december & january hauls

hiya. part two of my december and january hauls: the other stuff. ~Lindsay

a beautiful mind a beautiful life -- so, i took a photo with not my book, lol. this is actually T or A's book, i actually preordered the kindle version and downloaded it the day it came out. then maybe a week or two later, i actually started reading the first section. unfortunately, i haven't had the patience to get back to reading it because of the fact that it's an ebook (using kindle for iphone), but reading just that first section prompted me to buy three physical copies for these two and my cousin. i really really need to get back to this book because i'm probably missing out on something good, but so many other things on the brain right now...

this is the item from november..? that i mentioned that i was giving to a friend as well. i actually took mine apart and gave a few of the pieces away as gifts, but i really wanted to try the dr. brandt magnetic mask, and i thought this was a pretty good price for all these items. and no, ugh, this is another skincare thing that i haven't tried using yet. #skincarebacklog ....

made an ulta order to try out these new loreal galaxy shadows. they are really pretty. i'm not as huge into full moon (gold one), but the other two...nice! then this tako mask is sooo funny. tako is japanese for octopus..as shown on the packaging, but the actual nose strip is shaped like the white thing on the tako's face. it has a bulby thing above your unibrow and then the nose part has two little wings on each side. it was pretty interesting to use and i liked it! and i also got two morphe brushes to try (M501, M530). i want to say that jaclyn hill mentioned these two as some of her favorites (a looong time ago and i noted them down), so i got them. then i got another impress nail set that i wore around christmas, which were one shine day style. i also wore a different set for new years, the kiss gel fantasy in faux real which for whatever reason i never photographed.. and i don't remember what sets these three liquid lipsticks from colourpop were from, but i bought a bunch as christmas gifts, broke them apart and saved these three for myself.

full moon, moon kissed, crescent moon; alyssa, echo park, take a pixie

alyssa

echo park

take a pixie

got a whole lotta random in this photo here! i decided that i haven't been washing my sponges often enough, so i wanted to get another set of real techniques erasers. these were like $2 on amazon from actual amazon (not fulfilled by!). yes, i think i'll take that and get it in two days! next, i actually ordered this with something for my sister in-law's christmas present..from china... i got a dissar purifying peel off mask because, i want to try the 'facebook' black mask. why not? at target, or maybe walmart?, i got the maybelline master prime blur and smooth primer to try. from sephora, i wanted to get the new kat von d studded kiss lipstick in bow n arrow because i really like the liquid lip version. and i think i was trying to use a gift card or use a coupon code or something, so i also got another urban decay vice liquid lipstick in amulet (love it! why's it on clearance?), and i wanted to try the ordinary.'s salicylic acid gel, and a mini belif true cream aqua bomb. and this is not really a haul item, but the lady that cuts my hair passed this hand cream along to my mom for me for christmas. i really need to go visit her again soon! lastly, because i wanted to even though i suck at hand lettering...i bought two more brush pens to play with. (tombow dual ended brush pen N15, zebra brush pen P-WF1)

amulet, bow n arrow (lipstick, liquid lipstick)

bow n arrow (studded kiss formula)

amulet

another sephora thinnng! i saw this sephora favorites selfie kit and had to get it. the tartiest liner is $24 by itself and it's full size. whatt. the marc jacobs mascara is great! i'm kinda whatever with the milk blur stick, and i'm passing the becca opal along because how many of these things have i ever gotten now... i think we're in the teens now for just opal alone. and i was interested in trying out this powder and liquid lip. as for freebies with purchase(s?), i got two tacha things and a blender cleanser solid mini. the water cream and the deep cleanse. i've tried the water cream maybe twice now, and i was very oily in the morning after, but not overly so. idk. and i haven't tried the cleanser yet. something else i haven't tried yet, but found on clearance at ulta, is this super cute tony moly set, which has a panda's dream cooling eye stick and a pocket bunny perfume bar.

tarte tartiest liner (pencil, liquid), becca opal, anastasia ashton

ashton

march hauls

hi guys! i've finally given myself some time to post this. here are a few things i picked up this month! ~Lin-chan ^.~

hautelook: lime crime velve-tins pink rose set -- hautelook sent me a $10 you haven't shopped with us in three years coupon (i'm dead serious), and it was perfectly timed with a lime crime sale. since i haven't tried anything of theirs, i thought this would be a nice start! and can we talk about how absolutely fabulous pink champagne is? and i'm not being sarcastic, my 10 year old self and i really like it and didn't want to wipe it off after swatching.... but it's not something that can be worn daily, lol!

lola, pink champagne, elle

lola

pink champagne

elle

1. ulta: tree hut sugar scrubs, real techniques mini miracle eraser sponges, benefit hoola lite; 21 days of beauty sale for the it cosmetics brow power, tony moly pureness green tea sheet mask and i'm real pearl luminiting sheet mask, and benefit porefessional birthday present
2. sigmabeauty.com: F40 large angled contour, F79 concealer blend kabuki
3. sally beauty supply: bitzy rainbow highlighter

rainbow highlighter, hoola lite

march favorites

hi guys! we're starting the end of month posts with favorites! actually this one is a pretty quick one, and we'll see if i can get all of my posts up tonight... maybe not. anyway, here ya go, my first standalone favorites post in forever! ~Lin-chan ^.~

amulet, paaarty, hoola lite, hoola, sable, what up beaches

1. urban decay vice liquid lipstick in amulet -- this is a really pretty and wearable work color. without eating or drinking it lasts maybe 3-4 hours and it fades fairly gracefully. i really like the mousse-y texture and that it dries matte but looks metallic. 
2. real techniques miracle mini eraser sponges -- i wasn't sure if i'd like these or need these. but i bought them anyway and they've been great. i really like the shape of these with the sharp crease on the tip. i've been using them dry to pick up any eyeshadow or mascara fall out and it's super convenient. it also helps with some cakiness in the under eye area.
3. tarte amazonian clay blush in paaarty -- ever since i've tried it, it's been the new daily blush. it's not super pigmented, but that also makes it nice and buildable. this is limited edition i guess because it was the sephora birthday present for this year...but i don't think i'll be super sad if it's gone either... but it's just been nice and easy and what i've been reaching for lately.
4. tarte maracuja eye cream -- so this was a rediscovery / necessity. so as mentioned previously, i'd been using the it cosmetics bye bye under eye cream, because i got a crapton of samples of it. then we had one week of winter after the many weeks of summer the past few months and my skin freaked out and got super dry. annnd i needed this eye cream back in my life. i'll still use up the other one, but this is the best still.
5. etude house green tea bubble tea sleeping pack -- this stuff. as mentioned above, cold weather, dry skin. this worked like a dream. especially popping a 'boba'. this is a really nice gel moisturizer. only complaint is that the 'boba' don't blend in amazing and sometimes have like a 'skin' to them, but whatever, just keep trying to mix it in! anyway, this isn't something i can use every day because it was too much moisture and i was starting to break out. it has a light fragrance, and a super duper cute spoon. anyway, i like it. i'm interested in trying the black tea one.
6. benefit hoola lite -- after trying this out, this is so much better for my skintone than regular hoola. who would have guessed..? pssh. anyway, it did start getting to the point where i was noticing my face was more orange or warmer than my neck or arms, and i think using regular hoola was part of the issue.
7. eyeshadow crease shades (ulta sable, benefit hoola bronzer, elizabeth mott what up beaches bronzer) -- so i've recently come to the realization that ulta has updated a lot of their beauty line. and as such, my beloved sable eyeshadow got nixed. needless to say, i began to search for 'dupes' of it, since i've already hit pan on this one and i have just one more left..... anyway, i haven't been using bronzers too much lately, and the elizabeth mott sample was ridiculously small, so i went ahead and tried them as eyeshadow and i really liked them. so i may just start buying bronzer/contour in the future.

march favorites

hi guys! not many things to share this month... but alas, here ya go! ~Lin-chan ^.~
favorites:

1. nyc metro girl unscented makeup brush cleanser -- omg you guys! this is a really nice brush cleanser! only issues with it are that it takes a bit more effort for liquid foundation brushes, and the packaging is a bit small for larger powder brushes, but this works great!
2. ecotools brush cleanser -- this works surprisingly well. i don't like the $8 price tag though. i'm also not a huge fan of the bottle design either, some of the excess when you stop pouring and squeezing drips down the side pretty easily. this worked well with foundation brushes containing liquid as well as brushes containing powder.
3. tony moly my little pet eye patches -- omg can we get stock in these? this was such a great and relaxing product. these are a gel-type eye patch, and came in their own hard case, so they didn't get messed up inside of the package or anything. these felt super relaxing and the under eye area felt much better. can't wait to get more of these!
4. not pictured: nails inc nailkale superfood base coat -- this is actually a pretty good product. it might be a little gimmicky because of the kale trend, but i do think that this says what it does. it's supposed to help with nails that split and stuff, and i feel like after using this alone for a couple weeks, it started working out. the first week or so, i was still getting splits, but now it's not too bad. and it goes on a nice glossy clear, so i sometimes wear 1-2 coats of this alone.

random favorites:

1. tokidoki 2016 calendar, march -- unicorno is like my favorite tokidoki character, and more specifically i love sakura! so it's super exciting that my favorite character is featured on my birthday month!
2. ski queen gjetost cheese -- this is norwegian goat cheese. and this is not a recent favorite--i may have mentioned this on here before. growing up, my norwegian great-aunt would always buy literally brick sized blocks of this stuff from the norwegian church and would give us some. now, the $8 we spend at whole foods on this stuff will add up, so i don't get it very often. but this cheese is my absolute favorite for snacking. usually, i only eat this as is, or on some buttered toast. i'm not going to bother trying to explain the taste of this..because i'm not really sure how to do so..but i'll just say that anyone who we've offered this to (other family or friends) did not like this cheese. so i do not advise you to spend money on this without trying it beforehand, and be sure to use a cheese plane to cut it!

meh's:

1. real techniques brush cleanser -- this stuff sucks and is not advisable. this brush cleaning palette came with two of these packettes and the first one barely got a foundation-filled brush clean. the scent is another thing, while nice, this formula did not work so well.
2. real techniques brush cleaning palette -- this is an interesting one. it's got its pro's and con's relative to the sigma oven mitt, but i think i'd rather keep a hold of this than the spa glove. i like how easily it can hold water or soap inside of it, as well as the different textured sections to agitate your brushes. i don't like that it takes over your entire hand, so you basically have to remove the thing before you can wring out your brushes, because it feels awkward to do so. but otherwise, it works well and i liked using the ecotools cleanser with it.
3. etude house my beauty tool -- first off, the sponge piece kind of weirds me out, and i don't want to use it for acne and bacteria reasons. second, i wish that the bristles and sponge were not interchangeable because water gets caught up in there whenever i go to wash the bristles. now, i wanted this brush as a test to see if i liked this style of brush--since the artis brushes look and sound amazing. and at the end of the day, i really like using this but i do have some issues. the bristles are nice and soft and product glides on the face pretty smoothly. i don't like that i have to consciously not use too much pressure for fear that the neck will snap off the handle. i do like the $14 price tag vs. $50+ for an artis brush. i don't like that it's so tiny--but it does get the job done. overall, i will continue to use this until i accidentally break it or the bristles begin falling out, but i think it was a great trial run before committing to an artis brush.
1. also, if you want a discount toward an artis brush (not sponsored!), my work has a coupon for beautybar.com: $15 off $60 plus free shipping, i believe it is for new customers only (you could still try otherwise), BENEPLACEBB. you're welcome! ^_^

march hauls

hi guys! not too many things to haul this time, considering my birthday was last month and i threw most of the stuff i got into that post..but here's everything else! ~Lindsay-chan ^.~

apple watch -- redeemed this year's healthy living incentive from work! got this for free....ish, i have to pay taxes on it. [not pictured: i also bought skintomi matte skin screen protectors and a clear tpu bumper case for the watch.]

ulta: tony moly mud & bubble sheet masks, panda's dream & my little pet eye patches, birthday freebie: benefit roller lash mascara mini

sephora: clinique great skin, great deal set for combo-oily skin, marc jacobs birthday gift, code freebie: benefit dew the hoola

blacquer, kiss kiss bang bang

ulta: anastasia single shadow in labyrinth, soap & glory sugar crush scrub & smoothie star body buttercream, tree hut sugar scrubs in lychee and plum & marula and jasmine

target: loreal color riche eyeshadow in pain au chocolat
bed bath & beyond: real techniques brush cleaning palette, ecotools brush cleanser
marshalls: holika holika pig nose blackhead kit
sally's: dermectin-tc sheet masks in purifying and pore refining, mystic divine luminous shine hair mask

sephora:500 points: tarte rainforest of the sea set (lights camera lashes, lip splash lipstick in beach bum, deep dive cleansing gel, marine 4-in-1 boosting mist, & water foundation sampler); not pictured: shiseido facial cotton

pain au chocolat, beach bum

beach bum -- sorry for the terrible swatch photos. the formula of this is so amazing that it broke, when swatching it on my arm before i even got to wear it. so i didn't want to bother retrying it.