Did I need new makeup? Definitely not. But I couldn't resist! I was going through my makeup collection the other day and realized I hadn't gone makeup shopping in months. Seriously, I think the last time I bought new makeup was back in December. So naturally, I felt like I needed some new goodies to play with, and rushed out to Ulta. None of the products I got are new or limited edition. Drugstore brands haven''t really come out with exciting new collections this fall. So I decided to pick up a few things I've had my eye on for the past few months.

Makeup Revolution Iconic 1 Redemption Eyeshadow Palette -- This palette is a dupe for the iconic Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow palette. I lost my UD palette a few years ago at a hotel, but cringed at the thought of shelling out another $50 to purchase a new Naked palette. When I saw this palette at Ulta for $7, I knew I had to get it. The colors seem identical to the UD Naked palette, and the reviews on these look excellent too. Expect a blogpost with this soon if all goes well.

Almay Smart Shade Lip Butter in Berry Medium -- Back about five years ago, I was obsessed with the Revlon lip butters. Last year, their sister company Almay released their own line of lip butters. I owned every single color in the Revlon lip butter line and thought nothing could come close to their formula...but I was mistaken. The Almay lip butters are so much creamier and apply seamlessly on the lips. I already own two colors in this line, but picked up this gorgeous berry shade for the fall and winter season. As with the Revlon lip butters, my favorite part is that they are the perfect consistency between a lipstick and tinted lip balm, and are not too sheer but not too opaque either.

Palladio Shadow & Liner Herbal Crayon in Iced Coffee -- Palladio is another makeup brand that is new to Ulta. The crayons were on sale at Ulta, so I decided to pick one up and try it. The color is a cool taupe that I think would look pretty as a liner brighten up the eyes on a no makeup day.

NYX Cosmetics Hot Singles Eyeshadows in Sex Kitten and Gold Lust -- NYX makes some of the best drugstore eyeshadows. This particular formula is one of their older ones, but is my preference over their newer Prismatic eyeshadows. Mainly because I can depot these and pop them in my Z-palette. Second because the packaging and product is more sturdy. I picked up these two shades because they're gorgeous, everyday colors that make an essential addition to my Z-palette.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush in Flushed -- How gorgeous is this blush. Such a beautiful bright, watermelon pink color that's like a mattified version of Benefit's Bella Bamba. I definitely don't have a color like this in my collection, which is why I had to get my hands on it this fall. It would make a gorgeous color for the summer, but I could also see it giving that just-came-out-of-the-chill flush to the cheeks.

Nivea A Kiss of Milk & Honey Soothing Lip Care -- I have no shortage of clear lip balms. In fact, I have an embarrassing amount compared to how often I actually remember to apply lip balm. But I was shopping at Ulta, and I couldn't help but pick this baby up. It's one of my favorite lip balms out there. The scent is uber yummy and cozy, and the most hydrating balm I've ever tried. I prefer it to the EOS lip balm, Chapstick, Burt's Bees, etc.

Soap & Glory Rich & Foamous Body Wash
Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Milk Lotion

I swear I had no intention of picking up this product when I first stepped foot in Ulta. But of course I was perusing the aisles, saw that Soap & Glory products were buy one, get the other half off and had to get this. I hate the classic S&G scent. Most people love it, but it makes me nauseous. So I thought no way in hell will I ever use any S&G body products. But I was wrong. I am obsessed with their Smoothie Star line. It smells like oats, almonds, and brown sugar...the most cozy, comforting scent for winter time. Luckily, winter also happens to be the season when my skin becomes parched and cracked and in desperate need of body lotion. I used to get the Bath & Body Works body lotions and butters, but they're all so richly scented it's sort of become off-putting to me. So I decided to try the S&G body lotion this winter because of the pleasing scent, the fact that the lotion comes with a pump ( I hate greasy lotion hands), and of course the cute pink packaging. As I was picking up the body lotion, I of course decided to get the body wash with the same oatmeal sugar scent. Cannot wait to use these babies this winter <3

Spring Discoveries ♥

Hey guys! Lonnnng time no talk. I'm finally getting started on packing my things, so things have been quite busy and hectic. I'm pretty much living at my parents house and going to my apartment a couple times each week to move stuff. It's coming along, slowly but surely. I only have my clothes, shoes, and scarves left to pack in my bedroom, sell my furniture, and then clean out the kitchen and bathroom. The thing that took the most energy (and caused alotttt of stress) this month was finalizing my housing arrangement. Long story short, I won't get my permanent apartment until July 1st, so I have to sublet until June 30th. I found a three-week rental on Air B&B in a house really close to the hospital, so I'm excited about that. Only downside is that I have to live with a family, so it's going to be a little different and not as private of an accommodation as I would've preferred. As for my permanent apartment, I managed to score one of the hospital-owned apartments at a really good deal! The rent is only $930/month, and that includes all utilities and is a short 5-minute drive to the hospital. I just have to suffer a bit until July rolls around, but it's going to be worth it!

So now that you know a little bit about this month's struggles, lets talk about some goodies I've been loving these last few months! Most of these are new discoveries I've made over the last two months. Spring has just creeped up and is almost over, so I need to start cherishing it a bit more before the summer officially begins in a few weeks. 

Clinique Even Better Foundation in Cream Caramel -- I bought this foundation over the winter since I needed a full-coverage product. This one is absolutely amazing! It's made with good ingredients, comes at a reasonable price in about 30+ shades, and provides medium-full coverage. It's a very lightweight foundation and has quickly become one of my holy grail products.

Clinique Stay Matte Sheer Pressed Power in Stay Honey -- I bought this powder to go along with my new Clinique foundation. Again, absolutely perfect and I have only good things to say about this product. Plus, look how cute that compact is!

MakeupGeek Eyeshadow in Purely Naked -- Although it looks fairly ordinary and boring in the pan, this eyeshadow is a new favorite everyday eyeshadow color. You can't see it in the photo above, but it has a few specks of glitter and some sheen so it's not a completely matte. It adds a little bit of color and brightness to my lid without looking too shimmery. Great work color!

EOS Lip Balm in Strawberry Sorbet -- I usually hate wearing lip balm. I can never get into my Burt's Bees lip balms no matter how much I try. I purchased this one because, hello it's pink and I love strawberry-scented everything. I can't put this lip balm down! It has a very natural, not-too-sickly sweet scent and leaves my lips extra moisturized. Not to mention, super fun to apply! 

Nivea In-Shower Cocoa Butter Body Lotion -- I never used to be the kind of girl who required daily moisturizing, but I've been noticing that my skin's been more patchy and scaly lately. I still hate moisturizing, so I decided to try this in-shower body lotion. It's pretty good! It definitely doesn't replace the need for a body butter or lotion if you have extra dry skin, but if you just have mildly dry skin like me, it will moisturize and leave your skin feeling smooth. Plus, its light cocoa butter scent is very exhilarating first thing in the morning!

Trim Slant Tip Tweezers -- Chances are that if you read any beauty blog about tweezers, they all talk about the Tweezerman brand, which come at around $25 a pop. Although I've never tried a pair of Tweezerman tweezers, these ones from Trim come for $1.99 at Target and work very well. I've always hated tweezing my brows, but these tweezers pluck hair efficiently and without a lot of pain!

Kirkland Signature Pacific Bold K-Cups -- These babies right here are why I'm considering getting my own Costco membership in my new city. K-Cups are super expensive and before discovering these, I was paying around $11 for a box of 18 K-Cups. Not horrible, but I'd be going to the grocery store every other week and was spending way too much on these, especially since I enjoy about 2 cups of coffee a day. I found these on sale at Costco last time I went, and I'm in love. I love me a strong, bold cup of coffee that doesn't taste like burnt -- these are perfect! They compare to the Starbucks medium roast coffee in my opinion and the Donut Shop Extra Bold Medium-Roast K-Cups that I used to love before these. They cost $37 for 100 cups which is a steal. Definitely try if you're a bold coffee lover like me!

The Good Table Parmesan and Herb Sauce and Crust Mix for Chicken -- I have so many food favorites this spring that I should do a separate blog post about all them. This one, however, stood out amongst them all. I love making chicken parmesan, but hate having to buy a big thing of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, only to throw them because I can't use the whole thing before the expiration date. This baby just changed my whole chicken parm game! This package allows me to make a delicious baked chicken parmesan in less than 30 minutes! And it's relatively low in the fat and sodium department since you can control how much sauce, crust mix, and cheese you put on each chicken breast. Definitely a must have for busy gals out there!

Ulta Haul ♥

Hey everyone, hope you are all having an excellent weekend. I, for one, have had a pretty lousy weekend :( Lots of shitty stuff happened, and I just felt like de-stressing and writing a bit on this beautiful Sunday. The sunshine outside has honestly been my saving grace today! Given my crappy weekend, I decided to go ahead and do some stress-shopping at Ulta this afternoon. I was actually quite proud of myself for behaving and not getting every little thing I eyed. I also spent $62 at Sephora last weekend on a YSL lipstick and eye cream (post soon...maybe?) so I had a bit of a tighter budget. I also had a few Ulta coupons and some of the products above were on sale, which brought my total down to $30 for all these goodies!

A good chunk of this haul was actually skincare items. Especially, moisturizers. I've never had issues with dry skin, but my skin's been scaly and patchy over the past few weeks and in desperate need of some moisturizing. I absolutely hateeeee applying body lotion because it leaves my hands so greasy and yucky, so I decided to try out the Nivea Cocoa Butter In-Shower Body Lotion. I'm hoping it really does work and hydrates my scaly skin! I also needed some more hand cream for my backpack, so I picked up the Pacifica Malibu Lemon Blossom Hand Cream. It's thick and moisturizing like my favorite Body Shop hand lotions, at a reasonable price of $9, and smells soooooo yummy and perfect for the spring season. Plus, how cute is the tube? Lastly in the moisturizing department, I got the cult classic EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm in Strawberry Sorbet. Let's be honest, I'm a sucker for anything packaged in pink, and I love strawberry-scented things. I've gotten sick of my Burt's Bees lip balm and so decided it was time to finally invest in this baby. I tried it in the car and it smells sooooo good, exactly like a strawberry milkshake. This is one lip balm I'm sure to be sporting all spring and summer.

I also picked up a few other bits and bobs. I needed an eye makeup remover, but they were all out of my usual Neutrogena Eye Makeup Remover. However, the Simple Cleansing Micellar Water was on sale and I decided to give it a go because of all the rave and hype I've heard about this product on Youtube and beauty blogs. I also got a pack of my favorite Ulta Premium Round Cotton Pads to use the micellar water with. I normally just clean my skin with Simple Makeup Wipes at night, but I wanted to get something that cleaned my skin deeper. I don't like using my St. Ives Green Tea Scrub more than once a day, since it is quite exfoliating and you generally shouldn't use a scrub more than once a day if that. Since the Simple wipes do a  good job at taking off my makeup and don't break me out, I'm hoping that the Simple Cleansing Micellar Water will work with my skin. Lastly, I got some makeup products to try out. The NYX Cosmetics Glitter Primer is something I've had my eye on for a while. I own a ton of glittery pressed eyeshadows, but I hate that they never stick on eyelids and fall out over the course of the day. That includes my L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows. So I'm hoping that this glitter primer is tacky enough to keep those types of shadows on all day with minimal fallout. And lastly, I've been obsessed with wearing smudged brown eyeliner on a lazy makeup day. I love the NYX retractable eyeliners so I decided to pick up the NYX Cosmetics Retractable Eyeliner in Bronze, which is a beautiful bronzy color with a ton of sparkle. It looks like it would be perfect for everyday looks.

There you go, my stress-shopping Ulta haul. I'll have my updates from the Skinny Jeans challenge sometime this week or next week. It was a bit crazy last week, which is why I have to wait another week before posting the results. They will be up soon I promise :) Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!