#maccosmetics – Forty, Flirty & Fabulous

April 2020 Beauty Favorites

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

Below are my beauty faves for April. As usual, If I have reviewed them before, I will include the link, if not, I will link to where you can purchase:

I had a pretty good mix of skincare and makeup this month. I have been wearing a lot of makeup, because I have been doing a palette a day challenge on Instagram (fortyflirtyfab) where I used a different palette each day. It’s been fun and exhausting! I will be posting my final update soon.

Here’s a close up of the eyeshadow and face palette:

The face palette it the PUR x Trolls World Tour Top of the Charts Face Trio. It’s very fun to use. The blush is my favorite as it really brightens my sad, pale face. LOL!

The Natasha Denona Mini Retro Eyeshadow Palette is fairly new, but I want to include it because it’s amazing! So pretty! I haven’t reviewed it yet, but I’m bringing back my 20 in 2020 palette reviews next month and will be reviewing it soon!

I received the L’Oreal Bambi Eye Mascara and the MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish Highlighter in Double-Gleam in a giveaway from Youtuber Jessica Braun (she’s fantastic). Both of these are amazing. The MAC highlighter is natural and so pretty on and the mascara separates and lengthens my lashes. Love!

I picked up the Tarte Travel Size Timeless Smoothing Primer in my fall Ulta Points Haul. I just started using it, because I finished the pore filling primer I was using. I do love this. It works very well. I might have to pick up the full size eventually.

I received the Cure Natural Aqua Gel to review on Instagram. It’s a peeling gel, so you apply it to your skin, let it sit for a minute, then rub your face. The dry skin balls up and rinses away. It exfoliates it off and leaves skin soft and smooth.

Derma E is one of my favorite skincare brands. The products are affordable and so effective. This is the Skin Restore Advanced Peptides and Collagen Serum. I ran out of my neck cream and have been using this to firm my skin. It’s so lovely. It feels amazing on and does firm my skin.

This is the second bottle (first full size) of the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer I’ve had. I received it in my December Boxycharm. I love using it in the morning under makeup.

I can’t believe it’s almost May. I hope you had a great month at home, and that May is better for us all!

Ulta 21 Days of Beauty Haul

Hi all! Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going well and that you are staying safe.

Today I have a little Ulta Haul. I purchased a couple of things from the current 21 Days of Beauty sale and a few other fun products. I’m not purchasing as much from the sale as I usually do. It’s because honestly I don’t need a lot of makeup and I’m trying to use some up.

I haven’t done a lot of hauls this year, so it’s exciting to get some new makeup! Here’s more information on the items I picked up:

From the sale I got the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown and the MAC Cosmetics Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Face Powder in Light. I haven’t tried either of these before, so I’m excited to test them out!

Here’s a close up of the powder:

This is a slow-baked domed face powder with low-level pearlized pigments that provide a dimensional yet natural-satin finish. Can be used to set foundation and to touch-up makeup throughout the day.

I’m really loving this so far. It sets my makeup without leaving my skin looking dry or cakey.

I finally picked up an Elf Cosmetics Bite Size Eyeshadow Palette in Rose Water. These are so cute! I love the pink tones in this cute little guy. Here’s swatches:

I really like both shimmers. The mattes are nice, too! I want to pick up a couple more of these, but the shades I want are often out of stock. I’ll wait — they are only $3 each!

I saw that a YouTuber I like, Emily Noel, purchased the EcoTools Scented Soap Roses and they looked so pretty that I had to pick them up. They smell so nice!

I am a big fan of the Yes To facial wipes, so I wanted to try out the Watermelon Super Fresh ones. They smell amazing, too!

Have you picked up anything from the sale or are you planning on getting anything?

Shop My Stash February 2020 Results and Monthly Empties

Hi All! Happy Saturday! I’m back with my February Shop My Stash results! I enjoy dipping into my collection and using products I haven’t used in a long time, or just haven’t given much of a chance.

My rule with this is if I don’t like the item after the month, I will move it out of my collection to make some room and let someone else enjoy it! You can check out my first Shop My Stash post for February.

February may be a short month, but I did get lots of use out of most of these products! The shades were perfect for February and I enjoyed using them!

I made sure to use every shade of the ABH x Carli Bybel palette. I really have enjoyed testing it out more. It’s a good palette. The mattes blend well and I really love a few of the shimmers. I do wish that most of the shimmers didn’t have glitter in them, but they are pretty nonetheless. I also still think Jode and OA are so similar and I wish they both weren’t in the palette. But, I can make some nice everyday looks with this and will be keeping it.

The formula of the Dose of Colors Eyeshadow Palette in Marvelous Mauves is so creamy and pigmented! This is a really gorgeous matte palette. I wore it alone and with shimmers from the Carli Bybel palette (especially Aura). I like this alot and will be keeping it.

I wore the blush and highlighter many times this month. They are the Nanacoco HD Pressed Blush in Shimmery Dusty Rose and the Makeup Geek Highlighter in Lit. They are beautiful together! I love them both and are keeping them both!

The Milani Keep It Full Nourishing Lip Plumper in Soft Rose is pretty, but it’s darker and more pigmented than I usually like in a gloss. I’m going to keep it for now and we’ll see if I reach for it.

On to my empties:

I had ten empties this month! Mostly skincare and body care.

I already have backups of the Pixi Retinol Jasmine Cleanser and the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer. I love both of those products! Products I would repurchase are the MAC Fix+ (this was coconut scented), the Farmacy Honeymoon Glow and the StriVectin Peptight.

I got the QMS eye cream from a Boxycharm and liked it. It’s very expensive, though, so I wouldn’t purchase it again. The Julep Boost Your Radiance Oil is nice, but I haven’t purchased from them in a while, since they ended their Maven program. And the rest of the products were from my The Body Shop Advent Calendar. I loved them and might be purchasing them in the future!

Another successful Shop My Stash on the books! I had so much fun with these products and am looking forward to a new batch of makeup in March!

Do you shop your stash or have a project pan going on? I will be doing my first quarter project pan update at the end of March.

Shop My Stash January 2020 Results and Monthly Empties

Hi All! Happy Saturday! I’m back with my January Shop My Stash results! I enjoy dipping into my collection and using products I haven’t used in a long time, or just haven’t given much of a chance.

I’ve had a lot of fun playing with these products this month! And I have decided to keep all of these products for now.

The Colourpop blush and Milani blusher are both amazing products! They are still fairly new to me, but I now have a good idea of how they perform, and I love them.

I’ve found that I don’t really wear lipstick any more, just liner and gloss. I did wear my MAC Creme in Your Coffee lipstick once or twice. It is nice and I’ll keep it, but I now want to go through my lipsticks and get rid of most of them. I did a pretty big declutter last year of my makeup, but I really want to pair it down to just what I use. Would you be interested in seeing that on my blog?

I used this palette a lot this month! I tried every shade. I’ve found that I like it okay. Many of the shades have to be built up, especially the shimmers. I am okay with building up mattes, but I like my shimmers to be soft and very blingy. I do like the variety of the shades and I made a lot of varied looks with it. I think I’ll keep it for now, but I might pass it on when I declutter.

Urban Decay On The Run palette in Detour – I really love this palette. It’s the opposite of the Emily Edit palette in that it’s very pigmented and easy to use. The shimmers, especially Dash, are creamy and are very blingy! And the mattes are so easy to blend.I am very happy to keep this in my collection.

On to my empties:

I had a lot more empties than I thought I would this month, but I have been trying to go through my products more. So I’m proud of these.

For skincare, I finished the PIXI Jasmine Oil and the PIXI Collagen & Retinol Serum. I’ve had the Jasmine oil for a while, but I concentrated on using it the last few months. I love the scent. I also liked the serum, which was unscented, but I don’t know if it did much to my skin. The Glow Recipe Pineapple Bright Serum was very scented like extremely ripe pineapple. I didn’t care for the scent but I loved the serum to brighten my skin. I would repurchase the PIXI Jasmine oil and the Glow Recipe.

The Laneige Choco Mint lip mask was amazing! I got it in a holiday set with a full size of the berry and another little one. I use the lip mask every day. And I will continue to repurchase them so I always have one on hand. I also used up the Body Shop Fall For Pumpkin body butter I purchased in October and two hand creams, Juicy Pear and Mango, from my The Body Shop advent calendar.

For Makeup, I finally used up the Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer. I’ve had it for about 18 months and have been working on using it up. It’s okay. It works fine, but was really expensive. I don’t know if I’ll purchase again in the future. I also finished my L’Oreal Lash Paradise primer, a deluxe size of the Too Faced Damn Girl Mascara and the Pop Beauty lip liner. I would purchase the lip liner again, I loved it.

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I had fun playing with the products in my Shop My Stash last month. I’ll be posting my new one hopefully tomorrow.

Shop My Stash — January 2020

Hi all! It’s time for my first Shop my Stash of 2020!

I’m always excited to play with new (again to me) color cosmetics 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.

This month I have chosen two palettes that I have barely used and a blush, bronzer and lipstick that I just purchased in the Black Friday sales. I usually don’t choose brand new (to me) products, but I really want to try these out.

Here are the palettes open:

So many pretty shades to play with! I have already used them today and loved playing with something I haven’t tried in a while.

Here are close ups of the products:

Makeup Revolution The Emily Edit The Wants Palette— I purchased this in June of 2019 (on sale at Ulta), and I haven’t used it since summer. Most of my palettes have less shades then this, so it’s a little intimidating when I open it. I used it today and I kept adding different colors of shimmer on my lid (Cupcake, Top Story, Eve Rose and Pizzaz). They do all work together, but I need to calm down and know that I can use some shades for other looks this month, lol! Do you have that problem with larger palettes?

Urban Decay On The Run palette in Detour — This is such a pretty little palette. And the blues definitely give me winter vibes. I received this from Urban Decay in 2019 and am exited to play with it. The formula is gorgeous.

Colourpop Pressed Powder Blush in Enchanted — This warm pink blush is so fresh and pretty on. It works so well with cool and warm looks. It’s a more matte blush, but that’s what I currently like.

Milani Silky Matte Bronzing Powder in 01 Sun Light — I also love matte bronzers. This one is new to me and very light. But, I can build it up and it’s so soft and natural on. This is perfect for the winter when I am more fair.

I wear lipgloss more than lipstick, but I have bought a few lipsticks last year that I need to use. This is the MAC Lipstick in the Cremesheen formula. The shade is Creme in Your Coffee— a creamy mid-tone pink brown. I love hydrating lip formulas and this one is very nice. I’m looking forward to using it!

Here are swatches of the bronzer, lipstick and blush.

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I’m so exited for this month, and this year! I’m hoping to use more of my stash, and purchase less. I’m also doing a new series that I will be starting soon — I will be reviewing 20 of my palettes this year that I haven’t reviewed yet. And I might do a Project Pan. I’m still thinking about that.

Are you planning to use what you got this year — or is it spend, spend, spend (like I did last year)? LOL! Let me know!

Ulta 21 Days of Beauty — Fall 2019 Haul

Hi all! 21 Days of Beauty is now over — so sad! I did enjoy shopping over the last three weeks stocking up for fall.

As I gathered everything I purchased, I realized I got much more than I did in the spring. I picked up items I wanted to try and items for an upcoming Instagram giveaway. It’s hard to pass up such great deals! And, I have purchased great drugstore items from Ulta’s Fall Haul this week and will probably pick a few up next week, too!

I love shopping at Ulta this time of the year, and I have been racking up the points! I will probably do a points haul at the end of the year.

I picked up:

Benefit Cosmetics Precisely My Brow Pencil Ultra-Fine Shape & Define

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm

Clinique Moisture Surge 72 Hour Auto-Replenishing Hydrator — 1 oz

Kylie Cosmetics Bare Velvet Lip Kit

Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Cucumber and Green Tea

Mario Badescu Facial Spray With Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater

Urban Decay Online Only Travel Size Summer Solstice All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray

Origins Fresh-Faced Faves Set

Kopari Coconut Lip Glossy in Clear

Too Faced Natural Face Highlight, Blush and Bronzing Veil Face Palette

MAC Cosmetics Lipstick Cream in Creme In Your Coffee

The items I’m most excited to use are the Benefit Precisely My Brow, the Origins set because it has a full sized eye cream and the Kopari Lip Glossy. A lot of this will go in my giveaway. I haven’t decided if I’m going to keep the Too Faced palette. It is so pretty!

Did you pick up anything during the sale?

Shop My Stash July 2019 Results and Monthly Empties

Hi All! I’m back with my July Shop My Stash results! I enjoy dipping into my collection and using products I haven’t used in a long time, or just haven’t given much of a chance.

One product is already gone. The Colourpop Super Shock Cheek in Spoon was waaay to glittery for me. I tried it once and gave it away.

On the other hand, I used the heck out of the Buxom Lip Creams! I wore one with a lip liner almost every day! I still have a ways to go to use them up, but I want to use them up by the end of the year. I will be keeping these!

Here’s photos with the palettes open:

The Maybelline Lemonade Craze palette was my most used palette this month. I forgot how good it is! My favorite shade is Strawberry Lemonade because it is so shimmery dry, but very metallic wet! My least favorite is Main Squeeze because it’s so glittery. I wore it once and had glitter fall out all over my face. I guess you can use a glitter glue with it, but I don’t like to bother with it.

I am definitely keeping this palette because you can make so many different looks with it!

This is the Alamar Cosmetics Reina Del Caribe Vol.1 Eyeshadow Palette.

I got this last summer. I haven’t used it a lot before this. I used it a few times this months and I like it. The top four shades seem very summery and the bottom four are very fall-ish. The shades I used the most are Coco-taxi and La Costa. When I did use this I paired it with the Lemonade Craze palette.

Since I didn’t reach for it a lot, I don’t know if I will keep it. I might try using it in the fall and see if I use it more.

On to my July Empties:

I think this is the most empties I’ve had for one month! I’m pretty proud that I have used all of these up!

My favorite products here that I will repurchase when needed are the Mamonde rose toner, the Beauty Bakerie powder, the MAC fix+, the Urban Decay All Nighter spray and the L’Oreal Unlimited Length and Lift Mascara. They are all amazing products!

I won’t repurchase the Andalou face wipes or the Colourpop mascara. Neither of these products impressed me. The wipes didn’t really remove all of my makeup and the Colourpop mascara was so thick and goopy. And it made such a mess when I removed it.

The other products were all very good and I may repurchase if I run out of skincare. I have a lot now I am using and testing out, so I shouldn’t have to purchase new skincare for the rest of the year! LOL! I’m getting more in for review, too.

This was a really successful month for my Shop my Stash and for empties. I really used most of the products a bunch and I had a lot of empties.

Do you do a Shop my Stash? How’s it going?

July 2019 Beauty Favorites

Hi all! It’s almost August, which means it’s time for my July favorites!

Below are my beauty faves for July. As usual, If I have reviewed them before, I will include the link, if not, I will link to where you can purchase:

Like last month, I don’t have a lot of color cosmetic favorites. I’ve been really into trying out new skincare.

In my last month’s faves, four of the products were from my June BoxyLuxe. It was such an amazing box! None of these products are from my July subscription boxes. I did like some of my Ipsy Glam Bag Plus this month and couple of Boxycharm products. I am still testing them out, so maybe we’ll see them in my next month’s favorites.

These have been my favorite skincare this month. Two are from Skin&Co Roma. I reviewed them here. The Whipped Cleansing Cream is amazing! My skin instantly looks smoother after washing. I’ve never had a cleanser improve the appearance of my skin before. I also love the serum. It’s creamy and sinks right into the skin. It also instantly hydrates and I love it!

You can purchase Skin&Co Roma items here, and by using my code LORENA20, you’ll get 20% off your purchase! It is an affiliate code, so I will get something if you do buy!

I also reviewed the DHC Urumai Cream this month. It’s a beautiful hydrating cream that I love to use at night. It hydrates all night and when I wake up my skin is soft and glowing.

I purchased some The Ordinary skincare from Ulta a few weeks ago. This is my first time trying products from this brand and I am enjoying them! I’m especially loving the Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5. At first I thought it might be breaking me out, but it wasn’t. It’s very hydrating, but a little sticky, so I apply it after toner and layer on other serums (like the Skin&Co Roma one above) so I don’t have sticky skin when I go to bed. It really helps in hydrating and plumping up my skin.

These products are a bit more makeup-y. I purchased the MAC Prep + Prime Fix+ in Creamy Coconut during the Ulta 21 Days of beauty spring sale this year. I love purchasing staples like sprays. primers and powders during the sale. This was half off! I started using it when I ran out of my regular Fix+. It works the same, it just has a soft coconut scent.

I got the NYX Pore Filler primer last year. I just used up my Cover FX pore filling primer so I’m giving this a go. It works pretty well to fill in my pores. I use a more hydrating primer, then this one in my t-zone.

My favorite recent purchase is the PÜR 4-In-1 Love Your Selfie Longwear Foundation & Concealer. I haven’t reviewed this yet, but I might do a review soon. Would you like to see that? I can say that this foundation works so well for me. It is full coverage, but melts into the skin and looks so natural on. The shade I have is LP4. It’s a little light for me now, because I have a bit of a tan, but will work will for fall and winter.

My Buxom Lip Creams are in my Shop My Stash for July. This is the shade Hot Toddy. I have been wearing them a lot, especially this shade. They are so shiny and just a little bit tingley.

Last but not least is a fun new palette. My friend Angie gave me a gift card to Ulta for my birthday, and I picked this up! It’s the Tarte Unleashed Eyeshadow Palette. I love the shades in these — the names are so fun! And it smells amazing!

Have you tried any of these? What products have you been loving in July?

BoxyCharm Subscription Box Review — April 2018

My April BoxyCharm finally arrived. It was supposed to be here last week, but stopped moving on Friday. I got it yesterday and I was so happy!

Boxycharm is just $21 a month for 5-6 beauty items, most of them full-sized.

Here is what I received:

BrowGal Instatint Eyebrow Gel in Light Hair 03
slmiss glam shadow brush duo
Dr. Brandt- Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner Purifying Mask
MAC Liptensity Lipstick in Burnt Violet
ColourPop Element of Surprise Palette (Subscribers will receive 1 of 5 ColourPop palettes)

I am so happy with this box — even though I will probably only use two or three of the items. Spoilers were released saying that we would get 1 of 5 variations of the ColourPop palette. I have 3 of the 5 that were shown, so I thought for sure I would receive one I had, but I got a new one (to me)! And I really wanted the Element of Surprise!
Lets start with that:

First of all, I love the color purple. The packaging on this is stunning! This is a pretty neutral palette with a couple of pops of color and a couple of shimmers/glitters. I think this will be amazing for all seasons. I will do a palette review of this sometime — I’ll just add it to the pile of palettes I need to review!

This is the other item I was really excited about. I’ve used them once and like them okay, they are a little larger than the blending and shadow brushes I usually use. I need to play with them more. They are beautiful! I love the colors and the little gems. The brushes are P15, eyes shadow brush (pink) and the L34 Blend Beauty (purple). The handles also say BoxyCharm, so they must be a collaboration.

I’m not sure about this. I do have larger pores, but I think its due to aging. And my pores are always larger during allergy season, so I don’t know if I want to mess with them. We’ll see. I might sell this on eBay.

This brand gets really good reviews. But I can’t use this. My brows are so dark their almost black. I will pass it on to my daughter who is blond. She will love it!

I have no idea what to do with this! I found out a couple of months ago that we were getting MAC in a future box and I was so excited. The issue is that I wear nude or light pink lip colors. Plus, I don’t know who I could give this to — I don’t have any friends wh like Gothic purple lips! Lol! I’m sure someone could rock this, so I might sell it on eBay.

Next month the spoiler brands are Pretty Vulgar, Cover FX and Pur Cosmetics. I like all of those brands. The Pretty Vulgar is a pot of cream or gel eyeliner. It’s super cute packaging. I haven’t heard of the others yet, so we’ll see. I think I’ll stay with BoxyCharm at least one more month. Honestly, even thought it’s always an amazing value, I only use one or two of the products I get each month.

Do you subscribe to BoxyCharm? What palette did you get this month?

September 2017 Boxycharm Review

I received my September BoxyCharm and am so excited! This is my second month (you can see my August Boxycharm review here). It’s definitely one of my favorite beauty boxes and is worth the $21 per month!

Boxycharm contains 5-6 beauty items, most of them full-sized. It ships to the US and Canada.

This month, I received:

PUR Cosmetics Soiree Diaries Eyeshadow Palette – $34

ColourPop Ultra Satin Lip in Littlestitious – $6

MAC Cosmetics Eyebrow Pencil in Spiked – $18

Studio Makeup Luminous Loose Blush – $35

bareMinerals Perfecting Face Brush – $28

Briogeo Don’t Despair Repair Hair Mask – 2 oz $18

This is a gorgeous warm and cool toned neutral palette. The first row are mattes, the second are satins and the third, shimmers.

I have been using this for the past couple of days and I really like it. There’s a little kick up in the pan, but not a lot. They suggest using each vertical row of three for a complete eye look. I haven’t yet, but that’s a good suggestion. So far, I really love Private Party, Gala and Stunner. The glitters are nice when applied with my finger, but don’t show up well if I apply them with my brush. They are so pretty, though!

Swatches can be found at the end of this post of all the colored makeup I received.

Colourpop’s Ultra Satin Lip is my favorite formula of theirs. I have a Colourpop haul review coming up next week with more of these lovelies!

The texture of the is creamy and it applies very evenly. It dries down a bit to a semi-matte, but stays hydrating all day. This color is so pretty. It’s described on the Colourpop website as dusty pinky purple, but it stains my lips a pretty berry color. Love!

The MAC Eye Brow pencil is in the shade Spike, a rich brunette. It is listed as self-propelling and self-sharpening. I had to press down hard to get the swatch below. I haven’t tried it on my brows yet, but I hope it works better on hair. The color matches my dark brown hair, which is nice.

The Studio Makeup blush is in a pretty peachy-pink color. There is a lot of blush in the container. I swatched it below. It’s fairly matte with a little shimmer. I may give it away because I switch to a darker blush in the fall, but we’ll see.

I have been wanting to try this brush for a while! It has a fluid reservoir (hole) in the middle to put foundation in. Then buff the brush on the face to blend in the foundation. I’ve tried it already and it works really well!

The Briogeo mask is a “weekly treatment to restore essential hydration and enhance hair’s resilience and strength.” I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope it works well!

This month’s Boxycharm was a big win for me! I’ll use the eyeshadows, lip color, brush and hair mask. I’ll try the eye brow pencil. The only item I probably won’t use is the blush.

Do you get Boxycharm? What did you think?

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