SPOTTED @ Target: 2-Pack Mascaras and More Holiday Sets!

So, usually around this time (i.e. the start of holiday shopping season), Target has these 2-packs of mascara, eyeliners, etc. for practically the price of one.  I love to get these because they're such good deals! Well, guess what I saw in one of my recent trips to Target??

I'm sorry, I forgot to make note of all the prices.  But I do remember that the Baby Lips sets are $5.99 and the mascara sets are all $9 something (I want to say $9.99, but I'm not 100% on that).  I'm thinking of getting one of the Maybelline Plush mascara set, because I want to try it.  The only problem is, if I don't like it...I'm stuck with two!  Has anyone tried it before?  Would you recommend it?  

Then, I spotted another ELF nail polish set, at the bottom of the above display.  I don't know why it was separated from the other ELF holiday stuff...but this one is 14 mini nail polishes for $10.

And lastly, I also spotted some Burt's Bees holiday gift sets:

I think these are packaged really nicely, and quite affordable.  I don't remember all the pricing but I do remember the sets on the top shelf, which include soap, loofa, lip balm, sugar scrub, and lotion, are $19.99 (I think).  The lip balm + cuticle balm sets (2nd shelf) and the 3-pack shimmer balm sets (3rd row, right side) are $4.99.  And the set on the far left side of the 4th shelf is a "Head to Toe" set and is $12.99.  

Lots of options!  I personally haven't started Christmas shopping, but seeing all these holiday sets coming out is making me excited for the season!  This is probably my most favorite time of the year. xD

♪ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas~ ♪

HAUL: Hong Kong and the Philippines

Welllllllll now, let's see what's happened in the expansive span of time since I last posted:

1. I started my internship.
2. Linsanity took the world by storm.
3. I started school.

Hehe, had to mention Linsanity. xD  Besides that, the other two things on my list have kept me a bit busy.  But I'm now working blogging back into my schedule!  Both this one and my reading blog (another reason I've been busier is I've been reading more! ^^)  I have quite a bit to blog about, so I should have several blog posts ready to go in the next couple weeks.  No more long gaps without any word! :]

So onto the real reason for this post!  My haul from my vacation a month ago (a month already?!)...

First up, face masks!  Pretty much all I wanted to buy in Hong Kong.  And is is all I ended up buying there, too.  Well, except for souvenirs...

I bought 3 packs of face masks and 1 pack of eye masks.  The one with the orange packaging is the My Scheming Crystal Q10 Elastin Eye Mask ($45 HKD).  Please excuse the state of the packaging; my dog got to it before I could take a picture, lol.  Next to it, in the green, is a pack of My Beauty Diary Apple Polyphenol Mask ($58 HKD).  The bottom two are both from My Scheming ($49 HKD each).  The purple one is Grape Seed Instant Brightening Mask, and the blue one is Milk Extract Brightening Mask.  I haven't tried any of them yet, but am excited to try them all!

I tried to do a bit of researching before buying, so I knew which ones I wanted.  At least, I did for the My Beauty Diary Mask.  I found a review that said it pretty much doesn't matter which mask you get, as they all kind of do the same thing, and so to just get one with a scent you like.  And ta-da...Apple!  I love apple scents, so this will probably be perfect for me. :)  The other masks had descriptions in English on them, so they were easier to choose without online help, haha.

I've heard about Asian drugstore BB Cream for a while, and had planned to buy one for myself during this trip.  I first saw Maybelline BB Cream in HK at a grocery store, and then again at Watsons, but didn't purchase because I didn't have any more room in my luggage. :x  But then, I saw it at Watsons in the Philippines!  I was so happy and bought it right away, in the lightest shade (for 249 PHP).  The packaging is different from the one in HK, though.  I will have to pick up one from HK next time I get the chance to go, to see if it's any different in formula. ^^

my favorite pair are the red ones in the bottom right

When I go to the Philippines, I always make a point of stopping at a place called 168 mall.  It's basically an indoor flea market, and I go mostly to buy accessories.  This trip, I ended up with a lot of earrings, some bracelets, and 1 ring.  Usually, I'd have necklaces too, but none of them caught my eye this time.

My cousin picked these out for herself, and when I saw them, I had to have them too!  I think she only got the colorful pair, but I couldn't choose, so I bought both.  They were only 50 PHP each, I think.

bought cuz I thought they were professional looking ^^

Yep, I went a little crazy with the earrings, haha!  But trust me, I could've done so much more damage.  There were a lot of other earrings that I really liked, and at 50 PHP each (more or less), totally could have afforded to buy them.  But I decided to show some restraint. xD

lots of bangles that actually fit my wrist!

the ring...didn't have a clear picture. :x  but this was only 10 PHP! (which is about $0.25 USD)

That's it for now~!  Hoping to get back to a more regular posting schedule, now that I'm starting to get the hang of my new schedule with school and everything. ^^

SPOTTED: New Maybelline Products - Color Tattoo by Eyestudio

So the end of the year means a lot of products for the upcoming year!  I've been following Nouveau Cheap to get the scoop on new collections, and I'm really interested in the cream shadows that the drugstore brands are coming out with now.  I'm wondering if it'll be a cheaper alternative to MAC paint pot.  However, I'm looking for a Painterly type color and have yet to see a neutral/skintone colored one...so we'll see?

Anyway, I have spotted the L'Oreal Infallible display at Target, though it was almost empty.  I did manage to pick one up and will hopefully be able to do a post on it soon.  And today I spotted a big endcap display at CVS holding a bunch of new Maybelline products!

In this display there is a new mascara, new brow pencil in 3 colors, a new liquid liner (?), eye color tattoo in 10 colors, and new Super Stay lip products (lipstick and lip stain).  I didn't really get a close up look at everything, because I was just quickly passing through CVS, so not sure about colors and everything.  I was most interested in the Color Tattoo by Eyestudio.

It claims to be a 24-hour gel cream shadow and, like mentioned, it comes in 10 shades.  I was tempted to pick up the taupe one, but decided not to since I hadn't read any reviews on it yet.

What do you think?  Will you be trying any of these new products out?  

I'm curious to see how these Color Tattoos compare to the Infallible Eyeshadows!

FAVES: November 2011

HAPPY DECEMBER!  One of my favorite months~

Class was cancelled today because the city declared a citywide state of emergency due to damages caused by the high winds last night.  It's crazy!  So many trees were blown over, as well as street and traffic lights.  And many electrical wires were snapped due to trees falling on them, so many are out of power.  I've been watching the news all day, and they said there haven't been winds this strong in a LONG time.  But it's not over yet!  The weatherman says the high wind advisory won't be over until tomorrow...His advice?  Try to stay inside and avoid driving if you can, as the roads are quite hazardous with the trees and debris littering it.

So heeding his advice, I decided to stay in and work on my blog instead. :)  And here I am with my first favorites post ever!  I actually have quite a few this month!  Let me just say that I am probably an advertising exec's dream come true.  I'm highly susceptible to advertising and pretty packaging, as can be seen in my ever growing stash of makeup and nail polish, lol.  So let's get to it...

I have 5 lippies that I've been loving this month:

ELF Mineral Lipstick in Nicely Nude, Revlon Lip Butters in Creme Brulee and Lollipop,
and Maybelline Baby Lips in Grape Vine and Pink Punch.

I've had this ELF lipstick for a while now, but haven't really used it until now.  It's a great nude pink color.  I find it to be a bit sheer, but buildable.  It doesn't seem drying to me, but it's not exactly moisturizing either.  I haven't tested the wear of it, because I drink quite a lot of water, so my lip product is always being wiped away at random times.  BUT, I really love the color of it, so I've been wearing it quite a bit this month.

These Revlon Lip Butters are new and part of the permanent line, thank goodness!  I got these on sale at Rite Aid when Revlon was 40% off plus you got $2 +UP rewards.  I used the +UP rewards to help buy the second lip butter, so my total for both of these came out to less than one at the regular price, hehe.  I love great deals like that!  The display at Rite Aid was already half empty when I bought my first one, and there were only slim pickings when I got the second one.  Only like 4 colors left by that time.  And all the displays I've seen since (at Rite Aid, CVS, and Target) have been empty.  So I'm really glad they're permanent because I really want to try other colors!

Just like everyone else, I love these!  I was so excited to hear about them from Nouveau Cheap, and was on the lookout ever since G's post.  I'm glad I got my hands on a couple!  The first one being Creme Brulee, which is a nude color, and the second being Lollipop, which is a bright fuchsia color.  Both are quite pigmented, though Lollipop is more pigmented than Creme Brulee.  One time I wore Lollipop, my friends were surprised that it was a lip butter...they thought I was wearing lipstick. ^^;  They are creamy and go on like, well, butter.  It looks like they have shimmer, but when worn, the shimmer does not transfer.  They have a creme finish and are also quite long lasting, especially the fuchsia as it stains a bit...And the packaging is pretty!  I really like the packaging of Colorburst lip products, and this is no exception!

And the last two lippies are from Maybelline's Baby Lips collection.  I first heard about these from HollyAnnAeree and decided to check them out.  They looked cute and I liked the idea of tinted lip balm.  These were the first tinted lip balms I got, before the Revlon Lip Butters.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure if these are permanent.  I tried tweeting Maybelline, but they never responded to my tweet.  All the displays I've seen since getting mine have been empty and I haven't seen any new displays/restocking.  I really wanted to try the peach one and the cherry one!  Oh well!  At least I have these, and they are great!  Very moisturizing.  But these are not really pigmented; they just leave a tint, though I find that Pink Punch does have more color payoff.  These are also scented!  I actually really like both scents from the ones I have.  Pink Punch smells like fruit punch to me and Grape Vine smells like grape, of course.

The final items are two eyeshadow palettes and a blush I've really been loving (all from Wet 'N' Wild!):

color icon blush in mellow wine, 6-pan palette in lust, 6-pan palette in vanity

vanity

lust

These Wet N Wild 6-pan palettes in Vanity and Lust are my top two palettes.  I'm sad that they are discontinuing them!  Gotta stock up on backups while I can!  I have been loving Vanity ever since I got it, earlier this year.  It is my go-to palette for a neutral everyday eye.  Lust is a palette I only recently fell in love with.  I use it to switch up my everyday eye look every once in a while.  Also, it's great for creating a not-so-typical smoky eye!  They have great color payoff, and don't crease on me at all.

mellow wine

And another Wet N Wild product I'm loving is this Color Icon blush in Mellow Wine.  This picture is not exactly true to color, as the blush is a bit darker than this.  I have a very round face, so I kind of look for darker blushes, rather than light pinks, that I can use for a double purpose: both blush and contour.  This one works really well for that!

So those are my faves for this month~ What are yours?

HAUL: Nail Polish from Ulta

Hi, I'm Kristine, and I'm a nail polish addict! xD

Ulta had an AMAZING deal today...Buy one, get one free on butter LONDON polishes.  I definitely could not pass this up, so I stopped by after class today.  The Ulta catalog said there was a limit of 2, and I took that to mean a limit of using the deal two times.  Looking online, that's what most other people thought too.  But I got to the store and the SA told me the limit meant a total of 2 polishes.  Whatever, just getting 2 for the price of 1 is an amazing deal on it's own...but it was hard to pick colors!  I have so many on my wishlist!  But this is what I got:

indoors, no flash

indoors, flash

I think this picture shows the true colors better...

As you can see, I did not just walk away with only butter LONDON, lol.  In addition to the butter LONDON polishes, I picked up 1 Revlon polish, 2 Essence polishes from their holographic collection (but they're not, they're actually duochromes), and 1 Maybelline polish.

From butter LONDON, I really wanted All Hail the Queen...that was the one I wanted for sure.  My second one was up in the air, until I actually got to Ulta.  I just picked one from my wishlist, on the spot, haha.

Then I went looking around, cuz I wanted to use my $3.50 off coupon.  My Ulta does not let you use it on butter LONDON cuz they consider it a premium brand, but I've read other Ultas do let you...Anyway, I saw the Revlon polish and Maybelline polish, and I got so excited because I've been wanting these.  I haven't seen Royal Cloak (from the Masquerade collection) anywhere until now!  So glad to find it!  And then, I've wanted Autumn Leaves since I saw it on Nouveau Cheap...it's super pretty, and looks like a duochrome.

revlon royal cloak & maybelline autumn leaves

And finally, the Essence polishes...

I wasn't planning on getting these at all, until I saw them in person.  They are very pretty duochomes...and I don't know why the collection is called Holographic.com, because they are definitely not holographic.  Really loving the one on the left!

But that's not the end!  I stopped by Ulta again after my last class of the day...it was close to closing time, and a lot of the butter LONDON polishes were gone by then.  But they still had one I wanted: Knees Up.  So I got that one, along with British Racing Green...which I hadn't expected to get, but am growing to like.  Went a bit crazy with polishes today, but I was saving up for the butter LONDON polishes since I saw the catalog. xD

They all look like great fall polishes, and I can't wait to swatch them!  I have lots in my queue for swatching now, haha.  Stay tuned for those!

Also, I was planning to swatch and review some lippies, but I got sick last week, and haven't wanted to wear any makeup for fear of contaminating it with my germies.  But I'm happy to say I am getting better, so I'll be trying to do those swatches and reviews soon!

Did you end up getting anything from the BOGO butter LONDON deal?