Ulta Haul - Featuring Redken and Stila

Ulta is draining my wallet! There is an Ulta way too close to my apartment and I pass it every day on my way home from work. I keep finding myself creating little lists in my head and convincing myself that I need all of these random things. Well, that is exactly what happened in my latest Ulta trip. Check out some of the items I picked up:

I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first...let's see I picked up my favorite razor refills, Venus Embrace. I also got some dry shampoo. I really like Batiste! I think it's one of the best dry shampoos around and at Ulta they had two new scents, "blush" and "fresh." I think the fresh scent was the best while blush smelt too floral. I also bought a new black gel liner from Maybelline. It was a bit pricey, nearly $10. I like it a lot though. It's super creamy so you don't have to tug on your eyelids to create an even line and it stays on so well without fading. The brush that comes with it is not so great, but I still recommend it.
Now onto one of my favorite items that I picked up...the Redken Cooling Deep Conditioner from their Nature's Rescue line. On the Redken website it is described as an ultra moisturizing conditioner that helps rebalance hair while cooling and soothing the scalp. I am obsessed with the scent of the Nature's Rescue line. It seriously lingers in your hair and I love smelling my hair all day long, hah...I just love this line! My only issue is I wish this conditioner came in a tube like the Redken's All Soft Heavy Cream. I hate dipping my fingers into a tub.
Last but not least, I picked up a Stila long wearing lip color in Coquette. It is definitely a "my lips but better" color. It's sort of a rose color and I think it stays on a little longer than a normal lipstick. I wouldn't say it's long wearing though. At $20 I expected long wearing results....but at least I'm happy with the color :)

Ulta Haul

Hey everyone! I really need to start blogging more. Some days I'm just not feeling it, well maybe most days. When I get home from work I just want to veg out on my couch playing video games. Also...other bloggers I aspire to be like are just so amazing that I feel like I should give up because my blog will never be as popular or as informative. I also wish I had a better camera, ehhh one day! I guess in the mean time I will continue to do the best I can. Today I felt like I should go ahead and talk about a trip to Ulta I made. I absolutely love Ulta! They usually have pretty good deals.
Here's some of the things I got:

CoverGirl was on sale buy 2 get 1 free so I repurchased my CoverGirl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation in "Alabaster." I also got a CoverGirl pressed powder for setting my foundation in Translucent Fair. The most exciting purchase was the new CoverGirl Mascara called Lash Perfection. I think it's the best mascara I've tried in a looooong time. I am extremely pleased with it. After using my eyelash curler my eyelashes usually lose their curl because mascara can weigh them down, but not with this mascara. It makes them look soooo good. Not clumpy at all! I think I will do a review on it soon showing my lashes before and after and maybe going a little more in depth. I also got one of Maybelline's new "Fit Me" blushes in Light Pink. It's really not that good. The pigmentation is terrible. Oh well. Anyway, if you shop at Ulta a lot then you know about the Ulta Rewards program. I got a level 2 reward this time so I was able to pick out a free eyeshadow by the Ulta brand. It's a nice gold color called Gold Leaf, but I really have to pack the color on with a flat shader brush and even then the fall out is bad and the pigmentation is seriously lacking.
Finally, I got this hair powder from the brand Not Your Mother's called "Girl Powder Volumizing Hair Powder." I think hair powders are the new thing for achieving volume these days. It seriously adds massive amount of texture. I just sprinkle a little directly into my roots and rub it in. I don't really have to tease my hair at all anymore! I was thinking about doing a review on this and showing my hair before and after with the hair powder. I know Got2B has a hair powder out for volume now as well. I'm sure that many more brands will be following this hair powder trend. We'll see!

Anyway, upcoming blog posts will be product reviews, a few OOTDs, and a post I'm extra excited about - "Hiding and Treating Dark Under Eye Circles" yeh something I've been plagued with thanks to my awesome genes. Maybe it will help someone out there who has the same issue :)

Essie Chubby Cheeks

Yay I'm so excited! I scored a new Essie polish for free yesterday! Around 4 times a year Ulta rewards you for shopping with them. The more money you spend at Ulta, the bigger your reward will be. Well, I actually made Level 2 for the first time ever. I'm usually just a Level 1 shopper...and the reward for Level 1 is like some free cotton balls. Not this time though! I actually got to choose a nail polish up to $8.50. I was going to get an OPI polish from the new Texas collection, but Essie's Chubby Cheeks really caught my eye. I needed to have it! I'm so glad I went with it too because I think it looks great with my skin tone and it will be a nice spring/summer color. The Essie website describes Chubby Cheeks as a creamy bright red-orange color.

Essie, Now a Drugstore Find!

Hi everyone! As you know, I work at Walgreens in the cosmetics department so I am responsible for building displays, adding new additions to our cosmetic's wall and keeping up with beauty news. Lately, the Walgreens Catalina coupon machine has been printing out ads letting shoppers know that Essie is coming soon to Walgreens. This made me very excited! I'm a huge Essie fan and I know Essie was acquired by L'Oreal last year so it seems fitting that L'Oreal would bring Essie to drugstores. I also heard Walmart is carrying Essie now as well. This past week at Walgreens I was working with my manager and coworker to reset our cosmetic wall....and we now officially carry Essie, but the display is pretty much empty (at least for now). Sooo, I got impatient and couldn't wait any longer to buy a new Essie polish so I went to Ulta and gave into temptation. I'm probably still going to buy a lot of Essie polishes at Walgreens though because I get a 15% discount. Well, at Ulta I picked up a really beautiful peach polish by Essie called "Van D'Go." I love it! I think it looks nice with my skin tone and it dries so fast. I really prefer the Essie brushes over the OPI brushes. I'm not into fat polish brushes because I have pretty small nails. I also picked up this nail strengthener called Nail Tek II: Intensive Therapy for soft and peeling nails. My nails refuse to grow! Every time I have any length to my nails it is only a matter of time before they start breaking and peeling. They are pretty thin and soft so I'm hoping this will help strengthen them. The directions say to use it as a base coat and apply as a top coat over polish. I was so close to buying OPI's Nail Envy strengthener, but Ulta was out of the Nail Envy for soft and thin nails and I didn't want to get the original formula. Oh well! I'm sure the Nail Tek is just as good. I had read reviews beforehand and they were pretty positive so we'll see! I'll update you all in a couple of weeks. Also, at Ulta I saw a new collection out from OPI called Texas. How exciting! I'm from Houston so this was a really a neat find! My favorite polish in the collection is definitely Austin-tatious Turquoise. It is soooo beautiful and unique. It's kind of glittery which can be a turn off because glitter polishes are impossible to take off, but it's so worth it. The color is too pretty to pass up. I wish I had my digital camera with me because I would have taken pics, but you can click the link in the text to see the collection.
However, I do have pics of Essie's Van D'Go. Enjoy!