Christmas Beauty Haul and Review!

Hey everyone!  Now that Christmas is all over and I've had time to test some of the beauty products I received, I've decided to create a blog post about some of my favorites.  The only thing that was given as an actual present was the BH Cosmetics120 Color Palette 3rd Edition.  The rest I chose myself with Christmas money.  

Originally I intended to go buy clothes, but either it's just me or no one is making any cute clothes lately.  So of course I ended up going to Ulta and spent most of my money there... Now for the review!

1. BH Cosmetics 120 Color Palette 3rd Edition-  This palette is amazing!  I've wanted it for a really long time, but never thought I would be able to get it.  So to say the least, I was super surprised when my mom got it for me.  There's really no need to buy any other eye shadow after you get this palette.  It has everything from shimmers to mattes.  The quality is great and they blend really nicely.  The only thing that got on my nerves was that some of the shadows were way more pigmented than others.  For example, the bronze shade in the palette takes a lot of layers for it to get to a nice color while the mud brown only takes one tap for the color to really show up.

2.  L'oreal Paris Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base-  I've been using this base for awhile and was so sad to see that I ran out of it.  So of course I had to buy another one!  I absolutely love this primer.  It makes your  skin so smooth so when you start to put your foundation on, it glides right over.  The primer also has this diffusing effect.  It's almost as if it creates a soft glow.  You know, like the photoshop effect?  Anyways, I adore this primer!

3.  Tarte Intro to Tarte Set-  This was one of those special kits that have a bunch of their famous products in miniature form.  It came with ReCreate, natural cheek stain in Tipsy, multiplEYE lash primer, multiplEYE mascara, and emphasEYES liner.  The cheek stain, primers, and liner were absolutely fantastic, but the mascara was so disappointing.  I don't even want to discuss it.  The only things that I really want to review for you guys are the natural cheek stain and lash primer.  I can see why everyone loves the natural cheek stains.  They have a beautiful finish and really give you that healthy flush.  At first I was scared to try it because I thought that A) It would make me look like a clown. Or B) It would make my skin look too oily.  Well, I was wrong.  The stain blends really nicely into your skin and I found out that putting translucent powder over top of it sets it without canceling out the color.  It really shows through.  As for the primer,  it really volumizes your lashes.  You can totally see the difference in lash volume when you use it with mascara as opposed to without it.

4.  Benefit Cosmetics Girl Meets Pearl-  I've always wanted to try Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl highlight but I never bought it because I didn't really want to spend $30 on a highlight.  That's why I was so happy when I found that that Ulta had mini versions of Girl Meets Pearl for $10!  It's amazing and really gives your skin a healthy looking glow.  It's AMAZING.

Thanks for reading!

XOXO,

Katey

Photo is from here.