Tarte: Petite Treats

*Nothing to Disclose

Today I have an Advent calendar, of sorts. I've been lusting over British Advent calendars for years and they're just starting to catch on over here. I know Benefit has one, but I haven't found any other full advent calendars here in the States. I did find this little set that's an Ulta exclusive from Tarte. It's a 12 days of Christmas calendar. I've long been obsessed with opening presents as many days as possible in December and this helps feed my present addiction.

You get 12 sample or deluxe sample size items in a very cute calendar package. The actual name is The Petite Treats 12 Days of Tarte, and I think you get a really good variety of goodies. You get a mascara primer, 2 different formulas of mascara, a lip tint, a blush, a self-tanning towelette, eye cream, primer, glow booster, travel-sized maracuja oil, face scrub, and a setting powder. 

This sells for 37 dollars and is worth far more than that. I tore into this baby the night I got it. There was no waiting for Christmas to open it. 

Let me know what you think. Are you on the Advent calendar band wagon? I wish I could have them all!

The Body Shop: Holiday Scents

*Nothing to Disclose

The Holiday scents are here! Nothing makes me more excited that discovering when Holiday collections are released. That being said there are several posts I'm planning for the month of November all about Holiday goodies.

Today I have a couple of The Body Shop's offerings. It was actually the Holiday scents that got me hooked on The Body Shop to begin with, and I haven't looked back since.  I have two sets today and both are priced at 15 dollars. One contains three one ounce hand creams and the other three mini sized body butters. 

First off the formula of both products is out of this world. I've been a fan of both their body butters and hand creams for ages. I like that they recently came out with smaller hand creams. It's much easier to carry one around if its smaller.

As for the scents they're festive, but not spicy. I like the spicier scents like the spiced vanilla they had a few years ago. It was amazing. This year we have Glazed Apple, Vanilla Brulee, and Frosted Cranberry. The apple and cranberry are very fruity and nice, but the vanilla is the real winner in my opinion. It smells so similar to their other vanilla scents. I love it. 

Both sets come in cute packaging, but before I could get photos of it my dog ran away with the box to the body butters. He loves to steal paper. 

I think these are both great stocking stuffers or even stand alone gifts for someone on a budget. As someone on a budget myself I'll be buying more to give to people on my Christmas lists.

Makeup Bag Essentials: November

*Nothing to Disclose

It's that time again, Time to switch up the makeup routine. Honestly, my routine rarely changes. I may switch up colors but overall things stay the same. That being said I'll tell you about a few of my new additions. 

For fall I'm loving the Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie. It's the perfect balmy berry color that's not too dark for me to pull off. I own a few other colors and of the few I have this is the least pigmented. I think that works in it's favor in this instance. I'm not big on the bright lips.

One thing I have changed recently is my foundation. I've been struggling with liquid foundations for years and I'm never happy with the result. They always find their way to break down on my nose and give me trouble. So I switched to a powder foundation. I got a sample of the Bare Minerals loose foundation and I've been loving it. There is still some break down, but since you need so little to get good coverage it's not bad. I know I'll be buying the full size when I run out of my sample.

My last new product that I'm in LOVE with is the ELF Lip Exfoliator. It's by far the most convenient lip scrub I've come across and I love it. I can't say enough good things about it. 

So those are the new things in my makeup bag. As the months go on you'll find that the other things very rarely change. 

L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow

*Purchased by Me

My love for all things neutral struck again. This time in the form of these gorgeous super pigmented pressed shadows. I've seen these floating around the community for ages, but didn't really buy into the hype. I came across some of them in a super clearance sale a few months ago and snatched up the middle shade called Cafe Latte. It's the perfect inner corner and all over lid color. After falling for the consistency and staying power I knew I needed more.

I had seen swatches of Amber Rush (on the right) and thought it was the perfect rose gold color. I began searching and after looking in about 5 different stores I found it while I was on vacation in the Keweenaw this past June. I was more excited about this shadow than I was pretty much anything else on my trip.

My most recent acquisition is the color on the left. Liquid Diamond. The perfect purple toned grey. I wear it all over my lid and often wear it alone. The photo shows it more as a blue tone, but I've noticed that lots of purples show up blue. If you ever find yourself in the makeup section of your local store give this color a gander. I'm so in love with it.

The claims are that this color will last for 24 hours. I've tried it with primer and without. With primer I went all day without a crease in sight. Without primer I started noticing a crease after about three hours. I normally never go sans primer if I'm wearing eye shadow.

The best way to apply these are with your finger, but I've recently found that a small flat synthetic concealer brush works pretty well too.

What are some of you're favorite long wearing eye shadows?

Jo Malone: New Favorite Fragrance?

*Purchased by Me

I blame YouTube for my love of Jo Malone. After seeing several YouTubers mention this brand and more specifically this perfume I knew I had to try it out. Sadly, I live in the middle of nowhere with no access to a Jo Malone counter or store. Enter Ebay! I know it can be tricky buying cosmetics and/or perfumes from Ebay, but there are a few really good sellers out there. I searched and found a sample to buy, and at first I wasn't in love.

On first sniff I thought it smelled a an old lady, but after trying it a few more times it grew on me. It grew on me so much that I took the dive a bought a bottle. Here's a list of the notes so you can get an idea of the scent. Top note is red apple; middle notes are peony, jasmine, carnation and rose; base note is suede. It's not my usual scent, but I like that I'm branching out as a perfume wearer.

I'm planning a trip to Chicago and found out there's a Jo Malone counter in several stores I'm going to visit. I can't wait to go there and smell all the pretties. On the other hand. I'm nervous about how much I'm going to spend. 

Rimmel London 60 Second Nail Polish

*Purchased by Me

I Lilac You:

Mintalicious:

I'm a big advocate for pastels colors in fall. I think they can add a pop to your outfit like no other. That being said it's tricky to get a pastel creme polish to behave. I've had several experiences with streaky messes, which are never fun. I found these beauties at Walmart a few months ago and knew right then and there that I needed them. 

They're both from the Rimmel London's 60 second line. One is a yummy mint and the other a light lilac color. Both have great coverage in two coats, but being the stickler that I am I used three. Since buying these I've picked up about five more colors from the range including a gorgeous teal. 

There are two things about these polishes that really get me excited. First of all the price. They're 1.50 each. One one hand you can buy a few, but on the other hand you can buy ALL of them. The other thing I love about them is the color range. For the most part they're all creme finishes, but there are a few that are shimmery. I can't wait to go and pick out a few more. 

Allure Sample Society: October

*Purchased for the purpose of review

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE monthly sample boxes. So when I heard about one from Allure, one of the best beauty magazines around I had to have it. It's 15 dollars a month with free shipping. I can say for sure that this month was worth WAY more that 15 dollars. Nothing better than getting a full size high end product for practically free, right?

Unlike some sample services you can't really customize it like you can with services like Ispy. That's a bit of a downside, but overall I'm happy with my box this month and can't wait to get my hands on next month's box. I got four product, three are samples or deluxe samples, but the last one is a full size product. 

I'm not really into self tanning so the Tarte Brazilliance pads are going to go to waste. I think they're a great product, but just not for me.

The sample of Givenchy's new perfume was great because I really wanted to give it a sniff. I was sadly disappointed in the smell. It's far too heavy for my liking. I'm horrible at describing scents so here's a list of the notes. Golden Fruit (Mirabelle Plum), White Flower Bouquet (Mainly Jasmine), Sandalwood, Vetiver, Patchouli.

The Lorac primer is something I might have to get in full size. I'm loving the feel of it. I'm also loving that it's a matte primer. As a girl with super oily skin a matte finish is key. 

Lastly we have a product that I'm the most excited about. I've been on the search for a good eye cream for months and had just about given up. Enter the Restorsea eye cream. A product derived from the sea with all sorts of good for you natural ingredients, and none of the icky ones. When I saw this in the box I squeed a bit. I squeed even more when I found out that the full size is 85 dollars. The final squee came when I went to the site and found out the "sample" I got in my box WAS the full size!!!!!!!!!! There are no words for how excited I was to have an 85 dollar product in my 15 dollar box. If that's the quality I can expect from this every month, sign me up.

What are some of your favorite sample boxes? I'm always looking to try more.