A few days ago, I went to the Miramor Outlets in Estero, FL. I was real excited because there’s a makeup store there called Cosmetic Company. They don’t hold a lot of brands, but they hold some good stuff. =) Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, Clinique, M.A.C, Prescriptives, and some other brands I didn’t care to look through. I don’t ever remember a makeup outlet store in MI. I’ve been to this store in August 09 when I was just vacationing in Naples (before I decided to move here). Then…I got 5 M.A.C brushes (209,  252, 212, 275, 217) with a bag for like 30 something bucks. That’s a steal!

This time…got two more crazy steals. =P I love this makeup outlet store because you can get bags with stuff in them. There’s a lot of stuff you can buy individually, but I’m all about palettes, gift bags, etc.

Two bags with goodies. The bags themselves are like $22-up. I got each of them with the stuff inside for $30 (small) & $35 (bigger one)! ^^ I love makeup, but I love it even more when I get great brands on sale.

The small bag is so cute. Pretty much fits in my hand. The slightly bigger one has a side pocket inside.

These came in the small bag. 209 Eye Liner Brush ($17.50). Fluidline (gel liner) in Rich Ground (15). Pigment powder in Melon ($19.50, reminds me of an orange-ier version of Orgasm from NARS) and Zoom Lash Mascara ($13)

These came with the bigger bag.
Listed from left to right:
209 Eye liner brush, $17.50 (I have three of these now cause whenever I buy brushes, I usually buy a set ’cause it’s cheaper that way)
219 Pen Brush, $23
252 Large Shader brush $29
168 Large Angled Contour brush $32
187 Duo Fibre (stippling) brush $42

I’m so happy with the deal I got. I pretty much paid for the bag and got the stuff inside for free. ^^

I also got my favorite moisturizer, Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel because I was running low. The smaller size is like 12 bucks at Sephora. Here it was like $0.25 off. Not much.

Of course, had to play with my new goodies right away.

I don’t really wear liquid foundations because I don’t need that much coverage. I also have very oily skin in my t-zone area, so I like to stick to mineral/powder foundations. The only liquid foundation I have is just a drugstore brand, Neutrogena SkinClearing Liquid Makeup (I need a darker shade, I didn’t blend so well on my forehead lol). I use to just put it on with my fingers, dotting with my fingers and wiping downwards & across. I like it; it’s a very light formula, which is what I like. But now, I like it even more when it’s put on with my stippling brush. Stippling brushes allows you to blend easily using less product with liquid and/or powder foundation.
I just pour some foundation on the back of my hand, dip the brush into it flat on, dot it over my face (, and blend in circular & downward motions.
I want to try other liquid foundations now. I love this brush. ^^

The contour brush was really nice as well. Makes contouring cheekbones super easy.

With the pen brush, I used for under-the-eye-shadowing and for future eyeliner smudging. It’s a nice brush, but I don’t think its a must-have. I have other little shader brushes that can do the same.

The Zoom Lash mascara is good, but like most mascaras, doesn’t hold a curl for me. I wonder if it’s just waterproof mascaras are the only ones that can hold my lashes? I curl my lashes with Shu Uemura lash curler. I think it’s the best! I can curl them with it and it will stay curled without any mascara. But I want to add more thickness and length. I’ve tried soo many kinds of mascaras, semi-expensive and drugstore. Only Maybelline Pulse Perfection & Cover Girl Lash Blast, both in waterproof, will keep my lashes put. Other than that, Zoom lash was nice. Its buildable without clumps for me.
I like using waterproof mascaras anyways because my eyes water all the time.

*sigh…makeup. I can never get tired of it. And I can never have too much of it. =P

I cannot tell you how much I love makeup. I think I spend more money on makeup than I did with clothes, shoes, and accessories. To me, there’s no such thing as too many lipglosses or too many mascaras. Those words put together do not exist in my brain & heart.

So where do I go to buy my makeup? I like to shop at Sephora, Ulta, MAC, and Target.

Did you know that Estee Lauder owns big brands like Clinique, Presciptives, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, MAC Cosmetics, La Mer, Lab Series, and Bumble & Bumble? Pretty cool, huh?

L’Oreal owns brands like Lancome, Shu Uemura, Maybelline New York, Dermablend, Giorgio Armani fragrances & cosmetics, L’Oreal Paris, Keratase, Matrix, and Pureology.

Makes you wonder…is Maybelline’s quality pretty much L’Oreal Paris’s quality? Is Lancome’s quality pretty much L’Oreal Paris’s quality only better packaging and higher prices? I think there is a difference. The big difference is the price and packaging, but I’m sure the quality is different too. The companies probably just spend more time on making the perfect product with the higher priced brands than they do with the cheaper brands [especially skincare products]. They make the cheaper brand because more people can afford it. The cheaper one still being a great and effective product, but maybe not as great and effective as the more expensive one. Maybe the expiration date between the two are different?
Like buying a purse from Payless versus buying a purse from Coach [I just chose these two brands for the heck of it] . Both work just the same way…carrying your stuff. But the Coach bag will outlast the Payless bag because the quality of the materials and stitching put into it. So you end up buying Payless purse after Payless purse because it doesn’t last as long. Next thing you know, you just paid as much as you did for the Payless purseS as for one Coach bag. Should you have bought the Coach bag in the first place? Maybe. Maybe not.
Another example: Volkswagen owns Audi. Are Audi cars just the same as VWs because Vw owns them, or is Audi a more luxury brand within a brand?

Guess it all depends on how you would look at it.
For me? As long as the color and formula works fine, I’m happy.
__________

My CURRENT Favorites:

Foundation »
Bare Escentuals bareMineral Foundation SPF15 in Medium Tan

Concealer »
benefit ERASE paste in Medium
Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer in Medium Beige

Pencil Eyeliner »
L’Oreal Paris HiP Color Chrome Eyeliner in Black Shock
Rimmel London Soft Kajal Eyeliner Pencil in Pure White
MakeUpForEver Aqua Eyes in Purple 11L & Gold 9L
benefit Eye Bright [used more like a concealer, but I like it as an eyeliner too]

Liquid/Cream/Gel Eyeliner »
Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

Blush »
MAC Powder Blush in Mocha
Jemma Kidd Stain, Flush, Blush Concentrate in Masquerade

Mascara »
Maybelline New York Pulse Perfection Waterproof in Black [lasting curl]
CoverGirl lashBlast Waterproof in Very Black [great volume and lasting curl
benefit BADgal Lash in Rich Black [great volume]
benefit BADgal Blue [great volume & great for brightening the eye]
I have very Asian lashes…fine & naturally lies straight, facing towards the ground. The two waterproof mascaras kept my lashes the way that I curled them all day. I curl ‘em with Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler.

Eyebrow Filler »
Anastasia Brow Ex-press in Brunette

Eyeshadow »
bareMinerals Liner Shadow in Humor
all eight shadows from the Too Faced Glamour To Go 2 palette
Urban Decay Eyeshadow in YDK, Twice Baked, Half Baked, Grifter, and Oil Slick

Lipliner »
Rimmel London, 1000 Kisses Lipliner in Natural.

Lipgloss »
stila lipglaze in Cranberry, Starfruit, Kitten, Raspberry, and Plum Fairy
Lancome JuicyTubes in Dreamsicle
NYX Lipgloss in Beige, Natural, La La, and Perfect
DiorKiss Luscious Lip-Plumping Gloss in Berry Smoothie

Lipstick »
Maybelline New York Color Sensation Lipcolor in Mauve-ulous
Maybelline New York Moisture Extreme Lipcolor in Roseberry & Nude Blush

Brushes »
MAC 209, 275, and 217
Artistry Eyeliner/brow [angled brush]
Sephora Professionnel Platinum #12, 17, and 11
Sephora Professionnel #21

I would list my favorite nail polishes, but I think it deserves its own post. ^^ Too many too name.
Along with being a makeup junkie, I am also a nail polish junkie.

I don’t need any of this. This post is just simply for fun. Most of these “want items” are really expensive. This is a window shopping post again.

01. A car. I don’t care what model it is. As long as it’s not a van, it has great mileage, and the price is very affordable.

02. Not exactly this color…just a pair of Black EasyTone Reeboks. [I'm a size 6.5, if you were wondering]. In class we’re on our feet alot and we’re only suppose to wear black shoes. The only ones that I have are ballet flats, we’re are horrible for your feet if you’re standing up for a long time. So all black or black with a little color EasyTone Reeboks would be great, Santa. =P

03. Sephora Makeup Artist Brush Belt Set. I want to start developing my portfolio for makeup. So I want a separate brush set than my personal use set. You know what would be even more great? Having two sets of these! One for myself, and one for my clients. *Big smile* One of these babies cost $275.

04. Sephora: Kat Von D Deluxe Uber Set. I love her. And I like her color palettes. This set is $425!

05. Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes Collector Set. $249. I love their eyeliners. MAC and MakeUpForEver have my favorite eyeliners.

06. Make Up For Ever 12 Flash Color Case. $95.

07. Clarisonic Mia™ Skin Cleansing System – Pink. $145. *sigh….=)

07. MAC Carry All Case. $225. Very pro. :]

08. UGG Australia Knightsbridge Boots in Shadow Gray. I don’t care what people think. I love UGGs. They’re very comfy. $220.

09. UGG Australia Classic Tall Boots in Black or Chocolate. $180.

10. Ninja Gaiden Simga 2 for PS3. I want kill people with a sword. Muahaha..

11. Wii Active. Bf saw something that said that the Wii Fit isn’t tough enough for ya to lose weight. I didn’t think it would be either. I much rather get the Wii Fit. I’ve heard from other people they break a sweat very easily playing this.

I can defnitely go on and on with what I want. But I’ll just stop here. :]

I used to not where lipstick at all. I always thought it was for older women. I thought lipgloss was for girls and lipstick was for women. In my opinion, I do think young teens should only wear lipglosses and tinted lip balms. And I believe as you get older from late teens to womanhood…lipsticks, lip liners and lip stains can/should be added in to your collection.
Right now, I have so many lipglosses, I don’t even want to count. My favorite brands for lipglosses are Stila cosmetics, Cargo, NYX, NARS, Sephora, and tarte.
As for lipsticks, I only have 8 right now. I’ll have more once I’m working again. All, but one are from the drugstore/Target. I don’t wear lipstick a lot, so I don’t want to spend so much for ‘em. Also, I’m very anal about keeping my lips moisturized, so I try to buy lipsticks that won’t dry out my lips.

Here are the ones that I have. A few are not so great. Most are great. Click picture to enlarge.

Revlon Moisture Extreme Lipstick in Roseberry. I really love the color of this one. =) It’s a little more pink in the picture than in person. I feel very feminine when wearing this one.

Surprisingly, this one is from Walmart. Hard Candy Lipstick in Knock-Out. This is a very pretty pink. Totally a barbie/mod type pink, too. Colors like this aren’t my favorite because if you’re teeth aren’t perfect white, the color makes them look yellow. I haven’t worn it out in public yet, because of that reason. I got it for the fun of it. This color makes me feel stupid and ditzy. Lol. Just kidding.

Maybelline ColorSensational in Mauve-lous. This color is one of my favorites. It’s very smooth and shiny finish. Just the right about of moisture too. This color makes me feel sure and beautiful.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Blackcherry. One of my favorites. The lipstick itself looks almost black. It’s somewhat moisturizing. This color makes me feel seductive and daring. Somewhat evil too. Muahaha..

Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Nude Blush. The one is my favorite lipstick out of the ones that I have. Can be worn with any eye look. I feel like a sweet and innocent girl carrying a basket of flowers in this color. Lol.

Maybelline ColorSensational in Madison Mauve. This color looks great in picture, but in person, it’s okay. It has a little bit of iridescence to it. I’m not a huge fan of iridescent lipcolor because it can be very tacky. The color is close to the other Maybelline lipstick I have shown.

Revlon Matte Lipstick in Nude Attraction. This was my least favorite lipstick. It wasn’t the color, but the formula. Because it’s a very matte color, the formula was on the dry side. You can kinda see the cracks on my lips in this picture. This is another color that makes teeth look yellow. I only like wearing this underneath a lipgloss.

MAC Viva Glam Lipstick in Viva Glam I [matte, A16]. As you can see, this color is very rich. It’s on the dry side, so I like wearing this with lipgloss too. Also…with this color and my Revlon Blackcherry, I wear a lipstain and lipliner underneath for insurance. This color screams glam, so that’s how I feel when I wear this color. Glamorous. =)

In all these pictures, [besides the lipstick] I’m wearing, MAC Select Cover-up [I didn't put enough], NARS Powder Foundation, Ardell Lashes, and Coastal Scents black eyeshadow. Only lipcolor I have on are just the lipsticks alone. No added liners, stains, or glosses.
__________

I always buy makeup with a smart attitude. Yes, I am a makeup junkie, but I’m not going to impulse buy [and possibly go broke until my next pay check] just to get the satisfaction of adding more to my makeup collection. It’s kinda stupid to do that if you’re not made of money. When it comes to shopping for makeup, I’m always looking for sets or palettes. I think they’re absolutely great for the girl who wants quality makeup, but wants to spend as little as she can. That would be me. When I did work, I would bust my ass off making that money. I don’t want to spend it all away by buying like four shadows and a lipgloss. So sets and palettes. I am all about them!
Also, a lot of people buy certain makeup just for the brand. I don’t care if it’s MAC, Shiseido, L’Oreal, or Chanel. It’s how you apply it that counts. Did you know that L’Oreal owns Lancome? The major difference between the two? Yup, you got it. Price tag.

Here are the shadow palettes that I have. Pretty much all the looks you’ve seen on me are from using these shadows. I have very few single single compacts. The shadows I first started with were from MAC, but I dropped them and everything fell apart. Where I lived, the MAC Store was on the other side of the mall, which was on the other side of the street, so Sephora was the store I would go to all the time. Even when I just wore MAC, I would only buy the eye shadow quads/palettes. Since I like experimenting with makeup..wearing different looks, it would take me forever to use up a single eyeshadow compact. That’s why I get palettes. I get to use more colors and get more use out of my money.

The palettes I have here are:
Coastal Scents: Ultra 88 shimmer, Ultra 88 Piece Makeup [matte], and 10 piece pro blush. [each are less than 20 bucks!!]
Relvon Illuminance Creme Shadow in Twilight. Four colors.
MAC holiday shadow compact. I got it like two years ago..forget the collection name. Six colors.
NYX Trio Shadows. TS34 [team spirit], TS6 [purple, deep purple, prune], TS10 [tropical, yellow, lime green], and TS13 [cherry, cool blue, hot pink]. Three colors each.
Too Faced Liquif-Eye Shadow Collection. 12 colors.
Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box. 10 colors.
Too Faced Glamour To-go II. 8 shadows, four lipglosses, and a blush.
Sephora Colorful Eyeshadow Palette in Chromosome X 10. Four colors.
Cargo Wet/Dry Eyelining Palette [I got as a gift] 8 colors.
Anastasia Brow Ex-press in Brunette Two brow shadows, brow wax and brow bone highlighter
Sephora Kat Von D True Romance Eye Palette in Beethoven. 8 colors.
Two off brand five color shadow palettes. Blues and Greens. [got these from a client of mine that went to a beauty convention/show, she works for OPI]
For each palette I spend about $7-50.

The brushes I use are all from brush sets. Brushes can be very expensive, especially when you buy them separately. Brush sets are awesome because they usually include all the brushes you would need. I like Sephora, MAC, and Sonia Kashuk [Target] brushes. All the sets I got ranged from $15-$50.
Bottom right set I got from an outlet mall. MAC Brushes. I got lucky with that set. =)
The rest are from Sephora. The bottom left is a travel set.
The three brushes on the top are from previous sets I used to own. Dumb move, Vana. :P
The only drugstores/Target/Walmart brushes I like are from Essences of Beauty, Revlon, and EcoTools.
The brushes I use for foundation/powders are from foundation sets. I use Bare Minerals and Pur minerals. To start with, I bought the starter kits because they came with brushes. Most mineral foundation kits come with a few powder brushes. The Bare Minerals starter kit came with three brushes. The Pur Minerals starter kit came with one. Each kit came with a foundation, some sort of finishing powder/blush, and a bronzer.

Most of the lipglosses I buy are separate, but when I see sets, they’re hard to resist.
Left: Tarte Crown Jewels Lipgloss Multi-Gift Set. 15 colors. $39 Right: Stila Cosmetics Lip Glaze Collection. 8 colors. $25
Both from Sephora. Great as gift ideas, but I kept most for myself and gave a few to my friends. Lol. Pictures from Sephora.

Pretty much all cosmetic brands offer palettes.
Check out Sephora. They have a of palettes. On their website, they have a section for palettes and a section for value sets.

MAC usually has already made shadow palettes for holidays and collections. You can also customize your own shadow palettes. They have a 4 [$47.50] and 15 [$177] color eyeshadow palette. And a 6 [$105]color blush palette.
Note: I love makeup and I love MAC, but I love getting the most out of my money more. I can get a 8-10 color palette from a different brand at Sephora [Tarte, Urban Decay, Kat Von D] for the same price as a 4 color palette from MAC.

Also check out NYX Cosmetics and Coastal Scents. They have a lot of already made & custom palettes too. Very affordable.

Saw a site with a guy wearing these crazy shoes. Vibram Five Fingers. The guy in the picture I saw with the crazy shoes was Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. Lol. At first, I thought they were funky. Too funky for me to wear. But now that I visited the site and read what they’re all about, I want a few pairs!!!
See for yourself» VFF

Some pictures from their website. [Also the ones that I want] ^_^

Weird, but pretty cool.