Neoteric & Necessary November Hauls 2024

[danielledanielle]

It's the time for the haul of fall

Sephora Savings event, y'all
Show us your giftin'
Credit card limits be a-liftin'
As you're sifting through
And shifting to
The end of the year
Show us what you find dear.

Happy Birthday to the November BIC babes

Photo cred: little, brown young readers

[faeriegirl]

The PTR eye patches are so good @CynthieLu!

[CynthieLu]

That's so reassuring 🙏 I've never tried them before @faeriegirl I'm so excited for them to arrive!

What ones have you tried and liked? 🩷

[caitbird]

@faeriegirl  excellent haul, fabulous skincare picks! You will definitely be glowing!

[faeriegirl]

Thank you @caitbird!

[WinglessOne]

Sephora Savings Event, batches 1 and 2:

One of these is a definite future return/exchange.ILIA’s bronzer lid wouldn’t stay up long enough for a photo.

Notes (swatches will be in a spoiler tag at end of post):

Spoiler

LYS Beauty Triple Fix Blurring and Hydrating Skin Tint Foundation Stick TN6 - something told me this shade would look too yellow on me but I bought it anyway. Lesson learned. 🤦‍♀️ Compared to my beloved Ami Colé Skin-Enhancing Lightweight & Blurring Foundation Stick 300, LYS’s feels more emollient and takes longer to settle into its final finish. Hopefully I can find a better shade match so I can test this on my face. If not, TN6 will be a return instead of an exchange. 

ILIA Sunshift Weightless Silky Cream Bronzer with 12-hour Wear Bask - bought in-store after swatching each shade. Bask should warm up the hyperpigmentation along the sides of my face. I like how lightweight this bronzer is: I probably won’t accidentally overdo it on my face, and it’s buildable. 

Then I Met You Essence Light Sunscreen Broad Spectrum Moisturizer SPF 50 PA +++ 1.69 oz / 50 ml - one of the only two TIMY products I can safely try on my face. (The others contain an ingredient that irritates my skin.) Since it’s a chemical sunscreen, I’ll be able to use it elsewhere on my body if it doesn’t play nice with my face. I haven’t even opened it yet. 😅

MILK MAKEUP Mini Hydro Grip Primer Pre-Game Pack Set - I’ve been curious about the “glow” version of this primer so hey, why not give it a go. It’s as gold on my skin as it looks in the bottle. Kinda glittery, even. Hmm… this set might also be a return, but I’ll give the glow primer a chance under concealer or foundation first. 

caliray Blurry Blush Pore Minimizing Cream Blush with Niacinamide Dream State - ah, such a pretty camellia rose pink! Just the shade I was after in a cream formula. This one dried down matte on my wrist and seems less “oops I went overboard” potent than Rare Beauty’s liquid blush. It may be easier to control Caliray’s pigmentation level than RB’s. I’ll find out this weekend. 

Armani Beauty Eye Tint Long-Lasting Liquid Eyeshadow 56S Mahogany - I’ve never used an Armani liquid eyeshadow, so this’ll be a fun test. Armani calls this a metallic shade but it dried down fairly matte on my wrist. 🤔 It’s a pretty shade though, a deep burgundy. 

Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin 4-Ever Flushed Lip and Cheek Set - I didn’t already have either of the 2 existing shades, so this is a set of 4 new-to-me shades. I’ll get good use out of all 4. Besides, I couldn’t resist the 2 adorable mini sizes. They’ll be great for travel. 

VOLUSPA Ultrasonic Diffuser Oil .5 oz / 15 mL forbidden fig diffuser oil - Forbidden Fig’s not available year-round (I could swear it used to be, at least in candle form), so of course I gotta grab the diffuser oil while I can. 

#GUERLAIN Meteorites Setting & Finishing Pearls of Powder 02 Cool - I’ve stalked a couple shades of these pearls for decades but never bought any. Now that I finally have a jar of ‘em in my little paws, I’m iffy on keeping them. The powdery fragrance is a bit much for me; not sure I can handle having it on my face all day. I could always use these pearls elsewhere (décolletage, shoulders, etc.) but I’d still smell the fragrance. Also, this particular shade’s more sparkly than an Hourglass AL finishing powder—but I might be able to get a softer glow with a brush instead of the included puff I used to swatch my hand. 

Only one casualty in the jar; the other pearls are whole.

Lisa Eldridge and Beautylish Gift Card Event:

Haha, one more brush purchase for 2024, though I did get Beautylish’s “coming soon” email for Sonia G.’s next LE brush set. 😄2 Hindash highlighters and a makeup bag that was obviously made for me.

Notes & interior photos of the makeup bag:

Spoiler

Lisa Eldridge Rouge Experience Refillable Lipstick shade Audrey - a brand new lipstick formula that comes in a fully recyclable case. The case is heavier than I expected (even after watching Lisa’s launch video) and the refill’s easy to remove and reinsert. They can also be used without the case. The shade I wanted isn’t available yet, so I chose Audrey even though I often have trouble with salmon lipstick shades. This one works on me though, hooray! The lipstick feels very comfy, has no fragrance, and is truly “forgot I had it on” lightweight. It held up much longer than I expected, considering it’s not fully opaque: it’s somewhere between opaque and demi-sheer, and it builds up easily. I got no streaks or patches during application, just a smooth creamy even coat.

Now see, this is USD $60 lipstick performance (as opposed to the Dior and Koh Gen Do lipsticks I reviewed earlier)—and the full component with lipstick is a buck shy of that, with refills costing $30. I’ll definitely buy another shade.

Lisa Eldridge Seamless Glide Eye Pencil shade Night Forest - bought this to replace another brand’s blackened green eyeliner that’s dried out. I have a few of Lisa’s lip liners but none of her eyeliners, so I’m happy to give this one a try this weekend.

Danessa Myricks Beauty Twin Flames Liquid Eyeshadow Euphoria - it was OOS at Sephora, so I grabbed it at Beautylish. It’s very colorshifty. I’ll have fun playing with it. 

Natasha Denona Mini Sunset - thought I already had this but nope. It’ll be a good travel buddy.

Wayne Goss White Gold Collection No. 6 Fan Brush - I don’t have many fan brushes, so I’ll see if this one helps me better diffuse the reformulated NARS blush.

Hindash Gradient Highlighter shades Peak Heat and Doll Dynasty - couldn’t decide between them. Doll Dynasty is shimmery vs. Peak Heat’s pearly/metallic finish.

Artisan & Artist Valiant Rouge Black Small Essential Pouch - stalked it for quite some time and now it’s finally mine! This soft-sided makeup bag is exactly the small size I wanted. It’s even a bit smaller than my Coach bee bag, which has just one inner pocket vs. this bag’s 6 pockets. And of course the lipstick print spoke (loudly) to me. 

Small but organized.It even has a brush (or liner/pencil/crayon) pocket.

NARS “Last Chance” sale:

The 2 mini boxes were GWP (the mini blush is Orgasm).

Notes:

Spoiler

Blush (old formula) - these were half off during the sale. I unboxed only one of them for my photo because they’re all backups of shades I already own: Taj Mahal and Liberté. Yes, I know Taj is available in the reformulated blush, but it doesn’t behave/perform the same as the old formula—and that’s especially important when it comes to NARS’s shimmer blushes. The old Taj can be beautifully layered over a different blush. The new Taj packs too big a punch to easily get the same effect. 

All That Glitters Light Reflecting Cheek Palette - NARS’s holiday 2023 gel-to-powder palette. Sometimes I can resist NARS’s blush palettes since they’re usually the same color story. The 50% markdown made me buy this one. I haven’t swatched it yet, but I already know (from old reviews) the pan that looks deep plum is really a brown burgundy shade. 

Swatching most of the things: 

Spoiler

Why yes, those are half-frame readers sitting on the end of my nose. I can’t read stuff without ‘em. 😄
Used the Meteorites puff to cover the entire back of my hand, most of my wrist, and some of my forearm with shimmer.

The Ami Colé foundation’s included for shade comparison against ILIA’s, which is too yellow/gold for me.

[curlychiquita]

These are amazing hauls, @WinglessOne! The Hindash highlighters look gorgeous. You did great with the NARS last chance sale, too!

[WinglessOne]

Thank you @curlychiquita ! NARS often gets me with their Last Chance section. 😅 

[jaaayp]

LOVE YOUR HAUL @WinglessOne !!! I actually just tried the DM blushes... and I absolutely love it. How have I been missing out so much?!?!? I've been eyeing the same kit but havent pulled the trigger....

[WinglessOne]

Thank you @jaaayp ! Glad you’re loving Danessa’s Yummy Skin blushes! I’ll be very biased here and say the 4-piece set’s definitely worth buying. 👍

[sister13]

Everything is gorgeous! Thanks for the swatches and opinions on all of it! @WinglessOne 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @sister13 !

[itsfi]

@WinglessOne, that lipstick bag is fantastic. Does the Milk primer have a tacky to the touch feel to it? 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @itsfi! About the Milk primer: do you mean the original version or the newer “Glow” version? The regular one is mildly tacky. The glowy one feels grippier to me. I’ve used to regular version before, just on and around my oily nose to extend a redness-masking skin tint’s wear time on overheated days. The glowy version will be interesting to try there. 

I keep forgetting to try the regular version under my eyes with concealer. Not sure I’ll try the Glow version there… Since it’s pearly (and a bit sparkly), it could act as an undereye brightener either solo or under concealer. But it’s also noticeably gold—though not quite highlighter level gold if sheered out: 

It’s sheered out here. When first applied though, it looks alarmingly boldly gold. 😄

[itsfi]

@WinglessOne, I meant the new one; I missed that you picked up both in your haul. Thank you.

[WinglessOne]

@itsfi  Ah. Yeah, the glowy version came with the regular version in a set. if you’ve used the regular one before, expect the glowy one to feel tackier. Not so grippy that things won’t easily blend over it, but grippier than the regular primer. 

[Ispend2much6]

I'm sorry @WinglessOne  but you are going to HAVE to keep the Guerlain.  So stunning on you; very eye-catching. 

The LE lipstick really brightens up your complexion; from that photo it appears you have a good bit of the same shade of pink of the lipstick in your complexion.

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Ispend2much6 ! I’m still on the fence about the Meteorites. If they weren’t heavily fragranced, this would be an easier decision for me. 

Yeah, it took me decades to realize and accept that my undertone is indeed rosy cool. 😂 My overtone is more of a terracotta, somewhere between warm and neutral. And to further confuse things, I have some surface redness on and around my nose. This mix of tones makes certain lipstick colors tricky: I still have trouble with pink-leaning corals, for instance. A shade like Audrey does bring out my undertone a bit, though. 

[Ispend2much6]

It is really tricky to figure out tones and find good shade matches. @WinglessOne   I am still looking for my "perfect" foundation.

Things change too after you hit 40 or so, and definitely during/after menopause.  I don't know why it was a surprise for me to learn that I have a good deal of olive in my skin, as my grandfather was from southern Italy.  I guess because I have a light complexion with pink and extremely cool undertones, so I didn't think those could exist together. lol  That explains why a lot of pinks turn orange on me, and purples give me the best chance for pinks to show up on my lips and cheeks.

One day I was at Ulta, helping a WOC find a replacement for Nars' Shanghai Express lipstick.  I could tell she was cool-toned, but she had no idea.  I hope that was helpful to her for her future choices.  The manager then offered me a job...

[WinglessOne]

@Ispend2much6  Heh, you sound like me wondering why I adamantly denied having a cool undertone despite all the redheads on both sides of my family. 😂 With brown skin, it’s sometimes hard to see past an overtone (especially if you also have large patches of hyperpigmentation)—even if you’ve had color theory training and your eyes are very good at distinguishing between close colors, tints, and shades. I mean, so many foundation and concealer formulators seem to have trouble with it too, since they always wanna shoehorn the medium-deep and deeper skin tone ranges into warm and gold shades (and occasionally neutral shades). 

That’s one of the reasons it’s hard for some folks with deeper skin tones to find good shade matches: some brands pretend we can’t possibly have cool undertones. I imagine it’s even harder with an olive tone… olive can be cool or warm, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at many foundation/concealer shades on the market. 

[danielledanielle]

@WinglessOnecan you please please give a clarification on undertone vs overtone

[WinglessOne]

@danielledanielle  Putting on my art student “see, I was paying attention in theory class” hat. 😂 I’ll drop this in a spoiler because it’ll be kinda long: 

Spoiler

Overtone is exactly what it sounds like: the color(s) you see first when you look at something—in this case, human skin. Pink, peach, beige, tan, brown, and chocolate are examples of skin overtone. So is red. Overtone can change over time. Suntans change your overtone, as anyone with summer vs. winter foundation shades knows. Aging can change your overtone. So can pregnancy. Melasma is an overtone change, along with other types of hyperpigmentation (including suntans). Rosacea can cause a red overtone, especially during a flare. So can a sunburn. 

Undertone is the bane of many people’s existence when it comes to complexion makeup the color beneath overtone. It’s harder to quickly see than overtone and far less likely to change. (Example: getting a tan won’t change your undertone.) Undertone’s often the focus of tone temperature talk: warm vs. cool vs. neutral.

But overtone also has temperature. Overtone and undertone can be the same temp, or they can clash. Either way, how they affect each other can help folks figure out which makeup shades might work best for them. The vein test is supposed to reveal your undertone temp, and it does work for some people. At my wrist, my veins are blue and purply-blue. Traveling up my forearm, those veins become more teal blue colored—because my overtone is neutral-to-(kinda)warm. My under and over tones clash. Together, they create an overall rosy terracotta skin tone. (Thank you Live Tinted for creating a “rosy terracotta” concealer shade that best explains my overall skin coloring.) Veins on my arm look teal blue instead of green because my overtone’s not warm (yellow) enough to green ‘em up. 

Disclaimer: I’m not a color theory expert. I learned it in school (including college) for various art classes, and I sometimes refer to it during my art projects. But I don’t consider myself an expert. I don’t have an MFA, for instance. I do think it’s something worth learning though. It can help folks feel more confident and adventurous about playing with all the pretty colors. 👍