collective haul- CCO, drugstore, MAC, Sephora

The past month I have been doing some makeup shopping. I wanted to give you some insight into some of the products and what I thought of them. This wasn't done in one shopping trip- just an fyi.

I had some family here from Germany, and one thing those Germans want to do here in the US is shop. I live about an hour from Woodbury Commons in NY so we decided to take them there. To my surprise, they had a CCO there and I absolutely had to check it out! I only got a few items but I must add that everything there is severely reduced. My reasoning was to buy products from brands I haven't really tried. 

I ended up finding the MAC Fabulousness Neutral Eyes Palette. Can you believe this packaging!? It's so cute- something I definitely am putting on display. However, I am not sure how much I'm loving the eye shadows. Yeah, the colors looked great in the pan but for what I expect from MAC...the quality just isn't there. The next product I bought is the Estee Lauder Double Wear Light. I have wanted to try this foundation for a while so I can't wait for my tan to fade a bit!

Lastly, I really wanted to find something from Bobbi Brown. I ended up with the Bobbi Brown Ultra Nude Eye Palette. Although the shades aren't as pigmented as some other shadows I own, I do think this palette is great to create looks for a work day.

Both these palettes came with mini brushes but I honestly would rather use my own- I can't really see myself creating a whole look with just the brushes they have provided.

My next trip was to Walgreens. I flip flop between Walgreens and CVS, one day I love one the other day the next. I picked up some new products, as well as some other ones I have been meaning to try for a while.

The first thing that caught my eye was the Maybelline EYESTUDIO Eye Shadow Quad in Violet Femmes. I love these purples- so great for fall and especially for green or brown eyes! The two products behind this are the Rimmel Extra Pop Lash Colored Mascara in Pop Purple and the Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara. The colored mascara I love for the lower lash line. You can really build the color intensity! I haven't tried the Jordana one yet, since I have a few going right now.

After hearing so much about the L'Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder Bare Skin Perfecting Makeup I really wanted to give it a try. I have the shade in 320 Natural Beige (swatched bottom left). I love it, especially the powdery but not cakey finish! Quite a bit pricey for a drugstore foundation, but I think it's worth it. The last product I wanted to try is the Revlon PhotoReady Bronzer. This is great for any skin tone because you can bascially darken or lighten the bronzer depending on which quadrant you use.

Next stop...well online...was MAC. I had heard people talking about some of the palettes being quite affordable so I wanted to give those a try.

I got two of the MAC Pro Palette Large/Single. They are filled already in the picture and even though I had to magnetize a lot of my eyeshadows, I could not be happier. I have one filled with shadows, the other with blushes and random cream products. At $8 these are much cheaper than the Z-palettes so I couldn't resist.

Another thing I have been wanting to try is the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15 (swatched). This is light for me right now, but it will be a perfect under-eye highlight for my pale skin. I can already tell a little goes a very long way with this product and it is very pigmented. I have also heard it doesn't crease under the eyes, so I will put that to the test!

Last online stop, was Sephora. I knew they were putting some things on sale so I wanted to check that out, along with restocking my brow gel.

Since they didn't have the duo brow gel set, I decided to get the Anastasia Beverly Hills Go Brow Kit in Medium Brown. I know I already bought this same exact one before, but can you ever have too many tweezers? 

I also entered the code DIORLOVE and ended up getting these three premium samples of the Dior Addict Eau Fraiche, Diorshow Extase Mascara and Hydralife Skin Perfect Pore Refining Perfecting Moisturizer. Quite a good sample set, I would say! The final product I got is the Urban Decay Dangerous Palette. This is $16 on Sephora right now, so if you have been wanting to try any of these shades then hurry on up over there. The shades are quite a bit pigmented but somewhat powdery and leave some fall out. It also comes with a mini gloss, that I believe is the same one that comes with the Naked 2 Palette.

Woah, what a long post! I don't really plan on going makeup shopping for a while, I want to get good use of these products. Have you tried any of these? Let me know below!

Always stay happy and healthy! :) Tschüss, Katharina