Sephora Mini Haul

Hello fellow interweb friends!

As you can tell by the title, I kind of did a little haul at Sephora this week! Now, just a disclaimer, I only bought all this because I had an employee discount there this week because I work at the Build-a-Bear Workshop in Downtown Disney by Disneyland. It wasn't entirely an employee discount, more of a "cast member" discount that Sephora does for us people who work on Disney property twice a year; the discount wasn't much but 20% is pretty big when it comes to make-up products, especially the ones that I bought today. As all you girls know, high-end make-up products never really go on sale or get discounted at mall counters and if there are discounts, it's usually if you have some kind of membership, whether it be a credit card or reward card (VIB for Sephora) and more often than not, the discount is only like 15% or a free sample size item with purchase. In other words, 20% is like HUGE when it comes to these things, so I had to take advantage of it and get myself ready for summer, especially since I will be vacationing with my family this summer in Vietnam. 

So, first thing I picked up is the Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 20 in the color beige. I personally love tinted moisturizer, but since I have combination skin, leaning a little towards oily, I had to get the oil free one just to prevent myself from getting any potential break outs. To me, tinted moisturizer is perfect for spring/summer time make up - it's a staple product for me during spring and summer time just because I use as minimal make up as I can so I don't clog my skin but still protecting it at the same time from sun damage. So anyways, tinted moisturizer with SPF not only makes you look good without too much effort while protecting your skin, it is perfect when you want to get ready fast. For instance, during the day time, you can quickly dab it on and use a brush or blender to blend it into your face, put on some mascara, a little bit of colored lip balm, set it all together with some setting powder (in my case, I use the mineral veil from Bare Minerals), and BAM you have a semi-fully made up face withouth the hassle of putting on five different layers. Now, that's my preferred face routine for the summer when I just want to have minimal coverage, which is pretty much all the time. However, when I do want a little bit more full coverage, then I'll put on the tinted moisturizer and then quickly brush over some powder foundation. This will give you a little more coverage and then you can also add on some bronzer and blush to get a fully made-up face with all the other goodies like mascara and lipstick/gloss/stain. 

Now of couse, it is always important for me to use some kind of a primer underneath just ecause, like I mentioned earlier, my skin can get pretty oily. The primer that I got is the Becca Ever-Matte Poreless Priming Protector. This product took me a while to decide on just because it is a little bit more expensive, but I've only heard of super good reviews from various YouTube beauty gurus. At first, I was going to get my all-time favorite Bare Mineral Prime Time Oil Control primer since it's been working wonderfully for my skin, but I saw the Becca primer so I decided to try/squatch it on my hand and let it set for a while and then compared the two. The Becca one, just as its name says, gave a super matte finish without making my skin look dry or fake whereas the Bare Minerals one, though is good, didn't give as fine of a matte finish. Just because the end product of the Becca primer was better and since I have oily skin, I decided to fork out the money and get it instead of my Prime Time one. When I got home, I decided to take it out and try it with my Laura Mercier tinted mositurizer, did my usual make-up routine to try it out with my other face products to make sure the Becca primer is just as wonderful as it seems. Wow, I was pretty impressed by it once I put it on because I did not see any traces of oil on face til like maybe 5-6 hours after, and even at that point, the oils were super minimal. Not only did I noticed the difference, but my mom also noticed it too! So pretty much, though the Becca primer is more expensive, the product payoff was definitely worth it, especially since I also had a discount on it. Now, since I know it keeps my skin looking matte but still natural, I will use it a little more freely around the more oily areas of my face like the t-zones, nose, and chin. I only say this cause I used it very frugally my first time around since I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.

So, besides those two face products, I also got a new tube of mascara, and as you can tell from the picture, it is the Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume Lash Building Mascara. Now, I am a huge mascara junky, so I've pretty much tried a variety of mascaras just to see how well they work and these have definitely been my favorite. I originally got a sample size of a Laura Mercier mascara, I can't remember which one to be exact, in my 500 VIB Perks Point from Sephora. I completely fell in love with it because it lengthened, volumized, but still kept my lashes looking natural! To me, that is huge because a lot of the ones that volumize and lengthen tend to make your lasshes look clumpy and flake off a lot, but these ones did not! Since I loved the sample sized mascara so much from Laura Mercier, I decided to get a full sized one and tried the Full Blown Volume Lash one and WOW, this one completely blew me up and I fell in love! Before, I was using an Lancome one and those are super expensive but didn't keep my lashes as natural looking, so I totally thought I hit the jackpot with this Laura Mercier one. So to pretty much summarize my excitement and love and ethusiasm for this mascara, I just got a second tube of it! To me, when I re-purchase make-up items that are a little bit more expensive means I completely and uterrly love it and cannot live with out, and that's the case with this product. 

The other product that I got is the Lancome Rouge In Love lipcolor in the shade 353. This one one is actually for my mom, but since I do love this particular lipcolor line from Lancome, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about it. So last year, for my 21st birthday, I decided to buy a new lipcolor for myself so I can use in Vegas. My birthday is in May and I love bright colors, so I was determined to find something along the lines of a coral-salmon-pinky-orange color and the only one that I fell in love with after multiple tries at the make-up counters is the Lancome Rouge In Love Lipcolor in the shade 322M (Corail In Love). These lipcolors are just amazing because they are super pigmented, moisturizing, and long-lasting! Now, if you've tried many different long-lasting lipstick/stain/gloss/etc., you guys all know, most of the time, they do not stay as hydrating as they proclaim themselves to be, but MY OH MY, these ones really do stay hydrating for a long time compared to most! Like I mentioned before, I got this for my birthday and Vegas, so I used it on my second night in Vegas to go to a night club and pretty much every other time I went out, night or day. So pretty much what I want to tell you is that after many meals, multiple drinks, sweaty clubs, typical Vegas happenings, my lipcolor still stayed on without making my lips dry and show off every nasty ridges on your lips when they are dried. Now, if you're like me and you like bright colors, you know those are the worst to have on your lips when they look dry just because it makes the lipcolor seem cheap and badly made and you just look bad in general, so for the Lancome Rouge In Love lipcolors to not do that, I think it is definitely worth the money and a must have if you want to find a good lipstick that can keep your lips looking hydrated and nicely colored. Another good thing about this line is that there are many shades, maybe over ten different shades, from nude to bright red. The shade my mom got, 353, is a slightly nude/pinkish color. It is very flattering for all ages and can be used in every season of the year, which makes it super versatile as well, so I might go back and get one for myself, but for now, I'll just "borrow" hers!

And one more thing, if you shop at Sephora and you have not signed up for the Beauty Insider membership, you need to go do it right away! There are so many perks of being a Beauty Insider because for your birthday, you get a nifty little gift! For this year, Sephora is giving away a little Benefit package and inside of it, there's a "They're Real" mascara (which I'm excited to try because the brush/applicator looks amazing and I have a feeling it will get into each and every last). And the other little trinket is the "Watt's Up" highlighter. Based on the item description, it is a soft-focus highlighter. I've never used a highlighter before so I'm kind of excited to try out this little one!

Hope you enjoyed this,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen 

Let's Talk About the Free Stuff!

Good morning fellow interweb friends!

A few weeks ago, I got a letter for a recall on my car and when I read that it was about the Safety Restraining System (SRS), or as we all know it, the seat belt thing, I thought it might be important to get it checked out, especially if the service is free. Not only is it free, but it also guarantees my safety and prevent me from spending money on fixing it later on. So anyways, I got an appointment to come in today, at 8 in the morning - wowzers, that is like super early for me when I don't need to worry about school or work! So here I am, as I write up this blog, sitting here in the Toyota loune waiting on my car to be serviced, thought I'd write about my very sweet and quaint experience!

So I pull up my car into the Services area and was greeted very quickly and within a minute later, a customer service agent was at my door, welcoming me into his office to get all the paper work done. Within seconds, I found out that I'm getting a complementary car wash as well as a tire pressure check! I completely scored there since I've been meaning to go get my tire pressures checked but haven't gotten around to it yet. The best thing though is the car wash. Haha as my mom says, my car barely gets washed or never at all, so today will be its first wash since like maybe February...hahaha let's just say, taking car of my car's physical appearance isn't very important to me, the only thing I care for is the gas that keeps it going. So within the first 5 minutes of me being at the dealership, I've already gotten loads of free stuff! This is just perfect cause all the complementary perks are all things that I currently need!

After finding out all the schnazzy dazzy free things and got my receipt for the service today, I went into the lounge to wait since the customer service man says my car is going to take about an hour or so. Ummm, this lounge is loaded with all these super cool gadgets and trinkets that makes coffee and popcorn! There's a popcorn maker in here, that makes you free popcorn!sadly, I wasn't very interested in the popcorn machine and felt a little awkward of taking pictures of everything so I didn't. However, that coffee/expresso machine is a whole other story!

So a little known fact about me, I am quite the coffee drinker. I have coffee all day, every day, even multiple times a day. Since my appointment was at 8 and I value my sleep too much, I didn't get up early enough to go get my usual Starbucks drink, so when I saw this heavenly machine, I was ecstatic! I tried to keep calm and let all the elderly new friends that I made get their coffees first, but when it was finally my turn, I was mesmerized! Hahaha talk about being technologically behind! I played around with the machine and got myself a cafe vanilla. Even though it's pre-made in the machine and I couldn't do my little mix and tricks on it, I think it came out pretty darn nice! Then, right next to the coffee maker, there was a plate full of Famous Amps cookie and Knott's boysenberry shortcakes! I was so super duper tempted to grab a bag, or two, but had to practice super duper self control. Even though those treats are super delicious, I thought it would be better if I acted strong and brave and just walk about from the beautiful goodness of buttery sweet goods!

So I conquered my temptations, got back to my chair, and then starting playing with this little twirly-whirly gadget that's probably meant for kids under 5. Not gonna lie, I did get some weird looks from the other people who are also waiting for their cars but hey, the thing is there to be played with so why not right?!

Pretty much, I just rambled on about all the free goodies that I got today while I waited for my car to get done. It's been an amazing experience so far, so maybe I might want to get my car serviced at the dealership more often just to enjoy the complementary goodness, the heaven of free delights while I wait! Hahaha, well hope you guys can experience the fun that I've had the next time you go get your cars done!

Until next time,
With love,
Uyen