a small haul

  So, this weekend I got a chance to stop by the "big" mall in my state which doesn't even have a Nordstrom or Macy's. In spite of this fact, I picked a few items which might be of interest. 

1. Maybeline Lash Blast ($6)- The ubiquitous Lash Blast is consistently cited as girls favorite mascara, even in comparison to high-end brands. For me, I have tried DiorShow and I did not like it at all because it was such a pain to take off. In fact, every time I went to take off my mascara, I ended up pulling out a few eyelashes every time! I ended up using Vaseline on my eyelashes every night and they came back in way thicker and longer than they had been before. I've also tried Lancome Definicils which I actually did quite like because the wand was nice and skinny (in deference to the "Definicils" part of the name) which made it easy to coat the inner and lower lashes, however the wand would always clump really badly on the very tip so there was a giant gob of mascara just hanging down there which was annoying. So, I've simply purchased the Lash Blast as a back up to the one I'm using now since I will be going to India this week and not coming back for a year, and mascara there is more expensive.  

2. ELF Brushes ($1 each)- I also bought the ELF foundation and concealer brushes because I've heard they're quite good and after trying them out today, I plan on going back and picking up a new blush brush and some of their makeup.

3. Bobbi Brown Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer in Medium to Dark ($42)- I tried this on a week ago and left it on so I could see how my skin reacted and how it looked after a few hours, and I thought it looked quite natural and not too oily even after a few hours of wear so I went back this weekend to buy it. I might do I review, but since this is the first foundation I've ever bought I wouldn't really have anything to compare it to so that might be an issue.

4. Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer Pencil in KGB ($19)- I also tried this a week ago and even though the foundation I tried it with was not so great, I still liked how light this concealer was so I went back this time and bought it. I did think it was weird that it came in pencil form, but when I went to try it today, I found that I could just use my brush because the concealer pencil is so creamy (sorry the photo is so bad, the packaging is shiny and very reflective).

I also received my Beauty Insiders birthday gift which is a mini Benefit mascara and highlighter, along with my 100-point perk which was a mini Origins coffee eye cream, but I gave that to my mom because she wanted to try it.

5. Floral Pants from Ann Taylor ($12)- These I bought because I like the printed pant trend that's been going on for a while and plus they were on final sale for $20 with another 40% off. Hopefully they don't look like pajamas when I wear them, but I'll definitely do an outfit post when I do I wear them!