New Drugstore Makeup Haul!

     I always seem to find more than I plan to when I head into the drugstore- but isn't that the case for any beauty lover?! No matter if I'm running in to pick up one thing or return something you can bet that more times than not I come out with more than I planned to. With that being said I came across some really fun, new products and couldn't wait to share my haul with you.

Walgreens Products:

Rimmel Show Off Lip Lacquer in 300 Out Of This World, 501 Stellar, 102 Nova, 401 Aurora, 303 Apocalyptic, and 400 Big Bang ($4.99 each): I have only gotten to wear one shade so far but the pigmentation is amazing as you can see in the video. Can't wait to try out the others and to get a review together!

L'Oreal Infallible Limited Edition Spring 2013 24-HR Eyeshadow in Strawberry Blonde, With A Twist, and Dive Right In ($8.79 each): Even though I wasn't totally happy with the way these shadows came off with a brush, the shades are gorgeous. I must say though I did try to use the purple on my lower lash line a few nights ago and wasn't thrilled with the shade. On the eyes it doesn't translate as a bright purple color at all. I'll have to give the teal a go but if that doesn't work out I will probably be returning all 3 shades... Bummer!

Johnson's Baby Oil Gel with Aloe and Vitamin E ($4.79): Yay! Finally a product that I already know I love! I have used this after 2 or 3 showers and love the stuff. I didn't notice much of a difference after the first application but after the second, my legs were very soft and smooth. Don't use too much though because it does leave a residue but at night it doesn't bother me at all. Plus, it smells great too!

*Blog Bonus* Batiste Blush Dry Shampoo ($3.99): I don't know how I forgot to show this during my video! I have heard many people rave about this brand of dry shampoo and had to try it. I am one that has been jumping from dry shampoo to dry shampoo recently trying to find the perfect match and I must say this one is nice! The scent isn't as floral as I was expecting and it does leave a pretty white residue. However, if you use it sparingly and with a light hand it is not a problem even on my fairly dark hair. I will need to use it a little more before I make a decision because I have been really liking the one that I got in my Birchbox this month too!

Meijer Products:

Wet-N-Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow in Nutty ($1.99): I used this the same night as the purple shadow listed above and loved the shade in my crease. I am always looking for neutral colors that will make my blue eyes pop and this was definitely right up that alley. If you are looking for a subtle but buildable, natural looking shade than look no further- this is your match! The price is nice and the pigmentation is there so what more could you ask for!

Nivea A Kiss of Smoothness Hydrating Lip Care SPF 10 ($2.99): This is a very simple product so there isn't much to say here. It moisturizes my lips and is a perfect base under any lipstick. It's not too thin but not too heavy and is very comfortable to wear!

CVS Products:

Maybelline Electro Baby Lips Moisturizing Lip Balm in Pink Shock and Strike A Rose ($3.99 each): I have gotten the chance to try out both of these shades and I am so surprised by the amount of color they give off. I wasn't a huge fan of the original line but am liking these shades (especially Pink Shock) better than the permanent six. I do have to say that I am very picky when it comes to "hydrating" lip colors because I really want them to live up to that claim. I don't just want them to FEEL like a balm/chapstick I want them to actually moisturize and soften my lips as well. I don't feel as though these have a fantastic moisturizing element (like the Korres Lip Butters) but they are nice to carry in my purse.

Maybelline Fit Me Shine Free Foundation Stick in 110 Porcelain and 115 Ivory ($8.99 each): Man, the first time I used these I wasn't very impressed. I swatched both shades on my neck to see which was the better match and both came off very pink on my skin tone. Since neither one was the perfect color I focused the lighter shade in the center of my face and the slightly darker one towards my hair line. I put the product directly on my face from the stick then used my Beauty Blender to try to blend it in. It seemed as though the formula was too thick for the sponge to handle and I felt as though it blended away to nothing in some places. I must say that overall the finished look was okay but nothing like the finish of my current favorite foundation- NARS Sheer Glow.

CoverGirl + Olay Eye Rehab Brightening Concealer and Serum in 320 Fair/Light ($11.99): I haven't gotten to fully play around with this product as much as I would like to but I do feel like I picked up the wrong shade. As I was getting the link for this product I realized that there was one more lighter shade than the one that I purchased. I should have gotten fair instead of fair/light... Why do companies have to make it so confusing?! It is a little dark for my undereye area but I want to try it as a base under my foundation next time.

Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara in Extreme Black ($9.49): We might have saved the best for last! I have not been one to try very many Rimmel mascaras at all over the years but this display caught my eye! I have heard Nicole Guerriero talk about the Rimmel Lash Accelerator line in the past so I had to pick this up! I LOVED this mascara after one coat and that is saying something for a girl who is VERY picky with mascara formulations. To be quite honest I liked it more after the first coat than the second but I am still playing around with it. It can tend to get a little clumpy which is a bummer since it is advertised as a "clump-free" formula but that isn't a deal breaker. I liked my first impression so much that it made me run out to purchase the other two formulas in the line today!

I hope you enjoyed this haul and the added information. Please make sure to subscribe to my channel (here) to be notified of new videos!

Love, Lacey

Beauty Subscription Showdown: June 2013

     Hello everyone! I am here to bring you my Birchbox unboxing post for the month of June but with an added bonus! I recently signed up for Ipsy and have received my first Glam Bag! I wanted to finally branch out to a new service because I have been hearing so much hype about Ipsy recently. I feel that with each bag, people are raving more and more! So, here is my video this month showing my first impression of each product and which service won!

     P.S Sorry I am a little late with posting this blog- this video actually went up yesterday! For some odd reason YouTube was not letting me add annotations so I had to do a little trouble shooting. Hope you don't mind!

     First of all: Yes, I realize that I say unopening a lot in this video and that makes no sense AT ALL! As I was editing I noticed it and couldn't stop laughing! With that out of the way though I wanted to touch on a few things that I didn't include in the video revolving around both of these services...

     Of course when I film the video I have no idea how much each sample is going to cost- I always figure it up while I'm editing. So, I was shocked when I realized that Ipsy surpassed Birchbox this month tremendously in value. With that being said, that doesn't make me like the bag that much more than what you saw in the video. Keep in mind that with Ipsy you get a percentage off of all the brands you receive that month ranging from 15-35%. That means the final total that I included in the video would be if you bought everything full price... Also, I do not see anyone buying that eyeliner for $21.00 either, to me some of the prices seemed inflated.

     I also wanted to say that I wasn't pleased with the NYX blush that I received either. Yes, the color is okay and I didn't mind it once it was on my cheeks, but that is not the point I am trying to make. When I received the email that prompted me to sign up for Ipsy, it showed a picture of the regular powder blushes. After filming I got onto the Ipsy site and realized that I could have received either the powder, cream, or mosaic (the one I got) formula. I would have rather received any of the two other formula's in my bag but what do you do?

     I guess we can end on a semi good note now! Ha! What I did like was that I received ALL I repeat ALL full size products in my Glam Bag this month but it definitely is a double edged sword... Would you rather receive full sizes of okay products or smaller samples of higher end, more exciting things? For me I would choose the latter which is why I preferred Birchbox this month.

     Now don't get me wrong, Birchbox was not perfect this month either. Even though I was happier overall with these products than the ones I received from Ipsy, I still would have rather received a different color/variation of two of the products. One being the hair tie and the other being the nail polish. There were 6 hair ties that were part of this nautical collection and I would have honestly rather have gotten any of the other 5... It's not the end of the world though and I don't blame Birchbox! I do put partial blame on them for the nail polish though! There were 4 shades created as part of this Wanderlust collection- a coral, an off-white (the one I got), a lime green, and a lavender. Again, I blame just my luck and the fact that I really have no control of the shade that I received when it comes to anything in Birchbox but I just don't understand the color choice! It says that the off-white color (which literally just looks like a stark white to me) is meant to represent the glow of the mega-watt city, Manhatten at night... To me, a more interesting choice would have been any shade of yellow!

     I will give this company a pat on the back though for their new website and especially their points program. This is where Birchbox has Ipsy hands down beat in my opinion. I am liking everything about their new updates to their site and packaging as well as their way of acquiring points each month. I have received 3-4 makeup items either heavily discounted or free from using my points that I get from rating the products in my box each month. You just can't beat that!

What do you think about these subscriptions? If you had to choose, which one would you sign up for?

Love, Lacey

DIY Summer Hair Accessories

     Hello everyone! Tonight, I wanted to share my first video dedicated to The Best In Beauty Competition with you. I uploaded this Sunday afternoon for the competition and have received some amazing feedback. Please watch and let me know what you think! Also feel free to vote if you'd like!

Love, Lacey

My First YouTube Competition!

     ATTENTION EVERYONE! Please check out the official trailer to the new YouTube competition that I am competing in! Beginning next Sunday I will be needing your votes to push me farther through the contest. More information will be included in the video Sunday so please join me in this wonderful journey! xox

     This video was made by Jen aka Jenluvsreviews on YouTube. She created this contest and will be the host beginning Sunday! I figured that it would be a good idea to post her video to my channel to give everyone a short little introduction to what this contest is about. I hope you enjoy the video that I have coming up this weekend- I'll give you a little hint... It's my first DIY! :D

Love, Lacey

Middle School Makeup Look: Pretty and Polished!

     Hello everyone! I am so happy and excited to be sharing this video with you tonight. Delilah aka Lilah is 10 years old and will be going into 5th grade next year. We had a girls day to celebrate the end of the school year and had some time to spare! She thought it would be fun for me to do her makeup so I had to film it! I wanted to do a fun, young, summer look on her and loved how it turned out. All the products that I used are listed in the description box of the video if you are interested. 

     I obviously do not think that this makeup look should be a go-to everyday routine for someone her age. I included some extra steps such as the moisturizer/primer, foundation and lip liner for the sake of the video as well as to make it extra special for her! If she wanted to add some simple shadow and bright liner for picture day or a dance I think that would totally be age appropriate and fun! I hope you enjoy this video and please let me know what you think below!

Have a wonderful day!

Please like my Facebook page (here) for more beauty/video updates!

Love, Lacey

No Mirror Makeup Challenge: Classic Summer Look

     I know that I am a huge fan of funny, tag videos! There is just something about them that crack me up every time! One of my favorites recently has been the no mirror makeup challenge so I decided to give it a go! I hope you enjoy and please let me know how I did. :)

Here are the products that I used:

CeraVe AM Moisturizing Lotion

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Mont Blanc (Light 2)

Beauty Blender

NARS Creamy Radiant Concealer in Vanilla (Light 2)

BECCA Perfect Skin Mineral Powder Foundation in Porcelain

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Dollface

Laura Mercier Eye Brow Pencil in Brunette

Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in 13

NARS Blush in Albatross (Highlight)

Jordana FabuLiner Liquid Eye Liner in Black

Tarte Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara in Black

YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in 5 Fuchsia in Excess

Hope you are having a wonderful day!
Also, please like my Facebook page (here) to be notified about new videos first!

Love, Lacey

May 2013 Favorites!

     Here are my favorite products for the month of May! I have really been trying a lot of new things and love the variety that I was able to show you this month. Enjoy!

Products Featured:

Becca Perfect Skin Mineral Powder Foundation in Porcelain ($40.00)

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla ($28.00)

Beauty Blender ($19.95)

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Dollface ($26.00)

Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara in Very Black ($7.49)

Benefit It's Potent! Eye Cream (Full Size is $34.00)

Honorable Mentions:

CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser ($13.99)

CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion ($13.99)

Tangle Teezer ($12.99)

Avon Skin So Soft Signature Silk Bath Oil ($13.00)

*DO NOT get this in your hair! Since filming I took another bath where I soaked my hair in the water as well. It was a fiasco! Even after washing my hair more than 5 times with a clarifying shampoo (horrible I know) I still felt residue and will be taking another shower tonight to get the remainder out.*

The Body Shop Body Butter in Moringa ($20.00)

Love, Lacey

Collective Haul: Clothing, Makeup, Shoes and More!

     I am really excited to be bringing you guys another video. I was SO undeceive on what video to film for you and noticed that some new things had been piling up! I love the way that this video turned out and hope you do as well! Please let me know if you find it helpful to have the prices of all of the products listed because if so I will do that in the future!

     I have also been wanting to get back into doing my in-depth comparisons and reviews here on LoveLaceyBeauty but have been so obsessed with filming videos after getting my new camera. Would all of you rather see a video format of those old posts or do you want me to stick to saving those for my blog only?! I am finding it so hard to find a happy medium and need your help on deciding! Please be honest and let me know what you think below! 

Have a great day!

Love, Lacey