Ulta Haul

 When in NY, I sadly don't have an Ulta near me. And there's a lot of brands sold at Ulta that I really like(OPI, NYX, Essence). I'd really love it if there was one, but there's always online shopping and luckily Ulta sells OPI online now. So I did some polish shopping, yay!

 This came in two orders, as usual.

I got these during the 21 days of beauty at Ulta and they were $9 each.

Butter LONDON: The Black Knight

Butter LONDON: Slapper

Butter LONDON: Lovely Jubbly

I literally looked up swatches of all the BL that Ulta has online and picked these three. I think they are all just gorgeous!

 Essence - Nail Art Stampy Set: I wanted to try my luck out with stamping. I know this is not Konad or anything like that, but I wanted to see if I would like it, and I actually do! Will definitely looking into getting an actual stamping set. 

 Real Techniques - Core Collection: People rave a lot about these brushes and well, I had to try them. I love Pixiwoo, they are both great, so I was sure Samantha Chapman wouldn't just slap her name on a mediocre product that she didn't believe in. Not to mention, they do use the same brushes in their own videos.

OPI - Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful Mini Nail Set: I love nail polish minis. I'm sure I'll never go through a full bottle of polish. They are super cute! This kit is not available at Ulta anymore though. (Sorry about the Amazon link, only place I could find it)

 OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape: Lovely shade, used it in my Easter nail look.

OPI - Black Cherry Chutney

Essence - XXXL Shine Lipgloss in Nude Candy(19): TheBeautyVaultxo used this in her February Favorites and I just loved the shade! Not only that, but it's also a dupe for Nars Turkish Delight.

NYX - Slim Lip Pencil in Cabaret(804): I saw this shade and immediately knew I was going to love it, it's such a gorgeous vampy shade!

NYX - Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk: I needed a cream base for bold eye looks and this one had gotten great reviews.

 Hope you enjoyed my little haul, I know it's nothing exciting, but I really love the products I got!

NYX product review + swatches

 I'll be reviewing the products I got from this haul. You can find the haul post here:
http://beautymadn3ss.blogspot.com/2013/02/ulta-nyx-mini-haul.html

NYX - Single Eye Shadow in Cherry and Hot Orange: These two single eye shadows are very pigmented. Cherry is a bit more pigmented than Hot Orange though. Hot Orange has holographic glitter and the sparkles are really big, so you might end up with some glitter around your face from fall out, make sure you tap the excess off before you apply the shadow. These two are really pretty colors and I like them a lot. Cherry is more of a shimmery red with a lot of pink, almost a hot pink and it also has a bit of fall out, but not as much as Hot Orange. I like both, but I would've liked Hot Orange more if it weren't for those big chunks of glitter. The texture on both is pretty soft, but Hot Orange is a bit rougher because of the glitter. I definitely recommend these, if you want decently pigmented eye shadows at a reasonable price, this is perfect for you!

Swatches: First one is Cherry, second one is Hot Orange.

  

NYX - Ultra Pearl Mania Loose Pearl Eye Shadow In Yellow: This pigment is well, really pigmented(duh!). Make sure you tap the excess of, because it's a pigment and you will likely have excess product on your brush that if it's not tapped off will end up all over your face! This color is a really pretty yellow almost gold color, which might be more wearable than Cherry and Hot Orange. You can either use it to add a bit of sparkle to your look or build it up for a more bold look. I definitely recommend NYX loose pigments, they are super cheap and surprisingly there's a lot of product in those little containers! The colors are really buildable and add a pretty amount of shimmer.

Swatch:

NYX - Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Purple: I love purple. I needed a liquid purple eyeliner, so I thought I'd just try this one out. Can't say I'm too happy with it. It's not a felt tip or a pencil type liquid eyeliner(like my Lorac!), which means it gives you no precision and I can deal with that. However, one thing I can't deal with is lack of pigmentation in my eye liner. For this guy to show up, it takes at least 2 strokes. Also, it takes ages to dry. Once it dries it looks really pretty and it has this really cute almost metallic finish, but that is only of course if your strokes don't look uneven, otherwise it looks like a train wreck. Also, another minus is that this is not waterproof and when it comes to my eyeliner, I like it to be waterproof. This won't smudge, but if you tear up it will just dissolve(I guess that would be the right word). I'm not liking this liner one bit, in spite of how pretty the color is and I don't recommend it at all.

Swatch:

 

NYX - Xtreme Lip Cream in Candy Land : First of all, this color is SO PRETTY! This is an amazing liquid lipstick. It's super pigmented and it makes my lips stay soft without the dryness you can get from some lipsticks. This particular shade has no sparkles or shimmer and I actually think none of the ones from this line do, but it does have some shine. I definitely recommend this product. If you are a lip gloss kinda gal, but would like something with some more pigmentation, this might be the thing to try!

Swatch:

Essence - Eye Pencil in White 04 : I know this is not NYX, but I bought it at the same time. I don't like this pencil at all, it sucks for the waterline, which is what I got it for. It's not pigmented at all and the only way for it to show in the waterline is if you warm it up. Otherwise it's pretty rough and it doesn't show at all. It glides just fine on the upper and lower lash lines, but I don't think anyone wants white eye line for that. Don't waste your money on this, there are probably better white liners out there.

 I'm glad I got to try out more NYX products, because I've heard so many good things about this brand. I guess from now on I'll stick to their lip products and eye shadows. I might try some other things in the the future, I want to try out their blushes, mascaras and black eyeliners(felt tipped ones, of course). 

What's your favorite NYX product?

 Disclaimer: I purchased this with my own money, and this is my own personal opinion :)