Hawaii Beauty Buys: The Luxury Edit

 

I've been very sporadic in my posting lately (if you follow on Twitter then you might know there have been some family health dramas taking up my time and energy) so this is another better late than never post from me.  I'm finally in the mood to get back on with the lighter, more fun side of my life and what better way for a beauty blogger to get happy than photographing lots of new makeup courtesy of a big overseas makeup haul!

I think I left the best of the vacation shopping posts until this last instalment - the best value for money perhaps? I don't know about that because I wasn't comparing the $$ but I do know I had a lot of fun buying all of these products which for the most part are not yet readily available in Australia - until Sephora opens it's doors in Sydney next month anyway! I actually did most of my beauty shopping in Sephora - Yeah baby!!! -  so let's start there! Now why on earth am I channelling Austin Powers?!?...

Sephora

• Urban Decay Naked2 Basics - I know the original Urban Decay Naked Basics palette was a bit of a love it or leave it item depending on how colour obsessed you are (I guess?), but being a bit of a neutral girl in my everyday life, I was in the love it category.  The cooler toned option of 2 was on my radar from the moment it was released so I bought this as a 'must have' item for my little UD collection. 
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - I've used up a couple of sample sized tubes and found it did the job well enough so I basically threw this into my basket!

 

 

• NARS Audacious Lipstick (Grace) - Just look at that black minimalist packaging and of  course the now almost mandatory embossed bullet. After seeing all the buzz on Instagram a NARS Audacious lipstick was also on my wishlist to try because I'm all about high pigment lipstick.  I confess I don't own a NARS blush but now I do own a NARS lipstick! I chose Grace as it's a bright pink coral and very promising as a perfect shade for summer statement lips.

 

• Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick Duos (Vivid Violet/Palomino & Neutral Lychee/Musk) -  I've been a fan of the moisturising Luminous Lip Crème formula since buying my first (and only until now) Bite Beauty lipstick last year and these lip duos are a cutely portable, more affordable way of trying other shades from the range. I love how Sephora have all those irresistible little items lined up along the way to the counter for the last minute impulse buys - It's the beauty equivalent of the candy stand at the supermarket checkout!

 

 

• Give Me More Lip - Sephora Favorites - Oh my, I walked around and around this one because the idea of getting 17 new lip products in one hit felt pretty extravagant after all my discipline earlier this year.  Ah well, it's 17 sample sizes and a heap of them are products I'd not tried before but seen raves about (Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear lipstick, Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick are just two worth mentioning) so why not?  It's becoming pretty clear my beauty obsession is leaning a LOT more heavily towards lip colours these days, hmm?

 

• Stila Pretty Pick-Me-Ups lip & cheek set - Another on the way to the counter grab!  This little set contains two mini versions of popular Stila products that I didn't have:  the much obsessed about Peony Convertible Color Dual Lip & Cheek Cream and Guava Lip Glaze.  It's taken me a long time to 'get' cream cheek products but now that I do I'm in love with the healthy, youthful glow they give to my middle aged old cheeks and I can't get enough of them!

 

• Sephora Outrageous Prisma Chrome mono eye shadow pots - I found these two shades (Outrageous Metallic Grey and Outrageous Metallic Lilac) in the discount bin for $5 each and, being typically indecisive, bought them both! Since getting back from my trip I've read raves about these wet/dry metallic eye shadows so can't understand why they've been discontinued unless it's only these shades? 

 

And the samples...

After all that shopping I qualified for Sephora Beauty Insider signup so I received my free samples, mini Bare Minerals 5 in 1 cream eye shadow as a points perk and MUFE birthday gift on the spot. Not having regular access to Sephora made this a bit of a big deal for me so it makes me excited for when Sephora expands in Australia and...finally comes to Melbourne.  Hurry up, will you?

 

Neiman Marcus

 

 

I really should say this was the "Tom Ford beauty counter at Neiman Marcus" because that's what I zeroed in on and where I had an impromptu makeover while the SA wooed me with the above products - and the rest, hah! If there was one additional thing I should have bought at the time but didn't was the TF Eye Primer Duo. We decided to go for a hike up to Diamond Head Lookout later in the afternoon and while the rest of my face melted off in the sweaty heat my eye shadow was FLAWLESS! If only I'd had time to get back to that counter.  You know how it is, wise after the fact *sigh*.

So I ended adding these products to my Tom 'freaking' Ford collection:

• Tom Ford Lip Color (31 Twist of Fate) - This coral lipstick is from TF's Fall 2014 collection and given that we don't get many of the LE releases in Australia I didn't hesitate after trying it on at the counter. It's more subtle than TF's True Coral and looks equally put together yet in a low-key way.
• Tom Ford Ultra Shine Lip Gloss (07 Peach Absolut) - The SA used this as a complimentary topper for the lippy and...I don't have any TF glosses in my collection...and this looked perfect...so...yes.
• Tom Ford Concealing Pen (02 Light Medium) - Being the concealer addict I am I was all up for trying this newish release and it was on my luxe beauty wishlist so I can now check that one off! 

 

Macy's

Yes I found this at Macy's! The Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette has been around for some time and I'm a latecomer to exploring the brand per se so...I had that first sniff of the cocoa powder shadows, had a little swatch - these are velvety as opposed to buttery and well pigmented - and was convinced I had to buy me a palette!

After my first use I'm already impressed because the shades build and blend well, and with all of those complimentary colours I was able to create my own look very easily without too much deliberation.  There are three eye makeup looks included in the Chocolate Bar pamphlet but just looking at the palette I can see a multitude of looks in the making.  Lots of playing to be done with the Chocolate Bar and I can understand the raves it gets.

Well that's enough shopping for now perhaps?

If you'd like any more detailed reviews or swatches please let me know in the comments!