So here is the last part of the stash. The lipsticks.
Now for those of you who know me you KNOW that this is way, way, way, way, WAY outside of my comfort zone! This is the Nars Bento Box. It was a limited edition set that came out 23 months ago and was limited to 1000 sets in the USA and another 1000 sets for International. Holt Renfrew got some of these in and if I recall the price tag on them was.$140. Mine came from the USA (the price point there was $125) but mine was a gift! If this was two neutral colours I would have jumped at it for $125 but for these two colours I would not have been able to justifty it myself. But I treasure this for many reasons (the main being the person who gave it to me!).
The two Givenchy are probably my two most used and most loved colours. They literally stay on for HOURS. I can put it on at 7am and at noon there are still traces of it on! For me that is just about unbelievable!
Next up are one of my favourite things from gifts with purchases. The full sized lipsticks! They may not have the fancy packaging, but really? Who CARES about that?
The Color Design Lipsticks retail for $27 so to get one free when I buy a nail polish or shadow or eye makeup remover that I would buy anyways? And the best thing is if you get to know your sales associates and if they like you they are usually more than willing to root around in their drawers and find you OTHER shades from other gift sets that have come and past. So usually you can be guaranteed to get a colour you like and want!
The first time I was in NYC following the opening of the brand new stand alone Nars Boutique at 413 Bleecker Street I had to pick up the Signature colour that at that time was exclusive of the store. It has since become available online but at the time it was the entire reason for the trip to the store. Aside from the fact that it was pouring rain and I was SOAKED when I got there, it was the BEST shopping experience I have ever had in a retail store. They were just preparing for the party that night celebrating the new NARS book and were getting the Champagne ready. As busy as they were they stopped everything to help me. They took my umbrella, sat me down, spent a ton of time showing me how to apply things and what would work best with my skin tone. I felt kind of guilty that I didn't buy more but I had JUST made a $500+ purchase at Sephora (it was a VIB 20% off sale) that included a LOT of Nars. I did pick up these to lip products as well as some nail polish though!
At least I did succeed in getting lipstick colours that were outside my comfort zone! I just need to wear them more!
Believe it or not, this is the ONLY MAC lipstick I have ever purchased. I do actually quite like it, but everytime I get sucked in to a MAC purchase (usually nail polish, but twice blushes) I have ended up disappointed. But this lipstick is nice and I do like it! And the Oasis lipstick was a limited edition Quo purchase that I got on clearance but also really like it!
And this is the new Le Metier De Beaute Lipstick I purchased. It reminds me of the Velvet Matte Lipsticks from NARS. They are fairly drying but last a very very very long time! I really really like it so far!
The Clarins 706 was the start of the end for me. This lead me down a terrible, expensive dangerous road of hoarding coral lipsticks. I would NEVER choose an orangey coral lipstick! But this one looked so good on me I ended up getting 5 or 6 more. None of which were good. NONE of them. It was just BAD. And so they have all been purged (minus this wonderful one) and my lesson has been learned!
Next up are some deluxe samples or minis. They are about half the size or a third of the size of the normal lipsticks. But since I never come close to finishing them, I think they are GREAT! And the Chanel is my perfect go to red (but since I only GO TO RED once every six months, its perfect!!).
And then comes the Dior ones! I actually had purchased 783 right before I had gotten this sample as a gift with purchase and ended up returning it since I got the mini!
And this mini is by Laura Mercier and I don't even know if I have tried it yet! But now that I have purged so much of my collection I will hopefully reach for this now!
And the ONLY LipFusion product I ended up keeping. Its more a pencil but I put it here for lack of any better idea of where to put it!
And here is the full stash!