Benefit Sale Haul

Benefit had a big sale on their website a couple weeks ago (I'm a little behind on posting) where some things were 50% off and I had to take advantage! I ended up finding 3 things I really wanted, plus I tried to limit myself since I just started working again. Here's what I got!

Posiepal: Benefit took their Posietint and put it with their California Kissin' lip gloss for a nice travel duo. I've been wanting to try another one of their tints for a while, so this seemed perfect. The website also says that it's a limited edition product. I don't remember how much it was originally ($24 maybe?) but I got it for $16.

Immediately after application. You can see the blue in the lipgloss.

After wiping off the Posietint. Nice stain!

The Posietint has a nice pink finish, more than I thought I would like, but it has definitely grown on me. I don't feel like it shows up very well on my cheeks and that I need to put a few layers on to get the color I want. I do, however, really like it on my lips. I haven't worn a pink like this before. It does seem to wear away oddly in the middle of my mouth, like it gets whiter? It's hard to describe.
The California Kissin' is a slightly blue tinted lip gloss that is supposed to make your teeth look whiter. I think the blue is just in little shimmery specks and is definitely clear when you put it on. I think it also enhances the color of the Posietint a lot too. Very happy with this purchase :)


Next I got two creaseless cream shadows. I got a sample size of a brownish color and I love it and have been wanting to buy more. They retail for $20 but I got these half off! They were selling the old packaging so the colors were limited. I wish I would've had the money to buy all 5 or 6 they had but I just couldn't do it, so I went with the basic colors: gunmetal gray and white gold.

"Strut" is the gunmetal gray color I chose. You can see the old packaging was darker but had a cute card with a picture and a saying on the back. This is a nice darker color with lots of shimmer, which I love. The formula doesn't seem to be any different than the sample I got, meaning it still wears all day with no creasing!

Then I got "Tattle Tale" which is a nice bright white gold. I have a color like this from a different company but that product is definitely not creaseless. I love the color but was always frustrated with it. Benefit's color leans more white than gold, but does have that warmth to it. I've been wearing a lot of plain sparkly whites and golds lately so I couldn't pass this up! It's also a perfect base for any other color you want to wear.


With any order from benefitcosmetics.com, you get 2 free samples. They only have a selection of a few different ones to choose from that change all the time. The two I chose were the Total Moisture Facial Cream because I had never tried it, and the Agent Zero Shine finishing powder because I love it so much!

bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB Cream Eyeshadow

I received a sample of the bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB Cream Eyeshadow in my July Ipsy Glam Bag in the shade Divine Wine. I really liked the formula so I went out to buy something that would hopefully be a little more of an everyday color. I bought Blushing Pink.

Sample size (left) vs full size (right)

The sample and the full size came with the same applicator. It's not quite a doe-foot, because it seems to be fluffy on 2 sides and more flat on 2 sides. The application is very easy, but I prefer to use a brush with it. I usually swipe on 2 lines of color on my eyelid, then quickly blend out with a brush. If I want the color a little darker, I'll wait until I've done the other eye, then go back and add one or two more swipes and blend again.

The 5 in 1 is supposed to be: long-wearing color, primer, brightening, smooths line, and protects with SPF 15. I can attest to the fact that this will not come off. It doesn't ever crease on me, and lasts all day! Even when I swatched it on my hand, it wouldn't budge after it dried. I really like that this has an SPF of 15 too. So few eye products have SPF, even though it's one of the most sensitive areas of the face, and somewhere where you probably never put sunscreen.

I'm a little disappointed in the color - I was hoping the pink would be more pink, but on my skin it just sort of blends in. I hope bareMinerals will come out with some bolder colors soon because I don't just use this as a primer, but an actual colored shadow.

Ipsy Glam Bag July 2014

Each month, subscribers will receive a beautiful Glam Bag with deluxe samples and full-sized beauty products. Members can watch and play along with the stylists with the same products that they are using. All for only $10 a month. 

When you sign up, you take a "beauty quiz" to let them know what you like. I guess Ipsy is kind of a social network-type beauty website, but I don't do all of that. There's also some sort of points system that I haven't quite figured out. You get 10 points for each review, but you usually need 1000 points to get some kind of bonus product, of which they only have 3 to choose from at a time. There are points for referrals too, but I don't badger my friends into signing up. If you would like to sign up, please consider using my referral link: http://www.ipsy.com/r/4q7r

This month's theme: Sensationally Sunkissed

The bag this month is a little bit bigger. Closer in size to the April bag, kind of square. I really like this size to use as an actual makeup bag. It's soft on the inside and plain white, but I wish they would've spent a little more time making them. Two of my three "scalloped" sides don't line up.

This month was much better than last month. I'm pretty ok with everything I got. There wasn't much else that I would've rather had either. I'm not sure how well most of it fits with the theme, but whatever.

bareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow Broad Spectrum SPF 15 in Divine Wine: I was so excited to get this! I just saw it in my Ulta ad and was curious about it, then saw it was an option for this month's bag. The 5-in-1 is supposed to be: long-wearing color, primer, brightening, smooths lines, and protects with SPF.  I'm really impressed with the long-wearing claim - this swatch has not moved in the few hours that I've had it on since I took the picture. Once it dries, it is on there. There is a faint shimmer to it that I didn't notice until it dried too. The color seems pretty dark but I've started using this with a blending brush - just swipe on one line of product, then blend out with a brush so it's not so intense. Makes a nice soft shadow color that lasts all day! I hope they start making this in other colors, not just neutrals. I may go buy one of the pinks I see on the package though.

Clear Clinic Laboratories Vanished Clear Spot Treatment: I guess I didn't even know this was an option but I can always use a spot treatment. I think it has menthol in it, because I saw some people complain about it, but I like the cooling effect that happens once you put it on. I can't really tell if it does anything. I think it does. I don't have too many problem areas at the moment though.

Lord & Berry Kajal Stick in Black Silk: A teeny tiny eyeliner that a lot of people seem excited about. Looks just like a perfect travel size eyeliner for me. But I guess it's supposed to be closer to the kohl that Egyptians used or something? I don't know. It's smooth and smudges easily. Nice and dark. Don't see much different than other eyeliners I have. Will keep this in a bag for travel I think.

Hang Ten Dark Tanning Oil SPF 08: A LOT of people complained about this product when I was announced as an option. "Blah blah skin cancer blah" over and and over again. Or "blah blah I'm too dark to use tanning oil I can't believe you sent this to me blah" but others used it as a moisturizer. Personally, I'm glad I got it. I like tanning. I usually only use about SPF 8 or 10... the lowest I can find at the time. I got the Hang Ten SPF 50 sunscreen in one bag and have not used it, but this I will definitely use. I wouldn't say it has a great smell, but it's horrible either.

Models Own Nail Polish in Red Sea: This is the only product I'm not happy with this month. I like glitter nail polish but this is just cheap. The description says you can wear it alone or on top of your favorite color for a "glistening top coat". Clearly, I can't. I expected the red to be more clear after reading that but this was one coat. And it doesn't apply evenly either. It's thick and doesn't spread very well - the red itself... not because of the glitter chunks. This will go in the back of the cupboard and I'll forget about it. I don't have anyone younger to give stuff like this to like others so I'm stuck.
*Update: I did legitimately try this on all 10 fingers and it was terrible. Hard to spread, took hours (yes, HOURS!) to fully dry - it didn't wipe off or anything, but stayed very gel-y for a long time. And it is the worst to take off! I've taken off glitter before but this was chunks of confetti. Awful.

MAC Paint Pots

I read some amazing things about MAC's Paint Pots. Initially, what caught my attention was that the colors Soft Ochre and Painterly could be used as an undereye concealer. The person who posted it said it was great because they didn't crease. So, I ran out and got both colors.

After some research, Paint Pots are just a creaseless cream eyeshadow, and the two colors I bought are used more as eye primers. The sales associate told me the Soft Ochre works best under warmer colors, such as golds or greens because of it's yellow undertone. Painterly works best under cooler colors such as purples and blues because of it's pinker undertone. Both colors look very natural on my skin.

I can't say much about the priming power though. I still feel like it creases and doesn't seem to make my shadow colors any bolder. I have noticed that setting the Paint Pots with a powder first, then applying eyeshadow seems to work better as far as creasing goes.

It also did not work as an undereye concealer. They are WAY too thick to use under eyes. Lots of pulling and hard to blend on thin skin. When I finally got it blended out, it creased right away because of the thickness.

The nice thing is that they will last FOREVER. Especially because I don't use them very much. They are $20 a piece, but you get a lot and doesn't take very much for each use. Right now I'm trying to decide what color I want to buy next, and use as an actual eyeshadow.

Beautylish Inglot Eyeshadow Palette

I have so many eyeshadows that I never wear! I've only been wearing about 5 colors lately: Gold, Pink, Purple, Green, and some other sparkle/base like White. I finally looked into making my own palette of just the colors I use. I know you can do this with Mary Kay shadows and I think Urban Decay has something like that. After just googling "custom eyeshadow palette" I found Beautylish! The link took me right to a page that lets you choose how big you want your palette: 2, 4, 5, 10, or 20 spots and what colors you want. There's also an option to view what the colors look like on light or dark skin. After a lot of debating, because the price was a little more than I'd hoped, I finally decided what I wanted. I made an account and immediately got an email saying they were giving me $10 off $50 or more just for signing up! That meant if I chose one more color (a sixth) then I would be paying LESS with taxes, and shipping was free (I forget why). Plus, if I placed my order before 7pm Pacific time, they would be able to ship the order the same day! I got my box 2 days later.

The box came stamped with a personal signature.

All packed in there nicely.

AND it came with a personalized note! How cool is that? It definitely makes me feel comfortable ordering from them again, knowing they put such care into their shipments.

My palette and all the little shadow boxes.

Here's what I chose! All sparkly: White, Beige, Gold, Pink, Purple and Green.

They are all magnetic and came in this plastic packaging.

I thought I could just pull on the corner to peel it off, but the green was being stubborn. The plastic was thicker than I anticipated.

The rest of them had nice corners to peel up.

All four corners of the lid are magnetized so you can slide it up like this, or just slide it up from one side as I sometimes do in the mornings if I knew I want one of the end colors. The lid is also a very durable plexiglass type material.

This picture makes them all look very light but they are buildable and I don't like my eyeshadow to bright anyway. They are perfect for me!

As soon as I knew I loved every color, and cleaned out my makeup bag of all the individual shadows I had in there. I have so much room now! I couldn't believe it. Now I just have this palette, a matchbook-style eyeshadow brush holder, and 2 tiny sets of 4 colors I got from Birchbox: one more oranges and golds, and one more browns. This palette was a little expensive, but being able to clean out my bag and make all that room was totally worth it!