What I Bought This Month – August 2016 Haul

This month ended up being a lot more spendy than I was anticipating. It’s the start of the makeup holiday season (YAYYYY!!!!!) and there’s a lot of exciting products coming out now and in the near future!

Too Cool For School - Egg Mousse Soap ($15 CAD)
Too Cool For School – Egg Mousse Soap ($15 CAD)

I’ve heard a little bit about the brand Too Cool For School and was intrigued by the fact that they use a lot of egg products in their skincare. I was low(ish) on facial cleansers at the time so I decided to pick up their Egg Mousse Soap one in a recent Sephora order because I “had to” get to the $50 free shipping mark. Of course, now I’m overburdened with facial cleansers and this one has moved to the back of the pile. Oops!

Bite Beauty Luminous Cream Lipsticks in Musk, Fig and Retsina ($28 CAD for all three)
Bite Beauty Luminous Cream Lipsticks in Musk, Fig and Retsina ($28 CAD for all three)

My whole reason for placing a Sephora order was that Bite Beauty was doing a flash clearance sale on their old Luminous Creme lipsticks. I had just recently finished up Fig (an all time favourite shade of mine) and was planning to repurchase the shade anyway so I figured this would work out well. The trio came with Fig, Musk and Retsina. I actually already own Musk and Retsina, so I figured I’d put those lipsticks in giveaways!

Houses of Lashes Adhesive ($11 CAD)
Houses of Lashes Adhesive ($11 CAD)

The last item in my Sephora order was the House of Lashes lash adhesive! I was hunting for cheapie products to add in to my Sephora order to make the minimum spend for free shipping, and Megan (who knows I’m a huge House of Lashes fan) pointed out that Sephora was now selling their lash glue. I was OVER THE MOON. Not only is the price tag good ($11 CAD), but now I don’t have to order it from the US and risk a customs fee! This is currently a backup as I’m working my way through another tube of the very same adhesive.

tarte Pin Up Girl palette

I just swatched this palette for Swatch Sunday, so you may be aware that Tanya of I, Redhead sent me this tarte Pin Up Girl palette!

tarte Pin Up Girl palette
tarte Pin Up Girl palette

I hadn’t bought the palette when it came out in 2014, but Tanya knew I was a fan of tarte‘s blushes so she sent her backup my way! I am so, SO grateful to her for sending it to me – it was a really lovely gesture. And I love the formula of tarte‘s blushes so I’m always happy to add another bunch of them to my collection!

tarte Grav3yard Girl Swamp Queen palette
tarte Grav3yard Girl Swamp Queen palette ($59 CAD)

I’ve watched Grav3yardgirl for a few years now, and while I did find her personality a bit of an acquired taste (seriously, how can anyone be that peppy/vibrant/loud all the time??), she’s become one of my favourite YouTubers to just idly watch. I always find myself giggling with her in her videos and it’s nice to be able to tune in to someone who seems to be very comfortable in their own skin (with or without makeup!). However, I held off picking up her collaboration with tarte because I didn’t need another eyeshadow palette.

tarte Grav3yard Girl Swamp Queen palette
tarte Grav3yard Girl Swamp Queen palette

But as all good makeup lovers are apt to do… I caved. I was particularly drawn to the Dogman and Sassy Bun shades and it was always in the back of my head that I was going to be supporting a YouTuber that I already enjoyed watching. So I picked up the Swamp Queen palette and I’ve been enjoying it so far. It’s not a total knockout palette, but there are some really, really lovely shades in here! If you’d like to see this palette in action, I did do a video tutorial featuring it which you can see right here:

The Body Shop mini body butter in Frosted Plum (free - gift)
The Body Shop mini body butter in Frosted Plum (free – gift)

I got a few cast off products from Julie – I don’t know what it is, but I’ve become such a hoarder with skincare products. I feel like I want all of the body butters, creams, lotions, etc. and when someone’s like “oh you want this?” I’m like yes yes yes, and then I throw it in my closet… only to realize I already had it. So ridiculous. Anyway! This is The Body Shop body butter in Frosted Plum which was limited edition around from around the holiday season. Not sure if they’ll be bringing this one back this year!

Bite Beauty Kale and Squid lipsticks
Bite Beauty Kale and Squid lipsticks (free – gift)

Julie also ended up with duplicates of Bite Beauty‘s Kale and Squid lipsticks so I said I’d give them a shot. Although they look black in the tube, one is a very dark green (Kale) and the other is a dark navy (Squid). I’ve not worn them yet, but I’m excited to put together some looks with them and see how best they wear!

Milani Amore Metallic Lip Creme in Matte About You (free- gift)
Milani Amore Metallic Lip Creme in Matte About You (free- gift)

A few weeks ago, Shawna surprised me and handed me this Milani Amore Metallic Lip Creme in Matte About You. She had tried all of the shades about and decided this would work better on me – and who am I to say no to that? I haven’t tried it yet, but be sure to check out her post on these Milani lip products because she’s got some great swatches!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Sweets ($40 USD)
Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Sweets ($40 USD)

I’m becoming a diehard for the Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kits you guys… it started with Gleam. And now I’ve purchased Sweets… and I’ve recently ordered Moonchild now too. These freaking highlighters are just so lovely and exciting that it’s really, really hard to resist them!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Sweets ($40 USD)
Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Sweets ($40 USD)

I’ve been particularly loving Sassy Grape. I had no idea I needed an iridescent purple highlighter in my life, but I now I realize I do! Also, rather amazingly, I was sent TWO of these Glow Kits when I only ordered one. Since this was shipped to the US, and then brought back to Canada for me (thanks Shawna!), I wasn’t going to bother shipping it back to ABH since paying for  return shipping is kind of stupid when it was their mistake in the first place. INSTEAD, you guys will profit off it because I’ll be doing a giveaway for it in the next month or so. Why so far away you ask? Because there’s ANOTHER giveaway I already have planned for my YouTube channel tomorrow to celebrate 1k subscribers!

201608_wibtm_anastasiabeverlyhills_neutrogenahydratiNeutrogena Hydrating Wipes ($8.99 CAD)ngwipes
Neutrogena Hydrating Wipes ($8.99 CAD)

I’ll never understand why these Neutrogena Hydrating wipes are so much more expensive than the regular Neutrogena ones… BUT they are my absolute favourite, so I always wait till they go on sale before I pick them up. (They’re usually priced around $13 CAD!)

Too Faced x Nikkie Tutorials - The Power of Makeup ($68 CAD)
Too Faced x Nikkie Tutorials – The Power of Makeup ($68 CAD)

We all know I’m a Too Faced junkie at this point – so I’ve just accepted that I’m going to end up buying every palette they release, regardless of whether or not I’m dying for the shades. So, I picked up the Too Faced and NikkieTutorials collaboration “The Power of Makeup” mid-month.

Too Faced x Nikkie Tutorials - The Power of Makeup ($68 CAD)
Too Faced x Nikkie Tutorials – The Power of Makeup ($68 CAD)

I’ll be brutally honest about this… I love watching NikkieTutorials, and I love Too Faced, but this collaboration has left me totally underwhelmed. There’s nothing about this eyeshadow palette that screams “Nikkie” to me. The purple mascara is a weird choice – even if she says it’s her favourite colour, I can’t think of a time when she’s ever used coloured mascara. The eyeshadow shades are a weird combinations for her (in my opinion) and they swatch really poorly (swatch post coming soon). I’m glad it came with a black Sketch Marker because I do quite enjoy that product (my review on other shades cane be found here) and I am happy to own the glitter “Gliterally” – although, if you remember the Too Faced Glamour Dusts… this is the exact same as Blue Fire. Sadly, I didn’t collect them all so I don’t have a full size of Blue Fire, which is why I’m happy to own this one.

Anyway, all this to say, I haven’t actually put this palette on my face yet, so maybe I’ll like it more in when I actually use it… but yeah… not my favourite release by Too Faced sadly.

And that’s it… anyone else getting super excited about the upcoming holiday palettes and collections? September/October is the BEST time of the year in the makeup world as far as I’m concerned! 😀

18 thoughts on “What I Bought This Month – August 2016 Haul

    1. I’ve been trying to get through this ENORMOUS bottle of Soap & Glory facial cleanser before I try anything new. I seriously can’t believe how big the damn bottle is… it looks like one of those Costco sized shampoo bottles! But once that’s done, I think I’m going to dive into the Egg Mousse one!

  1. Haha what I take from this post is that it’s good to have blogger friends 🙂

    I agree, I was a bit underwhelmed with the Nikkie palette. It seems a little.. juvenile and less glamourzon than I would have expected.

    1. Blogger friends are the best… it seriously gives you so much more access to EVEN MORE products. haha
      The Nikkie palette is such a “womp womp” type sensation. I keep saying that… but I’ve not used it yet… so maybe there’s still hope? :s

    1. I keep forgetting about the Milani even though it’s in my pile of things to try. I think I need to make it a priority and work my makeup around it (which is usually the opposite of what I do when I get ready in the morning!).

  2. I also thought The Power of Makeup palette was a bit of an odd selection for her. I watch her videos regularly (she’s not afraid of dat glow! I live vicariously through her :P) and a lot of her looks are on the warm brown/gold side with a big wing. Painkiller and Makeup and Chill made sense but I thought the gold was a bit light, and the rest of the colours are just a bit weird.

    She made some comment in one of her vids where she did a mermaid/bright look and said that it made her feel like old Nikki… So maybe this palette harks back to that time… But I don’t know. As you said… Underwhelming and weird.

    And yay to giveaways!
    Tarryn B recently posted…The monthly wishlist is backMy Profile

    1. I’ve still not worn the palette yet, so I still can’t say for sure it’s an actual let down.. but damn those swatches were not great. 🙁

      I did see her comments about it being like her old self… but I still kind of disagree because she used BOLDER colours – less jewel toned, more bright/neon. And I’m fully with you on the shades – Painkiller and Makeup and Chill made sense, but the gold wasn’t dark/bright enough and the silver is just a powdery flakey mess. Ugh.

    1. I wasn’t sure what to do for the kit. I was debating a full blog post on it (instead of just a Swatch Sunday), but it would mean holding off till my current YouTube giveaway is over so that the giveaways don’t clash (as I’d be doing a giveaway for the second palette I received as well). What are your thoughts on that? Full review or just a swatch post?

        1. Alright sounds good (and thank you for the feedback!). I’ve scheduled the post/giveaway for September 19th so hopefully that’s not too far from now!

  3. SO many goodies! I couldn’t make the Swamp Queen palette work for me 🙁 To be honest, I just don’t think it’s very flattering on deeper skin tones but some of the shades in that palette are so lovely! I wish it jived better on my skin tone.

    Ditto on the POM Nikki palette. I just didn’t…get it. Pink leather packaging? Purple Mascara? No warm tones in the palette? Just doesn’t seem “Nikki” to me. But I think I’m in overload mode with all these YT-brand collabs. I think I’ve had enough for now (who am I kidding….i’ll probably try the next big collab, lol)

    1. The Swamp Queen palette was a bit odd. The first look I came up with it I was like “oh god this thing is shit” – but that’s because I used mostly the bottom row and it just fell flat. I’m sorry it didn’t work out so well on you. 🙁

      That Power of Makeup palette… I think EVERYONE is feeling the same. I was debating returning it, but like… I kind of want to collection ALLLL the Too Faced stuff so I can’t bring myself to bring it back. The pink leopard packaging is gross – like I’m actually repulsed by it. haha And yep, I’m in overload mode too. Less collabs, more unique ideas please! The collabs just seem to be rehashes of old products (and yet I keep buying them…).

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