Birthday Haul!

So, I have a friend who jokingly says that she celebrates her birthday for the entire month of July. August is my birthday month, and even though I don't celebrate for anywhere near a month, I did feel like every day was my birthday this month because the makeup fairy kept visiting my house and blessed me with a fantastic birthday makeup haul!

Not only did I get makeup (and nail polish) as birthday presents, I also got the standard Ulta and Sephora birthday gifts, and the Ulta platinum gifts. Plus, I got extra points on my Ulta purchases during my birthday month. Obviously, I am winning with my makeup collection this month; I literally can't imagine anything better.

Mint Candy Apple by Essie - One of my friends gave me this product as an early birthday gift a few weeks ago. If you're familiar with Essie polishes, you know that Mint Candy Apple is something of a classic. It's a super pretty mint green, turquoise polish (if that even makes sense). To me, it's almost a Tiffany blue under certain lights. In any case, it's almost impossible not to like. It flatters almost any skin tone, it goes on super smoothly, levels beautifully, and covers in two coats. As always, it's hard to go wrong with a creme polish with a good formula.

Panda's Dream Brightening Eye Base by Tony Moly - This is another product that one of my friends gave as an early birthday gift a few weeks ago. I wrote a complete review of it a few weeks ago, but, to reiterate, it's a very handy, very cute product. This product does exactly what it claims to do; it brightens your under eyes. It's fairly effective; however, you can't really use it with concealer, which is unfortunate. However, the biggest attraction of this product is the adorable packaging. As you can see, it looks like a little panda, complete with ears. It's definitely the cutest beauty product I own.

Yank My Doodle by OPI - One of my friends gave me this nail polish for my birthday. It's from the new OPI Washington DC collection (which I am insanely excited about). As you can see, it's a really unique, reddish, terracotta shade in a creme finish. I was super excited to see this polish because it's really, really difficult to find terracotta nail polish (which surprises me because it's the perfect color for fall). Naturally, it has a wonderful formula -- in true OPI fashion -- it's opaque in two coats, isn't patchy, and self-levels well. I'm really impressed with the new Washington DC collection so far, and I'm really excited to buy/try out the other polishes.

Midnight Cowboy by Urban Decay - I got this single eyeshadow as a birthday freebie from Ulta (it's full-size too, *swoon*). In general, Ulta gives great birthday gifts. Like I said above, I got this shadow from Ulta, a ten dollar off coupon, and double Ulta points. #AllIDoIsWin. Anyway, like all Urban Decay shadows, the quality is amazing. The pigmentation is wonderful,  it's shimmery without being too glittery, and it has a creamy and blendable formula. As you can see, it's a super-neutral pinky brown shade with distinct shimmer. I think this shade would suit just about any skin tone (which is probably why Ulta gave it out as a birthday gift). It's perfect for everyday eye looks. In particular, this shade works well all over your eyelid and to highlight the inner corners of your eyes. Needless to say, I have zero complaints about this shadow.

Peridot for August by Julep - This nail polish was another birthday freebie from Ulta. It's named after the gemstone peridot, which is the birthstone of August (which, obviously, is my birth month). Anyway, it's from the Birthstone Nail Polish Collection and, as you can see, it's a very brassy, metallic yellow-green. It's a nice shade, which I think would flatter a lot of different skin tones. In terms of the polish itself, it has a wonderful formula. It applies smoothly, levels well, and isn't patchy. My only complaint is that it's not very opaque. It took me three thick coats to build the polish up to full opacity. If you usually do thin coats, it would probably take four coats to get this polish fully opaque. However, in general, this is a great polish (like I said above, Ulta gives ridiculously nice birthday freebies).

Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner by Marc Jacobs - Not only did I get birthday freebies from Ulta, I also got birthday freebies from Sephora (let the makeup angels sing). There were two options for birthday gifts, but I choose the Sephora birthday set with a Marc Jacobs eyeliner and lipstick. The eyeliner was flawless (I mean, I'm not surprised; it is Marc Jacobs). It's creamy, it goes on smoothly and evenly, it's long lasting (about 6 hours), and -- most importantly -- it doesn't get on my contact lens. The only bad thing is that it's very expensive, especially for an eyeliner. Obviously, I got mine for free, but a full sized liner usually sells for $25. I find it really hard to justify spending that much on an eyeliner, so I probably won't repurchase when I run out of this one, but I'm really pleased that I got to try it out.

Le Marc Lip Crème Lipstick by Marc Jacobs - Like the eyeliner above, this was a birthday freebie from Sephora. It has a super creamy formula and it simply glides onto the lips. Like I said above, it is a Marc Jacobs product, so obviously it's wonderful. It is a regular lipstick, so you'll have to reapply, and it will transfer. I'm used to that though, so I don't really mind. The only thing I didn't like was that it was quite pink.

Anyway, that was my birthday haul! In case you couldn't tell, it was a lovely day for makeup.