August 2014 Favorites

I know I say this every month but I really planned on doing more posts that just my favorites and wish list but this past month has been crazy busy for me, I plan on writing a life post addressing some of what was keeping me so busy. Until then I will give you some bullet points :

• Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi Financial Aid Office really f@#$ing blows. 
• Apartment complex I was talking with tells me at the last minute that they actually don't have anything available for move in and they don't know when they will. 
• Crying.
• This new Financial Aid Verification bulls@#$ really f@#$ing blows.
• Crying.
• I had an early life crisis and realized just how much I am accumulating in student loans and start second guessing my life choices from graduating high school until now.
• Crying.
• Crying.
• More crying.
• Pulling up big girl panties.
• Talk with Central Texas College... no help.
• Crying.
• Talk with Texas A&M University - Central Texas... shout out to Samantha Perez, AKA the first helpful higher education employee I have come across in my entire 5 years experience with dealing with college bulls@#$.
• Finally figure out what to do with my life (for the time being.)
• Crying. (Tears of relief and joy this time.)

So basically I have had a shit ton of ups and downs this month, and I have not really even touched on the other things that have been going on lately. How I managed to wear makeup 3-4 days a week this entire month is beyond me, but it happened! So here are some of the things I have really been loving this month.

Face Products:

essence Breaking Dawn part 2

 Shimmer Powder - 01 Bella's Secret

This highlighter is no longer available so I apologize in advance for it no longer being available. I bought this at ULTA on clearance for like fifty cents like a year after the collection was first released. I believe it first retailed for around $4.99. At my local ULTA these essence special collections are very hit or miss, many times I never find the displays for the collections I want but a few months later all the items will pop up in the clearance section and other times they will have a full display(sometimes I think I am the only one who buys the essence products). This was one of those that I never actually saw the display, however fortunately I was able to find most of the products I was wanting in the clearance section. This was one of them, however after purchasing  and getting to try it I was not impressed. This seemed very yellow gold on my skin at the time, so I tossed it in my cheek drawer and kinda forgot about it, until this summer, I was cleaning out some of my makeup and decided to try this again before getting rid of it. THANK SWEET BABY JESUS! Maybe it was just that I tried this when I was paler or maybe I was just crazy but this is the prettiest cheek highlight. Despite the name this isn't really a shimmer powder, it gives more of a glow. It is almost the finish that I imagine the Hourglass powders to have (I don't own one yet so I cannot say for sure) in that it makes your skin look radiant but it does not have glitter or really even a true shimmer finish.

Mary Kay Makeup Finishing Spray

I am going to preface this by saying that I will never purchase this again, not because I don't like the product but instead because I can literally buy the same thing in a bigger bottle at a better price, this is more expensive per fl. oz. just because of the Mary Kay name which is complete bulls#$%.

So this finishing spray is made by Skindinavia , which is the same company that also makes the Urban Decay All Nighter finishing spray that I also love, I am confident that these are actually the same formula. They also make other finishing sprays that are sold under the brand name which I also believer are the same formula repackaged. I love this spray after my applying makeup, it really just helps set it and extend the wear. It is also really nice for when you think your foundation or powder is looking cakey, just spray a bit on and blend it out(I use my Beauty Blender.) Over all great product, my issue is just the cost, let me break this down for you:

Mary Kay (2oz) - $18

Urban Decay (1 oz) - $14

Urban Decay (4 oz) - $30

Skindinavia (4 oz) - $29

Skindinavia (8 oz) - $39

Clearly the Skindinavia branded bottle is the best value and I have tried all three... they all perform the same so I will be sticking with the 8oz after I finish this bottle. Just something to keep in mind if you are interested in these setting sprays, don't buy the same product at a higher price just for the name. 

tarte Amazonian clay 12-hour blush 

dazzled

This is my first full sized Amazonian clay blush, I own a few of the mini sizes from various travel sets and holiday sets, I love those so I was a little curious to see if the formula was just as good in the full size ( sometimes the mini's perform different than the full size.) Let me just say this color is beautiful, it is a dusty mauve with gold shimmer. The shimmer is not in your face but it does give a nice glow, but I love this color because it is dark enough when built up that I can use it almost as a contouring blush but it can be applied lightly in addition to a darker contour without making me look like a clown.

I really like the packaging also, it is kinda nice that they make the pan magnetic so that it can be easily removed and placed into a palette if I wanted to do so... why can't all makeup companies do this ?! Like hello I want the option of cute individual packaging but some things I just want to organize better into palettes. Way to go tarte, good design team! 

Eye Products:

Rimmel ScandalEyes Waterproof Kohl Eyeliner

Nude

I purchased this when I had a coupon and the product was on sale because I knew that I was running out of my all-time favorite nude liner Midnight Cowboy from Urban Decay. The intention was to use this after I finished my UD liner, and then I tried it and fell even more in love this this one that the UD so I actually still have a little left of the other one because I have been using this nonstop! It is way more affordable than most similar quality nude liners. 

e.l.f. Eyebrow Treat & Tame 

Clear/Light

I am not big on brows, partially because I have rather full brows naturally so I don't really benefit from filling them in, however I do like something to help tame them down. I had been using a clear Great Lash mascara in place of brow gel and it worked fine for a long time , when I repurchased the clear mascara this last time I noticed they changed something and the formula dried a lot glossier so I didn't like how it make my eyebrows look greasy. Which brings us to the reason I picked this up, I had seen some bigger companies coming out with similar tinted brow gels but I was not going to pay the $22+ that they all wanted and then I came across this e.l.f product and at $3 I can feel comfortable with using this one. I wish that it came in a shade slightly lighter, I might check out the Ash shade next time and see if it works better with my hair color but overall this is pretty nice. It adds just a touch of color/thickness to the brows while keeping them tame all day, which is perfect for someone like me who doesn't pluck their brows very thin. 

Maybelline Color Tattoo

25 Bad to the Bronze

These Color Tattoo's are life. For real, if you have never used one crawl out from under that rock and go buy one. That being said I have come across some really crappy colors, when they were first released there were a few shades that were lacking in the pigment department(I'm looking at you 20 Painted Purple) but I think they have discontinued most of those shades and all of the newer collections have been really great. This particular shade has been a favorite quick makeup look. I put this all over the lid and blend it out into the crease just a touch sometimes I wear it just like that all alone and other times I have topped it with MAC Satin Taupe , either way is beautiful and I have never had issues with it creasing, even when worn by it's self. The lighter shades also make pretty base's when you want to make other powder shadows really pop.

Lip Products:

e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator

I have to confess I actually didn't buy this until around the middle of the month, but I have been using it at least 3-4 times a week since then. I have always thought to myself "I should try that" when looking on the e.l.f. website but I always pass because I start filling my cart and there are so many other things I want that I just put it off "till next time." Finally I spotted it at my local HEB (for those of you who don't live in or around Texas, it is the most amazing grocery store ever and you should be jealous) so I decided I would pick it up. This is an odd format for a lip scrub, I really like the idea of a lip scrub being in bullet form but I don't think it is very practical. This exfoliates well and does the job, but my tube looks like my dog tried to eat it. You rub the product on your lips (like a 3 year old putting on lipstick) for a couple seconds and then wash it off, but the constant rubbing makes the product hit the side of the tube and just get messy so I have just been getting the product on my finger and using it more like a traditional lip scrub. Overall good quality stuff.

The Body Shop Lip Butter

Mango

Along with my lip scrub, at night I have been applying this lip butter to help keep my lips soft and plump for the days that I wear lipstick. Nothing is worse that nude lipstick on crusty lips. 

This is my first Body Shop Lip Butter and I got it on sale at ULTA (I really like the clearance section can you tell?) The flavor is alright, if I had a choice I probably would have gone with strawberry but this was the only one on sale . I like this at night because it is a little thicker than my Revo Lipbalms or my Chapstick's so it lasts longer. 

Revo Lip Balm

Bubblegum

I almost missed out on this gem! Around the end of July I read about these EOS look-a-likes that are sold at Walgreen's and Dollar Stores (Dollar Tree has mini's they are super cute and I just picked one up the other day.) On top of that I also just read about the limited edition summer flavors, so I checked out my local Walgreens and the first two didn't have any of the summer flavors so I figured I had just missed out on them. Then one day I went into a Walgreens that I never go to and sure enough they had a brand new container full of the summer flavors so I picked up this one and a Blueberry Popsicle flavor to try out. These are amazing, the blueberry is nice but the balm has a blue tint so I look a little crazy wearing it alone, but this bubblegum is really the winner of the bunch. It smells/tastes just like Bubblicious and goes on clear. I would love to see a Cotton Candy flavor(hint hint Revo, you should get on that.)

Other Beauty Products:

Clearasil Daily Clear

Refresing Superfruit Toner

This year has been the year of toners, I used up 2-3 other toner's already, one was discontinued so even though I loved it I was forced to find another and the last one I used was alright but had a very strong scent. I got a sample of the face cleansing gel in this Superfruit line that I really liked and it came with a coupon for $1 off any product in the line. When I realized there was a toner I figured I would give it a try, and I am very glad I did. This is going to sound crazy, but I am a little weird so you shouldn't expect any less, this smells like Fabuloso ... but for your face. I have a freakish obsession with the scent of the cheap purple floor cleaner, so the fact that the scent of this reminds me of it is enough to make me repurchase this as long as I can but additionally this toner seems to work very well with my skin. It is not too strong at 1% Salicylic Acid but it keeps the skin demons at bay. I really love how fresh and clean my skin feels after using toner, and it is crazy how even after really washing my face how much crud is still left behind that the toner removes. 

Ginger & Co

Soft On You Comforting Body Butter

Another ULTA clearance find, and I am so sad that I never knew about this before I snatched up the last one. This was originally $9.99 but on sale for $3.99. I am not a big lotion person, I hate how thick they all feel and I cannot stand the greasy thick feeling in the summer. So why would I buy a body BUTTER ? I know most body butters are thicker than lotions but when I opened this to smell it really the scent sold me... and the price, because at $3.99 for this giant tub of body cream that smelled divine I was going to make it work. Much to my surprise when I actually tried this on it has the lightest formula of a body butter that I have ever come across (that I was willing to pay for) and it dried down quick so I wasn't left with the thick greasy feeling I hate so much. Now can we take a moment to talk about how much this line reminds me of the Soap & Glory products, which I have always wanted to try but just can't justify the cost. If you can still find this I would grab all you can, I am going to be really sad when this is gone, so I am gonna have to try and find a back up before then. 

It's A 10

Leave-In Conditioner

This is another item I put off buying for a long time, but when I started going blonde again I needed some moisture in my hair so I went ahead and picked this up. It is a little bittersweet because I really do like what this does to my hair but I really just don't like the price. I am trying to use it sparingly so that I can savor the benefits as long as I possibly can. So I have actually been using this in conjunction with a cheaper Sally's brand leave-in mist, I will spray the mist in straight out of the shower before i put my hair in a towel, then after I get dried off & dressed and my hair is not dripping wet I use a couple sprays of this before I comb my hair out. It helps detangle my rat's nest hair, and then helps tame the frizz when it is drying. It's also a plus that it smells really nice. 

Non-Beauty Products:

Naked Juice

I recently discovered the Peach Guava with Coconut Water flavor and we are basically in love. My favorites have always been the Mighty Mango and Green Machine, but they are a little thick and I only ever drink half of the regular size bottles (the mini's that come in a 4-pack are the perfect size.) This one however is not as thick so it is even better. I recently saw an ad for some new flavors that have chia in them so I am on the hunt for the Chia Cherry Lime and Chia Sweet Peach flavors now! If you didn't know there is a $1 coupon on the Naked Juice website cause they are a little pricey, but oh so delicious. 

MK Knockoff Purse

I got this at the beginning of the month from Sam Moon and could not be happier. Some back story, Michael Kors had a Hamilton style bag a couple summers ago in this super pretty stripe design that came in navy and yellow (maybe red if I am not mistaken) that I wanted so bad, but I just didn't have Hamilton bag money. Fast forward to June 2014, my Aunt got this bag in navy and white from Sam Moon, it was love at first sight, I had to have it , now imagine how happy I was when I discovered it came in the yellow that I wanted so badly. So... it may not be the real thing but this girl gives no f#$%'s. I own a real Michael Kors and I am so afraid it is going to get ruined that I never want to carry it on an everyday basis, if this one get's messed up I am only out $26 versus $350+. I also like that while it is similar in style to the MK Hamilton it does not have the fake MK logo on it any where.

Cotton Candy Ice Cream

I love just about anything Cotton Candy flavored. Walmart has a Great Value ice cream in a new Cotton Candy flavor and of course I had to try it! It is the best one I have ever tried, it is cotton candy without being over the top sickening sweet, and it has little rock candy sprinkles which call to the 5 year old in me. It is my favorite and I hope they never get rid of it! 

So I am going to be adding a new section to my monthly favorites because I feel it is just necessary...

Scent of the Month:

Target Sugar Shoppe 

Bubble Gum Scented Soy Candle

I know that a ton of people hated these candles but I have not had a terrible time with this one. I really wanted to pick up the cotton candy one but figured I should just try one first, and then when I went back the rest were all gone. I will say this is not the best candle I have ever burned in my life, however I am willing to baby it in order to make it work. I was never able to get my hands on one of the Pink Bubble Gum from Bath and Body Works so I was determined to make this work for me. Some people complained about it having no throw when burning and I will confess it isn't super strong, but in my bedroom alone it throws nicely. The wax does not pool very well and I have had tunneling but I frequently have that issue with these large jar type candles that only have one wick(like Yankee) so I kinda expected that, so I just plan on melting the wax down into clam shells to use in my wax warmer when I burn the wick out. This was not my first pick for this month however I had some issues with my original pick that led to it being bumped down on the list of favorites, AKA the candle caught on fire and could have burnt the house down(more on that in another post).

So there are my favorites, I hope you enjoy and look for September Wish List coming soon as well as a couple posts about life in general.