Beauty Alert: Blushing Noir's 500 follower Giveaway!

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know about Blushing Noir's 500 follower giveaway! I think it's super sweet to be giving all that stuff away. She definitely deserves all the followers she has! Be sure to check her out and enter before it's too late. Below is a sample picture of everything she's giving away. Head there now!

First Ever CCO Haul!

I'll admit that I'm a newbie when it comes to getting stuff cheap. I stumbled upon Specktra and was checking out swatches and the like. Don't ask me how, but I found a thread about CCO's... needless to day I had no idea what that was. After looking around for a while and found out it meant Cosmetic Company Outlet and I about died. I love me some outlets! I live about 30 minutes away from a huge outlet mall so when I saw there was a CCO there I about died.

Two weeks later (seriously it was a struggle, lol) I headed up there with my mom. I was completely overwhelmed. MAC is my newest obsession so I all but started to hyperventilate. Anyway... after about an hour and putting back like a billion things I wanted, this is what I got.

I ended up getting mostly eye shadows. Since I feel there are a ton of swatches out I won't do a complete swatch set here, but I did swatch a few things for you!

MAC Pigment: Spiritualize from the Metal Urge Collection '08
   Paid: $13.75

MAC Eyeshadow: Going Bananas from the Dare to Wear Collection '10 and Saffron from the Mickey Contractor Collection
   Paid: $10.25

MAC Eyeshadow: Shimmermoss from the To The Beach Collection '10 
   Paid: $10.25

MAC Eyeshadow: Vainglorious from the Venomous Villains Collection '10 
   Paid: $11.00

The picture disappeared -- I'll add one up later.

Finally swatches of the colors on my arm in natural light:

Shimmermoss, Saffron, Going Bananas, Vainglorious, and Spiritualize

MAC Eyeshadow Stacks: Stacked 2! from the Spring Color Forecast Collection '10 
   Paid: $22.75

Finally everything else I got :) I wanted a bunch more face products, but knew I'd be spending $300+ if I didn't stop.

Clinique Super Moisture Foundation: Pure Porcelain 
   Paid: $17.00

 Sorry this picture is grainy... since it was so light the flash kept killing the color.

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish: Porcelain  Pink from the Color Craft Collection '09

   Paid: $19.25

MAC Nail Lacquer: Peaceable from the Style Warriors Collection '09

   Paid: $10.25

MAC Lipglass: Strange Potion from the Venomous Villains Collection '10

   Paid: $11.00

 Woo! Overall I was extremely impressed with everything there (and with the staff). It was kinda funny though since a few girls came in to see if they could get their makeup done. The girls who worked there said they couldn't since they weren't trained to do it. There I was, about to turn around and tell them I'd do it for them, but I knew they'd be like who the heck is this girl :)

Anyway, the CCO made my summer MAC collection hauls that much smaller. I planned on getting Strange Potion, Saffron, and Sun Blonde, but now I have 2/3 of them and won't need another yellow shadow! Thanks Williamsburg CCO! If you are in the area you should definitely check it out.

Neutrogena Wave Review

Seeing as I'm the one who actually understands skin care in the house, I've been buying my brother acne stuff since the dawn of time. Needless to say he ran out and started using mine (which made him break out because it wasn't for acne). So off to Target I went tonight to get him a few things to make his face calm down again.  As I was gathering stuff I spotted the Neutrogena Wave. It was on sale for $9.99 and came with a free Neutrogena Naturals Lip balm (what a steal!).

I've been wanting to try this for a while now so I picked it up. Also picked up the exfoliating replacement pads ($6.99). I got home and had to use it immediately. I should say my skin is EXTREMELY dry and I've been struggling with finding something to cleanse my skin without drying it out. With this I may have found it.

After using it my skin felt much smoother and quite hydrated. This is after using the foaming pads included with the Wave -- not the replacement ones I purchased. The foaming pads have a pleasant smell to them. I'd say they smell something like chamomile and possibly mint. The smell is not extremely overpowering thankfully seeing as I am allergic to mint. I'll be using it a few more times and if my opinion changes any I'll be sure to edit this.

So, if you've been waiting to try this head out to Target. You get it for a great price and free lip balm to boot! Also as a side note, don't buy the replacement pads yet. Once you've opened the box there is a $2 off coupon inside.

Mac Haul - Fashion Flower!

So, for my first official post I figured I'd wait for MAC to come out with a collection. There are so many this summer that I wasn't sure which one would be first on my list. The metallic green of Bows and Curtsies got me so Fashion Flower it is ^_^

While I was waiting for the MAC artist to assist me I got a chance to look at the collection. It may have been small, but all the colors totally work as "fashion flower" colors. They even had the eyeshadows in the shape of a flower (which I thought was cute). I got to swatching and convinced myself that I needed Ever Hip. Anyone on the fence about the color go and get it at your local counter. You won't regret it!!

So here's my Haul:

Ever Hip: Natural Light (pretty true to color here)

Bows and Curtsies: Natural Light (pretty accurate but a tad darker in real life)

Alpha Girl: Natural Light (definitely way off -- much brighter in person)

Swatches of all three in Natural Light

:

Left to right: Alpha Girl, Bows and Curtsies, and Ever Hip

Finally a quick look I did after getting home from work and finally being able to play with them. *Excuse the bra straps, lol. I was in the middle of changing and was like oh! I need a picture of this before my screw it up by changing* Ever Hip on my lips, Alpha Girl as blush and smudged a bit of bows and curtsies in the crease and used it as eyeliner.

Overall, I think the collection was really really cute and I can't wait for Surf Baby next month!

Over the past few months, I've come to see that lots of blogs are out there about different aspects of beauty. While I frequently am able to find swatches and such for the things I'm looking for, I find it odd that most bloggers are women with medium to dark skin tones.

Having said this, I have run across problems with products not showing up on me like they do with others. So with this blog I hope to give all the pale, pasty masses a voice. To show the fairest of the fair what products will work for them. It's about time someone did this -- why not me?