High End Haul #5

Alright, this is it -- no shopping for me for a long time after today's escapade! I've got two beauty events coming up in the next month, the new MAC collections that I want to get, plus Armageddon Expo in October -- I need the cash for that! On Friday, I caught up with an old friend from high school and blitzed more money than I'd care to admit. It wasn't all on makeup, and not all of it was for me, but it was an awful lot and I think I'm close to declaring myself bankrupt! That being said, I did also score some freebies, sooooo y'know, it's an investment, right?

Want to see what I bought? Let's take a step through the looking glass, shall we?

MAC Fix+ -- I had the most helpful store assistant for this. I've wanted to experiment with wet and dry shades for ages, but I've never exactly had the clearest idea on how to go about it. She talked it through with me using the Fix+ (which I wanted to get to refresh my makeup), and I'm so excited!

MAC Lip Pencil in "Currant" -- The shop assistant recommended using this underneath Rebel to get a deeper colour, and when she swatched the two together on her hand, I had to agree with her. Perhaps she's an enabler, perhaps she's just a very good saleswoman, but I saw exactly the colour I needed -- so I bought it!

MAC Satin Lipstick in "Rebel" -- The whole reason I went into MAC in the first place. I've been trying to figure out how to do a makeup look, and I thought Rebel was likely the best colour for it. The poor shop assistant had to hunt around for ten minutes to find one!

MAC 318 Retractable Lip Brush -- I've wanted a lip brush for a while too, to help me with applying my bright and bold lipsticks. The store assistant recommended this over the other lip brush they had, as it was easier to keep it neat and tidy. She also recommended loading up the lip brush with product before going out, so that I could easily touch up and not worry about carrying a chunky lipstick in a slim purse!

Lipstick Queen Medieval Tinted Treatment -- HALLELUJAH, BABY! I have wanted this for so long, I just... I can't even. I think I will buy pretty much anything that alludes to the medieval period -- it's really just a happy coincidence that this happens to be the red that everyone is supposed to be able to pull off!

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub -- Yes, finally, something else from my first Crave & Covet list! This has been out of stock for ages, and so I snapped it up as soon as I saw it. I can't wait this baby on my lizard skin!

Too Faced Pardon My French Kit -- I'm very excited about this. It was on my last Crave & Covet list and I was worried that, being a kit, they mightn't have it. They obviously did! This kit contains a cute little summery makeup purse, a full-sized Perfect Eyes eyeliner in "Perfect Black", the Bonjour Summer shadow palette, a mini Shadow Insurance eye primer (I don't know why they say it's deluxe) and a mini Lash Injection mascara (again, not sure why the packaging says deluxe). I'm very excited to play with these!

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Future Powered by Ceramide Moisture Cream With Sunscreens -- I intentionally went in for this because Elizabeth Arden were having a "spend x amount, get a gift" promotion on, and I want to improve my skin care routine. A little of this goes a long way, so the 50ml tub will last me for a very long time. The Flawless Future range is a new anti-aging line targeted towards young people (starting in their 20s, I'd say) who want to start looking after their skin right away. This cream is basically a moisturiser.

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Future Powered by Ceramide Eye Gel -- Okay, I can't lie to you here. I was more or less talked into buying this. I have been slightly concerned about the fact that one day my eyes are going to wrinkle and crinkle like tissue paper, but I didn't have any plans in place to do anything about it. What clinched it for me was the fact that I'd get some free goodies if I bought two products from the Flawless Future range. Woo hoo!

Elizabeth Arden Mini Beauty Discoveries -- This is a little sample kit that I got for free for buying the two Flawless Future products. It's got a 5mL sample of the Flawless Future Caplet Serum (a product that I didn't purchase), a 7mL sample of the Moisture Cream, and a 5mL sample of the Eye Gel. Unfortunately, when I opened up mine to take pictures of the samples, the Moisture Cream was missing -- quite annoying. Luckily, I was able to get a replacement from the Myer at my local shopping centre, which has an Elizabeth Arden counter.

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Skin Balancing Exfoliating Cleanser -- The first of the freebies that I got -- all of these products were freebies! This cleanser is meant for combination skin and I lean more towards the oily side, so I think it'll be interesting to see what happens when I use this. It's meant to be a foaming cleanser that exfoliates as well -- I'm honestly not sure how that'll work, as there's been nothing exfoliating about other foaming cleansers I've used in the past.

Elizabeth Arden The Original Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant -- Now, I can't lie, I don't really know what this is. I already have an Eight Hour Cream, but that's the Intensive Moisturising Body Treatment variety, this is just the... Skin Protectant. It doesn't say anywhere on the packaging if it has any SPF in it, and the instructions merely say to apply liberally as much as often -- not the words one would normally find on a sunscreen or moisturiser, I don't think.

Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Daily Serum -- You're supposed to massage this stuff into your face before you put on moisturiser. I'm going to see if my mother wants it, otherwise I'll hang onto it for a rainy day.

Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Lift and Firm Day Cream with Sunscreen -- This seems to be rather similar to the Flawless Future moisture cream that I bought. This is another thing I'm going to offer to my mother, and hang onto if she doesn't want it.



The last of the freebies!

Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Ultra Lipstick in "Rose" -- This is a nice neutral brownish-pink with a trace of shimmer; I think it would do very nicely as a kind of "my lips but better" shade for some people. I'm quite excited to wear this!

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Radiance Blush in "Romantic Rose" -- This blush is a really cute peachy-pink colour. It has a faint trace of shimmer that I actually doubt will be detectable, as well as a very cute and tiny but ultimately useless blush brush. As far as I can tell from the Elizabeth Arden website, this product might not be available anymore.

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Lash Enhancing Mascara -- I've already got a samply of these from the last time I got a bag of Elizabeth Arden freebies. The formula isn't too bad but the cheap generic wand is big and annoying to use.

Mecca Cosmetica Ready Set Quick Dry Nail Mist -- I had this on my last Crave & Covet list, and I was very excited to see it in the store! You're supposed to spray this onto your nails 30 seconds after you apply the polish, and then leave it for 15 seconds -- after that, you should have beautiful nails that are dry to the touch!

Mecca Cosmetica Artistry Eye Brightener -- I'm also very excited about this. I've had bags so bad recently that they'd need to be checked in at the airport, so I'm hoping that this will help me get rid of them! This product has one end with a nude eyeliner and another with a highlighter that's supposed to hide shadows and bags. Will it work? Maybe I should pull a late one tonight and see...

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in "Luminous Flush" -- This was definitely something of an impulse buy. I don't even remember why I was looking at the Hourglass stand at Mecca, but the next thing I knew, I was discussing blush and highlighters with a shop assistant! I've wanted a lighter blush lately, so I think this will be a really cute addition to the family.

NARS Eyeliner Stylo in "Carpates" and "Atlantic" -- I went into Mecca especially to get "Atlantic", a really beautiful dark blue liquid liner, but not "Carpates". I hadn't been able to find the eyeliners at first, so I'd asked a shop assistant to find it for me. As any sane person would, she reached for the black one and swiped it across the back of her hand -- and my jaw dropped at its intensity. I've got one other pen liquid eyeliner -- by MAC -- and it's honestly not the greatest thing in the world, so I hadn't expected much from this. It looks like I'm being proven wrong!

And now for an honourable mention! This isn't a makeup product, but it's a little something that I picked up from H&M to store some of my makeup in...

How cute is this thing?! My makeup right now is organised, but not in any format that allows a great amount of convenience -- I share a bathroom with three boys, there's just no space. Come to think of it, I've claimed most of the space there is! I've been pulling out makeup bags and jars and shoeboxes, opening drawers and cupboards in order to pull out the items that I need when doing my makeup in the morning -- only it's so much to put away again! I've started chucking all of my everyday items into this little bag -- the stuff I use the most often -- so I only need to pull out and put away one thing! (If I don't get lazy and leave it, that is.)

With some of my haul stashed inside.

For its size, it holds a decent amount of stuff -- I'm adding to it bit by bit, while I figure out exactly what it is I'm reaching for most, but so far I haven't felt the need to panic about space and buy a bigger size!

That's it for my incredibly long haul post; thanks for sticking with me through it! Do you have any of these items?

Sarah xo

PS. Which of you out there have seen the new Doctor Who episode?