So my birthday was last week (Feb 28) and I went on a shopping spree, primarily for makeup. So between Ulta, Sephora, and the Dior counter at Lord & Taylor I replaced almost every one of my staple makeup items. I've used all of them since I bought them and I've got to say, high end is so much better. I've linked all of the products in the descriptions so you can check them out for yourselves!


So my first stop was Ulta and I picked up two things. The first thing was the Bare Minerals Mineral Veil translucent powder. I have previously been using Physician's Formula translucent powder and I definitely see a big difference between these two products. The Bare Minerals powder is a lot lighter than the Physician's Formula. It's also a lot more sheer and has more of a velvety finish. I mainly use powder to set my under eye concealer, and sometimes to blend my blush and bronzer if I put on too much, and you can't even tell that I have any on as opposed to Physician's Formula which can get a little bit cakey. A very little bit goes a long way. I absolutely love this powder.


The next thing I bought from Ulta was Urban Decay's Naked palette. I've had my eye on this for months and it did not disappoint me. The colors are so pigmented and velvety and very easy to blend. I've finally been able to achieve the perfect nude smokey eye. I am obsessed with this palette. I'll probably post some tutorials soon! I'm definitely going to be repurchasing and I think I'm going to get the Naked 3 palette because I'm a sucker for all of those pink shades!

The Urban Decay palette also came with their Eyeshadow Primer Potion. I was really excited to try this because I'm just about out of my ELF Eyelid Primer and the bottle was really cute. The Urban Decay primer goes on a lot thinner and wetter than the ELF primer. I was worried at first that it wouldn't dry enough to hold the eyeshadow in place all day but everything was still intact when I went to remove my makeup at the end of the day. It's a pretty good primer but I'll probably stick with ELF just because it's so much cheaper.











Once I was finished at Ulta I was off to Sephora. I entered the store with two things in mind: NARS blush and bronzer. I'd heard so much about how amazing these products are and I was not disappointed. I'm relatively fair skinned and I like blushes that are primarily pink with some peach hues. Every review I'd read about the NARS blushes said that Orgasm was the best shade so that was the first one I went for. It is an absolutely gorgeous color. I had looked at the pictures on the Sephora website and thought the color looked a little too orange but it is much more pink in person. I also checked out Super Orgasm (which was WAY too glittery) and Deep Throat (which was too matte) because they're the shades most similar to Orgasm. In the end I decided Orgasm was the best one for me. It's also extremely pigmented so a little bit goes a long way. Ultimately, NARS Orgasm is the perfect shade for me and I will definitely be repurchasing.

So after I picked out my blush, I moved onto the bronzers. NARS makes three shades of bronzers: Laguna, Irresitiblement, and Casino. I went into the store hesitantly leaning toward Laguna because that shade got the best reviews but the pictures online were a little bit dark. When I found it, the sample tray for Laguna was completely empty. There was nothing left. They actually didn't have either of the other two shades in the store so I didn't get to see them. However, I purchased Laguna and it is absolutely the perfect shade for me. I use it for contouring my cheekbones and blend it up into my blush so I don't get any harsh lines. It is extremely pigmented and looks beautiful paired with Orgasm. I will definitely be repurchasing this one as well!


My last stop was the Dior counter at Lord & Taylor. After some browsing I ended up buying the DiorSkin Nude BB Creme in shade 001. This is quickly going to become my holy grail BB Creme. The first thing I noticed was that it smells really nice. I don't know how to describe it but it has a very pleasant scent. I use two pumps on the back of my hand and blend it onto my face with a flat topped brush. It feels so smooth and velvety and it doesn't even look like I'm wearing anything. It actually has pretty good coverage and builds up nicely in the spots where I need a little more coverage. It makes my skin look radiant and paired with the Bare Minerals Mineral Veil I feel like a goddess.



I also ordered the Basic Face Kit brush set from Sigma Beauty so I'll post a review on those once I get them in the mail!

Hope you enjoyed!