HAUL ~ Sephora gift card :)

So one of my best friends and favorite "makeup talk" person in the world gave me the most amazing gift ever for christmas! ;)

It was a $100 gift card for SEPHORA!!!

**she truly is one of the best friends :)**

Anyways, so it didn't take me long to spend it haha and I ended up only getting two things but these two things were well worth it!

1. Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

2. NARS Blush/Bronzer Trio

I've been eyeing out these two products for a while now.  The Naked 2 palette is fairly new and basically everyone in the makeup world has been talking about it and wanting it.  The NARS blush/bronzer trio has been out for a while now and every time I went to Sephora I would always go to it, swatch it and just wish that I could own it... And now I've got both :)

There were a few reasons why I chose the Naked 2 over the Naked 1 palette. I really did my research before buying it because there was a time when I really wanted the Naked 1 palette.  I never ever bought the Naked 1 palette because I knew that it was permanent and that I could go back and get it whenever it was in stock (because it sold like hotcakes for a while and wasn't in stock anywhere).

Reason 1:  Foxy.  Blackout.  Those two eyeshadows really made me want this palette.  In the Naked 1 palette the main highlight color that is raved about by pretty much everyone isn't matte.  While everyone loves it, I don't.  I pretty much ALWAYS prefer to have a matte browbone highlight, and that's just my preference.  When I saw that this one had one, I was happy :).  Foxy actually ended up being the perfect subtle matte highlight for my skintone so I'm even more happy about that.  Blackout is basically just a matte black, while the Naked 1 palette also lacked.  I think a nice solid black is a must in any neutral palette and I'm glad that this one has it.

Reason 2:  Packaging.  I like how this one closes securely and not just with a magnet and I also like the packaging material.  A friend of mine has the first one and said that the gold lettering was coming off of it.  This palette feels like I can just throw it in my bag and it will be able to better handle being tossed around in it.  I also like that this one has the dual ended brush and while I don't see myself using it all the time, it will be great for times when I forget to pack my other brushes because it has a shader brush with a blending brush on the other end.

Reason 3: In a few reviews I heard that this palette is perfect for women of color.  I think because it has a darker tone to it overall? I don't know but that's what I've heard and I think I agree. 

Overall, I'm glad I got this one.  I think the first one is great but this one is more for me.  I love how theres a mix of light and dark, shimmery and matte and the perfect browbone highlight color as well.  I can't wait to play around and see how many looks I can come up with with this palette.

I've mentioned before that the NARS blush/bronzer duo has been on my wish list for a while.  I actually had the mini Laguna/Orgasm duo that I got a while back.  I used Laguna like crazy because I really loved how it was the perfect matte bronzer that could also double as a light contour color for me.  I didn't use Orgasm as much for some reason though, and when I used it on a friend of mines once she fell in love.  Even now she tells me that she loves that blush.  Well I ended up giving the mini duo to her the when she first said she liked it.  I figured she could get more use out of it than me, and the Laguna part was practically gone anyways.  I guess that's why I've been wanting this one for a while but never got it... because I had one similar and gave it away haha.

But this ones better :) I like how the proportions of the bronzer, blush and highlighter are all different.  I know I'll use more bronzer than blush and more blush than highlighter so this was perfect.  I've also been dying to try out that Albatross highlighter for ages! everyone raves about it and I can see why.  This one has a zipper closure so that's kinda weird but I think the material on the outside is way better than the regular NARS packaging that tends to get dirty very easily.  So glad I finally have my Laguna bronzer again and this palette as a whole :)

Overall, I'm SUPER happy with both things and I'm so excited to try them out.

THANKS A BILLION BESTIE!!! for making it possible for me to have these two things!! LOVE YOU :)