Winter Makeup Haul: YSL, Tarte, Sugar Lip Balms

I went shopping today! I just wanted to show you guys what I got. Reviews will come on everything once I've tried them all.

My two main purchases were the gel liners. They took me so long to pick out! First, I did a bunch of swatches on my hand.

I will probably do a post on these swatches next. I got a ton of pictures in different lighting, so I will post those and I will list out all the colors.

I actually wasn't swatching for the blog. I just wanted to compare gel eyeliners for myself, but it ended up working out both ways. To continue, I swatched all of these, looked at them and thought about it for a while. Held them up against my eyes. And then I went back to Sephora and sat at the counter for like an hour, trying the front runners on my eyes! Good thing the store wasn't too busy today and the sales assistants were very nice. Thanks Ebony!

Review: Mascara Comparison

Right to Left: CoverGirl Professional Super Thick Lash, Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus, Buxom Amplified Lash, Maybelline Volum' Express One by One, Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes, Sephora Outrageous Volume

I'm not sure how I came to own so many tubes of mascara at one time. In fairness, two of these were samples.

Mascara is an interesting subject for review because how a mascara works tends to vary widely due to the fact that everyone's lashes are different. I'm going to describe my lashes in the chance that mine are similar to yours, but my post is going to focus more on the objective features of these lovely mascaras. I've found that people have an idea of the kind of formula and brush they prefer. So in a mascara review, it's much more useful talking about those than about how the mascara works on my eyes in particular!

But first things first: My lashes are black, medium length, medium thickness. As you might know by now, I have oily skin and on me, mascara is not spared from it's tendency to smudge! For mascaras, I prefer volumizing (too much length scares me a little), and I can't stand clumpiness. But first let me define clumpiness.

I must admit that I don't always know what reviewers mean by "clumpy". On this blog, clumping lashes mean that the lashes are sticking together as opposed to being separated. I'm very particular that my lashes should be mostly separated. I usually wear just one coat from fear of "spidery lashes".