#instablogger – Forty, Flirty & Fabulous

Taking a Break

Hi all! I hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I’m going to take a few months break from blogging. I’ve been having some issues with my site and I’ve decided to focus on my Instagram. I’ll decide at the end of the summer if I will start blogging again.

I will still come on and see what awesome content my favorite bloggers are creating! And please come visit me at fortyflirtyfab on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Leave a comment if you have an Instagram account and I will be happy to follow you!

Thanks for all the views, likes and comment over the almost twelve(!) years I’ve been blogging!

Ulta Fall Haul Mini Haul!

Hi All! I shopped the Ulta Fall Haul sale a couple of weeks ago. I usually go crazy on these, but I was extremely restrained this fall! I did do a large Ulta Fall 21 Days Of Beauty Haul — so I need to not go crazy on this sale!

Ulta has these haul sales twice a year — a Spring Haul and a Fall Haul. They follow the 21 Days of Beauty and focus on the drugstore or affordable half of the store. I usually love to stock up on my favorites and try new things!

Here’s what I got this fall:

Yes to Cucumbers Facial Wipes — I got this half off. I love these wipes. They are really nice for those with sensitive skin.

Skinfood Peach Sake Toner – I needed a new toner, and this one was 30% off. This smells amazing! Just like peaches and sake. This is a refreshing toner made with rice sake and peach extracts, rich in vitamins A and C, which minimize shine and the appearance of pores. The bottle is gorgeous frosted glass!

Milani Conceal + Perfect 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer — I’ve heard such great things about this foundation. I have tried it and like it. I chose a shade called Nude, which is a bit warm for me. But I mix it with a cooler foundation and it seems to work. I like the natural finish it gives!

The Body Shop Limited Edition Vanilla Pumpkin Body Butter — This luxe body butter is in special edition seasonal packaging inspired by the traditions of Central and South America’s Dia de los Muertos. The indulgently rich formula provides 24hr moisture, infused with Madagascan vanilla and the aroma of roasted pumpkins. This smells amazing! This was half off!

I’m really happy with my purchases. Did you pick up anything from the sale?

Right now until October 26th, Ulta has a 20% off everything coupon. So of course, I used my points that I’ve saved up. That haul is coming Monday and I will show you what I got! I will be doing separate reviews of some of the products I got as well, so stay tuned!

Beautyblender Essentials for Summer

Hi all! How’s your summer going? Mine is going well. It has cooled down a bit in Kansas City, which is so nice!

I was recently sent some amazing summer beauty products from Beautyblender for my honest review. I love this brand and the original Beautyblender is one of my favorite beauty tools!

RE-DEW Set & Refresh Spray ($30 USD) — This do-it-all mist refreshes makeup, extends versatility to existing formulas and easily adds a boost of hydration whenever needed. This has a very fine mist nozzle, and it doesn’t disturb makeup. I like how it blends my powders into my makeup so I look really natural.

The Original Beautblender ($20 USD) — Get a flawless blend with the award-winning, premier edgeless, reusable, high-definition cosmetic sponge applicator, in classic pink. The exclusive aqua-activated™ material provides an airbrushed application and absorbs minimal product, so your favorite formula lands on your complexion, not your sponge.

Selfie Shield™ Broad Spectrum SPF 38, Dry Oil Primer ($32 USD) — This totally invisible, quick-absorbing dry oil helps both protect and prep skin with no residue or cast–no matter your skin tone. The feel-good formula offers multi-spectrum protection from UVA, UVB and HEV (high energy visible) light to help fend off damage from both the sun and your tech devices. I love how quickly this absorbs in, but it also gives an extra layer of hydration when that helps when I wear a more matte foundation. It’s really nice under the BOUNCE foundation.

BOUNCE Liquid Whip Longwear Foundation ($40 USD) — Available in 40 blends. The shade above is what I’m wearing since I have a bit of a tan (I’m pretty fair normally) is 2.50. My normal shade is 1.50. This is full coverage. It’s not supposed to look heavy on, but I need to make sure I am well hydrated before I use it. I have combination skin. It does look very natural on when I am moisturized and use a light layer. It has a pretty soft matte finish.

Have you tried any of these Beautyblender products? What do you think?

Allure Beauty Box June 2019

Hi all! I just received my June Allure Beauty Box. The Allure Beauty Box is $15 a month. And you receive deluxe and some full size products. Not bad!

Here’s the June box:

Context Vitamin C All Day Eye Cream – Full Size $35
The BrowGal Eyebrow Pencil – Full Size $23
Floss. My New Favorite Lip Gloss in Clear – Full Size!
SGX NYC The-Do-It-All 3-In-1 Dry Texture Spray
Avene Thermal Spring Water
Moroccanoil Treatment Original

I think this is a pretty good box. I have already used the Moroccanoil and the Avene mist. They are both wonderful products.

I am also going to be trying out the eye cream. I haven’t tried anything from the brand Context before, but I am looking forward to using it.

I will probably also try the Floss lip gloss. Or I might give it away. And the BrowGal pencil is in Medium Brown and I have dark brown hair. I might give it a try.

The SGX NYC texture spray looks fun, but I might pass it along.

This is such an affordable box and it always introduces me to new brands, which I like! For the price, I use a good amount of the products and give away some. I do enjoy it!

Do you get Allure? Did you get the same products this month?

Ipsy Glam Bag Plus Review — June 2019

Hey all! It’s time for my June Ipsy Glam Bag Plus review! This is a subscription box that will always include 5 full-sized items. And the items included are mostly luxe or higher end items. This is such a great value for the high quality items included.

I have pretty much enjoyed this subscription. I usually only use a couple of the items I receive each month, so I’m not sure how long I will keep it.

Here’s what I received for June:

TRÈSTIQUE Matte Color & Shiny Balm Lip Crayon in Belize Bordeaux — $25
Suva Beauty Hydra Liner in Grease and Six Twenty Brush — $26 total
111SKIN Vitamin C Brightening Booster — $180
PÜR Big Look Mascara — $21
Tetris x Ipsy Palette in Block Party — $24

The total is $276. That’s mostly because of the 111Skin booster.

I enjoy PUR’s products, but I am very stocked up on mascara. I will add it to the pile or give it to one of my daughters.

The Trestique crayon and balm are way to dark for me. I don’t wear berry shades. I will be giving this to a friend.

This is a black cake liner. It’s dry, so you ad water to activate it. I don’t wear black liner, so I will give this away to my daughter.

Now this is a product I will use! On the 111Skin website, it states:

Now formulated with increased Vitamin C levels, this concentrated treatment targets signs of hyper pigmentation, age spots, and uneven skin tone. The booster utilises actives which are designed to inhibit tyrosinase production, both reducing and preventing discolouration.

You can mix this with moisturizer or use it alone like a serum. That’s probably how I will use it at night. Actually, I will try both ways. I’m looking forward to looking younger in a few weeks (I hope)!

This is an Ipsy collab with Tetris. Which is a little strange. This is a cute palette, but not something I will use. I have so much eyeshadow (and have splurged on a couple of new palettes as birthday gifts for me) I have a friend in mind who might like this.

So, I will be using one of the 5 products this month. Sigh. I’ve been trying to decide if I want to keep this box as I’m not very happy with it. I really like BoxyCharm more. My June BoxyLuxe box had of course more products, but I could grab out any 5 products and love them more than these.

I’ve decided to give it one more month to wow me. I’ve seen July spoilers for Pixi Beauty, Huda Beauty and Purlisse. So I hope I get the Pixi and Huda products, then I’ll be happy. But, I’ll probably get some weird makeup product I won’t use, LOL!

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Do you get Ipsy Glam Bag Plus? What did you get this month?

Beautyblender Celebrates Pride Month!

To celebrate PRIDE Month beautyblender.com is bringing back some of their favorite limited edition colors to show off how every blend is beautiful!

To help give you a reason to stock up, Beautyblender will be donating 10% of proceeds on all PRIDE products during the month of June on beautyblender.com (https://beautyblender.com/collections/pride)to benefit The Human Rights Campaign and LGBTQ causes.

This is such an important cause — celebrating diversity and inclusivity! I went to Kansas City Pridefest last weekend to support friends and family members and learned so much. Plus, I had a lot of fun!

Want to check out one of the newest beautyblenders? It’s a cheery bright yellow one called Joy:

Beautyblender_Joy_Catalog_Solo_23278_5000px — Beautyblender Joy

Beautyblender Joy ($20 USD) — Sun-kissed warmth on your shoulder, the hint of salt in the ocean air and the soft breeze– all the moments of pure bliss. Bring a little happiness in with the always sunny, Beautyblender Joy. The gorgeous lemon yellow hue is bound to bring a smile to your face. The same exclusive aqua-activated™ material as the original Beautyblender® , you’ll always get a flawless finish and unbeatable bounce.

There’s also a rainbow of choices that you can find here.

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Are you going to pick up any of these great beautyblenders to support Pride?

Shop My Stash — June 2019

Hi all! Happy June! It’s time for a new month and a new Shop My Stash! I’m always excited to play with new (again to me) products that I either haven’t used in a while or haven’t used much at all! My goal is to get more use out of the products I have and to see if they are something I want to keep.

June is my birthday month! So in honor of me (LOL), I’m choosing products that I really enjoy and haven’t used in a while.

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I have loved on all of these palettes! I wanted to choose some of my favorite products for my birthday month! Here’s more info on all of the products:

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This is the Too Faced Life’s a Festival palette that came out last spring. I love the shades in this! It’s so much fun! It’s mostly shimmers, but the next palette I chose has a lot of mattes and I can use them together. I love the shades in this and am looking forward to playing with it!

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I love Anastasia palettes! I have a few, and Soft Glam is one of my favorites. The shades will be perfect for bronzy, summer looks! And it will pair well with the Life’s a Festival palette.

IMG_E0889 IMG_E0888 I received this palette last year for review. It’s the Pixi Glow Cake in GildedBare Glow. This is nice all over, or the highlight, blush and

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To round off my Shop my Stash are two products from Colourpop! First is a collab with Kathleen Lights The Twins (I’m a Gemini!) Loose Pigment. It’s a gorgeous copper and pink duochrome. This will work with both of the palettes I’ve pulled this month.

The second is the So Juicy Plumping Gloss in Round About. These are fairly new, I’ve had this for a few months (same with the pigment), but I haven’t got a lot of use out of either of these gems yet!

Here are swatches of the pigment and lip gloss. Both really pretty for summer!

So these are the products I am playing with this month. I am ready for summer with bronzey and shimmery products! I’ll share at the end of the month how much use I got out of these products and how I enjoyed them.

I might be doing some shopping this month (since It’s almost my birthday!), but it’s still good to use a lot of my existing products.

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Are you doing a Shop My Stash this month? Are you on a low or no buy? Let me know how it’s going!

Brand Review — Lit Cosmetics

Hi all! I hope you had a great week. I’m ready for the weekend!

I recently received a credit to pick out some fun Lit Cosmetics products for my honest review. Lit Cosmetics offers one of the largest selection of glitter products sold in the market today. Check out what I chose to try:

The products I received are:

Lit Metal Kit in Risque + Gold ($28 USD)

Afternoon Delight Size #2 Glitter (Shimmer) ($16 USD)

Spring Flin Size #2 Glitter ($16 USD)

Glitter Camo “Commander in Glitter” (Silver) ($34 USD)

You can purchase Lit Cosmetics at http://www.litcosmetics.com.

This photo has the Glitter Camo open, you can see a closer pic below:

LIT COSMETICS, the authority in glitter has just launched GLITTER CAMO, a new single-step, aloe-based glitter product designed to highlight show-stopping facial looks and acts as a stunning body glitter.

The launch starts swith three shades:

Sergeant Sparkle – multi-sized rainbow shimmer with pink silica base

Commander in Glitter – multi-sized holographic silver with blue silica base

Major Gold – multi-sized gold glitter with silica base

I have Commander in Glitter. It’s so pretty. Great for festivals, going out, costumes, or if you just want to sparkle!

Spring Fling and Afternoon Delight are their size two glitters.

The lit kit includes A metallic eye shadow, a Daily Wear Glitter Base to adhere loose product to the eyes with ease and a the Mini Application Brush

The liquid base works so well with these loose glitters. I dip my brush in the liquid, then the glitter, and it creates almost a cream glitter eye shadow, or highlighter, whatever you want to use it for.

Swatches are below:

The first one is the Camo Glitter. It is blue and silver with various glitters.

I mixed the other 3 glitters/metallic with the mixing base to create a liquid. It makes it easier to swatch and easier to apply on eyes. All of these shades are so fun for spring and summer looks!

I’m really impressed with Lit Cosmetics! Their glitters are stunning and the new Glitter Camo is so much fun to use!

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Do you like to play with glitter makeup? What products do you like to use?

Shop My Stash — May 2019

Hi all! Happy May! It’s time for a new month and a new Shop My Stash! I’m always excited to play with new (again to me) products that I either haven’t used in a while or haven’t used much at all! My goal is to get more use out of the products I have and to see if they are something I want to keep.

As you can see, I haven’t used these much at all! I chose some brighter colors this month, along with some neutrals, of course! Here’s more info on all of the products:

This is the BH Cosmetics Festival Palette that came out last year. There’s a newer one out now, but I haven’t picked it up. I need to get some use out of this one! I only used it a few times last year and need to give it some love! I can do neutral as well as colorful looks with this, which I am happy about. But I am going to make myself dip into the colors!

IMG_E0649 IMG_E0650 I won the Morphe x Jaclyn Hill vault in a giveaway, and haven’t used the palettes much at all. This is the Armed and Gorgeous palette. I think the color scheme is pretty, and not usually what I wear. I usually go for pinks, browns and purples. The is very warm and it should be fun to try it out. Those golds and bronzes are calling to me!

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I purchased this Smashbox Cali Contour palette in the Ulta 21 Days of Beauty. I’ve been wanting it since last year, but I’m glad I waited because it was half off! I have used this a few times and really enjoy it. I can see using this every day!

These are the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Roach and the Julep Full Coverage Cream Lipstick in Pirouette. I haven’t been wearing eyeliners for well over a year. I usually use shadows on my lower lash and I only tightline my top lash line. I thought it might be time to try a liner again. this one is so creamy and I love the color!

I used to be a Julep Maven, but since they cancelled the subscription, I haven’t used much of their products. I found this in it’s box still and thought I would try it out. It’s a pretty mauve shade. Sorry for the blurry swatches! The left is the liner and right is the lipstick. We’ll see how I like them!

So these are the products I am playing with this month. It sure looks like I am ready for summer with such bright and shimmery shades! I’ll share at the end of the month how much use I got out of these products and how I enjoyed them. I’m going to try not to purchase much this month (Ulta has been taking my money with all of their sales), so I should be using a lot of my existing products. Plus, June is my birthday month, and I will probably treat myself then.

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Are you doing a Shop My Stash this month? Are you on a low or no buy? Let me know how it’s going!

Allure Beauty Box April (and March) 2019

Hi all! I recently resubscribed to Allure Beauty Box. I was subscribed a couple of years ago and decided to give it another go. They were advertising an amazing collaboration box with You Tuber Carli Bybel. Plus $5 off the first box and a free La Mer gift. So they got me!

The Allure Beauty Box is $15 a month. And you receive deluxe and some full size products. Not bad!

I actually received the March box a couple of weeks ago, and thought that’s what they sent instead of the April box. But I just got the April box, too and thought I’d share both.

I didn’t get all of the spoilers that were advertised, but I think it’s a pretty great box.

Here’s the April box:

Juvia’s Place Nubian Mini Limited Edition

Vita Liberata Phenomenal Tan Infused Towels (2 pack)

Briogeo Farewell Frizz Blow Dry Perfection & Heat Protectant Creme

LA Splash Cosmetics ART-KI-TEKT Slim Eyeliner Pen — Full Size

LUXIE 205 Tapered Blending Brush Rose Gold –Full Size

Natasha Denona Eye Shadow in Bronzage

I have tried Vita Liberata mousses before, but never the cloths. I will try these out and see how I like them.

I haven’t tried this Briogeo product before, but will definitely give it a go. I love heat protection products.

The Luxie Brush is very pretty and soft. I will use that. My daughters usually steal any liquid liners I get, but I might try this out before they find it. I don’t use a lot of liner, but I would like to see how this works.

The first shadow swatch is the Natasha Denona Bronzage, there is also a closer swatch of that below. I think it’s fun how well it goes with the Juvia’s Place palette.

This is my first time trying Juvia’s Place. It’s a cute, mini palette and will be really good for travel. I have tried it and make a complete look with it. It was very nice quality and blended out well.

Here’s a close up of the Natasha Denona Bronzeage. It’s sooooo pretty! I’ve tried it with some of my favorite neutral mattes in the crease and outer corner, and it looks so pretty all over the lid. I think this will be a go to for summer. It’s really soft and buttery, too. I want to buy a larger Natasha Denona palette, but they are very expensive. Maybe in the future…

Here is my March box. I’m not going to show close ups of all of the products, but here’s a group shot:

This is my March box with my La Mer free gift. I received:

Tarte Tarteist Quick Dry Matte Lip Paint in OG or Bestie – FULL SIZE! Retail Value $20

The BrowGal Instant Brow Gel

Wander Beauty Mascara – FULL SIZE (Retail Value $24)

Acure Seriously Soothing Blue Tansy Oil

Mamonde Rose Water Toner

ModelCo Metallic Eyeshadow Trio in Mykonos

Amika Soulfood Nourishing Mask

I think this is a very good box. Even though I wasn’t expecting it, I’m glad I got it. I’ll use everything except for maybe the ModelCo palette and the brow gel is not in my color. I’ll try everything else.

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Do you get Allure? What was in your April box?