Jovial July Hauls 2025

[WinglessOne]

Is retail therapy helping you handle hot summer weather? Or is this month Justifiable July Hauls for you, sticking to a low-buy plan? Either way, show us all the goodies you got this month! 

Besides the 1st for Canada and the 4th for the US, there are some beauty-related national (in the US anyway) days to celebrate: 

• July 3 - National Compliment Your Mirror Day, more about affirming your reflection than the mirror it’s in. Practice a little self-kindness and love this month. ❤️
• July 23 - Gorgeous Grandma Day, whether or not you have grandkids. I don’t, but I’m certainly old enough to! 😅
• July 29 - National Lipstick Day, a favorite among us lipstick hoarders lovers. Though let’s be honest, all of July is Lipstick Month. 😂💄

Credit: Getty Images

[Ispend2much6]

@SportyGirly125  I wish I'd seen this post before I ordered the bag.  The size seems really good for travel.  

[SportyGirly125]

@Ispend2much6 I think you might like it but let me know what you think. 

[WinglessOne]

@SportyGirly125  Hope you feel better soon! I’ve been waiting for those liners to hit stores so I can swatch in person. I wasn’t sure if Sephora employees get early hands-on access to new releases like this. Bummer about the bag being subpar. 

[Ispend2much6]

@SportyGirly125  I love that bag!!!

[SportyGirly125]

@Ispend2much6 Thank you 

[Ispend2much6]

Is there anything better than NLD combined with credits, a coupon, and Ulta points? 🤔

Sephora-

Bronzing Drops

Makeup by Mario Supersatin lipstick- Nolita 

MBM Ultra Suede Lipstick- Fanda

Pat McGrath Colorfix Stix #2  - When choosing a shade, I would believe the descriptions before any pictures of the product.  Everything I saw showed the base shade of this duo being a dark, neutral purple.  It's definitely burgundy, as described.

Fanda, Nolita- These shades are exactly what I hoped they would be.  I think people with olive skin tones would do well with his lipsticks. @danielledanielle have you tried any of these?

Bronzing drops- Definitely too yellow for me. They are patchy when applied alone. They also make your skin look shiny, in an excessive way.

Spoiler

Nolita

Fanda

Ulta

Ilia blush Magnetic

Urban Decay liner Empire- Finally found a deep, cool purple with no red.

MAC lipsticks silky in Sitting Pretty and Amorous; matte formula in You Wouldn’t Get It.

ND Mini Gloom Palette

 

Gloom palette- Very, very smooth.  No chunky glitter.

[curlychiquita]

Beautiful makeup, @Ispend2much6. The lipsticks swatches look satisfying.

[Ispend2much6]

@curlychiquita  I love that description!!

[danielledanielle]

Nope, nothing better than that! @Ispend2much6 

Thanks for showing us mini Gloom & enjoy your goodies!

[Ispend2much6]

@danielledanielle  You're welcome!  It's so much prettier than I expected.  I wasn't interested until I saw it demonstrated on YouTube.

[Sunnysmom]

Looks like some good new lip shades for you @Ispend2much6 . Ilia blush shade too. I like Mario lips! 

[Ispend2much6]

@Sunnysmom  Love the lipsticks.  The blush is too dark for me.  I seem to need to keep it light anymore. That's a tough shade to use lightly. 🙂

[greeneyedgirl107]

NLD haul

 

[Sunnysmom]

Fun new lips @greeneyedgirl107 ! 

[curlychiquita]

Looks good, @greeneyedgirl107! I haven’t tried Makeup by Mario lipsticks yet.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@curlychiquita thank you!  The MAKEUP BY MARIO MoistureGlow™ Plumping Lip Serum were a miss for me.  Somehow I missed that they were plumping - they burned too bad!

[curlychiquita]

Thanks for the warning, @greeneyedgirl107!

[WinglessOne]

One of my National Lipstick Day orders might arrive today, so maybe I’ll sneak that into this thread before the month ends. Meanwhile… 

Luckyscent:

I’m glad Luckyscent’s offering some samples in spray vials instead of daubers now.

d’Annam White Rice EdP - going full bottle after spending July with a sample. I very rarely fall for close skin scents as hard as I have for this one. Reposting fragrance notes and my review from the June hauls thread:

Spoiler

When you first lift the lid off a pot of jasmine rice that’s just finished cooking, and you get that deep steam whiff, then insert a wood spoon/spatula and stir the rice. And there’s a bit of rice at the bottom that got slightly toasted. That’s exactly how this skin scent starts off: warm, a little nutty, slightly sweet, and a teeny bit powdery. On me, it stays that way on the drydown, though quieter than its opening. This is the kind of skin scent one could overspray without triggering bystander headaches. I normally wouldn’t like something so subtle, but this one’s just too comforting to dislike.

Fragrance notes: Rice, Pandan, Orris, Jasmine, Tonka Bean, White Musk. Main accord is Rice/Milky.

Samples I bought: 

• Diptyque L'Eau Papier EdT - it’d been a long time since I smelled this on myself, so I couldn’t recall why I never bought a full size. Since some people compare White Rice to this, I decided to jog my memory with a sample and yeah, now I know: on me, L’Eau Papier is straight-up nag champa. It smells nothing like White Rice (on me).
• Jorum Studio Pluck! Extrait de Parfum - promises to be a tomato-forward fragrance. I’ll find out this weekend.
• Kerosene EdPs: Blackmail, R’oud Elements, and Vetiver Ecarlate - that last one’s also a tomato fragrance. The other two piqued my interest for different reasons. I haven’t smelled any of ‘em yet. 
  
  

GWP samples - Jorum Studio: Pony Boy and Unspoken Gesture; Kerosene: Walk the Sea and Unknown Pleasures. 

Paula’s Choice B2G1 sale:

Was very tempted to order 3 more Gentle Touch bottles.

Gentle Touch Makeup Remover - stocking up my favorite remover for stubborn eye makeup. I switched to this years ago from Lancôme Bi-Facil, which also works like magic. (Whenever I’m in a Sephora or Ulta store and need to remove swatches from my hands/arms, I look for a Bi-Facil tester.) Gentle Touch is better for me because it’s fragrance-free, gentler on my eyes (Bi-Facil doesn’t hurt my eyeballs, but it can irritate my lids a bit with repeat use), and less expensive. 👍

RESIST Advanced Pore-Refining Treatment 4% BHA - another restock. I usually alternate this with Paula's Choice CLEAR Anti-Redness Exfoliating Solution with 2% Salicylic Acid 4 oz/ 118 mL.

[danielledanielle]

@WinglessOne , the description of that scent is fascinating .  There is definitely that specific, familiar scent you described and thinking of it as a fragrance just makes me marvel and the creativity behind a scent.

[WinglessOne]

@danielledanielle  On that note, I’ll share d’Annam’s own perfumer notes: “White Rice EDP is intended as a skin scent. Rice's aroma is beautiful, yet so delicate. To emphasize its sweetness and unique essence, we incorporated milky and floral notes such as pandan, jasmine, and white musk. Unlike the amorphous softness of cotton candy, rice grain has structure to it, which we underscored by adding a hint of nuttiness from orris and woody tones.” They definitely succeeded: when I bought a sample, I honestly didn’t expect it to smell so much like rice and evoke all the memories it did. After several hours of wear, soft jasmine and musk are more forward but the nutty rice scent’s still there.

More from d’Annam on the inspiration behind White Rice: “A tribute to Vietnam's cultural symbol of livelihood - the white jasmine rice. Found at nearly every Vietnamese meal, the humble bowl of rice has nurtured generations. This scent presents a subtly sweet aroma, harmonizing gentle softness with the rice grain's nuttiness. As you savor it, you embrace the heart of Vietnamese culture, where humble beginnings flourish into enduring strength.”

[danielledanielle]

@WinglessOne  TY ... This is likely to be a gift, it's perfect