Tag Archives: sephora

Mar14

Highlighter Help!!

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Highlighter Help!!

Helloooo! During a recent Sephora purchase for my sister’s upcoming birthday, I decided to spend some of my rewards points on a Becca highlighter in Opal. The only problem is… I don’t know what to do with it! I liked the idea of trying a highlighter on for size and I love the color so I figured “why not”. Take a looksee:

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(First swatch photo is with no flash, the second one is with the flash on.)

I was hoping that my beauty blogger babes could help me out by directing me to their posts on applying highlighter as well as completed MOTDs featuring a highlighter. I definitely don’t want to overdo it with my new Becca Opal highlighter, but a little extra something something might be nice to try out – especially when it was free!

So, beauty bloggers, now is your time to toot your own horn a little and link me to your best highlighter related makeup posts. Thanks in advance!

What is the best freebie that you have scored from Sephora? Are you a highlighter fan or no? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb25

Blush, Baby – Tarte In Feisty Edition

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Blush, Baby – Tarte In Feisty Edition

Hello! Although I am not huge on buying makeup outside of the drugstore, my favorite brand that Sephora offers is probably Tarte. I love the way that their products work and the variety of colors that they offer. My sister is the makeup queen in my family, and she gave me this hand me down Tarte blush that she never even used a few weeks ago! It is a tinge darker than what I usually go for, but it’s still pretty all the same:

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This Feisty blush actually reminds me of the exact shade that my mom would use when she did my makeup for skating competitions. Can I see myself wearing it in real life? Maybe in the fall, because I feel like this color would be gorgeous during that season. But for spring and summer, it just seems a bit too dark for me. There seems to be a really red undertone to this shade and with my hair and the pink undertones in my skin it all would be too much!

My sister, on the other hand, could get away with this shade because she is a bronze goddess so I’m not sure why she gave this to me. But, it doesn’t hurt to experiment and maybe come autumn I’ll have a new favorite shade.

What is your favorite brand that Sephora carries? Do you prefer dark or light blushes? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb21

Blush, Baby – Clinique Pansy Pop Edition

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Blush, Baby – Clinique Pansy Pop Edition

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! Aside from lipstick, my favorite makeup is probably blush. Creams, stains, powders – I love it all. As a pale princess, I can always benefit from some added color to my cheeks and I think that it is such fun to pick out different shades to apply. I love pinks and peaches, but the color of blush that I am most fond of is lavender, like my favorite one seen below:

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In August of 2016, my sister surprised me with this blush from Sephora, because she knew that I desperately wanted a new lavender blush to replace my fallen favorite. It was the sweetest thing and here I am in February of 2018 with a decent amount left and still loving it every time I blend it from the apples of my cheeks to over my eyebrows for a beautiful band of color. I like to wear my Clinique Pansy Pop blush over one of my go to pink shades so that the color has a strong base, because without it, the shade is a bit too light. It works like a charm!

There is something about lavender blush that just speaks to me. I like it, because it is more interesting than your basic pinks and nudes – it really adds some flower girl fun to my face. I also like how shades of purple bring out the green in my hazel eyes, which makes for a change in my eye color for the day. I am usually not one to buy high end makeup, but this twenty-two dollar Clinique blush has lasted me a year and a half so far – and you really can’t beat that. 😀

What is your favorite shade of blush to wear? How do you make your eye color pop with makeup? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb6

Tarte Lip Paint Swatch In Rosé

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Tarte Lip Paint Swatch In Rosé

Hey! Today we are going to wrap up my hand me down makeup haul from my sister with a swatch of my favorite new nude lippie color. I have been a HUGE fan of Tarte’s lip paint ever since I got the birthday blush and mini lip paint tube from Sephora FO FREE. I absolutely love both of them, and the lip paint that I received for my bday remains one of my favorite nude lippies. So, I was freaking THRILLED when my sister gave me the Tarte lip paint that she rejected in “Rosé”, a shade that’s only a hair darker than what I got for my birthday freebie. Take a look:

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Hmm… Why are there two heart swatches, you might ask?

ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN:

Okay, so after I finished taking my pictures, I went to the bathroom to wipe off the swatch. The first heart seen above is what I had taken when I first put the lip paint on. The second heart is what the product looked like after TWO rough scrubbings with a wet hand towel. The color had barely budged and is still on my hand as I’m writing this. Ah-freaking-mayzing.

I have my birthday lip paint, a red one, and this newest addition by Tarte and they have all proven to be as long lasting as what I just described. It wasn’t a fluke. If you are preparing on eating a five course meal but really want to wear lipstick, Tarte lip paint is what you should use. It. Doesn’t. Come. Off.

Does it get much better than that?

IT DOES:

Because this Rosé color is freaking gorgeous, dahling. It’s funny, because I stay very true to my favorite red lipstick, but I LOVE using different nude ones. Admittedly, I only like wearing a really specific shade of red because I know what looks best with my skin and hair. But you can play around with nude shades because a color a bit lighter or darker isn’t going to make or break your look. Rosé is probably the darkest nude lippie that I own at the moment and I am looking forward to wearing it throughout the rest of the winter for some fresh faced fabulousness.

Who else is a fan of Tarte lip products? What is your favorite shade? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb3

Sephora Cream Lip Stain Swatch In Infinite Rose

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Sephora Cream Lip Stain Swatch In Infinite Rose

Hellooo everyone and happy weekend! Although I am not the biggest makeup girl in the world, I do try to keep my tabs on brands that are considered good and bad. Unfortunately for Sephora, I have heard nothing but bad reviews about their products – which is fine because I wasn’t going to buy them anyways! BUT, my sister gave me a hand me down of one of their lip stains so I had to at least give it a swatch. And who knows, maybe I’ll try it eventually! Take a look:

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While swatching this lip stain, I didn’t come across any unpleasantness. It was quite the opposite, actually. Firstly, this product smells AMAZING. It seriously smells like cake batter… and mama loves her some cake. I also really like the color of this lip stain. It has more of a brown undertone to it rather than a pure pinky rose, which makes me way more keen on wearing it. I love dusty, dusky roses for lip colors on me but anything overly pink has GOTSTA GO.

The only thing that I wasn’t really impressed with was the drying time for this product. It took about five minutes to get to a point where a large amount wasn’t coming off on my fingers. And, even then, I could still see pigment on my phalanges from the stain. Ain’t nobody got time to wait that long for lip color to dry – especially someone who prefers products that are instantly matte.

Although the drying time was pretty long, this Sephora lip stain was really difficult to get off. I had to scrub a wet towel over the swatch twice to get the majority of it off and there is still some left over color visible on my hand. Lip products that don’t budge are always a good thing, so thumbs up for that.

I’m sure that I will break out this lip stain at some point during the spring. But, for now, I don’t feel overwhelmingly negative about Sephora’s “Infinite Rose” at all. It’s funny how one can be pleasantly surprised when they think that they are about to try out the worst product ever and it’s way better than expected!

How do you feel about Sephora’s line of makeup? What is your go to lip stain? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec30

Holiday Haul: Beauty Edition

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Holiday Haul: Beauty Edition

Hi everyone! My Holiday Haul was bountiful and beautiful and I had a wonderful Christmas day spent with my family. To commemorate all of the sweet thoughts behind each present, we’ll go about each main gift individually. Today, I think that we will start with some delightful beauty and bath and body care goodies compliments of my brother and sister in law, as well as my older sister. Take a looksee:

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Peter and Megan treated all of the girls in my family to a box set from The Body Shop, which is so amazing because all of us really love their products. I am also totally obsessed with their body washes right now, so I’m happy to have another one to add to my hoard. I then got a double whammy of Better Than Sex mascara from Kristen and Peter and Megan and I am so thrilled about it, because I desperately needed a new tube. And now I have two! What whattttt.

Kristen knows me all too well, because I always ask for Better Than Sex mascara for every gift receiving occasion. And Peter and Megan were very clever in their purchase because they looked on lifewithlilred to know that that’s what I wanted, thanks to completing a Holiday Q & A! It was really sweet, because as soon as I opened it, I knew that that’s how they figured out what I wanted. Peter and Megan often turn to my blog to gather inspiration for gifts for me, and I think that that’s freaking awesome. It’s nice to have siblings that put tons of thought into presents, because it’s a physical reminder of how much they care. :*) I LOVE THEM!!

So there you have it, part one of my Holiday Haul: Beauty Edition! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more Christmas fun here on lifewithlilred. What was your favorite gift that you received this year? What was your favorite present that you gave? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Nov1

October 2017 Finishes

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October 2017 Finishes

Hi everyone and happy November! Today we are going to kick off the month with a look back on my beauty empties from October. It feels like it was just yesterday! To me, October felt like it dragged on for an eternity. And, to make matters worse, it was a really shitty month for yours truly in general. Needless to say, I’m excited to be rid of all of these products that I finished up last month and am looking forward to hopefully brighter times ahead. Take a look at my October empties and let’s discuss:

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Would I Use Again?

  • St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Green Tea Scrub: YES
  • Bath & Body Works Pretty As A Peach lotion: YES
  • The Body Shop Nutriganics eye cream: YES
  • Lush Don’t Look At Me face mask: MAYBE
  • IT Cosmetics Secret Sauce moisturizer: NO

Why/Why Not?

St. Ives Scrub: As you guys know, I have a problem with blackheads around my nose piercings. Is it a huge issue? No. But would I prefer them gone? Of course. I can’t say that the Green Tea scrub by St. Ives is my favorite one out of their selection. However, I wouldn’t say no to using this again if it were bought for me during my birthday/holiday skin care restock or if it were on sale.

My main issue with this scrub is that it just isn’t gritty enough to completely clear away blackheads. It does get some of them, I’ll give it that. But, for the majority of the pesky pen marks on my nose, you can see that the black tip is gone but the skin where it was is still raised, which shows that the problem is still lurking underneath the surface. I will say that my skin does feel and look nice after using this scrub but the purpose of eliminating blackheads is far from achieved. It took me a month and a half to finish using this scrub.

B&BW Lotion: We all know by now that peach is one of my favorite fragrances when it comes to bath and body care. We also all know that I really like this lotion a lot so no further explanation is needed, lol. It took me about six or seven full body uses to finish this product.

TBS Eye Cream: Obviously, I used up some old favorites in October, because everyone knows by now that this is my eye cream of choice. The Body Shop’s Nutriganics eye cream keeps any premature wrinkling of the sensitive skin around my eyes at bay. However, I do wish that this eye cream did more to help out with dark under eye circles. We can’t always get what we want, though, and for the value of this eye cream (I got it on sale for about eleven dollars.) and the fact that it lasts me around five months definitely keeps me from complaining too much!

Lush Face Mask: The Don’t Look At Me face mask is the first skin care product from Lush that I ever used and, although I enjoyed it, I don’t think that I would ever make the forty-five minute trip to the nearest Lush again to purchase it. If this mask or any other Lush product were given to me as a gift, I would be all over it. But, in my opinion, the trip out to Lush just isn’t worth the reward. Despite not making a special trip out to buy this mask again, you can see in my Face Mask Festivities post that it did make my skin look radiant and, although the mask was cold when you first apply it, it was quite pleasant to use. I was able to get seven or so uses from the Don’t Look At Me mask.

IT Cosmetics Moisturizer: I got this sample sized moisturizer for free while doing some early holiday shopping online at Sephora. This mini IT Cosmetics Secret Sauce moisturizer gave me five uses, which really isn’t enough to tell if it did anything or not. I can’t say that I was really impressed with it either way, though, and would rather just ball on a budget with my drugstore/sale price TBS moisturizers.

As I mentioned above, I am so happy to be rid of all of these products – even the ones that I liked. October sucked for Lil Red so it will be nice to have some happier memories associated with the bath and body and skin care goodies that I use up in November.

So there you have it, my October 2017 Finishes! Have you used any of the above products before? What are your thoughts on them? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun25

New Tarte Lip Paint

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New Tarte Lip Paint

Hiii everyone and happy Sunday! For my birthday, I got a free Tarte blush and mini lip paint from Sephora for my birthday and I am obsessed. Both shades are simply gorgeous and I love using each of them. But that lip paint? It is something else, I tell ya! That stuff doesn’t budge. It is seriously the best food proof, kiss proof, fool proof lip product that I have ever used. Don’t get me wrong, the blushy nude shade that I got for my birthday is to die for but getting it in red was a necessity at this point.

Despite not being the biggest makeup girl in the world, I went to Sephora yesterday and was so happy to get the last tube available in the Tarte lip paint that I wanted. Although I hate the name of the color, “Bae”, it really is pretty. Take a look and see for yourself:

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❤ ❤ ❤

What I love about this shade, is that it is a pure red. With my skin tone, hair, and personal style, the true reds are the only shades that I feel “work” for me. Reds with orange-y tones look clown-like on me and the deeper, more ox-blood reds look super goth girl on me. Neither of which are the look that I’m going for! No, I just want a simple and elegant red lip.

I have many beautiful variations of a true red lippie in plenty of reputable brands – NYX, Loreal, and Urban Decay. So, obviously, this latest purchase wasn’t something that I truly needed. But, my god, I really wanted it. To have a lipstick that you literally don’t have to worry about reapplying is a godsend for any lippie lover. Having just that little taste of what could be with my birthday freebie gave me an insatiable craving for more and I am insanely happy with my purchase.

I went out to lunch with my sister and her boyfriend while wearing my birthday shade and after finishing a big meal, my sister asked me if I reapplied my lippie. Nope, it just literally didn’t move the entire time I was stuffing my face. That’s how you know you have an effective lipstick, darling!

So there you have it, my New Tarte Lip Paint! What is your favorite makeup brand to shop at Sephora? Who else is obsessed with Tarte? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

May12

First Sephora Purchase!!

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First Sephora Purchase!!

Hi everyone and TGIF! Yesterday my sister and I went to the mall and I *gasp* bought something from Sephora! I really wasn’t expecting to or planning on it. Really. But it happened and I can’t say that I’m too upset about it! It only seems fitting that my First Sephora Purchase would be a red lipstick (yes, I’m obsessed), so take a look and let’s discuss:

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Urban Decay Metallized lipstick in Wrath

So, yeah. Like I said, I really wasn’t planning on buying anything – let alone a seventeen dollar lipstick. But, damnit, I just couldn’t help myself. IT’S SO PRETTY! As you guys know, I just bought myself a new lipstick with glitter in it but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t still in love with metallic shades, either. This Urban Decay shade spoke to me on a spiritual level and I desperately needed it in my life.

The purchase of this lipstick was a bit of an emotional rollarcoaster, because there were no tubes of Wrath to buy behind the tester. Just my luck. Frankly, I wouldn’t have been all that disappointed if they were all out, but still – I really liked it. I asked one of the employees if they might have any more and she legit searched for five minutes and with every passing second I could feel my heart sink lower and lower.

BUT MY LUCK TURNED AROUND because she finally found my new lipstick and at that point, I couldn’t not buy it! Guys. This shade is SO. Freaking. Gorgeous. It’s great because when you think metallic for shades of red, you think of colors with a more rusty, orange tint to it (and any shade of orange lippie looks horrendous on me). But not Wrath. This Urban Decay lipstick has the purest of red pigments with a chrome finish and I am so madly in love with it.

I asked one of the employees if she could put it on for me just so I could be sure and I got the stamp of approval from both her and my sister. And also me, too! Because that would have kind of sucked if I ended up hating this color! As soon as I wear this lipstick out, I will be sure to take a shameless selfie so that all of you can see it, too!

So there you have it, my First Sephora Purchase! What was the first thing that you bought at Sephora? What is your favorite Urban Decay lipstick shade? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr10

Monday Update: Sister’s Birthday Celebration Edition

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Monday Update: Sister’s Birthday Celebration Edition

Heyyy everyone and happy Monday! This past weekend was SO much fun because it was my sister, Kristen’s, 25th birthday! We had such a wonderful time celebrating and I was really happy because I got to spend her entire birthday with her. Kristen is unbearably hard to shop for, so for her birthday I decided to keep it simple and snag her some gift cards so that we could make a day out of using them. Which is exactly what we did!

I got Kristen a gift card to Sephora and to the nail salon that we go to, so we spent the afternoon girling out with pedicures and makeup shopping. Although I didn’t get a pedi because balling on a budget, I got to soak my nasty feet and sit in a massage chair while Kristen got pampered and we had so much fun chit chatting and laughing with all of our favorite nail techies. Kristen got the Hello Kitty pink polish that I recently got on my nails on her toes and it looked so freaking cute! I can’t say that about my feet, but I’m glad that her toesies are on point just in time for flip flop season!

After pedicures, we went to the mall to ultimately spend what felt like forever in Sephora. I have actually never spent that much time in there before and it was surprisingly really fun. We tried on different lipsticks and browsed through the aisles pointing out ridiculous eyeshadow or lip colors and figuring out the best way for her to spend her gift card. Kristen ended up getting a gorgeous new lipstick and an eyebrow pencil as well as a birthday gift from the store (a blush and lip gloss) and some freebies that she got from cashing in the points on her reward card.

Although I tried on some okay-ish lipsticks, I just ended up going with a tube of the Better Than Sex mascara. Kristen got it for me for Christmas this year and since I’ve ran out, no other mascara can compare, so it was a must to get another one! I was really happy because the gift card that I got her covered everything that she wanted and she also got some super nice freebies, so she walked away with an awesome Sephora birthday haul.

Once we were done shopping, I treated Kristen to coffee and then dropped her off at her apartment so that she could get ready for the evening festivities. Our night was a boozy celebration of going to get margaritas with her friends and then hitting the bars afterwards for some more alcohol related fun. AND I also got to ride in my first Uber, so that was really exciting, lol. THE DRIVER WAS SO NICE!! #ubereverywhere

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(The lovely lady in the second photo, Kelsey, will be featured on lifewithlilred soon so keep your eyes peeled!)

The day after Kristen’s birthday was spent nursing a very worthwhile hangover and celebrating at home with the family. I know I had a blast and it felt really good knowing that Kristen did, too, and I like to think that I helped make that possible! Now, I’m just excited for my birthday to roll around in June so that she can return the favor!

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Sister’s Birthday Celebration Edition! How did you celebrate your birthday this year? How did you spend your weekend? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah