I don't need any more lotions or body mists. DON'T LET ME buy any more lotions or body mists.

However, I go through body washes and various soaps like it's my job - so I tend to haul the more...specialty brand body washes when they're at a hefty discount. I was on a soap fueled mission yesterday when I checked out Bath and Body Works' Summer Semi Annual Sale - so here's what I picked up!

- Cherry Blossom Shower Gel: This was just changed to an online exclusive last summer and is probably my favorite fragrance in the history of Bath and Body Works. Which means they of course are going to make it more difficult for me to access. Shocker. But I still have a substantial amount of body mist and body cream left in this one but I missed out on the body wash last summer. Yesterday, this was on special for $3 and the marketing said "TODAY ONLY!!!" but it's still listed as $3 online as of 6/16.

- Paris Amour Shower Gel: Yep. I feel like this and Sweet Pea are tied for my favorite fragrances in the brand's permanent line. I think I've already worked through a bottle of this in the past. This was the same pricing situation as Cherry Blossom yesterday, but is now listed as $5.50.

- Wild Citrus Sunflower Shower Gel: WILD FREAKING CITRUS SUNFLOWER. YAAASS. Okay - the year before last this was a summer fragrance that I fell head over heels for and then they repromoted every other fragrance last summer and made this one an online exclusive...of course. So I may have let out an audible gasp and beelined for this display when I saw it. I'm planning on wearing this today because its just so summery and wonderful. This was $4 yesterday, but is listed as $3 online today. Ah, well. It was worth the extra dollar.

- Wild Citrus Sunflower Body Lotion: Yes, this is the only exclusion to the no lotions rule. I have the body mist, and now the shower gel, so I needed to complete the collection. Just let me have this one, okay? Same pricing situation as the shower gel, which was strange.

- Coconut Lime Breeze Travel Size Shower Gel: I don't know why this little guy was on sale, because I can't find it on the site and the full sized one isn't discounted, but I really like this one! Definitely has some force to it, as well! I think this was somewhere around $1.75.

- Tokyo Lotus Apple Blossom Travel Size Shower Gel: This is the only fragrance that I was really interested in from the spring collection, but I wasn't dedicated enough to get the full size. It pairs well with other fragrances, so I picked this up and although it is listed as $2.50 online I could have sworn I payed $1.75. 

I do regret waiting as long as I did to head on over to Bath and Body Works because I wanted to stock up on fragrance oils and scentportable refills, but they we're quite lacking by the time I arrived. I do regret not picking up a candle yesterday and may make a trip back - it's a thrilling saga, really. I HATED Watermelon Lemonade last year and for some reason I am completely enamored with it this time around! It's listed as half off right now, so it's probably a sign that I should jump at it - but otherwise, I'm pretty stocked up until next time!

Darling Girl Cosmetics Black Friday Haul.

This was literally the first year I've done any kind of shopping on Black Friday - albeit, I didn't really buy all that much, but when you already work in retail...the last thing you want to do is go in early or stay late in the mall after your shift to shop after dealing with the crowds all day already. I did a little bit of shopping in the mall, but half of my shopping was online this black friday - both Darling Girl and Lime Crime!

So heres my (very glittery) haul!

Spectral Shifts -

On the left is Ramblin' Rose (which I wore yesterday and loved!) and on the right is Zombie Queen. I love spectral shifts because they are often in very unique colors, but sheer enough to wear every day!

Eyeshadows - 

From left to right, the eyeshadows are Sirena, Anam Cara, Toxic and Jeweled Taupe. Several of these, and I believe on of the spectral shifts were sent as part of a discounted review package.

Pixie Sprinkles! - 

I went a little crazy with the Christmas themed Pixie Sprinkles...from left to right they are; Christmas Sweater, Grandma's Fruitcake and Regifted. I love these because they're so multi- colored and fun!

 Free Samples and GWPs -

There were two GWP shades with this order, because it was Black Friday which were Who Cares, Its On Sale and UGH Candied Yams. The sample was a baggie of Papercut, which I'm actually surprised that I don't already have. 

As per usual, my order came with a sticker and business card, and now I have a button! Yay!

Darling Girl Cosmetics is closed through the new year I believe, so I'm pretty excited to see what they have in store for 2014!

Shiro Cosmetics Haul!

Its been a rough week around here - that much is certain. You know how you just have those times where you just feel discouraged left and right. My life this week. Or month. You get the idea.

This Shiro haul has definitely been in the making for some time now. I remember stumbling across a picture of an eyeshadow on Tumblr called "Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon" and I just had to check out the brand. I didn't buy that shadow because I wanted only mini sizes, but it definitely caught my attention!

Shiro Cosmetics is basically one of the greatest marriages of makeup and geekdom I've come across in a LONG time.

I thought the stamp was cute! I definitely tried my hardest to keep it intact when I opened these!

I purchased three minis (in jars) and one sample (baggies). The other two samples were free with my purchase. 

From left to right, the top row is the group of minis and they are; Temple of Time, Master Sword, Not Very Effective, Ganondorf and The Last Homely House. The bottom row are the sample sizes and they are; What's That Smelt?, Farewell Wherever You Fare and Master Ball. 

Did I shop by collection? Absolutely. Most of my spoils were from the Legend of Zelda themed collection, followed by the Pokemon themed collection and The Hobbit themed collection. There is one from the Minecraft themed collection, I think, but I don't play Minecraft, so I'm not sure. From the picture, that's what I gathered. 

These were hard to photograph, because I feel like it didn't capture the true color. The Last Homely House is a really unique Red/Green duochrome, Master Sword is a unique white gold and Ganondorf is pretty freaking all around awesome, just to name a few. 

Shipping was within the turnaround time, and I had no issue with my order whatsoever. The owner was also quite nice!

I can't wait to start playing with these - this week has put much of my beauty routine on the back burner, so I'm ready to play with all the pretty things!

BFTE Haul!

BFTE - Beauty From The Earth - is one of the most well known of the indie makeup brands, so I'm surprised that I'm just now hauling from them. As per usual, I decided on sample sizes so I could get a feel for the brand and their products.

One thing that stood out to me from the get go is their turn around time. I think I placed my order on Saturday, and already received it (its Thursday here) so needless to say, that was a pleasant surprise. In addition to the items I hauled, I also received a free sample of another shade.

I love the way indie products are packed and shipped. Always cutesy and fun. The sample I was given was inside the little card! And I'm not going to lie, the glitter from the tissue is EVERYWHERE. You may see it show up in swatches.

These are BFTE's sample sizes, which are in an average sized jar, but a good amount less than it holds. Some shades seem to have a bit more in them than others.

From left to right these are; Chantilly Lace, Spring Fever, Harvest, Kiss the Frog, Celtic Charms, Cocoa and (across the bottom) Lollipop Kid. All of these are shimmery, minus Kiss the Frog, which OMG..I can't even process how amazing it is. Another one of my favorites is Harvest, which has incredible pigmentation. I'm glad that I picked up this bunch, because its a good mix of staple shades and great fall shades as well!

I've got a lot of testing, playing and swatching on my hands so bear with me! I've got a couple other indie brand hauls that came in before this one, so I'm trying to tackle them in the order I hauled them..."trying" is the key word!

Smash Cosmetics Sample Haul!

Just in case you're not already dog tired of the indie brands on my blog these days, keep in mind that I have two more indie hauls on their way after this one. Its a newfound obsession of mine really, as I find that many indie brands have a lot more unique shades, formulas and textures to offer than your average corporately established beauty brand.

Smash Cosmetics is a small indie makeup brand that I found through another blog - Beauty Redefined by Pang, who recently posted a haul from them. The brand does offer very unique shades in terms of eyeshadows, but what really struck me is their extensive collection of lip products. I purchased the blogger review kit, so I was sent samples of 5 eyeshadows, 5 lipsticks and two glosses of my choice. Since I purchased something that was discounted for review purposes, I'm not sure if samples are included in regular orders.

I did not encounter any customer service issues with the brand - and since my order took a bit longer than is the standard for the brand, I received a discount off of my next purchase. The only thing strange about the order was  the shipping. I received an e-mail from the brand through Etsy saying that my order had shipped on August 20th and I received it today. I didn't contact the brand, as I knew that there would be a delay in shipping, but I don't know if the message was sent terribly early from Etsy or what. Regardless, I received my package in a timely manner in terms of what I'm used to across the board in the indie world.  Either way, the customer service was good regardless of the shipping oddity, and I'll most likely buy again.

Onto the swatches!

The pots with the circular white sticker on the top are eyeshadows, whole the ones with the heart are lip products - of course the full sized lip products aren't housed in these jars.

 Eyeshadows -

Left to right, these are; Grape, Sleeping Beauty, Muse, Deathstar and Medusa. I tried to get a unique mix of colors and I think I succeeded. I'm really loving Muse and Deathstar so far.

Glosses - 

These are SUPER pigmented. I was really surprised! On the left is Wine and Dine and on the right is Fetish. Very "me" shades, so I'm super excited.

Lipsticks - 

Since they were samples, I wanted to get some fun shades! From left to right, I have; Pale Mauve, Tainted, Hazen, Aurora and Dahlia. Pale Mauve and Aurora are super wearable on my skin, and I could probably pull off tainted as the weather cools down. I think Dahlia is going to be so fun though! The photo does not do it justice, but it does have purple shimmer to it!

I don't even know where to start. I'm really excited about the lip products, as I've only tried lip products from one other indie brand. I'm glad I chose such wearable shadow shades to, as I can see myself getting a good amount of use out of all of them. 

In the near future I have a BFTE haul as well as a Shiro Cosmetics haul, so if you're loving the whole indie cosmetics theme, keep your eyes peeled. BFTE should be here before we know it!

Drugstore "New In's"!

Slowly but surely, we're seeing fall collections pop up in the drugstore. You have no idea how much joy this brings me! I was able to locate the Maybelline Fall Fashion Week Collection and the Wet N Wild Tough Girl collections in my local Walgreens - and just because I can, I'm going to sneak in the Jordana products that I picked up at Walgreens as well and the NYX I got between ULTA and Target (and a bit of a backstory to that situation...)

I just have swatches for you now, but as I'm able to test these I'll be posting reviews and comparisons as well!

Get ready!

 Maybelline Fall Fashion Week 2013!

The amount of restraint I had to have with this collection...man. This has me written all over it. Lots of dark vampy, purple and plummy shades and a lot of cool tones. I didn't partake in any of the eyeshadows - and you'll see why in a moment and the nail lacquers didn't appeal to me as I'm not much of a textured nail person, but the lip products had me over the moon!

 From left to right, I picked up; Violet Intrigue, Lavender Voltage, Midnight Plum, Flash of Pink and Purple Royale. I'm sorry, I just can't get over all of the PURPLE! That gloss? I can't wait. I may have some MAC similars to post when I review these out, but I'm super stoked!

Wet N Wild Tough Girl Collection.

Anddd...this is why I didn't pick up any of the Maybelline shadows. I picked up most of this collection - but left "I Don't Do Camouflage" because I really don't wear blues enough to partake (and I already have the Blue Had Me At Hello palette as well) or Support Our Troops because it was a whole lot like Don't Steal My Thunder (even though I really like the name of this one!). I may or may not have done a little dance when I found these.

Zero Dark Flirty

Enlisting For Beauty 

Spoiled Army Brat

Soldiers in Charms 

I'm glad these are so inexpensive, because I couldn't make up my mind. I really like how unique Spoiled Army Brat is and I can definitely see myself getting a whole lot of use out of Soldiers in Charms and Enlisting for Beauty. Testing starts tomorrow!

And now I'm cheating - Jordana!

I've heard great things about these and their staying power, and to be honest I was wary because they were so cheap! I have super oily lids so cream shadows are either a holy grail or a complete and utter miss for me. From the swatches I can tell that these may be pretty budgeproof!

From left to right these are; Eternal White, Pink Evermore and Endless Emerald. The packaging feels a lot nicer than what the price point suggests and they swatch like a dream. I'm hoping that Eternal White will replace NYX Milk for me, because that one was a total fail on my lids - though I'm making it work in other ways (but thats a secret for another post!). I'm slowly hoarding shadow bases so I have quite the collection by now.

And NYX!

Okay, so my rant about NYX and Target - I definitely did not realize that to get NYX in Target, I'd be giving up Milani! My local target clearanced all Milani and put NYX in it's place. I mean...I'm torn. On one hand, its nice to not have to go to ULTA for NYX all the time, but I love Milani too! They also don't carry the entire NYX line at Target, but rather the most popular pieces. I got the Smokey Palette at ULTA, while the Butter Glosses are from Target.

The swatches above the top are from the Smokey Palette while the bottom two swatches are Eclair and Meringue. I've heard people rave about these glosses lately on Youtube, so I had to partake. 

As of right now, these are the only fall collections I've seen pop up in my local drugstores, but I'd anticipate to see more brands following suit soon. Stay tuned, because I'll be trying to bust these reviews out ASAP!

Darling Girl Cosmetics Haul - Yes, We're Doing This Again!

Listen here; don't judge me. I know I have a small addiction going on here.

The sad part is - Darling Girl should be coming out with their Halloween 2013 line soon and I super neeeeed them all!!

I've said it once and I'll probably say it again - there's a reason that I keep hauling from DG; The products work, the shades are unique and the customer service is one of the best I've ever experienced.

Now for the main event - the wonderful sparkly goodness!

Some sparkly stickers and the brand's business card. Quick note too; I hoard all the business cards that I receive from indie brands and keep them in my purse, just in case someone compliments me on the shade so I can kind of promote the brand. Its something I just like to do.

The first two shadows are simply called Pretty Mistakes. These are discounted sample size baggies of shadows that were more or less accidents, but were to pretty to throw away. They aren't shades that you're ever going to be able to get again, so try not to fall in love...like I did.

The golden brown on the left is one of the most buttery pigments I've ever had the pleasure to touch. OMG. The pink shadow on the left is also very pretty - it reminds me of a paler version of Nestling.

These shadows are either part of the blogger kit or free samples. 

From left to right, the shades from my blogger kit were Nerpette, Teenage Dream, My Little Pony, Curious Crocus and Scarab. I may be needing all of these in full sizes - they're friggin amazing!

These two shades were free samples and are a sneak peek to the Halloween 2013 collection (Can. Not. Wait!) The shadow on the left is Bad Ash and the Spectral Shift (we all know how much I love Spectral Shifts!) on the right is Razzles! I don't know when the Halloween 2013 collection will be live, but I may be stalking the site until then!

DG recently changed their packaging. The pots now have a square base (think along the lines L'Oreal Infallible's packaging) and a white lid with the logo on top. I feel like these might be easier to store, since they aren't going to be rolling all over the place anymore. The shadow on the far right is a GWP sample, so it looks a little different.

From left to right these are; Miss Kitty Kaboom, Cut Me Deeper and Pumpkin Frappe (which was a GWP and I HAD to have it). I didn't realize when I purchased them that Miss Kitty Kaboom and Cut Me Deeper would work so well with each other. And Pumpkin Frappe? C'mon. Look at it!

I also decided to try some new stuff with this haul. One of the new ranges that I tried was the Diamond Dust. These are similar to the eyeshadows, but have a TON of sparkle.

From left to right these are Hope, Persuasion and Verdant Dream. Hope and Persuasion are definitely "me" colors, and I chose Verdant Dream on a whim, because I don't have much else like it. I can't wait to play with these.

The last new range I tried were the Pixie Sprinkles. These are loose glitters that are unique blends to DG. We all know the whole hoopla about if glitter is cosmetically eye safe (and the brand does have a warning on the sale page for this product). Glitter is a use at your own risk product across the board.

Candy Corn actually looks like candy corn! I love it, and I can't wait to start playing with this - definitely wearing it on Halloween! Its super fine glitter too and seems like its going to be easier to work with than I anticipated.

I'm super duper excited for all of these and I can't wait to start playing with them all. In the meantime - I'm waiting for the Halloween 2013 collection and I'm building up my next wishlist!

The Chequered Lily Apothecary Sample Haul!

I'm literally addicted to independent cosmetics brands. Its official. I've been able to find some of the most unique colors at incredible prices by going the indie route. It started with Darling Girl and now I just can't stop.

I was able to find this shop - The Chequered Lily Apothecary on Etsy - through a blog that I read, Portrait of Mai. She actually has a whole tab dedicated to Indie Cosmetics swatches! Check it out!

I actually had a hard time narrowing down my choices as to what I wanted to order from CLA - there were so many shades I wanted to try! Not to mention, the customer service was PHENOMENAL. Very quick shipping for an indie brand, hand written thank you on my receipt and great communication! I'm telling you - there's a reason that I keep buying indie; I'd much rather spend my hard earned money somewhere where I not only know its appreciated - but I'm shown  that its appreciated!

So for the main event, this is what my little haul consisted of!

There's something quite satisfying about a pile of sample baggies! I chose the blogger kit, which allowed me to choose 7 shades to try out, as well as an extra shade thrown in as a free sample by the seller. I also picked up a trio of shades that benefits victims of domestic violence - and I HAD to be part of that!

These are the 8 samples that I chose! I tend to hoard me some neutrals, but I found that a lot of these more "non neutral" shades were really wearable!

Some preliminary swatches - dry swatches with no base or primer! From left to right, the top row is; Invocation, Snow Glass Apples, A Dustland Fairytale, Stormbreak and Charlotte - and the bottom row is; Captain Jack, Haute Cocoa and The Penny Arcade. Nothing truly neutral and I just can't wait to start playing with them!!

These three shades are part of a set that donates $1 of the very palatable purchase price to victims of domestic violence. I'm not entirely sure what specific charity that it is, but I'll definitely let you all know when the seller's store is back up, as they're on vacation until tentatively the end of September. I'm assuming that it is a charity based out of the shop's hometown of San Diego, CA.

The three shades in this set, from left to right are; Brand New Day, New Beginnings and Moving On. I didn't notice it when I bought it, but these three could totally be used for a full look. Coincidence? Probably not, I'm just probably not all to observant. Again, these had no help or primer in the swatches!

At my own first impression, these seem like they're going to be pretty great to work with - they don't need to seem to need a lot of help to get color payoff, which is sometimes difficult to do with loose pigments. The colors are great and the customer service rocked - so I cannot wait to start testing and reviewing these!