The Musings of a Working Mom

I used to be a MAC girl - I only bought and used MAC products but I have branched out over the years.  I have used both drugstore brands as well as high end brands.  But let me tell you that I am really starting to like the Tarte makeup brand. Not only does this makeup line have great products but they are good for your skin too!  Not only am I interested in feeding my body healthy and nutritious foods, but I also want to use products that are good for my skin and can help "repair, rejuvenate and replenish" my skin with continued use.  Tarte formulates their products without the use of mineral oils, parabens, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfates, and synthetic fragrances.  This particular set is a QVC exclusive set containing all full size products which is such a value for the price.  Since I purchased this as a TSV (Today's Special Value), I got this whole set for just under $60 (plus about $5 for shipping)....

I love a great deal - especially when it comes to makeup since I spend so much on it anyway (well I try not to but sometimes I don't have the willpower to resist the temptation and well...you know the rest of this story!  Well, recently NYX Cosmetics was on Hautelook  and so of course I decided to take the plunge and purchase a couple of sets to try out at up to 40% off their retail prices.  Normally, I would wait until there is one of those buy one get one 50% off sales on NYX products at Ulta but then I get lazy and I don't make it to my local Ulta and then I lose my chance to pick up some NYX products (for that time anyway).  Anywho, my point is that NYX Cosmetics are a great value makeup line!  I have some of their eye shadow singles, jumbo eye pencils, lipsticks, lipglosses and eyeliners and I have to say that I am not at all disappointed with the quality of these products.  They have great pigmentation and color payoff.  The eyeliners are...

I keep reminding myself that I don't need to buy anymore makeup but then I look on the Sephora site and see things that I've been eyeing for quite some time but just keep skipping on purchasing them...until now. I did purchase a couple of things that I have heard quite a lot of positive reviews for and one items was finally back in stock. On a side note, I generally don't buy something without doing some research on it first.  I tend to go to a couple of awesome and informative websites - mostly http://www.temptalia.com/ and http://www.makeupalley.com/ .  Temptalia's (a.k.a. Christine) site is very informative and initially tended to lean towards MAC products but now features products from all price points and ends of the retail spectrum.  I find that when I'm at the MAC counter, I always check her site before I make my decision to purchase something.  Her reviews are very descriptive, honest and most of the times, spot on.  I won't make a decision ...

As I looked at my rather large for-a-non-makeup-artist makeup collection, I decided to make one of my 2012 resolutions to be that I wouldn't buy anymore makeup and try to use up what I already had!  Yeah - that didn't last too long!  How can I possibly keep that resolution when there are so many new products coming out on both the drug level as well as high end?  There has been a lot of buzz about 2 drugstore products in particular that caught my eye - the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hour cream eyeshadows and the L'Oreal Infalliable eyeshadows.  I just happened to pick up a couple of each while at CVS recently.  I picked up 2 of the L'Oreal Infalliable eyeshadows in #888 Iced Latte and #891 Continuous Cocoa and 3 of the Maybelline Color Tattto's in #25 Bad to the Bronze, #35 Tough as Taupe, and #30 Pomegranate Punk. Here are some swatches: #25 Bad to the Bronze, #35 Tough as Taupe, and #30 Pomegranate Punk    L'Or...