Review: Ulta Brand Products

So recently I got a bunch of things from Ulta's in house brand  I thought it'd be fun to do a little review on it. Ulta has some more affordable things, but they are still kind of pricey... but there is always some sort of discount or deal on it... so that's pretty cool!

Basically I bought 2 things and got a bunch of things for free, so that was pretty cool. I got the Twice as Nice Mascara. I was intrigued by this First off because of the concept of having an upper and lower lash mascara. I don't always like mascara on my lower lashes because it looks a little spidery and not fantastic, but sometimes I feel like eyeliner can get on the lower lashes and make it look bad... so that seemed helpful. Also I loved the shape of the brush on the upper lashes half. Its a big cone shaped brush with natural bristles and it looked a lot like the Make Up Forever Smokey Extravagance Mascara that came with the Birthday Gift from Sephora. Plus its in pretty rose gold packaging... so thats an issue. 

All in all, I really like the mascara. It gives a lot of length and volume. The Formula is a really good... it isn't waterproof... which I think is kind of silly... but overall I like it. 

Also in the Freebie bag was another mascara called the Amped Lashes... and I think I like this one a little better actually. It was full sized! In the freebie bag! So that was really cool. I think this formula is a little wetter than the Twice as Nice... but they're both not too wet or dry... if that makes sense. I don't think its as wet as the L'oreal Butterfly mascaras... but its not as dry as something like a Maybeline mascara. This has rubber bristles and the wand doesn't look all that special... but it really really lifts my lashes and does a really good job. I also think its really black, so that helps it look a little more volumized also. I just really like it. I was so happy it came in that freebie bag. 

The mascaras aren't that cheap btw. The Twice as nice is like $12 and the Amped Up is like $10... but if you're wanting to try something new... or if they have a freebie bag or a coupon or something, these are awesome. 

The other product I got was the Rose Gold Cream Eyeshadow... I love this for the color and its so easy to use, its a little creamier than the Maybeline Color Tattoos... but I feel like that makes it a little less good. Its still amazing and I love it and I want to try more because they have nice colors, but I think they crease a little and there are some eyeshadows that don't last a long time on top of this. I even use the Urban Decay Primer Potion underneath this because it sort of needs it I think. I can wear this on its own with no shadow on top without too many issues... but its not the #1 cream shadow of all time. Color wise it is amazing and I really love the looks I created with Sin by Urban Decay on top of it... but yeah.Basically over Urban Decay it works, over the L'oreal La Palette... not so much. 

The little eyeshadow quads that it came with are also kind of hit and miss. I haven't actually used them all, so thats not completely fair to say... but I think I used all of the Romantic quad that it came with and I was a little underwhelmed. The Naturals quad is the most useable and I haven't really tried the Smokey quad, except I think I used the white color as a highlight... They don't sell these in the quads, they're all individual eyeshadows that you get a sampling of in this little collection. The shadows that I was blown away by and was like "wow I need to get the singles" are Copper Bronze (in the Natural Quad) and Eggplant in the Romantic quad. Those were just fantastic. Other than that nothing I was like over the moon about... but nothing that was bad. My friend said she's going to keep this bag in her car in case she needs to put make up on in a pinch or something like that, she has all the things she'd need, and these are great for that... but not something I really see myself using a ton of. Other than those two shades I mentioned. 

One thing I loved was the Butter Balm Lipgloss. This is a really creamy formula that is pigmented, moisturizing, easy to apply and the color is just really fun and pink. Its not like a crazy pink that I don't think is wearable... but its such a nice pink color. There was also a lip pencil that came with it to. I believe it was an orangey color called Oh. Not like a Lipliner pencil but like a glossy balm pencil type of thing. It had a nice formula, but the color wasn't really great on me and it was frosty... so I wasn't a big fan. I did like the formula, but its nothing that special. 

One thing I was kind of "meh" about at first but I started using more and really enjoying was the Blush and Bronzer duo. The blush is in the shade Splendor and it just says bronzer on it... so I don't think its any specific shade. The blush isn't super pigmented, but it does show up nice and natural on the cheeks. The Bronzer I really like for some reason. Its a little orangey looking, but it doesn't show up orangey on the skin. And it isn't too pigmented so it doesn't get crazy looking on the skin. Its a little warm for contouring... but I kind of bronze in a contoury way if that makes sense... and it looks good. Lol. I don't warm up the face too much, I just sort of hap-hazardly apply it in areas. And it works really well. 

There was also a little brow set in the kit... I don't typically do my brows, but I do have some sparce areas and this is really good just for that. My brows are pretty full to begin with, but I feel like this helps them out where they need it and keeps it in place. When I used it I thought my eyebrows were on fleek. Lol. It comes with a light powder, a dark powder and a wax... which is nice. The texture is interesting too, it probably makes it look more hair-like than a regular shadow... I'm not a brow expert. 

I hated the packaging of that though because it came with a seal on top of the powders and underneath the lid of it and it was like impossible to get off without denting a shadow... so that kind of sucks. Idk how expensive this is, there are probably cheaper drugstore powders... but I hardly do my brows so this works fine for me. 

And last but not least is the Yolo pigment... I don't use pigments a ton, and I haven't actually used this yet... but its a really pretty color and it seems like a similar pigmentation to the L'oreal Infallible shadows which are like really soft pressed pigments. It looks really really nice. Its a good color too. This has a good non messy package for a pigment also, which is important to me because I'm a messy person. Lol.

The brushes and the bag in this... awesome too. The little eye brush it comes with is an awesome crease brush. The spongetip applicator is a spongetip applicator... I don't use it a ton, but I ain't mad at it. And the cheek brush is really good. Good for contouring and these pack on pigment really really well. The bag it came in has flowers on it and its adorable and I love it.

It also came with a nail polish. I haven't used this on its own, but it worked as the perfect bunny nose and ears for Easter lol. I've tried Ulta Brand nail polishes before and I absolutely love them. Really great affordable nail products. Do recommend.

So yeah, that is everything. Hope you guys like this!

Byeee!
-Shannon