Finished It!!! Volume 6

It's that time again. I want to throw a bunch of stuff out, so I have to blog about it first. Hooray for getting rid of things!

Nature's Gate Tea Tree Shampoo and Henna and Pomegranate Sunflower Conditioners - The Tea Tree Shampoo and Pomegranate Sunflower Conditioner are staples for me. I have bought multiple bottles of each and will continue to do so. The Henna Conditioner wasn't bad, but it didn't work as well as the Pomegranate Sunflower one, so I don't plan on repurchasing it.

Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake Body Wash - This was my Sephora birthday gift from 2011, and I finally got around to using it. I like the Philosophy body washes, but they are, in my opinion, over-priced for what they are. I might buy more at some point if there is a really good deal, but it's not going to become a staple product for me.

John Frieda Precision Foam Colour Conditioner - This is the conditioner that comes with the John Frieda hair dye, and they always stick around forever because I forget to use them. I liked the hair dye and just bought another box yesterday because it's that time again. I'm trying a new color this time, which makes me nervous. I'm going a bit darker because my town doesn't carry the color that I used before, and I want to try a darker shade for the winter.

Skindinavia 10 Years Younger Makeup Finish Spray - I do believe that this spray helped my makeup stay on longer. Another benefit was helping get rid of the powdery look after I've finished my makeup. I bought the XL bottle of Urban Decay's All-Nighter Spray when this one started running low since Skindinavia makes that as well. I will continue to purchase whichever brand has a better deal at the time I need to purchase more finishing spray.

Benefit The POREfessional Deluxe Sample - I think I got this in a set from last Christmas. I liked it. It did seem to help hide my large pores. I've got several other primers to get through before I buy any more, and I don't think I loved this enough to repurchase it when I do need more primer.

EOS Travel Lotion in Cucumber - Another lotion bites the dust. Yes! I sound like a broken record when I finish lotions, but I'm going to say it again. I have a ton of lotions to use up before I buy any more.

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream - The was a decent, no-frills moisturizer. It didn't have SPF, so I used it at night. I might actually pick this up again after I go through my current moisturizer since I'm using a retinol cream at night, so I don't need a nighttime moisturizer with a lot of frills.

Bobbi Brown Correctioner in Porcelain Bisque - I'm still on the hunt for a Holy Grail corrector for under my eyes. This one wasn't it. Having a different shade might have helped (I purchased blind off Sephora.com because I don't have access to a Bobbi Brown anywhere nearby), but I didn't like the formula enough to repurchase it in another color.


Chloe Perfume Sample - This is a nice floral scent. I'm not big on floral scents, but I like this one. I have a mini bottle that I got in a Sephora value set and a rollerball of this from the Superstars Beauty Essentials set that I picked up. I will continue to use and enjoy those.

Napoleon Perdis Mesmer-Eyes Mascara - I got this over the summer in a Meg's Makeup package, and I really enjoyed using it. I loved the comb wand, and the formula didn't make my lashes feel stiff or flake on me. The only reason this is going away is because I used it for three months, and I'm trying to be good about switching my mascaras in that amount of time. I'm normally hesitant about purchasing high-end mascaras, but I've had so much bad luck with drugstore mascaras that I've purchased to try that I might break down when I'm through my current stash and buy a high end one that I know I like.

Physicians Formula Healthy Wear Powder Foundation in Translucent Light - I had one of these in my last post of finished products. I think I went through this one much quicker than my last one because I wasn't wearing makeup as often over the summer. I have one more of these left, but I won't be opening it up just yet because I'm now officially too pale for it. The last remnants of this one got mixed in with my regular super pale powder to use it up.

Philosophy Full of Promise Samples - These samples were so small that I used both of them for one application. I've been tempted to purchase high end skincare, but I haven't actually done it yet. Philosophy is at the top of my  list to try if I do go the high end route.

Simple Hydrating Light Moisturizer Sample - This came with a $2 coupon off a Simple moisturizer, which I ended up using on their Vital Vitamin Night Cream. It's a nice basic moisturizer, which is what I was looking for since I'm using a homemade serum and a retinal cream; I don't need bells and whistles in my moisturizer too.

Urban Decay Primer Potion - I think this has officially become my favorite primer. I've tried a few other primers recently that other people say work just like UDPP or Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and they crease on me. I like TFSI, but I get annoyed with the fact that it separates.

Urban Decay Complexion Primer Potion Samples - These are okay. I didn't notice anything special about them. I have a bunch of other primers right now.

Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation in 3.5 and 2.0 - I am loving this foundation. I'm now too pale for both of these shades. I picked up a sample of 0.5 yesterday at Sephora. I'm dying to get a full size of it, but I want to try out this shade first, and I need to work through at least one of the foundations I currently have before I buy another one.

Ojon Damage Reverse Instant Restorative Hair Serum - This was okay. It wasn't a big enough sample to notice the effect of this over time. I'm sure a full size is much more than I'm currently willing to pay on hair care.

Pond's Original All Day Clean Towelettes and Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes - I've mentioned before that I primarily use these when I'm swatching products or occasionally when I want to remove my makeup before doing a face mask, so I'm not overly particular about them. Both of these worked well enough for my purposes. I tend to buy whatever I can get for a good price.

That's it for finished products for now. I'm pleased with what I've been able to finish off even though it always feels like I'm fighting a losing battle. I need to start working my way through mineral eye shadow and blush samples because I have a million of them, and they barely get touched. That however, it a project for another day and another post.

Have you made any progress finishing up items recently?

Weekend Haul - Sephora, Ulta, CVS, Walgreens, WalMart

My fiance's cross country team went to sectionals this weekend, and I went along as the female chaperone for the group. It was a nice trip with a really good group of high school kids. The bonus of the trip was that my duties were done after the races were over, and since I had to drive separately, I got to go shopping on my way home. It was an area that I was familiar with, so I had a list of stores that I wanted to check out and a list of things I wanted to try and pick up.

My first stop was the mall since I needed lunch and a potty break (there were only port-a-potties at the races, and I wasn't going to use one of those unless I HAD to). I then stopped in at Sephora. I wasn't planning on picking up much there because I had a 20% off coupon for Ulta, but I wanted to check it out anyway.

Look what I found!

This was a boxed set of The Body Shop that was originally priced at $42, and it was on clearance for $20. I had a new eye cream on my shopping list, and I figured I would spend that much even on a good drugstore one, so I went ahead and got this set. I love face scrubs, and I know vitamin C is good for helping with scars, so can't wait to give these a try.

I also asked for a sample of the Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation in 2.0. I got samples in a couple of Urban Decay orders I placed a while back, and I like the foundation, but 2.0 will soon be too dark for me. This way, I should have enough to get me through until I'm back to my normally super-pale self.

After a quick cruise through Bath & Body Works and not getting anything (Victory!), I headed over to Ulta to use my 20% off coupon.

I planned on buying the Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation in 0.5 because that will be my shade soon, but it wasn't in stock. Boo! There were a few other items that I considered getting as well that Ulta didn't have, which was kind of nice because I didn't walk out with much makeup. Here's what I did get:

I got a Clarisonic Mia in Turquoise. My skin started freaking out recently, and I caved to the hype. I hope it ends up being worth it. The cleanser came with it, and I picked up two extra sensitive brush heads since they were 20% off. If you've tried any of the other brush heads, let me know what you think of them. I'm thinking of picking up a couple of the deep pore ones when Sephora does their VIB sale next month.

I picked up some haircare things as well. I got the got2b dry shampoo and volumizing powder because I've been wanting to try both of them out, and I grabbed anohter Salon Grafix conditioning cleanser because I'm out and I miss having it (Side note: Salon Grafix is BOGO 50% off at CVS this week).

My current daytime moisturizer is almost gone, so I decided to give the CeraVe one a try.

I purchased the Essence dual pencil sharpener because I've read that it's a good dupe for the Urban Decay Grindhouse, and I wanted a pencil sharpener with a cap. I grabbed the NYX retractable eye liner in Bronze because I never hear anything about these, and they're cheaper than the Slide On liners.

My last Ulta item was the $9 trio of Tarte primers to try out. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try the eye primer or not because I haven't had good luck with Tarte eye primers. If you've tried it, let me know what you think.

My next purchases were from CVS. I have a coupon for $2 off any $4.99 Wet n Wild purchase that I wanted to use. I was hoping the CVS that I stopped at would have the limited edition 8-pan palettes, but I was out of luck there. Instead I picked up two liners, one liquid and one retractable (both of them are brown, even though the packaging looks black in the picture. Sadly, I can already tell that the liquid liner is going to be a dud. It is really red when swatched.

My next stop was Walgreens. I love this particular Walgreens because I've had really good luck finding limited edition items there, and yesterday was no exception. They had the Wet n Wild display with the 8-pan palettes I was looking for. Yippee! I only picked up the Sparkle 'Til Morning palette because I thought it would get the most use.

I also noticed some Sinful Colors eye shadow palettes, and I grabbed one in Barely There Shadow. I can't wait to try it out. I just did quick swatches on my hand, and they are nicely pigmented and apply smoothly.

The last item I picked up from Walgreens was another brown liquid liner. EleventhGorgeous on Youtube loves the Jordana FabuLiner, and I've been wanting to play with liquid liners, so I figured I would give this one a try too. Thankfully, it swatches much better than the Wet n Wild one. It's a nice, deep brown.

My last stop of the day was WalMart. I thought I might pick up a couple of the new Hard Candy items, but nothing interested me there. The few things that I did pick up were a Palmer's Cocoa Butter Swivel Stick, Simple Vital Vitamin Night Cream, and a couple of powder puffs.

That was the end of my shopping adventure. Since I didn't sleep the night before (there were bugs in my hotel room beds - Ewww!), I nearly fell asleep watching a tv show with my fiance, and we were both in bed by 9 p.m. Yep...we live really exciting lives. :-)

Did you get the Ulta 20% off coupon? What did you use it on? Have you had any fun shopping adventures recently?