July Beauty Purchases

Here's a look at all the products I picked up this month. The next few months won't be as fun because of my self-imposed spending budget... Scary!

Here are my beauty purchases for the month of July. Hope you will come say hi over at my blog, bronzerbunny.com! Wearing: Butter London Trout Pout on nails, Guerlain Rouge Automatique #103 lipstick, and a little bit of Lush Charisma Skin Tint.

In the video, I am wearing Butter London Trout Pout (awfully chipped, sorry!), a bit of Lush Charisma, and Guerlain Rouge Automatique #103.

Products Mentioned

• Ole Henriksen Aloe Vera Deep Cleanser
• Ren Clearcalm3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser
• Loreal Caresse lipstick in Cotton Pink
• Revlon Photoready Bronzer in Bronzed & Chic
• Lush Hair Doctor Julep box (not shown)
• Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm
• Tom Ford Private Blend Lipstick in Violet Fatale
• Revlon Colorstay Nail Polish in Wild Strawberry
• Revlon Nail Polish in Blue Lagoon
• Milani Shadoweyez in Winter White
• Lush Hottie Massage Bar
• Lush Charisma Skin Tint
• Also mentioned: Capri Blue Volcano Candle & theBalm Nude Tude

After gift cards, coupons, etc the Grand Total for July is about $135. I also returned $22 of items I purchased in June! Not terrible, but not great, which is the reason for my limited spending ban for the rest of the year!

What do you think of my purchases? Have you tried any of these products?

Lipstick Diaries: Tom Ford Violet Fatale

Two weeks ago, I finally purchased my first Tom Ford Private Blend lipstick. I had hoped to share it with you guys sooner, but I caught a bug over the weekend and it took me a while to recover and catch up with everything! Now isn't that packaging so luxurious? I probably would have liked the older white packaging better, but this doesn't look so bad! I also enjoy that it is rectangular, which is somewhat different than many brands. I like the sturdy heft of it as well!

Love the "TF" imprinted into the lipstick, and this shade is just gorgeous! While it looks like a deep berry/purple, this really has quite a bit of hot pink in it. I just love that color, don't you? Here is one light layer of it on my lips. This photo was taken in full sun, and I just love how pink it becomes on me. Additional layers make it more berry as you see in the tube, and the stain that the lipstick leaves is very much like a muted version of how this pink appears in this photo.

In terms of application, I love how this lipstick goes on so smoothly, and even the poor condition of my lips (as you can clearly see!) is slightly hidden. On another occasion, my lips were SUPER dry, and applying a Tom Ford lipstick actually made them look better! The lipstick went on smoothly, and all the wrinkles of my lips were minimized. This lipstick formula does not dry my lips (thank you!) and wears quite well too. I can wear this for 3-4 hours if I do a lot of eating/drinking. If not, then the color lasts longer, and the stain even more so. Last night I swatched this lipstick on my hand, and after numerous hand washings, I still have a pink stain on my left hand!

What do you think? At $48, it is quite a pricey product - is it worth it? Have you tried this or other Tom Ford lipsticks? :)

His Thoughts: Lush Dirty Shaving Cream

A few weeks ago, I hit up a Lush store to look at products and ended up grabbing a sample of the Dirty Shaving Cream. I finally got my boyfriend to try it shaving, and here are his thoughts on the product! (Note, he's forgotten that he's also tried the Art of Shaving line, lol!) I think at this point he may be a better blogger than me! Haha, please share what you think of his post or this product! :)

Photo from Lush website. See product details here.

Aroma: The scent is a milky herbal concoction. The scent can definitely be considered suitable for men and women.

Use: I have primarily used shaving foams since I started shaving as a teen. Typical shaving foams like Gillette and Barbasol, nothing fancy or different, boring I know. About a year ago Joyce convinced me to try a new shaving product when we came across C.O. Bigelow’s selection of men’s shaving products. This introduced me to benefits of trying nicer shaving products. That history aside, this Lush Dirty Shaving Cream is my first foray into the realm of shaving creams, and I must say I should have tried them a long time ago!

To highlight a couple of the major benefits I discovered: A little bit of product goes a long way, I was testing this with a sample we got from a Lush location. The razor seems to glide over the skin with less friction, as if the blades are hydroplaning over the skin. The herbal and oatmeal ingredients did a good job soothing and moisturizing my face both during and after the shave. Like I mentioned above, since the scent is suitable for both men and women I’m guessing I can share this product with my girlfriend, save money and reduce dreaded bathroom clutter.

Conclusion: My face almost always gets irritated from shaving, this cream dramatically reduced that irritation. I was left with a smooth fresh shave. I plan on purchasing a full size version of this product as soon as my current shaving foam is gone. (I might take some pictures to illustrate the difference between this product has on my skin compared to my current shaving foam.)

My HG Mascara Formula

These two products are absolutely my FAVORITE mascara combination for defined, lengthy lashes.

But, I can't always be spending $56 on a mascara combination, and am happy to report that Diorshow Maximizer + Maybelline mascara (currently Falsies Flared) is also a dream. One day I texted a shot of this summer combo to my best friend, and she was impressed.  I've even seen success with my own eyes, and not just on me!  A super long lashed coworker has super HUGE defined lashes with Diorshow Maximizer + regular Diorshow mascara. The first day I saw it I was seriously shocked! (And she previously used Diorshow too!)

Here is a shot of 1 light coat of Diorshow Maximizer  +  1 coat of Maybelline Falsies Flared. I apologize in advance for my droopy Asian lashes and the weird shadows of my hair around my eyes lol. Oh, also it would help if I did't always forget to curl my eyelashes... and opened my eyes more in photos outside... and was not inept at applying mascara in general... But seriously,  can you imagine this at 2 or 3 coats with some curling? Crazy.

If anything, you have to buy Diorshow Maximizer.  It's unlike any mascara primer I've ever tried. There is little to no white that is applied to the lashes, which I love.  Only real downside I see is that each tube I have had seems to lose a bit of its oomph after 2-3 months. I wouldn't say it expires in that time, just that when I first open it and apply it to bare lashes, there is an immediate effect and that wow factor is just less so at the 2-3 month mark. IT. IS. AMAZING.

Have you tried this primer? If you haven't, you need to go and try it now and let me know how it goes!