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

BIRTHDAY GIFT EXTRAVAGANZA!

On Wednesday, July 31st,  I had my very big, much anticipated, 21st birthday! It was all very exciting, I'm one of the last of all my friends to turn 21 so it was fun to get everyone together and just hang out and have a good time. My friends and family did a really amazing job with gift this year, as they are every year. There was nothing that I needed but I honestly got everything I could ever hope for, plus more! I am so grateful and lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. I thought I would put together a post to show some of the gifts that I got and details on things that I've tried out so far. I don't want this to come across as "bragging" in anyway, I just thought it may be fun to share =]

I totally adore this card I got from my Aunt, it literally is so perfect! I think any girl could agree that this car would be perfect and that cars nowadays are just not adequate. (As I was reading this card, I was really wishing my car air vents hit my wet nails just a litttttle bit better)

My friend, Tiffany, does the most awesome job wrapping gifts, look how gorgeous these are!!

These cupcakes look absolutely precious, but they tasted even better if you can believe it! Thanks, Tiffany

My gift from Sephora. I'm excited to try out that "Watts Up!"

My brother did exactly as instructed and went to the MAC counter and picked up "Saddle" (as I had asked) and surprised me with "Vex", a gorgeous Silver with a pink and olive shift/duochrome. He also bought me a new empty 15 shadow palette because my other one was full. Thanks Bro!

My other wonderful Aunt surprised me with these Muji acrylic drawers for make up storage in my room. She also bought me a back up Nars "Laguna" bronzer, because mine is looking awfully sad and empty, The Urban Decay "Naked Basics" (yay! I wanted this really badly), and a MAC lipstick in "Up The Amp", which is a really unique lilacy-purple color. I can't wait to work with it!

Tiffany, my really good friend, bought me this precious box that says "Happy Girls are the Prettiest", which I adore and will fill up with stuff and keep on my vanity. She got me a hand sanitizer with a little orange kitten on it (because I have two orange kittens that I'm in LOVE with), Essie Nail Polish in "DJ Play That Song" and "Bottle Service", Mac eyeshadow in "Free to Be", a beautiful matte peach color (my favorite color of all time to wear), and Mac lipstick in "Candy Yum Yum". And also, I forgot to show the Illamasqua blush in "Chased", but it's a really pretty pink color! I love it.

I actually wore Candy Yum Yum today and it is AMAZING. If I can give you any advice on wearing it, it would be Do Not Be Intimidated, it is actually extremely wearable, does not make teeth look dingy, and is really unique. It would work on a huge variety of skin tones. 

My great friend Sarah gave me that gorgeous Butter London Nail Polish in the shade "Kerfuffle", and the glitter by ULTA next to it. I can't wait to pair those two polishes together, I think it'll look great. She also gave me an EOS lip balm, which is one of my favorite kinds.

My other amazing friend, Lindsey, gave me a Sally Hansen Nail Polish in a gorgeous Pinkish-lilac color. It is really unique and totally my type of color. It's also called "Punch Drunk", which she said she put a lot of thought into getting since, after all, it was my 21st birthday. 

Lindsey also gave me this HUGE wine glass that is festively painted with balloons and champagne bottles saying "cheers" and "Happy Birthday". It is seriously so adorable, I have it displayed on my dresser. 

 My mom really surprised me with this lovely Viva La Juicy Perfume and Body Lotion set. This one was actually really great because it also came with a rollerball perfume that has two of the Juicy scents, Viva La Juicy and also Viva La Juicy La Fleur. They both smell INCREDIBLE. I am a huge fan of the original Juicy perfume, but I'm really enjoying these too. Viva La Juicy is quite sweet, but not like Cotton-Candy-Carnival-Toddler sweet. Viva La Juicy La Fleur is very floral, but also very young and fresh smelling. I really recommend both of these scents!

My Mom and Dad both surprised me with this beautiful Michael Kors Rose Gold watch that I've literally been drooling over for about 2 years. It is simply gorgeous and quite elegant, I've gotten a lot of complements on it so far whenever I wear it out. 

Along with a really awesome San Francisco Giants shirt, Chad's (my boyfriend) mom got me these delightful Melaluca Body Butter and Sugar Scrub. I love sugar scrubs and use them almost daily on my dry skin and I use body butter every day, I prefer it over lotion. These guys smell like a tropical island on your body. It is amazing.

I also, as you probably remember, bought myself a new Nikon Camera as a birthday gift to myself. I also received a really thoughtful photo album filled with photos of me with all of my friends. Chad got me a really awesome Steve Madden Purse that is a cream color with gorgeous blue accents to it, as well as my tickets to see John Mayer. He always does really well with gifts and picking out purses that I like. 

I just wanted to say thank you everyone who made my 21st birthday so special! You all mean so much to me and I am so grateful to know you.