Collective Hautelook Haul!

Good Morning, Hautelook

Hey Guys! A few weeks ago Hautelook had some really awesome brands float through so I wanted to post a quick collective haul of some of the things I picked up. Every item I got was on a really great deal! I want to say that everything I got was under or close to $10, which isn't bad for high end products! I haven't tried any of them out yet so this is just a haul, not a review =]

The first fun brand to go on sale was Urban Decay. It was a blowout sale of all their old products that they are redoing or have already redone. I took advantage of the 24/7 Glide On Eye Liners and got the colors Ransom and Binge. I really love both the colors; as always, the color payoff and lasting power of these is amazing, it took two showers to get the swatches off my hand! And I don't have any colors similar to this in my collection so I'm happy about the additions.

teeny-tiny swatches

Ransom is a bright purple and Binge is a bright navy blue color.

I also got their tinted moisturizer but have not tried it yet. The color is called Body Guard and it matches my skin pretty well. I like that it is paraben free and has SPF 20 in it. I pretty much hoard tinted face products so it's no surprise I wanted to purchase this. I'm excited to see how it holds up. 

The next brand to come through was theBalm; this one I was prepared for and was extremely excited about. In fact, I even made a post dedicated to what I was hoping would come through and what I recommend by the brand. I love when theBalm comes on Hautelook because everything is at least half off. 

I honestly haven't heard anything about their skin care line and when I saw it on Hautelook I was really intrigued because the products seemed really natural and quite nice. I decided to get this Vanilla Oil-Absorbing Face Moisturizer, which I thought may be a good dupe for the Bobbi Brown Oil-Control Moisturizer with sea weed extract and lavender. I really love the smell of this product and the packaging and beautiful and glass. I'm excited to break into this once I finish my Bobbi Brown moisturizer. 

I got this blush (their blushes are one of my absolute favorites!) in the shade Down Boy. It is a cool pink, but very subtle. It reminds me of how theBalm's Frat Boy blush doesn't look too exciting in the pan but once it is swatched on the skin is beautiful. I cannot wait to work with this color, I do not own any cool toned pinks that are quite like this one. 

Here is an image of Down Boy (bottom right) in comparison to Nars Gaitey (top right) which is extremely cool toned candy pink, and theBalm Frat Boy (bottom left), a matte peach color.

And I say it every time, how precious is the packaging?! 

also, if you do not follow my Instagram, I finally got a new desk that I can blog at home from! I am so excited about having space to spread out and blog at. I look forward to coming home and checking my blogs here at my new work station! The desk is from Ikea and I absolutely adore it!

Also, if you do not follow me on Instagram (or twitter) you should! 

Twitter: dakotaf13

Instagram: dakotasbeautyblog

Tarte Friends and Family Sale Haul

Hi guys! As I've mentioned in my Lights, Camera, Flashes mascara review , Tarte is a really wonderful brand. It is cruelty free, paraben free, and has some really fantastic quality products. The other thing I really love about Tarte is their customer appreciation; they send out promo codes often for discount and I've even gotten birthday discount codes sent to me. They have a Friends and Family sale a few times a year and that is when I really like to take advantage of some of their products that are a little bit more expensive than I would like to spend.
I'm not exactly certain what the discount amount was for the F&F sale was, but I want to say it may have been somewhere around 30% off your entire order, and it was on every product they sale, not just some. Isn't that the worst? When a company has a sale but it's only valid for some products. I love that the Tarte discount is storewide.
I've had my eyes on a couple products by Tarte that i've been looking forward to trying and the F&F sale was the exact push that I needed to make the purchase.

I've been dying to buy their BB Cream for a long time. Any time that I swatch it I love how it feels, it's very silicone-y and it's very different from any other BB Cream that i've tried. Today I wore it for the first time and I really am enjoying it! I love how small and convenient the packaging is, the coverage is amazing, and you really don't need that much product to cover up your whole face. The coverage can be compared to most foundations in that it is pretty heavy without feeling heavy. It also has SPF 30 which is GREAT as I find myself outside quite a bit lately and like knowing that my face is protected. It also contains some anti-aging benefits but, honestly, I'm not too concerned about those. In addition to that, I do not have to set this with powder, how awesome is that! I have combination skin with an oily T-zone and would never leave the house without setting powder, until now. This product is truly amazing.

I got my shade in Light. Usually I would go for light-medium or medium but this particular BB Cream tends to run a little darker. Light matches me really well, and it isn't too pink or too yellow. If you are looking for a nice BB cream and don't mind spending $34, I highly recommend this one.

The next product I had been really wanting to try out was this Maracuja Rain Forest Glow. The packaging of this is gorgeous, gold and purple. It also comes with 5.0 fl. oz. of product which is quite a bit. This product retails at $36 and it is really unique, i've never used anything like it. It is described as a bronzing, matte, waterproof body perfecter infused with Maracuja oil. As mentioned in my I <3 Summer tag , I am not a fan of fake tanning in any way, shape, or form, and I am far to active to try to lay out and catch some rays. The only tan I get is from just being outside doing everyday activities. This product can be applied like a lotion and it perfects and bronzes up the skin. It looks very natural, not orange-y at all, and makes a huge difference to the appearance of dull skin. It almost gives it some sort of dimension. It does not streak and does not need to be applied super carefully, which is amazing because I just do not have the patience to perfect my fake tan. 

I also received a sample of the Tarte Fake Tan product "Braziliance". 

Although this image makes the sample look huge, it is very, very small. I'm not sure how I could ever use this because I don't think it could cover more surface area than maybe one hand. Nonetheless, free samples are always appreciated!

My final consensus of this haul is a perfect 10! I like everything that I purchased and find them both to be very unique. I would highly recommend both of these products that I purchased. Keep an eye out for more Tarte deals by following them on Twitter (@tartecosmetics). Maybe you'll become a Tartelette, too!

Small and Simple NYX haul

Hi there! Today I got a craving to hit up my local Ulta and stock up on some NYX products that I have not yet tried yet.
I personally love NYX products; here in the beauty world, many bloggers rave about NYX products. They are known for having many dupes for MAC products which is wonderful for those of us who don't jump at the sound of a $30 face powder (sometimes more!)
I usually get very overwhelmed by the NYX display because it is usually a complete disaster and half of the products are opened and smashed and swatched. I usually will hold 10 things in my hands and then put it all down and leave without purchasing any of it. I like to have a game plan when I go in; "i'm going to pick up a lipstick and butter gloss, BREAK!"

The first item I knew I wanted to grab was their Matte Lipstick in the color "Hippie Chic", which is a described as a Yellow-toned pink. It is gorgeous and very unique. I would actually say it is quite like an apricot color. It isn't quite peach because it is much more orange than that, but it is most definitely not an orange shade. I enjoy the color of this lipstick a lot but I do not like that it settles into the cracks of my lips, but I suppose that could be expected with a shade that is light and not bold.

The next item I grabbed because it was too gorgeous not to was the Matte Lipstick in the color "Shocking Pink". NYX describes this color as a cool-toned hot pink. It reminds me a lot of Mac's "Candy Yum Yum" but not quite as neon. It is very wearable and does not settle into the cracks of my lips as much as "Hippie Chic" does. This is truly my type of color in that it is so bright and beautiful, but also very wearable.

I also decided to try out the NYX Butter Glosses. I grabbed the color "Peaches and Cream" as I thought it would look gorgeous layered over "Hippie Chic", or really any peach color to make it look more pink and wearable. It is described as a "Pink Coral" on the NYX website and I would definitely agree with that. It is very comfortable on the lips and really does feel like butter! Except, not in a greasy, Paula Dean-lovin' kind of way. They are not totally opaque, so don't expect them to be similar to a Revlon Lip Butter, but it does look gorgeous on it's own or layered over other lipsticks.

The last item that I grabbed was another Butter Gloss in the shade "Merengue". Merengue is a Pink Lilac color; these types of shades always drag me in, ALWAYS. I think they are very unique but very wearable because often times purply lilac colors come across as very light, but yet bright pink. If you have not tired a purple lip balm, stick, or gloss yet, I really recommend you do because it will totally refresh your smile by giving it a new and unique twist.

If you have yet to try out NYX products, I would recommend all of the ones I picked up today, I especially love the Butter Gloss in "Merengue" and believe anyone could get away with wearing it. The other awesome thing about NYX is they are a very affordable brand and often times have buy one get one 50% off at Ulta.

These are the products swatched out from left to right:
Matte Lipstick Hippie Chic ($5.99)
Matte Lipstick Shocking Pink ($5.99)
Butter Gloss Peaches and Cream ($4.99)
Butter Gloss Merengue ($4.99)








QUICK TIP: I always recommend exfoliating your lips before applying any lip products but especially really light, really bright, or matte lip sticks. One that I've been loving lately (that has replaced my Lush "Mint Julips") is the e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator. I love that it is in a stick form and that it scrubs away all the dead skin but moisturizes at the same time.