Essie Nail Polish + E.L.F. Brushes Haul

Hey guys! long time no post ^_^

So obviously i have my new camera (yay!!) and i love it! I bought the canon SD1200 IS and i love that it has an auto focus feature which saves me lots of time and headache. And it is soo small! its literally the size of a deck of cards as promised. My new love :)

Anyway, enough of the camera rave and on to my Essie Haul. I purchased a few polishes from the 2009 fall & winter collections, and a few i have had my eye on for awhile. I must say Essie is my all time favortie nail polish brand. They truly have some of the best colors, and 1 coat is usually enough to get the job done and display the colors in their true glory.

I wanted to show you how they package the polishes, this is the actual box they ship it in:

See, isnt that a great way to display the product? and no unwrapping or unboxing for me to do (yes i'm that lazy lol) and you can also keep it as a storage box for the polishes.

Here's the unboxed polishes:

L to R: Angora Cardi (fall 09), mesmerize, Mint Candy Apple (winter 09), Midnight Cami (fall 09), Status Symbol, Mink Muffs (Fall 09)

And swatches:

 

Also just a close up on midnight cami cause it almost appears black in above swatch but it is really a deep blue color:

See? very pretty color indeed.

Now on to the E.L.F brushes. I bought the E.L.F studio brush set and you get 11 brushes for $30. They come in a very nice & sleek black brush case:

In the set you get: eyeshadow C brush, complexion brush, small smudge brush, small precision brush, fan brush, concealer brush, powder brush, Angled foundation brush, Small angled brush, Blush brush, contour brush.

Ladies these brushes are phenomenal! They feel soo soft and there isn't any shedding so far ( i used the foundation brush, powder brush and the 'buki -see below- so far). And you get such a variety for $30 it's crazy. If your like me and cant' see yourself spending $10-$20 on a brush that your not sure how much you'd use or not sure if you really need (personally speaking i'm talking about the fan brush) then this set is a great way to get all the various brushes you may have wanted to try but weren't willing to spend the money on.

And of course i had to get the kabuki brush cause i love and collect buki's (its not part of the set, it costs $5):

So very soft, i couldnt stop touching it. There was alittle shedding but far less then the dreaded essence of beauty brush -_-

So thats it for this lil haul, i have my avon haul coming up and i also have a review on maybelline 24hr stay foundation, a clothing haul and a drugstore haul.

have a great weekend!

*edited to correct the fact that the E.L.F. Brushes are fromt he Studio line not the professional line*

Also i guess with the FTC guidelines i am supposed to say "i did not receive these items as a gift, i purchased them all on my own". I guess i did that right :/

 

 

Duane Reade Haul (Pic Heavy)

Hi Ladies!

I went into Duane Reade (CVS competitor) looking for and OPI color, i think it was looking for "done out in Deco" i can't even remember because i got soo sidetracked. I was only going to spend $50 max, and i ended up spending $100! I have no control whatsoever  I tell you, none. But i think i did get some goodies so it wasn't a complete waste (or so i tell myself).

 

 

looky at all of evidence of my sin! lol

Sorry i forgot to rotate the pic, but this brush set from APT 5 was $19.99! I'm so happy i made this purchase, the brushes are all so soft and feel great on the skin.

 

Here i go purchasing the same colors again, it's like a sickness. The top 3 are Maybelline. The bottom left quad is L'oreal, and the random blue shadow by Revlon was actually bought last week but i forgot about it until i went digging around in my bag. Also i decided to try a bronzer out, its the one top center.

 

A couple more eyeshadows, the one on the left by Prestige is actually loose eyeshadow, in a quad?, triad? watever you call it. The one on the right is a cream eyeshadow by some brand i've never heard of (can't see it on the label).

The top of the Prestige shadow is pretty cool, there are little tops to each section to keep the shadows from spilling and mingling that snap in.

 

Black Opal loose powder. This is a brand for African American skin and it's my first time trying it. So far so good, the shade i picked up blended in perfectly.

 

Speaking of blending i almost forgot to post the pics of the Kabuki from Apt 5:

oooh big and fluffyy, it feels sooooooo good on the skin. sooo goood. Also i love that its retractable, great way to keep the shape and keep it clean

btw my table isnt dirty, thats loose powder that spilled.

Voila!

god my table looks so dirty lol, but i am drawing more attenion to it so i'm going to stop mentioning it. Anyhoo, i bought alot os brands that i have no idea about, this eyeliner is from Carlo&Ro....? can't read the script on the bottle. But i bought it because of a look rihanna was sporting a few weeks ago that i loved:

Ugh she is soo perfect i hate her (ok not really, i love her to death! lol).

 

Quick lil swatch, its very vibrant and a lovely shade of blue. The applicator is very stiff though which i dont like.

New brand for me, Sinful Colors. i had to buy it, it was only $2! and its a gorgeous looking color, i will post pics of it on the nails later.

Btw, do you ladies notice i am extremely (almost obsessively) repetitve in my purchases? because i am sure i have a color similar to that one already in my repetoire.

A maybelline lipgloss in Sandy Spice, i swear i have this color already but i can't find it.

Its a very pretty coppery/bronzey color. And the shine is AH-MAZING! Plus, it is alittle thick but not sticky at all. I recommmend this line of glosses to everyone.

Oh there's a shampoo in the first pic that i didnt do a pic of, its Optimum Care's: Antibreakage shampoo. I really like it, and ladies, if you have dry/damaged hair, i recommend it for you. It's an African American haircare line but it works for everyone because african american hair is usually dry and damages easily and the products are made to provide lots of moisture and conditioning to get your hair back in tip top shape.

 

Thats it lovelies. All the evidence of my lack of self control on full display. Also i must confess i did make a purchase at drugstore.com for some skincare products so you will definitely see a post mid week or so on that. And i purchased some Sandals from Nine West for work, that i can justify because i needed something with a slight heel and my current sandals are either 3 inch wedges or completely flat, so i needed something inbetween. Justification!

Hope you guys had a great weekend!