Borghese x Kirkland Signature 2011 Brush Set and Stila Ulimate Color Palette

I've been back in NY since Thursday, so I've been pretty busy helping my mom put up the Christmas tree and doing the family thing. One thing my sisters and I always do when we come home is hit up Costco.

I haven't been there in forever so I never saw the 2011 Borghese Kirkland Signature Brush Set. I still use some of the brushes from my 2009 set (the angled brow brush, eye shadow brush, angled foundation brush, and the crease brush) but the brushes in the 2011 set are totally different.

(Sorry for the crappy pic but I haven't unpacked my good camera yet.)

This brush set includes 10 brushes and a black faux-croc case:

1. Big powder brush
2. Flat cheek brush
3. Stipling/skunk brush
4. Angled kabuki brush
5. Flat tip eyeliner brush
6. Highlighting brush
7. All purpose eye shadow brush
8. Tapered blending/crease brush
9. Tapered foundation/concealer brush
10. Angled contour/eyeshadow brush

I'm so in love with this brush set! I love that the foundation/concealer brush is designed to mimic your fingers. It's perfect for blending my Hard Candy Glamoflauge under my eyes. I also love the highlighting brush for contouring the sides of my nose. The skunk brush is great for blending bronzer at my hair line and jaw line. All of the brushes are really soft and the handles are thick and easy to hold. IMO, this set is excellent for the price.

I also picked up a Stila Ultimate Color Palette for $19.99, which includes 39 eye shadows, 15 lip colors, 4 cheek colors or blushes, 4 double ended applicators, and 4 lip brushes. I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it for myself or give it to a friend for Christmas, but if I do keep it I'll definitely do swatches of all the pretty colors. There are so many options for different looks with this palette because of the range of colors. Also, the eyeshadows and blushes come in both shimmery and matte colors so there's a lot to play with in this kit.

Stila Ultimate Color Palette, $20

Rock & Republic Haul

Rock & Republic Haul: Top- CASHMERE. Middle- Wrath, Alloy. Bottom- Corset, Privilege, Love Rocks.

The Rock & Republic eye shadows and powder that I ordered from HauteLook a week or two ago just arrived!

This Week's Forever 21 Haul: F21 x Hello Kitty Ring and More

Today's Haul from Forever 21

Hello Kitty Collection Double Finger Ring, $9

Love & Beauty Goldie Tones Palette, $5

Neutrals and Metallics

Love & Beauty Cat Eye Felt Tip Pen

Love & Beauty Shimmer Shadow

I went a little crazy at F21 this week- I got up early this morning for the Hello Kitty Collection but my store didn't have a lot of the new HK stuff in yet, which was doodoo, and the bracelet I wanted wasn't there :( Another girl was looking for it, too, and I'm pretty sure we shared a moment where we both wanted to cry. (LMAO I'm just kidding. Not really.) Anyway, I'm going back this weekend to see if they get any new shipments.

I did get the pave Hello Kitty 2-finger ring I wanted, with rhinetones and a gold bow, though! It's such a big-ass ring but I don't careee! It's so cute and glam.

I picked up some other jewelry, too: a pair of pave curved triangle earrings, a pair of square pave hoops, a pave double heart ring. Of course, I couldn't resist buying a few beauty products: a Love & Beauty Cat Eye Felt Tip Pen, eye shadow, and the leopard Goldie Tones palette. I also bought a Clueless tank (love that movie!) and a Spoiled tank with Pebbles on it.

The black HK bracelet was the one thing I really wanted from the HK collection (I wouldn't really wear any of the clothes) so hopefully I'll be able to find it this weekend because I'm pretty sure it's already sold out online.

Stay tuned for swatches of the makeup I bought...

This Weekend's Pink Mini Makeup Haul

Isn’t my mini haul from the drugstore this weekend so cute? Everything is so…PINK! xD To find out what I think about each product, read on!

[Image via Temptalia]

The Wet n’ Wild Spoiled Brat Eye Shadow Trio ($2) caught my eye because not many drugstore brands sell this vibrant fuchsia color (sorry that my first pic doesn’t do it justice, I did the best I could with rainy-day outdoor lighting). I applied all of them over Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion and all of the colors have great color payoff for a drugstore product! They are a bit powdery, though, and do fade, even with primer. Oh, well, I really just bought this for the pink color, anyway, so I’ll give this a 4/5. I can’t wait to do a pink smoky eye shadow look with this!

The Wet n’ Wild Mega Brilliance Lip Gloss in Crushed Grapes ($1) is a very sheer Barbie-pink with multicolored glitter. The good thing about this gloss is that it is NOT sticky at ALL and it also tastes amazing. It’s not gritty, like most glittery glosses, either. That said, the color payoff is non-existent and the glitter is barely there once you put it on… I feel like you’d only be able to tell that there’s glitter on my lips if I was in direct sunlight. Boo… This gets a 2/5.

Wet n’ Wild FuchsiaRama ($2) is such a pretty medium-toned purple-pink color…(a bit more pink than it looks in the pic above). It’s perfect for Fall! I love that I finally found a purple that doesn’t make the yellow undertones in my skin look weird… (Cool-toned nail polishes make my hands look like a corpse.) This is a warm purple-pink, though, and flatters warm undertones! The formula is very sheer, but it’s pretty much a given that drugstore nail polishes need at least 3 coats, so I’m okay with it. I give it a 4/5.

Finally, we have Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Strobe Light ($3), which is STUNNING! I love Disco Ball, which is snowflake-colored glitter, but this is a close second! It’s a rose pink multi-colored glitter top coat and makes any nail polish more glam Love this! It gets a 5/5.

If I had to recommend only one of these products, I would definitely say to buy Strobe Light. You'll get the best quality for your money there. Hope this helps!

Today's Sephora Haul

Nothing makes me giddy like a trip to Sephora! I can spend HOURS there (or at least long enough for the sales associates to start giving me the "WTF, you're still here??" look.) I can't help it- I love looking at every little thing and testing all the products. and playing around with stuff. It makes me ridiculously happy...

Today, I got Too Faced Chocolate Soleil matte bronzing powder (which has real cocoa powder in it and smells good enough to eat) to replace the orange-y, shimmery bronzer that I was using, which started looking muddy and streaky on me. I found out that matte bronzers don't end up giving you that muddy look. I also love that it's not full of silicones, waxes, or oils that would break me out.

I also bought Stila Lip Enamel Luxe Gloss in "Nirvana" (why have I never heard of this before?! It's definitely underrated), Bare Excentuals Lip Gloss in "Sugar Cookie", Buxom Lash Mascara in "Blackest Black", Sephora Anti-Bacterial Makeup Brush Daily Cleaner Spray, and L'Occitane Shea Hand Cream.

Sephora Haul! (Sorry about the crappy phone pic...)

I love all the goodies I bought but my favorite is the Stila lip gloss- it's more of a liquid lipstick than a lip gloss because it's SUPER pigmented and it's full-coverage like a lipstick but shiny like a gloss. It's perfect for a lipstick-devotee like me- I just wish it came in more shades! The "Nirvana" color that I got is a perfect pinkish nude (my favorite lip color) but I wish they had a peach or coral color as well.

Buxom Lash Mascara is awesome- it really makes my lashes look darker, thicker, longer, and faker (but in a good way). I tried it over my L'Oreal Telescopic mascara and it didn't clump at all- it just looked like I've been using Latisse  =)

Next trip, I plan on getting Lorac Evening Out compact, Make Up For Ever Lifting Concealer, a new angled blush brush, Stila Lip Enamel Luxe Gloss in "Happiness", and Lancome Teint Miracle foundation in Bisque 7.

Got my retail therapy in for the weekend- now I can make it through the week...  =)