Ulta and Five Below [Mini] Haul

Well, I went out to buy stuff for my sister's birthday... and then I bought myself a few things as well. Go figure.

Here's my little haul!

I stopped by Ulta to price out some stuff that I didn't end up getting for her but my favorite leave-in conditioner, Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave Leave In Conditioner, was on sale for $9.99. It's usually $17.99 so that was such a deal! I also had 20% off one item so I ended up getting it for $8.41 with tax. I love this leave-in conditioner. It's the only one that leaves my thin, fine hair feeling soft but doesn't weigh it down or make it feel oily. It's seriously a god send and I don't think I can live without it now.

My next stop was Five Below and, man, I scored a lot of stuff for her gift there (I'll be posting about her present once she opens it!) but I also ended up filling my hands with stuff for me too! I bought a travel size of Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo because I'd been walking around like Marie Antoinette using corn starch in my hair on days between shampooing and needed something else. I decided it was time to give up the powdered wig look and since it's a travel size container, if I don't like it, I'm not out a lot of money. Perfect. I haven't tried it yet but I'll report back once I do!

I also picked up a City Color Blush Quad in Collection 2, which had a bunch of blush colors I didn't have. I had to own it and for $4 it was a steal! That's $1 per blush! Yep. I had tried a City Color blush in my Ipsy bag a few months back and really like it. The blush I have already is VERY pigmented and blends well. I was excited to find these.

Indoors with Flash

Indoors No Flash.

Natural Lighting

The third color looks more orange in person but my camera was just not picking it up. They all seem to have a little shimmer to them but are highly pigmented which is great! AND all City and Color products are cruelty free! Hooray! This quad is definitely worth the $4 and I might even have to pick up the other blush quad next time I stop by.

I managed to talk myself out of buying lip crayons that were 2 for $5 and somehow resisted buying all the textured nail polish that was there. They also had Wet 'N Wild blushes and I had a very hard time not buying those as well. It's so hard to just not buy all the things!

Dollar Tree & And That! Haul

Since I moved back to my parents' house, I am a five minute drive (or thirty minutes when it's a Saturday and there's an accident on the main road in town...) from all the stores. Seriously. ALL THE STORES. My no-buy has been broken and I am so, so sorry. 

I'm not actually sorry. 

Anyway, I popped into the Dollar Tree to pick up some storage containers for my vanity since I'd been living out of about 5,000 tiny makeup bags since I moved home and I needed a good storage system for my collection of pretties. 

Of course, being me, I had to take a peek at what was on the cosmetics aisle because occasionally I strike gold and end up with a bunch of kick ass stuff. That day was my lucky day. 

Granted, I didn't find ALL THE THINGS but I did find a Physicians Formula 100% Natural Origin Blush in Pink Organics. I happy danced my happy ass all the way out of that store. I am a weirdo. 

Anyway, I'm going to admit that I'm actually really glad I only paid a dollar for this blush though. It's hardly pigmented at all (hence no swatches... I couldn't get it to show up on my arm!) It does add a HINT of color on my cheeks that is slightly lilac but it looks a bit chalky and I feel like I had a hard time building up any color. Alas, it was only a dollar.

My other stop was And That!, which is a kind of catch all store with REALLY good prices. I went in looking for bead organizers to put my Shiro samples in (And That! does not really carry craft supplies TIL...) and walked out with 2 Essie Polishes (my firsts!) in Like Linen ($1.49) and Russian Roulette ($3.99), a Maybelline Color Whisper balm in Orange Attitude ($3.84), and a set of stainless steel measuring spoons because I needed a good set to take the UK with me... AHEM. 

The booty: 

Seriously, I cannot believe I got an Essie polish for $1.49. And it's a pretty off-white color! I bought Russian Roulette because I don't have a traditional red and... well... I needed it. 

Anyway, happy hauling to the rest of you! I'm off to rub my Color Whisper balm all over my face and be happy.

January Buys

I've been trying to be good about buying makeup but it's really hard to walk by the ELF section in Target and not touch everything so of course, I end up buying stuff.

This January I did pretty well and spent less than $10 (if you don't count my Ipsy bag, of course.)

Here's what I got:

I bought one of my January Wants: a matte topcoat! I picked up this NYC Matte topcoat at Target for about $2. Totally a steal and it does a pretty good job.

I also scored big at the Dollar Tree this month and ended up with 2 lip sticks (that I really like!) and 2 bottles of Sally Hanson Magnetic Nail Polish. The ELF lipstick definitely has a lipstick smell that can be off putting but it's not a terrible lipstick for the price (even though I found out it has little GLITTER specks in it... not sure about that...) I'm still on my quest to find a cheap alternative to the Urban Decay Revolution lipstick sample of Anarchy I got in one of my Ipsy bags that I am IN LOVE with. I just cannot bring myself to spend $19 on a tube of lipstick. I just can't do it, guys.

I've only used one of the polishes but I thought the effects were really fun and I'm definitely happy with my purchases.

Surprise Dollar Store Haul

The Dollar Tree I normally shop at hasn't had anything good in stock for months. It's normally just a bunch of off brand eye shadows (scary!) and separated nail polish (not ideal) so I haven't had a good haul from there in a while.

I went in the other day on a mission to buy sandwich bags, tin foil, and q-tips and ended up leaving with four new products (and the temptation to go back for more is very strong!)

Here's my haul:

Holy crap. I hit a gold mine!

The first thing I found was a complete accident. I never shop on the hair aisle unless I need a new pack of hair ties but happened to go down it while waiting for the person hogging the makeup aisle (and coughing up a lung) to move and man, I was so glad I did! I found this Got 2b Dry Conditioner and had to pick it up. First off, because it's a good name brand product. Second, what the fuck is Dry Conditioner? Had to take it home to try. So far, I dig it. It smells nice but I'm a little sad I didn't score any dry shampoo there, which is what I really need but figured this would be good for my ends since they get really bad.

The Dollar Tree had a literal metric ton of Sally Hansen Magnetic nail polish. I know... magnetic nail polish is soooo last season but for a dollar, why not? I picked up a color called "Slate Spark" which is an iridescent purple color. I have not used it yet (shame!) but I plan on doing my nails within the next day or so and then if I like the polish, plan on going back to pick up another bottle or two. There were so many colors!

Swatches of lipstick.
ELF Sociable on  left
Maybelline Hydra Time in Campy on right.

I then picked up two lipsticks. One is just a cheap-o ELF lipstick which would be a dollar anyway but it was a vibrant pink color called "Socialable" so I figured why not? It's just a dollar. If I hate it, I hate it. If I don't, cool beans.

The second is a Maybelline Hydra Time lipstick in Campy, which is a brownish-red color that is gorgeous! I wore it all day today and it stayed put pretty well and didn't dry out my lips like most lipsticks do. I was really impressed and definitely pleased with my dollar purchase. They had a couple of other colors in the Hydra Time and if I go back this week, I'm going to pick one or two more up.

 Anyone else make an awesome haul lately?