Sephora Black Friday haul: part 1

I am a major shopaholic, especially when it seems like a really good deal. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are some of my favorite things.

I did all of my Black Friday shopping online because a) I'm not crazy enough to go to crowded malls and b) I like to overthink my purchases. 

I order a lot of Christmas gifts at this time, but since I'll be living alone next year, I also bought a lot of kitchen essentials. I have made it a tradition to splurge on makeup from Sephora every year though! 

This is the haul that I was most excited for (I made two orders). 

A quick list of everything, with small descriptions and also the value (not the price I paid), starting with the ones that I paid for: 

• Hello Kitty The Red Bow Beauty Diaries ($49 value). If you know me at all, you'll know that I am a huge Hello Kitty fan. It was listing at $49 on the site which I wasn't very eager to pay, but it suddenly changed to $25 when I added it to the cart! Lucky day. It comes in a gorgeous box, and would be a perfect gift for a Hello Kitty lover!

• Tocca Beauty A Touch of Luxury Gift Set. (~$22 value) This was a special gift set that was being sold on Black Friday, which is now permanently out of stock. It includes two 1 fl oz. hand creams and 2 0.10 fl oz fragrance rollerballs, one in Giulietta and one in Stella. Although the gift set is out of stock, you can buy the hand creams here and the perfume rollerballs here. 

• TokyoMilk Dark Femme Fatale Collection Lip Elixirs in Salted Caramel. ($7) I love TokyoMilk products and even though I have drawers that are literally chock full of lip products, I can't resist but add to the collection. 

• Shiseido Honey Cake in Green ($9.50) My mom uses the Shiseido brand, so it was very common to see the products in my house. I actually just needed something to push me over the free shipping minimum, and since I am planning a spa care-esque gift for her, this did the trick nicely. 

The three free samples that I ordered:

• Prada Luna Rossa ($2 value) They actually accidentally sent me two, which was a nice surprise. I love perfume samples, and some reviewers on Sephora had actually said that this scent seemed more unisex than "pour homme." 

• Agave Oil Treatment ($1 value) Because if you're not helping your hair, you're hurting it. 

• Radical Skincare's Skin Perfecting Screen SPF 30 ($2 value) Basically just a filler sample because there were not that many good ones available. 

And then finally, the freebies that came with my order: 

• DKNY MYNY Rollerball ($2 value) This was because I had finally reached 100 points! I basically only order once a year, so thankfully they accumulate... otherwise I would never know what the Beauty Insider prizes are like. 

• 2014 Make Up For Ever Birthday Set that includes their Smoky Extravagant Mascara and Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick. You receive this if you are a Beauty Insider and it is around your birthday. My birthday was actually at the beginning of November and I did not want to go pick up my gift myself, but I did not expect that the time still had not passed. So yay! 

• The awesome makeup kit that they were giving away with $25 purchases, a Black Friday exclusive, that included a bunch of samples. The bag is really cheap and low-quality, and if I ever re-gifted it (as opposed to tossing it out), I would probably regift it with some shower items inside because the outside seems relatively water proof. Some items that were included in this were:
• GLAMGLOW POWERMUD Dualcleanse treatment. This tiny little bottle (.24 oz) is worth around $10! 
• Fresh Seaberry Moisturizing Face Oil ($5 value)
• Cover FX Calming Primer ($6 value) 
• Living Proof satin hair serum ($3 value) 
• Benefit Stay Flawless 15-Hour Primer ($2 value... but it seems like more. I really love Benefit packaging.)
• Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish ($4 value)
• NUDE Skincare Perfect Cleanse Omega Cleaning Jelly (>$1 value) 
• Lancôme Advanced GÉNIFIQUE Youth Activating Concentrate ($2.5 value... somehow) 

I think that Sephora has the best Black Friday deals, because who doesn't love bags full of makeup samples (which is why I subscribe to different beauty subscription services). I paid $54.59 after tax, for a box that was worth around $127, give or take. Not bad! 

By the way, none of these links are affiliate links. I just wanted you to be able to find out about the product quickly, instead of having to search yourself. Stay tuned for the second haul (which was much smaller, but still quite awesome). I usually take my time going through beauty products when I buy them new, so if you want to see how something works out for me, just ask! 

And yes, the layout changed! I am working on re-vamping the blog and making it into something portfolio-worthy, which I just have not had the energy for since school started. Now that the semester is winding down (I have finals next week!), I will be posting more regularly. 

Happy Labor Day + nail haul

Happy Labor Day!

I had the day off, so I went with my family to take my sister back to college and go to the mall.

I was very sad to find out that BeautyFirst had closed. They always had some kind of good sale going on, so yeah.



On the bright side, I went to Trade Secret and bought this. Seche Restore. My Seche Vite topcoat is getting a bit too thick and gooey, and I have a couple of older nail polishes that need to be restored to a thinner consistency so that I can use them. I'm really happy (except I paid $10 for it and then, as I was walking out, noticed one that was marked for cheaper. :\)

This is kind of a beauty post, too. I also bought this Hello Kitty clutch from Sephora. Originally marked $25, it was on sale for $10.



I'd almost had my mom buy it for me online over the summer, but eventually gave up because I couldn't justify spending $25 on a clutch that probably wouldn't get too much use. So I was overjoyed that it went on sale.



And also, I received my fimo nail art in the mail! There's 50 assorted flakes, with flowers, Hello Kitty (can you tell that I'm a freak for HK?), and a lot of random stuff. And 100 slices of bunny. And a new roll of a white butterfly. I'm so geeked; trying to think of a nail design.



I had some nails from last week, but it wasn't anything too fancy and it chipped after a day, so I didn't get any pictures. Just Super Junior written in Korean with white polish over pink nail polish (in retrospect, I ought to have used sapphire blue.)

I didn't pick up any OPI products because I'm still getting a list together for my salon supplier so that it will be cheaper. I love you, OPI, but I don't have the kind of cash to shell out $8.50 for every bottle.