New Product Curiosity: MAC Prep + Prime Beauty Balm SPF 35

When I was browsing around on the MAC website tonight, I noticed that they came out with a new product called a Beauty Balm. I tried to see if any of my favorite beauty gurus/bloggers had written about this product because it sounded awfully like a BB cream, as you can see from the description from the website:

Prep + Prime Beauty Balm is lightly tinted in a nearly sheer beige tone to work on an array of complexions, it creamily re-texturizes the skin and then goes on to excel at being a face primer with highly everyday UVA/UVB SPF defense.

A BB cream is somewhat what this product is supposed to be. From my understandings, BB stands for blemish balm, and what it is supposed to be is a multi-tasking cream that takes care of everything: skincare, sun protection, and skin tone evening. Most of them have high SPF and usually have the "special" sunscreens that protect against both UVA and UVB rays, which is an important factor with sunscreen. Most of them also have special skin treatments like anti-aging ingredients, and also whitening ingredients. Another thing is that these are supposed to be like a sheer alternative to foundation. I would say that the coverage is supposed to be a few notches more than a tinted moisturizer. I personally own the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream. I'll review that later. I like certain things about it, but there are some things that make me not like to use them.

Anyway, my point is, I don't think MAC's intention was to make a BB cream. I think if that is what they intended, they would have done a few things a little different: 1-they wouldn't have called it a beauty balm versus a blemish balm (what BB is supposed to stand for), 2-I think they wouldn't have put it in the Prep + Prime line, and 3-they would have made a few more shades. I know traditionally, BB creams don't come in the largest array of colors, but it's MAC, they're usually skin tone accommodating. Well, I just wanted to point this out because many of the reviews I've been reading about this product compare it to BB creams. I really wouldn't. I actually would put this product into just a skin tone evening primer, with a sunscreen.

In the end, I think this is an interesting product. I think good for the summer in that it could even out your skin tone prior to foundation so that you don't have to wear too heavy of a foundation. Plus you have a rather high SPF, which is always great to have. I don't know if this is going to be in the permanent line, but if it is, I may look into buying it one day.

Memorial Day Sales

So many good sales going on this week!!! To commemorate the holiday weekend some of my favorite places to shop is offering deals that I would so go for, but don't have the money :(

Kali's Nail Supply is going out of business. They're actually retiring, and it was a quick decision, so they will be open today from 10 till 6 and tomorrow from 10 till 4 and they're offering 50% off the whole store, at least their retail products, which include nail polishes, treatments, and other basics that don't require a license. Check out their facebook page for the details.

HauteLook is one of my favorite places to get things that I can't normally afford or don't have access to. This weekend they are offering free shipping for orders 50% or more. It looks like the sales are lasting through the weekend instead of the normal three days, and there also seems to be more sales going on now.

And Tokidoki is doing a Memorial Day sale with 30% off online and in store. I don't know of any Tokidoki stores here, but since their stuff is quite pricey, I think this would be a great time to buy those gifts to yourself ;)

Okay, not that many things I found. Just to help you people on a budget. It's also a great opportunity to buy gifts :) I think it's never too early to start Christmas shopping, although I usually scramble starting December 20th or so ;P

Happy Memorial Day!!!

HAUL: Nails Nails Nails

So it would be a pretty big understatement to say that I bought a lot of nail stuff this past week. Let me just recap a bit: earlier in the week, Kali (from Kali's Nail Supply) had tweeted that she put more nail polishes in the $2 box. I LOVE the $2 box. The things that go in there are actually still good stuff, it just may be discontinued, or the packaging was done wrong, so they can't sell it at full price anymore. And, in commemoration of their 25th anniversary, they did a 50% off the entire store for their "First Sunday/Monday" sale they do monthly. I HAD to take the opportunity to check it out. So, the big sale was today, and I really wanted to get more stuff, but I really had to limit myself to just essentials. So, I got nail polish remover, a file, LOTS of top coat, and glitters. Here's what I got from all this maddness:

DISCLAIMER: I still haven't gotten the hang of taking these types of pictures, so some of them look a little overexposed, some underexposed, and some are out of focus...SORRY!!

$2 Polishes

Left to right: Breakdown Blue (light blue to pink), Patient Pink (light pink to white), Fearless Fuschia (fuschia to pink), Paranoid Purple (purple to pink)

These Jessica Polishes were kind of a disappointment unfortunately. They're supposed to be color changing , according to their temperature, but they don't work that well. The other thing was that they're really sheer, so it took I think 4 coats to get it nice.

Left to right: Manhattan, OC Codler, South Beach, Bridgit

Left to right: Chily Secret, Times Square

Left to right: Hello Hello, A Lot Of Shekels, Bright Tights

Left to right: Shower Popper, Handle With Flair, Lacy Not Racy

Left to right: Baby Girl Pink, Spring Lining Lavender, Baby Girl Pink, Purple Glitter

I know what you're thinking...they're the same color? I don't have a definite answer, but my guess is that it one of the two was incorrectly produced, and since they had different labeling (on the bottom), I assume one was in the box because it was "old" and the other because the color was wrong. That's purely my guess.

These are the nail art ones. The three on the left have a nail art brush and a pen in the top. I have one of these, and the color got really whack after a while, I think it was because of how I stored it (in sunlight), so I'm hoping for the better in these. The one on the right is a glitter, I think it's a clear base with purple glitter. All are by Nubar.

So, after all that madness, I don't have room in my box anymore. It's totally full, and I still have other stuff to store. I am on the search for more storage!

Here's those essentials that I got from today's sale:

Zoya remove + is one of the best nail polish removers I ever used. As you can see I got that small bottle a while back, and I like that flip top thing, you can push down on it and it will dispense the product. This is way better than placing your nail wipe (or cotton ball) on your bottle opening and flipping it over, risking spillage and dried out skin. It's not just the bottle I like though, it's the product. It removes nail polish without really drying out my skin a lot. I used to use the pure acetone, which is actually not too good for your skin, or your eyes (your cornea to be exact), but it was the fastest way to remove polish and glitter. Now that I found this one, I think I will stick to it because it removes glitter pretty well too, not as great as pure acetone, but it doesn't take years to get the stuff off my nails :) I bought the big bottles because I can just refill, that's no issue, and it's a better value ;)

The BEST top coat EVER! Enough said!! Hah...This really is my favorite. It not only dries quickly, but it's super shiny, and it self levels, so when I use glitters, my nail is left pretty smooth after I apply this top coat :D

Now, I know glitter isn't really an essential, but to me it IS!! I love China Glaze's Nova, and I wanted to try Techno. They're both silver holographic glitters, but Techno has medium and large hexagonal pieces, and Nova just has the medium ones. Also on the far left is Nubar (I WILL GET THE NAME SOON!!). Just figured I'd try it since it was half off ;)

Also, a few weeks ago, Zoya did this massive sale online to its account holders. They were pressuring all their facebook followers to make sure they had accounts because that was the only way you had access to the sale. The deal was buy one get one free for their entire summer collection for this year...PLUS only $2 for shipping. I couldn't believe my eyes, AND to note...they shipped to Hawaii, which is quite spectacular because many companies do not ship nail stuff here. Of course this sale was pretty neat, but unfortunately, I don't have all the money in the world, so I only got these four colors:

Left to right: Apple, Faye, Mira, Areej