Ulta Haul

Hello, everybody! I hope your Monday treated you better than it did my family. That stomach bug Carson had over the weekend hit TJ around noon and finally took me as its last victim later last night. So it's a stay in bed and feel sorry for yourself kind of day over here at the Bray house. Thankfully it's only a 24 hour virus so the end is near! Let's get started with a more fun topic, shall we?

 I did a little shopping this past week to pick up a few things that had been on my wish list since I had some coupons that were expiring at Ulta. I splurged on some Stila eyeshadow in Kitten and the Hoola bronzer by Benefit but thankfully for my wallet's sake that is where it ended. The rest are drugstore products and Ulta is great about having almost all of their drugstore brands be buy 1 get 1 50% off. The drugstore items I picked up are Revlon Colorstay 24 hour liquid foundation, two NYX butter glosses in Peaches and Cream and Merengue, and three Maybelline products: Falsies mascara, Eye Studio gel liner, and Line Stiletto liquid liner.

In this photo (last seen in my previous post) I am wearing all three of the Maybelline products. The gel liner is fairly easy to work with thanks to its texture. It came with a brush to apply it with but I used my trusty Sigma E65 that I got for Christmas and am finally able to use now. It certainly takes a while to get the hang of applying a cat eye since you have to be so precise but I feel like these products are great for working with. I tried out some false lashes just for fun for the first time EVER on Saturday and after putting them on I topped it with the Maybelline Line Stiletto liquid liner and I loved it!

As you can see from this picture the shorter tip makes it so easy to work with and it glides on so smoothly. I finished my look off by using the Falsies mascara which I have been using for a while. I have gone back and forth on how I feel about it but I've decided really do love it if I use it everyday and  keep buying it every time I run out!

This is the only product I haven't tried yet. I picked it up on Friday and since then I have only worn makeup once and used my MAC Studio Fix foundation. But I have heard so many YouTube beauty gurus rave about it and say its their favorite drugstore foundation so I figured I would give it a try! However I did just notice today that I bought the kind for normal/dry skin and they offer a kind for combination/oily skin and I think that may work better for me so I'll probably be exchanging it this week.

This is the Hoola bronzer that comes with its own little brush. I wasn't sure if I would actually use the brush but I've found that it's great for contouring. After trying this I can say that this is, hands down, my favorite bronzer I have ever tried! My NARS Laguna bronzer has barely any color pay off and my MAC bronzer in Harmony has too many red tones in it I've decided. This has more brown tones and has fabulous color pay off so it's perfect for me!

Here's a swatch of (from top to bottom) NYX butter gloss in Peaches and Cream, NYX butter gloss in Merengue, the Hoola bronzer, and Stila eyeshadow in Kitten. In my photo above I'm wearing Peaches and Cream on top of my MAC Girl About Town lipstick and I love the consistency of it. It's smooth, not sticky, has great color pay off, and on top of that it's only 4.99 and usually has a BOGO deal on it! I've yet to wear Merengue but I think it will be a great color for spring. I tried out using the Stila shadow on Saturday as a highlighter and I would recommend only using it as a highlighter on your cheekbones and nowhere else. Also, use it sparingly because a little goes a long way! I'll probably be using this solely as an eyeshadow, it's got a beautiful champagne-y color with gold undertones that make it pop. The consistency is so smooth and creamy and gives it a great color payoff! 

I hope you all enjoyed reading my opinions on these awesome products! After I try out the Revlon foundation I'll more than likely be doing a review so make sure to look out for that soon. Have a great day!