Beautyblender review and FOTD

I picked up 2 beautyblenders in my recent Sephora haul and got to use them today :) I've skipped foundation recently as I've been too lazy to wash my brushes (I love makeup but I hate that brushes don't clean themselves... first world problems haha) so I decided to kill two birds with one stone by reviewing the beautyblender and doing a FOTD all in one post :)

The beautyblenders were $39.95 including a blendercleanser which can also be used for cleaning makeup brushes.

2 beautyblenders

The blendercleanser is on the right hand side

I first found out about these from youtube tutorials where lots of people used them to apply foundation really really quickly. I love anything that saves me time in the morning! I didn't buy it though as I thought that it might've been overhyped but I caved and now that I've used it, I like it but I also think that you could easily do without it (and it's a bit too expensive!).

Instructions:

To prepare your beautyblender for makeup application you must first drench it using a squeezing motion under water until it expands and is saturated with water. Next, squeeze excess water out and towel dry leaving your beautyblender feeling damp and ready for use.

Pro's:

- No streaking in my foundation

- Makes it really really fast to put on foundation. It took less than half the time it normally takes me with a makeup brush

- Egg shaped so it gets into every nook and cranny of your face

- It's pink!
- It's very versatile. I've seen it used for bronzer and blush as well.

Con's:

- Price. It's a bit expensive considering that $39.95 is the US price.

- Can be unhygienic. I can't figure out how to dry it after washing it. I can't just put it directly onto a table or it'll gather dust/stuff from the table.

I think that if you've already got good foundation brushes, you won't need this at all unless you're looking to cut down on the time it takes for you to do your makeup. If you don't have a good foundation brush, you should think about buying this.

Size of the beautyblender next to my face
and FOTD

I think that I'm going to hunt down my camera as my iPhone 4S camera isn't cutting it anymore. It's great for outdoor photos but not so great for indoor ones (in my house). The photo above looks slightly photoshopped when it was actually just bad lighting...

This is pretty much the look I do when I'm bothered to do anything more than concealer + eyeliner. I love really natural looks with minimal eye makeup (I'm not too good with using eyeshadow as my lids are very hooded).

I'm wearing:

- Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53

- Make Up For Ever concealer in shade 8

- Maybelline Masterliner in brown

- Benefit Brow Zings in dark

- Benefit Thrrrob blush

- Benefit Hoola

- MAC Bare Again Sheen Supreme Lipstick

Eeek.. time for another eyebrow shaping
appointment!
And no... my hand didn't slip when I put
eyeliner on my bottom lash line.. that's a big fat
(permanent) crease

On a side note... does anyone know how to tame big frizzy wavy hair? I've been slowly cutting my hair shorter and shorter over the last 3 months and now it's 30cm shorter than I started off with! (It just hits my bra strap now). It's also gone from super long and straight to big bouffy frizzy wavy hair that can't be tamed (which is why I cropped it out of all my photos :P)

Haul from Macy's and Sephora!

Mishelle from Mishelle's Sleepy Time reminded me today that I'd forgotten to do my haul post! I posted a sneak peek of it recently and she was dying to see what was in it :P (probably a bit like how I'm always dying to see new posts from her! She's an amazing blogger!)

Anyway, here's the photos of what I got in November. I always tell myself that I'm on a shopping ban but I can never resist Sephora... I actually have a shopping cart full of stuff right now but I've had to buy a few birthday presents recently and.... my wallet is going to go find itself a new owner if I don't stop shopping!

There aren't too many photo's as I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it all so I didn't want to open all the packaging. I'll post links to the products though. I'm also starting to sell some of my stuff. Check out my blog sale :)

Package 1

Package 2

Both my packages arrived on the same day at my boyfriends house. That's his green cutting mat in the background that he uses for his architecture classes at uni. It's pretty ugly but it's going to be in all my photos. I didn't realise until the end... sorry about that!

First up is the box containing my Macy's haul. I picked up a few MAC things and something from Philosophy.

Philosophy and MAC haul

1. Philosophy clear days ahead trial kit $38- This kit has $67 of value and is a 30 day trial kit. I have pimples ALL THE TIME. It never goes away and it's so frustrating when I've tried so many things but nothing works! I mainly get them on my forehead but sometimes one or two will pop up on my cheeks or in that spot right under the middle of my bottom lip so that I look like I have a piercing or that spot between my upper lip and nose.... it's SO ANNOYING. I used this the other night and I'll post a thorough review soon but I'm not a fan of 3 of the 4 things in this kit. I think I only like the cleanser.

2. MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder (pressed) $24 - I've actually decided to keep this. It's basically what the name says it is... a pressed finishing powder. I haven't started using this yet. The box it came in was so pretty! It was a sparkly purple box :)

Sparkly packaging

3. MAC lipsticks. I didn't open these as I wasn't sure which one I was going to keep. I picked up Creme cup, Bare Again, Fanfare and See Sheer. I may be giving one away in a Christmas giveaway... When I have more time, I'll post up swatches of my MAC lipsticks. I've picked up 8 over the last 2 months... They're so cheap in the US compared to here in Aus! ($15 vs $36).

I try to avoid ordering from Macy's as much as possible as I think of them as a "budget department store" for some reason. I'm sure that they aren't but whenever I get packages from them, it never seems like they've packaged it very well and the products tend to look a bit beaten up.

But I was too tempted by their gift with purchase which was a huge bag of samples!

Macy's sample bag

There were more than 25 perfume, skincare and makeup samples!

Sephora Haul

The second package contained only 2 things. It's so rare for me to only order 2 things from one store but I couldn't really find anything else that I wanted at the time.

1. Beautyblender Duo Set $39.95: I picked up a 2 pack of the beautyblenders. They're basically pink egg shaped makeup applicators. I thought that they were a bit of a gimmick at first but I'd been watching youtube tutorials and lots of people seemed to love their beautyblenders. It came with a cleanser for them as well.

2. Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour pencil in lovechild $19: I bought this to push me over the $50 limit for free shipping. The pencil is super creamy and pigmented and a dream to apply. I'd love this more if my lips weren't so pigmented as it doesn't come up on my lips as pale pink. I've been dying to get the perfect baby pink lipstick/pencil.

And that's it! I have a David Jones haul to post as well but I probably won't do that until Christmas is over as it features some stuff that I got for Kris Kringles/Secret Santa's.

What do you want for Christmas this year? I'm dying to get an acrylic makeup box. I wish the people at the makeupboxshop.com could hear me! :P

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