#haul: when you walk into a store planning to buy one thing...

& end up buying a bunch of things because you could not resist.

That phenomenon (unfortunately) happens to me quite a lot! I will enter a store with my mind set on a few items to purchase or just "to browse," but will leave with more things than I originally intended to get and more money spent. It hurts my wallet and my conscience... but it feels much more satisfactory to buy things...

This especially happens to me at Target. There's this danger area right at the front of the store where all the items range from $1 - $3. These items can range from coloring books to tea lights to home organizers. I can never avoid looking in this area... and I almost never leave empty-handed.

I came to Target to get some eye primer. Target is the only store that sells e.l.f. cosmetics (that I know of). I tried this eye primer because I have oily eyelids and needed it to keep my makeup from creasing and in place. Some say it is comparable to Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion--I cannot vouch for this because I have never tried it, and never had to because e.l.f.'s eyelid primer works for me. And for $1.02 (which has increased by $0.02 since the last time I bought it... what blasphemy!), you cannot beat the price for the quality of the product.

I have only ever used the e.l.f. Eyelid Primer in Sheer, but I bought one of the "Pearl" kind to see the difference between the two. I bought three tubes overall because it was cheap, and I do not know when will be the next time I will be going to Target.

e.l.f. Cosmetics Eyelid Primer in Sheer & Pearl

Buuuuut... I wandered into that danger area and came out of the store and back into my roommate's car with some more things. Initially, I grabbed several more items, but I narrowed it down to the final things you see (which was tougher than it seems). Everything else I bought was $1 each, so I didn't go toooo crazy on the impulsive spending.

... oops.

The first thing that caught my eye was the roll of striped paper tape aka washi tape. If you could not tell from my previous posts, I am in love with washi tape and anything crafty (even though I do not craft often). I do not have any gold washi tape yet (I have a lot of blue & pink), so for $1--rolls of washi tape can be an average of ~$4-5 depending on where you get it--it was a steal.

Then I saw these "notecards," or blank cards. Whenever I give a gift to someone, I like to make a card completely from scratch (a blog post will be up later about this!); however, the process is time-consuming (and a bit messy!), and I always find myself rushing to finish the card because of the other things I have on my agenda. These simple cards (again, for only $1) are cute and can be customized with some ribbons, washi tape, or other materials so each card is different, despite having the same base card. I was torn between the one below and one with pink stripes and a pink envelope with white polka dots, but I ultimately chose the polka dots because it was more gender-neutral.

Next, I saw socks. I typically do not wear socks because I do not really wear shoes that require them. However, after getting my lab job, I need to cover up my body from chemicals and other hazards in the lab so I wear close-toed shoes a lot... and you can't wear sneakers without socks (well, you can, but that's kind of gross. I'm not judging though). Even if I didn't have this job, printed socks are a trend right now. They are cute with casual wear (or to wear around the house--I'm imagining oversized t-shirt, no pants, and patterned socks) and can add color & flavor to any outfit! I debated between the gray socks with the mint polka dots and the pink socks with gray polka dots, but my roommate's friend said the mint polka dots were "chill." Sound reasoning indeed.

After some rummaging, I found these gift tags. I typically do not attach gift tags to my gifts (that's what the card is for... plus, the person receiving it should obviously know it's for him/her?), so I grabbed these for creative and crafting purposes. You never know when you'll need a gift tag!

I grabbed these mini gel pens at the last second just because I liked the colors and I used to be obsessed with gel pens. Back when I was in middle school, my parents bought me a tub of 100+ gel pens, and I would use them for everything. I'm not sure if it was because of nostalgia or the price tag ($1!) that made me grab it, but I did. My roommate convinced me to get it because she said it would be useful for studying (which is true).

Although it is kind of a sin to buy things you do not necessarily need like I do, I am glad that this time around my impulse buy only cost me $9.78. I'd say it's worth it (plus, retail therapy is so cathartic; the feeling alone of buying things makes me feel so much better).

That's all I got this time around, but you can almost guarantee that the next time I am at Target, I will be buying more than what I came for.