Haulin' Haulin' Haulin': What I Got at Beauty.com's 20% Off Sale

It's that time of year, when every retailer under the sun seems to be having one kind of sale or another.  I've taken advantage of several (Beauty.com, Ulta, Clinique), so let's start the show and tell with Beauty.com's 20% off sale.

I love it when Beauty.com's sale coincides with one of their large GWP's, and this time I was able to snag the Ryan Roche Nudie bag ($152 value).  You had to purchase $125 worth of product to qualify, and I'm liking the streamlined and neutral look of this one.

The contents as listed by Beauty.com (click to enlarge), but I did have one substitution:  instead of the Jurlique Age Defying Oil, I received the Jurlique Age Defying Serum.  I'm okay with that.

Did you know Bliss has a new color makeup line? I bypassed the makeup and instead picked up this brush set ($33.60 with discount). I needed a good travel set and this one fits the bill. I'll report back once I've used them for a while.

I must have been in a brush mood, as I also picked up Tarte's foundation brush "the buffer" (($27.20 with discount). Gah, I love the heft of this one and it's dense brush head. It seems to have good reviews so my hopes are high.

I forgot to include this item in the overall haul picture, but I got my first Z Palette ($16 with discount). I needed something to store my new Makeup Geek blushes in, as they all would not fit in my Book of Shadows palette, which is smaller. They still don't all fit, as the large Z Palette can hold 8 and I have 9 of the blushes. Oh well, them's the breaks. Don't they look pretty?

I have flat out fallen in love with the bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadows and I feel the need to own ALL of them.  I don't NEED all of them however, so I'm trying to restrain myself.  This time I picked up Blushing Pink ($14.40 with discount) to join it's brethen Barely Nude, Sweet Spice, and Elegant Taupe. They make my less than smooth lids look so much better.

The biggest ticket item I purchased was Origin's Ginger Pleasures set ($46.40 with discount).  I really, really like the Ginger Essence scent, but find it to be fleeting.  I'm hoping layering the various products will prolong the goodness.  I may have to resort to rubbing raw ginger on my wrists if these don't work. I will if I have to. Just a note:  the set description says the perfume is the Ginger Essence Intensified version, but mine is the Ginger Essence Sensuous Skin version.  I'm a bit disappointed about that given I was hoping for something that lasts longer. We shall see.

I've got to say that Sephora's 20% off sale seems rather anti-climatic now, and I'm guessing a lot of these companies time their sales prior to Sephora's for a reason. They snagged me.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Going Out of Business and Sale

I was saddened by Ji Baek's blog post announcing Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) is going out of business. I've enjoyed her creative vision and the superb quality of the polishes themselves.

With the exception of the recently released Fan 3.0 collection, all polishes at Rescue Beauty Lounge are now half priced. I've purchased the four I don't want to miss out on, but thought I'd show you some I currently own:

Poppy (GOMM)

Ghost (GOMM)

Santa Fe (GOMM)

Naked Without Polish (Fan 2.0)

Scrangie 2.0 (Fan 2.0)

Galaxy Glue (R29 + Rescue Beauty Lounge)

Sounds like the shop will close for good at the end of November/December, so now's the time to stock up on what is still available. I must be in a blue phase, as my final picks were:

Morning Light

AH, OUI

All About Yves

Monologue

So long, Rescue Beauty Lounge.  I will miss you.

NOTD: OPI's To Be or Not to Beagle and Julep's Florence

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

To Be or Not to Beagle is one of the Halloween Peanuts collection glitter toppers from last year and was part of the Lil Peanuts mini set I picked up.  It is composed of predominantly black multi-glitter with matte pale blue, pale yellow, pale orange, pale green, red and blue glitter.

Interestingly, not a single red glitter showed up in this manicure and I did two coats to boot.  I was suspicious that there was any red glitter even in the mix when I read the description online.  But there is red glitter in the bottle, at least.

The pale almond cream is Florence by Julep, and it's a bit thick but applied easily enough.  I love a good nude polish as a palette cleanser and I'll be revisiting this one again.

Julep November Boho Glam Maven Box: The Switch Up Collection

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

November's Maven collection from Julep features several new and noteworthy items:  a new polish finish called "matte metallic" and a new skin serum that I was uber interested in trying.  I also added on one of the new cream to powder shadow sticks that were featured last month, so let's take a look!

I'm still on the original Julep Maven subscription plan which is $19.99 and does not allow the customization that the $24.99 plan does.  So, what you see above is the Boho Glam box configuration, which included a bonus polish named Melody shown in the middle.  To get the bonus "shake it up" glitter topper, you had to respond to an email that Julep sent out, and if you didn't I'm assuming you missed out on Melody.

Kerry is a matte metallic warm gold which I think will look good with my skin tone.  I'm hoping it's not too streaky, but we shall see.  Suzanne is a scarlet red with gold shimmer which seems perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

Julep's new facial milk serum What Your Skin Needs ($28) is probably the item I was most excited about. I had actually read about it here during a bout of insomnia before knowing it was going to be in this month's box, and was intrigued by this innovative product.

I love using facial oils but only at night due to them being too heavy/shiny for day time use.  This facial milk serum contains 5 power house oils that are great for skin, but in a formulation that contains no fillers or chemical emulsifiers, sinks into skin quite easily, and does not make your face shiny or oily feeling.  Sign this oily skinned girl up! Obviously I need to wear it for a while to see if it lives up to it's claims, but it looks very promising and I'll report back in a few weeks.

I added on the new cream to powder Eyeshadow 101 in Orchid Shimmer ($18), which was the new product featured in last month's box which I skipped. I was curious to see if the formula is similar to other eye pencils from Laura Mercier and Mally (there are other brands, but I own these two). Based on an initial swatch, I think yes, but I need to wear it before I'll know for sure. I've got to say Julep is releasing some really nice products these days!

I did receive an email from Julep letting me know that the eye pencils have had an issue with the bullets becoming loose during shipping and consequently falling out of the applicator, and I did see several mentions of that issue from people who received the eye pencils last month.  Julep is working on fixing that issue for future production runs, and the pencils are currently listed as out of stock.

For the first time in what seems like forever (perhaps it is the first time ever, I can't remember), I also bought several items from the Secret Store.  There was a set that included the What Your Skin Needs facial milk with the Love Your Skin cleansing oil and a konjac sponge, so my mom will be getting the facial milk serum for Christmas and I'm keeping the cleansing oil/konjac sponge.  Win/win.

I also got two polishes from last months New York Never Sleeps collection that I'd had my eye on: Jocelyn (cranberry shimmer with holographic microglitter) and Paulina (peacock duochrome teal/purple).  I used a code to pick up Ada (rhubarb jelly with white glitter) for free.  All three are gorgeous.

I think this is my favorite box from Julep this year!

Makeup Room Reorg - Yet Again

It rained ALL day Sunday, and coupled with watching a video of a YouTube beauty guru's makeup room, I decided it was time to clean mine up and reorganize.

I switched out makeup tables, which will be more comfortable as there was no room for my legs with the converted stereo table.  Yes, I'm old enough to have had a turn table and albums, and this chest served it's purpose for quite a few years.  I almost threw it out a few years ago but the compartments work well for books - or storing makeup.

For years I moved around quite a bit, so it was imperative to have light weight furniture that I could move on my own if needed. Hence I had lots of wicker, and this desk has held up quite well for going on 20 (?) years old now. Pier One was my furniture store of choice back then. I still like it (both the desk and the store).

These wood monstrosities were picked up at a 2nd hand shop in Nashville for a song, and after clearing off the TV and DVD's which were collecting dust, I can now spread out my lip products and perfume samples and actually see them as opposed to rooting around for them in drawers. The picture is a portrait of my father as the sensitive artist, which he actually was.

My house has dismal closet space and the bedrooms themselves are about the size of some walk in closets. So, the darker orange area is actually the closet, minus the doors. I don't buy many clothes, but I do buy makeup. It works.

Cleaning Brushes and Beauty Blenders with Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap

Disclaimer:  I purchased this. 

I originally bought this bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap several years ago, intending to concoct my own shampoo.  That experiment was a dismal failure (you should have seen my hair that day), and I promptly stuck the bottle in the back of a closet and forgot about it.

But then I read a review talking about how great Dr. Bronner's was for cleaning makeup brushes, and I dug it out.  And guess what?  It cleans brushes and my Beauty Blender like nobody's business!

I put a few drops in a small dish with water, swish the brush around, and makeup residue melts off.  Some of my foundation brushes needed two iterations to get completely clean, but this is by far the easiest and quickest brush cleanser I've found.

It works equally well with my Beauty Blender, in fact even better than Beauty Blender's own cleanser.  If you are not familiar with Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, it's a vegan/organic pure Castile soap that's been around over 65 years.  The company has a truly fascinating history which you can read more about here.

Bottom line, I've found my holy grail beauty tool cleanser, and at less than $11 for a 16 oz bottle, which should last a looong time.