February 2012 Favorites

This February I discovered a couple amazing new (to me) products, and fell in love again with some classics:

1. Lush The Sacred Truth Fresh Face Mask - I have used this before and it's definitely my favorite mask from Lush. Although I can't vouch for its anti-aging benefits, this leaves my skin super soft, moisturized and smooth, not tight and dry. 

2. Gud by Burts Bees Hand Cream in Floral Cherrynova - I love how fast absorbing this cream is, yet it still manages to infuse a solid amount of moisture in my skin. When I use this at night I wake up with super soft hands. I love floral scents and this smells soooo fresh and floral, but there are other scents available too. My full review of this line is here. 

3. Sue Devitt Gel-to-Powder Blush in Marion Reef - This blush is AMAZING! It has a velvet feel to it and it applies like a gel/cream but sets on the face as a powder. It feels so silky and lasts ALL day on me. I normally layer powder blushes on top of cream blushes but I don't have to with this because it is so pigmented and long lasting. I will do a full review soon. 

 

4. Nars Sheer Glow Foundation - This is such a popular product in the blogosphere so I just had to try it for myself. My verdict? It does live up to the hype! Nars has done a great job with the shade selection and the formula sets beautifully. Although it is called sheer glow, it has medium coverage and a natural finish. I will do an in-depth review of this product too, but so far I am loving it.

5. Kirkland Makeup Wipes - I have re-discovered my love for makeup wipes and these are by far my favorite. I love the thick texture, the moistness of each towelette, the fact that one towelette removes ALL my makeup (including mascara and gel eyeliner) and the price! Check out my full review here. 

Hope you all had a great February! I am glad it's over because that means we are one month closer to spring and warm weather! Oh, and in other news, the Too Faced Vintage Sale started today so check out the Too Faced Website for some great deals on soon-to-be-discontinuted products and sets.

Eye of the Day - Most Makeup I've Worn in Awhile

Hey All! I have been a bit busy the last couple weeks so I didn't get a chance to blog much and respond to comments, but I am back to my routine again. I haven't been wearing much eye makeup recently, so when I did this look the other day I thought I would snap a couple pics for you.

Here's what I used (all MAC unless noted):

Arena shadow on lid

Texture shadow in crease

Engraved Liner on upper lid

Petrol Blue Pearlglide Liner on water line and lower lid

NARS Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara on lashes

In other news, I was at Costco recently and found the most AMAZING thing for my tastebuds:

These belgian waffles come individually pre-packaged and they are already sweetened with a cinnaminon-sugar flavor (even though the package says vanilla). They are great for grabbing as a breakfast on the go or even as a snack. However, the best part is these taste absolutely divine! Like melt-in-your-mouth-heaven-for-your-tastebuds divine. They are cooked but I just pop them in the toaster for a minute or so to heat them up....easy peasy!

On that note I am off to eat a waffle!

June Favorites

Here are my favorites from the past month:

1. Kirkland Daily Facial Cleansing Towelettes - These are so effective at removing makeup and cleansing my skin, and they are SUPER affordable! I switch it up between these and MAC wipes, but this was a coupon item at Costco during the last coupon book period so I couldn't help but purchase them again. I LOVE them! My full review is here.

2. Origins GinZing Eye Cream - This eye cream has been a lifesaver the past month. Life has been super busy recently and this magical cream makes it look like I have been relaxing on vacation! It reduces puffiness, helps brighten the under eye area, and helps my concealer from settling in to the fine lines around my eyes. I love this little jar and will be doing a full review soon.

3. MAC Pro Longwear Concealer - So after taking care of the skin around my eyes, I have been using this concealer to conceal my dark circles. This stuff is amazing and I already said everything I love about it in my original review. 

4. MAC Technakohl Liner in Smoothblue - This is one of my summer must-haves. I love using this to line my upper lash line and then add mascara. It is such a quick and easy eye look and adds a pop of color for the summer. Even my hubby loves when I wear this "blue stuff" on my eyes. 

5. Nars Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base - I have mentioned this in the past, but this truly is one of the best eye primers out there. It prevents shadow from creasing and fading, and it is invisible on the skin so you can use it under any color shadow. This is especially great for summertime when it is hot and eyelids tend to be oilier than normal.

What products have you been loving recently'?

My Addiction With Costco (and Kirkland Makeup Wipes Review)

If you have been following me for awhile, you know that I am OBSESSED with Costco. I love shopping at Costco, I love browsing at Costco, I love eating at Costco, I love samples at Costco, and I even look forward to getting my monthly Costco coupon book. Yes, I need CA....Costco-holics Anonymous.

Back to beauty.

After reading all the rave reviews of Costco's makeup wipes, the Kirkland (Costco's brand) Daily Facial Cleansing Towelettes, I just had to get them for myself. 

So after trying these out for a few months, what's my verdict? These wipes make me love Costco even more than I already did! Here's why:

1. The wipes take off ALL makeup, including waterproof mascara and long-wear eyeliner
2. The wipes are thicker than most so they hold up well and don't rip easily
3. One wipe is more than enough to take off all my makeup, even stubborn eye makeup
4. The wipes have a fresh scent, similar to a light cucumber smell, that is clean and refreshing
5. The wipe amount in each package is varied...the Costco box includes 4 packs of 30 wipes and 2 packs of 15 wipes......ideal for traveling
6. The wipes are cheap! You get a total of 150 wipes for about $11! And some months there is a coupon for the wipes!

So will these permanently replace my beloved MAC wipes? Maybe. There is only one thing I don't like about these wipes: the packaging. The opening is supposed to work like this:

However, I keep ending up with this problem:

The little plastic piece keeps coming loose, and often slips off the package entirely, meaning the package is exposed and the wipes could dry out. Now, I travel a lot and my wipes packages get tossed all over the place, so that might be why I experience this issue. If you only use these at home and keep them on a countertop, you probably won't have to deal with this. It's just a bit frustrating because I don't want my wipes to dry out, and I never had this problem with the MAC wipes. My MAC wipes would get tossed around as well, and since I used to use the 100 pack of MAC wipes, as opposed to the 30 pack of Costco wipes, one pack would last longer and endure more tossing around. But I still never had packaging issues.

All in all I probably will keep purchasing the Costco wipes and just hope they improve the packaging.

Kajal Couture Rating: A

Bliss Body Wash and Lotion - Super Deal at Costco

I know I have mentioned this before, but I LURVE Costco!!! For those of you not on the West Coast, Costco was the first warehouse shopping club, initially called Price Club. It is a large store in a warehouse, where they sell large quantities, or bulk quantities of everything from toilet paper to soda to fruits to computers and TVs (the computers and TVs are sold individually, not in bulk). The prices are insanely good, but the thing is you have to have a membership to shop at the store. Membership averages around $50, but is soooo worth it! Now they have many different warehouse clubs like Sam's Club, BJs, etc, but I have a Costco membership since it is close to my home. Anyhoo, I don't go very often, but when I do, I ALWAYS take a stroll down their health and beauty aisles. I have seem some great things like MAC eyeshadow, Lancome Definicils, and Shisheido skin care, all at discounted prices of course. On a recent trip to Costco, I saw the following: This duo includes a large 16floz Bubbling Body Wash, and a 6.7oz Body Lotion, and this set was only $15!!!! They actually have it online too, but online it is $25, which is still a good price for Bliss products, but why pay $10 more if you don't have to? In fact, there was a instant $5 rebate when I saw it (the rebate is now over, I think), so I got this set for $10. That's about the same price as picking up a Bath and Body Works shower gel and lotion during their semi-annual sales. SCORE!!!!

Now, the thing is, when I got home, I wanted to know how much both products retail at. Unfortunately, these products are not on the Bliss website. Henceforth, this leads me to believe that Bliss created these as special items for the holiday season, specifically for Costco. This is the case with a lot of brands/companies....they make special products and colors specifically to be sold at Costco. The other possibility is that these are not real Bliss products, however I HIGHLY doubt that, since I know that a LOT of research goes into what gets sold at Costco and they would never sell fakes. Companies compete to have their products sold at Costco. Since it is such a popular store, they have the ability to be extremely selective about what products are sold in the store. So, until I have reason to doubt it, I am sticking with my first theory that this set was specially created for Costco, and y'all better run out and get it, cuz for this price, it's going to sell out!