Weekend Shopping & Saving: J.Crew, Banana Republic, Ulta, Sephora & MAC

Today the best thing happened when I was shopping at the Galleria mall with my husband...I got to meet one of my lovely readers, Lindsey!  We were actually going up the escalator and she was going down and she said hello and that she was one of my blog readers and she loves my blog! It was so sweet :) Thanks Lindsey, you made my day! It's always nice when someone says hello unexpectedly like that!  

We started our day with Dim Sum at Gigi's Asian Bistro and Dumpling Bar.  What an awesome place! We had never eaten there before but the food was really good and it was just $15/person for all you can eat Dim Sum. Yum! It is right inside the Galleria on the bottom level near J. Crew. The restaurant has pretty cherry blossoms hanging from the ceiling:

Speaking of J.Crew, holy sales! I always complain that J.Crew doesn't discount enough, but today's deals may have just made me sing a different tune...I got:

This belt for $9.99:

It will be perfect with skirts, to cinch the waist of a cardigan, etc...and speaking of perfection, I had been waiting for these J.Crew ballet flats to go one sale forever. It must have been meant-to-be because today they were on sale for $29.99. They are made from this superlight rubber-like material and they feel almost like you have nothing on at all! I love them (I got a size 10...thank goodness they fit because I tried on so many pairs of size 10 shoes today, my normal size and my feet were so swollen that they were all supertight on me...I hope my feet aren't growing anymore!)

I visited a few other stores during our shopping trip and I had to stop in at Banana Republic because I had a 35% off of your entire purchase coupon.  I love these because they can be used on your entire purchase and aren't limited to full-priced items like the Banana Republic Wednesday coupons are.

I was thrilled to get this black pencil skirt on sale for $34.99 plus 35% off so it was around $24 total.  I got a size 6 because this is a really fitted high-wasited style. The 4 fit perfectly, but it was snug to a point where if I was bloated or something, I wouldn't want to wear it. So a 6 it is! I love it because it's longer and hits the knee.

I love such great deals!  The skirt was originally $79.50, I believe, so this was a huge savings!

I also hit up Sephora, Ulta and MAC to pick up a few things.  

I finally, finally, FINALLY got the famous "Kim Kardashian" lip gloss (NARS' "Turkish Delight") I have been meaning to get it for so long and for some reason, today was the day. I actually haven't tried it on yet because I want to cherish each application since it's a pricier gloss.  I used to use MAC's "underage" lipglass and I loved it, so I'm really looking forward to this nude-ish baby pink gloss.

At Sephora I also got another Shu Uemura eyelash curler.  It costs $19 and comes with a refill pad.  I could have just bought the replacement pads for my new one, but I think I used to squeeze it so hard that the lash curler in general just was "off." So, I just bought a new one and hopefully I'll be more gentle on this one. The pad on my old one is completely broken...like the curler cut through the pad and it won't even really curl my lashes anymore. Thank goodness I got another one!

As you can see by the telltale orange packing, I succumbed to the MAC "To the Beach" collection.  I got one of the lipsticks in "Lazy Day." It's one of the luster formulas, so it kind of goes on more sheer like a gloss, which is right up my alley.  It is the perfect pink color without being too bold or, the opposite, not having enough payoff for a lipstick. I took some photos:

Pretty!

At Ulta I got 3 Essie nail polishes. I was sucked into the peach-colored ones when I saw Van D'Go at J.Crew and it made my wonder why I never got any of the peach colored ones.  I had to have them!

I got (from L-R)

Essie: Van D'Go, Shop Till I Drop (umm yeah, that one was made for me) and Wicked (which reminds me a lot of one of my fave OPI colors "We'll Always Have Paris."

I also ran out of all of my mousses and volumizing sprays so I decided to get a full-sized can of Redken's Guts 10 because it really does create incredible lasting volume.

That is all for today! I feel really happy about this shopping trip. Got a lot of great deals and can't wait to try all of the new products!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Review: Redken Guts 10 Volumizing Foam, OOTD & Back to Black Liner

Today I decided to try out my Redken Guts 10 Volumizing Foam Spray. As you all know, I LOVE mousse. I use mousse every single time I blow-out my hair so I was skeptical about working with a spray foam.

After washing and towel-drying my hair, I brushed out my hair with a paddle brush (carefully) making sure not to pull too much. Then I applied the Redken Guts 10 spray foam to my roots all over my head, even on the underneath parts. The spray foam is kind of a different experience but I like it. You have to be careful with the spray because it can get messy if you aren't cautious about how you are holding the can. 

Anyways, as I flipped my head upside down and began to blow-dry it, something felt different (in a good way). I really felt my hair lifting and thickening up. The results were amazing. I don't know if you can tell in my OOTD pictures, but my hair had great volume after I secured it in Velcro rollers and let it set.

So there's my little mini-review of Redken Guts 10. If you love volumizing products- give this a try. It's fairly inexpensive and I LOVE the way it amps up hair.

I also did something a little bit different with my makeup today. OK, not vastly different, but I used MAC's "Blacktrack" gel liner on my top lids for a little change (I usually wear a dark brown.) I really tried to tightline my eyes as best possible so the line was super subtle. Then, I used a Q-Tip to further smudge the gel liner into my lashline.

...and apparently I was too lazy to wear lip gloss this morning!

Here is the lovely LC by Lauren Conrad for Kohl's blouse that I bought over the weekend.

Cardigan- Express; Blouse/Tank- LC by Lauren Conrad; Skirt- Ann Taylor; Shoes- Aldo.

 

xoxo,

Veronika.