The haul that will probably begat more hauls

In the sixth grade, my world got turned upside down by a new girl in my little town named Dominee. (First of all, in a land of Amy's and Amanda's, how cool is the name Dominee?) Dominee was from the Eagleton of southern Indiana (i.e. Columbus), and along with name brand clothing and fancy chocolate, she introduced me to department store makeup. From the sixth grade on, Wet 'n' Wild and CoverGirl would not do for this girl. No, I became a Clinique super fan. 

Despite becoming best friends with a self-professed beauty junkie in college (hi, Bee!), I never strayed from Clinique. I even donned the white lab coat in college and became a Clinique consultant at my local mall. Admittedly, I drank the makeup counter sales girl Kool-aid and convinced myself that makeup and skincare are formulated to work together, and therefore, we shouldn't mix and match skincare and beauty brands (untrue). My face has been nearly 100% Clinique ever since Dominee gifted me with a bonus time tube of Tenderheart lipstick and a tiny bottle of DDML at age twelve. 

That was nearly twenty years ago, but suddenly, it's all changed. As of this week, I now own all this:

1. Urban Decay Naked Palette // 2. Kat Von D Tattoo Liner (Trooper) // 3. Michael Kors Leg Shine // 4. Benefit Brow Zings (Dark) // 5. Chanel Pressed Powder (#40) // 6. NARS Albatross // 7. Glamglow Mud Mask // 8. Urban Decay Optical Blurring Brush // 9. Cle de Peau concealer (honey) // 10. Benefit They're Real mascara // 11. MAC #217 brush // 12. Benefit Fake-up concealer (medium) // 13. Le Metier de Beaute Dark Spot Corrector (c/o)

Not a single Clinique product in the bunch! I have to attribute this to insomnia. On one of my sleepless nights away, I discovered Makeup Addiction on Reddit. I read and read and read and then spent the next several weeks researching and learning and yearning. When I got home to Austin this week, I diverted funds from my fancy shoe savings (again) and picked up all these new goodies. The Glamglow mask, Cle de Peau concealer, and They're Real mascara have been opened and tried. They are complete game changers, and I'm excited to tell y'all more about them here in the ensuing weeks.

Is there anything else I should add to my list?

You see, I've been ho-hum about my face for the last few years. I do an occasional bold lip, and I'm rarely seen without at least a thin line of black eyeliner, but for the most part, that's it. I don't use face powder, brow stuff, or eyeshadow, like, ever. Despite having worked at a makeup counter in college, I consider myself to be a makeup n00b. It's going to be fun trying all these new things! I don't expect Adored Austin to become a beauty blog, but as I'm gearing up for Mrs. Texas, I'm certainly going to experiment with new products and new looks.