Because we've been to Chicago so many times we ended up skipping a lot of the touristy type attractions like Navy Pier and Shedd Aquarium and opted for a more low key weekend of shopping and eating.
We tried to avoid shops we have in our hometown and focus on stores specific to Chicago. My most exciting purchases were at an Inglot counter in Macy's. Here's a look at what I bought.
If you aren't familiar with Inglot, they are a high end cosmetics company based in Europe. They sell insanely pigmented, awesome quality makeup for a fraction of the cost of other high end brands. My favorite part about Inglot Cosmetics is their "Freedom System." You buy an empty palette, of which they offer a variety of sizes, and hand select the products you want to fill them with. While I was shopping they gave me a small magnetic board which allowed me to see exactly how certain shadows would look together in a palette. After spending at least 45 minutes putting together different configurations of shadows, I ended up with two eyeshadow palettes.
I wear some sort of neutral eye just about every day so I wanted to make a palette that I knew I'd get a lot of use out of. The empty trio was $8 and then the shadow pans were $6 a piece, making this trio $26. (Just as a comparison, MAC eyeshadow pans are $12 each so these shadows alone would have been $36 if they had been purchased at MAC.)
The second palette I made was inspired by a display I saw while we were there. I realized that because I tend to do more of a neutral eye every day, I don't have many other colors to work with should I want to venture out of my "norm." This quad took me far longer to assemble than the trio I made because I wanted to really experiment with each blue they offered and see which ones would make the most complete look. Here's the look I came up with for this palette.
Another store I wanted to make sure we visited was Forever21. While we do have one at our mall at home, they don't have a very good selection and I find the staff to be rude and unaccommodating. I ended up finding a couple super cute shirts.
The first top I picked out is a red racer back tank top. I was drawn to it because of the adorable heart pattern. It'll be a great addition to my Summer wardrobe, and it's perfect to layer under a cardigan for work in the mean time. It was $10.80.
The second top I picked out is coral with lace detailing on the shoulders and upper back. (I apologize that it's showing up pink in one photo and orangey in the other. The lighting in our hotel room wasn't great.) It may be a bit too warm for Summer but it'll be a great transitional piece from Winter to Spring. I love, love, love the lace! It was $13.80.
Forever 21 has such great deals on accessories! I've been really into headbands lately and when I found these braided beauties for $1.80 each, I scooped up one of every color. I thought they'd be perfect for days I don't want to put a lot of effort into my hair.
I also picked up two sets of bows. They were also $1.80 each. I got one black and white set and one floral print set. I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of these, but they were cheap and they're incredibly cute!
Surprisingly, I only got one piece of jewelery; a pair of heart shaped earrings. I thought they'd go perfectly with the heart top I picked out. They were a steal at only $1.50. I've actually been wearing them almost every day. So cute!
My first miscellaneous purchase was this knit scarf. It was INCREDIBLY cold in Chicago while we were there and I forgot to bring a scarf so when I saw this scarf clearanced out in a bin by the registers I decided to grab one. I absolutely love the heather gray/taupey color and it was so warm! I'm not sure exactly how much it cost, but I want to say I paid about $3.
I have been experimenting with different eyeliners to figure out which types, and also brands, that I prefer. I found this gel liner for $1.50 so I decided to give it a whirl. To be completely honest, I wasn't at all impressed. It smudged far too easily. But I guess you can't complain when you pay less than $2!
The final thing I got at F21 were these Hydrating Makeup Cleansing Tissues. There are 30 in each pack and there were two packs taped together for $2.80. They aren't the best quality makeup removing wipes I've ever tried but with a couple, they get the job done.
Of course no post about Chicago would be complete without a couple of Bears devoted pictures, so here ya go!
