Ulta Haul: Naked on the Run, Smashbox, Tarte & More!

Happy Tuesday!

Last weekend I decided to use my 20% off my entire purchase coupon for Ulta. 

I was excited to use it because this 20% off coupon included prestige brands and I've really been wanting the Naked on the Run. I also had $11 off my purchase because of my points balance so I decided to use that on my purchase as well. 

I have been wanting this brush forever! I finally decided to just do it. It's the Tarte Slenderizer, it's a contouring brush. I thought this would be helpful when I'm trying to contour my makeup. 

Can we just take a moment and marvel in this brush's beauty?

Just a moment. 

I love the angle of this brush and it's going to be perfect for my cheeks. 

I also picked up some of NYX's Halloween lashes. I plan on using the ones on the left New Years Eve. 

These two items are just repeats, I needed another liquid liner, and needed more concealer. I cannot break my habit of this concealer, I love it so much!

I seem to break out a lot, so I thought this NYX Wonder Pencil Concealer would be worth a try. Plus it was super cheap so I figured why not? I thought maybe a pencil would be more precise in covering up blemishes then a fluffy brush!

I travel a lot from home & my families house, and going different places so I'm giving this Smashbox travel brush set a try. It was on clearance for $8.97! I don't know what the brush on the right does, does anyone?!

 

 And last, but certainly not least, is the Naked on the Run. 

I'm justifying this $54 purchase because I know I'm on the road a lot and going different places and I love how this has neutral shadows in it, blushes, lip gloss, eye liner AND mascara. I literally will not need to bring anything but this palette. My fiance & I are heading to Philadelphia to celebrate New Years Eve tomorrow so I am going to test this palette out and will report back!

Have you made any recent make up purchases?

Holiday Weekend Recap: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Ugly Christmas Sweater & OOTD's

Happy Monday!

Back to the regular grind of work today. This week won't be too bad for me because I have a short day New Years Eve, and I'm off New Years Day. :)

Today I'm recapping my super long weekend - 5 day weekend to be exact. 

Here's some photos from my phone. 

I decided to go with craft paper for a lot of my wrapping paper. I bought a bunch of ribbon and white paint to decorate the paper with.

I picked up these gift tags from Marshalls - next year I'm going to Marshalls for my wrapping paper and gift tags, they had really cute stuff!

My mom loves elephants thanks to my grandmother, so when I found this cute necklace I was excited to give it to her for Christmas. I wish I found one for myself! 

My Fiance & I went a little over board on wrapping paper, gift tags, and gift bags at K-Mart!

At our home town they have what's called a Boulevard of lights. It's something my fiance & I try to do annually. 

Can we take a second to appreciate how adorable this wrapping paper is? I picked it up from K-Mart!

This year I hand made all of my Christmas cards. I found it really relaxing and plan to do it every year! 

Christmas Eve we always exchange with my fiance's family. 

Here I'm opening up my first Alex and Ani bracelet, his mom got me the Eagles one!

His family also got me umbrella lighting for blogging photos and videos (hopefully for the new year!)

There's something so magical and calming about Christmas Eve. 

I was wrapping presents late Christmas Eve. :/

My parents dog (if you follow me on instagram: vzaleski) you would see a lot of this guy. My mom dressed him up as Santa - haha. 

Christmas morning my parents put on our fireplace. 

Something they haven't done in a long time. 

My outfit for Christmas Day:

Sweater from Boohoo.com/Victoria Secrets leggings/Reindeer socks Old Navy

Some of my beauty related items I got for Christmas. 

The Philosophy Pink Marshmallow Buttercream smells AH-mazing. I highly recommend! 

I'm really excited to try out the IT Naturally Pretty palette, I've heard a lot of good reviews on it. When I was swatching the colors they felt creamy/velvety like the Lorac Mega Pro Palette. 

How adorable are these bags my fiance picked up for me?

Saturday we had our annual Christmas party and I decided to make this for my parents bar. I never made a marquee light before, it actually wasn't that hard to do, but definitely was time consuming! 

I got to use my penguin Lush bath bomb over the weekend. He smells delicious!

Earrings I made my best friends for Christmas. 

 These are the nails I sported for my families annual Christmas party, this year we had an ugly sweater contest, so I thought these nails would be appropriate.

This was the ugly sweater I wore. I got it from Boohoo.com and leggings are Victoria Secrets Most Loved Yoga's. 

How stinking beautiful is this vase my best friend made me for Christmas, thanks Lindsay!

How was your Christmas break?!

Ciate Mini Mani Manor Round Up - Days 7 through 24

Happy Sunday!

We're back home from all the Holiday festivities. 

It's nice to get away, but it's also nice to get back home. 

Back to work tomorrow for me, but it will be a short week because of the holiday. 

Today, I'll be sharing my Ciate's Mini Mani Manor from day 7 through day 24. 

Day 7:

Loop the loop. 

Very pale yellow color.

Day 8: 

Boom box. 

I tried to add stars with gold glitter. What do you think? Haha. 

Day 9:

Mineral Love. 

This is another one of my favorites. It's very similar to OPI's liquid sand nail polish. It has that rough textured finish to it.  

Day 10: 

Prima Ballerina

A loose purple color glitter over wet nail polish. I liked this one, but found the glitter falling off rather quickly. 

Day 11:

Strawberry Milkshake

I can see myself grabbing this one a couple of times to use. The color is amazingly pigmented for being a light pink. It's one of my favorites from the collection, and this color was only applied twice! 

Day 12:

Back to Black

This was Ciate's 2nd pearl set. I really enjoy the pearls but honestly couldn't decide what to do with them! I can't see myself going back to these black pearls, maybe if they were a different color.  

Day 13 & 14

Beach Bum (tan) & Superficial (green)

I had to combine the two days together because we went away. 

I think this is one of my favorite looks I did.  

Day 16:

Knee High

I really don't like blue colors on me, I don't know why. Not one of my favorites.  

Day 15 & 17:

Apples & Custard(green) and Let it Snow(glitter)

I had to combine two days again.

The Let it Snow was another loose glitter, I'm just not a fan because I know if I was wearing it for more than a day, it wouldn't last. Not to mention the application is very messy. I'm still picking up glitter! 

Day: 18:

Confetti(silver glitter)

I found that this set had a lot of glitter so I needed to switch it up, I just used the glitter on the bottom portion of my nail.  

Day 19:

Talent Scout

I loved this purple color and will definitely be going back to it! 

Day 20:

Slumber Party

Another loose glitter, and because it was the weekend I decided to add a snowman to my accent nail. :) 

Day 21:

Fair Isle nail transfers

This was definitely different for me, I've never used nail transfers before, and surprisingly, they were easy to use! I definitely want to see if Ciate sells more of these nail transfers.  

Day 22: 

Power Dressing

Another blue color, just not a fan.  

Day 23: 

Mistress

This color was a very light red color, I don't own anything like it. I added Ciate's sequin manicure set to my nails as well.  

Day 24:

Celestial 

The last day is a full sized bottle of Ciate's nail polish. 

I really enjoyed this one, it had all different size glitters in the polish. I loved it! 

If you'd like to see days 1 through 6 please go here.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Holiday!

I will be doing a Christmas Haul. I did one last year and I want to do it again, I love seeing what other people got, so I figure why not share what I got! If you think it's bragging or not "right" just don't read it. :)

Have a great night!