Shop Miss A Experience and Product Review

Hey Everyone! It has been a VERY long time!!! but, I am happy to be back and I PROMISE I will try my best to keep up with this thing, since I did start it! I love my blog and it's my baby. I think I stuck to my own personal deadlines too much instead of just blogging.
If you have been following me on Instagram, you would know that I am very much alive and still buying stuff LOL!
Speaking of buying stuff, I would like to tell you all about my most recent budget purchase.
I have been hearing about shopmissa.com for a little while, so I finally decided to get a assortment of items to try out. In case you are not familiar with Shop Miss A, everything on that site is $1!! Plus, there is free shipping when you spend $30. I only spent about $13 total including shipping, which was less than $3.
Here is a list of items I bought:
-kleancolor lashes
-kleancolor brow pomade
-kleancolor brow powder
-naisture brightening mask
-2 kleancolor liquid matte lipsticks
-2 santee matte lipsticks
- beauty treats lip scrub
The process was very quick. My order was processed, shipped and arrived within a week.
Now for some reviews of the products.

These are swatches of the lip products I bought.

The top 2 are the liquid lipsticks and the bottom 2 are the regular matte lipsticks.

Brightening Mask
Now I will forever love a natural ingredients. This mask has both chemical and natural ingredients.
Arbutin is the key ingredient. This is accompanied by collagen, hyaluronic acid, allantoin, vitamin e and lactic acid.
How do you use this mask? It is a sheet mask. First you have to wash and dry you face. Then gently unfold and apply the mask to your face. After 15 minutes, you remove the mask, tap in the excess serum and let your skin dry before you apply moisturizer. One thing I liked about the mask was that it actually fit my face. It is too early to tell if the ingredients worked, but I can tell you that my skin felt soft and hydrated. I would use it again and even experiment with different masks of this brand.

Lip scrub
Of course I had to try all the skincare first! The lip scrub I like as well. It says black cherry on the label, but that only means the smell, it has absolutely no taste, which I am OK with. The walnut meal is ground super fine. I used this lip scrub on dry lips. It is very emollient and never dries, so you could be scrubbing forever! PLEASE DON'T!!! Limit it to a few seconds. I was a little weirded out seeing the tiny container, then I thought, " oh well, that's what you get for a $1." When I tried it, I scraped a tiny bit out, ( I will try my best with the measurements, about 1/16 x 1/8 section) and I felt that was too much! After I was done scrubbing, I simply wiped it away with a paper towel. I would purchase this again too!

Liquid Lipsticks
First, they smell fruity which is nice and weird at the same time. But, I'll take that over that cheap cosmetic smell any day. It feels very slick and moisturizing.  The color did not turn out as bright on my lips as it was in the tube, which was a little bit of a bummer. The texture was good though. My lips did not feel tight, dry or sticky. I would say this product is more of a stain gloss than a liquid lipstick. It was matte, I give it that much, and the color did stay on. Even though I could see remnants of the color on my coffee cups, my lips never went without color. Would I buy these again? I am considering it...but for only 1 reason, the staining factor. I would layer these "lipsticks" with an actual lipstick to minimize the need for touch ups. It would be great for clients.

Brow Pomade
I actually had high hopes being that most of the colors were sold out...but the color is just not right. I am usually in the medium brown family when I buy eyebrow products and I was lucky enough that they had it in stock. BUT, the color is just too warm for eyebrows. It looks artificial by itself. Plus the consistency is thin, so you will need a couple layers, which only amps up the fact that this tone of brown is not right. It makes me wonder if the rest of the colors are like this... To solve the issue of the color being too warm, I tried layering it with the brow powder...

Brow Powder
So this powder looks like it should be good...but I'm not sold on it. Its too powdery and upon contact with a brush there is immediate fall out. By itself, this brow powder is too grey. It almost looks like you had your eyebrows tattooed on and it has now faded. Layered on top of the pomade, the color is odd. It was a weird purplish, brown, grey. I don't know what else to call it. No, I would not buy this again.

Lashes
I am OK with these lashes. They are soft, flexible and have an invisible band, which I have a personal preference for. I would probably order more.

Lipstick
The consistency is great!, These lipsticks are soft, and glide on easy...unfortunately they do not last long. The color fades and pigmentation is inconsistent, the peachy one was not as pigmented as the pink one I tried. I seriously doubt I would purchase these again.

Best $10 I Ever Spent!

It's summer, or the end of it I should say, and us oily/combo girls need some help! I will FOREVER stand by that face masks, change lives. Lol
Truth be told they do help immensely, so adding one to your current skincare routine can only help improve your skin.
I use a variety different masks, depending on time of year, results I'm looking for,  and my current skin condition.
I use the Boots Botanics Shine Away clay mask to purify and mattify. It's great for any age, even teenagers, starting them out on the path to great skincare.
If you're oily, you use it all over the face, it dries fairly quickly, in less than 10 minutes. For combo girls, with an oily T zone, you can use it as a spot mask on the nose and forehead.
This mask can be used  at least one a week, and as needed. It also retails, just under our $10 price range.

Sinful Colors Neon Nailpolish

Hey EVERYONE!!! I know I don't do nails, I just don't. It takes too much time and I ALWAYS mess it up, no matter how much dry time I have.
Well I have a nail polish collection, that has created itself, so what do it with it? Might as well put it to good use.
Sinful colors was the tested by consumer reports, and came out #1!!
It even beat out Chanel! A mani using Sinful Colors lasted 10 days, longer than any other brand tested.
Now, Sinful Colors is EVERYWHERE, and us penny pinchers already knew about it.
When I saw the neons collection, I just had to have it! I must admit, I'm a nail polish snob. I will buy limited edition colors, but that's about it, no standard colors/ finishes for me LOL.
The great thing about Sinful Colors, is at $1.99 you can buy them all without making a dent in your wallet.
Here are swatches from the neons collection and the mani I created using them along with Sinful Colors nail stickers. Did I forget to tell you about the nail stickers? Here they are!

I swatched them next to China Glaze's neons. Pretty close in color and consistency if I do say so myself...except about $5 cheaper.
In each pic China Glaze is on the left, Sinful on the right.
(Please excuse my poor cuticles)

Review: NUDE PALETTES

As you may have known or realized not all nude palettes are created equal.
They all can't be UD Naked, but some can try.
I took all my nude palettes, 4 at the time, and lined them up against each other. Can they measure up to the Naked palette in variety, pigmentation and quality?
Let's see!

Contestants:
Urban Decay Naked palette $52
Forever 21 Smoky Palette $7
Coastal Scents Revealed Palette $25
Maybelline The Nudes $10

If you know me by now, you know that I did not pay full price for any of this LOL! I'd like to thank sales, coupons, and employee discounts for making this all possible!

Urban Decay Naked
What can I say? It's a classic, in the short time it's spent on this planet. I don't know what it is, but I want to wear all the colors at one time. You can't go wrong with this palette at all and I think that is why it is often imitated but never duplicated...unless you count Naked 2 and 3.
In true UD fashion they are pigmentated, long lasting colors. There are a mixture of matte, shimmer and glitter textures. Basically a little is all u need. I don't need to say anymore because you probably already own this one. And if your thinking about buying this palette, but choke on the $52 price tag, for the 12 colors included in this palette it works out to be about $4.33 cents an eyeshadow.
Let's look at some other brands gunning for that Naked throne.

Maybelline The Nudes
Everyone and their mama was after this palette. Hell! I worked in the store when this palette came out and still had to wait as I watched our meager supply sell out in a day!
It's a nice beginner palette. The colors are arranged in a quad system, so the 4 colors adjacent to each other would ideally be used together to different looks. For anyone more experienced with makeup you know we are not just going tostick to those 4 colors.
Basically it's 3 quads, 4 colors in each quad making it 12 colors in total.
For the price it's an awesome deal! for 12 colors, it comes out to be about 83 cents per eye shadow.
It's a nice palette. I appreciate mass brands getting in on the palette idea, especially with the nudes. The pigmentation is average. Good for a drugstore brand.
How do the colors match up to the Naked palette?  Not even close! the quality is at opposite sides of the makeup spectrum. I would say it's nice for someone just starting with makeup.

Forever 21 Smokey Palette
Let's just say I HAD to buy something, so I chose this.  It's not horrible, but Forever 21 sells party dress and heels, not makeup. The palette looked reasonable and at $7, why not!?
Also another nice palette for beginners. Some shadows are a little hard. The pigmentation is ok, better than I expected, but not even up to maybelline standards. The packaging it attempts to be Naked. But my dear, naked you are not. Our least expensive palette coming in at 70 cents an eyeshadow, it's worth it for your teenager to practice with.

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette
OK you got me coastal scents. You look good, almost too good to be true. You're running around passing yourself off as 2 naked palettes at $25, how dare u?!! I like Coastal Scents. The quality of their products is amazing,  it's almost witchcraft. Upon first look there is a close comparison in the variety of colors. There is a dupe for every Naked 1 (and 2) shadow in the revealed palette.
The quality was the best out of all the naked imposters, by far!!! If you're just not feeling UD, try the Revealed palette. 1/2 the money, twice as much product.

$1 *GEM*

Yes it's back, I'M BACK!!
I've been away too long and I have so much to say and do!!!
I decided to start with a $1 *GEM* to bring you back and make you love me again (fingers crossed!!)
The *GEM* comes from Profusion cosmetics.
It's a very affordable brand of cosmetics, probably best know for eyeshadows. But this product is a lippie. A "lip luster" to be exact. It has the consistency of a lipgloss, but goes on like a liquid lipstick. The pigmentation is amazing, especially for $1. What's even better is its non drying even though it has a matte finish. It tends to stay put, just don't try eating or drinking with these bad boys on. It instantly disappears.
Although the disappearing act is normally a bad thing, with all its other good qualities I can over look this. Plus it goes on so easily and doesn't smudge or bleed that you can just whip it out anywhere and reapply it effortlessly!
There are 6 colors and of course I got all 6.
They are available at Walgreens, Ulta and most beauty supply stores. 

$1 *GEM*

I know it's been a while since I bought you guys a $1 *GEM*. As a matter of fact this item was not even really $1, it was a $1.19.
But these AMAZING storage containers are worth WAY more than that!
As you may know I frequent discount and dollar stores looking for steals, and this time I TOTALLY lucked out! I have been looking for good, convenient,  cheap and kinda cute storage for a while, and I found it on my way to work in the morning. These storage bins are a godsend! I bought as much as I can use, but I am thinking of hoarding some for future use. They are cute, stackable, don't take up a lot of space, yet they are surprisingly roomy! Plus there is no assembly required. 
They come in 4 colors and 5/6 different styles. I chose the boat style for my collection of items waiting to be tested and the front loading box style holds  my collection of products I use everyday.
The 4 on my desk cost a total of $4.80
My collection storage cost a whopping $12.00!! (Tax not included)
Check your local stores and see what available,  there is ALWAYS something good!

AT HOME SPA DAY!

     Hey everyone!!!  As promised, here are some ideas on how to do an at home spa day. You can do them all in the same day or do them piece by piece during the week.
I usually pick Sunday as my spa day, but that only included my face. Now I included body care into the equation as well.

 

Step 1* I recommend for everyone, exfoliation. You have to exfoliate!! Although apricot scrub isn't the worst thing to put on your face, I wouldn't recommend it. I too, use to be an apricot scrub junkie, but I have since moved on leaving me with an overstock of the product that I bought when it was on sale. I used it to exfoliate my body!       Every part but the face. And I only use it once a week. I have excema  on my legs,  I apply lotion twice a day, morning and night, but by the time I get to work, I'm dry and by the time I go to bed I'm dry again. Exfoliating helped my lotion to actually absorb into the skin. It is moisturized and my skin not only feels better, but it looks better too. I also use the scrub on the back of my arms, where the skin is rough and bumpy. I could feel the difference after 1 use. I have also used it on my chest and you can even use the apricot scrub to your hands.
      Exfoliation is great before shaving. I like to do it the day before I shave, just to minimize the "trauma"  I put my skin through in a day.
      Exfoliation is great for dark areas, like the knees and elbows. And when you're done scrubbing just rinse it off in the shower. Be sure to follow with a lotion/cream.
I usually exfoliate my legs before I get in the shower and everything else while I'm in the shower. I also use a moisturizing bodywash.
My faves: Bodywash-Nivea touch of smoothness or St. Ives college elastin Body lotion-Nivea smooth sensation or St. Ives collagen elastin
(These lotions are the only ones that work of me, but use your favorite)
Exfoliators- St. Ives apricot scrub
Or make your own salt/ sugar scrub using sea salt, or table sugar and olive oil, or your favorite oil.

Step 2* At home facial- For this I use several steps
1. Initially I apply oil to my face and remove it with a hot wet towel.  An oil that doesn't clog the pores (coconut oil, olive oil, vitamin e, etc...)
2. Exfoliate (boots botanics microdermabrasion scrub)        
3. Mask- I use one that fits my needs that week, but on a regular basis I use the charcoal mask by origins. 4. Cleanser- again on that fits my needs and you can check my article on cleansers here.
5. Toner- I use boots botanics  shine away toner, for mattifying the skin
6.Treatments/ serums- I use a serum for dark spots and an eye serum/cream.
7. Moisturize- always moisturize using no spf ( boot botanics shine away moisturizing gel cream)
Step3- relax, drink tea, wine or whatever relaxes you and sit back in your face mask and just relax. I take this time to catch up on my shows I missed during the week.

*For spa quality hair care use a deep conditioner or treatment.*
If you really want to fancy, put your hair treatment in, and your face mask on and exfoliate while those other things are working.
We are all about multitasking here at beauty on a budget.
 

This I exactly wet hat I do on my spa day. These simple step will have you looking radiant and beautiful in no time!

Good Luck and Happy Relaxing!!!