NYX Stick Blush and Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator

I went to Ulta this past weekend to look for a cheap cheek stain, and came out with these, both items were under ten bucks, and I'm pretty pleased with both! The blush had a good array of colors, and the illuminator came in a whiter shade, but these really went well together, and with my skin.  

The blush works like a cheek stain, with a balmy consistency, similar to my How 'Bout Them Apples cheek and lip tint in "Pie" from a previous post, and the illuminator is a tinted, metallic highlighter, to be applied to what I like to call "sun spots" of the face (forehead, brow bone, nose bridge, cheeks, chin, jawline, etc.) to make your face appear to have a natural rosy-bronze "dewey" look.

NYX Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator & Stick Blush

The blush color is called Tea Rose 05 

and the illuminator is the darker, more golden hue of the two shades available at Ulta.

I dabbed this a couple of times on the apples of my cheeks and rubbed it in with my fingers

I squirted the illuminator on my finger and dabbed a little bit on the tops of my cheeks and rubbed it in with my fingers.

I feel like this tube will end up lasting me a while since I used so little.

(This was actually a bit too much, so I used the excess on my chin and the bridge of my nose)

(forgive me, this is sans eye makeup and lipstick, plus my iPhone 5c front camera is not awesome)

This is how it turned out.  In person, it looks a little dewey-er, haha.  But I really like it a lot.

10/10 great, affordable product.

In this photo, I'm also wearing Jergen's Daily Glow Facial Moisturizer, L'Oreal lash serum, Maybelline Baby Lips Dr. Rescue, Smashbox Photo-Ready green primer, BB cream, and loose powder, e.l.f. yellow under-eye concealer and eyeshadow primer.

Smashbox Haul!

Being a makeup newbie, I decided to take a chance and get some high-end makeup samples (and use my hard-earned Birchbox points for a discount)

I got the Smashbox "Try It!" beauty kit with 

Photo-finish facial primer

Camera ready BB cream

and loose powder 

Plus, I got some free samples:

Benefit "They're Real!" mascara

How Do You Like Them Apples? lip and cheek tint in "Pie"

I also took a trip to Ulta last night with my mom, and she got me the 

green color-correcting Photo Finish Foundation Primer

(because she's the sweetest there ever was!)

Lip/cheek stain: Although the color is too pinky for a lip color, it is absolutely perfect for my cheeks.  It goes on so smooth and lasts all day.  Will probably continue to buy

Green primer: Liked it, although I did not see much of a difference from my e.l.f. green-tinted primer

Mascara: It worked, but I wasn't too amazed by it.  I will probably still use Telescopic by L'Oreal

Foundation kit: I didn't use the clear primer, because I already used the green, but I definitely loved the BB cream, and the loose powder went on flawlessly.  I will probably consider buying the Smashbox CC cream (it's a little cheaper than my Kate Sommerville CC cream) as well as the full-size loose powder, but I'll probably stick to cheaper brands for primer.