Cheap Thrills: Rite Aid Deals!

Rite Aid has some awesome deals on beauty items right now, I just had to share! I'm sure it depends on your area, but I find Rite Aid in general is better priced than CVS and Walgreens on identical items to begin with. On top of that, if you visit their video values site: Rite Aid Video Values (totally free btw), you can score some additional coupons on items you were already going to purchase. I always check this site before going to Rite Aid and this time there were some great coupons! Basically when you visit the site, you can browse what items are currently being offered a coupon. You select which one you want, watch a short video (most are 30 sec. to a min.), enter a captcha code when the video is over, and boom...savings! You do have to print the coupons but they will all print on the same page so you aren't wasting paper. Another thing, and this goes for all drugstores, sign up for their free member cards. It's FREE and it gives you their weekly discounts plus emailed coupons.

Ok, now on to the awesome finds for this week! 

February 2013 Favorites

It's that time again: Monthly Favorites! For the month of February I loved so many things it was hard to choose. A few of the items I chose I have been using for awhile now, but I noticed that I either repurchased them again this month or continued to reach for it which means they work and are worth my money!

• Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Cleansing Pads
• Splendid Soft Skin Body Butter in Ruby Grapefruit
• Josie Maran Aragan Oil
• Be a Bombshell Eyeliner in Onyx
• Lorac Eye Shadow in Serenity
• CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipstick in 325-Spellbound
• Sephora MicroSmooth Foundation Face Powder

NYX Slim Lip Pencil

Whoa! It's been a hot minute since my last post so I decided to do another swatch post to get my blog ball rolling again. I noticed that my post on the NYX Mega Shine lip gloss has probably received the most hits thus far so I thought I'd do a post on their lip pencils.

NYX lip pencils are some of my favorites because they are super affordable and they offer a wide range of colors (60!). They aren't the creamiest formula nor do they tug on the lips so they live somewhere in that middle area. They have great pigmentation and can definitely be worn alone as an all over lip color which is how I like to use them. As far as lasting power, I can get a few hours of wear before I have to reapply again.

They retail for $3.50 which is a freaking steal and you can find them even cheaper from cherryculture.com which is where I purchase them. I mentioned this in the lip gloss post here: NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss.

Nude Pink and Natural are hands down my most used lip liners in general...they go with everything and are a must have! I also highly recommend Bloom if you like to rock hot pink/magenta lips (umm, who doesn't?!) Ok, enough with the words, here are the swatches of the pencils I own (pics taken in natural sunlight):

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Happy Single's Awareness Day Valentine's Day!!!

Since today is about love, I thought I'd share the beauty products I absolutely LOVE. I'm talking holy grail, heaven sent, must have, would buy over and over again status. Enjoy!

LORAC PRO Palette $42.00

If I could only have one eye shadow palette, this is it. I can honestly say this has every shade I could need for a day or night time look. The variety of matte and shimmer shades are great and the quality of the shadows are amazing. Super pigmented, blends easily, and a must have in my opinion!

Revlon Colorstay Foundation $9.99

I have tried more foundations than I would like to admit but this foundation takes the cake for performance and price! I have combo, acne prone skin, and for color reference I'm about an NC35 at MAC. I use the shade 330-Natural Tan and I find that this has great coverage (medium but easily buildable to full coverage), lasts all day, works well with my yellow undertone skin, and does not feel heavy on the face. I find that I reach for this over any other foundation including my high end foundations. My only gripe is the packaging...no pump. Why Revlon? Why?!

e.l.f. Studio Powder Brush $3.00

This brush is amazing and for the price, I feel like e.l.f. is getting ripped off. I think everyone and their Mom has tried this brush, and for good reason. The bristles are soooo soft and the flat head shape is great for everything. I mainly use this for powder and contouring and it's perfect. I own like 7 of these, no joke. 

MAC Powder Blush in Blunt $21.00

This matte brown blush has been the perfect contour powder for my face. I've used this for almost 10 years (omg, just typing that made me feel so old). I've used this on fair skintones as well and it looks great. This is a very dark powder so blending is a must, but it really is one of the best contouring powders!

MAC Lipstick in Girl About Town $15.00

This lipstick is described as a bright blue fuchsia and it is exactly that. When I want to rock a bright lip, this is my go to color. I love that it's bright but not neon bright so it's wearable for most skintones. The cool tone of the lipstick is great in helping your teeth look whiter and it has a nice creme consistency. It lasts for hours on me and I usually wear it alone, no liner, no gloss. 

Birchbox Exclusive: Color Club in Insta-This $8.00

I am obsessed with this color! It's a bright cobalt blue that is opaque in one coat but I always do 2 coats by habit. I have nothing but good things to say about this polish but I'll just let the photo do the talking.

Julep Nail Vernis in Vivien $14.00

I love my glitter polishes and when I find a glitter polish that is opaque and can be worn alone, it tugs at my heart strings. I love the mix of large glitter and gold shimmer in this polish. In 2 coats this polish is opaque and the tone of the gold is so nice...it's like platinum gold. Ahhh, love!

Clark's Botanicals Smoothing Marine Cream $115.00

I know, I know...$115 for moisturizer?! I've never used La Mer, but I can only imagine my love for this is equivalent to those that pay for La Mer all the time. This stuff is amazing. It makes your skin soooo soft and the glycolic acid gently exfoliates your skin at the same time! I don't know how this stuff works but my skin is soft, break outs seems to have gone away, and acne scarring has lightened...totally worth it to me!

Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto Shine Eau De Toilette $30.00-$50.00

This is definitely top 3 for me for favorite perfumes. I purchased this back when it first came out in 2007 and I have gone through 5 bottles at least since then. It's a light, fruity/floral scent that's perfect for spring and summer. I'm not good at describing scents but let's just say I always get compliments when I wear this and I wear this year round. And did you notice the bottle?! Loves it!

NOTD: Cheetah Tips

I thought I would have a little fun and create some cheetah print nails. Cheetah print is probably one of the easiest designs to create on your nails and it literally only takes minutes to complete. With all the heart nails being posted for Valentine's Day, I  thought I'd shake things up a bit with some hot pink, cheetah print, and glitter. I never forget the glitter. RAWR!

Polishes Used:

• 10 Professional Nail Lacquer 423-Simply Charmed (Hot Pink Polish)
• Urban Outfitters AfterHours (Glitter Polish)
• Sally Hansen Hard as Nails 880-Black Heart (Black Polish)

NOTD: Glitter Tips

I'm so in love with this combo right now, I thought I'd share! China Glaze Innocence for the base and Essie Set in Stones for the tips...because any opportunity to add some glitter, you should.
Cue Ke$ha: "Throw some glitter, make it rain!"

MAC: Archie's Girls

I haven't been that excited about a MAC collection in awhile but when I saw the packaging for the Archie's Girls collection, I was sold. The red hearts and comic style artwork; love, love, love! With much restrain, I only picked up 2 lipsticks from this collection. I chose 2 colors that I knew I would wear and though they are similar to colors I already own, did I mention the cute packaging?!

So I picked up the Ronnie Red lipstick from the Veronica line and the Betty Bright lipstick from the Betty line. I'm extremely happy with my choices and if I had one regret, I wish I would have purchased the Daddy's Little Girl lipstick from the Veronica line because you can never have enough hot pink lipsticks right?! Oh well, it's a very small regret because Daddy's Little Girl is very close to MAC's Candy Yum Yum in my opinion. It really had more to do with the cute packaging that had me lusting over it for a hot minute. At the time I made my purchase nothing was sold out yet, but now all 3 of these colors are sold out...everywhere (Mac, Nordstrom, and Macy's). I know this collection is also sold at Dillard's but I didn't see any lipsticks on their site. The collection will also launch tomorrow, 2/7, at MAC stores. 

Now for some pics & swatches!

Awesome Find: Splendid Soft Skin

I recently came across this body care brand Splendid, while shopping for a fruit basket...because that makes sense right?! Ugh, leave it to me to go into any store looking for one thing and end up at checkout with everything but what I went in for. Safe to say, I'm still fruit basket-less.

All is not lost however, because I found something I didn't know I needed, and that is this deliciously smelling Ruby Grapefruit line from Splendid Soft Skin! I had never heard of this brand before but after one whiff of the hand lotion I didn't care who they were, I just knew some items were coming home with me. I ended up purchasing the body butter and body scrub but they also make hand lotion, body lotion, and body wash. There were 2 other scents: Golden Blossom and Coastal Musk but when I tried to smell them, all I could smell was the Ruby Grapefruit I had slathered all over my hands. Seriously, the smell is divine. If you like fresh citrus scents, think Satsuma from The Body Shop, then I think you will love this scent.

Urban Decay Oz Palette: Theodora

Who's a sucker for anything in collab with Disney say guilty...GUILTY!!! 

When I heard Urban Decay was coming out with some new palettes inspired by the OZ movie coming out, I jumped right on it. I saw some sneak peeks of the two palettes and instantly knew Theodora was the one for me. I thought the colors in the Glinda palette were beautiful but I knew I wouldn't use them as often. With Theodora you can go from a day to night look really easily and I felt the colors were more suited for my skin tone. 

This palette goes for  $49 which you can buy here at Sephora. This palette is also sold at Ulta and of course, on the Urban Decay website. The palette holds 6 shadows which can be popped out and replaced with other single eyeshadows that Urban Decay sells (new formula shadows now pop easily out of their packaging so you can build your own palette). An empty 6 pan, build your own palette from Urban Decay retails for $18 so it is nice that this packaging can be reused as you finish each shadow. The palette also comes with a 27/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil in Black and a Super-Saturated High-Gloss Lip Color in Theodora.

The quality of these shadows are superb! Urban Decay rarely ever fails to meet my expectations and this palette was no different. All the shadows were highly pigmented, with a velvety, buttery texture. They swatched so easily and blended very nicely. I liked that none of the shades had big chunks of glitter and the one shade that had some glitter (darker side of Spell) applied nicely with no fall out or glitter particles all over my face. All the other shadow were either matte or had a beautiful satin finish to them.

I have to say Beware, West, and the gold side of Spell are my favorites from this palette. Although these colors seem so dupable, I don't have anything exactly like them and again, the quality is great on these shadows.

Now for the lips...I absolutely love UD's Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color. They have wonderful pigmentation and leave a nice gloss/sheen finish on your lips. They aren't drying or sticky and they last on my lips for a couple hours without having to reapply. They are in a jumbo pencil form which also makes them super easy to use and you can skip the lipliner. Theodora is a beautiful bright true red. It leans more on the cool side so it helps to make your teeth look whiter. I think this color will look great on pretty much everyone and I'm definitely a fan!

*Theodora worn on my lips alone*

I definitely think this palette is worth the money based on what you are receiving and the quality of the products. I have ready many comments saying that the palette didn't seem very special, colors are dupable, and so on. I definitely don't think this palette is a "stop what you are doing and buy this right now" sort of thing, but I do think if you favor a palette that you can use for an everyday look but have options to glam up your look for night, this palette is great. For me personally, I can never have too many great quality shades of brown and you get the gold and green shadows which add even more look possibilities! I'd have to say that out of all the "limited edition" palettes I have, I will hands down get the most use out of this one.

Niner Nails: Super Bowl XLVII edition!

What better way to show some bay area love for the 49ers then with some awesome nail art?! I decided to do the Niners logo, the stripe from their helmet, the # of the Super Bowl game, and of course, glitter. It's always an appropriate time to add glitter!

I'm so excited to watch the game this Sunday and Harbaugh vs Harbaugh? Amazing.

GO NINERS! QUEST FOR SIX!!!!

All the polishes used for this nail design:

• Orly Luxe (gold base)
• Julep Vivien & Sephora by OPI Only Gold for Me (glitter top coat)
• Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris & L.A. Colors Art Deco Black (for all black detailing)
• L.A. Colors Art Deco Red Glitter (red striping)
• Nailtini Bloody Mary (red base)
• China Glaze Pure Joy (on pinky nail)
• Circus by Andrea's Choice Reverso (for all white detailing)