TheBalm Instain Blush

About 2 months ago, TheBalm did a 50% off sale to celebrate their new website. They also launched their new Instain Blush on the same day (April 1) and I picked one up called Swiss Dot which is a gorgeous peach colour. There are 6 Instain blushes in total and I was so tempted to get them all but I have too many blushes as it is :P

TheBalm Instain Blush

It's packaged similarly to their other blushes like FratBoy. It opens up with a mirror inside and has an outer box made of cardboard. I love that if I dropped this blush, it would be less likely to shatter than a blush in a plastic palette or casing.

Swiss Dot in the sun.

Swiss Dot indoors

It actually looks quite scary in the pan as it's definitely a strong peach that leans heavily towards orange. The consistency is quite like a powder blush and it's super pigmented so people with fair skin would need to use a really light hand when applying this.

If you look at the swatches below, you can see that it's really easy to overdo it. I did 2 swipes on my arm with a finger and it was already too much. I wiped the blush off with a wet wipe after 5 minutes and it stained so much that I couldn't wipe it off anymore.

Swatches in sunlight
Top left: 2 swipes, Top right: blended out
Bottom swatches: stain after 5 minutes

Swatches indoors
Top left: 2 swipes, Top right: blended out
Bottom: stain after 5 minutes

The best part of this blush is that it stains really well so that you really don't need to reapply blush during the day. However, you need to work fast as if you make a mistake, it would be really hard to correct it. To be honest... I don't really reach for it that often as I'm scared that I'll make myself look like a clown :P But.. it's still a gorgeous colour that's not so common that you would already have dupes of it in your makeup collection. Let me know if there are similar colours out there though!

This blush retails for $22 on the US site (www.thebalm.com) but I picked it up for only $11 :) I don't think this is available in Australia/David Jones yet but if any Aussies want to get it, TheBalm does do international shipping :) The shipping fee is expensive... but it would be worth it if you split the shipping costs with a friend.

US Haul! Sephora, MAC and TheBalm

2 weeks ago, I went a little crazy whilst online shopping and I ended up with DHL delivering 5 boxes to me today... Whilst I've done a lot of damage to my wallet, I'm over the moon and absolutely love everything :) I don't think I'll be doing this type of haul again in the near future as I've utterly exhausted my makeup budget...

I have to apologise in advance for the photos (as usual). It took me about an hour to get through all the packages and I was really exhausted at the end. I know they're of terrible quality BUT this isn't a review on anything so it doesn't really matter that much. (hopefully!).

DHL delivered 5 boxes to me :)

Box 1: TheBalm

TheBalm held a sale on April 1st to launch their new website. Everything was 50% off and I managed to place an order at 4am in the morning (the site was obviously really slow). They couldn't keep up with the online traffic so the "official 50% off sale" didn't actually go ahead until the next week but luckily for me, TheBalm honoured all orders that made it through before they closed the website to fix it.

TheBalm order

I picked up 8 things in total but 4 of them are for other people/swaps. I got myself the new Instain blush in Swiss Dot which is a peach colour, Frat Boy blush, Nude 'tude eyeshadow palette and a lipstick in Ima Goodkisser which is a coral colour. This would have cost me US$96 but I paid US$48. I don't believe Instain has been release in Australia yet but the other 3 items together would have cost AUS$97.85 from David Jones.

Box 2: MAC

Yep.. I know it's a terrible photo!

I sold the majority of my MAC makeup a few months ago as I found that I never used it but I decided to give it another go as I've fallen in love with the brow pencil in Lingering (bottom of the picture). I wanted a backup of the brow pencil as you can't tell how much is left in it (it winds up but not down) so I made a small order.

I also picked up the brow gel in clear, blot powder in Medium and 3 lipsticks (Lustering, Please Me and   Chatterbox). This cost me US$101. It would have cost me AUS$202 to get it from David Jones or Myer.

Box 3: Sephora

Sephora pack 1

I got 2 things in this order that I really wanted for awhile but never picked them up due to their prices. However, I couldn't resist when Sephora had a 15% off everything sale so I got the Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation (US$43) and the Stila Convertible Colour in Petunia (US$25). The makeup bag was on sale for $3 (reduced from $12) so I picked it up to use as a makeup brush bag. However, it's actually pretty small so I'll have to find another use for it.

The Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation is actually also a little too light for me. I read a lot of reviews that said that Bamboo Beige was the best match for NC30 but I think it might actually be closer to NC25. I'll have to save this for winter :)

Box 4: Sephora

Make Up For Ever Concealers

I made this order as I was helping Sarah from More Than Adored get the Lorac Pro Palette and I needed to bump the order up with a few items to get the free US shipping.

I absolutely love my Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer in shade 8 but it's starting to get a little too dark for me so I picked it up in number 7. I also got the Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer in Neutral Beige 3 as my under eye concealer. They were both bought during 15% off sale too.

Box 5: Sephora

Sephora Box 3

Unfortunately I purchased these about a week before the 15% off sale. I picked up the Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer in shade 8 (I love this stuff!), Dior BB cream and an Urban Decay Primer that I love. I also qualified for the VIB program so I got the welcome kit :)

I definitely won't be shopping like this again for a really long time. Let me know if you want any reviews on any of this stuff :)