November E.l.f Beauty Bundle!

Hello everyone! I apologize I haven't been blogging on a regular basis lately. After moving, I really just had no motivation. I hadn't blogged in so long (or so it feels), I forgot how much I enjoyed it. Also, my *new phone is a cheaper alternative to my galaxy, which in terms, means it's much slower ::sigh::. I promise, after the holidays I will have internet on and I will be posting on the regular again! 

Now that I got that long intro out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff!

**I still have yet to find a place to take pictures, so the scene in the next few posts may change. For now, I'm using my vanity. Also, the lighting is poor, until I find the right bulbs!

This month ia a holiday theme, of ocourse! 

Have a Happy Holidy Glow! 

"Happy holidays elfettes! Sparkle at any celebration with our Essential Glitter Nail Polish and Mineral Glow. Indulge in the rich shades of our Studio Matte Lip Color and our Studio Blush Palette that features four winter-perfect shades! It's time to celebrate the end of another beautiful year, and a beautiful one to come!"

First in this months bundle is the Studio Prism Eyeshado in Smoke. This palette retails for $10, almost half the price of the box! I forgot to take pictures of swatches, but the pigmentation is so gorgeous! 

The next thing I received was the Shimmer Eyeliner Pencil in Black Bandit. Although the color says black, in person I couldn't help but think that it looks brown. Oh well, I'm not complaining! 

The last product I got was the Cream Eyeliner Black. So far this was the only product I've tried and let me say, this is true to it's name. Sooo creamy and soo black! 

This is the second time I recieved false lashes in my bundle. I don't wear false lashes and I don't have any friends or family that do, so unfortunetly these will be tossed. These are the Essential Dramatic Lash kit and even though they only retail for $1, I still would have preferred something else. But I guess they do fit the theme. 

The Glitter Nail Polish is another dud for me. I don't wear nail polish, hardly ever and when I do, I typically stray away from anything with chunky glitter. Thankfully though, I have a sister who loves it! 

For lippies, these were definitely a hit for me! I've been wanting to try their Matte Lip Color, especially the one in Rich Red, which is what I got! However though, when I swatched it on my hand, the color was more pink than red. But still beautiful none the less! 

The other lip product is the Studio Lip Stain. I found these to be interesting because as you can see, it has two ends. The first being shown, the lip stain and the other side being the gloss. Be warned though, these do not smell good. At all. But on the plus side, the smell does go away after being applied. 

One thing I really love from e.l.f are their Studio Brushes. They are not the greatest quality, but for someone just starting with either makeup or getting a feel for brushes, these are a great start. This one here is the Studio Complextion brush. The bristles are sooo soft on the skin and very easy to use.

The powder is from e.l.f's Mineral line, featuring their Mineral Glow powder in Shimmer. This powder is sheer and lightly pigmented that is supposed to leave your skin healthy and radiant. I definitely can't wait to try this out! 

The last product I recieved in this months beauty bundle is the Blush Palette in Dark. I actually already own this and the light, but considering the fact I love them so much, I am completely okay with a back up! I tried getting a good view in the first picture but the colors were off. The second picture is more true to what the colors actually are. The cool part about these palettes though, each individual square pops out so you can interchange them between this and the light. I hope they come out with more palettes for this reason! 

All in all, I was very pleased with this months bundle. I did have plans on cancelling my subscription after this month, but I think I may actually wait! Thank you guys so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! 

Have you tried anything from e.l.f?

What are your favorite products? !

E.L.F Review: 13 Piece Face & Lip Palette

Last month I had recieved my second E.l.f Beauty Bundle, which you can read here. One of the products that was chosen for this bundle was the 13 Piece Face & Lip Palette. I was soo intrigued by this palette, because well, you all know I'm a blush girl!

The packaging is pretty plain and simple, yet different from their standard colors with the touch of purple. However, the actual palette it self is very compact and sleek with a matte finish. And of course the Eyes Lips Face name right on front.

As you can see, the prettyness doesn't stop there. The inside is simply gorgeous! You get two blushes, two bronzers, and nine lip shades. The palette also includes a lip brush and a blush/bronzer brush, either of which I probably won't use. 

SWATCHES

Blush and Bronzers:

The first two swatches on the left mirror the blush and bronzer on the left side of the palette. The first blush is a pretty peachy neutral shimmery color, while the bronzer is a light golden shimmery color. I don't typically like shimmers in my bronzers, but if you're going for more of a luminous look, this would be good to use. 

The two colors on the right are also the blush and bronzer on the right side of the palette. The second blush is a light pretty baby pink color, and the bronzer is a slightly darker color than the first one you see. Both again are shimmery. But as you can see, they are all equally and nicely pigmented! For $8, you really can't beat that!

Lip Shades:

(Posted in the order of the palette)

(Top row)

(Middle Row)

(Bottom Row)

The swatches for the lip shades were a bit patchy the first time around. Evidently, I had to go over twice to clean the patchyness, and to see the color better. For the most part (expect for the bottom row), the pictures are true to their color. The bottom row is a bit brighter but not a huge difference. 

All the shades seem to be moisturizing and not that sticky like a lipgloss. They all also have a very slight barely noticeable shimmer to them. So much that I had a hard time deciding if they did or not. 

My overall thoughts/opinion

⚫ I loved the sleek packaging and the overall look and placement of the face and lip shades.

⚫ E.l.f says this is great for on the go, but I feel the dimensions of the palette are a bit too big for me to want to carry around. Definitely won't fit in the makeup bag.

⚫ The case is very compact. I feel assured that if I did bring it with me, it won't open up in my purse. 

⚫ Even though I said I probably won't use them, I do appreciate the fact E.l.f provided a face and lip brush. Will certainly come in handy if I forget mine!

⚫ The pigmentation is very impressive. Especially the blush and bronzers!

⚫ Very inexpensive, great if you're on a budget.

⚫ If you're a lip girl, you'll love this palette. If not, I would skip it. Although I love the blushes, I know I won't wear the lip shades often.

And that is all for this quick review, I hope you all enjoyed!

Have you tried this palette yet?

Leave your thoughts and opinions below!

First High End Purchase with free gift! Estee Lauder edition

  As I said in my first post, I have never strayed away from drug store products. Solely for the fact I am a young mother, and spending money on expensive beauty related products is just not a reality for me unfortunately. However! This past weekend my bf and I had decided we had a little extra money we could splurge with, which of course, I took full advantage of!

  Fortunately enough for me, we had gone the same day they were starting their free gift which meant I didn't feel bad for spending nearly $40 on one item(yay! The foundation it self was $37, with tax $39.)

 Since I've never ventured into any higher end stores, I've never been professionally matched with a foundation that was perfect for my skintone. But since I wanted to try something new, I didn't want to waste my money on a color I "think might match"(I don't live close to any malls, returning would be too much of a hassle). Needless to say, it was a very awkward experience. 

  For one, I really don't understand the point of knowing your undertones anymore. I'm almost positive I have pink(?)/cool undertones. However, when the lady from Estee Lauder color matched me, she said she feels the cool undertone one would make me look to light, that she rather use a neutral on me. But, I know absolutely nothing when it comes to that sort of stuff. So I had no choice but to trust her. 

  She matched me with the shade Desert Beige 2N1. At first, I was really scared by the word "beige" before she even tested it on me. I have very fair skin, and every foundation I've seen in the shade beige was always for someone with tan skin. But I have to say it was a near perfect match for me! I was seriously so shocked. 

I also really enjoyed their customer service. She was so sweet and helpful, but getting up close and personal was just a lil weird for me. I mean it was just really awkward. I didn't know if I should look at her or look away lol. 

I won't be doing a review for this today, but I will say this might be my new hg foundation! 

So with the free gift, you are given a choice between either a blush or bronzer. And since shades are not optional, I decided to go with the blush. Which is fine with me considerig I'm a blush junkie! However if the bronzer wasn't so dark I would have went with that only because I don't own that many. 

Look at that color though, omgodness! Isn't it beautiful? This is in the color 02 Pink Kiss Satin. I was definitely happy with this pick, I don't know why but blushes are my favorite piece of makeup. They really bring the whole look together and really just make you feel so pretty! For me, anyways. (Lol)

It's even prettier on the skin than in the pan! 

As you can see there is slight sparkle but nothing crazy. The color pay off is awesome and the texture is so light and silky, it's simply gorgeous all the way around.

I'm sad about this next one. The gift set orginally came with two different shades of lipstick. Somehow though, I misplaced one so I only have one of the two (or atleast until I find the other one) to show you guys :( The one I still have though is in the shade 82 Pinkberry Creme. The picture really does no justice for the actual color though. In person it is a gorgeous creamy nude pink-y color. Here it looks more red and far darker than it actually is.

Again, the picture does this no justice. Ugh, how I wish I had better lighting. 

You can see how creamy it is though, it feels so nice and light on the skin. I haven't used this on my lips yet, so I'm not sure how long this lasts. According to the packaging, it claims to be long lasting. I can't wait to try it out on the weekend (when I can actually do my makeup)!

For being a free gift, I was really surpised by how many things they actually give you. This is a sample sized Sumtuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara in Black. I do plan to do a further detailed review on this later, and let you know if I would buy the full sized one.

I really love the wand on this, so thick and full! Just by the wand I feel like this is going to be a really great mascara. I'm super excited to test this baby out!

 The consistency also seems so nice and creamy, with the perfect amount of "thickness" to it. Nothing like I've seen in regular drugstore mascaras. It amazes me the difference in the quality of makeup. Especially when you never shop high end!

Yay, we're almost to the end! This is their Modern Muse Body Lotion. The first thing I noticed was the packaging. Compared to everything else, the packaging is very blah and boring. I probably wouldn't have picked this up just for the fact (I know, I know. You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.). 

I did try this though, I wanted to see how it felt and honestly I didn't like it. I think the reason being though, I typically like thick lotions because I have really dry skin (weird right? Super oily face but dry everywhere else?). And although this does look like it may be thick in the picture, it's actually really light. Also, I don't know if this is supposed to moistuize your skin, but it did nothing for me. I can't complain though since it was free!

And finally, last but not least! Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair Eye Synchronized Complex II. I honestly don't know much about eye creams or if they even work.

This is another one I plan to do a full review on later. Like I said, I've never used an eye cream, but since I now have one why not test it out? The consistency of this seems really nice. It's a thick-ish, transparent lightweight formula. I tested a tiny bit on my finger and it absorbs rather quickly without leaving a greasy feel/residue behind. 

All in all, I'm very happy and pleased with my first high end purchase. I'm really looking forward to doing a full review on the founation and other items mentioned! Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed putting this together for you (:

What was your first high end purchase? 

Were you happy with it? 

Let me know in the comments! (: