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

[WinglessOne]

NARS National Lipstick Day sale (order arrived July 31st so I’ll drop it here; my other NLD order will go in the August hauls thread):

This quickly escalated from “I’ll just restock Triple X and maybe buy one Explicit refill.” Still, I’m proud of myself for cutting lots of other stuff from this cart.

NARS Afterglow Lip Shine Gloss Triple X and Smooth Talk - Triple X is still one of my favorite clear lip glosses. It’s what I usually carry on the go for reapplication. I stupidly looked at the newest gloss shades and decided I don’t have anything (in a liquid gloss formula) quite like Smooth Talk. That led to more browsing of things I initially didn’t intend to buy. 🤦‍♀️

NARS Afterglow Tinted Lip Balm Wicked Ways - I have a couple other shades and this one’s sheerer than both of ‘em. I’ll keep it anyway; it’s also close to my natural lip color, so it’s a good enhancer with a mildly shiny kick. Eh, these balms have grown on me. They’re not lightweight—I definitely know I’m wearing one—but also not wax lips heavy enough to annoy me.

This will be another permanent bag resident.

NARS Explicit Refillable Satin Lipstick Body Heat – 803 (refill) and Provocateur - still wish NARS would broaden the refill shade range*, but I did grab Body Heat as a refill. Also finally caved on that bright pink. I held out as long as I could! The refills don’t work without a case, which is a shame because they come with good-sized snug-fitting caps.

*Of 36 Explicit shades, only 10 are available as refills. That’s less than 1/3 of the range and includes no purples, mauves, deep browns, or cool toned pinks. I stand by my rant in the Beauty Pet Peeves thread about brands making refillables but drastically limiting the available refill-only shades. 😖

NARS Afterglow Sensual Shine Hydrating Lipstick High Gear and All In - adding 2 more shades of these shiny things to my hoard. I think I wasn’t sure I liked these when I bought my first shade (On Edge), but clearly I changed my mind at some point.

GWP: flat pouch, 2-sided compact mirror (1x and I think 2x), Mini Blush Brush, and DS of Blush shade Orgasm. Apparently one of my lifetime side quests is to slowly collect free mini versions of NARS brushes. 😂

Not my best swatch photo but you’ll get the gist. Smooth Talk looks like a clear gloss when it’s against my skin tone. 😄

[Sunnysmom]

Oh you did very well @WinglessOne and what great photos! That brush and bag are too adorable too. I need to give my Nars lips some more love! I feel like I behaved ish for NLD with a few new lips to add to my stash but really tried not to look at all the good deals as fall was coming so quickly! Ugh. Love all you got! 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Sunnysmom ! Now that so many brands are just rehashing basic pinks, beiges/taupes, and reds, I was less tempted by most NLD sales across the board. I mean, not that NARS and MAC aren’t doing that too, but at least the former had different formulas and the latter does also have some non-basic fun shades—a couple of which I’d have probably bought, had they been on sale and/or weren’t already in my hoard. 

[Sunnysmom]

Totally agree @WinglessOne and I have to remember this so I can stop losing my mind during new season rollouts ! You need to do some Byredo or DVN or have you?! I know you had some Byredo stuff. 😊

[WinglessOne]

@Sunnysmom  I do have some older Byredo lipsticks but I’m not in love with ‘em. Especially the bullets, which don’t seem worth their price in terms of performance. I have one of the liquid lipsticks… I think it’s a matte instead of the satin/vinyl/whatever formula. I need to double check. (Note to self.) I don’t recall if these are from Isamaya’s or Lucia’s era of creative director. I think the bullets might be Isamaya and the liquid is Lucia. Interesting, because I love Isamaya’s self-branded bullets.

I finally bought a couple Dries van Noten bullets (+ 2 cases to mix & match) in June. Love the satin “sheer” one, but not quite sold on the matte one. Sometimes a light matte bullet shade will perform badly on my lips (patchy coverage, might get crumbly, etc.), and the DvN I bought is a lighter one. Guess I’ll have to get a darker matte shade for scientific comparison. 😂 Good thing Nordstrom sells them, though maybe not the shade(s) I’m interested in.

To get the lipstick shades I really wanna see more of, I mostly have to go the indie route or create ‘em myself. Gucci still has some fun shades, but might not for long if the current makeup trend persists. Seeing MAC release a beautiful kale green early this year and a fun light blue in their new satin bullet formula, plus a black, and porting shades like Cyber over to the new formula (thank goodness), give me hope that MAC won’t completely shy away from my kind of lip colors. I realize I’m in a minority customer group that loves all the pretty colors, vs. the apparently much larger customer base that wants safe and neutral shades. Eh, this trend does force me to use up my current stash instead of buying lots of new stuff, so you know, silver linings. 😅

[Sunnysmom]

Oh ok @WinglessOne . I’m sorry you didn’t like the Byredo ! I hope I didn’t steer you badly! 😭 You’re not wrong about the price. I do like DVN better in comparison. So glad Nordstrom carries em.  Ugh mattes are so tricky. I do like theirs but the satins are really comfy and decent pigment. I have one Isamaya and it’s really smooth. I need to haul it out! That’s such a bummer that more lines don’t expand their shades. Bite kale was such a HG green! All the pinks and nudes… sigh. lol. Thankfully I can stay away from those! You’d really think Prada would do some more out of the box shades considering their eye shadows but whatever. Or someone. Such a weird time in the makeup realm it seems. I have been trying to purge my lippies lately and oy the guilt and all of it so I’m really trying to rotate old favorites while they still remain decent. It’s just madness and I feel so wasteful not to! Did I mention guilt. lol 

[WinglessOne]

@Sunnysmom  Oh, no worries! The Byredo bullets aren’t bad (though I definitely prefer the satins over the mattes), they’re just overpriced for what they are without their pretty containers. Now, Byredo’s old multi-use sticks (I have a couple of those metallics), on the other hand: those were just flat-out poor performers. I tried to overlook performance issues with the metallic khaki green one in particular because I love the color. But using it was so frustrating. I mean there’s probably a reason Byredo no longer makes those sticks. 😅

Anyway, I think I bought the Byredo liquid lip around the time I caught covid? I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried it on! I remember not swatching anything for the hauls thread at the time because I was so sick and didn’t wanna reinfect myself with that badness. So now I need to go look for it. It’s probably with all the Anna Sui lipsticks I also didn’t swatch due to covid. See, I’ve got all this stuff still waiting to be used. No need to buy more stuff! 🙃

And YES, what the heck Prada? Their Hyper Matte line does include a couple fun colors, but they could do so much more to go alongside their eye quads. They can release a green setting/finishing powder but not a green lipstick shade? Not even a jet black shade? C’mon now. 😂 Prada’s a fashion label that could easily get away with “unconventional” shades. Even Guerlain once sold blue and hunter green shades of Rouge G lipstick (and I still have them; the green performs better than the blue). Sigh…

I don’t follow makeup trends anyway when it comes to what I do to my own face, but trends do end up impacting me when they greatly reduce the amount of products I actually wanna buy and use. Great for my wallet though! Glad you’re still pushing to refine your collection; this is definitely a good time to use what you’ve already got. 

[Sunnysmom]

Oh man @WinglessOne yes, don’t forget to use some of those Covid lippies! 🤣 I got it for the first time this year and was so mad! I escaped it completely until spring! What the what. I am glad I kind of forgot how bad that could have been to use lips during that time tho I honestly had none on so I guess I was ok when I think about it, being home and all. Ugh. I forgot about those Byredo sticks. I don’t think I ever got one though I debated it I recall! I do like the one red liquid lip I have - I think. lol. Time to haul that out again too! So many missed opportunities for brands to do something fun and out of the box. Same as you, I don’t pay attention to trends though I’m thrilled with they happen to align with shades I like like deep wine stained lips! Cheers to us for trying to behave , shop our stashes and purge as necessary! 🥂

[curlychiquita]

Fantastic deals, @WinglessOne! Love the swatches.

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @curlychiquita !

[Ispend2much6]

@WinglessOne  All In is gorgeous!  And yes, cutting things out of the cart is something to be proud of ,especially when there's a good sale.

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Ispend2much6 ! 

[danielledanielle]

I need Nars to sell those mini brushes.   They are criminally cute. 

Major GWP action!  So satisfying @WinglessOne 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @danielledanielle ! I’m surprised there’s no mini brush set for sale at their site. I haven’t checked in at NARS’s Beauty Innovators community in a couple months… I wonder if there’s a “what products should we offer” thread or survey floating around there. Noting to self to check. 

[CorgiMommy]

Those are gorgeous @WinglessOne .  I think NARS is an under appreciated brand.  They products are high quality and cone in so many shades.

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @CorgiMommy ! NARS might be under appreciated lately, but I remember when they weren’t. I also remember the days when Francois Nars still owned the company; I’m glad he stayed on as Creative Director and still has a lot of creative control. I’ll always appreciate him for truly catering to all skin tones at a time when many brands didn’t. Eh, even if NARS concealers still tend to run yellow toned. 😅

What are your favorite NARS products? Mine are the (sadly discontinued) Audacious lipsticks and old formula powder blushes. The reformulation’s growing on me though. 

[CorgiMommy]

Definitely their blushes @WinglessOne 

[SportyGirly125]

Newness 

I also stocked up on Ulta’s pedi pebbles since they are $.80 at the moment and it was free shipping for under $5. 

[WinglessOne]

@SportyGirly125  Thank you for showing the inside of that bag. Had Sephora put an interior photo on the product page, I’d probably have ordered one too. Looks good! I assume you’ve gotten to play with those liners in-store; how are they?

[SportyGirly125]

@WinglessOne The liners are online only. I have been waiting for them to release it since I saw someone in the UK post about them months ago. I haven’t tried them since I am sick at the moment. 

The bag is pretty cheaply made which I already suspected from the photo.  It should have been 100 points.