Makeup Monthly: March

I missed this series in February, so this post will be a long one. I was so busy in February with studying for my test and then, my family got sick. It has been a busy month with work updates and I am on call tomorrow, because of this Northeast storm. My work is anticipating a large volume of claims coming in, so I might be working a couple of hours on Sunday at home. I have to dig up my HP monitor so I can see what cord I need to buy to hook it up to my new HP laptop. I have SO many hauls to share with you. So much occurred in February. I also found out that my credit score is good enough to buy a house, so the search is starting next year. Most likely in July since my 401K will mature next September and I’ll be able to withdraw the down payment. I also saw some cushiony state jobs that I can get with an Environmental Science BA. I won’t be stuck in Insurance forever and thank god b/c my corporation leaves much to be desired.

January Makeup Monthly:

I decluttered the eye shadow, because it lacked pigmentation. It just looked shimmery on my eyes with zero color difference between the two shades and the black was hella patchy. I decluttered the liquid eye liner, because I don’t use a liquid liner unless it is a glitter eye liner which are VERY forgiving when it has a clear base. This is black with glitter in it. I never line my top lashline in black, only a clear glitter base. I line my bottom lashline and my waterline/tightline more often. I made some progress on the blush, perfume, and the pore primer. I finished half of the liquid lipstick tube and had to take the stopper out. It was very smooth, but after removing the stopper, the rest of it is a thick mousse consistency. I would buy this when I ran out of liquid lips. I finished off the MUFE primer serum, but I would not purchase it.

February Makeup Monthly:

I am almost done with the Becca primer. I loved it, but I would not purchase as I didn’t see that much of a difference. I really enjoyed the moisture it left on my skin though. I love the caviar eye stick and will pull it out soon in another makeup monthly. I should probably pull out my palette every other month though from March on if I want to see any progress on it. I forgot about it for the third month pick in a row! I only used the MAC lip a handful of times, because my lips have been dry. I used the Burt’s Bees like crazy though. I have one more use out of one perfume, but the other is used up. I only touched the highlighter once, because Becca gave me a nice glow.

March Makeup Monthly:

I picked out my Harajuku Lovers perfume in Love, which smells very Spring like. I am ready for Spring and no more snow! I chose a nice pink highlighter to give my face a nice glow for when the Becca is used up in a couple of days. I missed filling in my pores last month, so I put the Porefessional back in there. I’m using the MUFE blush as a peachy eye shadow and I have a balm and gloss that match each other to wear at work. I am hoping that I can hit pan on the blush, use up the gloss and the primer, and make a good dent in the highlighter and perfume. Wish me luck!

With Love,

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January Beauty Bag

These are all the items that I am using in the month of January. I am hoping to use up some of these items, but I want to see progress on everything this month and every month. If I don’t use it, I declutter it. If I don’t like it, I declutter it. I have a serum, a primer, a blush, an eye shadow trio, an eye liner and a perfume. Oh, and a lipstick! I really am enjoying the blush and I have already popped the stopper out of the liquid lipstick. I will let you know if I use up anything, hit pan, or declutter in my February bag post. The liquid lipstick is a my lips but better color and is so easy to wear. It fades naturally and doesn’t look awkward at all.

With Love,

December Sephora Play!

The last box of the year and it came on December 23rd. Seriously. I usually get my box from 10-20. I feel like it took FOREVER! Okay, I’ll stop complaining. lol. I really do love the Sephora Play subscription that I get every month. Some months are better than others, but overall, I think you get good bang for your tenner. I might not use everything immediately, but I am happy to try everything that I can. I am rotating through my makeup collection and making it a big priority next year that if I don’t love something, I give it away. If it is too old, throw it out. If I’m not loving it, it isn’t worth the effort to use it up or pan it.

I love the bag! It is very cute, but I really don’t have a need. I usually just donate these bags away to be recycled and proceeds goes towards a local charity. I’m actually going to be using my card, because I am hitting up Sephora. I want to buy something during the 20% off sale and possibly cash in some points.

Drybar Triple Sec, 0.35 oz for $2.17

This is a 12th of the full size, so to me it seems like a tiny sample. I would have at least liked to have seen a half of an ounce for a hair product. This will probably only be a couple of uses. I have to use a lot of dry shampoo to soak up the second day oil in my hair. It gets oily super fast. I think it smells nice and I cannot wait to use it once I use up my Not Your Mother’s dry shampoo. So far, I really love the Amika Perk Up dry shampoo for my hair. I don’t have to put a ton in and it really works.

Stella McCartney perfume sample

I love that this is a natural rose scent. I’ve been really into rose scents lately. I would love to receive a foil packet instead of a perfume every other month though. I haven’t gotten one yet and I would really like to. I have too many perfume samples at the moment since I’m trying to work through a bottle of perfume.

Clinique Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining Pen, 0.34 g for $7

I’m going to say that this is a third of the full size, since I cannot find how much is in a pen anywhere. I look forward to using this when I don’t currently have an eye liner open. I am trying to use up a black and glitter eye liner. I’m pulling it out in January, so we shall see if it is still good or not. I’ll be blogging about my makeup clearing journey, so you guys won’t miss a beat. Subscription bags are great, but if I don’t like it, I’m not going to be keeping them around anymore.

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Matte Au Natural, 1 g for $17.40

This is more than half of a full size! It is pretty close to a full size and way more than half. I am very pleased with the amount of product in this one. This is a nude color that I will be using all of the time. I actually prefer to work with cream shadows, so I am excited to try this out in my January rotation. If it wears nicely on my eyes, I will be very happy. Eye shadow creases on my hooded eyes like crazy, especially creams. I had a hard time getting rid of the swatch so I have high hopes for this one. I would work this on the lid and crease and pop a bright eye shadow on the lid.

Caudalie Vine[Activ] Energizing & Smoothing Eye Cream, 0.16 fl oz for $13

This is a third of the full size of eye cream, so I am happy that it is a really decent sized eye cream sample. It takes me a while to go through eye cream. I almost never need to buy it, because these samples carry me throughout most of the year. I am curious about this brand, but I feel like the beauty world is over it. I’d like to try more of it. I really love the beauty elixir, but I can buy a Smashbox Primer Water for less and get more. I feel like they are overpriced and trying to be luxury.

MUFE Artist Rouge Creme Lipstick Fuchsia Pink, 0.04 oz for $7.34

Another generous size for being a third of the full size. This lipstick is super soft. While I love the purple pink color, the bullet is already being smashed around inside of the tube. I would not buy a full size of this. I will be pulling it out in the spring and summer, but this really isn’t a winter color. I would have appreciated a soft pink or a winter berry.

$46.91 is the total value of this box. I would give this box 3 out of 5 stars, because of the great value and I’m not excited for the lipstick and the black liner. I am excited to see what the next year brings to the Sephora Play! box. I have been really happy with the items that I have received this year. I plan on going through my collection soon and getting rid of the samples that I didn’t enjoy.

With Love,

Ultra HD

MUFE Ultra HD Microfinishing Loose Powder

The powder seemed chunky and would not stick to my flat top kabuki brush, which is the type of brush I like to use my powders with. The Sephora and Covergirl powder did not have that problem. The powder also made my face feel dry. I am not a fan of this powder and I will not purchase it. I will be keeping the container, because it is the perfect size to scoop in some of the cream product from my Smashbox palette and it has a lid so it won’t dry out. I think I’ll scoop in some of the purple corrector for the first go around.

With Love,

❤ Selena Hannah ❤

Sephora Play October

Another month has come and gone and this one is almost over. I received my Sephora Play late this month. Maybe it had to do with customized foundation color? I’m not sure if it’s my color, but I’m going to try it out. If it doesn’t work out, I can get a new sample in store with my Sephora Play! card, which is fantastic of Sephora. Everyone is guaranteed a good foundation color, even if it isn’t your perfect foundation formula. Well, as long as that brand in that foundation has a color to match you to. Have you guessed the theme yet for this month’s Play box? It is Complexion Companions.

I really love this month’s box contents, but I don’t care for the bag to be honest. I thought that all of the products went with the theme. Sephora seems to be getting better at doing these themed bags. I got two items from the same brand in this box, but they are completely different products, so I don’t mind it that much. But come on Sephora! You have tons of brands and I get two from the same brand? Must have had too much samples from that brand. That’s really the only disappointing thing in this box: that I got two samples from the same brand. I absolutely LOVE everything though.

Chanel Gabrielle

I read Stella’s blog and she wrote about buying this perfume. I can say that this is a beautiful and sweet adult fragrance. It is floral, but sweet. It isn’t musky. It is the perfect day time scent and very office friendly. I wear perfume everyday and I can see this one being a go to staple. When I need to buy a Spring scent, I would consider this one. I need to get myself down to four bottles of perfume: one for every season. This would be a perfect Spring scent. It is fresh and light. I really love it.

MUFE Ultra HD Skin Booster Serum, 0.15 fl for $15.38

I am very surprised at the value of this sample. The full size is a little more than double this amount. That seems like such a small amount for a full size worth $41. I would never send that much for less than 0.5 fl oz of serum. I spent $40 on the Sunday Riley UFO that was 0.5 fl oz of oil and I considered that expensive but worth it. I am already using a hydrating serum right now, but as soon as that one is done (which will be pretty soon), I will be testing this one out. I feel like hydrating serums are very basic. I will probably just repurchase the one that lasted me several months and was very cheap.

Becca First Light Priming Filter, 0.2 fl oz for $7.60

Another expensive brand that I have been dying to try. I say Lizloveshermakeup on Youtube rave about this product and the fact that it is purple has me hooked. I’m so shook to be able to try this out. I haven’t found a primer that I am in love with yet, so maybe this one will be the one? It’s hard for me to find makeup products to be my holy grails. Preferences change all the time and my skin changes as well. Things I used to love, no longer it the bill. Plus, I’ve gone cruelty free, which really restricts my options. I’m pretty sure Becca is cruelty free, so if I love it, I’ll purchase it. Once I’ve gone through my other full size primer. Samples, I can go through, but I need to get my full size out of the way in order to buy another.

Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops in Moonlight, 2.8 ml for $7.98

Another product that I am super stoked to try. I’ve tried other things from Cover FX, but what I really wanted to try was this highlighter. It is a nice bronzy pink shade and I am so excited to wear it. I want to get the little volt set of all of these mini ones. It blends out like a dream and you can make it look subtle or beam in your face. I like to go a little more subtle for work, but glowing on the weekends. It will be a great versatile liquid highlighter in my collection. If I really love it, I’m going to buy their unicorn shade. Although, I do hear that the full sizes tend to dry out. I’ll stick to buying the smaller size if I really am impressed by this one.

MUFE Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation in R230, 5 ml or $6.45

I feel like this will be a good match, even though it is lighter than my Sephora match which is R250. This was the featured product of the month that everyone should have gotten in their bags. I am happy with the shade. In the bottle it looks more on the pink side. I have a yellow undertone, but I like more rosy to neutral foundation colors on me to tone down the yellow in my skin. I like to look healthy and have a good glow. Yellow is very sallow and I don’t need a yellow foundation to emphasis that. I am using a sample of a cushion foundation right now. I will use this to see the color match, but I probably wont break it out until December to use on a consistent basis.

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder, 0.12 oz for $4.56

Another product that I was excited to see in my bag due to all the Youtube hype. Basically, I was excited with everything in my bag this month. I have run out of all my loose powders, so I am going to be putting back my ELF color correcting finishing powder in cool and putting this bad boy in my cabinet. I am a huge fan of loose powder, even though it is very messy at times. I still love a pressed powder, but loose powder seems to suit my preferences better at the moment.

$41.97 is the grand total of my bag. While I don’t think it was the most expensive bag, I believe one of my bags hit over $50 in the past, I am the most excited about the products in this bag than any other I have received before. It is quadruple the value that I paid for and the fact that I can use every single product on the daily makes this a 5 out of 5 for me hands down. I look forward to what the next two bags have to bring for me in 2017.

With Love,

$200 Before 2018: Update #6

I managed to use up a few more makeup items in September, but not that many. I really need to move myself into high gear if I want to finish 7 more products and use up the rest of that $200 that is remaining in this challenge. If I reach both goals before 2018, I will end the challenge on that month otherwise it will end with the last update in January for December.

Let’s recap, I have finished 13 out of 20 products with the total being $123.20 out of $200. Let’s see if I can raise that total to $140.

1 Perfume Sample = $1

Temptu Highlighter = $4

MUFE ULTRA HD Loose Microfinishing Powder = $5

My total now is 15 out of 20 products used up to the tune of $133.20. That isn’t so bad. I still have October, November, and December left. So, that is three months left for this project. In order to make it, I need to finish at least almost 2 products every month. I will also need a minimum value of $22.27 used up every month. This is going to be so challenging and I really need to move my butt on this. Even if I “fail” this challenge, I will see it as a win, because I started this in June or something I almost have already reached my goal. I’ll be keeping this challenge going next year with a 200 items project pan challenge that I will include more categories than just makeup.

Are you doing a project pan?

With Love,