haul: the day life palette from em michelle phan

hi guys! so last week, i posted about how the life palette was basically $30 off. so of course i ordered one! another reason why i went ahead and ordered it was because i had $20 on my paypal from doing surveys through opinion outpost (see its blogpost here). so i wound up paying only $29.05 out of pocket for a $75 palette. super sweet. also, i've figured out a reason for their super fast turn-around/shipping time: they're shipping from like tennessee or something (the return address says southhaven, ms but the tracker says it originated in memphis, whatever). i ordered the palette friday at noon and got a shipping email by 8pm, and it arrived on monday.

impressions of packaging & execution:

1. shipping: the life palette sampler and lipstick that i've purchased thus far came in thick black bubble mailers, with the items wrapped in pink tissue paper. this palette, due to its size, came in a fairly well padded box, and both the palette and travel palette were wrapped in tissue.
2. exterior packaging: i like how the box is designed with all the pictures on it, it's got a flap to see the inside. ..i guess that's about it.
3. the life palette: 
• when you go to open the palette, there's a plastic sheet on the inside of the palette, i think this is partially to help reduce mess if anything happens to a pan and it shatters or whatever. i'm planning on keeping it basically for this purpose.
• i like how, beneath the divider, there's a magnetic sheet, so that the pans can magnetize to the palette. i like how it's aesthetically pleasing to the eye as far as artsy-ness, but i tend to prefer space utilization. the packaging, while online may look cheap, it's actually very sturdy and nice. it's a fairly thick acrylic and i think it works quite nicely. has strong magnets on the lower end of the palette for secure closure.
size-wise, this palette is fairly large for traveling purposes, but that's ok. you can just transfer the whole thing into a large zpalette and be good to go (see photo below).
• i think i'm going to eventually take all of the lip pans out and put them elsewhere. don't want to get blush/eyeshadow fallout all in them. bleh!
• dotting tool: this really looks like a nail dotting tool. it's great to wedge into the palette to easily remove pans from the palette. i think i may use it for my zpalettes too, when i can't reach between some of the pans.
• dual-ended brush: i don't really plan to use it, but i'm sure a good number of people will like it and use it
• looks-card: drawn by michelle herself! i'm excited to try out the looks on here; they look pretty easy to follow. she's also got videos of some looks on emcosmetics.com.
4. the travel palette: i don't like how this did not come with it's own box, but it's just a personal preference. i love how it's designed in the same format as the quadrants of the life palette. i don't like, however, is that if you'd like to mix and match from the other quadrants (i.e. don't transfer over an entire quadrant to the travel palette), they have to fit in those particular holes. so you can't carry more than 3-4 of the large shadow pans, given that you stick one into the blush's spot. has strong magnets on the lower end of the palette for secure closure; sometimes the magnet on the lower left side would catch onto shadow pans as i was trying to get them in or out. and by catch, i mean stick. strong magnets!

now, i don't really have time to post swatches on the different quadrants right now; so here are some initial photos of the palette. i intend to post swatches, pan-by-pan impressions, and recreate the looks on the enclosed card when i have time. sorry for slacking on you guys, but this semester's been killing my free time.
***i have not swatched any of the pans yet, outside of the four that were in the day dreaming sampler (see post here).*** ~L-c ^.~

this palette and other em michelle phan products can be purchased at emcosmetics.com.

 

edit: individual quadrant posts with swatches & impressions:

1. girls' day out
2. coffee break
3. weekend brunch
4. day dreaming

 
front, back (click photo to view larger)
 
interior of packaging

life palette, protective covering, ideas, sticker sheet with names of looks + 2 blanks

life palette & travel palette

(my scanner keeps making a weird reddish streak....) (click photo to view larger)
 
mirror inside the travel palette; dotting tool & dual-ended brush

example of how to use the dotting tool to depot from the life palette
 
back of life palette, sticker with pan names (the pans themselves have their names on them too)
 
looks 1 & 2; girls day out & coffee break
 
looks 3 & 4; weekend brunch & day dreaming (see swatches of the day dreaming sampler here)

size comparisons to zpalettes

 
compared to a small zpalette (i depotted my day dreaming sampler!)

compared to a pro zpalette

all of the pans fit into a large zpalette; with plenty of extra room!

opinion outpost

hi all! this post is a bit different than usual, but i wanted to talk about opinion outpost. basically, it's a website where you take a bunch of surveys and you can get rewarded for doing so [to get full details visit their FAQ page].

my little story: i heard about this website, read up a bit, and decided to create an account. after two months of filling out random surveys, i've now redeemed 400 points (or $40), which has helped cover a few things i've bought recently. [if you're interested in signing up, here's my referral link*, or as always, you can go to opinionoutpost.com yourself and create an account that way.]


how it appears to work:
it seems like these surveyors are posting to opinion outpost, paying them some nominal fee to try to get to a large audience who will take their surveys. granted, this does cause a lot of selection-bias as people are self-selecting to take these surveys, but it's a way that you can provide opinions about products or other topics, like life, ailments, etc. in addition, you are being paid, or rewarded for your time.

once you create and fill out your profile, you can start filling out surveys. a good number of them are looking for people within certain interest groups or age ranges, so you will be filtered out of a bunch. also, a lot of times, survey quotas are full before opinion outpost picks up on it. but that's ok.

take this with a grain of salt, but for every survey you complete or attempt to complete, you will get an entry into their $10k prize drawing (not sure how often they run, but it'll have the ending date listed for you).

before you begin a survey, opinion outpost will tell you the reward points value and estimated time to complete the survey. as far as i've seen, the reward points for each survey are some multiple of 5, or some surveys are only for a prize drawing entry. then you go onto the survey--you're usually redirected to an external website. assuming you aren't filtered out and can complete the survey, you are then redirected back to opinion outpost and asked if you thought it was good and if it was interesting, then you are awarded your points/drawing entries.

you can check back on opinion outpost several times throughout the day to attempt surveys. occasionally, they'll email you if they think a particular survey is a fit for you. but try to do it as soon as you get the email because their quotas may will fill up if you wait too long. please don't get discouraged if you can't seem to get survey reward points. it takes time and patience. you'll get there! ^_^

from what i understand or remember reading or hearing about somewhere is that if there's inactivity on your account for like 3 months or so, they deactivate your account. if this happens, you'll lose your points and have to create a new account [or start anew] if you so choose. i'm sure they'll send you an email before they do it though--don't quote me.

the current rewards are:
30 points (minimum) = $3 to alawar (it appears to be some sort of gaming site)
50 points (minimum) = $5 to amazon.com
50 points (minimum) = $5 donation to red cross
100 points (minimum) = $10 to paypal
100 points (minimum) = $10 for itunes
100 points (minimum) = $10 to restaurant.com
105 points (minimum) = 300 miles for united airlines (has two additional redemption options)

again, if you're interested in signing up, here's my referral link*, or as always, you can go to opinionoutpost.com and create an account. ~Lindsay-chan ^.~

*Affiliate Link

deal alert: $30 off em michelle phan life palette

hi guys! right now you can get $30 off em michelle phan's life palette (+travel palette). regularly priced at $75!
for this weekend, they've got $10 off $30 plus there's a code (20LP--exp.10/6/13) for $20 off the life palette!!! and for the month of october, there's free shipping!

so at $45+tax and free shipping. uh yesssss please. ~Lin-chan ^.~
em michelle phan products can be purchased at emcosmetics.com.

July - September Favorites

 

UGH! it's october already. what happened??!!!??? anyway, here's what i've been loving over the summer. ~Lin-chan ^.~

europe -- so most of you guys don't know, teh paul went to europe with his friend in june--part vacation, part nerdy-academic-people conference. while on his venture, he picked up some huge gummy bears, champagne truffles, and lindt chocolates for me, as well as this super cute salt and pepper shaker set. anyway back to the favorite. of these that he brought back, my favorite was the joghurt erdbeer-rhabarber (yogurt strawberry-rhubarb) bar from lindt. its soooo good. the only problem is that it's not readily available here yet and, as you can see, definitely way expensive to order right now (he paid €1.95 (~$2-3). TT_TT i luff it. as soon as it is reasonably priced (and hopefully nearby) i will buy all the lindt!!

 

new york city/chinatown? -- i'm not really sure where this is from, but this is beef jerky that my grandfather buys every time they go to new york. from what i understand, it's super expensive too (upwards of $20+/lb???). but it's soooo goooood. mmmmmm. it's super thinly cut and is freshly made, without preservatives. (package shown is ½ lb)

• covergirl ink it eyeliners -- i've been using black, charcoal, and cocoa the most lately. occasionally, i'll play with the crazier ones (silver, gold, aqua). i just love how long these stay put, i have no fading issues with them, they don't rub off easily once they're set. just awesome. i don't generally use dark eyeliners in my waterline--so i can't say anything about their staying power there.
• milani color statement lipstick in nude creme -- i love this lipstick. i'm more of a nude to brown lippy wearer but this is great! there's no shimmer and it's the perfect my lips but better shade, leaning a little pink. the color lasts quite a while after the balminess wears off as well (if you don't eat or drink), so it's nice to not have to reapply as often as other lipsticks.
• benefit cosmetics posie tint -- this is such a pretty pink stain. i've been primarily using it on my lips, i'm not adventurous enough to try it on my cheeks yet.
• wet n wild walking on eggshells trio -- this is a great trio to get. super natural looking, and it's only $3! you can't beat that. i've been using it a lot and i just love it. several people have told me that they really liked it when i've worn it. the brush that i've been loving lately to blend the crease shadow with is the MUA E3 brush.
• loreal infallible eyeshadow in bronzed taupe: a youtube made me buy it! emilynoel83/beauty broadcast mentioned it and after buying it and trying it, i'm in love.
• urban decay 24/7 eye liner in stray dog [not pictured below] -- this is such a pretty metallic taupe, it goes well with neutral and natural eye looks. loooove it. it's been discontinued, but mushroom is very close.
• see walking on eggshells, bronzed taupe, stray dog, and posietint on me here (swatches of stray dog and mushroom are on there as well).

 
silver, charcoal, aqua, cocoa, gold, black, nude creme, posie tint
walking on eggshells trio, bronzed taupe (swatched over milani eye primer)

• elf daily moisture stick -- a "youtube made me buy it" emilynoel83 recommended it. i don't know what's been going on lately, but my undereye area has been super dry and no matter what concealer i use, it's cakey looking. this, in conjunction with using eye moisturizers, has been helping reduce the cakiness. it can be used both under and over makeup without disrupting what you've already applied. apply it from the stick to your finger, rather than directly to your face. at $6, it's so worth a try.
• simple skincare 
• cleansing facial wipes -- i initially got my first pack to try, to see what the hype was all about. and omg i love them (worth the hype, guys!). i don't wear contacts, nor do i feel like my eyes are particularly sensitive, but these wipes don't irritate my eyes or my skin when i use them. i'm so sad that they're a lot more expensive than my equate wipes! they're about $5 for 25 wipes vs. equate at $7 for 120 wipes. buuuut they're soooo awesome... sadface!!!
• soothing eye balm -- it's a very light moisturizer, similar consistency to clinique's ddm gel. i've been using it morning and night and it's been helping with my recent dryness.
• eye makeup remover (liquid): this has been doing a pretty good job getting off my eye makeup (including waterproof mascara) without irritating my eyes. now, if i over-saturate the cotton ball, yes it kind of stings..but just use it in moderation! lol.
• the eye makeup remover wipes are only ok. you have to flip the package over each time you pull one out to extend their moisture retention (i do this with other wipes as well).
• lady gaga fame perfume -- to be honest, i went to sephora with a couple of friends and, while there, decided to give this a whiff. it's actually quite nice, i really enjoyed it. the scent, though it doesn't have vanilla in it, smells kind of like it to me. so i got a rollerball so that teh hubz could smell it as well as the fact that i haven't been huge into wearing perfume lately with my migraines, but anyway.... the most intriguing thing about this perfume is that the liquid is black. sooo interesting! i really like this scent. (also got the cute deluxe sample size for 100 sephora points at a later time.)

september hauls

 

hi guys! so earlier in the month, ulta had a 20% off coupon so i started poking around on their website. then i saw that they were having 25% off on most cosmetic bags and cases. now, my mom's been mentioning how she's been wanting a new makeup bag (and the extras that i have aren't really what she wants), so i got her this one for her birthday later this month. buttttttt, i needed to spend more of teh mulah to get free shipping. it kinda sucked that you had to spend $50 to get free shipping, and that's after you apply the coupon. not your subtotal. ~.~ but on the plus side, the 20% off applied to my mom's makeup bag, making it ~40% off, which is insane. right?! looooove. anyway, i bought some stuff for me too..

you'll notice as the post goes on, that i got a lot of loreal infallible eyeshadows.....but dey so pretteh. ~Lin-chan ^.~

 

left: mom's present: trina makeup bag, the wet brush, elf kabuki brush, asp manicure saver cotton claw
right: the remainder of my ulta order + opi drip dry

ulta order numero uno:

• real techniques powder & blush brushes: i've been really enjoying this powder brush..a lot. so i wanted another, and i decided to give their blush brush a try too.
• opi drip dry & essence nail art express dry drops -- comparison review to come later! every time i've been into ulta, they've been out of the essence drops, so i bought the opi ones. but, i needed a little bit more to make free shipping on the online order, so i went ahead and ordered the essence drops. we'll have to see which ones i like more. (hopefully the essence ones because they're way cheaper! i have not tried a liquid nail-dryer before.)
• update: i returned the drip dry before using it
• tree hut sugar scrubs in tropical mango, coconut lime, original shea; i loved the mango one and since ulta was having buy 2 get one free plus 20% off, i had to get more!
• omg. so the coconut lime reminds me of my childhood. my parents would always buy white rain shampoo & conditioner in coconut. this, i think, is that EXACT scent.

 
 
primer, let's get naked, #luv u, infinite sky, smoldering plum, perpetual purple, amber rush (swatched over milani eye primer)

various locations:

• freeman face masks, covergirl smoochie in #luv u and rimmel london let's get naked: these were all semi-impulse. i had $5 off cvs beauty rewards plus $4 off $20, and the face masks were bogo...so yeah....it happened.
• black radiance true complexion shine control primer -- i already tossed the packaging for this! sorreh! i wanted to try this out, it's a relatively inexpensive drugstore primer, and my usual primer, too faced primed and poreless, is $30/oz! ouch!
• sally hansen flashy fuchsia: i'm kinda sad how the pretty purple shimmer doesn't really show through on the swatch. but we'll see.....
• loreal infallible eyeshadows in infinite sky, smoldering plum, perpetual purple, and amber rush -- i got these on various shopping trips and i'm not sure where i got each one, but anyway. perpetual purple is ok. i wore it packed on the lids and blended outward one day and it looked kinda bruise-y to me. my mother-in-law liked it, but i'll have to give it another go. amber rush is a youtube made my buy it (i think i'll make that a new tag! ytmmbi), thanks to jen from frmheadtotoe. and infinite sky and smoldering plum were to play with since they match the bridesmaid dresses for the weddings i'll be in soon.

 

various locations:

• tresemme heat protectant: i ran out of my paul mitchell hot off the press ($16) and i didn't really want to open up the oscar blandi one ($23) just yet, and this one is only like $4. another ytmmbi. i think this has become the new go-to. 14+ hours later, my hair was still straight, even after using a ponytail for a little while! great stuff.
• eos lip balm in tangerine: have you guys ever had this problem? this is the first time it's happened to me, when i first opened up the balm, the entire product was stuck in the lid. so i used a pin and dug it out, tried melting it back onto the base, then sticking it into the freezer to reharden. but i took it out and left it out, thinking it'd be ok. but once it got to room temperature, it split again. so i fixed it again, and now it lives in my fridge.
• elf lip lock: i told you guys in a previous post that i don't have an invisible lip liner, right? well apparently i did have one in my stash out of sight, out of mind; but i went ahead and bought this one too to try out since elf is a lot cheaper than pixi.
• maybelline
• colorshow polka dots nail polish in blue marks the spot: (see notd post here) it's ok, it needs 3 layers to be as opaque as i'd like it. maybe if you layer it over another polish, it might look better in 1-2 coats.
• fit me foundation in 120 classic ivory: i'm reluctant to admit it, but i think i've become whiter or paler..something. i don't go out in the sun enough, i guess? i have no idea. so i picked out this one because after looking at the numbering on the liquid foundations, i felt like this was the best color match. and sadly, it's spot on; it makes me feel so pale now, 'i wear ivory foundation!' TT_TT ...anyway, so far, i've liked it. it does kind of cling to dry patches or dead skin near acne scabbies (ew, right). but. it does keep me fairly shine-free. i have been applying concealer and powder over it, but i basically rub the stick all over my face a bit, then blend it out with the real techniques expert face brush.
• sally hansen mermaid's tale & gunmetal: so i've been wanting mermaid's tale (see notd post) for a while now because it's supposedly a dupe for deborah lippmann's across the universe, which is $8 vs. $19...or if you want to think of it like this, i got $5 extra bucks for spending $10 sally hansen, and used a $2 off $10 nail polish coupon; so i picked up gunmetal too ^______^

 
swatches: wonder pencil in light, energy (fully dispensed in top left), thankful blush, fantasy (swatched dry), creme brulee

ulta part dos

• too faced primed and poreless: my favorite primer!! it was part of ulta's 21 days of beauty, on sale for 50% off! yessssss. love. sadface that it was limit 2 online. lol.
• so in your cart on ulta.com, whenever there's a gift with purchase, there'll be a dropdown menu below the item that is a gift to go with a particular item in your cart. somehow i got two options:
• too faced lip injection & shadow insurance; half of a full size eye primer and a lip plumper i haven't tried yet, for free? sweet.
• st. tropez self tan bronzing mousse: why this was a gift with purchase of too faced primer, i have no freaking clue. i'm passing this off to my mom because i'm such a home-body and if i use this and suddenly get a tan, it'll be really weird. and she occasionally tans anyway.
• tarte thoughtful treasures deluxe best-sellers set (holiday 2013, $19): i've really been wanting to try one of their lipsurgence pencil stick thingies and maracuja oil  for a while now, so to me the blush is a bonus.
• maracuja oil
• thankful blush
• energy lip pencil -- great color, it's one of those pH balms and i like the balminess to it
• nyx: eye products were bogo half off
• wonder pencil in light: every single time i've gone into ulta (the one here and back home), neither of them had the light pencil. it's always a crapton of medium or dark. so while i was ordering stuff, i decided to get one.
• single eyeshadow in fantasy: it looked like it might go nicely with the gold eyeshadow from my september ipsy bag
• butter gloss in creme brulee: another ytmmbi. i'm loving it, by the way.

 
never lacque-ing & eternal sunshine (swatched dry)

• walgreens: loreal la lacque in never lacque-ing & infallible eyeshadow in eternal sunshine. these are so pretty! i wanted to try one of the la lacque lipstick thingies... and eternal sunshine is pretteh!
• sally's: asp manicure saver cotton claw. i've been interested in getting one of these recently as teh paul is not so amused when i ask him to remove one of my freshly ruined nails, when wearing gloves or using q-tips just don't work out or can't happen.

 
swatches: houndstooth, argyle

theBalm.com: instain blushes in argyle and houndstooth. toward the end of september, theBalm was having a 50% off everything flash sale, with proceeds going toward a charity. so i jumped on it and got these two!

just peach, ballet twist, nude pink, just beige (sorry for the poor lighting! we were at my in-law's and i was impatient!)

bbb: just a day after checking out nouveau cheap's blog posts, i was able to find the new maybelline color tattoos at our local bbb! so exciting. i didn't get all three because the brown looked too dark for me, and it's matte. i also found the medicated baby lips (i didn't like the first one (blue tube) that i had, but i decided to give these a try: got just peach & too cool. i might give away just peach though, it doesn't look quite as i had imagined it on me. they also had the new loreal butterfly mascara and, i haven't tried one of these before, a covergirl jumbo gloss balm in ballet twist (205). i'm really liking the covergirl pencil, but it accentuates dry lips, and looks horrible at that point.

bb cream, fair/light, light

cvs: so i used my gazillion extra bucks and got these. i've been wanting to try the rimmel london bb cream (in light) but i'm on the fence about it--first impression-wise. i've only done this swatch today, but it dried and oxidized pretty fast, like in 5 minutes. i'll have to actually try it out on my face and see. the wet n wild coverall foundations were 2/$3, so i got fair/light and light. it was so cheap why not get both to test out my color. but by the looks of it, i'm going to have to give the darker one to T to try out. it's pretty orange on me. i also wouldn't call it a "cream" foundation, it's super liquidy for a "cream". and more ytmmbi's or rather, just the loreal total repair dry oil. the frizz taming serum was purchased on a whim. i haven't tried these yet, but i'm hoping that they live up to the hype and/or claims!
update: i forgot that i also got essie's for the twill of it during this trip! here's its notd post.