Two Tinted Moisturizers: TheBalm Balm Shelter in Lighter than Light and Maybelline Dream Pure BB in Light

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

Base products aren't one of my favorite things to review, because they aren't one of my favorite things to use. In fact, I never used to wear foundation at all, because I found it too much trouble to bother with. I had a bottle of L'Oreal True Match foundation that must have sat in a drawer for at least 5 years before I threw it out in about 2007. I was holding on to it in case I needed it for a special occasion, but even on special occasions I didn't use it.

Once I started to look for a base that I actually liked a few years ago, however, I got hooked on the hunt. But I still tend to put off reviewing them, partly because I am fully aware that my expectations are unreasonable. I want something that looks exactly like my real skin so that it's undetectable, and yet makes my skin look flawless, and also doesn't fade until I take it off. That's not a thing. I will settle for a product that is a good color match, makes my skin look better than it does with nothing on it, isn't too fussy to apply, doesn't wear off or break down immediately, and doesn't create an ugly mess when it does break down. That's still a tall order, apparently.

The other reason that I don't love reviewing foundations and such is that I find them hard to photograph in a helpful way. In a close-up, all base products look either too cakey or too sheer or both. Flakes and pores are visible in a way they aren't in person. In a full shot of my entire face, on the other hand, just about anything looks decent. For instance, in this photo I'm wearing Revlon Colorstay, which on me looked really thick and cakey and unnatural . . . and it looks pretty ok here. So it's hard to illustrate what I actually experience.

Some people can make full coverage foundations look amazing. I am not one of those people. They always end up looking mask-like and heavy on me. I'm just not a fan. So I tend to go for sheer to medium coverage in a base. Among other things, if the oil in my skin breaks down the product, it won't look as patchy and uneven as it would if it were very opaque, and so I don't have to keep checking it to see if it needs touching up. But the downside of sheerer bases is that they rarely wear very well, especially if you have oily-combination skin like mine.

I've had TheBalm's Balm Shelter Tinted Moisturizer for a little over a year. For most of that time I haven't liked it much. I'd try it, get frustrated and put it aside, and then try it again a couple of weeks or months later. When I got it out to test it again a few times before writing this review, I found that I actually liked it a lot more. I think that what happened is that my skin has been much better lately--which I attribute to lowered stress, at least up until the election, and increasing niacinamide in my skincare routine. (I've been using the Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster, but CeraVe's PM Lotion is another good source at 4% niacinimade, since the PC booster is something you mix/dilute with other products). 

The main problem I'd had with TheBalm's tinted moisturizer was that it sat weirdly on any flaky patches on my face, which in my case were usually chin zits. I actually think that calling this a tinted moisturizer isn't entirely accurate, because in my experience it's not very moisturizing at all. In addition, it has a rather matte finish, not a dewy one like I would expect from most tinted moisturizers. The combination of sheer and matte can be tricky for problem areas on my face. You can see in the photo below that the dry skin near my mouth is highlighted by this stuff, and that it doesn't cover the redness on my nose. Additional concealer is definitely needed. If, however, you're in a good skin place, it does provide light, natural-looking coverage that will even things out without drawing attention to itself. 

TheBalm Balm Shelter in Lighter than Light over bare skin, no other makeup.

Below is my face at the end of the day, about 7 hours later (in artificial lighting), and the tint is pretty much completely gone. But at least this comparison demonstrates that it did tone down redness and unevenness and mattify my skin in the first place.

I don't know where the glitter came from. I suspect Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy.

Conversely, when I started using the Maybelline Dream Pure BB this past spring, I liked it a lot, but lately I've been less impressed by it. The best part about this stuff is how easy it is to apply. You can pretty much just smear it on like you would a regular lotion and it looks absolutely fine. With most base products I prefer to apply them with my fingers using a patting motion, similar to how you're supposed to use a Beauty Blender (but using my fingers means that there's no sponge soaking up product). Then I blend the base some more using the same motion with a dry sponge. There's no need for any special technique with the Dream Pure BB, though. It also has a very natural, skin-like finish.

This stuff seems to skim over the pores a bit, though, as I said, the effect is much less apparent in person.

The Dream Pure BB is a bit sheerer than the Balm Shelter, however, and it really doesn't last. Thirty seconds of sweating and it's gone. I didn't notice that so much in the summer, oddly enough, probably because I was working from home and as a result not paying that much attention to how long my makeup lasted (because I didn't really care). But these days it's more obvious to me, because I'll check out my face in the bathroom mirror before I go into the classroom or a meeting. Even though the "Pure" version of the Maybelline BB is meant for oilier skin (as opposed to the "Fresh" version for drier skin), I think this would work better for someone with dry-to-normal skin. I don't hate it on myself, but it's a bit disappointing. 

The Pure BB has exchanged the SPF from the Fresh BB for salicylic acid. I could do without that, personally. I already have skincare products with BHA in them, and I don't like having to think about whether or not the ingredients in my makeup will interact in a bad way with my skincare. Plus, I really doubt that it has much effect in this format, though who knows. 
I could do without sunscreen in my base products too, actually. TheBalm's tinted moisturizer is SPF 18, but probably lower in practice due to the small amount of product you're likely to apply. And layering a lower SPF over a higher SPF can supposedly lower the SPF of the stronger product, which is annoying. I guess for people who aren't going to wear sunscreen, some is better than nothing, but for me, it's unnecessary.

Here's a comparison of the two products next to Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly, because I figured that might be a recognizable point of reference for some of you.

Swatches of TheBalm Balm Shelter in Lighter than Light, Maybelline Dream Pure BB in Light, and Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly.

They both look a little too peachy in the heavy swatches, but when they're sheered out, they're a good match for me. The Maybelline BB is a closer match, though, being more neutral, which counteracts redness better as well. I was a bit surprised to find a good match in a product with only five shades. Both of these products cover a relatively decent shade range (i.e. not just light-medium to medium), even though they don't provide a huge number of options.

I'm happy with the Balm Shelter for now, while my skin is cooperating. It's actually a decent value, too, if you think you can finish the whole tube. It's regularly $25 for 2.15 oz., making it about $12 per ounce. You can get it a bit cheaper on Amazon, which is where I got mine, and Overstock has a few tubes for about $12 each right now. The Maybelline BB is normally about $7-9 for 1 ounce, but also a little cheaper on Amazon. 

I'm trying not to get obsessive about finding something magically perfect that doesn't exist in real life, buuuuuuut if you have any suggestions for low maintenance base products on the sheerer side, I would love to hear them. Also, how many other people are like me and prefer to not wear foundation or another base all over their faces? I definitely don't use these things on a daily basis.

Concealer comparisons (and a rave review): Sephora Collection Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer in Fondant vs. theBalm Time Balm Concealer in Lighter than Light in vs. Stila Stay All Day Concealer in Fair

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The title gets really long when you include the full names of three different products!

One of the only types of makeup I've worn consistently since high school is undereye concealer. I inherited extremely dark under-eye circles from my dad. I don't really have bags or puffiness, but I have dark purple half-circles (the shocking photo appears later in the post!) that are only enhanced by the contrast with my pale skin. I think the cause has something to do with my sinuses, but whatever it is, if I don't cover them, I look pretty sickly and ghoulish. As a result, I've tried dozens of concealers over the decades years, and I keep trying new ones. I think I've said before that I am a bit of a concealer Goldilocks--I'm always convinced that there must be one that's just right out there somewhere. I think I have finally found it, so read on to see which one of these it is.

In addition to very dark, purplish circles that need to be covered, I have some other challenges when it comes to finding an effective concealer. I have some lines/wrinkles under my eyes that tend to cause concealer to crease. My eyelids are also oily, which exacerbates the creasing and also makes things fade more quickly. As a bonus, the skin around under my eyes has a weirdly rough texture, which an inferior concealer will highlight.

(Be warned: long, detailed review with lots of photos ahead.)

My sale shopping philosophy (and TheBalm on HauteLook for 50% off)

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I've been thinking about going back to posting more sales/deals around here, since that was something I did a lot when I first started my blog. I've slacked off on that lately, because they're not as interesting to write up as reviews and other things, but sharing them was one of the things I wanted to do when I started blogging. I've also partly stopped blogging about them because there are other sources for that information (like Nouveau Cheap for drugstore sales, especially, but also others, and Temptalia for all the weekly deals available at the beginning of the week). I think what I'll do is just post sales that seem especially good or interesting to me (again, not 20% or less, off unless that's as good as it gets), or those that I don't see all over the place. I likely won't post deals that only last a few hours, because I'm not usually on the ball enough to do that.

In that spirit, let me point out that today TheBalm is on Hautelook, and almost everything is 50% off. The sale includes popular shit like eyeshadow palettes and their highlighters. There are two pages worth of stuff. It's pretty much everything. This is one of the best ways to buy TheBalm, in my experience. They usually have a 50% sale on their own site a couple of times a year, but the site always crashes from the heavy traffic, and the shipping can be really expensive. It makes much more sense just to buy it from HauteLook. Also worth noting is that Club Clio, a Korean brand, which makes PeriPera, is on HauteLook at the moment too. The orange tint water I reviewed here isn't in the sale, but there is a bunch of other stuff. Illamasqua is still up there, too.

It's been a HauteLook heavy week here, but that's because they've had some especially good sales. Now we'll probably go back to a few weeks of their selling nothing but diamond-infused face cream and celebrity fragrances. (No, nevermind, I see that Stila will be there on Monday, along with Bliss (barf), and ORLY. Still going strong, I guess.) But I'll post deals from other sources as they come up.

Here's the philosophy part: I don't want to give the impression that I buy something from every sale I post, or that I think anyone else needs to, either. But I am also someone who tries to never buy anything at full price (you may have noticed). That means almost no limited edition anything, unless I happen to have a store coupon, because I think long deliberation is much safer. I put things that interest me on a wish list (using Amazon), and I revisit it and delete things that I'm over periodically. If something has been on there for a month (or more realistically in most cases, 6+ months), and I still want it, and I happen to find a good deal, I might buy it. I rarely snatch something up immediately after hearing about it anymore, though there were a couple of years after I started my blog (and was slogging through my dissertation) that I got into that sort of habit. For a while, for example, I was on a "buy all the nail polishes" spree, with an urge to get one of every shade of every color in every finish, but that has long subsided, and now I am stuck with things I never use, like glitter or neons.

If, by the time a sale comes along, the thing I wanted is no longer available, I rarely have any regrets. It's not like a million other options won't present themselves in the near future. Even if I have pangs for a few weeks, a year later I certainly don't give a shit that I don't own that one particular eyeshadow, or whatever. Hesitation and patience is a much better tactic for me, these days.

It also helps that I buy most things online, rather than when browsing Sephora or Ulta or the drugstore in person. That cuts down on impulse purchases and lets me find the best price. (If/when I move back to Canada, I guess this will be more difficult.)

So it's in this spirit that I post about sales. I don't think you need to buy something today just because you don't own anything from TheBalm and it's on sale now. Geting something just because it's there won't make your life complete. But if, like me, you've been waiting for their tinted moisturizer or highlighter or whatever to go on sale for a while, and you are convinced you'll use it, now's a good time to get it. I'm not trying to be a complete enabler - I'm just trying to help you save money on things you might pick up anyway.

Do you have any sale shopping tricks to share? Help us all to be cheap, please!

theBalm is on HauteLook today (~50% off)

Disclosure: This post contains a referral link.
I said I would be procrastinating and so I'd remind you. They've got the eyeshadow palettes, highlighters, lushes, all of it. I am really tempted to just get one of the tinted moisturizers, since I've been having a terrible time finding one I like (I'll post about this process soon), and the "Lighter Than Light" shade of theBalm's concealer is a good match for me. Anyone tried their "Balm Shelter" tinted moisturizer? Should I go for it? I am hesitant, but I don't remember them being included in other recent HL sales of theBalm, so maybe I should pull the trigger while I can. Hmmmm. (Maybe throw an Illamasqua nail polish in there . . . . no!)

"Makeup Mayhem" on HauteLook this week (50%+ off Tarina Tarantino, Illamasqua, theBalm, LORAC, etc.)

Disclosure: This post contains referral links.
So this week HauteLook is having their big makeup feature. Most things look like they are 50% off or more. We've got BH Cosmetics (meh), Tarina Tarantino (good lipstick, eyeliner, and eyeshadow - avoid the "eye dream hyperlight" for its horrible packaging) - and later this week LORAC (Wednesday), Illamasqua (Thursday), and theBalm (Friday). I've bought all of my theBalm makeup through HauteLook, since it's always been at least 50% off. They tend to have a wide selection including most of their new products. This is also one of the only places Illamasqua is currently sold in North America, unless I am mistaken and they've returned to some other stores recently.

You have to take into account the shipping costs (usually about $6 for beauty stuff) and the long shipping time (2-3 weeks). Obviously your shipping will go farthest if you buy multiple things at once, so if you want to shop more than one brand, it might be worth waiting until they are both available at the same time. Usually each brand stays on the site for about 4 days, but some of the most popular items might sell out.

I don't need anything right now, so I'm not looking too closely. Normally I would be all over this. Think of me if you get something good? I will post reminders about Illamasqua and theBalm, because I am grading this week, and blogging is an excellent form of procrastination.

You need an account to browse HauteLook, so I've included my referral link above, but you are of course not obligated to click it.

Is this a $6 dupe for TheBalm Mary Lou Manizer?

I have already posted my own cheap alternative, but what do you think about this Wet N Wild highlighter swatched by Allura Beauty? Has anyone compared it to TheBalm's version? It looks pretty close to me!

TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude Eyeshadow Palette vs. Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes Eyeshadow Palette

Disclosure: This post contains referral links.
I got TheBalm's Meet Matt(e) Nude eyeshadow palette in September after reading positive reviews of it and deciding that I needed some less shimmery eye options for work. I picked it up for $21 from Hautelook, which, as I've said before, is really the best place I've come across to buy TheBalm products, so long as you can be a little patient. They're almost always marked down 50% and they have a good selection there, including most of the newer palettes and other products. (TheBalm usually has a 50% off sale once or twice a year on their own site, but it almost always seems to be a mess, with the site crashing all over the place, and it only lasts 24 hours.) TheBalm is on HauteLook at this very moment, which is why I figured it would be a good idea to write up this comparison today (in case my saying it's "fine" ignites a burning passion in anyone?).

I posted a quick review of the palette on Instagram and noted that the shadows were fine, but that there were no good highlight shades. Most of the shades are very dark, with the exception of one fairly stark white, which I just don't find useful.

Then in December Paula's Choice had a deal where you could get their The Nude Mattes eyeshadow palette, which is usually $40, for free with a $60 purchase. Since I had some credits to use and I needed to replace some of my regular products anyway, I made a bigger order than I would usually do in order to get the eyeshadow palette. Exactly what they wanted me to do. I was a good mark, obviously. Why do I need another eyeshadow palette when I have approximately a billion fucking eyeshadows that I am never going to use up, you ask? I DON'T. This is why I'm trying to get my shit together. And as part of that, I've decided that I am going to get rid of one of these two palettes. I wanted to compare them, and I was not-so-secretly hoping that TheBalm came out behind, since it's less versatile. Since I wanted to do the comparison for myself anyway, and since writing these things out helps me make decisions, I figured I might as well make a post of it. So here we go.

Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude

Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude

The comparison is pretty simple. I used the brush that came with the PC palette, which is a soft but otherwise not very effective brush, to swatch shades that look similar. Obviously they are not identical, but I thought it made sense to compare them this way. I didn't swatch every shade. TheBalm palette has 9 and the PC palette has 12. I didn't do a comparison for the white ("Matt Malloy") or the yellowish ("Matt Lombardi") shades, since nothing in the PC palette came close, and they are shadows I'm not likely to use anyway. Here's how things compare without the use of primer.

Swatches of Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes (top row) and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude (bottom row)

Overall, I guess TheBalm's shadows are slightly more pigmented (maybe?), but the think the difference is negligible. TheBalm's browns perform a bit better, but the grays/taupes are the same or worse. Note that the PC shadows might be just a little more powdery, in case mess bothers you, and the powder does show up on the black packaging. The texture of the TheBalm shadows is not perfect, either, though.

Then I swatched two similar shades from each palette (a grey/taupe and a brown) over Wet N Wild eyeshadow primer (my favorite primer, all things considered), since I always use primer when I wear eyeshadow. It makes sense to compare them that way, for me.

Swatches of Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes (top row) and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude (bottom row)

With primer, there's really no difference at all. That means I'm going to ditch the palette from TheBalm and keep the one from Paula's Choice.

In an overall comparison, they each have strengths and weaknesses - and since their regular price is very close ($42 for Meet Matt(e) Nudes vs. $40 for The Nude Mattes), they are worth considering together. The advantage of the PC set is that it has more shades, and that it has more light shades to use for highlighting. It even has one shimmer/satin light shade to use for that purpose. It's a little heavy on the darker shades, I think, which is a negative for me. It goes from very light to very dark quickly, without much in the middle. I would gladly exchange the black, which is a color that I already have a million versions of and one that I rarely use, for another medium shade. Maybe a lighter taupe.

TheBalm's palette has the advantage of containing more than twice as much product for only an extra $2 (25.5 g vs. 12 g), so value wise it's a better deal. (You do get a brush with the PC set, and they clearly tried to go for a non-crap brush, but it's pretty lackluster, so I'm not factoring it into the value.) Meet Matt(e) Nude also has some more unusual shades, if you already own a lot of neutrals. But for me that wasn't a big plus, since the unusual ones are a yellowish beige that looks dreadful on me, and a barely-off white that I really can't find a use for. It's also not really a palette than I can use on its own, because I like to have a highlight color, and that white isn't doing it for me. So it wouldn't be great for travel, for example. (Maybe the original Meet Matt(e) palette would be a better choice, but I haven't tried it. And I won't be buying more eyeshadow for a while.) As for the design of the packaging? That might be a plus or a minus for you. I'm personally not a huge fan of the big dude face on it.

For me, the PC palette makes more sense to hold on to. If you were considering both of them at full price, TheBalm is a better value - and it is especially a lot of product for your dollar if you get it half price from Hautelook. The best deal you're probably going to get on the Paula's Choice palette, unless they give it away as a gift with purchase again, is to use someone's referral link (here's mine) for $10 off a purchase on a new account. And wait until they offer free shipping, which happens pretty frequently. $30 is better than $40.

I am usually someone with Opinions, but I'm going to have to say this one comes down to what you will personally get more use out of. In terms of performance, the two are virtually the same. You get more product from TheBalm, but if you're never going to use it all, then that's not necessarily worth paying for. I'm going to ditch TheBalm's palette, because it's taking up space, and I need to be more brutal about culling my hoard.

Thinning the Hoard

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Someone once asked me how I decide what to keep and what to get rid of when sorting through my accumulation of makeup products. Now seems like as good a time as any to write a post about that process, since I just realized that I'm going to have to move in less than 6 weeks. Ugh! I mean, I'll be glad to get out of my current shithole of an apartment, but apartment hunting and moving are huge pains in the ass.

Before I pack everything up and move it somewhere else, I'd really like to eliminate as much of the useless shit I have lying around as possible. My piles of unnecessary belongings extend far beyond just makeup, but since that's what I mainly talk about here, that's what I'll stick with right now. Writing it all out is a useful process for me, because it forces me to come up with realistic rules for myself about what I should or should not hold on to, and to spend the time to consider whether or not I really have room for various items. So I'll go through a few categories of cosmetics here and lay out some guidelines upon which I'm basing my decisions about what to keep and what to set free. If you can think of any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Trash or Keep

There are certain items that I can easily decide to hold on to, such as products that I use on a regular basis and/or one that are unique and well-loved, and there are those that I can easily dispense with, because they are of no use to me.

Trash: There are some things that I'm never going to use, and that I also don't think anyone else should use. I tend to come into the possession of shit that falls into this category through subscriptions (Ipsy, in particular), free samples/gift-with-purchase deals, or the occasional impusle purchase. For example, in a recent Ipsy bag, I got some "Mark Fading Pads" by Proactiv, and the first ingredient in them after water was SD alcohol. No thanks. I don't want to use them, and I don't want to subject anyone else to them, so bye bye.

Practical, non-perishable stuff: This category includes products that will get used up eventually and won't expire in the meantime, like eyebrow pencils. Yes, I have too many of them. But they don't take up a lot of space, and they will be fine waiting for me to get around to finishing them. Just don't pick up any new ones in the meantime, self.

Those categories are pretty straightforward. But I also have a lot of things that are more difficult to classify. They may or may not be superfluous. They probably are, but it's helpful to think carefully about why, so that I don't regret passing them along to someone else, because I am ridiculous.

Makeup

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner and Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide On Eyeliner

Dupes: I confess that I own a lot of unnecessary dupes and products that perform basically the same function as one another. One example is black eyeliner. Everyone has a favorite black eyeliner, and so I've picked up quite a few along the way that I've heard good things about. I don't really like to open something that I don't yet need, so I have several brand new black eyeliners just sitting around waiting for attention. And I don't even fucking wear black liner very often. Why did I buy them? (Anxiety?) I'll hold on to a couple in addition to the ones I'm currently using, but the rest must go.

TheBalm's 50% off sale extended until 10 am PST tomorrow

Because their servers couldn't handle the traffic. Of course.

TheBalm flash sale tomorrow: 50% off everything from 12-1 pm in every time zone

Historically, TheBalm's website has not been able to withstand their flash sales. That may be why they are doing it for one hour in each time zone (i.e. to reduce traffic at any given time). Hopefully that doesn't mean that the good shit will all be gone by the time it gets to the west coast. Anyway, thought I'd post about it in advance, so you can prepare yourself. Shipping is $5 in the US (outside it's $20-35, yikes). There's more info on their Facebook page.

As for suggestions, I've only tried a few things. I love love love Stainiac. I have the Balm Jovi palette, and it's really versatile and the shadows are nice. It also has a great blush (similar to Frat Boy, I believe) and a useful highlighter (similar to Mary Lou Manizer). I don't really use the lip colors in it - they're nothing special, and lip palettes are annoying. I've also tried their Time Balm concealer, which a lot of people love, but it didn't work great for me (which is why I put it in my blog sale). That's all I've got, but google for reviews, because they've got a bunch of other highly rated stuff.

On HauteLook now: theBalm, Stila, Mario Badescu, and Ken Goh Do (most things more than half off)

Tomorrow Urban Decay will be there too. I picked up theBalm Balm Jovi palette for half price, because 4 billion fucking eyeshadow palettes is clearly not enough for me.

You need an account to browse HauteLook, so you're certainly welcome to use my invite link if you like. Shipping for makeup is $6 and can be kind of slow, so be prepared.

theBalm is on HauteLook (including Stainiac!) and so are a variety of beauty bags

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
theBalm selection this time is great! THEY HAVE STAINIAC FOR $8.50. I love that stuff. Kind of like Benetint but a million times easier to use.

They've also brought back all the beauty bags from this year (the spring one, two summer ones, and the Crown Brush bag), so if you were kicking yourself for missing one, you have another chance, and they're all only $20 this time. I think maybe the spring one is the best.

50% off theBalm cosmetics from HauteLook

It's too bad my beloved Staniac isn't there, but there are a few of their popular eyeshadow palettes (including Meet Matte and Nude 'Tude, which is supposed to have some dupes or near dupes for Urban Decay Naked shades) and blushes available, and I have heard good things about the MaryLou Manizer highlighter and Time Balm concealer. Anything you need? I'm guessing a bunch of this stuff will sell out pretty quickly.

Orly Gel Nails, Born shoes, and BCBG Generation clothes are also marked down on HautLook at the moment.

You have to have an account to browse, so here's my invite link.

50% off everything from theBalm for 24 hours only

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

Celebrating their new website design. I think I might pick up another one of their lip stains, though the one I have now seems like it's going to last forever. Anything else I need to try? I've heard that the MaryLou Manizer highlighter is good.

theBalm is on HauteLook today

I'm not going to buy anything! But you should. I've heard good things about the Meet Matt(e) palette (I've tried one of the shades and liked it), as well as the Nude 'tude palette, which is said to be a good alternative to Urban Decay's Naked palettes. The Mary-Lou Manizer highlight is supposed to be great, too. My favorite theBalm product, Staniac, isn't here, unfortunately. But these prices are significantly lower than on Sephora, etc. The tradeoff is that you often have to wait two weeks or more for purchases from HauteLook to get to you.

Here's my invite link, if you don't already have an account.