Author: Lara
Thanksgiving Ulta Haul
That’s right – at 7:30 AM, as we were driving to the in-laws’ place for Thanksgiving breakfast, I was Ulta shopping on my phone…
I cannot share my whole shipment, because again – there’s a gift. I can share the Ulta Nude Eye Shadow Palette that I gifted to myself. I couldn’t resist – it was $6 – half price! (If you haven’t noticed, I am HORRIBLE at Xmas shopping – I always end up buying more stuff for myself than anyone else!) I tried it this morning and was suitable impressed with the quality. It’s a bit odd that all of the shadows are pressed together in the same pan, but they are domed, so they don’t really infringe on each other. The palette didn’t come with a brush – it came with a foam applicator, which I actually prefer for my crease. I was underwhelmed with the applicator for the rest of my eye, so I;ll probably use one of my other brushes going forward.
I chose the variety sample pack and received L’Oreal Total Repair Extreme Reconstructing Shampoo, Conditioner and Emergency Recovery Mask; Biolage fiberstrong Intra-Cylane Fortifying Cream (huh?); and Amazing Cosmetics VelvetMineral Liquid Foundation in Medium-Beige (probably too dark). I’ll never need to steal hotel shampoo again!
Wait, What?
Remember that migraine? Turns out it was caused by a raging sinus infection. I finally broke down and went to Urgent Care today and got antibiotics…hoping to be back to normal soon…
Speaking of normal – this paint job isn’t. The colors in the bottle look nothing like what happened on my nails. I’m not complaining – it looks cool…but not what I expected.
Since I was feeling like crap, I did the bare minimum: one coast of Sinful Colors Base Coat, one coat of Sinful Colors “Mint Apple”, one coat of NYC Crystal Couture “Fashion Queen” and one coat of NYC “Grand Central Station”. (Although there’s a bit left in the bottle, I won’t be able to get it out without a fight – RIP “Grand Central Station”.)
“Mint Apple” was much more sheer than I thought it would be. I was surprised that “Fashion Queen” turned straight up gold on my nails – I was expecting a more orange sparkle. Now I know…
Teensy Ulta Haul
This is the time of year with deals too good to pass up. A few weeks ago, Ulta was running a special that made most of their cosmetics $5 each. If you got 3 of them, you also got a free Ulta makeup brush. I decided to try Ulta Minerals Finishing Powder, Ulta Gel Eye Liner in “Peacock” and Ulta Double Duty Lip Stain and Balm in “Fantasy”. (I think I have ALL of the Double Duties now!) The free brush I picked was the large eye shadow brush.
There was also a Christmas gift in the order…shhhhh…
There was also a special $5 off $10 purchase coupon. On top of that – free shipping on ALL orders!
Even though I just got that huge sample set, I picked the free fragrance samples. I got another vial of Juicy Couture “Viva La Juicy Noir”, Gucci “Made to Measure” Pour Homme and Oscar de la Renta “Oscar”. I’m afraid to crack them open after yesterday;s migraine…
Diamond Steel
I am fighting a migraine. If I am very, very still – the pounding almost subsides.
Sinful Colors Base Coat.
One coat of a nameless steely My Beauty Spot.
One coat of Sinful Colors “Queen of Beauty”.
One coat of NYC “Grand Central Station”.
Diamond Steel.
$3 Lotion
I got more lotion for my basket!
A few weeks ago, Bath & Body Works had all of their body lotion on sale for $3. My sister and I went in halfsies on an online order to get 10 of them, so we could also use a $10 off $30 coupon. I got “White Citrus”, “Secret Wonderland”, “Pure Paradise”, “Carried Away” and “Mad About You”.
I am nothing, if not predictable.
Nail Party – Mermaid Nails
My BFF gets her nails done at a salon, so we never get to have nail parties…but last night, I got to have one! Beth & family stayed over after stuffing our face at Thanksgiving, so after the boys and kids passed out, we got to have a nail (& wine) party!
I went for a mermaid look with Sally Hansen Glitter Effect “Court Jest” over 2 coats of Sinful Colors “Calypso” – a midnight teal creme. It was a one coater and I shouldn’t have done 2 coats, but I did and it got rather gloopy around the edges of my nails. Oh AND maybe because of wine. I am not a wine person, but Beth introduced me to White Lambrusco. I can drink that shit like a Capri Sun…which we did, out of sippy wine cups. Again, Sinful Colors Base Coat and Sally Hansen Diamond Flash for the top coat.
I wish I had grabbed Beth before we left because she did a really cool manicure with Butter London “The Black Knight” and essie Luxeffects “A Cut Above”. We had so much fun – I can’t wait to do it again!
Le Poop and Le Barf
Puss has being absolutely BEGGING to be featured on my site and today, she wouldn’t take NO for an answer.
My son thinks he is a comedian. As I gleefully opened up my Ulta “Finishing Touches” Fragrance Collection, he asked if any of the perfumes were from France. So I started reading off where the perfumes were from and he says, “I thought so – it smells like Le Poop and Le Barf.” How can a 9 year old be so funny?
A few Saturdays ago, I was sitting at my daughter’s Gymnastics Class and got an Ulta email…The special of the day was 2/$40 on the “Finishing Touches” set, plus a free stainless steel 3 piece serving set. Why not? I can keep one and use the other for a white elephant gift. (I was a little perturbed when I saw that Ulta will have these for $14.99 on Black Friday, but then again – that would require leaving the house on the most dangerous day of the year.)
Inside the box: Bvulgari “Omnia Crystalline”, Calvin Klein “Endless Euphoria”, DKNY “MYNY”, Estée Lauder “Modern Muse”, Giorgio Armani “Acqua Di Gioia”, Jimmy Choo “Jimmy Choo”, Juicy Couture “Viva La Juicy”, Lancôme “La Vie est Belle”, Philosophy “Loveswept” (the only one of these that I already own – I got it for Valentine’s Day), Prada “Prada Candy”, Ralph Lauren “Midnight Romance”, and Vince Camuto “Femme”. The set also came with a refillable purse atomizer and a $5 off Fragrance Coupon.
I also picked the mystery sample pack – I got L’Oreal EverSleek Intense Smoothing Shampoo, Conditioner and Humidity Defying Leave-in Creme; Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream and Redken Diamond Oil. Interesting…
I can’t wait to try all my new fragrances – I hope I like at least one of them…
Tarnished Chameleon
The gold to green shift in Revlon “Chameleon” reminds me of the tacky 70s tarnished brass fixtures in the trailer house I grew up in…to this day, I can’t stand the sight of brass fixtures – but I love it on my nails!
“Chameleon” is sheer, but I got good coverage in 2 coats – no VNL.
To get different looks, I used 2 different top coats that I thought would look dramatically different – but for some odd reason, they look EXACTLY the same. I can barely tell them apart. I used Butter London “Brass Monkey” on my thumb, middle finger and pinky. I used Sinful Colors “Twilight Twinkles” on my index and ring fingers. What the hell? “Brass Monkey” is iridescent CLEAR flakies and “Twilight Twinkles” is opaque gold shards! I used the Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coats, which for some reason caused HELLA bubbles with the top coats – especially the Butter London. I guess they don’t play well together…
Those Yellow Coupons…
HEB has me hooked with those yellow coupons…It’s like cold, hard cash!
They’ve got $2 off Revlon again and I thought there wasn’t anything I wanted…I saw “Chameleon” and I knew then that I was wrong. It’s a gold/green duochrome – I couldn’t say no.
The regular polishes are $3.67, so $1.67 after coupon is a steal!
Putting it on now…
Forget Red
I feel like my nails have been dark and goth for weeks…I felt the overwhelming urge to go girly and pink.
This is my new Sally Hansen Glitter Effect “Rogue Red” over Sinful Colors “Forget Now”. “Forget Now” is a Barbie Magenta pink with violet and blue glass shimmer. It is fairly sheer, but two coats gave nearly opaque coverage. (There was something weird about this bottle of “Forget Now” – there were black squiggles in the bottle, like metal shavings. I just smeared them off the brush on a nearby piece of junk mail. Very odd.) “Rogue Red” is pale red and pink jagged glitter. On a barely pink tinted base. On a naked nail, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that there is a touch of tint to the base.
I used the Sinful Colors Base Coat and Sally Hansen Diamond Flash for the base and top coats.
I painted my toes with just “Forget Now”. My toenails were stained from Zoya “Remy”, so there is a bit of a purple tint at the end of my toes that “Forget Now” couldn’t hide. I could have used the glitter to hide it, but I avoid glitter on my toenails – ain’t nobody got time fo dat! Until I can figure how to get my toes into a dip-it, that is…