$4 Illamasqua at Sephora Inside JC Penney

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really love the Sephora inside JC Penney.

Why?

Because they usually have a great clearance section that is way more discounted than at the free standing Sephora stores.

Missha Friends and Family Sale

So just a quick note......

Missha is currently having their friends and family sale going on now and apparently everyone is a friend or family member to them.

The whole online store is 30% off for regular priced items.

This is a great time to try out some items that you were on the fence about.  If the color matched my skin, I would totally use this opportunity to get the snail slime BB cream.

Alas, it says the shade is comparable to #23 and my vitamin D deficient self is #21.

But I suppose I could use the opportunity to get some brushes........

By the by, I don't work for Missha in any way shape or form.  I just happen to really like a lot of the stuff I buy from them which makes me sound like a major fan-girl.  But I swear I get nothing from them...... in fact their free samples that come with my order have been a bit disappointing.....

So take a look and maybe fall in love with something you didn't know you needed.

Have a great weekend and live happy!

A Stroll at Rite Aid

So I often go to a drug store on my lunch break.  I feel it slightly relieves the monotony, at least until it's time for me to go back.

On today's trip I saw a few items that seemed interesting.  While I ended up with nothing, I thought I would share.

It's Decided: Blog Sale!

So I have decided on holding a blog sale to clear out some of my excess.

This sale will be divided into two posts and is a mix of high-end and drugstore products and of both new and used products.

New products will be all in one post and used items will be in a separate post.

The used products I have included are capable of being sanitized (no lipgloss or mascara) or need no sanitation prior to use (perfume and nail polish).  I will not sanitize the items before sending as my ideal sanitation methods might vary from the recipient's preferred sanitation methods.

The used items will be cleaned of excess product and the casing will be wiped clean.

I will be putting up my list of products soon.  The items will be groups as either new or used and will be in alphabetical order based on brand.

You can contact me through my email on my profile page regarding items you wish to purchase.

I will only accept paypal.  I'm sorry if this inconveniences you.  I will also consider shipping international if the item is light enough.  After a certain weight, USPS requires priority mail for international shipping which I find ridiculously expensive.

Items will be held for purchase on a first come first serve basis.  I will be looking at the time stamps of my emails to determine this.

If there are any questions please let me know.  I am currently cataloging my items and hope to have them up by Monday 4/15/13.

Thank you so much and live happy!

 

Favorite Liquid Eyeliner: Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum

So today I let you know why Physicians Formula Eye Booster is my favorite eyeliner.

You can buy it here or it can be found anywhere you buy Physicians Formula, but a lot of the times I find they are sold out.

This is for the brush tipped pen, not the felt tipped pen.  If you need further differentiation, it is the silver pen with a silver cap, it's not the thicker black pen with clear cap.

Pros:

Doesn't smudge

Enhances lash growth

Applicator makes for easy lining and no skipping

Long lasting 

Easy to remove

Cons:

Pricey for a drugstore liner

Pen can dry out quickly

Might be harder to find in some areas

 Limited color range

So this pen comes in 3 shades and clear to use at night or when you don't want to line your eyes.

Ultra black is very black and if you want a black liner go for that one.

Black is much lighter to the point it looks grey.  Great for a natural eye but it's just not high impact.

I have never tried this liner in Brown.

The liner does tend to dry shiny which can be a good or bad thing depending on preference.  I find this liner much easier to use than MAC Blacktrack for lining over false lashes.

Overall I don't experience smudging other than the very inner corners of my eyes, but I find that happens with all liners (except MAC Liquidlast) but it is also much easier to remove.

Hope that helps!

Have a great day and live happy!

 

 

My Favorite Mascara: MAC Opulash

I figure I would do a few short posts on my favorite things.

First off: Mascara!

Now for my Asian eyes and oily lids I find a good mascara is hard to find.  I have tried so many that I have lost count.

And from cheap to stupid expensive my favorite one is MAC Opulash.

I suppose it had to be MAC since my previous favorite was MAC Loud Lash and I was one of very few people that were sad to see it go.

My pros and cons are from my own experience with the product so your experience might differ.

Pros:

Doesn't smudge

Doesn't clump

Build-able coverage

 Formula doesn't dry out too quick

No irritation, and I wear contact lenses all the time and suffer from eye allergies.

Cons:

Doesn't lengthen much

Can only find where MAC is sold

Over $10

No color range (not including the Wonder Woman collection)

If you are interested to can find Opulash here or go to any retailer that sells MAC cosmetics.

Charlotte Ronson: A Perfect Mess Beach Hair

After getting my hair cut in November of last year I looked for products that could give me messy texture without feeling dirty.

I tried waxes and gels to no avail.  I even tried my tried and true 1:1 mix of super strength gel and body lotion and that didn't give me the desired results.

What did work?  A Perfect Mess Beach Hair.

I wouldn't have even bought it had I not gotten a $20 shopping credit from Sephora and a free shipping code.

This product is meant to be used on wavy hair to create a soft beachy effect.  However, having short, straight hair and needing some light texture this totally hits the spot.

A few things to note though.....

This works best on day old washed hair.  I use it on freshly shampooed hair and after a few hours the texture is gone.  My hair just looks clean.

It's not just for giving texture either.  I find if I use this all over my hair when wet and blowdry I get pretty good density.  Not really volume per se, but my hair feels plusher and a bit rough.  Perfect for styling.

It can turn into a greasy mess.  Especially if you use it on dirty hair.  This product will buy you one more day before you need to wash your hair.

How I usually go about applying this is a spray a few pumps into my hands and rub over the top layers of my hair.  If I use this on wet hair I spray directly on my head.

The best part is that this spray lasts a good while.  I bought this in December and have been using it as my primary styler.  I think I've only gone through half the bottle so far and the spray pump give a fairly fine mist so it distributes evenly.

This is now on sale at Sephora.com so if you've been wanting to try it now is a good time.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Enjoy life and live happy!

Cosmetic and Confection: Review of Missha Pure Source Sheet Mask and Some Pandamonium

The baby shower is over and I'm almost fully rested.  I honestly can't believe that I gained 5 pounds this weekend gorging.  I also feel like crap because of it.  Mainly because of poor food choices.  But as we know the poorer the food choice, the better it tastes.

So onto the cosmetic:

This is more skincare and less cosmetic but whatever.

The Missha US site has a promotion going on with their snail line.  This is really kind of tempting since I've heard so many good things about snail slime.  If you're interested now is a good time to try it out.

In my last order I bought a bunch of sheet masks.  I tried a few and as far as masks go I think they run pretty average.  However, it's hard for me to be impressed with sheet masks in general since I haven't had an awe-inspiring experience.  I even tried some Dior sheet masks and wasn't too impressed.

So these masks are suppose to help with certain skin concerns whether it be moisturizing, anti-aging or problem skin.

The first 4 ingredients on all the masks I got are: water, glycerin, butylene glycol and denatured alcohol.

Surprisingly high on the list of ingredients is the active ingredient extract: ex. honey, green tea, raspberry, etc.

Now if you're sensitive to alcohol then these might not be for you.  Upon application I found the mask tingled slightly but easily got used to it.  The tea tree oil mask was a lot stronger than I was expecting and I found it to be a little irritating.  The rest of the masks I tried didn't feel so bad: Honey, Caviar, Green Tea and Raspberry.

After 20 minutes my skin felt refreshed and soft.  I didn't suffer any breakouts and I was able to skip my moisturizer when I used the Honey mask.

So all in all do I think it's a necessity?  No, but it is nice to have once in a while.  I think a regular mask that comes in a tube is more affordable over the long run, but it's nice to have the variety.

Does it work?  Well, that's a tricky one to answer.  I haven't been using these for very long at all and I can't say for sure if they do.  All I can say is my skin does feel refreshed during the application and softer afterwards.

Would I buy them again?  Yes I would.  They do provide a quick pick me up and they're less messy than tradition face masks.  But I think in my next order I'm going to try some of the other sheet masks they carry.

Confection!

Finally right!  So I did a few items for my friend's baby shower.  And I have to say that I will never become an event planner or caterer.  So much time and stress.  I did however, successfully make cake pops and a panda cookies.  So I guess I have 2 new things to add to my baking resume.

The cake pops were so hard to do at first but after doing about 2 dozen of them I got the flow and worked pretty efficiently.  I think if I ever make them again I won't have as much struggle.

The panda cookies were super cute and super deformed  looking.......

This was a fun late night project.  These also froze really well.  Out of the freezer some were a little soft and the butter tasted kind of weird, almost old.  But I knew my butter was fresh and once they got to room temperature they were all crunchy and yummy again.  I kept a piece of stale bread in the container to absorb moisture.  Worked like a charm.

For the cookie dough I used a whoopie pie recipe from Bakerella.  I only added one jumbo egg though instead of 2 eggs.

I also made a version of Easy Little Pandas with the mom-to-be but my version didn't look as cute.....

So there you have an edited post on what I've been up to.

Live Happy!