With some extra cash I did have, I was eager to get some stuff this week.  First, I went to Big Lots:

I’m amazed that they still have more of some big drugstore closeout and no one has been really buying it! This closeout has been in the store since…February, I think! My mom bought some items and gave to me so I really don’t need anything from it. The major score was the Maybelline Dream Matte powder for $1.50 each! She bought 5 of them and gave me one to try.

Lipsticks are $1, liquid foundations are $2 and blushes are also $2. There are some nail polishes but they are mostly colors I would never wear. All the brands are either Revlon or Maybelline. Some Cover Girl and Almay too.

Since I didn’t find anything I liked at Big Lots, I went to Super Walmart. I immediately went to the Beauty aisles and saw a big sign saying that all Sallly Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes were just $5.68! THAT’S way cheaper than buying at Walgreens, even if there is BOGO 50%. Now, I didn’t get too excited since they only had the regular line of colors. As I walked further down the aisle and looked on the opposite shelf, I noticed a couple of Sally Hansen polishes. I gasped when I saw 2 bottles of Hidden Treasures!!! Whoa! I didn’t know they were selling the limited edition ones at Walmart! I’ve only seen those at the drugstores!

I immediately grabbed one and ran to a price scanner to see if that bottle was really $5.68 and sure enough, it was! Now, I was originally going to buy one Pure Ice nail polish for $2 and one of the newer Petites polishes for $1.50. I put both of those back and got Hidden Treasures instead.

My last stop was a local beauty store near Walmart. Local beauty store is your typical african-american hair store owned by vietnamese/cambodians. This one has the full line of Nyx products so I never have to order anything from Nyx online.

I went to this store to look at the Ruby Kisses nail polishes. Ruby Kisses is a line I only see sold in these types of beauty stores. They are only $1 and have an amazing selection. Next time I go there, I’ll take a picture of the entire display.

I wanted a lighter blue and a green color so I picked Caribbean (blue) and Neon Green. The green isn’t very neon once you try it. I also got the Rasberry that looks good against tanned skin. It’s summertime and I tan sooo easily so I thought I would try this on my fingernails.

All 3 colors are a more jelly, opaque consistency which is nice than the usual cremes that I love wearing.

Well, I’m not used to wearing a color this light and bright in the red/pink tones. I decided I’ll use this on my toes. Meanwhile, I painted Caribbean on my nails and it’s such a gorgeous blue! I layered Hidden Treasures over it and I’m just so in love with this manicure!

Once I get some decent pics of my hands, I’ll post them. I am not used to taking pictures of myself or parts of my body (LOL) since I tend to look from behind the camera so often so it’s going to take a lot of experimenting to get the pics just right.

I was too busy digging through the bins to take a picture but I might go back later today as there is a 20% coupon from Big Lots that’s been posted up.  Click here and print it out!

The closeout items were a TON of lipsticks, pressed powder, liquid foundation,  nail polish and lip glosses.  They were mostly from L’oreal, Maybelline and Revlon.  There was so much stuff that even my mom was diving through the bins as it was all…$1 EACH!!!

I didn’t really get anything for myself as I was too busy helping my mom get stuff for herself.  She bought 2 pressed Mineral powder compacts from Maybelline, 6 lipsticks from L’oreal and 3 nail polishes.

Was kinda weird how it was all $1 and the stuff was in excellent condition.  We are going to another Big Lots to see if they have the same closeout.  Wish us luck!

It was BOGOF (buy 1 get 1 free) at Rite Aid/Walgreens this week for Revlon but I opted to buy from Rite Aid instead. Revlon Colorstay foundation is $12.99 there while Walgreens sells for $12.49. I’d rather get from Rite Aid as they won’t hassle you when you return makeup where as Walgreens will since it’s all up to the store manager if they wanna refund you.

I decided to purchase this foundation after watching Fafinettex3′s review on Youtube.  She’s an NC40, which is the same shade I am in MAC.  I wanted to find a lower cost dupe to MAC Studio Fix foundation.  Her review says that Revlon Colorstay is a pretty good dupe.  It also helped that we are the same shade so I saved myself the trouble of trying to figure out which shade to buy.  I got Natural Tan.

I’m not going to do a full review right now on the foundation as I don’t think I’ve worn it enough to merit one yet.  I’ve only worn it twice so far.  Maybe after wearing 5 times, I’ll do a review.

Anyhow, the one thing I noticed when I was reading reviews prior to buying this foundation was the lack of a pump on the bottle.  It’s damn annoying there isn’t one.  I agree that pouring it out of the bottle is wasteful, especially when you are using a brush and not your fingers.  I tried pouring a little on the back of my hand to blend.  Yuck.  Awful mess.  So, I started using on of my paint palettes from my doll customizing stuff.  A little better but I ended up pouring a little too much and fuck, that was a waste.

I read on someone’s blog (can’t remember who) that they had purchased some Colorstay foundation at Big Lots right before Xmas.  OH YEAH!  I do recall seeing bottles at my local Big Lots so I went and checked it out.  Sure enough, they had $6 bottles of the current line of Colorstay!  Only problem was, they didn’t have my color.  The closest I came to my color was Early Tan.  Dammit!

Went to another Big Lots.  No dice.  They didn’t have any bottles of foundation.  Today, I drove to another Big Lots a little ways from my house.  Score!  Not only did they have Revlon Colorstay foundation, they had it with A PUMP and $2 cheaper!

When I looked at the packaging closely, I realized that this must have been an older formula that Revlon put out long time ago.  It didn’t have that SoftFlex stuff.  It’s also more liquidy than the current formula.  But it still works fine,…so far.  I only applied to half my face to make sure it was still a good match for my skin.

Now, the real reason why I bought this $4 discontinued bottle of foundation:  I wanted to see if the pump would work with the new formula version.  To be honest, I can’t tell right now because I have to remove all the foundation on the pump straw and clean it up before I can stick it in the other bottle.  Don’t want to mix the 2 foundations, ya know?

As soon as I do this, I will definitely blog about it.  If it does work, I am so going to buy another bottle, regardless of what color and just use it for the pump.  Then I won’t have to worry about pouring the foundation out of the bottle.

Edit: I went ahead and tried to see if the pump would work with the newer bottle.  Nope.  DAMMIT!

So, I recently did more ninja shooting of my own a few days ago.

At Walgreens, they are not going to carry the Prestige Cosmetics line anymore.  I was really surprised to see the entire makeup stand covered with the orange stickers.  I asked an employee and she confirmed that they wouldn’t be carrying it anymore.  Sad as I do use a couple of the products from this line.  I love the waterproof kohl eyeliners!

At Big Lots, they got more stuff from the Essential Tools line (same company that makes Ecotools).  This is a brow kit for $5!  Not bad!

Big Lots got a bunch of Sally Hansen lip glosses on closeout from Walgreens.  There were original price stickers from Walgreens on the back of the glosses.    They are quite a deal but if you look at them closely in person, they look rather…expired.  The glosses look like they are either drying up or separating in the tubes.

There are still more pics that I wanted to take but there were just too many people filling up the aisles for holiday shopping.  I have no qualms about taking pics in stores but it’s annoying as hell when you get bumped in the process of shooting.