Cheer up, Kid!

Hi everyone! I'm still alive...barely...I'm feeling much better but I can't seem to shake off this uncomfortable pain still in my throat, topped off by pain in my ears =/ I go back to my doctor next Tuesday for a check-up. So, I hope this is normal at least.

Enough of the Debbie Downer stuff. I do have some pleasant news, I did actually get out of the house for the first time this week! I ventured out with my mom to buy some Easter goodies for the kids in the family (candy, eggs, etc.) for our BBQ/Lunch on Sunday. I got tired quickly, but it was just nice to get some fresh air.

I treated myself to a small haul at Longs Drugs. I don't know if this is nation-wide, but apparently Longs is converting over to CVS. There are signs of the change for people who use the pharmacy, and there are hintings of CVS items, generic items like cotton balls and pads, things like that. It's funny, we don't even HAVE a CVS anywhere in my area, we're actually just getting our first one, opening soon in Fresno. So, to have all of the Longs turning into CVS is going to be kind of weird- I'm so used to Longs, it's really my drugstore of choice. Oh well, for so long I've complained that I've wanted a CVS in my area....and now we're gonna get them :)

Boy, I'm just going off the books, aren't I? I meant to say that I made a small haul, you know, to cheer me up a bit. First I noticed that there was a SLEW of L'Oreal on clearance for 75%. Yes, 75%. There was actually quite a bit. The Quick Stick foundation was about $3.25 (My mom ended up buying 3- since it's quite similar, almost dupeable, to Benefit's Play Stick foundation, which she uses currently, but is a whole lot cheaper). There was also some powders (only select shades), lip liners, eye liners, mascaras, nail polish, and HIP items for sale as well. I was going crazy!! It was clearance sensory overload!!

However, I remained cool.

From the HIP items (which was mostly lip items on sale), I came home with a couple of the Jelly Balms. These retail regularly around $8, but on sale were $2.25!

Delectable and Plush

The HIP Jelly Balms are the supposed dupes of MAC's Tendertones. While I've never owned a Tendertone and only seen them online (and maybe once in person), they do look pretty much alike. The jars are similar, the texture looks similar, and while I can't vouch for Tendertones, I can say that Jelly Balms are pretty nice.

I decided to try them out and cracked Plush open. I know I wasn't going anywhere, so I just wore it around the house. They went on very nicely, very smooth, and they weren't at all sticky. Plush looks pretty much invisible on my lips, but, I still enjoyed it for the formula and the glossy finish it leaves. More importantly, it moisturized my lips quite well and didn't have any wonky reactions.

As for the swatches, left is Plush and on the right is Delectable. Plush is a candy pink in the pot, and you can see a tint of pink on my arm, but as described above, looks invisible on my lips. Delectable, which looks like a bright red in the pot, actually left a nice pinky/redish tint on my lips! Go figure!

Next, I hit up the nail polishes. After the discount they came out to only $1.25! Not all of them were on sale, but a good 50% were. My mom ended up buying more than I did, but I finally walked away with a polish I've always had my eye on:

#580 Stoke Of Midnight

Excuse the above QND (quick 'n' dirty) swatch photo. Stroke of Midnight is a deep burgundy/red shade. I always thought it was a really dark purple, but was proven wrong when I finally purchased. I don't have any L'Oreal polishes, this will be my first one, so I'll have to see how these wear.

And, of course, I picked up another EcoTools set. This time I grabbed the 6-Piece set, which includes a blush brush, eye shader, eyeliner, lash/brow brush, and concealer brush (since we're on the topic, it bugs me how the brush holder is considered a "piece," it totally throws me off. So, yes the sixth piece is the actual brush roll).

You don't need to hear it again from me (or, for that matter, every other blogger who has these brushes), these are just good. The blush brush feels absolutely wonderful. And ever since I saw Nikki's post about the eyeliner brush, I was determined to buy it. It's very similar to MAC's 266 (which I have, and use a lot), so, really I just saved myself about $20 :)

All this for $11!! Seriously, if you haven't tried these out yet, you need to put this on your list for your next drugstore trip.