Huge Sephora Haul (long post) - Darn You F&F and VIB Sales!

So the Sephora F&F sale this year tempted me to buy a few items: 

(1) MUFE lipliner in nude beige; (2) Dior crayon eyeliner in Trinidad Black 094; (3) MUFE concealer pencil; (4) Clinique airbrush concealer in neutral fair; (5) restock of Peter Thomas Roth uber dry sunscreen spf 30 (love this sunscreen - perfect for oily skinned people); and (6) Peter Thomas Roth instant mineral powder spf 45 (accidentally ordered 2 so I'll have to return one or give it to my mom or sister). 


Sorry that's the only photo I took because I got lazy and there' was nothing that exciting there.  Although I have to say the Dior eyeliner pencil is excellent!  I tested it on my hand the night I got it and forgot about it.  I washed my hands with soap several times through the course of the night and as I was getting into bed I noticed the eyeliner was STILL THERE.  Amazing!  Granted it was a teensy bit smudged but not bad!  I wore it today to tightline on my top and for my bottom lid and it stayed put pretty well!  It did disappear at the end of my work day but at least it just disappeared and didn't smudge and give me raccoon eyes.  Love it.  Love Dior.  The Clinique concealer is pretty good so far too.  The color is a good match for covering my dark circles.  Not a huge fan of the MUFE pencils - disappointed in them.  And while I love PTR's uber dry sunscreen and love the concept of the mineral powder when I opened it up for the first time it created a huge mess!  And there was so much loose powder wasted in the cap.  I'm hoping this will get better with time and ease up a bit because I'd like to carry this in my purse without having a gross powdery mess.

So I was satisfied with my haul....kind of.  Then something horrible happened.  Sephora emailed me about the VIB discount and I went a little crazy.  I kind of lost all self control.  But I must say that during this crappy week I've been having, opening this package totally cheered me up!  And I may not be psyched to go to work tomorrow morning but I am excited to try some of my new purchases!  Behold, my HAUL:

Sigh, so pretty. 


So I bought a couple Sephora brushes - one powder and one contour.  I wish the contour brush was a bit bigger though.  I bought these mainly because I liked how they were shiny and colorful, they got good reviews, and I liked how they came with a cap.  Great for traveling.

Bristles are pretty soft!  I'm not super picky about my makeup brushes.  I have a range of high and low ends in my small collection.  So long as they are soft and don't shed a lot I'm fine.

I love my Benefit cream eye shadows so much (I had Birthday Suit and Flatter Me), I wanted more.  Much more.  So I bought from left to right: Get Figgy, Skinny Jeans, Strut, and R.S.V.P.  I love them all.  Beautiful colors and smooth and easy texture.  I also love my Dior cream eye shadow but they only have one shade on Sephora.  Why?!  Probably good for me though because I would have spent more money then.

Here are swatches in reverse order from the photo above.  So from left to right, RSVP, Strut, Skinny Jeans and Get Figgy.  And, this is after I let it dry for a few seconds and then tried rubbing them off.  GREAT staying power.  

Another photo of the colors in slightly different lighting.  I'm thinking that I can use Strut to help keep my eyeliner on my lower lid in place.  I usually use liquid on top but not on bottom because they end up disappearing or running.  So I'm going to try using my Dior pencil eyeliner and then smudge it a teensy bit with Strut.  I may not look work appropriate but I take comfort in that I have a coworker who wears a crazy amount of eyeliner every day and no one bats an eye at it.  I mean crazy.  Like put on a heavy smoky eye and then sleep on it, wake up and go to work.  I think Strut and Skinny Jeans will go well together.  And R.S.V.P. and Get Figgy are just beautiful colors that I'll use as regular eye shadows.  

I may be one of the few people in the world who does not like the Shu Uemura eyelash curler.  And I love many things Shu but their curler does not fit my eye right and pinches quite often.  Not as much as non-Asian brand eyelash curlers though.  And I know some people like Koji but that pinches me too and it feels like a cheap eyelash curler.  It's a struggle to use it.  I always like the Shiseido curler back in the day before I tried Shu or Koji but I always forgot to add it to my purchases.  So this time I finally remembered and decided to go back to Shiseido.  This fits my eye perfectly for some reason.  And I looove the dark chrome finish!  This is new!  The old Shiseido I had looked like any other eyelash curler all shiny regular metal.  But this looks so sleek!

See that nice and wide curve?  Fits my lil eyes so well!  Package comes with extra pad.  I always lose the extra pad though and don't even know how you're supposed to replace it.  And how often are you supposed to replace it?  By that point my eyelash curler is so old and gross I just get a new one.  I'm so happy to be back with my tried and trusted Shiseido curler!

Also got some Murad clarifying toner.  I know that toner doesn't really do anything except usually dry the skin out but I like the idea of having something to wipe my face with on a day when my face feels particularly grimy or dirty.  I probably won't use this every day, just on days when I need it.  Like when I fall asleep on my couch with a full face of makeup on and wake up in the wee hours of the night with a growing zit and oil slicks all over my face.  Oh yeah.

Also got the Boscia lumizing black mask.  This looks just like my Kose white mask so I decided to try it out.  I like some Boscia stuff - I have repurchased their botanical blast cleanser 3x in a row - but I haven't liked all of their things (like their moisturizer and eye cream).  So we'll see.  But if this is as good as the Kose white mask I may switch over.  I love Kose white mask but it's hard to find and buy!  I don't want to do a drugstore.com purchase for just my mask.  If I could find an equivalent mask at Sephora that would be awesome.  Anyways, this is a black mask that you let dry and then peel off.  I haven't tried it yet, but will give it a try this weekend.

I am in search of a new detoxing/cleansing mask.  I've been using the DDF sulfur mask but it stinks and I think as I get older it may be a bit too drying.  Whereas I used to love that tight feeling as a clay mask dried on my face, now I just worry that it's causing mini wrinkles as it gets caught in my creases and dries.  Also, I'm not sure if this really does anything.  It definitely doesn't work as a spot treatment on me.  So why bother with the stinkiness?  So I came across this pricy Nude mask that I believe doesn't dry hard and so won't be as drying.  It also got good reviews so I'm excited to try this one too!

I like the packaging.  I'm such a sucker for packaging.  The top is a screw top and snaps into place.  I love that.

And it doesn't smell like the DDF mask!  Yea!

I also finally bought a new mineral foundation.  I've used Bare Minerals for several years now.  I loved it when I first got it but now I've concluded it's good, not great.  I also feel like there must be improvements and better ones out there now that Bare Minerals isn't the only brand out there with mineral foundation.  After weighing Laura Mercier and Dior, I decided to go with my new love Dior.  So I got the Diorskin nude natural glow fresh powder makeup spf 10 in light beige 020.  Love the packaging, but idiot me could not figure out how to open it for a good 2 minutes.  I wasn't sure if it was a pull off lid or twist and it wasn't budging either way!  For future reference, it's a screw top.  Look, there's my hand waving hello! 

So purdy.

There was a sticker thing on top that was so clear I couldn't figure out how to take it off.  That took another 2 minutes.  I felt like a total idiot.  With the sticker on, there were these perfect little beige square holes.  I loved it and didn't want to disturb it but all products have to be opened at some point. 

So here's my ugly dry hand with a little bit smeared on.

And then here's my hand after I rubbed it in.  I didn't use a brush because I was lazy so I'm curious to see how this will look on my face tomorrow.  Doesn't it have a great subtle glow to it?

Then, the blushes and highlighters.  Jeez, Dior sure does know how to do packaging.  My friend said I should buy a J'adore Dior shirt and wear it all the time.  Maybe I will, maaaybe I will!

So I spent a full night debating whether to buy the Diorskin shimmer star in amber diamond or rose diamond.  Both got great reviews.  Amber diamond is more for a bronzey glow while rose diamond is more like a blush glow, so you should pick based on what you want to use it for.  Uh, problem - I do both!  Not on the same face, but on different days depending on my mood, my skin color, etc.  Both looked so beautiful so I caved and bought both.  And let me tell you, I do not regret it one bit.

Amber diamond is on the left and rose diamond is on the right.  They are very subtle shimmers.  I tried doing a swatch but it wasn't showing up as much in the photo.  I plan on using these in addition to whatever blush I may be wearing that day.  This is for a little bit of a punch and added highlighter/shimmer.

It's quite big and comes with a large mirror.

I had to be strategic in taking photos of a compact with a mirror without showing up in the mirror.


Close-up of amber diamond.

Close up of rose diamond.

I also got Diorblush in A Touch of Blush 829.  Was in search of a new powder blush with a bit of a natural pink.  This looks great in the pan and I'll try it out tomorrow morning.

All of the Diorblushes come with one solid color on the left and a matching shimmery color on the right.  You can use the left one in your hollows or contour and the shimmer for a highlight or on the apples of your cheeks.  It comes with a small brush that I plan on never using except in emergencies.

I've been on the search for a lightly scented body lotion in a pump form.  I used to like the Ren grapefruit lotion but Sephora no longer sells it.  Why?!  I also liked how it was a bag inside the pump so I could be sure to get every last bit out.  Well my options were limited so I decided to get Philosophy's amazing grace which is supposed to be a firming lotion.  Got great reviews and I've been in need of a good body lotion as the weather has been getting cooler.  I've been using my Fresh lotion but it's so hard to squeeze that bottle.  It's like it's made out of super plastic.  Why would you make your lotion bottle so hard to squeeze?

Here it is amongst the carnage of my haul.

I love pump lotions.  But, I kinda don't like the smell of his lotion.  In fact, I kinda hate it.  It's strong and reminds me of cold cream or something.  Like the Ponds cold cream my mom used to use to take of her makeup when I was little.  It doesn't help that I put it on my hand and then ate sweet potato fries that I made getting nauseated each time I brought my hand to my face and the smell mingled with the sweet potato smell. But even without that, the smell sucks.  I don't know why people like it so much.  BUT, I have to say it's a pretty great lotion.  Light, moisturizing and sinks in very well.  Why couldn't they make the scent better?!  


Here's my dry dry hand with a splotch of lotion.

Here's my hand after I rubbed in the lotion.  Look how dewy and well moisturized it looks!  Ignore the dryness near my wrist and thumb because I only rubbed the lotion on the top of my hand.

Ah, I love a good haul.  Now I've vowed to myself that I won't buy anything else new for the rest of this month.  


I've also become obsessed with origami again.  Not all, just mini puffy stars and lotuses.  It started when my niece handed me a piece of origami paper and demanded I make something out of it.  She had already cut it up and so it was a long strip.  And all of a sudden my memory was triggered and I remembered how I used to make tons of mini puffy stars out of Snapple bottle labels in college.  I had one empty bottle that I filled with stars anytime I got bored or was watching tv.  I forgot who taught it to me but I think I learned it in high school.  It was so weird, it was like those flashes of memories you see people get in tv or movies and think "It never happens like that!"  So I went crazy and couldn't stop making the mini stars.  I even got my mom interested but she couldn't do the mini stars (even though it's so easy!) and instead has been making a bunch of cranes.  And then I came across instructions for a lotus and after many failed attempts I found a way to do it that makes it much easier.  I love making them.  It's almost therapeutic.  Like how knitting must be like for lots of people, only not as boring.  I love making a ton of these as I watch tv.  I'm also filling up these little mini pails with stars and will give one each to my niece and nephew.

The only thing that sucks about origami is that you produce all these fun pretty things that have absolutely no use.  At least with knitting my sister ends up with a nice scarf that she can use (and she does make great scarves).  Oh well.  That's why I plan on handing these over to my niece and nephew so that my sister can deal with disposing of them.  

I also love to do a little bit at work when I need to just zone out and relax when things get tense or during my lunch.

And, because no post is complete without a gratuitous pug pic, here's a photo of my lil pug on a walk.  

I've dumped so much money at the vet lately she's become my lil furry money pit.  She has bad allergies and all her scratching led to an infection on her lower belly and a scratch on her eye that in turn led to scary green eye boogers and a drooping red lower lid.  It happened so fast!  And with pugs you do not want to risk anything happening to the eyes!  So now she's on antibiotics and I have to put eye drops in her eyes 2-3 times a day.  This is very difficult.  Her big bulging eyes are both bad and good.  Bad because they're prone to scratches and other problems but good because it makes for good large targets for eye drops.  But she is very wriggly.  Look at how pooped she is below after we had our daily eye drops struggle.

Cream Eye Shadows and Kimbap

I am not an eyeshadow pro.  In fact, I'm pretty stoopid when it comes to eye shadow application.  If I do too much I feel self conscious.  Maybe it comes from growing up with my monlids and having people apply eye shadow for my "Asian eyes" by painting on a large fake crease on my eyelid.  So instead I rely on black eyeliner and mascara to define my eyes.  Eye shadow is more a background.  

I love cream eye shadows.  They rocked my world when I first discovered them.  So quick and easy to apply!  I think my first was a cheapo Revlon one that I used for a while in college.  I soon upgraded to Shiseido Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow (H3 - Tiger Eye and H9 - Glistening Sand).  I tried dabbling in some others a while back but usually stayed true to my Shiseido, until recently...

So below is my current collection of cream eye shadows.  I tried Clinique's at some point but wasn't too impressed and ended up giving it away or junking it when I moved.  So below are the following: Dior Eye Show in 622 Undressed Beige; Shu Uemura cream eye shadow in beige, brown, taupe and pink; Shiseido Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow in H3 Tiger Eye and H9 Glistening Sand; Benefit Cosmetics Creaseless Cream Shadow in Flatter Me and Birthday Suit.

Here's the Shiseido.  

As you can tell I use the Tiger Eye way more than the Glistening Sand.  Glistening Sand is pretty but too light for me.  The texture is great and so easy to apply.  I've had this forever and used it practically every day and I'm convinced this must be a never ending pot.  The only downside to Shiseido is that there aren't that many color options that I like.  There are a lot of bright or cool colors if you're into that.  But I'm a boring neutral-ish girl.  So I stuck with Shiseido for a while but I also yearned for more!


And so I moved onto Shu Uemura.  I must confess that with the help of a friend I became hooked to the Shu counter at Barneys in New York until Shu decided to abandon all of us in the US (boo!).  And so during one of those crazy makeup events I bought a bunch of the cream eye shadows after trying one to get that amazing gift bag.  And the colors looked soooo beautiful, see!

Sidenote: I never thought of taupe as being so dark!  I always imagine taupe to be more like a light tan with a slight purple undertone.  The same friend who got me hooked on Shu is also convinced that I'm color blind. 


So the Shu look amazing but ugh I'm sad to say that they totally suck.  First off they're weirdly hard and so when you swipe your finger across it you just slide right across barely picking up anything.  The texture is very dry.  The texture wouldn't even bother me if the color showed up better and if it was easier to blend.  But once you get it on it doesn't budge much without a lot of rubbing which is bad for the eye area!  I guess that may be good in some ways too because that means it'll last but that doesn't mean much if you have weird dark streaks on your eyelids that you can't blend in. AND, those screw top lids are the worst!  They're impossible to screw on straight so you end up fumbling with it as the tops spin maddeningly around until they roll onto the floor, making you all the later for work.


So after my disastrous Shu experience I went back to my Shiseido for a while.  Then with the recent Sephora Friends & Family sale I decided to finally try the Benefit and Dior cream eye shadows that I kept hearing about and seeing great reviews on.  


Here's Benefit.

The colors are so beautiful.  At first I was a little troubled by the texture because it almost felt oily to me.  But it's not, it's smooth and creamy and wonderful.  And both colors should be called Flatter Me because they are soooo flattering and impossible to mess up.  Oh and lastly they are so easy to apply and blend.  LOVE.


Here's Dior Eye Show in Undressed Beige

I am slowly but surely becoming a Dior addict.  Yeah it costs a lot but you are really paying for higher quality.  Look at that beautiful color and texture!  I'm in love with the texture of this.  It's not so much a cream, but a mousse.  Delightfully light, incredibly flattering, easy to apply and blend.  Wonderful.  The color is pretty light though so I feel like it doesn't show up on me that well.  But I use it as a neutral wash on my lid and then use one of my darker cream shadows or even one of my powder shadows closer to the lashline.  Sephora only had this one color available but I think I may take a look at some other shades elsewhere.

And here are swatches of all the colors.  Do you like the labels?  I decided to go high tech for this one haha!

And a very important step in eye makeup application, for both eye shadow and eyeliner (especially for oily eyelids and/or monolids) is primer.  I was not a believer for a long time but I have now seen the light.  I use Nars and really like it but I've also heard good things about the Urban Decay one.

It comes in a tube and is easy to apply.

 Here is a dab of it on my thumb palm.

A quick light dab/rub and it's completely disappeared into my skin.  But it's wonderfulness is secretly embedded in my skin, doing its job of keeping my eye makeup in place and the colors true.

Oh and the other part of this post title is about this wonderful Korean food called kimbap.  It's a roll filled with random things that vary depending on who is making it.  My mom always made hers with spinach, egg, pickled radish and oddly enough (but oh so right), hot dogs.  Sometimes she throws in some fake crab meat.  Oooooh yeah.  It sounds weird but it's so good!  I used to love lingering in the kitchen as my mom whooped out her little bamboo mat and squashed all of this into a delicious roll.  Then as she cut it up in pieces, I'd eat the messy end pieces (because they weren't pretty enough to plate!) and plate the rest in neat little tiers.  Usually I'd eat more than I plated (hey, a lot of them were loose and messy so I had to eat them before they fell apart!).  My mom made some again yesterday for the first time in a long time.  Yum!

Ever since I came back from traveling for work my pug has been so needy.  Sometimes I'll be trying to use my computer and she has the audacity to barge onto my lap.  Look at her!

And she's developed the weird habit of going on my lap, facing me and then pushing her paws against my chest as she gazes up at me.  It's a bit creepy.  But I also kind of love it.

I was only able to complete this post because she was sleepy and so she couldn't distract me.  Sleepy, stinky lil pug.


So to sum up:
(1) Yay cream eye shadows (some more than others)!
(2) Yum kimbap!
(3) Crazy lil loveable stinky pug.

The end.