So this past week, I've been on a couple shopping trips, due to some awesome coupons I recently acquired! I had gotten the Ulta coupon through their mailing subscription - 20% off all non-Prestige cosmetics, and 10% of all Prestige cosmetics! For my Ulta purchases, most of the haul actually went to my younger sister for her birthday, but I still got a couple nice little things for myself! I was going to make it all in one post, but decided I didn't want to kill everyone with a wall of text, so I broke it up into two parts so I could make sure I could go into enough detail about each product! Hope it helps!
Here are my Ulta purchases:
1. Real Techniques Starter Kit Brush Set - $17.99. Sold at Ulta
So after hearing so many amazing things about these brushes, I finally broke down and got them. They are AMAZING - so soft and fluffy! It includes what they describe as "a base eyeshadow brush, a deluxe crease brush, an accent brush, a pixel point eyeliner brush, and a brow brush". In general, a very nice kit. As much as I really do love these brushes, the actual holder was kind of a bummer - the tie part that makes it into a stand broke before I could even try it, but luckily it's an easy fix that I'll eventually get around to. My other issue that came up with this purchase was the size of the eyeliner brush. In my opinion, it was a little larger than what I would want in an eyeliner brush, but I do also prefer minimal eyeliner in general, so that may be part of it as well.
I'm probably going to end up using it as another smudging brush rather than it's intended purpose, but I think I have to play around with it a little more. Overall, I'd definitely recommend them and would purchase again - but on one condition, if I have another coupon. I'm still not too comfortable spending that much on brushes, even though I know they're of good quality at a decent price. I guess I'm just used to my ELF brush prices! Now in the picture, you'll see one other brush stuck in the holder that isn't included in the set, but is the next purchase I'm going to discuss!
2. Real Techniques Fine Liner Brush - $5.99. Sold at Ulta
So since I wasn't too happy with the original eyeliner brush sold in the starter kit (the pixel-point eyeliner brush), I decided to go ahead a purchase one I felt fit more into what I expected in an eyeliner brush. Now THIS brush is fine, and I'm so happy I decided to buy this one as well. At first I was afraid it would have too much give just due to the sheer length of the actual brush hairs, but upon opening I was delighted to see that the bristles were perfect! It has just enough firmness so you can have precise and tight control over your lines, but still enough give so that you're not poking your eye out, every time you go to line.
3. Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Naked - $22.00. Sold at Ulta
I finally caved and had to buy this lipstick. After reading many wonderful things from the blog Temptalia, I decided I HAD to have one. Now I am already a huge fan of Urban Decay, so I had quite high standards and so far, it has followed through! It really is a super creamy, rich lipstick with very nice pigmentation. In my opinion, it was a nice balance of enough pigment that you could swipe it on once and have a good level of color, but then you could go back and layer on one or two more swipes if you wanted more impact. It's quite moisturizing as well, and I didn't feel like it dried out too quickly. One thing I will say though, is make sure your lips are fully exfoliated, or have a layer of chapstick underneath or something, because it will settle into all the fine lines and get goopy with any excess skin on there, but that's usually a given for most creamy lipsticks. As for the packaging, I personally like the minimalist approach they took, but the best part is the weight. I love the weight of the bullet it comes in - it feels sturdy and heavy, not anything ridiculous, but when you hold it, its just a very nice weight and feels good in the hand.
The color I selected was Naked - a nice nude-y pink. I picked Naked not only because it is just such a gorgeous shade of pink, but because I wanted to make sure I got a color I would LOVE and use all the time. Overall I really do like this lipstick, and would love to add some more to my collection, but it's definitely not the best lipstick I've ever owned. Next time I think if I do purchase another, I may try to get a darker color because the color is a little light for my usual liking, and UD always seems to do well with those more intense colors. I think I may try to do a look soon with all of my Naked themed UD products!
4. NYX Gel Eyeliner & Smudger in Scarlette (Dark Brown) - $7.99. Sold at Ulta
This purchase was for a couple of reasons - 1. I have barely any experience with gel eyeliner, and I figured I should work on that, 2. I wanted something to use my new brush with, and 3. because I had a coupon :) I haven't really ever read or seen anything about this in all my internet readings, so it was kind of a blind purchase, but I do love a bunch of other NYX products, so I figured I couldn't go too wrong. I originally wanted the black shade - Betty - but they were sold out, and compared to their other brown shade, Scarlette could pass as black from a distance. It says it can be used as a smudger as well, but it seems a little dramatic for my usual likings, but I think I'm gonna try it soon!
Look out for the second half of the haul in my next post!
xoxo,
Harrison
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