Make Up Obsession

I recently was living back in the US for a couple months, and it didn't really hit me until I was packing to leave how bad my obsession has gotten. I have a wonderful husband who tolerates just about anything I could throw at him (of course I would never throw makeup that could break haha.) I got to adding up in my head how much I had spent over the last couple months on makeup and clothing and shoes and lotion (oh my god the lotion.) It didn't really hit me until it was all there in front of me.

There really is no way of not making eye contact with a full-sized bed full of the things you brought, and the small luggage they all must fit in to. It was all a happy ending, as my husband is a frequent flier and allowed extra luggage, but it really hit me how tolerant he has been through all this. I own probably more makeup than I will ever go through in a life time, maybe two, and I still have a desire or a compulsion to buy more. I think I am like a bird that is attracted to shiny things, only mine is shimmery eyeshadow and sparkly lip gloss. I am a bit OCD so my things are very tidy, well organized, and easily accessible but where does it end? Will I always be on the hunt for the next best face lotion, or the best eyeliner, or the best more unique eyeshadow color.

For now I am committing myself to not buying anything I don't need until I am back in the US to visit my family in january. I did get some amazing deals on cosmetics and lotion while in the states, that I never would have gotten here, so I have decided maybe it is a better strategy to save up my money for 6 months at a time and make one big purchase when I get things for a steal in the states. It sounds like a good plan, and most probably even money-saving in the long run but how does that work out for a complete shopaholic with a major make up obsession...

L'oreal warehouse sale

why...why do these companies do this to me? First annabelle/marcelle now L'oreal? who's next?


I am not one to pass up amazing deals, maybe i should start being that person though. my husband has this saying, i'm going broke saving money. that is starting to be true, if i hadn't been broke already. love that student budget! on to the better parts now.

This all started because it was my anniversary on april 12th, and my loving husband had decided to get me this perfume that i had been lemming. Vitkor & Rolf Flowerbomb, i can't even describe it. it is sweet, it is soft, it is intoxicating and it doesn't give me a headache (i am very sensitive to perfumes) In canada it happens to be very expensive... at 105$ for 50 ml but a co worker of my husband's had an invite to the l'oreal/lancome/maybelline/fragrance warehouse sale. sure enough, lucky as i was, they had it there for 49.50$ of course i made up for the price difference with mascara :P

I did pick up my mascara allotment for the year, 3 of my fav l'oreal voluminous, 1 l'oreal collagen, 1 l'oreal telescopic explosion (which i have wanted to try for ages but it is expensive for drugstore in canada and i just refuse to spend that amount on l'oreal) 2 maybelline full 'n soft, and 2 maybelline last stiletto. i also picked up 2 maybelline dream matte foundation and 1 concealer all in light 0. i got 3 maybelline color sensational lip stains, 1 color sensational lipstick and one l'oreal hip duo and 1 l'oreal wear infinite eyeshadow.

this particular purchase was considerably more than the annabelle warehouse sale, but the steals were still pretty good, my total was 118.50$ before taxes. i did the same breakdown like last time just to see what i saved so here it is

Viktor & Rolf Flower bomb 105.00
l'oreal voluminous x3 10.99
l'oreal collagen 13.99
l'oreal telescopic explosion 13.99
maybelline lash stiletto x2 10.99
maybelline full 'n soft x2 10.99
maybelline dream matte foundation x2 14.99
maybelline dream concealer 8.99
l'oreal hip duo 11.49
l'oreal wear infinite 6.99
maybelline color sensational lip stain x3 10.99
maybelline color sensational lipstick 11.49
grand total: retail 311.82 before taxes. i paid 118.50 before taxes (they did over charge me by 2.75 which i didn't notice at the time and i can't do anything about it now but for that price difference i will just consider it a small fee)

Annabelle/Marcelle Warehouse Sale

I, by a complete fluke of luck, discovered that this weekend in montreal there was a warehouse sale for Annabelle and Marcelle cosmetics. This is a semi-annual sale (which i will store in my memory for november) and the prices are like stealing. All annabelle makeup is 1.50 and all marcelle makeup is 2.50. Those are amazing since annabelle retails for between 4.99 to 10.99 and marcelle cosmetics are a little higher at around 8-20.

I found out a bit late, the night before the last day of the sale so who knows how much was there on the first day, but there seemed to be plenty left when i got there on sunday afternoon. It was pretty basic, and i didn't have my camera to take pictures inside, but it was just a bunch of tables covered with cut open boxes and each box had a different product/color inside to separate them all. This is a limited edition summer colors eye shadow/bronzer compact called Ibiza from annabelle, a pink/bronze marbled blush from marcelle called summer chic (there are 2, as i bought one for my sister as well). and 2 lip glosses from annabelle in metro mango and vivid volume. To be honest, the packaging on these is complete rubbish, but they do feel nice, but not super pigmented more of a color wash.
This is the other marble blush (for my lucky sister) some of their mono eye shadows in a quad that i also picked up for my sister in the colors buff naked, so foxy, jazzberry (LE) and Ka-ching. Those are 4 smudgeliners in honey (golden at top), extra celestial, Wahine blue, and smokey blue, below that are 2 mineral eye dusts in quicksilver and sunkissed(both LE), a bronze/blush in bali bronze (LE) and a studio pigment in aurora (LE)
Also from the first picture (i didn't get a close up as my memory card was full) are a package of makeup remover cloths 15 count, i bought 20 of these packs because hey were 5 for 1.50, and 2 lipgloss pens from marcelle that were in morning dew and pink flash.

since i am curious i will be going over the prices i want to compare what i actually paid to what it is worth.

this list can't be perfect because some of the limited edition products i can not find the actual retail price of anymore so i wll estimate based on items that are still or sale in similar products.

marcelle summer chic x2 12.99
marcelle lip gloss pens x2 estimate 8.99 each
Annabelle volume lip gloss x2 8.50 each
annabelle monoshadows x4 4.25 each
annabelle bali bronze estimate 8.99
annabelle studio pigment 8.50
annabelle ibiza estimate 12.99
annabelle mineral pigments x2 8.50
annabelle smudgeliners x4 8.95
20 packages of 15 wipes (sold in 2 packs retail) x10 8.99
retail total= $251.14 before taxes
I paid 38.50 before taxes
AWESOME!

Today...was a good day. I was killing time, chatting on the phone with my mom, wandering a store between classes when much to my surprise i saw a little gem sticking out of a clearance basket. Yes...that is correct, i am a bargain hunter and no i don't really mind being called cheap. Long ago, a couple years now i think, i had found a bunch of these truly awesome lip glosses at the dollar store for a buck each from Maybelline. Shine Seduction, they had me at shine. I love lip gloss, i have yet to truly discover if i love looking at it more than actually wearing it but that is another story for another day. Today's story however, I had found one of these fabulous lip gloss's bigger older sister the Volume Seduction XL. These were discontinued a while back i believe, as at the time i had found one on clearance for about 3 bucks. I love these lip glosses, i love the feel (not sticky or tacky) i love the colors (some are sheer some are pigmented) i even love the applicator (hard plastic tip that the products twists up out of) all around i have loved these. Today i found one just shining at me out of a very sad basket so i picked it up. Having no price marked on it, and there was not even a space in the Maybelline display any longer i had no idea how much it was, so i walked over to the price scanner to check.
YA! That's right... 0.01... this lip gloss that i have loved for several years that has been missing from my existence was 1 penny. Now how could I leave that behind, sad, in an over crowded basket. I very much think that 1 penny fits a students budget. I swear i need to do project 10 pan, but not today.