Recent Beauty Buys.

I've been loving MAC lately, previously I only ever purchased their lipsticks but I'm loving their eye shadows. No wonder why there is always hype around them! 

My fave lip balms at the moment are from  Burt's Bees, they are so moisturising, I have the mango one as well which I've been using everyday.

My skin has been really bad the past few weeks, I've been breaking out like crazy! My skin is usually dry but I've noticed that it has become more oily for some reason? After watching Kandee's recent video on clear skin I thought I'd try out the Dermalogica Clean Start kit that she recommended, however once it arrived my skin started to get a little better so I haven't actually tried it out yet. I've just been cleansing & moisturising for the past few days whilst my skin slowly gets better. I also read the ingredients & realised the active ingredient in the products are Salicylic Acid, which I've heard a lot of people seem to be allergic to so I'm scared to use it! 

Before my Dermalogica kit arrived, I popped in Superdrug the other day & suddenly wanted to try some face washes, cheaper alternatives to what I'm currently using. I have been using the Clean&Clear one in the mornings & its really nice & refreshing. Its just a really quick & easy face wash which works well! I bought the Neutrogena ones because I remember someone recommending it & it smells so nice! However I went home & looked for reviews online & it seems like A LOT of people are allergic to the Salicylic Acid in it, I had no idea what it was. I had to go on google & do a bit of research! But yeah, I'm scared I'll be allergic to it too seeing as my skin is quite sensitive!

I have been wanting to try Estee Lauder's Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher for ages so I finally went to purchase it a few weeks ago, but somehow the lady sold me the Even Skintone Illuminator instead, I didn't even realise until I got home but I thought I'd try it anyway. I did like it but I still wanted to try the other one so I went back the next week & purchased that one as well. I was expecting it to be really good, my skin was really bad at that time & I just wanted something which would be quick & effective. I like the consistency but it didn't seem to do much for me, maybe I didn't use it for long enough? I did see changes with the Even Skintone Illuminator though so I used that during the night & the Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher in the mornings. My skin was slowly getting better but I started breaking out in other areas of my face as well so I've stopped using any toners and serums at the moment until my skin clears up & maybe I'll find what the problem is.

I had a sudden urge to try out some Lush products the other day, I have no idea why I've never tried them before. I purchased a few things from their online store & received the package this morning. I've tried the Snow Fairy Shower Gel & it smells amazingggg! No wonder why its a bestseller!

& thats it! I started my degree this week, studying is draining me out. I feel so tired all the time! Its pretty usual for me when I'm studying, especially after having 19 weeks off! Its just getting back into the routine again I suppose. But yeah.. I hope everyone has been well!

xx

Clarins, GlossyBox & Elf!

I love shopping online because I love lovee loveee receiving packages in the post & I received 3 this week, yay!

 

Cleansing Milk with Alpine Herbs (Normal or Dry Skin)

I've been looking for a Cleansing milk for a while now & I heard good things about this one so I wanted to try it out. Clarins were having a free P&P offer so I jumped at the chance, you get to choose one free sample aswell so I chose the Water Purify One-Step Cleanser. When I opened the box there were also another two small samples inside from the Daily Energizer Range, yay :)

 

GlossyBox (September)

My first GlossyBox, love the range of products in this box. Love the HD Brows palette & I can't wait to try out the hair treatment & salt brushing.

 

elf Makeup

Whenever I shop on elf I only ever buy their brushes, I was never too interested in their makeup although I hear good reviews on them. I'm a big packaging person & theirs just put me off. I always worry about buying makeup that is too cheap because most times I believe you get what you pay for but they were having a 50% off offer so I thought I might as well try some of it out & see if its worth all the fuss. I got all of this for £12.50, cheap!

I actually received one more thing aswell but I'll write about that another time.

I've been spending so much lately, I went to the opening of Westfield, Stratford City as well. I need to stop & start saving up now! Well after I buy a dress :D

Beauty Haul.

Helloooo! Just thought I'd do a quick haul because I've bought a few beauty things lately..

 

Few weeks ago I made an order on sasa because I wanted to try some products.  

♥ Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner 

♥ Face Q All in One Facial Mask (3 boxes, 4 masks in each)

♥ My beauty Diary Japanese Cherry Blossom Mask (10 masks) 

♥ Essential Nuance Airy Ultra Honey Air Mask.

I love everything! I'm probably gonna repurchase these when I've used them up except for the Dolly Wink Eyeliner, I like it, I like the brush ( I thought it was a felt tip but its actually a calligraphy brush pen kinda brush) but the only problem is that it doesn't seem to last long on the inner corners of my eyes.

 

My purchases from Superdrug, Boots & The Body Shop.

♥ Ardell lashes #109

♥ Nivea Essential Lipbalm

♥ L'oreal Telescopic Mascara (Waterproof)

♥ Revlon Nail Enamel #095 Facets of Fuchsia

♥ Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer #2 & #3

♥ Collection 2000 Volume Sensation XXL Mascara (Waterproof)

♥ The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder #03 Medium Matte

I have loads of boxes of lashes at home that I love but when I saw these Ardell lashes I had to get them, I believe they only just started selling them in the UK because this was the first time I saw them. L'oreal Telescopic <3 I finally got this, when I said I wished that Benefit's They're real had a waterproof formula.. well this is the equivalent! Out of the millions of mascaras I own this is probably the closest one to being "The one" for me! I never look at Collection 2000 but I heard a lot of good things about the concealer so I picked those up & they were doing a 3 for 2 in boots so I just picked up a mascara too, I haven't tried it yet but it seems quite dry, I'm not expecting much from it. Finally got the Body Shop bronzer which I've been wanting as well, mainly because I love the packaging & the actual honeycomb print on the bronzer lol. It is very good though, a perfect matte bronzer! 

 

 

This is Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia, its the first Revlon polish I own, I always love their colours but I never buy them. Back in the days I never liked glitter polishes, I always found them quite tacky until recently, glitter polishes have developed majorly! I've had my eye on a few of Deborah Lippmann's glitter polishes but I haven't purchased any yet, then I walked into Superdrug & saw this, it just looks so nice I HAD TO get it! I hate fuchsia but this polish is actually really really nice, I love love loveeeeee it. It has a black jelly-ish base which fuchsia coloured small round glitters and larger hexagonal glitters.  It's also a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, from looking at the pictures, I really can't see a difference. I just had to take a picture although my nails are in a terrible state, they were all breaking so I just cut them all down & my cuticles are super dry!

But yeah thats it, I always get carried away when writing..

Collective Haul!

I've bought a few things in the past couple of weeks so I thought I'd do a collective haul to share some of the things.

Starting off with Makeup, surprisingly I haven't bought much makeup recently. I'm not really a lipgloss kinda girl, I like my lips moisturised but not glossy, I wanted something that lasted longer than lipstick for work so I popped in Superdrug for some lipstains. The colour doesn't budge and I can put lipbalm over it, perfect. I wanted to try the Revlon Just Bitten lip stains  but they didn't have the colour I wanted so I got these two instead..

Superdrug (Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstain, 150 Tender Rose) £5.99

This smells really nice, I love the colour aswell & its quite buildable. Lasting power is good, it lasts me long enough! The only problem is that mine has seemed to dry up really quickly.. not sure if thats just me.

Superdrug (GOSH Long Lasting Lip Marker, 002 Pink) £6.99

This smells amazinggg, the colour is quite bright, I just use this in the centre of my lips over the Maybelline one. The lasting power on this is amazing, it lasts foreverrrr.

eBay (Clarins Mosaique Summer Bronzing Compact SPF 10) £34 + £2 (RRP £26)

I'm so glad I got my hands on this, I never knew it was limited edition until I went to the Clarins counter in Boots & asked for it. The lady showed me a tester that she put away because they sold out because it was limited edition, she guaranteed me that I wouldn't find it anywhere! I was heartbroken. It was sold out in every online store so I decided to go on eBay & I found one from a seller called yourbeautybargains . I had to bid for it though, I always buy things on eBay but this was my first bid & I won! I payed £34 + £2 p&p for it, although it cost me £10 more than the RRP it is so worth it! The packaging is amazing, you also get 20g worth of product, that is loadssss. I was actually surprised at how big it is, it was the first thing I noticed when the lady showed me in Boots. The colour is perfect, not too shimmery either.

Ring fetish..

Top Left: Forever21, £3.90 || Top Right: Forever21, £3.15, £3.15, £3.90
Bottom Left: Accesorize £12 || Bottom Right: H&M £3.99

I had one more but it disappeared when I got home :(

& other random bits & bobs..

 Muji (Acrylic Pot, Deep) 95p each

My tinted moisteriser and BB cream is coming to an end so I bought these to scoop the products in when I cut them open.

Muji (P.E. 30g Tube) £1.25 each

I got these little tubes to put my cleanser and moisteriser in for when I go camping so I don't have the bring the big tubes.

 Pylones T/A Octopus (Pig Flashlight) £5 each

Me & my little sis got these for when we go camping. Ther're so cute & they don't use batteries either, eco-friendly (Y)

I got some clothes too & a few other bits too but I don't have photos of those.

I ordered a few nail supplies online too, some have arrived & I'm waiting for a few more but I'll do a mini haul when they all get here :)

What have you purchased recently?

Nightime Skincare Routine

Thought I might aswell make a post about this because its helped me so maybe it will help others too? :)
Anyway my skin has just been bad lately, all the stressing about with uni, late nights, lack of sleep & all that mumbo. Doesn't help that I don't really drink water either. But yeah sometime last week I realised my cheeks & nose were really red & bumpy! Not the first time I've had this problem but I've been lazy lately & not caring to put cream on at night & everything. I just like to cleanse & go sleep cus I'm lazy! But yeah I thought I had to do something about it & get back into my routine again now that I'm less busy, I was using this skincare routine before & it worked for me so I went back to it & its so hard to find things that work for my skin because its really sensitive! I started using Estee Lauder because my mum uses it & I tried it out & I liked it :D

EYE MAKEUP REMOVER:

 

Bobbi Brown, Instant Long Wear Makeup Remover, 100ml, £15

This is the only eye makeup remover I've tried that works for me, I use waterproof mascara so having an oil based remover is a must, this is so strong yet gentle! I have the most sensitive eyes & it doesn't irritate me like the others I've tried. Just bought my 4th bottle recently!

CLEANSER:

 

Estee Lauder, Soft Clean Moisture Rich Foaming Cleanser, 125ml, £19.50

I use this when I'm bothered because its a thick texture so it takes longer to use. I do love it though, leaves my skin nice & soft!

Creme De La Mer, The Cleansing Gel, 200ml, £52

I've been using this lately because its a gel formula so its really quick & easy to use. Love the smell & it works wonders for me! It is pricey for a cleanser though.

TONER:

 

Estee Lauder, Soft Clean Silky Hydrating Lotion, 200ml, £19.50

Its so hard to find a toner that works on my skin because its really sensitive & most toners are just too strong that they break me out but this one doesn't. Love it!! I just put a bit on a cotton pad & sweep it over my face.

SERUM:

 

Estee Lauder, Advanced Night Repair Serum, 50ml, £51

Started using this because of my mum nagging me but its really good! I think its been voted as one of the best serums. A little goes a long way too, I just squeeze a small amount on my fingers & pat it into my skin really well until it absorbs.

MOISTERISER:

 

Estee Lauder, Resilience Life Extreme Ultra Firming Creme SPF 15, 50ml, £53

This is probably more of a day cream because it has SPF but I use it as my night cream.

I'm so lazy that I don't use eye creams although I really should with the massive eyebags that I've got but when I am bothered I'll use my Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream. Anyway I've been using these every night for nearly a week now & my skin has really cleared up compared to last week, but its probably because I've been sleeping earlier & more too I guess?

I hope this helps some of you, made it such a long post when it really didn't need to be lol. Apologies!

My Fav Products!

Someone asked me to do a post about some beauty recommendations so I thought I'd share some of my fav products, sorry its a bit late!

 

1) Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner.  

This is by far my fav eyeliner, I prefer gel liners because they're easier to work with than liquid liner & longer lasting than pencil liners. I use this on top of a primer & it lasts all day! Its not cheap but the pot lasts a long time, I've been using this for ages & I'm on my 3rd pot so I hope that shows how much I love this product. Black Ink is a must-have and Espresso Ink is nice if you want something a bit lighter.

 

2) Bobbi Brown EXTRA Balm Rinse.

This is one of my fav cleansers, its a balm formula so its good if you have dry skin. It has a citrus scent which I love! The pot is massive & it lasts ages, a little goes a long way. I just scoop a bit out with my finger and warm it between my fingers before I apply it to my face, it has a nice warming sensation too. At first I was a bit unsure because its a balm so I thought it would be a pain to wash off but once it touches water it turns white & soapy so its really easy to wash off. I think I've had this since July & its still not finished yet, I have another one in my stash too :p They have samples so pick one up & try it to see if you like it!

 

3) Bobbi Brown Instant Long Wear Makeup Remover.

This is an eye & lip makeup remover but I just use it for my eyes. I would not know how I would survive without this! I always use waterproof mascara because normal mascara doesn't hold the curl in my lashes & everyone knows what a pain it is to remove waterproof mascara but this is the only remover I've tried that actually does the job so easily! I use it with a cotton pad and it takes just one swipe to remove eyeshadow, eyeliner takes a couple & obviously its a bit longer for waterproof mascara but it will remove every single bit. I just ran out of my second bottle today so I had to use my Simple one which is total crap compared! It claims to remove waterproof mascara but it didn't at all, in the end my mascara was just flaking off rather than being removed and my eyes started hurting cus I was rubbing it so much, no difference than using water. This is extra gentle aswell, my eyes are super sensitive & this never irritates my eyes, its also suitable for contact lense wearers. The only thing is I do find that it runs out quickly but maybe its because I use it everyday? & its a little expensive for an eye makeup remover but it is worth it if you use waterproof eye makeup!

 

4) Amie Morning Dew Matte-Finish Moisteriser.

This is my fav moisteriser, its made especially for young skin & it leaves your skin matte which is good if you have oily skin, its a nice base for your makeup too. I still prefer this over my expensive moisterisers because it absorbs into the skin quickly, smells nice and I like the packaging because its easy to use which is good because I'm lazy in the mornings. Its inexpensive too, only under a fiver! I normally just use this in the morning & I use something a little heavier at night. I think I'm on my 3rd bottle now? Love it!

 

5) Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

I use this everyday even when I'm not wearing eyeshadow because it helps my eyeliner last longer (I think lol) & it stops my lids from getting oily. Its transparent once its spread out & I think you can get a shimmery champagne coloured one too! I've been using it ever since I discovered it, I'm on like the 2nd or 3rd bottle now. The only thing I don't like about it is the packaging, its pretty but the product gets stuck in places you can't reach, even though they changed the wand which helps a bit but it would still be better in a tube or something!

Thats all for now. Let me know if you wanna see some more like fav foundations & stuff but I think this post is long enough for now. What are some of your fav products?

Update!

Ello guys!
Its finally the end of another week I had a little accident with my phone last Saturday so its been a whole week without it & I'm coping better than thought I would but it makes work extra boring when its not busy! I've decided that I wanna get a blackberry & I've spent the whole week tryna get it from o2 but they're giving me so much trouble that I'm gonna have to buy it elsewhere & I'm thinking to get the sim contract instead of contract because its only 12months but I would have to get the phone on pay as you go which I can't afford right now, I guess it'll be another week til I actually get it :( I can't decide whether I should get the Blackberry Bold 9780 in white or black either, I'm not usually a fan of white phones but theres something about the white bold that I like but then I want the black one too.. decisions decisions!  

I'm still slacking with my uni work as always, I've got sooooooo much to catch up on & a hell of a lot to do for Monday. I still haven't found my motivation anywhere, I know I have to get it done but my body just doesn't wanna bother doing it!

I ordered quite a few things online in the past week, loads of nail stuff, some acrylic paint for nail art, some things from yesstyle, false lashes from ebay (wasn't planning to get them but I somehow accidentally clicked "buy it now" and confirmed it so I thought I might aswell just pay for it) & some elf brushes!
Anyway I bought a new sleek palette earlier in the week aswell so after work today I decided to try it out with my new lashes and the Revlon PhotoReady foundation because I haven't tried any of them yet. I like to experiment when I'm bored! So yeah, heres the look :p

 

 

 

I used Bobbi Brown's cream shadow in Galaxy for the base & 3 eyeshadows from Sleek's Storm palette. The sleek eyeshadows are amazing as always! The lashes are nice but they're so long and much more dramatic than the ones I usually wear, I still like them but probably won't wear them a lot. The foundation sure does make my skin look good in these photos, I like the coverage and consistency but it feels so weird because I haven't worn foundation for so long so for daily use I'm still sticking to my tinted moisteriser!

Later on my bro come up and gave me a package, it was from elf! I was so shocked because I only ordered it yesterday morning just before I left for college, they did send me an email a couple hours later to say it was dispatched but I didn't expect it to come today, the shipping was free too so yeah I was impressed.

It was the first time I ordered from them, I'm not really attracted to their makeup but I heard good things about the studio powder brush and I've been meaning to buy it for some time now. I ordered 4 because usually when I buy new products my aunt and sis in law want them too lol. I haven't used it yet but it feels soft and its dense too so hopefully its amazing like everyone says it is!

Anyway I think thats it for now, sorry for the long post I tend to babble on a lot but yeah I'd like to hear which Blackberry you think looks better & if there are any other elf products you would recommend, leave a comment below, Muah! xx

I'm a sucker for..

cute packaging! I only discovered Jill Stuart yesterday and O.M.G her cosmetics are beautiful! They're like jewels! They're so expensive but I must get my hands on some! These are going on my Birthday wishlist lol :D

Anna Sui's cosmetics are so beautifully packaged aswell, I love the black rose design! All the fragrance bottles are beautiful as well, these are going on my wishlist too :p

Anyway I ordered one of Shiseido's Majolica Majorca mascara's so I can't wait to try that out! And a load of nail stuff for work because I wanna learn 3d nail art & introduce that to the shop as well although not much people would have it done, everyone just usually has french, colour or "something suitable for work" and there's only the odd few that have designs, owell atleast I get to have it! :D

Shopping!

I woke up this morning at 1:45pm which is so not me! usually I'm up before noon on my days off but since 2011 started its shifted to 12:30pm but for some reason I got up extra late today, I've become so lazy! I didn't sleep til 5:30am last night though so I guess I have an excuse. Anyway I gave in to my urge to shop and because I haven't been to my local shopping centre in ages I thought why not, if I stay at home I'm just gonna nap.

Here are some of the stuff I bought..

1. Revlon PhotoReady Foundation in 005 Natural Beige (£12.99) - I don't actually know why I even bought this, I hardly use foundation nowadays because I love my Laura Mercier Tinted Moisteriser and I still have like 6 bottles of foundation, I guess I just wanted to try it? I don't usually like to buy drugstore foundations because I think when it comes to foundation its worth it to pay a bit extra and get something better and its quite hard to find the right colour because you can't try it all over your face like where theres a counter. Anyway I heard some good things about this so hopefully its not too bad. It has shimmer in it & its got SPF 20 which I don't really prefer but we'll see!

2. Bourjois Clubbing Eye Liner in Ultra Black (£5.99) - I've been cheating on my BB gel liner for the past couple days because I was bored of using the brown and my black one is nearly empty so I've been using liquid liner instead, I've got a felt tip one already so I bought this one because I wanted to have a fine tip one as well, I've bought this before & its alright so yeah.. I'll be back to using my BB gel liner once I've bought a new one though! Oh yeah I HATE it when they stick the super sticky security stickers on the packaging, WHY DO THEY DO THAT?! its like impossible to remove without leaving that sticky stuff and I like my things clean! :@

3. Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel (£2.99) - I needed a temporary eyebrow pencil to replace my fav Lancome one because I found out this morning that its finished so I got this one, not really a fan of Rimmel but this is decent :)

I wanted to get some shoes but every time I picked up a pair that I liked it was at least a size 4, there were no size 3's anywhere!! Then I went into Dorothy Perkins and found these in a Size 3, they're so cute & I love the colour! They were on sale for £12, bargain! I love how buying new shoes just instantly makes me happy :D

I got these two from Dorothy Perkins as well, the necklace was on sale for only £2, its so cute! The ring was £6.50, it looks kinda similar to one I have already but yeah, love it!

I bought a long sleeved top from River Island too because I hardly have any long sleeves and there were a lot of other things I saw online but I couldn't find and a lot of shoes I wanted but they didn't have  my size but there were two items I nearly bought but didn't, I really want them though, maybe next time!

I realised why I haven't been shopping there in ages, there's really not much at all & the whole place has downgraded! They need better shops!
After I finished my shopping my friend came because he needed me to help him buy a diary hahaha! I won't expose him but yeah, still surprising and hilarious!
Anyway sorry for the long post, I think I'll stop my gibberish now! x