My Beauty Favorites Under 5 Dollars!

Hey beauties! I hope you had a great weekend and this week will be as well! If you have followed my blog for a while now you know I'm big on bargains and also drugstore makeup, I love finding inexpensive things that work just as well as high end or designer! So, I'm going to show my beauty favorites under 5 dollars & also throw in some high end dupes as well! Let's get started :)

1. e.l.f. Studio Blushes, $3

e.l.f.'s studio blushes are great for a beginner to blush or to any blush-aholic {hello, I'm Leah and I have a problem!} the packaging is similar to the coveted Nars blushes but with only a 3 dollar price tag, these are the perfect cheap alternative. These are pigmented, easy to work with and just all around great quality! My favorites are candid coral (top, center), berry merry (top, right) and pink passion (bottom, right)! If you are interested in these be sure to subscribe to eyeslipsface.com's emails because they are regularly doing coupon codes, free shipping, etc. so you can get a even better deal!

2. Wet n Wild bronzer, 3.99

Wet n Wild's Bronzer in a "Ticket to Brazil" is absolutely gorgeous, it's not too dark or too light and I believe would be perfect on a variety of skin tones! It has a subtle golden sheen that is not too over powering, it would be great to had a slight glow to the cheeks or even to contour with! Plus, this baby is HUGE, it's .46 oz {compared a Mac blush is .21 oz} And the best part? It is a dupe for Tarte's shimmery verison of their bronzer Park Ave. Princess which retails for 29 dollars! A 4 dollar dupe for a 29 dollar product? Yes please!

3. Jordana Lipliners, 1.99

Jordana Lip Liners are my holy grail lip liner of choice! First off, they are dirt cheap but they also come in a great variety of colors! They don't have to be sharpened... which a lot of the more expensive ones still do. Most importantly though, they have absolutely great color pay off and they are super long lasting, what more could you want? My favorites are: tawny {a muted mauvey pink, goes with just about anything}, rock n' rose {a light brown, works great to deepen coral lipstick} and cabernet {dark wine color, perfect for plum/berry lips}

4. Wet n Wild Eyeshadow Primer, 4.99

Wet n Wild Fergie Eyeshadow Primer This primer's called "Take On the Day" and really does just that. This stuff stays in place like nobody's business, I've wore my eye shadows for 12+ hours without a single crease or smudge! I did an in depth review of the shimmery version in this post {I also compare the original to the shimmery, etc. they BOTH work great!} I've heard others say this is comparable to the Nars eyeshadow primer, I don't own the Nars one so I'm not positive. I do know for me this works BETTER than too faced shadow insurance and that alone is awesome, considering the price different!

5. Nivea Lip Butter, 3.99

Nivea Lip Butter has quickly become my "can't live without it" lip balm! I swore by Carmax chapstick for 5+ years and I literally wouldn't use ANYTHING else. But, in the past couple months I just thought it wasn't doing much for my lips, like my lips had become immune to it or something haha So I picked up 2 Nivea lip butters when they were 2/$3 at Rite aid and they have CHANGED my lips! They are light weight and creamy, and really do seem to work magic! Plus of course they smell amazing, I love caramel cream followed closely by vanilla & macadamia. These are worth the money even if they aren't on special, plus I have a feeling they'll last forever as well! 

6. Wet n Wild Eyeshadows 4.99 and under

Wet n Wild Eyeshadows are simply the best for cheap, QUALITY eyeshadows! {I know you faithful readers of my blog are probably like "Enough already! We know you love wet n wild!" haha} I'm simply obsessed with most things Wet n Wild, but their eyeshadows truly are wonderful and I've never had a bad trio or palette for them, you can't go wrong! My favorite trios are Walking on Eggshells & Silent Treatment and my favorite 8 pan palette is most definitely Comfort Zone I will be doing a in depth dupes post on this palette soon, pretty much all colors are Mac dupes! If you haven't tried Wet n Wild just pick up one trio I promise you, you'll be back for more!

Well that you have it, my go to beauty products UNDER 5 dollars! Do you love anything I mentioned or will you now try something I showed? Let me know in a comment! Thanks so much for reading, until next time!

xo Leah

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High five for Friday: Weekend Plans & Travel Makeup Bag!

Hello beauties! Just wanted to pop in and quickly ask you ladies what are YOUR plans for Labor day and the long weekend!? My fiance and I are heading to my annual Labor day family reunion. I know... it doesn't sound too fun, but it actually is! My extended family rents out a Summer Camp {which is now closed for the season} and there are cabins, a pond to fish/boat in, animals to ogle over and the whole nine! So over all, it's pretty cool, plus I get to see people I don't get to see too often!

I wanted to quickly show you a peek into my travel makeup bag! We're only staying one night so it's not too full, I am a crazy over packer so, this amount is amazing for me haha

I'm just going for the essentials and most of these items I've mentioned in previous posts! 

I will share my thoughts on a few things I haven't mentioned before! 

•  Rimmel Glam'Eyes Mascara I liked this mascara for a long time, I've just sort of rediscovered it recently, not only is the packaging adorable but it performs pretty well too! It's got a comb-like brush so it great at separating your lashes, it lengths decently too. My only small complaint is that I wish it held a curl better, but that's usually always a problem for my lashes!
• Covergirl & Olay concealer, this stuff is magic in a pot, I'm pretty sure it's being discontinued because it's been on clearance at several stores I've been to, but if you can find it I highly recommend it!
• Rimmel lip pencil in "eastend snob" it's a great staple pale pink color, I find it goes great with pretty much any shade of pink lipstick AND coral {which has been my favorite of the summer!} 
•  Wet n Wild Vanity Palette {pictured under the "walking on eggshells" trio} this six pan palette is absolutely great, I HIGHLY suggest you get this if you don't own it! It's limited edition so it is hard to find, but that link that I listed has it for 11 dollars & free shipping. I know that a little expensive for wet n wild, but considering every single color is a Mac dupe, it's still very much a bargain in my book!

 Please comment if you want details on anything in my travel makeup bag that I didn't mention!

 I hope all of you have a safe, fun and wonderful Labor Day weekend, until next time

xo Leah
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Beauty Bargain Review: ELF Mineral Infused Mascara

Hey beauties! I'm back with the second installment of "beauty bargain review" my review series on exactly that... bargain priced makeup! As of late I've kind of been on a mascara buying kick lately. I was getting slightly bored with my current mascaras, you know... when you just feel like mixing it up! So I started exploring the Makeup Alley website {which, if you don't know... is a makeup junkie's dream for reviews of products!} I searched mascaras that were top rated and I was surprised and immediately curious when I saw the e.l.f. Mineral Infused Mascara was one of the top drugstore options, with 80% of reviewers saying they would repurchase again. I thought for 3 dollars, it's gotta be worth a try!

The eyes, lips, face website describes this e.l.f. mineral infused mascara as: "The top rated Mineral Infused Mascara creates fuller, healthier looking lashes. Enhance lashes for a naturally thicker and more volumized look. The long-wear formula and unique silicone brush creates a clump free and defined application for gorgeous lashes all day." List of ingredients here if you're interested.

First Impressions: 
The brush is a rubberized, not your standard bristle-type brush. It has lots of little teeth for separating your lashes and to prevent clumps from forming. It is a pretty wet formula, those who prefer drier formulas, may not enjoy that. The tube opening is good at take away the extra product from the brush though, so there isn't too much mascara on the wand.

Application:

I thought I would start with a picture of my bare lashes, they are pretty short and hard to curl, definitely nothing to write home about!

Maximize to see details better!

The only "prep step" I did was curl my lashes with the amazing Lancome Eyelash Curler {I highly recommend this if you're looking for a good "upscale" eyelash curler}

1st coat: brush combs thoroughly through my lashes separating them, giving pretty good length and curl but not a lot of volume.
2nd coat: continues to length and gets some volume and curl, does a good job at not clumping {my eyelashes clump VERY easily!}
3rd coat: I probably could of done without the 3rd coat I got a few clumps, but for my lashes clumping as easily as they do, the clumping was VERY minimal and the length was pretty darn good. I doubt this mascara would clump at all on most people.

I found the lasting power to be perfectly fine, no flaking or running. I've worn it several times and had no problems.

The only thing I am slightly disappointed in is the lack of volume in this mascara, especially since elf advertises it as be voluminous. I've found if I use an eyelash primer before hand I can get a little more thickness out of my lashes, so that's a tip!

Value 5 out of 5 / Lasting Power: 4.5 out of 5 / Lengthening 4 out of 5 / Volume: 3 out of 5

I highly recommend checking out this mascara if you like in the market for any of the following: an inexpensive, lengthening, clump-free (pretty much), wetter formula, rubber brush mascara!

Thanks so much for reading ladies! If you have any additional questions about the mascara {or anything!} please comment below, until next time!

xo Leah

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