My Accidental (oops!) Sephora "Haul"

I am a girly girl.

I am romantic and I love flowers and pretty things. That said, my "beauty" knowledge has always been pretty limited - the first time I ever purchased a foundation was for my wedding about 7 years ago and I have only just replaced it (Makeup Forever - Mat Velvet #70) for the first time this month!!! Save for the occasional MAC product - most likely purchased at the annual sale that my lovely friend Anissa manages to score tickets to - I have been a drugstore cosmetics girl.

In the last few months (thanks to mat leave free time) I have spent more time browsing Instagram and YouTube and I've come across some really fantastic beauty vloggers and bloggers that I've been following. My favorite by far is @tymetheinfamous. Not only is she incredibly talented, but she is hilarious and super entertaining to watch. As a result, I've been inspired to step up my 'beauty' game and finally invest in some higher end products and tools. So I headed out to Sephora to get the key items that I thought I was missing to build my makeup/beauty base. I decided to start with the following:

1. Good brush set for eyes and face
2. Neutral eye shadow pallet

I already had a liquid foundation, a blush that I adore and lipsticks, liners and mascaras that I am happy with. I headed off to Sephora and about an hour later, I somehow managed to leave the store with

all...

of...

THIS:

From the top left: 6 Professional series brushes, Too Faced Natural Matte Eye Shadow Collection, Sephora Nano Eye Pencil in "pure white", Sephora Eye Primer,  Make Up Forever Artist Shadows 1 Palette, NARS blush/bronzing Powder Duo

Truly, I did not intend to drop the coin that I did. However I think that my purchases were really good "investment" items, and I won't be needing anything else for quite some time.

Shadow

I love neutral eye makeup. The coppers, the bronzes, the golds....I think they look really gorgeous on all skin tones but are especially complimentary on us caramel hued girls. I mean, can we talk about this eye???

I had looked around on-line and found great reviews for the brand new Make Up Forever Shadows 1 Palette which I ended up purchasing:

My only disappointment was that most of the shadows were shimmers. I wasn't able to find a palette that had a great complement of both matte and shimmer neutral shadows, so I ended up getting the Too Faced palette as well, which was the only neutral collection I came across that was made up of completely matte shadows:

Both palettes come with a 'step-by-step' booklet for creating different looks using the colors in the collections - super handy for a novice like myself!

Brushes

I purchased 6 new Sephora professional series brushes:

This by far, took up the bulk of my spending budget. However I think that with proper care, these should last me a very, very long time. Watching the guru's do their thing on YouTube, helped me to figure out just what I would need for face and eyes. Other than the MAC 266 angled brush, I had never purchased a professional grade brush before. So this is what I got:

1. Tapered PRO contour brush (79)

    I will use this for applying highlighter the tops of my cheekbones 

    and for setting powder over eye concealer

2. Round PRO eyeshadow crease brush (10)

    'nuff said

3. PRO allover powder brush (61)

    This large, beautiful brush will have multiple uses I feel from setting 

    powder and bronzer for face, to body shimmer for shoulders and the collarbone

4. PRO Contour blender brush (77)

    I saw @tymetheinfamous use a very similar brush (hers was the MAC version) for placing contour     in the hollows of your cheek. I had to have it!

5. PRO Shadow brush (14)

    For lids

6. PRO Flawless powder brush (40)

    My new blush brush!

Right away you can tell the difference as far as how soft the bristles are and how much fuller they are compared to my old brushes. Although it would have been a lot more budget friendly, I chose not to go with one of the prepackaged Sephora brush sets. I knew I wanted each one of these brushes specifically and didn't come across a set that had all of them. 

Impulse Buys

I am a SUCKER for the checkout line impulse buy! I don't know if it is that they place the best, items here or if the marketing department designs these displays for me in particular, but I always manage to find something that is too good to pass up when waiting in the checkout line. Needless to say, I added the NARS blush/bronzer duo and an eye primer to my purchase:

                                   

Almost every makeup video I've watched and article I've read raves about the NARS blush in the color "orgasm". As I mentioned I love my MAC "gleeful" mineralized blush that I've been wearing for years. However, as I was curious about what all the fuss was about regarding this NARS blush and I really like the eye shadow duo I already own from NARS, I decided to give it a try. The duo was cheaper than buying the blush alone, and this way I could give the bronzer a try as well!

I've never used a makeup primer before, and I figured if I wanted to really get the maximum beauty effect from my new palettes, I should probably give one a try. So with the help of one of the lovely shop assistants, I grabbed this eye primer:

Lastly, I've heard that white liner on the inner rim of your eye or "waterline" can really help open up your eyes and make you appear more alert. Can't think of a single new mom who couldn't use some help in appearing more awake, so I picked up the nano size so I could give it a try as well.

Right before the cashier gave me my total, she announced that I had unlocked the "next level" of the beauty insider card and I was now a VIB (Very Important Beauty Insider) YAY for me!!!

Once she told me the total I understood why - WOW!!! (that's gonna leave a mark) Good thing I don't do this often!! 

I am super excited to "play" with my new stuff. I'll be sure to post the new looks I try and my thoughts on these products. What do you think about my selections? Is there anything I am missing that you think is an absolute must have? I'd love to hear from you!!

Have a great weekend!!!