Recent Purchases, Part III: The eye make-ups

In the ongoing chronicle of my intense 3 month makeup haul, next we have all the eye makeup that I bought over the past few months – again, this behaviour was nonsensical as I barely wear eye makeup these days save for mascara, but…sometimes we just lose our damn minds. I’m better now (but still want to atone for my ‘mistakes’).

Let’s begin with the most sensible purchases, given my comment above – mascara.

I went many years without buying much mascara at all – maybe one per year – as I’d often get free ones from Clinique, or just use the samples I’d get from Sephora etc. But this past year I’ve been trialing quite a few drugstore mascaras, as I’ve made an informal, semi-pact with myself that I won’t spend the big bucks on mascara any more; for only 3-4 months of use (and generally the same effectiveness across low- and high-end), my monies are better spent elsewhere.

The first mascara I picked up however, WAS from the higher-end of the spectrum – Benefit’s new Roller Lash mascara ($31CAD) – though I bought it during the Sephora sale in April.

Benefit Roller Lash Mascara

Benefit’s newest mascara offering claims to be a ‘super-curling and lifting’ mascara to give a ‘sexy, wide-eyed look.’ As my eyelashes are already pretty curly on their own, I wasn’t initially reeled in by the product, but after seeing a few tutorials and reviews online I decided I liked the way it separated and lengthened lashes. Since I tend to go very low-key on the eye makeup day-to-day, I do prefer my lashes to be ultra-defined while letting my lips do the heavy lifting. For me, Roller Lash does the job well – it gives decent length, doesn’t clump and really catches every lash so they stand out, which is important when you’re not wearing anything else on the eye.

Two coats of Benefit Roller Lash Mascara

Though I am quite enjoying the lengthening and separating effects of Roller Lash, I also wanted to have a more volumizing formula on hand for when I wanted more drama. Enter L’Oreal’s praised Voluminous Million Lashes Excess mascara:

L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess Mascara in Black

The Million Lashes Excess is supposed to give ‘bold volume with clean definition’, and I’d say this is partly true. The formula is thin and wet, so it gives you time to build it up on the lashes without clumping. Because of this, you do get fairly defined lashes – however, it takes effort and several coats to get that ‘bold volume’, at which point the likelihood of clumps increases (though not by too much). I personally find this tedious to apply, and the effect is not dramatic as I’d hoped. Not a bad option though for those who are looking for a reasonably priced mascara with a little bit of drama.

One coat of L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess Mascara

Two coats of L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess Mascara

After watching Tati’s first impressions video on the L’Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga Rock mascara, I went ahead and picked it up when it went on sale at my local Lawtons drugstore. The yet another addition to the Voluminous franchise, Miss Manga Rock is touted to give ‘mega texturized volume’ via a 360° spiked brush and textured formula, creating ‘explosive volume’ at the roots and pointed lash tips.

L’Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga Rock Mascara in Blackest Black

One coat of L’Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga Rock Mascara

Two coats of L’Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga Rock Mascara

Despite the aforementioned tendency to wear little to no other eye makeup except mascara lately, I still get sucked in by a pretty shadow. I had been on the hunt for a striking gold eyeshadow with almost a greenish tint for month, when I finally stumbled upon Makeup Geek’s Liquid Gold pigment. The price was right (~$6) so I promptly ordered it because, why not?

Shortly thereafter, I went on a MAC craze, listing all the products I *needed* to buy from the core range. I planned to buy a few every couple months or so, and one of the first on my list was the subtle highlight eyeshadow in Ricepaper (frost), and a couple months later I followed my plan and picked up Cork satin eyeshadow, which I though would be perfect as both a transition shade or an all-over lid shade that would give me just a hint of smokiness (being so close to my skin color).

During my shopping trip to buy Cork, it so happened that the Extra Dimension eyeshadows were launched permanently, and though I don’t love a ton of shimmer in my shadows, I couldn’t help but buy one – iridescent A Natural Flirt reminded me a lot of my favourite shade in my KATE BR-2 palette, and so it was that I brought it home as well.

Finally, I had been eyeing a handful of products from Charlotte Tilbury (who isn’t these days???) and Beautylish offers free shipping on your first order from the site, so along with a Chikuhodo brush (review to come) I picked up a Colour Chameleon eye pencil in Smoky Emerald, a gorgeous dark sparkling khaki, after seeing it in action in a post on Into the Gloss re: makeup for brown-eyed girls. Of all the new shadows I’ve bought, this is the only one I’ve worn (for shame!), and it is LOVELY. Glides on SO creamy and smooth and then lasts all day. And this shade really is PERFECT for brown eyes!

Left to right: Charlotte Tilbury Color Chameleon in Smoky Emerald, Makeup Geek Pigment in Liquid Gold, MAC Extra Dimension Shadow in A Natural Flirt, MAC Shadow in Naked Lunch, and MAC Shadow in Cork

I also made another shadow purchase, during the Sephora sale: a Giorgio Armani Eye Tint, in the shade 10 Senso (reg. $39CAD). I was so excited to try this formula, and having to order sight-unseen as we don’t have Armani here in Halifax, I took the safe route and ordered the bronzy shade which I was sure would work well for me. When it arrived however, I was dismayed to find that not only was it not all that bronze on me (it looks much more like a taupe-brown with a purple lean), but that it looks very similar to two other shadows I already owned – Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Amethyst and Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil in Rehab.

Left to right: Giorgio Armani Eye Tint in Senso, Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil in Rehab, Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Amethyst

Having already purchased more eyeshadows than I should have, and being less than impressed with the shade (and formula – this was nothing to write home about, in my opinion, especially for $39!), I returned Senso. There’s just no room for subpar products or duplicates in my stash!

And so ends my eye makeup purchases – for the time being. I’m sure I’ll buy more mascara at some point, but not until I’ve finished two of these – I’ve tried all the ones on my lemmings list now so I’m good for a while. However, I am going to try my very hardest to resist buying any more eyeshadow until our trip to Los Angeles over the Christmas holiday (can’t wait!!!!), when I’ll have access to a ton of brands we can’t get here (MOAR Charlotte Tilbury!). As you may have seen on my Instagram, I’m struggling with reducing the current collection of shades I own as it is, so until I either can eliminate a few shades or use a few up (!!!!!), I absolutely NEED to put a lid on it for a while.

Now, to leave you with a couple sweet pictures of my wee one, who was such a good girl during my swatchfest 🙂

GAH. My kid is so stupidly cute.

Have you been hauling lately? How do you stop yourself from buying products that you don’t need/don’t use?

So I went a wee bit crazy during the Sephora spring 2015 sale…

This is what happens when you a) keep your beauty purchases to a minimum for longer than is natural for a beauty addict, and b) have too much time on your hands yet are unable to come and go freely and are relegated to sitting for prolonged periods of time.

I indulged in three – count ’em, THREE – separate hauls during the Sephora sale in April: one in store, and two online, the latter being a midnight impulse spree with minutes to spare before the sale ended. Yes, I’ve gone completely over the edge.

In the first shopping excursion (which I featured on Instagram), I picked up one product that had been on my to-try list for awhile – Peter Thomas Roth’s Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads (reg. $56CAD) (something different to try after using the FAB Radiance Pads for months) – and a product that I was in the market for, yet the item I chose wasn’t even on my radar: Marc Jacobs O!Mega Bronzer (reg. $59CAD).

A few point-perk samples – I am loving the NEST fragrance (in Indigo) so much!

Then, in my first online spree, I purchased items I had pre-determined I was going to get: CoverFX Custom Color Drops in G60 (reg. $44CAD), Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum (reg. $100CAD), Giorgio Armani Eye Tint in 10 Senso (reg. $39CAD), and Givenchy Le Rouge in 209 Rose Perfecto* (reg. $40CAD) *I FINALLY picked a shade!*

Finally, in my ‘I’m awake at 1am and I need more things GIMME GIMME GIMME‘ moment, I put in my final order: Benefit Roller Lash (reg. $29CAD), a Beauty Blender Pro (reg. $26CAD) (wishlist item), YSL La Laque Couture in Bleu Majorelle (reg. $27CAD) (wishlist item), and Tarte TarteGuard 30 Sunscreen mini (reg. $14CAD).

Yea, I did some major wallet damage. I’m almost halfway to becoming a VIB Rouge member and the year isn’t even half over yet!!

To be fair, as usual I saved up for most of these purchases, as I do for every Sephora sale. Additionally, I DO try and follow a method: 1 each (max) of each type of makeup product (eg. 1 eye product, 1 lip product, 1 cheek product, etc.); 2 skincare products (max); 1 fragrance, 1 body, etc. etc.. In this instance I bought 2 eye products and 2.5 skincare products, but I didn’t pick up any fragrance or body items so I’ll forgive myself this time.

Typically, I also try and limit my purchases to items that I would normally have deep reservations about buying due to price – for example, I can’t normally justify spending $40 on a lipstick, or $39 on 1 eyeshadow (even with the sale I STILL have issues with this price, GAH!). I also try and buy items that I can’t get here in Halifax, which is why the bulk of my purchasing was done online. Lastly, I TRY and keep the items I buy to wishlist only – that is, things that I already was lemming before the sale, rather than any impulse purchasing. In this case, only the Tarte sunscreen and Benefit mascara weren’t already on my to-buy list; the Marc Jacobs bronzer wasn’t on my radar but I was looking to buy a bronzer so I’ll call that a wash.

Overall, while I feel touch guilty for going out of control a bit during the sale, I feel good about most of my purchases (I’m somewhat regretting buying the Armani Eye Tint in that shade…more about that in a future post) and I don’t feel overwhelmed since I stuck to my ‘1 type of item’ rule. HOPEFULLY this mega-spree will tide me over for a bit? I don’t feel entirely confident about that, but here’s hoping 😉

 How did you make out during the Sephora sale?