Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Stain

Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Stain
Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Stain

Three areas my collection is really wants for are lips, blush, and highlight. A few months ago, Sephora had their Rouge Infusion Lip Stain available as a BI point reward, so I picked one up. I like the idea of stains because although I love makeup, I’m hilariously lazy when it comes to reapplication. Peony was the available shade, and I was delighted – it seemed like it would be somewhat MLBB, maybe with a touch more pink, but still very like that.

The Rouge Infusion Lip Stain tube is cute and reminds me of a vial, but it may suck to store if you keep all your lip products in an organizer in which they are intended to stand up. The Peony shade is pretty.

…and that’s where the good ends.

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Rare Sephora Discount

Rare Sephora Discount

Sephora addicts know that sales are seldom, which is a painful thing for a sale-shopper such as myself. I’m happy to pay for quality, but some products just have absurd markup. The rare Sephora discount offered up for BI/VIB/VIBR semi-annually is great, particularly if you had a shopping list to contend with. But you have to wait, after all – they usually pop-up around April and October or November.

To the point: I just learned that there’s a somewhat-hush-hush 10% off code available for use once annually. It is good on your whole order. Too good to be true, and yet… it isn’t.

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TSA Approved Quart Bag

Tomorrow, I board a plane to the other side of the country for a business trip. Being as that I have not been on a plane for something like eight years and I’ve never traveled for business, I’m left a bit reeling. The trip is short, so everything’s coming as a carry-on.

And having a carry-on means analyzing what liquids you need and stuffing the most important ones into a TSA approved quart bag to follow their 3-1-1 rule.

TSA Approved Quart Bag Contents

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MAC Select Loyalty Program

MAC Select Loyalty

Lipstick addicts, brace yourself. MAC Cosmetics started a rewards program, MAC Select Loyalty.

Being in the US, MAC isn’t available at Sephora or Ulta so until now you couldn’t reap BI or UltaMate rewards from your purchases of Ruby Woo or Candy Yum Yum. That was kind of sad, because the only customer loyalty options you had when it came to purchasing MAC was maybe Macy’s Plenti or Nordstrom’s offerings. And believe me, MAC customers are loyal.

MAC Select features three tiers of perks, all of which include membership exclusives, an expanded Back-to-MAC program, a Back-to-MAC tracker, free samples, and varying degrees of free shipping. The tiers are as follows:

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Makeup Geek Face Brush Bundle

stockMakeup Geek Face Brush Bundle

I’m a firm believer that good tools, used properly, will take you far. I also believe in investing in quality products in general. The brushes created by Marlena and her team receive consistently great reviews, so my interest has been piqued for a while; I’ve had the Makeup Geek Face Brush Bundle on my wish list for many months but had some other priorities so I hadn’t pulled the trigger.

My husband doesn’t tend to get me makeup-related gifts, so imagine my surprise and delight when I unwrapped the Makeup Geek Face Brush Bundle. SHEER. FREAKING. JOY.

Inside, there was a note from her team reminding me to wash the brushes, and a handwritten one thanking us for the purchase and sending holiday wishes. So, naturally, I washed them and dried them upside-down. It was excruciating (because I was dying to use them), but I got through it.

Makeup Geek Face Brush Bundle

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Rose Quartz & Serenity: Pantone Colors of the Year 2016

Rose Quartz is pretty, but aside from a pale blush, eyeshadow, I can’t see it in makeup. Sephora always does a collection of silly things that more often than not end up in their Sale section until, heavens, the following holiday season.

In fact, I’m trying to figure out this year’s collection…

Rose QuartzRose Quartz: Pantone Color of the Year 2016

Rose Quartz (via the Wayback Machine) lipstick is not reviewed favorably, with many buyers reporting sheer application, lack of pigmentation, and an inconsistent formula. I’m not seeing any reliable looks with it on its own; it needs to be married to a liner or other lipcolor to be remotely useful. Shame, considering it’s supposed to be a, “high coverage, pigment-loaded,” shade. At $18, nope.

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