What I Got For Christmas/ My Birthday HAUL!

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Hey guys! I hope everyone who celebrates had an awesome Christmas, and has a very happy New Year! December is always an odd month for me because my birthday is on the 8th, so presents that are given to me nowadays are for both that and Christmas, which I'm honestly fine with! Since I'm now 27 (hooray for being in my late 20's now...not!), I never really ask for certain presents anymore. I prefer either gift cards or cash so I can get something I know I'll enjoy and use. I also do treat myself to some things because, why the heck not?! So today I'll be sharing with you what I ended up getting with my birthday/Christmas money!

I had gone to Walgreen's hoping to find new products that I've been hearing about, but had zero luck. They did however have a major clearance sale going on, so I took some time browsing. I picked up the Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Mattifying Powder that was on clearance for just a couple dollars. I'm hoping this is decent, but with it being marked down, it's probably getting discontinued. 

I also picked up one of the Megalast Liquid Lip Colors in the shade Red My Mind. It's a beautiful shade in the package, but that's it. It's an awful formula and flakes off my lips almost immediately after applying it. Luckily, this was just over $1 on clearance, and now I understand why every shade in this line was marked down. 

I've never tried the popular Wet n Wild lipsticks that everyone talks about, so I picked up the shades Smokin' Hot Pink and Cherry Picking. I always thought these were $1.99, but at my Walgreen's they were $2.49. No big deal really, so if I end up liking these, I'll probably buy more!

Burt's Bees wasn't on sale at all, but if you bought 2 of their lip balms, you got 1,000 points so I got the scents Honey and Coconut & Pear. I love lip balms, and Burt's Bees makes some great ones. 

Next up is Sephora! I had gotten the VIB Rouge giftcard in the mail for $25 off of a $50 purchase, and my mom also gave me hers to use as well, so I placed 2 separate orders, but lumped everything together. On one of the orders I had to buy hair ties because I wasn't quite at $50, but somehow I lost them already.

Anyway, I ended up getting the Philosophy Holiday Handbook hand cream set, which has the scents Cranberry Medley, Fresh Cream and Raspberries & Cream. I purchased a set of these last year as well and love them, so when I saw they had another set this year, I knew I had to have it. Fresh Cream is such a light, but amazing scent and I'm very happy to have it in hand cream form!

I have no reason to be buying more eyeshadow palettes, but the Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons is one I just had to have! I had been hearing about it for months, thought the packaging was adorable, and the fact that it smells like chocolate always seals the deal. I have the other two chocolate bar palettes as well and color selection wise, I think I like this one the most. 

Kat Von D has been killing it with her makeup line within the past year, and everything I've tried so far, I've loved. I bought yet another Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in the shade Bauhau5 and a Metal Crush Eyeshadow in the shade Raw Power. You all know my love for her liquid lipsticks, but I've been dying to try out the Metal Crush Eyeshadows. I was torn between this and the shade Thunderstruck, but went with Raw Power because I love my burgundy's!

The birthday gift this year came from Nars and it included a Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in the shade Cruella, a Satin Lip Pencil in the shade Rikugien, and since I'm VIB Rouge, it came with an extra little sample of their Larger Than Life Eyeliner in the shade Via Veneto. I hear that both of the lip pencils and the eyeliner are great, so I'm excited to try them out!

Last but not least, I made a trip to Ulta. My lovely mother-in-law gave me a giftcard, and my dad gave me some birthday money. I also had the coupon for 20% off, which was good on everything I purchased! I had seen a review on YouTube of the Stila Trust in Love Gift Set, which includes an eyeshadow palette, a deluxe sized lip glaze, and a deluxe sized sample of their HUGE Extreme Lash Mascara. The wand on the mascara reminds me so much of the Too Faced Better Than Sex, which is probably my favorite higher end mascara, so we'll see if the Stila one compares. 

Real Techniques was on sale, so I picked up two of their Shading Brushes. I don't have these yet in my Real Techniques brush collection, but I love the size of these and think they will be good for applying shadow to my hooded lids. 

I've decided I wanted to delve into the world of lip liners, so I went a little ham with what I bought. I ended up buying three Essence lip liners in the shades 15 Honey Berry, 07 Cute Pink and 08 Red Blush. These babies were only $1.49 and with the coupon I had, it made them super inexpensive. I always hear good things about these lip liners too, so I have high hopes. I also purchased two other lip liners, one from NYX in the shade Cabaret, and one from Rimmel in the shade Rapture. The Rimmel lip liner was marked down to clearance, which may mean it's being discontinued. 

Next up is a new Revlon eyeshadow palette called Not Just Nudes, and the one I purchased is Romantic Nudes. They had another one that seemed a bit more warm toned, so the purple-y mauve-y pink shades in this stood out to me more. I love how drugstore brands are coming out with eyeshadow palettes, so I hope this is decent quality. 

The last product was the birthday gift from bareMinerals, and it's a Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in the shade Birthday Babe. I don't think I've tried these glosses before, but I love the color of this, and it isn't very sticky either. 

That's everything from my birthday and what I got for Christmas! Did you get any makeup/beauty goodies that you're enjoying?

Winter 2014 Walmart Beauty Box

Hi guys! Today I'll be showing you what I got in the Winter edition of the Walmart Beauty Box. I have to say right off the bat, this was such a pain in the butt to receive and there was alot of confusion when people signed up. Lets see what I got in this box, then I'll explain the issues I had personally. 

Everything came packaged in this white box that says Walmart Beauty. Inside of the lid it says, "Help define your beauty" and the Walmart website where you can find beauty products. It's a cute little box but the products were mediocre at best. 

The first product I got is the Burt's Bees Facial Cleansing Towelettes. I enjoy Burt's Bees products, their lip balms are awesome. I have not tried their face wipes, and this is the only product that I'm sort of interested in trying out. I always look for good makeup remover wipes. 

Then there are the foil packets. I can't stand getting foil packet samples in something I'm paying money for. Anyways, the first packet is the John Frieda Luxurious Volume Shampoo and Conditioner. I have tried John Frieda hair care before and from what I remember, I did like it. The second one of from L'Oreal and it's their Color Vibrancy Shampoo, Conditioner and Treatment. I've never tried L'Oreal hair care before, so I will try this and see how I like it. At most, I'll probably only get about two uses from each sample. 

I also got a Dove Deep Moisture Nourishing Body Wash. This is a 1.8 fluid ounce bottle, so I think I could get about 5 or so uses out of this. I may even give it to my husband because he's been complaining about dry skin from his normal bar soaps. Since I love him and all, I'll be a good wife and share ;)

Next up we have the Covergirl Colorlicious Lip Gloss in the shade 640 Juicy Fruit. This is the only full size product and it retails for $7.99 depending on where you get it. This alone makes up for the price you pay for the box, and it is a pretty color, so I'll get some use out of it. 

The last product is the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion. This tiny sample is annoying because I've gotten these for free as like a gift with purchase. I'll still probably use this as I'm drier than dry because of this cold weather, but it's frustrating it's so tiny!

I also did get a card with some of the Flower Beauty scents on it, but it's not worth showing honestly. They smell awful too.

Overall, this really is a meh box. It is a quarterly box you get every season and you only pay $5, which is said to be a shipping charge. Now for the rant. I had signed up back in October when I heard there was a Fall box. My card was charged right away, so I figured I'd be receiving that one. However, after about a month and still no box, I was getting worried. I couldn't log into my account to see what was going on, so I sent many emails and only got one response saying the Fall box was sold out and I'd get the Winter box. I started to think that I'd be charged again once the Winter box was sent out, but thankfully I wasn't. I did get mad though because alot of other people were having the same issue I was. I hate to say this, but I made a big fuss over everything on Twitter because I was upset. Yes, I know it's only $5, but still, it's my $5 that I thought was getting taken and I wouldn't be getting anything. All in all, I was able to get back into my account, and the box was sent to me. I decided to stay signed up for now and get the Spring box, but if something like that happens again, I'm cancelling in a heartbeat. If you want more information, here is a link on how the Walmart Beauty Box works. You don't have to sign up for it from the link, it's just information where you can look it over and see if it's right for you.

What do you think of the Walmart Beauty Box?