Makeup Chat: A Few Recent Ebay Treasures

Since getting the Lorac Pro 3 back in June, I can report I have not been back to Ulta, either online or in person (I'm still somewhat peeved at them--see The Saga of the Lorac Pro 3 for those details). Same goes for Sephora, but then I haven't purchased anything at all from Sephora in a looong time.  Of course, it helps that the nearest one is over 100 miles from here, in Vegas. And I'm not going there any time soon! It's too much of a cultural shock to even think of going from our sleepy little village of 700-some souls to 'Sin City'! Once upon a time, that would have been the ultimate in excitement, but I really can't bear the insane traffic and the crush of so many people in one place. There simply is no makeup or fancy restaurant meal worth subjecting ourselves to that chaos. In my retirement, I appreciate nice n' quiet.

When I get the urge to splurge now, I ask myself "Do you REALLY want that or would you rather put it into the house?" House wins, almost every time. Almost, because I simply cannot be perfect, no matter how hard I try. So I funnel a bit of mad money into Paypal just for those imperfect moments when I 'need' the little pick-me-up that a new makeup item gives me and a lot of those moments are for Ebay treasures.

I've no qualms whatsoever about buying cosmetics on Ebay. With only one exception that I can think of, my Ebay finds are authentic, pristine and untouched. The one exception I recall was a Laura Geller blush in Honey Dipped that looked like it had seen life as a well-used tester. I did not like the color after I got it, never used it, so eventually got rid of it.

Everything else has been very nice and I've been more than happy with my great deals! Often I find things on Ebay that came out during previous holidays/seasons and were sold out by the time I got around to buying them, such as the Lorac Dazzing Dozen 2, which is a set of 12 individual Lorac Pro shadows. By the time I decided to run over to Ulta and pick it up, they were gone. I also saw it on Hautelook a couple times, but again, sold out.

Lorac Dazzling Dozen 2

And sometimes I find quite expensive things that I lust over for months, yet sit on the fence about because of the insane price tag. An example of that is the Laura Mercier Baked Blush Illumine' in Rose'. It was on my Sephora wish list for months, but Nathalie the Beauty Diva raved about it and tipped me over the edge into deciding it was a must-have. Finally got it for $23, including the shipping, off Ebay. It's $42 at Sephora and other retail outlets.

Laura Mercier Baked Blush Illumine' in Rose'

And while I love the grand kits and TSVs that are sold on QVC, I no longer feel the need to buy the whole kit for $50 or $60 when I really only want one or two of the limited edition items that come in said kits. The Laura Geller Cherry Truffle Blush n' Brighten is an example of that. My mouth watered for it when I saw it online (from the For The Love of Chocolate collection), especially after seeing a review of it by Lipgloss Leslie. Fortunately, there are some Ebay sellers who snap up those TSVs, break them down and sell the pieces individually at reasonable prices, which is how I came by the Cherry Truffle, a shade currently only available in the kit. I got that one for $17.99 from a favorite seller; retail price of that blush is $28.00. The actual product is a bit deeper and more warm-toned than the image shown below.

Laura Geller Cherry Truffle Blush n'Brighten
Image from Musings of a Muse

Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish 'New York in Bloom' Radiant Bronzing Powder in Warm. More of a highlighter/bronzer hybrid than a straight bronzer. Too pretty to pass up! 

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• Givenchy Le Prismissime Sun Soft Compact Face Powder in Sun Caramel (discontinued but failed to get it while it was still available as it was too darn pricy but wanted it for years.) Nine lovely honey/toffee shades, three with light shimmer. The six mattes will make nice transition colors for the crease, as well.

Some of my other Ebay acquisitions this year have been:

• Lipstick Queen Metal Lipstick in Nude Metal (touted by Dominque Sachse as purely wonderful, and it is nice, by itself or especially layered over a deeper nude berry shade, as Dominique shared in one of her videos.)

• Laura Geller Iconic Lipstick in Downtown Cafe (great color!) Got this to layer under the Nude Metal above.

• Laura Geller Baked Color & Highlight (this is one of those huge compacts that retail for $45; I got this for around $20.) 

Laura Geller Baked Color & Highlight

• A 10 piece knockoff set of the famous Artis makeup brushes (pretty good quality for cheapie duplicates; it was only $10 for the entire set while one Artis brush is $60!)

As you can see, there is a definite pattern of Laura Geller collecting, 'YouTube-Made-Me-Buy-Its' and snagging goodies I missed out on due to bad timing or insane retail price tags. 

Lately, I'm gravitating towards YouTubers who preach minimalism (or at least don't have a giant haul every other day), who talk about non-makeup subjects which is refreshing. Helps me keep better control of my purse! I'm enjoying Coolirpa for her genius thrift store transformations (makes me want to dig out the old sewing machine!) and be sure to check out Mary Lovetart who is a new favorite of mine.  I find her to be very Zen and calming.

But no fear! I'll never completely lose my love for pretty, shiny, sparkly things. It's just that at this age, I look at my stash and think "I'll never use all that stuff up in my lifetime!" Helps put some brakes on my bad habit, for sure!

Till next time,

"When I'm on a break from writing, I'll log on to Amazon and Ebay. The doorbell is constantly being rung by deliverymen." ~ Sophie Kinsella


The YouTubers' names mentioned above are links to their channels; please feel free to click those links and pay them a visit! And tell them I sent you!