April Collective Haul & First Impressions

*All of these products were purchased by me.*

My purchases from Rite Aid, Nordstrom's Rack, and Ulta.

Hello everyone! So I haven't been amazing at keeping down my spending, but it was hard to pass up such great sales! Next month is my birthday month, so I'm sure I won't be much better then, but after that I'm planning on doing more reviews, and less hauls! lol

Purchases from Rite Aid.

From Rite Aid:

Nivea Lip Butter in Raspberry Rose Kiss

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $3.99
• Why I purchased: As you might remember, I have a Nivea Lip Butter in Vanilla & Macadamia Kiss that I am seriously in love with! Click here for my review. I also wanted the one in Raspberry Rose Kiss, so I went for it! I'm sure I'll love it as well!
• Description: A lip balm smelling of raspberries and roses.

NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder in Sunny

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $1.79 (sale was 40% off, so regular price was $2.99)
• Why I purchased: NYC Sunny is a popular drugstore matte bronzer that is always raved about on youtube/blogs, so I thought I'd see what the fuss is about, especially for only $1.79! I don't own many bronzers, and the ones I do own are smaller deluxe sample sizes from high end brands, so I'd love to compare them all!
• Description: A matte bronzer
• I've tried it as a contour, and for overall warmth on my forehead (or places where the sun usually hits), and I'm quite impressed. It was surprisingly pigmented, so a light hand is necessary!

Nordstrom's Rack purchases.

From Nordstom's Rack:

*Nordstrom's Rack is a wonderful resource when it comes to finding discount high end makeup, as well as NYX! You'll find a lot of items that were a part of holiday/seasonal collections, that are now drastically reduced in price.*

OPI Stay the Night (Liquid Sand)

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $7.97 (original price: $9)
• Why I purchased: This is one of the first textured nail polishes introduced with OPI's Mariah Carey Collection. By textured, I mean that this nail polish is full of textured glitter that dries to a matte finish. It's versatile since you can leave it matte, or make it shiny with a nice top coat. Stay the Night was the shade that stood out the most to me, even though it is more of a winter shade. It's dark and vampy, but the red glitter adds a splash of femininity that I really love.
• Description: A textured nail polish with an asphalt base and red glitter
• Although Stay the Night is a polish I will wear more often in winter, it's a nice break from all the bright spring colors I will mostly wear throughout the season

Smashbox Studio Pop Brush Trio

From left to right: Tapered Shadow Brush #7, Definer Brush #15, & Double-ended Smudger Brush #20

Tapered Shadow Brush #7

Definer Brush #15

Double-ended Smudger Brush #20

Double-ended Smudger Brush #20

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $14.97 (original price of the kit was around $30, or $24 if each brush was bought individually)
• Why I purchased: I don't have too many brushes as it is, especially higher end brushes, and for this price I couldn't say no! I also needed eye brushes of these specific types. 
• Description:
• Tapered Shadow Brush #7 (retails for $24 individually!): This is a fluffier eye shadow brush that can be used for a wash of color on the lid or for blending. I have an old eye shadow brush from Clinique that is similar to this one, and since it's old and starting to fall apart, I've been searching for a replacement. This one is even nicer than the Clinique one, and will now be my primary blending brush!
• Definer Brush #15 (retails for $24 individually!): This is a unique contour brush to my collection, since it is very smaller (even smaller than my favorite ELF Studio Contour Brush), and is tapered at the tip. Therefore, it is a contour brush that would work wonderfully for precisely defining the crease and outer V. It would also be good for smudging eyeliner!
• Double-ended Smudger Brush #20 (retails for $24 individually!): Both sides are intended to smudge out eyeliner for a smokey effect. One side is a tiny brush to create a softer, lighter smokey effect, or in my case, I've been using it to highlight the inner corners of my eyes since it's so small! The other side of the brush is a dense foam smudger, which is better for thicker, bolder smudging.

Purchases from Ulta.

From Ulta (I also had my $3.50 coupon, so my Ulta purchase was even cheaper!):

Urban Decay Rebound Build Your Own Palette

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $10
• Why I purchased: Unlike other build your own palettes from UD, this one is cheaper at $10 (instead of $18) and does not come with a shadow. That way, you can customize all 4 colors. Even though I do not have many Urban Decay singles, I do own a random one (Flash) that was gifted to me, so I wanted to give it a home. There are a couple singles I've been wanted to buy anyway (certain shades that are never in palettes), so I decided to finally create my own custom palette!
• Description: An empty customizable palette for the new reformulated UD single eyeshadows (these shadows can be popped in and out of their individual casing and into this palette).

NYX Liquid Crystal Liner in Crystal Hip

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $2.69 (w/ 40% off, regular price is $4.49)
• Why I purchased: I've been wanted this glitter liquid liner for a long time, but was waiting for a good sale. My plan is to use in on top of matte black or colored eyeliners for added sparkle and glitter, but without the fallout. 
• Description: A opalescent & iridescent crystal glitter liquid liner.
• I tried this on top of matte black pencil eyeliner, and the glittery effect was lovely and with no glittery fallout! I highly recommend!

NYX Slide On Glide On Eye Pencil in Sunrise Blue

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $4.79 (w/ 40% off, regular price is $7.99)
• Why I purchased: These eyeliners are the same quality as the Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil eyeliners, but much cheaper! I already own the NYX Slide On Glide On Eyeliners in Jet Black, Brown Perfection, Glitzy Gold, Golden Bronze, and Tropical Green. Sunrise blue is the next shade I was dying to get, but wanted to wait for a sale!
• Description: A dark blue eyeliner w/ silver shimmer.
• These Slide On Glide On eyeliners don't smudge, crease, or budge once they are set!

NYX Nude Matte Eyeshadow in I Have a Headache, Bare My Soul, & Betrayal

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $2.69 each, $8.08 for all three (w/ 40% off, regular price is $4.49 each)
• Why I purchased: I love matte eyeshadows, and the NYX Nude Matte eyeshadows are definitely good quality, especially for drugstore-priced matte eyeshadows! I bought these specific colors to use as my everyday staples for my custom palette. Basically, my palette was lacking a matte brow bone highlight color and matte browns I could use on my eyebrows or in the crease. To see the first post on my custom MAC palette (plus other shadows!) click here.
• Description: 
• I Have a Headache: light beige w/ yellow undertones
• Bare My Soul: cool brownish greyish taupe
• Betrayal: cool dark brown
• These were super easy to depot! I can now look at the packaging of most eyeshadows, and figure out a game plan on how to depot them. I even figured out how to depot the NYX Single eyeshadow! (hint: I basically just used an open flame from a candle and burned the crap out of them...lol. I don't advise this unless you are extremely careful!).

From Nordstrom's:

MAC Sunny Seoul Lipstick (Cremesheen)

 

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $15
• Why I purchased: I don't really have any warm pinks, so I thought this would be a great everyday color that's unique to my collection! Plus I love the cremesheen formula!
• Description: Frosted light warm pink (though I don't really see the frost at all; it's just a subtle white shimmer)

From Target:

Olay Complete All Day Moisture Cream SPF 15 Sensitive Skin

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $6.49
• Why I purchased: This is the moisturizer I've been using for years. I believe I started wearing it towards the middle to end of high school! It's the only moisturizer I've ever used that never ever breaks me out. It adds the perfect amount of moisture for my combination to oily skin, without making me greasy. I think it would be suitable as a day moisturizer for all skin types!
• Description: Daily moisturizer for sensitive skin with SPF 15
• This is a repurchase for the millionth time! For the price and effectiveness, I can't see myself regularly using another moisturizer.

Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in 205 Very Light

First Impressions:

• What I paid: $7.99 (on sale, the full price ranges from $10.99 to $13.99)
• Why I purchased: This was recommended to me by my good friend and youtuber, Veronica (her channel is here). This is her "holy grail" under eye concealer. Like me, she's used the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Undereye Concealer (my current favorite), and actually prefers the Covergirl & Olay one!
• Description: A yellow-toned under eye concealer for light skin tones.
• This stuff really is amazing! Definitely more coverage without being cakey! Review to come soon!

I hope you are all having a great day! So excited it's May, since it's basically my favorite month of the year (other than December)!

You know it's hilarious and your welcome! Haha :)

Disclosure: These products were purchased by me for review purposes. I was not paid or compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.