Product Alert -- bareMinerals Crystallized Full Face Collection

I was a really good girl during Sephora's recent VIB sale.

Well, by my standards anyway.

I only purchased two items -- one that shall remain a secret for the time being as it's intended for the holiday giveaway I'll be doing in a couple of weeks and one treat for me, the bareMinerals Crystallized Full Face Collection.

I hadn't known about this kit until I happened to stumble upon it while I was browsing the Sephora website.  It looked promising so I bought it on a complete whim.

While I haven't played with it enough to do a full review, I think it's safe to say that it's a real winner so you might want to check it out for the makeup lovers on your holiday shopping list ... or for yourself if you've been extra good this year.

Product Alert -- Upcoming bareMinerals Glamour Now Holiday TSV from QVC

As I mentioned yesterday, QVC always has the best beauty TSVs right around the holidays.

It makes sense, of course -- they make ideal gifts for all those makeup lovers on your list... or yourself.

There's nothing wrong with treating yourself, I always say.

The upcoming bareMinerals Glamour Now TSV that will air on November 25th is definitely a treat in my book.

New QVC TSV AD Installment -- BE Beautifully Brilliant Holiday #4

It's really starting to feel like Christmas around here these days -- I had two AD installments of QVC beauty TSVs show up on my doorstep this past week.

And having new makeup to play always feels like a holiday to me.

The fourth (and final) installment of the bareMinerals Beautifully Brilliant TSV, Chic Mystique, is an interesting collection of shades that I'm definitely excited to experiment with.

The kit contains:

• Perfect Light Mineral Veil Finishing Powder
• Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Fantasy
• Ready Liner Shadow The Night Is Young
• Spellbound Blush
• Marvelous Moxie Lipsgloss in Rule Breaker
• Contour Blush Brush
• Double-Ended Shaping Eye Brush
• Gunmetal Clutch

BE Beautifully Brillant Holiday Collection A/D #3 from QVC

Note: I apologize in advance for the poor lighting in these photos. It's been raining for at least some part of the day here all week, so I had to contend with dark, cloudy skies every time that I wanted to take pictures. You know, it wasn't until I started this blog that I realized just how terrible the lighting in my house is... I really should do something about that. I'm planning on getting a photo tent and light kit so if anyone has suggestions, feel free to share.

I’m always happy when the UPS man shows up at my door with the latest installment of a QVC TSV. 

This week, he delivered the latest kit in the bareMinerals Beautifully Brilliant Holiday Collection, which is called Fortune Found. While I get a lot of beauty-related TSVs, it always seems like the bareMinerals (and Tarte) ones are my favorites.  This one is another hit for me, though I do have a somewhat serious problem with it that I mentioned in my review of the second installment.

But let’s get on to the good stuff first, namely what’s in this kit.

Review - bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Be Free (and Some Odds and Ends)

Last week when I reviewed the Buxom Full Bodied Lipsticks, I mentioned that I've been on a lipstick buying binge lately.

It's a little strange because I've always preferred gloss to lipstick, but I just can't seem to get enough of the creamy opaque look of lipstick these days.

The fact that I've stumbled across some pretty fabulous formulas in my lipstick shopping craze probably has something to do with it.

The bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick definitely falls into that fabulous category.

And color me surprised because I haven't really been a fan of any of bareMinerals' lipsticks in the past.

Shopping Bag -- Tarte, Bare Minerals & Laura Mericer

Sometimes, I come across products that it just doesn't make sense to do a full review of -- either because it's just a new shade of a product that I've already reviewed (or mentioned multiple times) or it's a limited edition product that may not be that easy to get by the time I'm ready to write a post.

But as someone who's always hunting around online for swatches of this product or another, I feel like there's still some value in posting photos of the products and a brief description in case anyone might be curious. 

That's what these Shopping Bag posts will be about -- swatches and quick rundowns of products that I can't justify a full review for. 

This and That: BE Ready Foundation Update, MAC Archie Girls Collection & Drugstore Makeup

BE Ready Foundation

1) Since I'm finally feeling better, I didn't mind playing around with makeup yesterday so I decided to try out the tips that Leslie Blodgett from Bare Escentuals shared for the Ready Foundation in the videos I posted about the other day to see if I liked it any better.

It was only one time but yeah...I did like it better.

bareMinerals Ready Foundation Tips

So the cold that I was trying so desperately to fight off last week has been kicking my butt pretty good since the weekend.

I choose to be positive, so all I keep telling myself is, at least it's not the flu.

That said, I haven't worn a stitch of makeup (unless you count Chapstick) or really even thought about makeup all week.

Still, an interesting e-mail popped up in my inbox from bareMinerals the other day and I thought the info was worth sharing.

I've made it pretty clear how disappointed I was with the new Ready Pressed Foundation here and here.

bareMinerals Return to Radiance AD Shipment 3

I'm sorry that I've been MIA this week - I've been fighting off a cold, so I've been really tired and cranky.

But few things make me feel better than some new makeup, so it was perfect timing when my UPS guy showed up with the third installment of the bareMinerals Return to Radiance TSV from QVC on Monday.

Well, the Nyquil definitely helped too.

Best New Products of 2012 (and One Big Disappointment)

If I sat down and tried to write a post about my favorite products of this past year, it would be a novel.

Seriously.

There are tons of products that I loved in 2012, but some of them I've loved for years now and I've already mentioned them more than enough times on this blog anyway.

Instead, I thought I'd focus on new products that I found this year that really knocked my socks off.  Now, I've probably blogged about some of them plenty of times but this will be my last word on them, I swear.

December Favorites

 I can't believe that it's time for my last monthly favorites post of 2012.

Where did this year go?!

But on to my favorite products for December...

bareMinerals Light Show Face Palette

Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to enter my holiday giveaway for the Too Faced Sweet Indulgences Palette.  You can find all the info here. Thanks to everyone who's already entered! 

As I've mentioned a million times before, I'm a big fan of Bare Escentuals' Ready line of pressed products.

Well, except the Ready Foundation. That left me pretty underwhelmed.

But all the other Ready products that I've tried - eye shadows, blushes, eyeliners, highlighters - have been fabulous  - beautifully pigmented, creamy and smooth.

That's why I was really excited to try one of the bareMinerals Ready face palettes.  They came out with three for the holidays - one sold at Sephora, one sold at the BE website and boutiques and one sold at Macy's, Nordstrom's and other department stores that carry BE. I think QVC and Ulta may have similar palettes that are just a bit smaller.

I chose the Light Show Palette, available at BE website and in BE boutiques - mainly because of its gorgeous teal shadow.

bareMinerals Beautifully Brillant Holiday Collection TSV

By now, it's pretty obvious that I'm a total sucker for any and all QVC beauty-related TSV's.

But I was especially excited to get my November InsideQ magazine and see it chock full of some pretty great deals.  I've actually only ordered one early, but I suspect that I'll be persuaded to be one or two more when they actually make to the air.

The one TSV that I decided to order early is the bareMinerals Beautifully Brilliant Holiday Collection, which will air on November 16th, and while it only arrived today and haven't had much chance to play with it, I am seriously glad that I did.

bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Happy Place

After I bought the bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Voyage at the end of the summer, I was itching to get another of these fabulous quads.

I have one other in my collection, The Elements, and I love that one too, so it seemed like a no brainer really. 

The trouble was choosing which one to get.  There are a ton of lovely colors - I've had my eye on The Truth forever - so I don't think you could go wrong. 

Still, when I was looking on Sephora at the options, there was one that really caught my eye.

The Happy Place.

It just seemed like the perfect collection of colors for fall.

bareMinerals Bare Luxury TSV Fourth Installment

You know you're signed up for too many QVC beauty TSVs when one arrives on your doorstep and you had no idea it was coming.

That's what happened this week with the BE Bare Luxury TSV.

My hardworking UPS man brought the fourth and final installment in the series yesterday, taking me totally by surprise.

In a good way, of course.  I was having kind of a blah day and there's nothing like new makeup to perk you up, right?

bareMinerals Ready SPF20 Foundation

This review has been a long time coming.

I received my bareMinerals Ready SPF20 Foundation more than a month ago, and while I like to experiment with products for a while before I share my feelings, I usually don't take a full month.

Unless it's a skin care product, you can pretty much tell in a week or so whether a foundation, eye shadow, lipstick etc. works for you.

But I think with the Ready Foundation, I kind of didn't want to admit how I really felt about it.

September Favorites

September Goodies

Another month gone...

I seriously can't figure out where this year has gone.

But I definitely enjoyed September - the weather finally cooled off a bit here on Long Island, so it actually felt like fall. 

I love fall.

I especially love fall makeup.

What I'm Wearing Today Vol. 2

I apologize for the lack of a formal post, but I'm a little under the weather today and have fallen behind on work so it's probably going to be a long night.

I also thought today would be a good day to share the makeup I'm wearing because I even thought I feel like crap, I actually look pretty good - and I used a new palette that I just got and am super excited about (review coming once I've tried all the colors).  I'm particularly loving my eyeshadow combo today, so without further ado, today's makeup:

Bare Minerals Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Voyage

Bare Minerals Ready Eyeshadow Quad in The Voyage

A couple of weeks back, I mentioned that I'd ordered Bare Minerals new Ready pressed foundation. 

(While I've had it for almost two weeks, I'm still not ready to review it just yet. My skin has been pretty cranky lately - read: a dry, flaky mess - so even foundation and powders that I usually swear by have looked kind of awful so I don't think it's fair to judge the Ready Foundation just yet.)

Well, because I have zero will power, I also ordered the Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 Quad in The Voyage.  I ordered both from QVC.com, and I don't see The Voyage on Sephora or Bare Escentuals' websites so I guess it's exclusive to QVC right now.

QVC Bare Escentuals Return to Radiance TSV AD Shipment #2

BE Return to Radiance AD #2

Back in March, I ordered QVC's BE Return to Radiance TSV, and because I'm a glutton when it comes to makeup, I signed up for auto-delivery. 

The second shipment arrived last Friday, and I am absolutely in love with it.

As far as which shipment I like better, the first or second, I'd have to say it's a draw - but that's really saying something because the first collection included a peachy-pink blush and peachy coral lip gloss and you know how nuts I am about any and all things peach.

This collection is just so pretty though.