Hello Sephora

I live in a rural town in the New York state, where the nearest Sephora is an hour away. During this long weekend, I went to New Jersey to visit my dear friend from college. It's quite safe to say that she's the reason behind my Sephora VIB status as she is quite the enabler.

I purchased just a few items and got my Sephora birthday gift! It's the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment duo. Much better than last year's Sephora brand eyeliner pencil in green or something ...
As you can see, they are pretty miniature in size and they are extremely moisturizing and have a thicker texture than my Nivea tinted lip balm that I normally use. Since they are thicker, I am assuming they will run out faster. I really love my Nivea tinted lip balm in the strawberry color so these don't faze me as a 'must-have'. Nevertheless, I'm sure they will come pretty handy!

I got lash extensions about a month ago and approximately 98% have fallen off. If I had the opportunity, I would keep getting infills on a regular basis to keep its look but since I am now in a rural town, I don't have the luxury of a lash salon nearby. So I now have to resort to the regular mascara + eyeliner combo...

I purchased the Lancome Artliner in Aubergine. This is my third Artliner. I've had it in black and brown before and I wanted to try Aubergine. It's supposed to be a plum+brown color but when applied, it looks as dark as black, with just a slight tint of dark purple. I like the Artliner because of it's felt tip pen-like brush that is stiff enough for control. Mind you, they do not have a thin point so if you're looking for the thin point liners, I recommend looking elsewhere. They are very waterproof and do not smudge. If anything, they crack a wee bit, rather than smudge below your eyes. The only other liquid liner I have used is Chanel's felt-tip pen applicator and Chanel's tip was less stiff than the Artliner. Also, I wasn't too fond of Chanel's click-and-dispense applicator as it wasted more product and ended up running out fairly fast.

I also decided to purchase the Fairydrops mascara. The shape of the wand is quite strange... three bulb-like shapes clustered in a row. A mascara's ability to keep a curl is the make-it or break-it point for me. My lashes usually never keep a curl and the only one that has been able to do so was Shu Uemura's Precise Volume Mascara in Waterproof. I have gone through three of those tubes but as Shu's shipping usually takes two to three weeks to ship to the US, I just decided to get the Fairydrops at Sephora.
As a quick side story, when my friend and I went to a sauna in Jersey, she had this mascara on and this did not melt off. The hottest steam room there was 170 F... We could only stay in there for 10 min at a time since it became impossible to breathe. Anyway, I was pretty amazed at how the mascara performed. In this 170F room, she was sweating like a pig, yet her lashes stayed curled and at no point did she turn into a panda. I have high hopes for this mascara and hope it will perform just as well on me.

Last item I purchased was the Sephora by OPI nail color in Handpicked for Me. It's a coppery pink with iridescent shimmers. Just can't get away from shimmery polishes.