I know I’ve been talking a lot about de-cluttering and downsizing lately. And that process is definitely important and necessary! But I still buy things. Not as many things as I once did but I do still purchase things. And this year, the whole Black Friday, VIB, Cyber Monday thing definitely pulled me in. And you know what? I’m pretty ok with that. I’ll post the carnage in two separate posts since some of my orders got split up so there’s another haul to look forward to! If you’re into that kind of thing. I totally am. Obviously.

Volition Helix AM/PM Eye Gel

It’s too soon to give any kind of real review but my first impressions of this eye gel are really good. It’s lightweight and makes my undereyes feel rose petal soft. It also claims to double as an eye primer (which I didn’t realize until after I started using it. I wouldn’t have sought out a hydrator/primer combo, I got bamboozled!) and I’ve experienced no irritation with it. I will say the primer thing turned out to be kind of amazing. It’s not enough of a primer to use with loose shadow but it totally helped out with the Coloured Raine shadows that I’ve been bombarding you with. So far so good!

Thierry Mugler Angel Muse

This was a total impulse purchase. A dear friend had mentioned how much she likes this and I totally trust her perfume recommendations so it found it’s way into my shopping cart. This smells amazing! Just not amazing on me. On my skin it instantly morphs into Avon’s Skin So Soft (which isn’t an unpleasant scent, just not one I’d choose to wear as a perfume). It doesn’t read that way sprayed in the air or on paper so it’s just one of those weird skin chemistry things.

Thierry Mugler Angel

Oh Angel, why you got to be so esspensive? But totally worth it. Angel is one of my all time favorite scents. So. Good. Although, fair warning, this is a polarizing scent. I’ve heard that many people really despise this fragrance. I mean they’re obviously wrong, but still, apparently that’s a thing.

Kiehl’s Richly Hydrating Hand Cream Holiday Trio

I have a love hate relationship with Kiehl’s as a brand. Their entire aesthetic really appeals to me, their marketing sucks me in, their product claims are just what I’m looking for! But I’m generally slightly let down by everything I’ve tried from the brand. However (and there’s always a however isn’t there?) my friend Stashy from Stashmatters has mentioned how much she loves the Coriander fragrance that occasionally comes out around the holidays and so I basically had to try this. And I’m really glad I did! The coriander scent is really unusual and lovely. And the hand creams are actually really really good. So pleased!

ILNP Nail Polishes in Salem, Tilted and Fired Up

Polished And Inspired recently mentioned that the ILNP website is “total eye candy” and I thought that was a perfect description of it! I finally had to unsubscribe to the ILNP newsletters because five minutes on their website and I’ll have every shimmery, duochrome in my shopping cart. Sometimes their polishes look a little different on me than they do on their website which can be a bit of a bummer, but their formulas are absolute perfection. Spoiler: I’m wearing Salem right now and it’s just as good as I had hoped it would be. Amazingly gorgeous!

Essence Pure Nude Highlight in “Be My Highlight”

EmilyNoel83 was recently raving about this highlight and it’s been sitting in my Ulta cart for a while but I didn’t want to order just one thing at a time (shipping be crazy yo). Once I had a few items in my cart, this was finally mine! This really is a lovely highlight. It’s not too intense, nothing fancy, just dewy natural highlight. It reminds me a bit of a more subtle version of the limited edition Wet n’ Wild “Fair Trade Coffee” highlight that I LOVE.

benefit Blush in Dallas

This whole haul is full of things that I wanted based on other people’s recommendations. So I’m sharing links so you too can fall under the influence of peer pressure. Muahahaha!

Dallas is one of those blushes that I’ve put in my cart and taken back out again a hundred times. I still probably didn’t need it but Jessica from jambeauty89 was talking about how this is a perfect neutral blush and for whatever reason that convinced me. This is a lovely neutral blush. Or bronzer. I haven’t used it enough yet to have any kind of opinion but the shade is really lovely. I’ll report back!

Becca blushes in Songbird and Snapdragon

I have been super lucky finding good deals on Becca products lately. These blushes were marked down to $17 (which is admittedly still a lot for a blush) but I also had a boatload of Ulta points so I snatched up the two shades that I swatch every time I’m in store. Surprisingly I actually like that nude shade the best of the two. I really thought I’d be all about the coral but that nude is amazing!

Most of this stuff was just normal VIB 20% discount everything from Ulta (two Becca blushes, the benefit blush and the Essence highlight) ended up costing only $5.28 with sales and points redeemed. I totally proud of that!

I actually got the rest of my stuff in the mail today but I didn’t want to wait until I got a chance to take more photos to post this. So we have a Fyrrinae order, another Sephora order and a Nordstrom order still to come.

Did you buy anything for the Sephora VIB sale? Did you get sucked into the Cyber Monday madness or Black Friday? Are you done with your Christmas shopping? How much do you love Ulta’s rewards system? I’m starting to stress over the gift shopping because I’m normally done by November and I still have more to do. It’s been a weird year and I’m off my game.

Tell me if you’ve used any of these products and what you think!