Beauty Haul! NYX, Real Techniques, Milani

Whenever I am having a bad day, I find it necessary to go out and treat myself to some new makeup goodies. It definitely is difficult to do when you're on a college budget, but I had a visa giftcard that I got from my birthday and hadn't used yet.

I had been lusting after some Real Techniques brushes for a long time. I used my sister's powder brush from them and I knew I had to get it. It was so soft and fluffy!

I have recently been dealing with some roommate drama and I needed to get out of my house, so I headed to ulta with my giftcard in tow. When I got to ulta, I was so happy to see that the Real Techniques brushes were buy one, get one 50% off!

In total, I bought four brushes, two of which were half price. I bought their powder brush, blush brush, expert face brush, and finally the stippling brush. I have already used all of these brushes and I love them so much. Has anyone ever just laid there running a soft makeup brush on there face. No? Yeah me neither...

Since I bought a stippling brush, I had to buy a cream blush, right? Just trying to justify my purchases, come on help me out over here. Anyway, I don't have a large blush collection and I've been gravitating to oranges but I don't have any so alas, more of a reason to buy this blush! I've heard really good things about NYX cream blushes, so I found the bright orange and went with it. This blush is so extremely pigmented, it's kind of scary, but in a good way.

 I can't really justify this Milani purchase, except for the fact that I was on an orange high and needed another orange blush! This one is more of a coral-y color, hence the name Corallina. This is also a really pigmented blush, however it does have a lot of glitter-not shimmer-glitter, and I know that a lot of people don't like that in their blushes. But I like it so far.

Dupe Alert: MAC Gladiola, MAC Night Blooming, and Sleek Mystic Swatches and Review

I know that I recently did a blog post on MAC's Night Blooming being a very similar, almost dupe to MAC's Gladiola. Unfortunately, Night Blooming was a limited edition color, and it is no longer available. Alas, I have discovered a cheaper dupe! I've always wanted to try some products from Sleek because they are a "drugstore"/ lower end brand in the UK but they are still affordable and close in price to drugstore products here in the US! I live on a college, so when I come across a 6$ lipstick, I am an extremely happy camper.

Mystic is the name of the lipstick from Sleek and you can spot the swatch of it in the middle. As you can see, Mystic looks a tiny smidge darker than the other two, but it's really not that much of a different. On the lips the colors are all very similar and the slight color difference isn't noticeable. If anything, Mystic is closer to Gladiola on the lips because they are both matte lipsticks, whereas Night Blooming is a semi-matte. So far, I'm really enjoying the quality that Sleek is offering for the affordable price. I have noticed that wear time on Mystic isn't the highest, so you might have to reapply throughout the day/ night.