Small Birthday Haul

Hello! I am so late in getting this posted. My birthday was in the middle of February and I've been forgetting to write this for a long time. This was my 25th birthday and I didn't go crazy shopping. I had a few things I planned on getting and I did really good not going over my budget.

The first place I stopped was Ulta. I had never been to this Ulta before so I wasn't sure if they would have anything different. I had originally intended to get some NYX blushes but when I saw that this Ulta had Cargo products on clearance I decided to take a look and found this pretty pink lipstick. It was on sale for $11 and I also had points to use for $3 so I snagged this for $8!

I like the look of the tube. It's very sleek and simple and has a good weight to it. I have never heard anyone talk about these lipsticks before so I had no idea how it would be. Luckily there was still a tester so I was able to swatch it on my hand to see how it felt.

Is it just me or is a new tube of lipstick a beautiful sight?

It's a really pretty bright pink. You can see it applied to my hand a little bit splotchy.

It goes on the lip alright but it is a little splotchy and I like putting a thin layer of lip balm on before applying it.

Also at Ulta I got the free birthday gift which is the ck one mascara. This retails for $18 so it is awesome to get for free!

There was a little plastic sticker showing how you can twist the cap and change the brush shape. I have never tried a mascara like this before so I was very intrigued.

This is the brush when you first pull it out of the tube. It has rubber bristles and looks like a brush I would really like.

Then you twist it and the brush looks really cool. I have never tried a mascara with a twisted wand like this.

After Ulta I went to a big mall in the city that I had never been to. It is awesome! There was a MAC in Macy's but instead of being a counter it was its own place attached to Macy's. I think that's the closest I will ever come to going into a MAC store. I went in with my heart set on getting the lipstick in Snapdragon from the Fantasy of Flowers collection. I was so excited when they had it! This is my first purchase from MAC and I am so happy with it!

Snapdragon is such a pretty purpley pink color and totally fits the radiant orchid color trend, although that's not why I wanted it.

I am loving this shade of pink! My all time favorite lipstick from Avon (that is discontinued) is a purpley pink color and I love it so when I saw this I knew I at least needed to try it.

This is a lustre finish so it goes on sheer but is buildable. I actually quite like the lustre finish.

So so pretty! This is definitely my new favorite lipstick!

Next I went to Sephora with the intention of buying the new Nars duo in Kauai and luckily I got the last one! This is my first Nars product and I absolutely love it! I don't regret my decision at all!

The first time I saw this duo demoed on YouTube I fell in love with the gold shade. Then I was looking up swatches of it and came across the post on makeupandbeautyblog.com and just LOVED the way it lookd on her eyes! I looked on Temptalia's dupe list before I decided to purchase this just to make sure I couldn't get the same kind of shades from cheaper brands. There were only three matched for the gold and none of them were more affordable or a pretty.

The first shade is described as "gold lame." Not sure what exactly that is supposed to mean but I like it. *I Googled gold lame and got a bunch of pictures of shiny gold fabric haha.*

The second shade is described as "iridescent smokey orchid." I would say that is pretty accurate.

I tried to create a look similar look to the one on makeupandbeautyblog.com only I used a matte cranberry shade in my crease and did winged liner. I love the way the look turned out and can't wait to do it again.

Of course I had to pick up the birthday gift from Sephora. This is the first time I have ever tried anything from Make Up For Ever.

I wasn't sure at first about the color of the lipstick or the size of the mascara wand. I have tried the mascara about three times and it's not bad. I actually don't hate the wand and the formula isn't bad. Definitely not my favorite mascara and probably won't ever purchase the full size.

Turns out I love this lipstick! I love the way it wears and I really like the shade. I am definitely going to buy a full size whenever I run out of this mini one.

I decided to get a couple foundation samples as well while I was there. I'm just curious to try a bunch of different foundations to see which one I really love. I'm just not the type to have tons of different foundations. The first one I got was Lancome Teint Visionnaire and it was a recommendation from the lady that was helping me. I haven't tried it yet to I can't say much about it.

The next one I got is Nars Sheer Glow. She tried this one on my cheek in the store and from a very first impression I can tell I will definitely have to set this with a powder. Once I left the store and continued to walk around I noticed my hair was sticking to my cheek. I do think it is a good color match but I will have to wait until I try it all over my face to know for sure.

That's all for my small birthday haul. I had a really good day with my husband and we ate at a burger place we've never been to. They are only in that mall so it was fun to try. I also got my first ever Cinnabon and it was awesome. I still can't believe how long it took me to get this posted lol. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!