Another Haul + Giveaway Preview!

Apologies for yet another haul post, but there are a few exciting things I got this week that I wanted to share. I'm also having another small giveaway and I want to go ahead and show you the the prize (No, it's not all of this haha. Sorry!)

1. Lady Gaga Critical Mass Fashion by Lizzy Goodman

I'm a bit obsessed with Lady Gaga. My boyfriend and I had to go up to North Carolina yesterday, and on the way back we stopped at a big mall in Myrtle Beach. We went in Spencer's and we found this book, which I probably wouldn't have bought if it wasn't on sale for 50% off, but I'm so glad I did. I haven't read much of it yet but from what I can tell it has some awesome pictures which will be great for some makeup inspiration and for making this year's Halloween Costume.

2. Pretty in Pink print by Emma Kisstina

Since I'm somewhat redoing my room, I've been on the hunt for some cool artwork to hang on my walls. I found Emma Kisstin'as Etsy shop and absolutely fell in LOVE. She has the BEST girly prints I've ever seen, it was so hard for me to choose one. Seriously, check out her shop if you like fashion or makeup prints. She even has some amazing Breakfast at Tiffany's prints! I'm going to buy some more makeup ones to hang over my vanity when I get paid again. She was nice enough to send a smaller version of the print I bought to give away to one of you! More info on that below.

3. Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette

So I told myself I wasn't going to buy this because I REALLY don't need it, but I follow Christine (Temptalia) on Twitter and she tweeted that it was available on Ulta, so I freaked and bought it. I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet, but they colors look great! The only problem I have with it is the packaging, I kind of hate it! Everybody else seems to love it but it just doesn't work for me. It gets finger print-y so easily and it's driving me crazy. Also the plastic holding/surrounding the colors is purple and mirrored. When I'm trying to look at the colors it makes it hard to see the true color, and the light reflects off of it and I just hate to look at the colors. But it's probably just me being picky.

4. Chanel N5 pocket mirror

Also by Emma Kisstina, I bought a cute little pocket mirror to keep in my purse/makeup bag. I got the Chanel N5 design, but she has some other really cute ones too (Manolos and Louboutins? Yes!)

5. A boring pair of shoes--that were on sale!

I have a pair of black suede flats that I wear to work everyday, but in the middle of my crazy room designing and moving, I've seemed to have lost one of them. The only other work friendly shoes I have are WAYY to small for my feet, and after putting through that torture for one day I was NOT going to do it again. So 15 minutes before work I ran down to Nine West and got these babies on sale for $17! Yes, it did hurt to wear brand new shoes at work, but not nearly as bad as the way too small ones.

Now, the giveaway preview! Official details coming soon!

Emma Kisstina included a smaller version of the print I purchased to give away to one of my readers! I got the medium print of a pink MAC lipstick, so one of you will receive a small print of the pink MAC lipstick. The print is 5.1in X 7.1in (I think? I used a cm to inches converter. 13cm X 18cm) so be on the lookout for details on that :)

Well that's all for now. If you have the UD 15th Anniversary Palette, please let me know if you're annoyed by the packaging too or if it's just me, haha. Also stay tuned for giveaway details!

MAC Melon Pigment + Stila Smudge Pot Kitten Swatches and Review

As I mentioned in my haul, I recently purchased MAC's pigment in Melon and Stila's Smudge Pot in Kitten. Jessica suggested that I do a swatch of the pigment or do a look wearing it. Well, I did a whole look with it and let's just say I need to practice photographing my eye. It's a lot harder than it looks! So instead I did swatch them both and I'll let you know what I think of them!

MAC pigment in Melon

Melon is a very pretty golden peachy color and has a very pretty sheen to it. I'm kind of confused on this product, because other websites say it's party of MAC's permanent line, but yet it's not on the website or at my MAC counter. If anybody knows whether it is or not, please let me know so I can give a correct review :)

This is a gorgeous color that I like to wear over my Kitten Smudge Pot for a pretty wash of color that is perfect for summer. I haven't used it as a highlighter yet, but I've seen looks with people who do and it looks very pretty! I think it would look better on darker skintones, though. If you have the Hello Kitty Lucky Tome Palette, I think it would be really pretty to do a look with combining Melon with Creme Royal and Paradisco (Paradisco is part of the Permanent line). Maybe if I can teach myself how to take good pictures of my eyes, I'll do a look using these colors!

Overall, I am very happy I purchased this pigment and I would definitely repurchase it (though it comes with so much product and you don't have to use a lot at all, I don't really see myself running out anytime soon!).

Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten

I've mentioned my obsession with cream eyeshadows and I'll mention it again! I bought this at Ulta, when I was really looking for Benefit's Creaseless Cream shadow in either R.S.V.P or Birthday Suit, but they were both sold out :( so, I wandered over to Stila, because I wanted to get the regular Kitten eyeshadow, but decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get the Stila Smudge pot!

It is intended to be an eyeliner, but can be used as an eyeshadow as well. For the purpose of being a liner, I wouldn't use this particular color on my upper lash line, just because I like darker colors to make my lashes stand out more. I do like to use this on my lower lash line if I'm using it as an all over sweep of color, I just kind of bring it down under my eyes to make them pop. Like I said earlier, I use this a base for my Melon pigment, as well as an inner corner highlight. The only problem i ran into was that it can be a bit clumpy, but it was nothing so major that it would dissuade me from repurchasing.

Overall, this is a great product if you don't mind a little bit of minor clumping (it doesn't clump or anything when you apply your eyeshadow or throughout the day, just upon initial application until you blend it out better). I would definitely repurchase!

Again, I had issues with my camera getting a good picture of this one. Check out Temptalia's blogpost on it if you want a better idea of what the color looks like :)

What do you think? Have you used Melon or Kitten? What are your favorite MAC pigments?

Mark. Ibiza Sol Collection Review

Hellooo! We finally got our cable and internet hooked up :) Sorry for the lack of posts, but I'm happy with the giveaway so far and I'm glad everyone likes it! It ends TOMORROW so don't forget to enter if you haven't already!

Mark. Cosmetics had a Facebook contest and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners! They sent over some products from their Ibiza Sol line as a prize, so I'm going to review them! I've been meaning to try Mark. for a while now but never got around to buying any, so this was a great way for me to test run them!

The nail polishes

I was pleasantly surprised with these nail polishes, I honestly wasn't expecting them to be very good. They come in very small bottles (.09 fl oz.) which would make them good for traveling. They come in Tango, which is a hot orangey-red, and Mojito which is a minty blue-ish green.

They are very opaque and have no shimmer. I applied one coat of Tango and got the result above, which was really awesome. I had to apply 2 coats of Mojito though because it was just a tad streakier, but nothing too terrible. They are $7 each, which for that price or a few dollars more you could get an OPI or Essie or something, which comes with more product. I paid $8 for a set of 2 mini Essie nail polishes, both of which were bigger than these. But like I said, good quality and good for travel.

Marbleized Lip Glosses

I have nothing bad to say about these really. The packaging is cute and sleek, and they give a nice sheer wash of color and shine. However, the first time I tried these out I had my Nivea a Kiss of Moisture on my lips already, and putting these on top of that burned my lips like crazy! I decided to give them one more shot this morning, when I was not wearing anything on my lips already, and they felt fine. These are $9 a piece and come in 3 shades, but I only got 2 to swatch.

Marbleized Eye Shadow Sticks

These were just alright. They look really pretty when I swatched them on my hand, but on my lid I had to press down pretty hard and really work to get a good color payoff, which is not what I want in an eyeshadow stick. I read some reviews online before I even got these, and people were complaining about how to sharpen them because they are packaged in plastic. You CAN sharpen them, you just need a pencil sharpener that will fit the pencil. I already tested mine out and it sharpened just fine. For $10 each, these are not worth the price.

(I promise my hand doesn't normally look like a dead person hand, it was just weird lighting I guess)

Hope this helped for any of you who were wondering about this collection! I was just excited to get it because I want to go to Ibiza so badly. Have you tried Mark. cosmetics? What do you think of them?

P.S. Don't forget, giveaway ends tomorrow!