Nail of the Day

Today's nail of the day is a throwback to a little more than a year ago. The OPI Black Shatter Nail Polish. I originally had just the red nail polish on, which is Essie's Olé Caliente, and I thought it looked a little plain. I was a little tired of glitter polish and the annoying-ness of taking it off so I searched through my other polishes and came up with the OPI shatter and rememebered how much I enjoyed it back in the day. So I put it on and I'm loving the combo. I love red and black together. It's the perfect edgy combo.

Products That I Used Up - Part Two (Other Beauty Items)

And it's time for round two of my trash - my "other" items. Haircare, body products, skincare, lotions, etc... This is the last of the posts but I should have a little bit more before I go home. I'm pretty close to using a shower gel, eyeliner and powder and I'm not going to take my empty products home with me for summer vacation. So here's a look at the rest of my trash!

 First I used up the Tresemme Naturals Conditioner. This is probably at least my 10th bottle of this stuff. I absolutely love it. I use it as a daily conditioner and leave it on for about 5 minutes when I need a deep conditioner. It makes my hair extremely soft and detangled. I sometimes switch it up to another conditioner, but I always go back to this one. I've already repurchased it since I used this bottle and I'll keep repurchasing it for a while. The only down side is that it doesn't come in that massive bottle that Tresemme products come in.

 This is the Shea Cashmere Hand Cream from Bath and Body Works. It's in the Sweet Pea scent. I don't even think they sell this anymore. I think B&BW only has one scent of hand cream now? I purchased the one from there in the brown tube, I forget what it's called. I liked this hand cream a lot so I was sad to see it go, but I've had it since high school.

 This is an empty packet of makeup wipes. They're the Target brand that are supposed to be comparable to Ponds Clean Sweep. I thought these were average, but I always repurchased them anyway. I never buy anything else. They reformulated and repackaged them, which are shown below in the brown packaging and they are SO much better. They're a lot more moist and they make your skin feel amazing and clean. Now that they redid them, I absolutely love them and I'll happily keep buying them.

 These are the repackaged and reformulated versions of the makeup wipes above. They're so much better and I absolutely love them now.

 This is a sample pack of the

 This is the Target brand eye makeup remover that's compared to the Neutrogena one. I've probably gone through at least 10 bottles of this product and I already repurchased since finishing this bottle. It's cheap and it gets the job done. It says oil free, but it does leave the oily feeling residue. I love this stuff and will continue to keep purchasing this product.

 This is the Salon Grafix dry shampoo for brunette shades. I liked this dry shampoo a lot. I started dying my hair black, so I could only use this dry shampoo when my roots started to grow in. They have a formula for black hair, but the last time I was in Ulta, I didn't see this brand anywhere so I bought the Batiste dry shampoo. I didn't love that and I'm going to talk about it below because I also used that up. I bought the Lush dry shampoo now because it's colorless. If I ever find the version of this dry shampoo for black hair, I will definitely pick it up.

This is the St Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub. I thought this was an ok product. It didn't feel like it was exfoliating enough and I didn't notice any drastic changes with this product. I only bought it because Rite Aid was having a buy one get one deal and I doubt that I'll be purchasing this product again. I like a little more heavy duty exfoliator.

 This is the Tresemme Volumizing Mousse. I had this for a really long time and I just never used it because I didn't think it did anything. It didn't add any noticeable volume to my hair so it didn't become an essential part to my hair routine. I wont be repurchasing this product.

 This is the Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea body splash. This bottle is so old it's not even funny. B&BW has changed their packaging twice that's how old it is. It started to smell a little alcohol-y so I decided it was time for it to go. This is my favorite scent and I already purchased another bottle in the new packaging.

This is the tresemme Bouncy Curl Defining Gel. I use this when I want to scrunch my hair. My hair has a natural wave to it, but it's super frizzy so I use this to tame it. I use this interchangeably with  the Aussie strong hold gel. I've gone through a lot of tubes of both. There's not really a difference between the two that I can tell, so I'll continue to keep using both. This doesn't leave a crunchy feeling to your hair unless you use too much. If you use a good amount your hair isn't crunchy or wet looking.

 This is the B&BW Warm Vanilla Sugar body spray. I'm not particularly fond of this scent, but I got it in a makeup swap, so I used it. I can't say I'm sad to see this go because I don't like smelling like vanilla. I won't be buying this scent, I'll stick to sweet pea.

 This is Origins Brighter by Nature. This is a skincare product. I applied this after washing my face, but before my moisturizer. I didn't notice that this did anything special to my skin so I won't be repurchasing this, especially because of the price tag.

 This is the Urban Decay All Nighter makeup setting spray. I used up this little bottle and couldn't go very long without it, so I purchased the full size, which is shown below. This makes my makeup last forever without smudging. I use this every day and I don't like to be without it. I'll definitely keep repurchasing this for a long time.

 This is boring, but I used a clarisonic brush head. This is the one for sensitive skin. I bought a four pack of these so I'm going to keep buying them because I have sensitive skin, so it only makes sense to buy the sensitive skin brushes. If you're thinking about purchasing a clarisonic, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's amazing.

 And the final thing, the Batiste dry shampoo for dark and deep brown. I liked this product as a dry shampoo, the only issue that I had with this is that it didn't come out deep brown, it came out grey. So it was very hard to work this product into my black hair. Once I got the color to disappear though, it did a pretty good job at controlling the oil. I wouldn't say it was better than the Salon Grafix one, but it was ok. I won't be purchasing this again because of the color.

And that's it for all of the products that I used up so far! I still have a few that I'll probably finish in the next two weeks, so I'll probably post those before I go home for summer because I'm not going to bring trash home with me to collect until I get a decent amount of products. I already took the trash out and I'm glad to have a lot of these products out of my life. I love using things up, it's so much more satisfying than collecting stuff that I don't use.

Products That I've Used Up - Part One (Makeup)

So it's coming to the end of my spring semester at college and ever since the start of the semester, I've been saving up the products that I used. I ended up using so much that I had to break it up into categories, makeup and non-makeup items. So here's what I used up in my attempt to downgrade my collection!

 I used up a sample of Benefit's Hoola Bronzer. I got about three or four uses out of this, so I feel that I got a pretty good feel of how I like this product. I used this for contouring only, not overall bronzing. I think it did a pretty good job at contouring. I wouldn't say that it was the best contouring powder that I ever used. I was considering buying the full size of this product and I'm going to keep it on my list for the next time I need a new bronzer.

 Next was the ELF (eyes lips face) Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter. I've had this for a while, so I wanted to get it out of my collection. I actually ended up liking this product a lot more than I remembered liking it in the past. I didn't really use the highlight side as much as the concealer. The concealer was very hydrating for the under eye area. If Target stocks this product, I will definitely purchase it the next time I run out of an under eye concealer. If I have to order it online, though, I'll pass. I don't love it enough to pay for shipping.

 The next product was the Revlon ColorStay Foundation for Normal/Dry Skin. I had this product for a long time and I have a love-hate relationship with it. It's a perfect match for my skin tone. The downside is that it really stains my beauty blender and can dry out my skin too much if I don't moisturize right before applying this foundation. It does last a very long time which I like. I also tried the Maybelline Superstay 24 hour foundation and I think I like that a little bit better. It might be a while before I purchase this product again.

 Next was the Maybelline Cat Eyes Colossal Volum Mascara. I got this because I love the regular Colossal Volum Mascara and decided to give this a try. I typically hate curved mascara wands, so I don't know why I tried this one, because I hated the wand. I love the formula, but I just don't like curved mascara wands. A lot of people say that they make their lashes more curled but for me, they're less curled with curved wands. I definitely won't be buying the cat eyes Colossal anymore.

 The next product I finished was the NYX eyeshadow in true taupe. I used to use this color to fill in my brows, but then I dyed my hair black and it was too light. After that I used it as a crease color on a daily basis. I loved this color and I will definitely buy it again when I use up more of my eyeshadows. It's very pigmented and gives a lot of payoff. It's a great subtle-ish crease color

 As you can see, this product isn't finished. I'm throwing this away because it's old and I have a YSL lipstick in a similar color that I like better. I like this formula of Maybelline lipsticks a lot. This shade is called Born With It, a neutral pink. It's a great every day color. I got a good amount of use out of it. I won't be buying this exact color again, but I will continue to purchase lipsticks from this line.

 This is a sample of the Tarina Tarintino Pearl Glow Primer. I liked the finish of this product, but not the consistency. I prefer the L'oreal Magic Lumi primer because it's less thick and a little more liquidy. It's also a lot more wallet friendly. They give extremely similar finishes, so I won't be purchasing this product again.

I also used up the Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner. I wasn't very fond of this eyeliner because the tip was too flimsy and none of the "ink" made it to the tip, so you could never get a thin line. I typically like this style of liquid eyeliner best but I wont be repurchasing this product.

This is the Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara. I really like this mascara but it dries out extremely quickly. I only buy this when Sephora or Ulta are having deals. This doesn't hold a curl very well so it's not a holy grail mascara or anything. I'll probably wait a while before repurchasing this product.

I didn't finish this product, I just hate it so much that I need it out of my collection. This is the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in the color Tokyo. This specific color made me look dead so it was very unflattering. It's also hard to build up layers of this product, the applicator just moves it around on your lips. Even though I don't like this particular color, I don't love the formula either so I won't be purchasing any more colors from this line.

This is the Milani HD Advanced Concealer. I absolutely love this product. It's actually discontinued :( which is very sad, so I'm going to buy it off of Amazon. It's a great under eye/highlighing

concealer so it adds amazing dimension to the face when combined with contouring. I also like how light this shade is because when I try to highlight, the fairest color is usually a match for my skintone, so it doesn't actually lighten those areas. This is a holy grail product for me.

This is the L'oreal Power Volume 24 Hour Mascara. I was using 24 hour mascaras for a while because I had a problem with mascaras smudging under my eyes, but this also smudged so I won't be repurchasing this again.

The last product is a sample of the Chanel Perfection Lumiere Foundation. I really enjoyed this foundation but I have my eyes on the Vitalumier Aqua foundation instead. I'm probably going to buy the Vitalumier Aqua the next time I run out of foundation, but I'll keep this foundation in mind when I run out of the Vitalumier Aqua. It gives a flawless finish to the face, but it has chemicals in it that aren't very good for your skin. I did really enjoy it though. I'll probably keep getting samples of it until I end up buying it.

What's In My Travel Makeup Bag?

Spring Fashion Haul!

If you're lost on this year's spring fashion, check out my haul below for inspiration or just to see what I got to (finally) prepare for spring weather! :)

Spring Lip Color Picks!

With spring just around the corner, I thought I would share with you the lip colors that I know I'll be wearing a lot during the spring and summer! These vary from Maybelline to YSL, so there's something to cover everyone's price point! These vary from pastel pinks to oranges, so there's a great color range as well.

Update: Project Pan (Products I'm Trying to Use Up)

If you've been following my blog for a couple of months, you might remember this post: Makeup Products That I'm Almost Finished With. It was a post that showed all the products that I want to use up before I started buying new products. In this post, I'm just going to update you on what products I've finished and what products I still have left.

P.S. I did cheat a little bit and buy new products. My goal is to stop going overboard and to buy things that I know I'll use. I only did that, so I'm not really worried about it.

The first product on my list was the Laura Geller Balance-N-Brighten Powder in the color Fair. I completely used this product up in January and it was in my Product Empties video that I will link at the bottom of this post. I really liked this product for setting my under eye concealer. I have dry skin, so I don't typically set  my foundation with a powder so I'm not sure how it performed in that aspect. If I could find another small size of the product like I had here, I would repurchase it. The full size is huge and highly impractical for a product that's going to set your under eye area.

The next product was the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder. I was extremely close to finishing this product and then I dropped it and it shattered. I tried to re-press it with a modified version of a technique that I saw on pinterest, the blog post going through that process is linked here. I ended up with a chalky mess, so I deemed this product finished. Like I mentioned above, I don't really set my foundation with powders, so I think I'm going to use up some samples of loose powders that I have before I go buy a setting powder. I wasn't overly thrilled with this powder so I don't know if I will go for this one again, or buy a new one.

The third product in my products to use up was the Urban Decay Primer Potion in the Original shade. I've had this particular tube for about 3 or 4 years. I depotted it using the microwave technique, which you can google if you're interested, and that's why it lasted so long. I had about a year's worth of product from what I depotted when the bottle seemed empty. I would definitely repurchase this product again. I just opened a brand new Laura Mercier Eye Basics eye primer, so I won't be repurchasing until that's empty.

Next is the Revlon Photoready concealer. I haven't really used this since I posted the original project pan post because it's too dark to use as concealer and it's still too light to contour with. I'll go through this pretty quickly once I start to tan because it's the only concealer that I have in a shade that matches me when I'm tan. I really enjoy this concealer. If I had a little bit more problem areas on my face, I would purchase this in  a lighter shade, as it's a heavier concealer. It's also good for the under eyes, so in the summer I use it as my all purpose concealer. In the winter, I feel like my skin needs brightening, so I like to use a highlighting concealer in the winter months. I'll definitely keep repurchasing this as my all purpose summer concealer though.

The next product is the MAC Dazzleglass in the color Bare Necessity. I've used a pretty good amount of this since I first posted about the project pan. I still have about 15-20% left of the product, so I'm going to keep using this until it runs out. When it is empty, I will definitely be repurchasing this because I love the color, the glitter, and the smell. I don't really mind the consistency of MAC lipglosses, even though a lot of people complain about them being sticky.

Next is the Maybelline Mastershape Brow Pencil. Since the original post, I've used up the product so that it's  sharpened down right to where the word master ends. It's starting to get a little too small to fit into a pencil sharpener, so I think I have about 3 or 4 more sharpens left before it gets too small. I really enjoy this product. I like the waxy consistency that it has because it's more of a multipurpose product that way. It doubles as a gel and a brow color in one. I also like it because it's very natural looking. I think I'll keep the little spooly on the end after it's finished to use with other products. After this is finished, I'm going to start using up my Benefit Brow Zings. I don't enjoy the Benefit as much as the Maybelline, so after I'm finished with the Benefit, I'll probably go back to the Maybelline Mastershape.

Next is the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer. I used to really love this concealer, but now that I don't have acne and my under eye circles are under control, I find this is a little too much coverage for me. I haven't been reaching for this product very much at all lately. I barely touched it from the time of the original post. I might try to use it as a brightening concealer when I get a little bit more of a tan and try to sheer it out with moisturizer because I don't want to throw it away and I don't want it sitting around forever. Once this is finished, I won't go out of my way to hunt this product down because I'm in the USA and don't have easy access to it since it's a UK brand. It was fun to try though!

The final product is the Maybelline Masterprecise Liquid Eyeliner. I honestly don't know how I feel about this product because I had such a love-hate relationship with it. I like how it is in pen form, instead of the inkwell type liquid eyeliners. But I don't like the tip of the pen. I found that the very tip was too flimsy and none of the liquid went into the tip. This made it very difficult to do winged eyeliner. Currently I'm using the Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner and I much prefer the Maybelline to that. The Urban Decay is the ink well type. I'm finding lately that I don't really enjoy liquid eyeliner in general and I think I'm going to stick to Gel for a while.

Here's my product empties video that will tell you about other products that I used up and more about these products!