I recently took $200 and went to Ulta. The closest store is a two and a half hour drive from where I live so usually I order from Ulta online. (Actually I usually order from Sephora, but that’s a ten hour drive.) It’s also the closest Bath & Body Works, and Target, Kohl’s, etc. I live in a really small town and all we have is Walmart, Shopko, and a grocery store. The only nice clothing store is Maurice’s. But even these are half an hour away. So the point of all of this rambling is, my access to really good makeup is really limited. That’s also why I limited myself to a $200 budget. Otherwise I most likely would have wiped out all of my savings.
Some of the items could have been purchased at Walmart but they were either on sale or I liked the display so I grabbed it.
The OPI nail Polish was 2 for $16.00 I think so I got a funky green and bright purple color. The green is “you’re so outta lime and the purple is
I got a Rimmel 3D lip gloss in Popcorn for two, a frosty pink color. I’m not sure I’m going to like this, it reminds me of that pearly pink gloss girls with 4 inch high bangs in the 80’s wore.
I got two Maybelline Elixers in Blushing Apricot and Fuchsia Flourish. I know I said I didn’t like them, and I still don’t but my nieces do so I got them each one.
L’Oreal Miss Manga mascara. I don’t know who Miss Manga is but the commercial for it had me intrigued.
Sun Bum after sun spray and sunscreen stick for faces. The packaging got me and they we’re buy one get one 50% off. I also got a free beach blanket with the purchase of two sun care products.
Revlon Sun Candy nail polish. The color is shimmering sunset and it’s bright pink on one end and a sparkly pink to coat on the other. It screams summer to me.
A blending sponge. I wanted one of these for a while and I couldn’t find any close to home. I thought it was a little pricey, I think I paid $6.00 for it but I grabbed it anyway.
Now, the next items are really what I went to Ulta for. The pricey stuff. The stuff I drool over online trying to decide if I should click the “add to bag” button.
Benefit, I absolutely love this brand. The packaging, the products, ahhhh, they’re just perfection. My goal in life is to have everyone of their products. I’m getting there, but I’ve got a way to go. The first is, The Big Easy better than BB cream. It’s in a cute circus themed package and the sample tubes were in a carousel display case. Next was the Watts Up highlighter. It has a creamy highlighter on one end and a blending sponge on the other. Again, adorable packaging. Best thing was if you spent $40.00 you got a free gift containing samples of Hoola powder, Coralista gloss, They’re Real mascara, and Porefessional.
Too Faced a la mode eyeshadow pallette. I’ve never owned a Too Faced product before but I really liked the colors in this pallette. I wanted more color than the Naked palettes have.
Last but not least, Urban Decay’s Naked blush. It has blush, bronzer, and highlighter. The color I chose was Native.
My total came to $206.00 so I came pretty close to my budget.
Also while I was there I was color matched with the Bare Minerals BareSkin foundation. I spoke with a sales girl and she said a lot of of the troubles I was having were due to the wrong color and not shaking it long enough. I exchanged mine and I’m going to try it again and give an updated review.
Have a great week everyone!