My First Drugstore Haul!

Hello hello beauties!!

Now I know this is probably going to sound super pretentious but I just went on my first drugstore makeup haul. As a teenager, I always saw my mom buying MAC products so naturally I followed suit. With her love of high-end makeup products, I naturally gravitated towards that as well. That gave me the idea that drugstore makeup was inferior makeup, but that's not completely true. So please don't judge me. As a kid, I played with my fair share of crappy children's makeup so when I was finally in my teens, I wanted grown-up makeup, and to me, grown-up makeup was MAC and other medium to high end makeup brands. Since I don't have any drugstore makeup at all, I don't really know what's good so it's kind of trial and error for me right now. I've been doing a lot of googling and watching YouTube trying to figure out what to buy and what to avoid. So please let me know what products to try out and which to avoid!! Our first Target store finally opened and I went nuts. I hear so much about NYX but there was no way to buy their products until our first Target stores just opened. And unfortunately, a lot of the good stuff was sold out but I still got my hands on a few things.

The bulk of this haul is NYX products. I just kinda went mental since this just became available in Canada and bought a ton of stuff. One thing that I wanted to get that they were out of is their Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil Stick (or whatever it's called) in Milk. I keep hearing about it being a perfect eyeshadow base, especially for bright colors. I heard that their actual Eyeshadow Base is a good product too. I'm trying to figure out which is the best out of the two so I don't end up hauling both. I also want to know what your favorite NYX products are! I heard that their blushes are good and can also be used as a bronzer to contour, but unfortunately my Target doesn't sell their blushes. I'm sad. They don't have very much actually. They have a small range of single eyeshadows, maybe a little over two dozen eyeliners (about 3 different types), 5 lip liners, 6 lip pencils, 6 shadow sticks, maybe 10 lip glosses, a good dozen round lipsticks, you get the idea. There's really not much there, which was very disappointing. They also had some palettes in a different section so by the time I noticed it, there was almost nothing left.

Don't forget to cast your vote in my poll! You can find the poll widget on the sidebar to your right, just below the Facebook widget.

So let's get into the haul! I'll describe products that I've tried so far. Scroll all the way down for a bonus LOTD.


NYX:

4 Retractable Eyeliners: 01-White, 02-Black, 03-Aqua Green, 11-Purple

01-White

02-Black

03-Aqua Green

11-Purple

I've tried a couple of these liners and wow I'm impressed. I wore the Aqua Green liner for two days in a row now to get a feel for it. I wore just that on my upper lid and I used the white liner in my bottom waterline. They both stayed on all day. No fading or smudging whatsoever. Pretty impressive for a 6$CAD eyeliner. I'm definitely going to be picking up more shades!!

2 Liquid Crystal Liners: 102-Crystal Onyx, 106-Crystal Hip

102-Crystal Onyx

106-Crystal Hip

I wore the Crystal Hip liner on top of my Aqua Green Eyeliner today. I picked a white sparkle liner specifically for putting sparkles on top of colorful eyeshadows or eyeliners. The liner itself doesn't have a color, so it looks like you're applying sparkles. It looks beautiful on top of the green liner I'm wearing. I can't wait to use this on other eyeshadows and sparkle up a look. I swatched the black one and it's a black liquid liner with silver sparkles. I can't wait to use it the next time I do a smokey eye. I'm happy I got these and for 7 or 8$CAD, wow.

Round Lipstick in 509-Narcissus

509-Narcissus

I wanted to love this lipstick. The only good thing about it was the color. It went on streaky and had a weird texture. It didn't have any lasting power and it smudges off right away. I'm kind of disappointed in it. It's definitely not the best lipstick out there. I wouldn't purchase their lipsticks again.

Mega Shine Lip Gloss in 129-Beige

129-Beige

I really liked their lipgloss. It isn't sticky and it goes on nicely. It has a decent smell. Their naming scheme is a little weird though, I gotta say. The lipgloss is called Beige, but it's pink. It's a medium pink and looks like it would flatter most people. I wish my store had more shades, they only have around 8-12 and most of them don't flatter me at all or are too dark. I like the lip gloss, I just wish they had a bigger range at my Target.

Jumbo Lip Pencil in 716-Pink Brown, 721-Soft Fuschia, 724-Chaos

When I bought Chaos, for some reason I thought it was a pinky-red but it's straight-up red. It goes on really well and is very pigmented. The color was a little too bright for me but the quality was there. I only wish my store had a better range of colors. My mom just picked up the other two for me today. What is up with NYX's naming scheme? Pink Brown is a very light pink and Soft Fuschia is like a nude/brown color. I really don't understand haha. I tried Pink Brown and it's a light pink with a bit of a golden shimmer in it. I would wear it with a pinky peach blush or a watermelon pink blush. I haven't tried Soft Fuschia yet but swatched it and it is clearly a nude color.

Xtreme Lip Cream in 02-Candy Land

02-Candy Land

I haven't tried this yet but I have to say that my Target's range of colors and products is ridiculously low. This color would better suit my mom than me. I swatched it and it does seem to go on creamy and it seems to be decently pigmented.

Matte Lipstick in 06-Summer Breeze

06-Summer Breeze

My mom also just picked this one up today so I haven't gotten a chance to try it yet. I swatched it on my hand and it is a medium pink color (fuschia?).

Be Free Palette

I just picked this baby up yesterday so I haven't had time to play with it yet. I have read that NYX's palettes tend to be of lower quality than their regular range of products. I've also read that some palettes can be hit or miss. When I was deciding which palette to buy, I realized that I like half of this and half of the Be Fierce one. I liked Be Free's eyeshadows but liked Be Fierce's blushes and lipglosses. I went for Be Free because you get more eyeshadows than the rest and the blushes and lipglosses weren't terrible colors. I just just stuck my fingers in some eyeshadows. They don't seem to be very pigmented but I think they would be alright with primer. I'm going to have to test them to see. I'm guessing that it'll probably be along the lines of Sephora Collection's quality in their palettes, which isn't bad if you use a primer.


Physician's Formula

Mineral Glow Pearls Powder Palette in Translucent Pearl

I saw Kandee Johnson talk about this in one of her YouTube videos. She said it was a good quality luminizer and showed a swatch of it and I immediately said to myself "I have to try this". I haven't been completely happy with any of my powder luminizers so I was down for anything. And you know what? I think this might be my favorite luminizer. It gives a nice glow to the skin without being too shimmery or sparkly. I wouldn't use it as a full face powder like it's meant to be used as. It does make an excellent luminizer though. I feel like it gives a nice healthy glow and accents your cheekbones without being too overbearing or obvious. For 20$CAD, this is a great find compared to my higher end products that I don't like as much. And I got this on sale for 15$CAD and was wowed when I saw it at Target today on sale for 13$CAD.


Burt's Bees

Strawberry Lip Shimmer

I didn't realize this when I bought this because it's my first Burt's Bees product, but it has a peppermint smell. And I hate mint. So the smell kinda turns me off. This is very much a lip balm and not a lip gloss. It gives a slight pink shimmer to the lips. I thought it was okay. It didn't wow me nor was it anything special. That and because of the smell, I probably won't be buying another one of these.

Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm

I haven't tried this out yet, I bought it for my makeup kit for jobs for moisturizing my model's lips before lipstick application.


Vaseline

Lip Therapy Mini Balm

I also bought this for my makeup kit. I tried it and I'm pretty sure it's just regular vaseline. I bought the mini one so it's small enough to fit nicely into my kit. Cuz let's face it, when I'm carrying half my makeup collection to a job, I don't wanna be carrying a huge tub of vaseline with me.


Essie

Lapiz of Luxury

I got this color to go with Muchi Muchi and to maybe do some water marbling. I was thinking that Lapiz of Luxury along with Muchi Muchi and Mint Candy Apple would make a good mix of colors. I haven't used Essie yet to water marble so I'm wondering, it Essie a good brand for water marbling? And which shades have you used to water marble with? Show some pics!


Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my very first drugstore haul as much as I did! I am honestly very impressed with some of the products I bought. I think I might even have new favorites here!! And the fact that they were super cheap compared to high-end brands and still good quality blew me away. I'm going to try out more products and write about them. I also want to know, what are you favorite drug store brands? What are your favorite products? Which products are hits and which are misses? Do let me know what's worth trying! I'm new to the land of drug store makeup so point me in the right direction please. There are a few things I want to try, like Maybelline's Color Tattoo eyeshadows. So until the next haul!

I was also wondering, should I do a makeup look using drugstore products? Should I try to incorporate one or two drugstore products into each look?



Look Of The Day!!

And here's a bonus, my makeup look of the day! Here's me trying to incorporate some of my drugstore stuff into my look! It's very simple, hope you like it. And yes I know my mascara smudged a bit under my eyes. I've also been loving MAC Longwear Concealer! I think it's even better than their Select Cover-Up Concealer which I had been using since I was a young teenager! Here's what I'm wearing today:

Eyes
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
NYX Retractable Eyeliner in 03-Aqua Green
NYX Liquid Crystal Liner in 106-Crystal Hip
Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara
Benefit High Brow Pencil
Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Medium

Face
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW20
Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm in Snow Glow
Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder in Translucent
Physician's Formula Mineral Glow Pearls Powder Palette in Translucent Pearl
Chanel Les Joues Contraste Blush in 64-Pink Explosion
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Lips
EOS Strawberry Lip Balm

If you want a detailed tutorial on this look, comment below! And let me know if you want to see more looks using drug store products.

If you want to see how you can get this killer pastel mani, see my Pastel Manicure using Essie post.

Steph xo.

Pastel Manicure using Essie (and a little review of some Essie products)

Hello ladies!

I am long overdue for a nail post. I've discovered that Essie is, so far, my favorite nail brand. I'm not that big on nails, so I haven't tried that many brands and I'm sure you all have your own opinion as to which nail polish brand is the best, but I do love my Essie polishes. I'm going to tell you a little bit about each product I use to prep my nails and why I like it so much. I know I already spoke a bit about that but I don't feel as if I really articulated my thoughts very well so here we go again. Now that I've used them quite a few times I feel that I can give a proper review. I really do prefer Essie to other brands that I've tried, though I am open to suggestion.

I'm sorry if some pics are a bit out of focus, my camera's battery was dying so I was rushing to get all my pictures done and uploaded before it died.

Want to know what my next post is going to be about? Read down til the bottom to find out!

Prep Time

As I've said before, I prep my nails by filing them with Sephora's crystal nail file. Then I use their 4 step nail buffer. Then I apply Essie's Apricot Cuticle Oil to my cuticles and nails. I let them soak for a few minutes and then I take my cuticle pusher and push them down. Sometimes I trim my cuticles, but only if it's really bad. I also make sure to clean any gunk from underneath my nails. I find that their cuticle oil is pretty hydrating and does a good job prepping them. I'm also going to mention that after I remove nail polish from my last manicure, I like to put a ton of hand and nail cream on my nails and just let them soak up and re-hydrate. I use the Body Shop's Almond Hand and Nail Cream. I really like it as both a hand and nail cream. It does a great job keeping my hands and nails moisturized. This is the first cream that actually works on my nails. So now that I've prepped my nails and cuticles, it's Essie time.


Treatment Time

I use their Millionails treatment, which is a strengthener treatment. I find it's the best one I've tried so far. When I first started doing my nails often (and I mean once a week or every 2 weeks as opposed to never), my nails were always incredibly frail after I took the polish off and would break and chip very easily. But since I've started using Millionails, my recently depolished nails are as strong as they were before I started my nail polish binge. And this also helps them to not be so darn yellow! If you do your nails often, you know that the lack of oxygen to your nails is what yellows them. I don't know what this stuff does but my nails barely get yellow anymore. It's amazing.


Base Coat Time

I also use their First Base strengthening base coat. I do like it. I can't tell if it has been strengthening my nails, but only because I started using Millionails the same time as I started using this. But I like to think that combined, they help my nails a lot. It also does a good job of prepping the nail for color. It looks like a very opaque light pink in the bottle, but it goes on clear.


Color Time

Now for the colors I used in today's manicure. I did all my nails (except ring finger) one color and my ring finger another. Cuz I'm cool like that. The main color is Essie's Mint Candy Apple. It's a very light pastel minty color. I find it's almost like a light turquoise color in the sense that it isn't strictly green, but has some blue in it as well. The polish goes on quite nice and it takes me 2 coats to get full opacity. There's something about this shade that I just love. The only thing I don't like is the small brush. It usually takes a few strokes before I get the whole nail, and sometimes it dries fast, causing streaking. The last time I used this, it lasted for over a week without a single chip. I was pretty darn impressed. The color on my ring fingers is Essie's Muchi Muchi. It's a very light pastel pink. It takes 2-3 coats for full opacity depending on how thick they are. I used two for today's. It goes on pretty sheer looking so you definitely have to put on a few coats depending on how you want it to look. It does get a little streaky so I suggest thinner coats and minimum 3 coats for full opacity. It is a very nice color once you've reached full opacity. You might be able to use this as a french manicure color if you use one coat. Even now, if I look closely, I can tell where my nail tips are. Out of the two colors, Mint Candy Apple is definitely my favorite, both color- and quality-wise.


Top Coat Time

To seal in my manicure, I use their Good To Go fast-drying top coat. Out of what I've tried, this is by far my favorite. It dries my nails and hardens them in a couple minutes after application. I do two coats to make sure that I've sealed every inch of my manicure in. Whenever I use this, my nails never smudge. It dries them very thoroughly so you don't need to worry about not touching anything. They also never chip. My manicures usually last between 1-2 weeks before I redo them, and that's only because I get annoyed with the part of the nail that has now grown out.



Products Used:

Sephora 4 Step Nail Buffer - 7$CAD

Sephora 4 Step Nail Buffer - 7$CAD

Sephora Mini Crystal Nail File - 10$CAD, and 12$CAD for fullsize

Tweezerman Hot Pink Nail Rescue Kit - 24$CAD

Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil - 10$CAD

Essie Millionails Treatment - 10$CAD

Essie Grow Stronger Base Coat - 10$CAD

Essie Mint Candy Apple - 10$CAD

Essie Muchi Muchi - 10$CAD

Essie Good To Go Top Coat - 10$CAD

My Nails:

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed today's nail post! Usually I love wearing darker colors on my nails, like black, dark red, dark purples, anything dark really. I also have this random love for the color green. I gravitate to green makeup and nail polish. It's weird. I'm not one to wear pastels, like you wouldn't catch me dead in pastel colored clothes, but there's something cute about this nail color scheme. Mint Candy Apple is such a beautiful color, no wonder it's one of Essie's most popular shades. Her nail polishes go on super smooth and have a nice glossy finish. For my accent nail, I decided to stick with the pastels and do a light pink using Muchi Muchi. The colors complement each other very well. The only other time I've worn pastel nail polish (and I'm not counting when I was kid) was when I did my water marbling tutorial. I mean hello, most of my clothes are black, shades of white, browns, zebra and leopard print. Not typically a color girl, let alone pastel. But like I said, Mint Candy Apple just has something about it that I couldn't resist!!

So what do you think of Essie's Mint Candy Apple and Muchi Muchi nail polishes? What other shade(s) would you pair Mint Candy Apple with? What is your favorite Essie nail polish color? What do you think of her other products that I mentioned (treatment, top coat, etc)?

My next post is going to be my VERY FIRST DRUGSTORE HAUL!!!!

Steph xo.