Free for Haul Friday, Volume #363

Mellan is being cute as always!

Haul: Huge.
Sephora: Make Up For Ever Aqua Brow in #25; I have #15 and feel like it’s too golden on me. Love Aqua Brow. A Caudalie lip balm that actually does not feel good on my lips and will probably get returned.
Nordstrom beauty trend event:
At the MAC counter, I tried and purchased a new foundation (MAC Studio Waterweight SPF30), some pigments (full size Golden Olive, minis of Chartreuse and Kitschmas), and lipstick (liptensity in Hellebore), and picked up a Paint Pot in Tailor Grey. The foundation: I’m really pleased that my rosacea is under enough control that I can wear sun protection that combines zinc oxide/titanium dioxide with octinoxate, so that I have more options; I love the texture, finish, and application, but the shade (NW20) looks too peach to me; adding a teeny drop of the blue pigment from MUFE helps, but I think it’s a hair too dark, so I’m going to try it in NW18 as well — I also need the water-based blue pigment, and Sephora is currently out of stock 🙁 LOVE the pigments; Kitschmas looked less pink and more silver in the store, but it’s not too pink for me; they’re easier to work with than I thought they would be; they also wore like iron over the primer the MUA used (the MAC Pro Longwear eye primer), so I’ve ordered that, too, since creasing is such an issue for me. Hellebore: I like, but may return in favor of Leap of Delight, or exchange for one of the other liptensities. Tailor Grey: a great crease/hood/blending shade for me when I’m wearing cream eyeshadows.
At the Anastasia pop-up, I learned that I’ve actually shaped my eyebrows rather well 🙂 The artist used the one of the stencils to refine the shape a bit, and I purchased them, but she forgot to write down which stencil she used on me, lol! So I guess I get to experiment a bit. I also bought the powder duo in Ash Brown (because, well, I don’t know, I just don’t feel like breaking out Aqua Brow every day even though I love it; have Medium Brown, but it’s a bit red for me) and the Highlighting Pencil Duo — the colors aren’t perfect for me, but close enough, and it is handy. Already have the tinted brow gel to go with it to color those pesky white eyebrow hairs.
At the Tom Ford counter I purchased the lipstick in Violet Fatale (love! it’s a really beautiful color for me, and lasts and lasts and leaves a stain even though it’s quite emollient) and consulted with a rep from the company about perfume, since I can never find a modern perfume that I like. I don’t even like the modern version of scents I used to wear. Everything smells too sweet and too synthetic to me, and wears off my skin in about an hour. I came home with samples of Vert des Bois and Vert d’Encens and have actually decided to purchase Vert d’Encens. Not only do I like the way it smells, it stays with me for several hours 🙂
At the trend event they heavily promoted, and had reps for, the PMD Personal Microderm Pro, and, after consulting with them, I decided that it’s worth a try even with my sensitive skin, considering Nordstrom’s excellent return policy; I feel like I can take my time testing it on myself before making up my mind. I would like to use it for forehead lines, jowl lines, and my neck and decollete, even if it turns out I can’t use it on my cheeks and nose, where my rosacea is the worst.

ULTA:
NYX Liquid Suede lipsticks in Foul Mouth (love!), Alien (black may actually be a bit dark for me), and Jet Set and Oh, Put it On!, which I have to fully try yet, but think I’ll like a lot. Stila Stay All Day liquid lipstick in bacca, which I haven’t tried yet but should try soon, because it may be too matte/drying for me and have to be returned. The NYX Liquid Suedes are really nice that way.
And the biggie — even bigger than the PMD: my local ULTA had the new Dyson hair dryer in stock, so that I could actually check it out in person. Instead of waiting dutifully for the Sephora sale, I couldn’t resist. This feels extravagant because I already have a really good (and light-weight) brow dryer that I bought during Sephora’s sale last year. But the nozzle on the thing is so long that it’s a problem for me to use it for more than a few minutes because of my weak/destroyed rotator cuff, so I only dry my hair part-way with it, let it air-dry for a while, and usually forget to get around to finishing up with the blow-dryer, because by then I’m involved in something else. It still gave me better results than my old dryer, but to actually style my hair with it is too much of a project for me. I am pleased to report that the Dyson was so much more comfortable for me to use that I actually was able to blow-dry my hair until it was completely dry, getting smooth and silky results with a bit less product than usual, and — drum roll — wonder of wonders, and something I did not expect, somehow this complete blow-drying process made my tailbone-length hair less tangly, which is super-awesome because that means that I can wear it loose. I was actually considering getting it trimmed back up to waist length so that I could wear it loose more often, but now I don’t need to!
Rouge Bunny Rouge: I wanted to try their eye gloss, which is supposed to be less of a sticky mess than MAC’s, but no counter near me 🙁 Checked the web site and they were having a sale — ordered the eye gloss and five eyeshadows ($50 off $152) — they are here and beautiful, I’m planning to give some of the products a whirl today 🙂
This is a massive amount of stuff, but I actually feel really happy about most of it 🙂

Weekend plans: continue my bit-by-bit efforts to get my life re-organized and launch the next phase! Very, very slowly getting my energy back, at least now I’m able to accomplish at least a little bit almost every day 🙂

I don’t even want to say how long it’s been since I’ve traveled… the traveling itself is so tiring for me, that it’s hard to get enough enjoyment out of it to make it worth the effort and the money. If train travel was less expensive I think I’d travel a bit more often — I find it more relaxing than going by car or plane.