 4-4-13

So ordinarily, I have some semblance of self control, not much but some. When a product line is cheapcheapCHEAP then I DEFINITELY have ZERO self control. To the point where I probably should be heavily medicated and have my credit card taken away. Under a recommendation from a bestie, I took a ride to Target to get my hands on some elf. No, no not the supernatural woodland creature or Santa's little buddy, but Target's cosmetics line where I think the most expensive product is like $15. Yeah. Let's talk about it. Needless to say, I went a tad cray. If you know nothing about what a Target is, I'm sorry because uh what? Target is magic. It's like Walmart kind of. You can literally walk into Target with no intention of buying anything and you'll walk out with a cute pair of flats, some shampoo, a new bathroom rug and probably an appliance. Or two. Who are you kidding? Three! It just has that kind of shopping fairy dust that it must drop on every unsuspecting soul that traverses inside.

First and foremost, I am going to update the products I bought that weren't elf and just had to have.

I'm not a big CoverGirl fan. I maybe just haven't found the right products from there, but irregardless, I mostly stay away. These colors just called to me. I'm the slob who is still rocking the super-chipped-yet-hanging-on gel manicure I got for when I went to London (Another time, another blog post. You don't even know.) Yeah, I went to London in JANUARY. I needed some nailspiration and these Outlast Stay Brilliant shades did just that. Left to right is My Papaya, Lav-endure and Mint Mojito. I literally didn't even swatch them on my nails and just bought them before I needed to be dragged out of the store. I DO however have a small swatch on my left hand thumb of My Papaya that seems to be going strong. It's a very nice shimmery coral color. I can't wait until I actually have the nail beds and the patience to make my nails pretty for Spring!
Next up is Maybe it's... yeah.. you guessed it, Maybelline.

Maybelline's Colorsensatational Coral Crush has been RAVED about all over the beauty bloggersphere, beauty/fashion magazines and just about everywhere lipstick can be raved about. It looks quite glossy on my skin but matter of fact, it dried pretty matte. If you know me, you know my obsession with lipstick. If you know my obsession with lipstick, you know that I'm a matte girl all the way. Chapped lips be damned: Go matte or go home. I was very pleased to find this dried nicely and kept it's color throughout my time at work (which was a long day and included a couple of cookies). My one complaint is that the inside of my lip managed to get a bit filmy after maybe 2 hours of wear which doesn't usually happen with matte lipstick (at least not for me) because it's dried so completely to your lips. It was okay, I reapplied, patted it and it seemed to last a little better that way. I got a lot of compliments and for a girl who wears a lot of different lipstick shades, that was very exciting! I was told my eyes looked brighter which was awesome since I did a mute eye since this shade can be a bit shocking. It was the perfect color to ring in Spring!

Now knowing I'm a matte lipstick girl, these Baby Lips tinted lip balms are a step in a weird direction for me. Glossy, hydrated lips?? Who knew! Left+top color is Peach Kiss and right+bottom color is Coral Crush (original Maybelline... real original). They deposit a rich amount of color that doesn't look or feel tacky. For a girl who doesn't like lip balm, I was pleasantly surprised. I think they would be nice to keep as a backup to throw in your purse in case you forget your lipstick that day or if you're headed to the beach.
Before I binged on elf products, the last line I took a look at was the Kate Moss line by Rimmel London

These Lasting Finish lipsticks are magical. Beautiful, smooth rich colors without typical fading. The last-ability is pretty fantastic and that included eating dinner and wiping my mouth several times. The bottom picture of the swatches is unfortunately a bit blurry but I have to say that the top color 101 is this stunning baby pink that bright without washing you out. I would highly recommend to pair with a smokey eye or a thick liquid eyeliner because it's just the right amount of compliment for your lips. The bottom color 109 is a fantastic orange-red which is perfect for the change of season if you love wearing red lips as much as I do! Both dry matte but manage to look creamy which tickled me in all the right ways. The Kate line is affordable and diverse in color range and best of all, it won't break the bank and make you look like you're wearing a high end lipstick.
Okay people, the moment you've all been waiting for...

I'll start with eye purchases. Can I just say the concealer/highlighter combo is UH-MAYZINNN??!?11! Dear God, ignore that but don't ignore the fact that this product rocks socks. I got mine in medium/glow since I'm half Italian and manage to be quite olive-y. This product is MAGIC. I wore it the other day and the highlighter literally made me glow. They don't play around! I felt like a walking light bulb which is a good thing because I think everyone did double takes! The bestie who suggested I go pick these products up literally made me Skype her to tell her what I did. The highlighter is my new everything. The concealer was the perfect amount of coverage and didn't cake or get runny. Highly HIGHLY recommend. The liquid eyeliner is standard- for $1, it was a complete steal. I've been agonizing over whether or not to splurge and get some high end shit. Not necessary. It makes making wings very easy and it lasted all day long. Thumbs up. Now here comes the real issue for me: I must have the oiliest eyelids in creation. I have two of the Urban Decay eyelid primers, I have another one from Almay I think and by the end of the day, I'm Creasey McCreaseyeyelids and it sucks and I hate it. I shit you not, this is a great eyelid primer. It's skin tone, goes on wet but dries almost immediately and lasts all day long. I had some creases towards the corner of my eye but when I tell you minimal, I mean MINIMAL. I think because I know my eyelids start greasing off towards the middle/end of the day, I was being extra critical. I can't say enough good things about it. It was even sheer enough that it didn't take away from my eyeshadow which was a sheer color as well. So fantastic, I may go buy more so I can give them out to people I like (there aren't many). The rest I'd keep for myself and roll around in.

Since I'm the Queen of Lips, I figured I needed some extra some-something to keep my kisser at its best! The Lip Exfoliator I could eat. It literally smells and tastes like brown sugar which is a bit of a problem for me since I can eat brown sugar with a spoon from the bag. It seems to do a decent job- I've used it for the past couple of nights after I shower and I've noticed a difference. However, I must be the Hulk because I broke the stick inside the applicator so now it's just kind of flopping around (that's what she said). Right now, it's not an issue but it might be the more I use it. So my advice if you get it: be gentle. Don't use your super strength on that. Use it on lifting cars or mountains and shit. The lip primer is okay. It's a standard primer and really, I didn't need to buy it. I haven't noticed that much of a difference using it under my lipstick. I haven't even touched the plumper because I don't really need to go there. I have plump enough lips. Plus some of those plumpers have weird weirdness in it that make your lips tingle and I'm just not about that.

I've been searching for a Kabuki brush everywhereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I've wanted one so bad but I really wasn't willing to go broke over it. This one cost me (let me check the receipt) $6. Yep. That's it folks. It's magical. It literally feels like rolling a kitten over your face. Maybe that's weird for you but for me, it's otherworldly. The concealer brush sucked but most of them do. It was stiff and only cost me a dollar so I just threw it out. This foundation brush though is amazing. Also a dollar, this was well worth it. Great with application of foundation and also for blending highlighter on my cheeks. It got all the nooks and crannies with such an affordable price tag. I'm considering buying another!

Ignore my hand reflection and the awkward iPhone pic but you know, not all of us are decent photographers. The elf Flawless Finish Foundation in the middle looks like it could be good but alas. I got it in Buff which looked like the perfect medium skin tone color on the packaging but when I tried it, I literally became Jennifer Lopez. It is mysteriously darker: crafty one, that foundation. I was quite upset about that actually. The palette on the left is a bronzer and it's in the shade Golden. This is very pretty, shimmery and will look quite nice as a highlighter or otherwise during the summer months. I actually have been using it to contour which has been working out nicely. The four colors together blend almost perfectly and go on smoothly. The blush on the right is called Candid Coral. I'm a huge fan of corals and peaches. The peach blush they had (I can't remember the name of it) had no sparkle to it and I already have a matte peach from NYX that I'm obsessed with so I didn't bother. This is such a flattering color. Gives you the right amount of blusher without creating the Bozo effect. It's deliciously warm and will give the right amount of blush and sparkle when the sun really starts coming out!

Now I'm spent. Literally. I've spent every dollar I had to save but it was well worth it! Not surprisingly, once I got a coupon in my email for Ulta, I took a ride there! So I have another magical haul for you all but I won't overwhelm you at once! Also I swear I read books. In fact, I have a rather daunting pile for the library next to my bed that mocks me while I'm on YouTube in my bed, watching makeup videos. I'll get you a review sooner or later. For now, go out, spend all your money like I did (so I won't feel so bad) and tell me that you love elf as much as I do!