Stila Kitten Must Have Kit

The Stila Kitten Must-Haves makeup collection is just as it says - a compilation of Stila Kitten products. It contains deluxe sample-sized Eye Shadow, All Over Shimmer Duo, Silk Shimmer Gloss, and Lip Glaze all packaged in a cute tin. It's a $42 value for $25 exclusively at Ulta. Stila's Kitten Eye Shadow is a popular, well-loved champagne shade, great for highlighting. The eye shadow had an incredibly soft, buttery texture and was well-pigmented. It works perfectly as a highlight under the brows and in the inner corners of the eyes. The All Over Shimmer Duo also had a nice buttery texture to it. The lighter shade is a light nude pink, and the darker shade is a light bronze. Both have satin finishes. This product can be used as a face highlighter, blush, or even eye shadow.  I like to use the lighter shade on the top of my cheek bones, the cupids bow, and lightly on the bridge of my nose. As for the two lip glosses, I'm not a huge fan of them just  because they're quite sticky and thick. I'm also not a huge fan of nude lip colors, but that's a personal thing. If you like glossy, shimmery lipglosses, these are for you! The Silk Shimmer Gloss is a light nude pink with silver micro-glitter. The Lip Glaze is a light bronze with gold micro-glitter. Overall, I don't think this set is a "must-have" but it would make a cute gift for the makeup lover in your life.

All Over Shimmer Duo

Kitten Eye Shadow

Silk Shimmer Luxe Gloss

Silk Shimmer Luxe Gloss

Lip Glaze

Eye Shadow, All Over Shimmer Duo

Silk Shimmer Luxe Gloss, Lip Glaze

Tarte Off the Cuff Palette

Tarte finally came out with a palette of their amazing Amazonian Clay Blushes for the holidays! The Tarte Off the Cuff Blush Palette contains four Amazonian Clay Blushes, a bronzer, and a faux leather gold bow cuff. Each blush/bronzer is 0.158 oz. of product compared to the full-sized 0.20 oz. amount and retails for $42 at Sephora. It's sold out online but it may still be available in stores. Overall, I love this palette! I've been a longtime fan of the Amazonian Clay blushes -they're well pigmented and long lasting. I do think the blushes in this palette are a bit softer and more powdery than the individual full-sized blushes, so be VERY careful when applying these. You only need to lightly tap on the blush to get a decent amount of product. The first time I used this, I swept my brush in one and there was way too much! All the colors are wearable and give an nice healthy glow to the cheeks. One thing to note though, the bronzer, Park Avenue Princess, is in the matte formulation, not the shimmery formula found in past Tarte gift sets/palettes. I'm not sure why they kept the same name for different products, but this one is matte. I high recommend this set if you can still get your hands on it. It's a great value and an awesome addition to your makeup collection! =)

Crave (pinky coral)

Dazzled (muted berry)

Darling (medium peach)

Dollface (cool-toned light pink)

Park Avenue Princess (matte, warm-toned bronzer)

Crave, Dazzled, Darling, Dollface, Park Avenue Princess

 

OPI Take Ten 10-Piece Nail Lacquer Set

Here's a great gift idea! OPI has a lot of little mini nail polish collections available, but I thought this one was a must have. It contains ten of OPI's most iconic colors in two sets: one neutrals and one red. The set is beautifully packaged in this luxe cream-colored, quilted box. You can separate the two sets and give them as gifts individually or both together. It retails for $24.95 and is available at Ulta. You can use a $5 off $10 coupon found here or 20% off coupon found here!  Below is the list of colors and swatches. Each nail polish contain 1/8 fl.oz. of product (a full-sized contains 0.5 fl. oz). 

Contains: Nude set- Pirouette My Whistle, Alpine Snow, Bubble Bath, Tickle My France-y, and You Don't Know Jacques!

Red set- Cajun Shrimp, Big Red Apple, German-icure by OPI, Malaga Wine, and Lincoln Park After Dark

Nude Set

Pirouette My Whistle (clear base with multi-sized, silver glitter) 

Alpine Snow (opaque white)

Bubble Bath (sheer, pale pink)

Tickle My France-y (nude, mauve)

You Don't Know Jacques! (dark taupe)

Red Set

Cajun Shrimp (bright, reddish coral)

Big Red Apple (classic red)

German-icure by OPI (shimmery burgundy)

Malaga Wine (bright, wine-red)

Lincoln Park After Dark (dark blackish-purple)

DIY Mini-Emergency Kit

Here's a great little gift idea for all your girl (or guy) friends: a DIY Mini-Emergency Kit! I was inspired by this when I was waiting at the checkout line at Sephora. The original "Minimergency" can be found here. Most of the items in it I already had or could substitute for something similar. The original kit retails for $15, but if you have many of the items, you can make it for less. For the pouch, I used the small Victoria's Secret coin purse, which I found near the checkout area and where all the lip glosses are. It retails for $9, but there is a 4 for $20 deal, making them $5 each! You can also use any coin purse sized pouch. You can certainly add whatever you want to the kit and cater to what you think your friends will need. You can also make one targeted towards the boys! My Mini-Emergency Kit contains:

- A small and regular-sized bandage 
- Tampon
- Panty liner
- Small, medium, and large safety pins
- 2 bobby pins
- Hair elastic 
- Nail file
- Perfume sample
- Go-Smile Teeth Whitening ampoule
- Anti-septic wipe
- Cleansing wipe
- Stain remover
- Nail polish remover wipe 
- Lip balm 
- Hand sanitizer 

It all fits!

In all, I only had to purchase a few items: the hand sanitizer ($1 each at Bath and Body Works), the nail file ($2 for 3 at Bath and Body Works), and the stain remover from Shout ($1 for 4 wipes at Target). The next time I go to Target or Walmart I plan on picking up aspirin, antihistimine, and fashion tape to add and maybe the sewing kit if I can find it. Hope this was helpful for you! =)

 

Sephora Gift Wrap

OMG! These Sephora gift packaging are so cute! They're free in-stores and $4 for the boxes on sephora.com. Sephora has various styles of gift packaging including, boxes, bags, and tube-style packages (not sure what they're called). They also come in different sizes and patterns. I was able to grab at least one of each type at my local Sephora, and the girl there was really nice in helping me pack my gifts in them. The next time you're in Sephora (or any store) be sure to ask for gift wrap, even if it's for yourself =). Here are the ones I got! The measurements are given as L x H x W.

  My favorite one! It's 9"x10"x4". The box is very sturdy and has a magnetic closure on the front flap. Can easily fit the Urban Decay Naked Palettes, but did not fit the Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things gift set.

 It's 9"x10"x4", same as the box above.

 Here's the two boxes side by side.

The bag is 11"x15"x4". My least favorite of them all because the material isn't as nice as the others, but it also has a magnetic closure at the top, which is neat. The Sephora girl had to use this to put the Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things set in.

This plastic tube packaging is 4.25"x10.5"x1.5". It's great for putting in eyeliners, mascara, lipsticks, etc. This style of packing also comes in a shorter size for putting in gift cards or something of that size.