By now I’m sure you are all (by all, I mean our like one reader… HI MOM!) my affinity for all mini sized beauty products. Second to this, is my love for Sephora’s Weekly Specials and Fan Fridays – you know when you get freebies for buying $25+ worth of product etc… When these two things are combined, even better! Plus it seems like at any given time I have a gajillion things on my wishlist.
Without a doubt my favorite nail polish lately is the Formula X brand. It seems like it’s the only one that doesn’t immediately chip. Which means it’s the only polish that lasts longer than 4 days because once it starts chipping, I will pick at the rest until none of it remains. I also generally rotate between neutral, french tip, or red nails; so adding the shade Stand Out to my collection was pretty much a necessity. Besides the usual staying power of the formula, I love how pigmented it is. Even though this is a fairly light colored neutral, one heavy coat or two light coats is enough to get the job done. It also dries super fast. I do need to find a new basecoat/topcoat as the combo I’m using now is just not making the cut. Anyone have any HGs they would recommend?
I have been lusting after the Marc Jacobs Lovemarc Lip Gel for ages! The packaging is super sleek, and I think the magnetic cap/closure thing is super duper cool. I also liked how the actual formula applied, nice and dewy. There was a caveat though. I oddly seem to have a knack for picking out the correct shade of foundation online, picking out lipstick shades however? Not so much. On the screen, Strange Magic looked like the perfect nude pink shade. On me, it was a little too light for my very pink undertoned skin, and totally washed me out. It might look a little better during the middle of winter when my skin returns to its normal pasty shade of pale color, but back to Sephora it went. Gotta love their return policy. Next time I am swatching swatching swatching in advance before adding something to the lust list.
This brings me to my “I’m so glad I ordered the wrong shade and went into the store because I found my HG nude lip color” moment. After reading multiple reviews on the Nars Audacious line, I knew I needed to see what the fuss was all about. And well, Mom? Dad? I’m in love with Raquel. It is seriously perfection. The pigment? Great. Consistency? Spectacular, just creamy enough to not be drying, but also rather matte. Definitely my “my lips but better” shade. It also has the cool magnetic cap thing so I don’t have to worry it coming loose in my bag! I will admit though, you know that annoying clicky pen behavior that people do. That click click click click click. I totally do that with this cap when I fidget. Sorry people in the general vicinity of my work desk.
Behold the minis! While I’ve already tried most of these products, I’m never going to turn down deluxe mascara samples or Benefit anything. I usually switch to creamier primers for the cooler months, so having some extra Laura Mercier on hand will be helpful. And I’ll love having the mini Benefit Watt’s Up to throw in my work tote for touch ups.
Here is a close up of the mascara wands. I haven’t used the Buxom enough to make an opinion of it yet. I’m obviously not that impressed with it as I have used it like twice, but who knows, maybe it’ll surprise me when I get back to it. On the other hand with how much I’ve gravitated towards the Blinc Mascara Amplified, I may have to get the full size and give it a proper test run.
The Formula X Stand Out can be found here, the Marc Jacobs Lovemarc Lip gel here, and the Nars Audacious lipstick here.
♡Em
