For The Love of Beauty Supply Stores

Hey There!

Next year, I may do a series on the great things that you can find in your local beauty supply store. I think some people forget about beauty supply stores. Or, perhaps they don't trust the makeup that they have. Whatever the reason you shy away from these places, you are seriously missing out. 

I love beauty supply stores for the simple fact that you can test the products. Oh yes, many  beauty supply stores have testers galore. In the big box stores you have to guess what the color might look like. In the high end stores you are paying a pretty penny for the ability to test the product (and for the ability to return products). 

I've been going to my favorite beauty supply store since it opened. They have everything-- hair, hair care products, jewelry, leggings, purses, hats and makeup. And every month they come out with a 10% off circular.  And they have samples too! And in case you were wondering, yes, they have both good and bad cosmetic lines just like the Sephora and Ulta.

To be fair, many people have been going to their local corner beauty supply store all along. I tried my first NYX eyeshadow and lipstick from one (and tested the colors before I bought them). I did stay with NYX for a long time before I branched out to try the J Cat and Nanacoco lines. Once I tried them with great results, I tried everything!

 

And some things have worked very, very well for me. I love almost everything in the L.A. Colors AND L.A. Girl lines of cosmetics. The concealer, face powder and lip products are fantastic. I discovered Nanacoco lip glosses on YouTube and I think I have 75% of the entire line at my house. If your store is out of a tester, come on over to my house. And KleanColor nail polishes are the bomb. They have great colors (a lot of great colors) and the $.99 - $2.99 price point is perfect.

Now, it has been hit and miss. I have tried some blushes that lasted the 15 minutes it took to put them on and make it to the car. I've also tried lipsticks that took a heavy hand to get on and a mound of cleanser to get off. But that's a small percentage of what I've found. The majority of what I've found are good, quality products that I'm proud to wear. I've never had an allergic reaction to a cosmetic product and if something didn't work out, $4.99 is easier to suck up than $24.99. When I tell you that I look at my Lancôme face powder against my L.A. Colors face powder and weep, I am not playing! I love my Sephora lip lusters but my Nanacoco lip glosses go on just as well and last almost as long! And, I was going to display all of my face brushes but they are all dirty because I use them every day! My favorite concealer brushes are all from the beauty supply store!

If you've been avoiding going into that beauty supply store on the corner, just go park the car and see what you've been missing. Try some of the testers on your hand. Invest $3 in a lip gloss that looks so pretty. Those $1.99 nail polishes last just as long as that $8.50 nail polish you just purchased. No, there aren't any point perks or anything like that but you do have friendly folks in there that will help you too. And the money that you save can go towards food for your family!

Cause that $49 eyeshadow palette you just bought means no eggs, bread and milk this week.

Wait...was that me?

Quickie Review - Black Opal Color Splurge Lustre Gloss

Hey there!

I don't know if you ever peek at the Black Opal products but I have always made sure I looked at what they had going on. Most of the time I'd pick up eye products or concealer products. This is honestly the first time I've ever looked at their lippies.

The Black Opal Color Splurge Lustre Glosses are touted as "opulent, shine-boosting liquid gloss (that) illuminates lips with a glistening iridescence". There are 16 colors on the website. My store had about 10 color to choose from. I picked up Plush and Mahvelous (because folks had obviously gotten there before me and cleaned them out). I thought both of these colors would look great on me.

First thing that was a downer was that they have brush applicators instead of spongy things doe foot (I can't think. I've been out all day). I'm not a fan of the applicator style. I could get around it though.

The glosses aren't good "alone" glosses. They are comfortable but I wouldn't wear them alone. They are kinda sheer, kinda patchy so the best use for them is as a lipstick cover or on top of a lip liner base.

Now both colors are great but Plush is the bomb dot com. Really. It's a peachy pink that really does illuminate my lips with a glistening iridescence. I wore it over Revlon Superlustrous Just Enough Buff and The Balm Ima Goodkisser.

Mahvelous is a pretty fuchsia that that adds some pop to lipsticks. It's ok -- nothing to write home about.

The lip glosses were $6.99 but BOGO 1/2 off. So, $5.24 each. I also used a $4 off coupon when I added my NYX lip liner in Vanilla Sky (Oh.My.Gosh! It is soooo gorgeous!). So, everything was $11.48 plus tax. Not bad.

Would I buy them at full price? Probably not. Mahvelous was just ok and I have several other illuminator lip glosses. Would I buy them at a discount? Plush, yes. Mahvelous, no. Would I recommend them to a friend? Well, yeah. If you get them at a discount, they really are nice to wear over lipsticks or with lip liners. I just think that $6.99 is a but high. I mean my current loves (NYX Butter Glosses -- smell the vanilla) are only $4.99. My Milani Brilliant Shines are also $4.99 but I might not buy them at full price. And, I love the Nanacoco Caught Out Loud glosses from the beauty supply store for $1.99.

I guess I sound a tad bit harsh, but look... the bottom line is that lip gloss shouldn't have to cost a lot and if it does, it should be superior quality. No, $6.99 isn't a lot, but these glosses aren't $6.99 quality.

Maybe $4.99.

Definitely $3.99.

Nanacoco Caught Out Loud Lip Glosses

I feel like some products don't get quite as much love as they deserve. I'm not sure if it's because they are too expensive/cheap or too elusive/easy to find. I think that my Nanacoco Caught Out Loud lip glosses are in that category. They are cheap glosses that you find at the beauty supply store but they are so nice.  They are rich, fully pigmented, smell nice and they're cheap. They aren't sticky and all and last for several hours.

I love the fact that you can try a nice bright color or a soft nude color and not spend more than $1.99 each! You can wear them alone or over other lip products or the thing I like to do, add a lip liner as a base. There appears to be about 30 colors in total and I own about...well it doesn't matter how many I own. Just know that I spend a lot of time at my local beauty supply store.

For this post, I pulled out my favorite 5.

I picked out Text Me Purple and Friday Night because they looked like they might be close to the Pantone Color of The Year, Radiant Orchid. I wear Text Me Purple alone and love it (I know. The girl that likes nudes and browns wears purple and likes it). I wear Friday Night over nudes or lighter berries that I feel need a little pick me up. I wear Lust over nudes or browns that need a little pick me up. I wear Ballerina over nudes for a little bit of pinky nude gloss. And I wear Desert Trip by itself when I just want some nudie gloss on my lips.

At $1.99 you could own the entire line and not feel guilty. I think these are just as good as some of my more expensive glosses and I think you'll feel that way too.

What's your cheapie lip gloss secret -- you know, the one that you love that cost you next to nothing?!