urban decay summer sale haul!

Reaction to my Urban Decay summer sale purchase, which arrived last last weekend:

 IT CAME!! ITCAMEITCAMEITCAME!!!!!!!!!

So yes. I was unreasonably excited. But it's the first time I've ordered something like this online, I think Urban Decay is the shizzle when it comes to eye makeup products, and I lahhhhv packages! So with a tic-tac-toe-three-in-a-row like that, you can't really blame me.

Look at all my beautiful booty! :

I ordered four different things, among them two palettes, the Vegan Palette and the Skull Shadow Box. Did my best to research before purchasing, and the Vegan Palette was rated pretty decently on MakeupAlley, though it was harder to find information on the Skull Palette. Both have cute packaging, and they overlap in one color, the dark brown "Twice Baked" shade. Here are my photos, where I only edited for clarity so that you can get an accurate view of the colors:

Vegan Palette, marked down from $34 to $13

"Six of our best-selling shades also just happen to be vegan." Also comes with a mini size of sin primer potion, which has a champagne shimmer shade and was created to be able to wear alone as well as keep eye shadow in place as a primer. You can see a nice, detailed review with swatches at Temptalia. The Vegan Palette seems to be sold out at urbandecay.com, but you can still purchase it for a discounted price of $17.25 at Amazon. 

Skull Shadow Box, marked down from $36 to $12

It was harder to find information on the Skull Shadow Box (it's not listed on MA and there aren't even reviews on the UD site), but there are a handful of customer reviews on HSN and a blog review with swatches by Nouveau Cheap. I decided to go ahead and buy the palette after seeing a decent look create by eyelovemac on YouTube. I like that there are a few bright colors - with my smallish, uneven Asian eyes, natural neutrals either don't show or tend to make me look kind of old. I knew the pans of shadow would be tiny but didn't mind, since I'd be getting more colors to play with, and I don't use makeup enough to worry about running out.

And!!! I also bought a bunch of the temporary tattoos! They were offering these body jewelry temporary tattoos at such an awesome markdown, from $25 to $2. Reviews on MA said that they don't last very long, especially on areas like the hands that get a lot of activity, but they do look awesome and are fairly easy to use. Plus the three full sheets come in those beautiful paper cylinders:

Aren't the patterns pretty? So much potential!

I'm really not much of a tattoo person, but I'm really excited to try these out! I've consciously decided to be bolder about experimenting with style, and UD chose really tasteful images. Along those lines of letting style be more free and fun, I also purchased this! :

Starlight Glitter Body Art, marked down from $35 to $6

This product got really rave reviews everywhere, it seemed, from the UD site itself to a bunch of blog reviews (with fun pictures of what people have come up with). Supposedly it's easy to do and has great staying power over a span of days, even through showers and who knows what else. Can't wait to try some sparkly things on cheekbones and arms!

Honestly, I think buying from UD is worth it just for the two items above, the temporary tattoos and the glitter body art. They're set to be really fun products, with lots of opportunities to use with the upcoming holiday season, and SO reasonably priced from the sale markdown - luckily both are still in stock (for now) on the site!

So at the end of the day, my piled-up haul looked like this. I'm really happy I decided to splurge a little and buy all these things. I used to get hung up on the idea of being vain, not to mention spending money in general, but by goodness I'm a working woman! And in my mid-twenties to boot! Anyway, I know I'm going to have a lot of fun, as long as I remember to challenge myself as I've set out to do. You know how sometimes you buy something, are really happy, savor owning a new thing for a little bit, and then forget all about it? Don't let me do that! Keep me accountable, people. I'm hoping to have a few looks to post up and share by the end of the year. I really enjoy makeup and hair, but ... I just get so lazy. D:

P.S. Perhaps most impressive of all was the impeccable packaging. Air cushions on top, swathes of paper along the bottom, and every piece crisply rolled in thick layers of white tissue. Seriously, Urban Decay packers should get some sort of award. Who taught them to fold and roll so pristinely? 
In the end, I had enough wrapping to make a mini mountain: