Makeup Haul & Reviews (Ulta & Sephora)

It’s kind of hard to believe that I’ve been home from our roadtrip for well over a month and I haven’t shared my hauls from Sephora and Ulta yet….but as they say, better late than never right?

The good thing is I have basically been using these the majority of these products for over a month – so not only can I share what I picked up, I can tell you if they were worth the cash too!

Ulta

What I bought

Lorac Pro Palette: I knew I wanted a Lorac palette for sure but I was iffy on which one.  Originally I was considering the Pro 3, but once I saw the palettes in person I knew the original was the one for me.  I am beyond pleased with this purchase, so much so that I think it deserves it’s very own post.  So I’m going to try and put that together sometime in the next month or so but the Coles notes version is that I absolutely love it.

IT Brushes for Ulta Your Beautiful Basics Airbrush 101 5 Pc Getting Started Brush Set: I knew I wanted to add to my IT Cosmetics brush collection and I spent a lot of time checking out the many options they had.  I landed on this one that included powder, foundation, concealer, shadow and crease brushes and overall I’m pretty happy with it.  The face brushes are awesome – I’ve basically been using the foundation and concealer brushes on the daily.  The eye brushes are equally as nice but my least favourite of the bunch as I find them a little large.  For example, the crease brush is really densely packed and dome-shaped and I find that makes blending precisely a little difficult; in addition I find the shadow brush pretty wide so it works best as an all-over shadow brush .  Overall though these are of the quality I expect from IT Cosmetics.

Tarte Shape Tape Concealer (Light): This was not on my list but I ran out of concealer on our trip and I needed some in the worst way.  I spotted this and remembered hearing pretty positive things about so I figured I’d give it a try.  OMG – this is the most amazing concealer I’ve ever used!  It packs some serious coverage but leaves me with a very natural, skin-like finish.  It also blends like an absolute dream!  The shade I picked up (Light) is a good under-eye shade but probably a little light for spot concealing.  The only downfall?  To my knowledge this is only available at Ulta and Tarte’s website so I’m going to need to place an online order when I need a refill.  I love it so much that I’m willing to pay for shipping, exchange, duty – whatever it takes.  Highly recommended!

IT Cosmetics Superhero Mascara: Ulta blows Sephora out of the water when it comes to their travel sized/sample section – they had so many to choose from!  I spent a good chunk of time just searching through them all and this was one that I left with.  It was a good choice because this is a great mascara!  The formula reminds me a lot of Benefit’s Roller Lash (which I like) but it builds a lot more volume and thickness.  I’m definitely going to be tempted to pick up the full size of this.

Sunbum Lipbalm (Banana):  I always bring my Sunbum lip balm with me whenever I travel…except for this time.  So I picked up another one, this time in the scent Banana.  It smells so good and I can’t decide if I prefer it or the Coconut scent – they both smell delicious enough to eat!

Samples

Lorac Alter Ego Lip Gloss (Goddess): I didn’t even know that Lorac made lip gloss – do you ever hear anyone talking about them?  Perhaps because matte lips are still a thing – but I’ll take a gloss over a liquid lipstick any day.  This gloss has a really nice silky smooth formula that isn’t the least bit sticky.  And the colour is right up my alley.

Lorac Tantalizer Body Bronzing Luminizer:  I always find self-tanner samples so useless – especially when they’re in these foil packages.  I’ll be lucky if this did one leg.  I haven’t used it yet and I might not, I’m not a big self-tanner anyway.

If you read my What Should I Buy at Ulta post you’ll notice I didn’t get everything I intended; let’s chat about what I didn’t get and why:

What I didn’t buy

Laura Geller Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator (Guilded Honey): The Ulta I visited was sold out of Guilded Honey; they had a couple other shades but neither of them interested me so I didn’t bother with them.  I was pretty disappointed about this but I’ll be in the US again before the end of the year so I’m hoping I can track one down then.

Soap & Glory Heel Genius: I actually spotted this at my local Shopper’s Drug Mart before I left so I didn’t see the point in paying the extra cost for exchange for it.

Makeup Revolution Vivid Shimmer Brick: I decided in store that I might as well wait to pick up any Makeup Revolution products at home as London Drugs has started carrying the line.  Well, guess what?  The London Drugs locations near me are only carrying pieces of the line, not the full line.  And I haven’t seen this in-store anywhere.  *sob*

Mally’s Must Haves Collection: This set was no where to be found at the Ulta I visited (they seemed to be sold out of a lot of things unfortunately).

Escada Aqua Del Sol: I completely forgot about this and I’m so mad at myself for it as I can’t get it here.  The only good thing its definitely more of a summer scent so I wouldn’t be wearing it now anyway.

Sephora

I also picked up a few things at Sephora, against my better judgement:

Sephora Almond Foot Mask: After all the walking and hiking we did my feet were in some kind of state.  In hindsight I should have brought some foot cream with me so in lieu I picked up one of these.  I’m happy to report that it totally helped!  My feet were definitely softer and smoother afterwards and they felt very refreshed.  I wouldn’t buy these regularly but they’re a nice little treat if you’re in between pedicures or wanting to up your at-home pedi experience.

Cinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner Pro Starter Kit: I’ll admit, this is one of those You-tube made me buy it purchases.  Everyone and their dog raves about this stuff and I wasn’t willing to commit to the big daddy bottle.  So this little starter kit was a perfect way to give it a try.  I gotta say I’m not blown away by it.  It definitely works – my brushes were squeaky clean after using this so I can’t deny it of it’s claims.  However I just have this paranoia that this is going to destroy my brushes somehow.  I see the appeal for makeup artists but I think I’ll stick with cleaning my brushes on a regular basis instead.

ItsSkin Cookie & Body Ice Cream: This was in the danger zone (you know that area right near the checkouts) along with the lip balm and as soon as I took a whiff of it I was sold.  It not only smells like cookies and cream ice cream, it looks like it, so much so that I originally I thought this was a body scrub.  I’ve been using it for a while now and I like it – it smells delish and it makes my skin super soft and smooth.  The only thing that I’m not crazy about?  Those little black specks that look like the crushed cookie actually leave black streaks on my skin unless I rub it in well.  It’s kind of weird actually.

ItsSkin Macaron Lip Balm (Grape): I’m such a sucker for cheesy packaging and products that smell like food.  And this drew me in because I LOVE grape-scented/flavoured stuff but there is a severe shortage of it.  Grape is a fantastic scent – why are there not more grape-scented products?  I don’t really know why I bought this because I honestly kind of hate lip balm in tubs that you have to apply with your finger.  And I don’t really find it all that moisturizing.  But the scent is great and takes me back to my childhood for some reason – it smells slightly synthetic but still good if you know what I mean?  I probably won’t repurchase but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Samples/Point Perks:

YSL Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils: This is my second sample of this mascara – I really like it as a base for other mascaras as it adds ridiculous length to my lashes.

Kat Von D Beauty Addiction Point Perk: I always get sucked into these 500 point perk sets because it just seems like I’m getting so much more for my hard-earned points, even though I don’t think that’s really the case.   I was also running low on liquid liner (I packed really well for this trip if you haven’t caught that yet) and this set included 2 mini liners so I figured it was something I would actually use.  It also included two lip colours and although they looked a little bold for my taste, I figured Fall was coming and maybe I’d branch out a bit.

I was right about the lip colours – they are extremely bold and I probably won’t wear them.  Vampira is very vampy but surprisingly I kind of like the formula of this liquid lipstick – it didn’t seem all that drying.  The studded kiss lipstick is a more wearable colour on me but I find it exceptionally drying.  So those were both fails.

The liners saved the day though!  I absolutely love Mad Max Brown – it’s a great alternative to a black liquid liner – it just looks less harsh, especially because I’m so pale.  But when I want to wear Black, Trooper is fantastic as well, it’s very pigmented and smooth.  I have tried the tattoo liner before and I did not care for it at all – I found it dragged on me like crazy.  I didn’t seem to have that problem with either of these so that made me happy!

And that wraps up my haul!  I so wish I could have spent more at Ulta but when I saw the exchange rate on my credit card I wasn’t feeling too regretful.  I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to return to Ulta someday, ideally when the exchange rate isn’t so brutal.

Have you tried any of these products?  If so, let me know your thoughts on them below!

Thanks for stopping by!