Hey guys! Recently I got the chance to try out the Weleda Mighty Essentials Travel Set*, which includes 5 of their must have products. Even though this set isn't available anymore, I wanted to give you guys my first impressions on the products included in it because I think there's some winners in the bunch that a lot of people would really enjoy - including a ride or die, long time favorite product of mine that I recommend constantly. 

Now, normally I give most skin care products 2-4 weeks of consistent use before I review them. I do this because I feel like that's what's necessary for me to really gauge the effectiveness of a product and cement how I really feel about it. HOWEVER, I wanted to get this post out quickly since Palmetto Derma is having SUCH a great pair of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and I really wanted to give that a mention here in case anyone is looking to try out this brand for the first time, since it is a luxury price point - 50% Off for Black Friday and 40% Off for Cyber Monday is really a sale not to be missed.

Anyway, bearing the fact that this is really a first impression, I want to focus more on the ingredients and my limited experience with the products in this post. If you'd be interested in a more in depth review of any of these products in the future, let me know in the comments!

Keep reading for my first impressions!

It was really, really hard to be good during Black Friday... I tried, I swear I did! I really only picked up a few of the Sephora $12 deals and then a great pair of riding boots that were discounted from $84.99 to $19.99. Not bad, right? Well... Then I came home from the mall. It started with Coastal Scents, because I had been wanting to try the Revealed 2 palette and everything on the site was 50% off, and it was all downhill from there. Okay, that's not entirely true, but I did order a NUME curling wand and 3 new pairs of glasses online during Black Friday sales as well. Bad Trysh! Anyway, the only Black Friday order to arrive so far has been the Coastal Scents one, which came incredibly fast, and I've been holding off on doing this haul because there was a slight problem that required me to deal with customer service at Coastal Scents and I wanted to include that experience here.

So, keep reading for a closer look at what I picked up and to read about my customer service experience...

I love makeup brushes. I feel like I've only really come to appreciate different types of brushes in the last couple of years... and of course that means that my brush collection has pretty much exploded to epic proportions and I do actually use most of them fairly regularly. Because of this brush obsession of mine, I'm always on the lookout for affordable brushes. Inevitably at Christmastime, you will see inexpensive brush sets in stores, but the quality tends not to be so on point. Recently, when I popped into Walmart to see about picking up a few more Flower Beauty items to try out, I noticed that there were new brushes on the shelves there from this company called Still Spa Essentials and that they're incredibly affordable. Obviously, I had to pick up this set and try it out, right? I had to!

Keep reading for a closer look...

Okay, so, I admit it... I've been stalking my local Walmart weekly in hopes of getting my hands on a couple of the new Hard Candy things to try out. Particularly, I'm interested in the new brow products, because lately I've been on a one woman mission to dominate my brows for an affordable price. (It's getting to the point where I'm just about willing to forget the affordable price and go mad with Anastasia Beverly Hills power... but we'll see. I've still got a little bit of Brow Wiz left.) Last night I popped in and was, once again, disappointed by the lack of Hard Candy brow products, but then I caught sight of a new cardboard endcap display that made me blink a few times. Flower Beauty. At Walmart in Canada. Say it ain't so! It wasn't a full display, there were only 4 different items in a series of shades up for grabs, but it's a start and it gives me hope that soon we'll have a full display to choose from and try out.

I've actually only ever tried one product from Flower beauty and it was a pretty big fail. A while back, during a trip to the States, I was on a bit of a hunt for a perfect matte nude lipstick so I picked up a Flower one. It looked like concealer and applied on the lips like really cheap, dry concealer. It wasn't good. I threw it out ages ago. But still, I've heard some good things about some good things and I'm always willing to try something new, so I picked up 3 of the 4 items to give a once over.

Keep reading for a closer look!

Generally, when I see new Limited Edition Wet N Wild releases online, I resign myself to the fact that they will never be available where I live and ordering them on eBay will take away that whole affordability draw away from the product. Sure, once or twice I've managed to track down a limited edition palette, but I haven't found any local stores that have them consistently. Cry. Anyway, I popped into my favorite (and sadly rarely visited) Rexall over the weekend and 'LO AND BEHOLD, they had the small display of these eye shadows and a mascara that never really pinged my radar. A part of me wanted to buy them all.... because I'm a sucker for both Limited Edition and Wet N Wild eyeshadows. Anyway, I reigned myself in and bought the two that really jumped out at me.

Keep reading for my thoughts...

So just the other day, as I walked into Shoppers to pick up some lozenges to try to soothe the sore throat that wouldn't die (and has since turned into the hacking, painful cough that I want to murder), I found myself thinking that I wished there was another Essence Trend Edition on the way. Granted, I hadn't been scoping it out, so it was my own fault that I had no idea that there actually was a new Trend Edition on the way. Until today, when I was again walking into Shoppers to pick up all of the medicines to try and rescue my throat and lungs and I saw this. The Dark Romance Trend Edition. Not gonna lie... I got way too excited than I should have, but anyone who reads this blog knows that I love my Essence products. So. I crouched down and looked through all of the offerings and decided to pick up these three products. 

Now, also included in the collection were some stick on tattoos that I feel I'm distinctly too old for, a cream highlight that I knew I would never use no matter how hideous or gorgeous it ended up being, and some nail polishes that I had to stop myself from picking up. I am currently on a nail polish no buy, so I had to skip it, but the 3 shades probably would have ended up coming home with me as well otherwise. There was also a lipgloss... that was somewhat terrifying, and yet instantly made me think of a new Rihanna lip gloss from MAC. But maybe I'm just crazy.

But rather than focus on what I didn't buy, let us focus on what I did buy. Keep reading for more.

I have a slight obsession with makeup brushes, I admit. In fact, I think that if money were no object, brushes would be the biggest part of my makeup collection. Alas, I need to think about spending when it comes to things like this so I love a low cost set of brushes. Of course, when it comes to brushes I think it's usually pretty fair to say that you get what you pay for, with a few exceptions. Still, I've actually been lusting after this particular brush set for a while. I can't help it, it has insane rainbow handles and it comes in a stripey tube. I love stripey tubes. 

What is my brain. Moving on. Keep reading for more of my thoughts.

 Premium Synthetic Kabuki Makeup Brush Set

A while back I saw a post on one of the blogs I read about essential brushes, and a couple of these brushes were mentioned in that post. (I apologize that I can't remember which blog I read this on or even which brushes were listed.) Pretty much immediately, I did some Youtubing about the brushes and then some Ebaying and, within a couple of days, some ordering. 

These brushes are said to be Dupes for the Sigma Sigmax® Essential Kit, which I do not own but have thought about ordering more than a few times in the past. It's always been the price that has held me back. At the moment, I simply can't justify over $150 for a brush set. Just can't. So these, at a whopping US$16.80 with Free Shipping and a few pretty good reviews on their quality were more than worth a shot. It took about a month (which is about standard for me when items are coming from Asia) and one weird anxiety spurred dream about them and now they're mine all mine.

PACKAGESSSSSSSS!!!!

Ahem. Keep reading for a closer look.

So the other day Superstore tricked me into giving it and trying out some of the new JOE Fresh cosmetics by telling me that they'd give me 5,000 PC Points if I spent $25 on beauty. Like I'm going to say no to any excuse to buy things. And I actually had been looking at these for the last couple of weeks since I noticed them being stocked on the shelves.