Products Worth the Splurge

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I did a post last year (eek) about products I’m not willing to splurge on. I wanted to do another one about products I am willing to splurge on and why they are worth it. I get it, spending $45 on a blush is wild, it is, but I will say with no shame that I have spent that amount of money on a blush. Now, don’t splurge if you can’t afford it, but for me there is something about wonderful saving for that one item and buying it.


Blush

Two of my favouite blushes are in this (overpriced) palette

I love blush, while I do own mostly drugstore blushes, I love me a good high end blush. My favourite are the Hourglass Ambient lighting blushes and their palettes. These have this light reflecting technology that gives you a glow from within.


Skincare

Caudalie Essence and Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask

I have a few high end skincare items including items from Caudalie and Summer Fridays and I love them. I splurge on high end skincare with good ingredients because my skin loves it. I know, it’s a bit ridiculous to spend $34 on a cleanser or $50 on an essence, but I don’t know what to tell you my skin enjoys it. It’s not to say I don’t have drugstore skincare favourites like the Neutrogena Hydro Boost Serum or the Cerave hydrating cream and lotion, but I don’t feel bad when I spend money on skincare. The biggest benefit to buying skincare from higher end brands in the formulation of the products and the sourcing of the ingredients. Sometimes less expensive products can have the same ingredients, they are just formulated differently and sometimes diluted to be less effective. However, this doesn’t mean their aren’t great drugstore skincare products

Eyeshadow palettes

There are some great drugstore eyeshadow palettes out there, but I have no problem splurging on a high end palette. I love the Anastasia eyeshadow formula, the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette, and the Urban Decay Naked Heat and Naked 3. The interesting thing about high end eyeshadow palettes is while the drugstore is catching up, I find that anytime I wear a high end palette my eyeshadow actually lasts all day, despite wearing the same eyeshadow primer.

Tinted moisturizers and BB Creams

FAB Tinted Moisturizer and Nudestix Tinted blur stick

Okay, I only own two of these, the First Aid Beauty Tinted Moisturizer and the Nudestix Tinted blur stick, but I would repurchase both. The First Aid Beauty does pull a bit orange so I’m on the hunt for a tint that isn’t orange so I can round them up for you. The Nudestix meets that bill but I want to find a tinted moisturizer that also meets the criteria.

Highlighters

NARS Forte De France, Anastasia Amrezy, Anastasia Nicole Guerriero glow kit, Nudestix nudies

I LOVE highlighters and because I rarely use them up, spending a bit more on a good quality powder doesn’t really bother me. Now, I realize that the drugstore makes amazing highlighters. Trust me, I have some that are among my favourites but I think that for powder highlighters you can get a really beautiful sheen and glossy finish from high end highlighters vs the drugstore where tend to come across as a bit more powdery. My personal favourite formulas are Anastasia, NARS and Nudestix. However, highlighters like the Essence Pure nude and the Annabelle Cream highlighters are wonderful. However, if you want a tried and true, easy to use highlighter I would go for high end.

All of these products are what i personally don’t mind splurging on. I think that it is ridiculous the amount of money products cost. However, despite my issues I take with capitalism and elitism, beauty that costs a lot and feels so nice to use, these items get me every time, congratulations to the marketing people for selling overpriced items so well (not being sarcastic, it’s impressive). What is your favourite splurgy item?

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12 Days of Blogging Day 7: Palettes of 2018: Do They Serve Value in my Collection?

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This year I set a goal to buy four palettes – high end or drugstore. Clearly that was a huge fail. I want to preface this post by saying I love eye shadow and playing with eye shadow. It is something I do after I’ve had a bad day, when I want to feel creative and when I have an occasion – even when I don’t I love a blown out smokey eye. In 2019 I think I will make my goal to limit my eye shadow purchases. Realistically, as a blogger I enjoy reviewing palettes but I also want to make sure I’m making conscious purchasing decisions. This period of deciding is far more evident when I shop high end I wanted to make this post to analyze the value of each palette in my collection, what’s their purpose, is the colour story exciting etc.

High End

Huda Beauty Coral Obsessions palette. This palette is worth every penny. I absolutely love this palette. The colour story of this palette is like no other in my collection. The beautiful mustard yellow compliments any eye look and blends itself out. The shimmers in this palette have a beautiful colour shift. This palette serves its purpose as a colourful, albeit trendy, but also wearable palette.

The Anastasia Soft Glam. I LOVE this eye shadow formula. The palette is definitely neutral with a twist – which is great for every day and glam looks. The formula of these shadows are like no other. They are soft and buttery, but also are slightly powdery so I like to do my eyes before using this palette. The value this brings to my collection is the easy (for me) to use and you ca create fail safe looks which I always enjoy.

The NARS Ignited Palette. Oh damn. Oh damn. Oh damn – Captain Holt. This palette. Is. Beautiful. This is my first foray into real adult luxury eye shadow. While this palette is basically an all shimmer palette – I find the mattes and satins to be wearable and easy for both “daytime” and “night time” looks. This palette really takes you from a simple matte look to a beautiful shimmer look.

Drugstore

NYX Perfect filter in Olive You. I LOVE this eye shadow palette. It really brought me out of my warm tone comfort zone while still having those tones to work with. I really like the greens and blue shade in this palette. I don’t really have anything else like this in my collection so as someone who doesn’t tend to wear a lot of “colour” this is a great addition to my collection.

Burt’s bees trio in Countryside Lavender. This was something I bought for my week of clean makeup I did back in the summer and it was also something I thought would be pretty for spring with the lilac. Now, these shadows aren’t overly pigmented like the Anastasia or the NYX palette but they are great for an every day wash of colour which I enjoy. I like that you can create subtle barely there looks  but also build these up for more full pigmentation.

Joe Fresh neutrals palette. Did I need another neutral palette? No. NO did not. But, I was so curious about the quality I bought it. I don’t necessarily think this isn’t valuable in my collection but it was super necessary. I do like the simplicity and slightly cooler tones of this palette which I don’t own a lot of.

Rimmel Crimson edition. Again – this is a palette that arguably doesn’t need to be in my collection because I can create those berry looks with multiple different palettes and shadows – but I couldn’t resist this when I saw it at the drugstore. Again, this is a super trendy palette for my collection but I’ve gotten a ton of use out of it.

City mini palette by Maybelline in rooftop bronzes. I think this might be one of those impulse palettes that I bought and didn’t really need. I planned on comparing this to the elf prism palette but I also kept seeing ttsandra talk about it so naturally, I bought it. Does it serve a lot of value in my already too large palette collection – honestly no but I like to use this in conjunction with palettes like the Naked Heat and the Naked 3 so it does serve that purpose.

What palettes did you buy in 2018?