Kylie Cosmetics Birthday Edition Mini Matte Liquid Lipsticks Review + Swatches

Hello, everyone!  How was your weekend?

I was lucky enough to win yet another Instagram giveaway!  Katie (mrslanglam on IG) held a giveaway for reaching 20K followers and the prize was this Kylie Cosmetics mini matte set.  I haven't tried anything from this brand before (I don't want to deal with the super fast sell outs and shipping costs), so I was pretty excited to win this.  First off, these smell amazing!  Everyone says they smell like cupcakes, but my first thought was actually red licorice.  Second, the packaging is beautiful.  I'm loving the gold details on the tubes.  Next, these do not budge!  After swatching these I really had to work to remove them.  Lastly, I like that this set includes a nice range of neutral shades, a brighter shade, and a vampy shade.  There's definitely something for everyone in this set.

Exposed

Dolce K

Koko K

Candy K

Kristen

Leo

Swatches

I also swatched some of my other liquid lipsticks to see if I could find any dupes.  L-R: Rimmel London Apocalips Show Off Lip Lacquer in the shade Nude Eclipse, Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in the shade Bow N Arrow, KVD Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in the shade Lolita, Ofra Cosmetics Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in the shade Pasadena, and Buxom Cosmetics Wildly Whipped Lightweight Liquid Lipstick in the shade Centerfold.

As you can see, KVD Beauty's Bow N Arrow is a veryyyy close match to Dolce K.  Ofra's Pasadena is pretty close too.

I'm excited to try these all out on my lips, but I'm really looking forward to wearing the shade Leo this Autumn.  It's such a nice color.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you have a nice week!

*Thank you again, Katie, for sending me this prize and the nice note!  You're incredibly sweet and generous.*

 

My Makeup Brush Set - Oval Brush 10 Piece Set

Hello, everyone!  How has your week been?

I've been incredibly busy and I'm so sorry I've been MIA these past few weeks.  With school being out, I have the two children that I watch all day long 4-5 days a week.  We're also still working on our front and back yards, which has been quite the chore!  David's father and grandmother are flying up from Texas at the beginning of next month to visit and we want the yards done by then.  *Fun Fact: in the nearly 10 years that David and I have been together, I've never met his father or anyone on his father's side of the family - they all live in or around Texas.  I've talked to his father on the phone, and I have some of his father's side of the family as friends on Facebook, but I've never actually met any of them in person.  (David's father does not like to fly and I believe is only doing so now because his mother, David's grandmother, is also coming up to visit.)*

Anyway, I'm sorry that my blog posts have been sporadic at best these past couple of months.  I've just been very busy, and when I have a day off from work it's usually spent working on the yards, working on a project inside the house (painting may just be the death of me), or cleaning.  My regular schedule should be back in full force by mid-September after all of our house related projects are finished, the kids go back to school, and David's family has gone home.

Now, onto the blog post!

I recently won a flash giveaway by the sweet @kristyna.tisdale on Instagram and received my prize in the mail earlier this week.  The prize was this amazing oval makeup brush set by the brand My Makeup Brush Set.  My set came in the color silver, but this set also comes in black, black/gold, and gold.

 The handles on these brushes are plastic, which I don't mind, but the bigger face brushes feel a bit flimsy if you apply too much pressure.  As long as you don't push too hard with them they should be fine!  I did also have to trim some of the bristles on most of the brushes (only three brushes didn't require any trimming), but it only took me about a minute to trim all the brushes that needed to be trimmed.

These brushes are velvety soft and the density of the bristles is more than satisfactory for me.

I haven't had the chance yet to try them out on my face, but when I do I will definitely come back and update this post with my findings.

If you would like to check this brush set out for yourself (these sets are currently on sale!), the link to the web page is here.

***Thank you so much Kristyna for this giveaway!***

 Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a nice weekend!

Sephora x Minnie Mouse Brush Set - Brush Up On Glamour/Minnie's Beauty Tools

Hello, everyone!  How has your week been?

I received a Sephora gift card from a friend for my birthday, and I decided to use it towards the brush set from the Sephora and Minnie Mouse collaboration.  *I'm working on buying the entire collection...well, minus the blush because I don't think that's coming back in stock.*

 

I've read mixed reviews on this brush set.  So far, I like the brushes.  Quite a few reviews said the brushes were scratchy, but I don't find that to be true.  (I should mention that I'm not a brush snob, so maybe they're not that good and I just don't know any better! lol)  The brush holder seems sturdy enough and holds the brushes in place very well.  Not to mention, it looks freaking adorable!

What are your thoughts on this brush set?  If nothing else, these brushes are dang cute.  A definite must have for any Minnie Mouse fanatic!

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you have a nice weekend!

 

Ebay Beauty Haul!

Hello, everyone!  How was your weekend?

 Some of you may already know that I'm a member of Influenster.com and a few months ago I was taking part in one of their eBay campaigns.  Essentially, if you wrote two eBay guides and submitted the links to Influenster's campaign page you would receive a $25 gift code to spend on eBay.  I've done this once before last year (I still had a dollar and some change left on that one too, lol), so I did it again because it's an easy $25.  Immediately after I finished the first eBay campaign, I was offered to participate in another one.  So I ended up with a total of $50 in eBay gift codes from Influenster.

What you may not know, is that I also take surveys from websites like Opinion Outpost, i-Say, and Bzz Agent.  When you complete a survey you're given a certain number of points.  You can then turn in your points for "prizes" (for example eBay or Amazon gift codes).  Well, Bzz Agent sent me an email offering me to participate in writing eBay guides for a $25 gift code.  Obviously, I already knew how easy it would be so I went ahead and completed their eBay campaign and received another $25 to spend on eBay's website.

Long story short, I found myself with $75 in eBay gift codes and no idea what to spend them on since I don't usually shop on eBay's website.  However, I came across some limited edition MAC products that I missed out on and decided that's what I wanted to purchase with my gift codes.

The first item I grabbed is from MAC's Hello Kitty collection.  I wasn't as into makeup when this collection came out like I am now.  After finding out about this collection when I did get into makeup, I was so bummed that I had missed out on it.  If you know anything about me, you know that I've always been a Hello Kitty fan, so having something from this collection is a must for me.  What I found is the "Sweet Strawberry" lipglass.

 

The next item I picked out was MAC's Goddess of the Sea lipstick from the Alluring Aquatic collection.  The packaging for this collection is so gorgeous!  I wanted this product for the packaging as much as for the actual lipstick.  It's a muted plum shade with a Cremesheen finish.

 

The last MAC LE item I picked is from the Cinderella collection that came out earlier this year.  I would rather have the Royal Ball lipstick because I like that shade a little bit better, but it's about $45+ on eBay, so I chose Free As A Butterfly instead.  It's a sheer nude lipstick with a lustre finish.  It's a bit too light for my taste, but I love the pretty blue packaging on this one (and if you know me - you know I'm a sucker for LE packaging).

What are some limited edition items you regret not purchasing?  I also hate myself a little for not picking up the Lorac Mego Pro palette when it came out.  :(

Thanks for stopping by!

Too Faced Country Nashville Nudes Palette Review + Swatches

Hello, everyone!  As you may have seen from my birthday beauty haul a few weeks back, I was given a gift card to Ulta and I finally picked up this Too Faced palette.  The shadows in this palette are stunning.  The only shade that I'm a bit disappointed about is the shade Y'all.  It's a beautiful color, but the texture is what kills it for me.  It is sooo chunky!  All of the other shades in this palette are smooth except for this one.  Which is a bummer because this was the shade that drew me to this palette.

Packaging:

 Swatches:

Overview

Cowboy Take Me Away

Y'all

Dolly

Famous In A Small Town

Paper Roses

Rhinestone

All American Girl

Nashville

Bluebird

Top Row "Day" Trio

Second Row "Classic" Trio

Third Row "Fashion" Trio

The colors that I'm most excited about are Famous in a Small Town, Paper Roses, Rhinestone, All American Girl, and Nashville.  What do you think about this palette?  What are your favorite shades?

Thanks for stopping by!