August & September Haul

Over the past two months, I've purchased quite a few beauty products, so I wanted to give my first impressions and thoughts on my purchases.  Let me know your thoughts if you've happened to try any of them out or if any of them are on your list of products to try out!

BareMinerals The Magic Act Palette
This palette came out for the holidays last year, and after seeing so many great reviews on it, I really wanted to purchase it, but I convinced myself that I didn't need yet another neutral palette.  The colors weren't unique, and I had several palettes with similar colors.  However, Nouveau Cheap recently posted a blog post sharing a great deal on the BareMinerals site - two 20% off codes could be stacked.  While browsing the site, I saw this palette was still available in the sale section, and I couldn't resist purchasing it.  I haven't received it yet, but I'm hoping that it meets all of my expectations after hearing so many rave reviews for it last year!

Lorac Unzipped Palette & Ben Nye Banana Powder
While Frends Beauty was having their 75th anniversary sale, I picked up two items.  I've been wanting the Lorac Unzipped palette for quite some time, but I never followed through and purchased it.  I am so sad I waited so long to purchase it - I have been using this palette nonstop since I've received it.  The colors are beautiful - they are very pigmented and the blend well.  I love every look I create with this palette, and I'm so thrilled to have it in my collection now.

The Ben Nye Banana powder is also something that's been on my makeup wishlist for a while, but I never made the plunge to purchase it.  However, with the recent "baking" trend, I decided now was a great time to try it for myself, to see if it would mask make my skin appear more flawless.  Right now, I don't think it was the miracle product I was looking for, but I do need to try it out more and see how I can make it work better for me.

MAC 239
While visiting New York, I went to a CCO, where I found the MAC 239 on sale.  This is a brush that I've always wanted, but never wanted to pay full price for.  The CCO price was still more than I would like to pay for a brush, but with all the rave it gets in the makeup community, I decided to splurge and picked it up.  I've used it a lot since purchasing it in August, and I think it is a great brush, and I'm glad I purchased it.  Compared to my other shadow brushes, it is a lot smaller and more pinched at the ferrule, which I find helps to pick up the shadow and place it more precisely on the lid.  I love using it with my MAC 217, and I find that I am able to lay down color and blend shadow so much more easily with these two brushes.

YSL Blush (Bohemian) & Glossy Stain (Rouge Vintage)
In August, I purchased my first YSL products!  I love the packaging of YSL products - the gold just seems so luxurious to me.  I love the glossy stain, but I'm not too impressed by the blush.  I've only used it twice, but my first impressions are that the blush isn't as pigmented as I would expect a $46 product to be.  I'm glad I tried out a blush from the line, but I don't think I would purchase more colors.  The glossy stain is an interesting formula - I don't think I have any product similar to it in my collection.  It's a thin, lightweight formula, that feels slippery but not sticky.  It's pigmented, and despite being so glossy, it has great staying power and leaves behind a stain as it fades.

Milani Amore Matte Lip Cremes - Beloved and Desire
Milani recently released their Amore Matte Lip Cremes, and these products have received A LOT of attention.  I started hearing about them a little over a month ago, and I wanted to find the entire collection.  A friend was able to pick up four colors for me -  Lust, Beloved, Desire, and Flirt.  The display he found also had Adore available, but I knew that the color would look terrible on me, so I skipped that one.  After trying them out, I decided to return Lust, which didn't flatter me, and Flirt, which was patchy and flaky.

After trying these myself, I am happy with them, but I'm not as in love with them as I thought.  The formula feels very thin, almost watery.  They emphasize lip lines quite significantly, so I make sure to exfoliate my lips (using ELF's lip exfoliator - love that stuff!) before using it.  They take a while to set, but once they are dry, they do last for a long time. As liquid lipsticks, they dry out my lips a little, but they aren't uncomfortable to wear. Overall, I like the two I have, and if I ever come across a display that has more shades, I am interested in checking out Embrace, Romance, and Crush.

Milani Lipsticks - Teddy Bare, Rose Femme, Blushing Beauty, Matte Beauty, Matte Flirty, Caberet Blend
When Milani lipsticks were on sale for $2.99 at CVS, I picked up six of them.  Milani lipsticks are one of my favorite lipstick lines, from both high end and drugstore.  I already had quite a few of these lipsticks, but there are always more colors I want! Since the original release, Milani has come out with several collections of new shades in their regular line and also came out with a Moisture Matte line.  All of the colors I've tried have been pigmented, long-lasting, and comfortable to wear.  I don't ever feel like my lips are drying out when I wear any of these colors, and I've never experienced them feathering outside of my lip line. I love how Milani has a wide color range - I think everyone can find a color (or colors if you're like me ;) ) they like!

Target Haul - L'oreal Infallible Laquer Liner, NYX Butter Gloss - Tiramisu, Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous - Golden Tan, Sonia Kashuk Pointed Blending Brush
I haven't had a gel eyeliner in my collection for over a year now, so I wanted to pick one up.  I read reviews comparing several drugstore gel eyeliners, and this one was rated as one of the best.  I haven't had a chance to try it out, but I'm hoping it's long-lasting.

I already had 5 NYX butter glosses, but I wanted one in a more neutral shade, so I picked up Tiramisu.  I love the formula of these glosses - they aren't sticky, but are comfortable to wear and pigmented - and they also smell great, which is a plus!

I wanted another crease brush to add to my collection, and I have several Sonia Kashuk brushes that I like, so I picked up the pointed crease brush from her line.

Since Covergirl released the Ready Set Gorgeous foundation, I've seen a lot of reviews saying it's amazing.  I've used their 3in1 foundation in the colors Golden Tan and Classic Tan for the past year now, and I was looking to try a new foundation out, so I picked up this one as well.  I'm trying to use up the last of my 3in1 foundations before using this one, but I'm hoping that I like this just as much or better than those!