HAUL: Ulta, Target, Hautelook & nail polish

Hello~ First, I want to say welcome to my new followers. Hope you enjoy reading~ ^^

Today, I just have a haul post for you.  These are just some things I've purchased in the past month.

ulta eyeshadow & butter LONDON no more waity katie set

I bought these items at the beginning of the month.  Something you should know about me is that I am quite the Anglophile.  I'm very interested in British history and the monarchy...just 'cause.  So when I found out butter LONDON had come out with a nail polish named after Kate Middleton, after she had gotten engaged, I had to have it.  I mostly wanted it for the name, but the gorgeous color helped too.  I debated whether or not to order it online, but decided against since it would come out to $20+ with shipping.  And I'm glad I waited!  Because Ulta began to carry the butter LONDON brand, and though they didn't have No More Waity Katie in the beginning, they did end up getting it.  I only had to pay the $15+tax.  butter nail polishes are regularly $14, but No More Waity Katie only came in this set (no individuals) for a dollar more.  Eh, no big deal.  So I got it! :)  I had gone to Ulta for the sole purpose of getting butter LONDON's No More Waity Katie, but ended up with an eyeshadow cuz they were on sale for $2.

jesse's girl nail polish in julieg

Finally got this nail polish (from Rite Aid)!  I've been wanting this ever since I saw it on Julie G's channel.  It is a gorgeous coral color and great for summer.  Also, in case you didn't know, Julie is teaming up with Jesse's Girl to create her own nail polish collection!  I can't wait, cuz Julie's a nail polish lover (like me) and I know she's going to come up with some amazing colors!  (Not like I need more polish, lol.)

Now that it's back-to-school season, Target's got a lot of goodies!  These goodies include a bunch of ELF makeup and palettes that they don't normally carry.  I ended up with these 3 palettes.  The Neutral Eyeshadow Palette is one I've been wanting since it first came out, but I didn't want to pay for shipping.  I'm glad Target has it, even if for a limited time.  I hope Target gets more ELF makeup, like the mineral line.  There are some items I'd like to try, but I just don't want to pay for shipping, lol.

china glaze midtown magic, skyscraper, and cg in the city and essie tart deco

I stopped by a nail polish store this past weekend, and they had the new China Glaze Metro collection!  Only these 3 really stood out to me from this collection, so that's all I got.  And then, I saw that they also had Essie Tart Deco, which I've wanted since seeing a few gurus wearing it.  It's a great summer color!  I can't wait to wear it.  Swatches of all  polishes to come soon~

And finally, my Rock and Republic eyeshadows that I ordered from Hautelook finally came in!

rock&republic eyeshadows in chronic, wicked, and revenge

The shadows came in super nice packaging, and the eyeshadows itself are really nice.  I showed my Mom, and she really liked them too.  She told me to buy her some, if they're on Hautelook again, haha.  I'll probably buy more for myself too.  There are other colors that I wanted, but I figured I should start small, to see if I like them (since these are my first from Rock&Republic).

Swatches of everything coming soon~!

FOODIE FILES: The Grilled Cheese Truck

Last night I was watching an episode of Unwrapped, on the Food Network, and the topic was midnight snacks. The Grilled Cheese truck was featured on it, and I knew I just had to try it!  So I looked up their schedule, and found out where they would be tonight.  Then, I went truck chasing!  Found the Grilled Cheese Truck with a pretty long line, at Cal Tech.

Didn't keep track of how long we waited, but it was a while.  We ended up ordering and sharing the Fully Loaded, a Brie Melt, a S'Mores Melt, and tater tots.

The Fully Loaded, also known as the Mac and Rib Melt, was the best out of all the things we ordered.  It's Mac and Cheese with pulled pork.  I thought the pulled pork was really yummy and the best part of the sandwich. ^^

The next sandwich is the Brie Melt with smoked turkey.  It has brie, a fig paste, almonds, and of course, the turkey.  Honestly, I didn't really like this one.  I usually love brie, so thought I'd love this...but something about it just didn't mesh to me.  Having the fig paste in it was interesting though.  It gave the sandwich a little sweetness that makes it something unique.

The last sandwich we got was a dessert one, the S'Mores Melt with bacon.  It's made of marshmallow cream, nutella, crumbled graham cracker, and bacon.  For those who have never tried bacon with something sweet, you must!  It's actually really good.  Next time you're having bacon for breakfast, try dipping it in maple syrup.  Super yummy!  Anyway, back to the sandwich...this one was okay.  You could mostly taste the nutella and the bacon...there was lots of bacon.  But it was still good.

Overall, this was okay.  I liked the Fully Loaded, but could live without the other two.  Also, I just feel like...it's grilled cheese, and I could make that, lol.  So, I probably won't be chasing this truck again... 

NOTD: Whimsical Gradient

I've been wanting to try gradient nails for a while, so I decided to try it today.  My manicure had gotten messed up already, so I was already thinking of doing a new manicure.  Then, when I was looking at my polish stash, I saw OPI DS Coronation and thought a silver gradient would look nice with the pale pink I had on.  So, I just used my old mani as my base, and did the gradient by sponging OPI DS Coronation on top.  Voila!  My gradient nails:

  

I think they came out pretty well, and I'll definitely be doing more gradients in the future.  The ring finger got a bit messed up, so I just did a full coat of OPI DS Coronation on that finger.  Closer look:

What do you think?

I think they look a bit whimsical, and kind of reminds me of fairy dust.

P.S. I thought of maybe doing a tutorial on this.  Let me know if you want one~ :)

BIRCHBOX: July 2011

So, I think most people know about Birchbox by now, but just in case you don't, I'll try my best to explain. :)  Birchbox is a subscription service.  You sign up and fill out a profile, and they send you a box filled with 4-5 deluxe samples of products.  Birchbox does cost $10 a month, though I think you may get a discount if you subscribe for the year.  The profile helps them choose products that will work for you, so not everyone will get the same items.  I believe the purpose of Birchbox is to give you the chance to try out different high end products for a longer time frame than just a regular sample.  Also, the samples are pretty good sized samples.

For July, Birchbox teamed up with Cynthia Rowley, who picked out some of her favorite things to include in the box.  So, here's what I got in my Birchbox this month:

in the box

closer look: fruit&nut bar, ahava mineral hand cream, zoya polish in shay, purity facial cleanser, redken shine flash 02 glistening mist

the card it comes with, listing & explaining products

the box came with this pretty wrapper this month

usually it's just the cardboard box, which is nice on its own too :)

and a little extra pic:

these were the products in my june birchbox

I'll be honest, my first Birchbox in March was a bit of a disappointment.  But I stuck it out, and decided to try it for another month, and it got better.  And it has been better and better.  

Are you subscribed to Birchbox? What do you think of it?

If you're not subscribed, and would like to help me out, please let me know your email and I'll send you a referral invitation.  For full disclosure, I do get points if you sign up through that email.  But you don't need a referral to sign up.  You can sign up directly through the Birchbox website.

P.S. To give you an idea of the size of the products.  The purity sample I got was 1 oz, and the full size is 16 oz.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Shell We Dance?

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure is one of my favorite nail polish lines.  I have had great experiences with all the ones I've tried.  They apply smoothly and are opaque within two coats, sometimes even within one.

But Shell We Dance? broke that streak.  Shell We Dance? is a pale pink-ish nude color that would be a great work-safe color.  And that's exactly why I painted my nails with it.  I had an interview today and wanted my nails to look nice and professional looking.

Shell We Dance? in natural light

with flash

Unfortunately, it applied sheerly and took me 4 coats to get opacity.  And even then it wasn't completely opaque.  Also, it applied bit streaky, with some parts more opaque than others.  But it did still give my nails a nice manicured look, and so is not a complete miss.

Would I recommend it?  Probably not.  If you're looking for a color like this, I'd recommend checking out OPI Bubble Bath.

Price: $6.50 - $8
Availability: Drugstores, Walmart, Target, Ulta
Limited Edition: No
Rating: 5/10

As for the interview, I think it went okay.  I'm hoping for the best!  Wish me luck! :)

FIRST LOOK: Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors

The Kardashians have a lot of haters, but you can't hate them for this!  The Kardashian girls have teamed up with Nicole by OPI to release a collection of gorgeous nail polish colors.

I personally am a fan of the Kardashians.  True, I didn't know who they were in the beginning.  When I first heard that they were getting their own reality tv show, I was like, 'Huh? Who the hell are they?'  I'm still not sure why they're so famous, but I watch their shows and think the girls are gorgeous.  They have great style, and I always love their makeup. And since they're so glamorous, you can only expect great things from their polish collection!

So, on to the polish!

Nicole by OPI and the Kardashian/Jenner family announce the launch of Kardashian Kolors, 14 new nail lacquer shades inspired by six trendsetting women: Kris Jenner and her five daughters—Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

“We are so excited to work with everyone’s favorite TV family—the Kardashians—to share a diverse collection of fashion-forward shades,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Nicole by OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “Kardashian lacquers range from high-shine and sparkly hues to neutral taupe and pinkish coral.”

Nicole by Opi Kardashian Kolors will be available Holiday 2011 for $7.99 each ($11.00 CAD).

I really like that there's such a big range of colors in this collection, instead of just a bunch of pinks and reds.  Plus, there's some glitter ones!  You'll soon learn that I gravitate towards certain colors when it comes to nail polish (but I'm still open to others ;]).  With this collection, I'm most excited for the dark emerald green one, called Khloe had a Little Lam-Lam (I think the name is cute! haha), and the taupe one, called My Empire...My Rules.  I am definitely looking forward to this collection!

How do you feel about this collection?  Looking forward to any of the colors?

Pictures of individual bottles after the jump.

HAUL: IMATS LA 2011

FINALLY! Right? Yeah, I'm a bit late with my IMATS post, but better late than never...

This was my second time going to IMATS, and it was just as fun as the first.  It was also still overwhelming.  There's just so many people and products to look at, how can it not be?  But from our first time last year, we learned how to deal with the craziness of IMATS: have a plan.  Know which brands you want to buy from and hit up those booths first.  After that's done, then you can take the time to look around and see what you might have missed.  This gives you a good chance to get the items you want before they sell out.

I have more tips for how to make the most of IMATS, but that'll be for another post (maybe closer to IMATS next year).  This is a haul post, so on to the haul! :)

all my goodies!

3 nyx megashine lip glosses. love these!

colors: smokey look, natural, dolly pink

2 black label lipsticks, to try them out

colors: diva and berry

4 single eyeshadows, though I definitely wanted more

colors: golden sky (blue-ish one), dark grey, taupe, dark brown

2 blushes

colors: natural and taupe, which I got for contouring

1 eyeliner & 3 lip liners

colors: eyeliner in satin blue & lip liners in nude pink, plum, and burgundy

2 lipsticks from lime crime ($9 each)

colors: centrifuchsia (fuchsia)& coquette (nude)

my favorite packaging out of all the things I got!

sadly, this does not show the true real life color. my camera wasn't cooperating
the fuchsia one is brighter in person, and the nude one is lighter.

I'll try to capture the true color when I do swatches.

nyx jumbo pencils: 1 lip pencil & 2 eye pencils

colors: honey nectar (lip), iced mocha (eye), cottage cheese (eye)

3 pairs of lashes from miss adoro. 

They were 12 for $20, so I split with the girls I went with.

eve pearl salmon concealer in medium. ($21)
heard lots of good things about this concealer, so had to try it!

hehe, I already used it, before taking pictures of it.
I use it for my undereye circles, but it covers blemishes too.

So that's my haul!  I forgot the prices of the NYX stuff.  Let me know if you want to know the prices, and I'll see if I can find my receipt.  I didn't take pictures of the brushes individually, because they're mostly eyeshadow brushes.  Plus, I haven't taken them out of their plastics, lol.  But let me know if you want to see them, and I'll take pictures. :)

Did you go to IMATS? I'd love to see other hauls!

P.S. swatches will be in a separate post. ;]

OH, HELLO~ long time no see!

YEAAH...So, I haven't blogged in forever here.  It's just a bit much to keep up with all the blogs that I created.  So, I'm consolidating!  This will no longer be just my crafting blog.  Most of my blogging will go here, and I'll keep one separate one as my book blog.  So all makeup related stuff, fashion related stuff, korean&japanese drama stuff, and everything except book reviews will go here. :)

I'm hoping to start blogging more...you know, considering I have lots of time now since I graduated!  You get to follow my job hunt now...haha.

Consider this the GRAND RE-OPENING of my blog.  Happy reading!

P.S. For past makeup related posts, please visit http://kristinemeetsmakeup.blogspot.com