Ulta & Sephora Mini-Haul

I haven't been shopping for beauty related things in awhile. I don't know why, but I just fall into a rut for a couple of months out of the year where I rarely wear makeup and just kind of let my hair do what it wants so long as it's brushed. I'm still feminine, as always, I just don't put the effort into all the above and beyond accoutrements that go with being girly-feminine.

 It's usually in the middle of winter when we're holed up indoors all day anyway, overloaded with work. I'm going to make it a point to stave off this beauty hermit phase as best I can, because I'm back to my usual girly, beauty-obsessed self and remembering just how much fun all the primping is.

I always come out of this phase suddenly. Last week, I was almost out of my Tresemme conditioner so I started browsing the shampoo aisle while we were at Walmart doing grocery shopping. All the stuff was kind of "meh" and I hadn't brought any of the beauty coupons I clip and save in a little box, so I asked Dom if we could just make a trip to ULTA since I at least have reward points there. Being the accommodating lover she is, she agreed and we took a trip the next day.

Source: Daysofthundr46 on Flickr

We walked through the doors and it was as if the aisles and aisles of goodies were whispering, "Lana, where have you been? How could you leave us for so long?" Or at least, that's what I imagined. It was around this time that Dom started getting a very wary look on her face. I'm pretty sure that ULTA is just about as close to her own personal hell as you can get. It would only be her exact personal hell if my mother worked there. I felt a little bit bad until I discovered how she occupies herself while following me around the store.

I went in there with the intention of getting conditioner and a hairbrush, nothing more, but by the time we were done I'd actually forgotten the hairbrush and wound up buying a set of Conair brushes during the next Walmart trip. I did, however, get the conditioner I came in for. They were having a sale, of course. Entire liters of shampoo and conditioner from major hair care brands like Biolage, Redken, Joico and TIGI, for 15.99 each. I wound up getting the Redken All Soft Conditioner liter, which is normally 36 bucks.  Not too shabby, especially since it's a brand I've been wanting to try forever.

 

I'll do a review soon when I feel like I've used the product enough to have a fair assessment. So far, so good! I also picked up two products from the Schwarzkopf got2b line: Oil-licious Dry Oil Hair Taming Mist for me and Ultra Glued Invincible Styling Gel for Dom. It's basically the ultimate butch styling product so I'll probably do a review of that later, too.

Next, it was off to Penney's. I picked up a few T-Shirts for Dom and a maxi-skirt for me. It also happened to be a Penney's with a mini Sephora store inside! I love those. They're much less crazy than the full stores, have just about all the same products and, best of all, I didn't get asked if I needed help every time I went down a new aisle. It was a much more relaxed shopping experience, which I can definitely appreciate.

 I went in thinking I'd look for some good neutral shadows. I thought about buying the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette, but it had so many shades in it I just couldn't see myself wearing on a regular basis, so I couldn't justify the $50 price tag. I was about to settle on one of the Sephora brand palettes for a much lower price point when I saw this little beauty at the register. Urban Decay came out with a mini-version of the ubiquitous Naked palette. The mini palette features 6 of the Naked line essentials at much lower price point of $27. It was sitting right at the register, too! I couldn't believe how perfect it was.

Forgive the terrible swatches. I'll post some better ones later and maybe a look or two with the colors. It really is the perfect neutral palette for my fair, pink-undertoned complexion. The two lightest shades are just a bit too close, but the rest of the palette more than makes up for it. It's a great deal if you're on the fairer end of the spectrum and looking for a good, matte, neutral selection of colors for an everyday look.

Well, that's it for my mini makeup haul. I'm sure there will be a few more to come soon since I need to pick up some other hair care and beauty related items.

XoXo

Lana