Closeout Purchases (Or: An Unforeseen Upside to a Crappy Economy)

Bad news: I just found out this week that Kahala Mall's iconic beauty store Blush is closing its doors for the last time this coming Sunday. They've been open for as long as I have lived in Honolulu, but apparently they may have not been able to compete with the makeup selection at Sephora, Neiman's and Nordies. Now, I haven't bought anything from them since my budget shrank to nothing, so I felt like a predator browsing through their sales bins in search of a bargain.

I have to echo the sentiment of the shoyu bunnies foraging through the bins with me, however: Kahala Mall will never be the same without this store... not even after it goes through the rich-hippie makeover when Food Hole (or as the Scribes like to call it, "Whole Paycheck") and The Counter (um, yay?) finally get their respective acts together and opens their doors soon.

Anyway, enough ranting about Kahala Mall - let's get to the makeup!

The 3 for $10 Deal: Make Up For Ever's Aquarelles

From left to right: Dark Blue #4, Silver #16, Brown #13

You might not see it in this picture, but the blue one looks a lot more blueberry than navy in the bottle, and not exactly very shimmery. The silver one, however, is genius - it actually goes on very sheer, so it's more of a watercolor effect. Judging from the reviews I've seen for the Aquarelle - and I believe a lot of non-professional folks use these more for eyeshadow/eyeliner than anything - I'm planning on keeping both the blue and the silver, which are perfect for the summery looks I've been seeing lately.

The brown, on the other hand... well, I have thought about it, but eventually common sense won out -- and I decided instead to put it up for swap on MakeupAlley. Yep, that's me all right - still using the old login information from 1999, even though I haven't put anything up for swap or participated in any of the communities for ages. Maybe it's fate (or a Higher Power) trying to remind me to pay more attention to my beauty blogging?

(In any case - for those of you MUA members reading this blog, holla at me in the comments - I could really use some advice!)

The 3 for $5 Steal: Lippies Galore

From top to bottom: Bella il Fiore's Double Agent Lip Tint in #001 Soft-Spoken Pink and #003 Rich Rose; and Jaqua Beauty Lip Gloss in Tuscan Orange

Here's the reason why I'm going to miss Blush more than I should: When the girls realized that I had emerged from the $3 for 5 basket with just those two lip stains, one of them popped over to the next basket and handed me the Jaqua gloss, saying that "this color's more you." She was not that far off in her assessment: The gloss is more of a blood-orange color - a plummy red with strong shots of gold - and even though the formula itself was a tad runny, the effect was gorgeous and the scent was scrumptious. Thankfully, none of these items are going up for swap, either!