Mini Beauty Haul

Trying to blog on a fairly regular basis whilst doing university work is not easy in the slightest bit. I don't know how on earth some people manage it. So here's my feeble attempt at a new blog post which is a small beauty haul. Yesterday afternoon I headed into town to meet up with two of my old friends from school and have some lunch. Typical for me lunch somehow turned into picking up a few beauty products.

Simple Kind To Skin Replenishing Rich Moisturiser

I always use Simple moisturiser as it's a brand I really do trust when it comes to skincare. I normally go for the light hydrating version however as the weather is getting colder I know my skin will benefit more from the rich replenishing version as it's a lot thicker and has 3 skin loving ingredients rather than the 2 that the light version does. This bottle normally retails of £3.99 however it was on sale so I managed to pick it up for £1.95.

Primark False Lashes - Natural and Intense

Next up I picked up these two sets of false lashes from Primark. I'm not the best at putting on false lashes. In fact, I am terrible at it. However I find that the Primark lashes are very light and easy to apply. They don't feel heavy on the lid and they feel quite comfortable to wear. I've tried both the Natural and the Sultry lashes but I'd never seen the Intense ones before so I decided to pick them up too. All packs of lashes come with a tube of adhesive so you don't even need to worry about purchasing any glue. £1 for a pack of lashes is amazing! I think I'll do a review on these sometime soon.

Maybelline Colour Show - So So Fresh

Now that I have nails I'm quickly becoming addicted to buying nail polish and experimenting with colour. I've tried Rimmel and Barry M but I've not branched out to any other brands yet so I decided to pick up shade So So Fresh from Maybelline's Colour Show range. These retail for around £2.99 and there are a whole range of colours.

Primark Beauty - Eyeliner x 2 and Sharpener

The final item I picked up was this pack of 2 black eyeliners which comes with a little pencil sharpener. Other than the lashes and the nails I've not used any other Primark beauty items so this will be my first. I believe these were also just £1 so I hope they're good. 

Beauty Haul

It's been a little while since my I last did a beauty post on here but I recently popped into town to repurchase some of my everyday make-up products that had ran out and I also managed to pick up a few new bits to try out. I'll probably do more of an in depth review of some of these products later on but for now here's a little round up of everything I bought.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Peachy Glow Palette - £8

I'd seen a few bloggers post about the new Tanya Burr Cosmetics Palettes that had recently launched however I never intended to purchase any of them up until I recently popped into Superdrug and saw the last remaining Peachy Glow palette. As soon as I'd picked it up to look at it I knew I had to get it. This palette contains a bronzer, a blusher and a highlighter. So far I am yet to try the highlighter however the bronzer and blusher are beautiful and I have now incorporated these shades into my everyday make-up look. I'm definitely interested to try some more products from this collection.

PS Design Nails - 50p

I've purchased false nails from Primark before and I only got round to wearing one set very briefly as this was around the time I used to bite my nails and therefore didn't have any so I found wearing false nails just too weird and took them off within an hour of having them on. Over the summer I managed to stop biting my nails and now have some lovely nails of my own but I just couldn't resist picking up these cute pineapple print ones, especially as they were reduced to just 50p! I can't wait to give these a go and hopefully they will feature on my blog sometime soon.

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation - £8.99 

This is hands down one of my favourite foundations that I have ever tried. I think I'm still yet to find the perfect pale foundation for me but this one is pretty close to my skin tone. It's a very light, easily blendable foundation with subtle shimmer throughout it which helps give your skin a very healthy looking glow. This is my second bottle of this foundation now as I found that my first one did last a few months so although almost £10 for a drugstore foundation does seem a bit much, it definitely is worth it.

L'Oreal Miss Manga Mega Volume Mascara -  £8.99

Next up is another repurchase, I'm pretty sure this is my favourite mascara that I have ever tried. Although I really hate spending the £8.99 on it, I do find it's one of the only mascara's that gives me a noticeable boost in the height of my lashes and also does a really good job at lengthening them without getting too clumpy or thick.

Rimmel London 60 Second Super Shine by Rita Ora (Shade Peachella) - £2.99 

As I've recently grown my nails I've been enjoying buying nail polish for the first time and actually experimenting with nail art. One of the first shades I picked up was this one from the Rita Ora collaboration with Rimmel London. This is a beautiful peach colour which I'm very much looking forward to trying when I get round to it. 

Rimmel London 60 Second Super Shine (Shade Caramel Cupcake) - £2.99

This is one of the nail polishes I picked up that I actually have tried. Caramel Cupcake is a really nice nude / mauve kind of colour which I think I'll get a lot of wear out of. It's really quick drying which is great for me as I'm pretty terrible at smudging my nail polish however I do find that this chips quite easily. 

Barry M Aquarium Nail Paint (Shade Pacific) 

The final thing I picked up was this Barry M Nail Paint from the Aquarium collection. For as long as I can remember I've been looking at this nail polish nearly every time I've nipped into Superdrug and now I finally have nails I could justify picking it up. I have tried this one out already and I have to say I was slightly disappointed with it. This polish takes a few layers to actually build up an intense colour and I don't believe the colour looks as nice as it does in the bottle. 

Beauty Haul

Today on my blog I'm going to be showing you a few products I've recently picked up during my last few trips to Superdrug. I've been going there a lot recently, picking up little basic things for myself and a variety of make-up bits and bobs for the photoshoots I've been doing as part of my last uni project. So with that being said, I finally felt like I had gathered enough items up to create a blog post. 

I'll begin with the only skincare products I picked up. The first thing was a repurchase of a favourite product of mine which is the Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser. I believe I've mentioned this a few times on my blog before so I won't say too much about it other than it's a firm favourite of mine that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a nice, light moisturiser especially for the Summer months. I then also picked up two packs of Superdrugs own Cleansing Facial Wipes for sensitive skin. They're really cheap and do a pretty good job at taking my make-up off when I'm feeling too lazy to do it properly so it's always handy having some of these laying around!

Next up is this Mitchum Roll on Deodorant. I've mentioned before on my blog that I'm really fussy with deodorants, I have no preference and find I get bored or go off the scent of them really quickly. I'm yet to find my perfect deodorant but I think (fingers crossed) that this one stands a pretty good chance. I've never heard of this brand before or noticed it in stores, however after noticing my mum had started using it and how good it smelt I decided to try it for myself. It was pretty cheap but so far I've been enjoying using it! I then also picked up the Miss Sporty Hollywood Lipgloss in the clear shade called Hollywood Boulevard. I'm not one for lip glosses however I picked this up to use for one of my photoshoots. I doubt I'd use this product for myself, however I will keep it in my kit for future shoot uses. 

On to eye products now. I picked up the Romantic Efflorescence palette from MUA which I've been looking at for a while and finally decided to try. It was only £4 so it was really affordable. I needed a purple eyeshadow for a 70's glam rock inspired shoot I was doing and this palette had the perfect shade in it so I finally had a reason to justify picking it up! I'm yet to really use this palette myself, so until I do I won't say much else about it. I also picked up 3 different eyeliners, I picked up my usual Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner, however I picked up the brown shade rather than my usual black as I wanted to create a fake freckle look in one of my beauty shoots. Continuing on with my quest to find the ideal freckle faker I also picked up a brown pencil eyeliner from MUA which comes with a spooly on the other end. So handy and I'm pretty sure it was only a £1! I then decided to stray away from my typical eyeliner and went with the Miss Sporty Studio Lash The Miaoww Look Eyeliner. I've been using this for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it. In fact, I think it may even replace my collection one as my favourite eyeliner. The nib is so thin which allows me to create really precise lines and sharp flicks. 

I went a bit crazy for lipsticks as I was doing a beauty shoot which involved neon lip colours being the main focal point of the look. As I knew I was picking up multiple bright shades (which chances are I wouldn't ever use myself) I decided to stick to cheap and cheerful brands. I picked up two from MUA and two from Make-up Revolution - all of which I believe were about £1. The Orange Lipstick is from Make-up Revolutions Scandalous collection and is in the shade "Vice". The purple Make-up Revolution lipstick is in the shade "Depraved". The MUA lipstick in the white bullet is in the shade "Peachy Keen" and the MUA lipstick in the black bullet is in the shade Persian Rose. Despite all lipsticks only costing a £1, the colour pay off is really quite amazing. I was really impressed with how well they worked for my photoshoot and some of the colours could be quite wearable if a bright lip is something you're in to. 


That's all for this beauty haul, although I have been shopping again recently (whoops) so expect another haul very soon! 

Pamper Evening

Every now and again it's always nice to have a little pamper evening and treat yourself. As I briefly mentioned in my last post I've had a bit of bad luck with my health recently and after numerous blood tests, doctors appointments and the surprising admission into hospital I have actually been diagnosed with Crohns disease. A long term condition with no current cure. So with that being said after a bit of moping around and feeling sorry for myself I decided I was definitely in need of a little pamper evening! So here's a round up of some of the products I reach for when I'm in need of a little pick me up..

Let it be said now that I have a rubbish skin care routine, I make no effort with my skin so when I do have a pamper evening I really like to give it a deep cleanse. Although not everybody's cup of tea I personally really like to use pore strips as I do get quite a lot of blackheads. There's something just so strangely satisfying about ripping one of these off and seeing how many blackheads you've been able to get rid of. (Gross but accurate right?) I don't tend to have a favourite brand, I just tend to pick up whatever happens to be on offer at the time. On this particular occasion I just so happened to have the T-Zone nose strips although I do also use Superdrugs own brand ones from time to time.

Afterwards I like to use a face mask, my favourite one at the moment is the Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask from The Bodyshop. This face mask is catered towards those with more Combination / Oily skin as it does contain alcohol and therefore really does draw out any excess oils and dry the skin out. The Bodyshop recommend using this up to two times per week however I personally think for my skin that's a little excessive which is why I chose to use it very occasionally. If I'm having a bad time with spots or if I'm having a pamper evening I'll simply apply a thin layer of this, leave it for 10 minutes and then wash it off in the sink or in the shower. It really helps dry out any spots you may have and leaves the skin feeling really tight and clean.

After I've cleansed my skin I like to use a little of my Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser to help return some of moisture back into face and to overall help feel really refreshed and clean. As I've said before on my blog this is such a lovely moisturiser, it feels so lightweight and not greasy in the slightest so it's perfect to pop on just before jumping into bed or in the Summer when it's too hot for heavy products.

 If I've had a shower I also like to sit down and take the time to moisturise my body, focusing particularly on my legs and feet as I find they get quite dry from time to time. For this I use The BodyShop Satsuma Body Butter which retails for about £5. This body butter is really thick, creamy and luxurious so you don't need to use a lot of product. I will warn you however that the scent is a dividing point. It is incredibly strong and does hang about so if you don't like strong smelling products or the smell of Satsuma then this isn't the product for you! This product leaves my skin feeling really hydrated, really soft and I truly feel pampered after using it. 

After all that pampering it's time to light a candle, settle down in some comfy pyjamas and pull out a good book. The candle I have at the moment is a Pink Dragon Fruit one by Yankee Candle which smells lovely although my personal favourite has to be the Strawberry Buttercream one which is to die for! The book I'm currently reading is 50 Ways To Find A Lover by Lucy - Anne Holmes, I'm not very far into it so there's not much I can say for now other than the fact that it's the ideal sort of book for me. Light hearted, amusing and easy to get into. An ideal book to wind down with after a stressful day! The chocolate is optional of course but come on, what's a pamper night without a bit of chocolate?

Mini Beauty Haul

Hello Readers,

I was running low on some of my beauty essentials recently so I decided to pop in to Superdrug and restock on some of my products. I didn't pick up many products so there's not a lot to show but I thought I'd do a little post on it anyway! 

First thing I picked up was a box of L'OREAL Casting Creme Gloss Hair Dye in the shade Iced Truffle. Now I don't think I've mentioned this on my blog before but unfortunately I'm on the side of the family that goes grey early meaning I have to dye my hair pretty regularly to stay on top of the problem. I've dyed my hair countless times throughout my teen years and don't usually stay loyal to one brand, however the last few times I have repurchased this exact dye and in this exact shade. It's a lovely product and I feel like the colour is the perfect shade of chocolate brown! 

Next up is the Gosh CC Illuminating foundation which retails for £8.99. I've never used this product before, in fact I was going to purchase my usual Gosh BB cream however when I saw this I just felt really overwhelmed to try it. GOSH is a make-up brand that so many people overlook, probably due to price - however their BB cream is probably one of the best face products I've ever used. So when I saw they had released a CC cream and in 2 lighter shades I just had to have it. I've used this twice already but hopefully once I've formed an opinion on it I shall be able to review it soon! 

I then picked up a pack of Superdrugs own brand cleansing facial wipes. A bit of a boring purchase but a completely necessary one! Again, I don't stay loyal to one brand of face wipes and these just happened to be the ones I picked up on this particular trip to Superdrug. These wipes seem to be quite heavily fragranced which may or may not irritate my skin so I'll use them for now and see how I get on. 

The final product I picked up was the VO5 Heat Protect Styling Spray. I was never usually one for hair products as I never knew what products I needed to use and felt like they didn't do anything for me. However recently I have sort of settled into a hair care routine and this is one of the products that features in it, I do use it for its intended purpose which is to protect my hair from heat but it also kind of doubles as a de-tangling spray for me as I have really knotty hair. It's cheap and it does the job! I'm pretty sure I will be doing a post on my hair care routine quite soon so look out for that if you're interested in seeing what other hair products I use! 

That's all for this post, I hope you're all well!

Sleek Lace Blush Palette Review

Hello Readers,

Today I will be reviewing the Sleek Blush By 3 Palette in Lace. I've been after this product for quite sometime now, yet I just never seemed to pick it up. I've popped into Superdrug countless times to look at it, and have almost ordered it on Amazon an abundance of times. However, I very kindly received it as a Christmas Present from one of my boyfriends sisters, which I am extremely thankful for! I'm no stranger to Sleek, it's a brand which I am quite familiar with as I now have a few products from them. It's a brand that rarely ever seems to disappoint as most of their products are high quality, extremely pigmented, affordable and not to mention accessible!

The Blush By 3 Palette is a palette consisting of 3 blushes - obvious I know! There are 6 different palettes to choose from and those are;
-Flame
-Lace
-Pink Spirit

- Pumpkin

- Sugar

- Sweet Cheeks

All are priced at £9.99 which is an absolute steal for 3 blushes!

 All of the palettes are full of extremely bright and pigmented colours however Lace was the palette I wanted in particular as I felt like it had the most wearable shades to suit my skin tone. As usual it comes in Sleeks trade mark lightweight black and if you'll pardon the cringey pun, "sleek" packaging. It's simple yet classy and that's what I like about it.There's a full size mirror within the compact meaning this is the perfect product to take on the go with you as touch ups are easy!

There's a fantastic selection of shades within the palette I chose, all of which are very bright orange / coral toned and are extremely pigmented. You also get a range of finishes, the palette contains 2 matte blushes and 1 shimmery one.

The three shades within the palette are;

Crochet

Guipure

Chantilly.

Crochet is the bright orange peachy shade which at first glance looks quite intimidating as it's so bright, however you just need the tiniest amount on a brush to be able to create a perfect, healthy looking flush of colour to the face. Crochet is a matte blush.

Guipure is the only shimmery blush within the palette. It's a peach toned pink with very fine golden flecks all throughout it. Shimmery blushes aren't typically what I go for, I'm normally a matte kind of girl however this blush looks lovely on the skin and gives you a glowy finish without looking like you've just whacked a load of glitter on your face. This is also a great blush to layer on top of other blushes.

Chantilly is probably the most scary looking one within the palette. It's a bright red toned pink which is a colour I don't think I've ever owned in my life. All of my blush shades are either pink or coral so this is something really new for me. Like Crochet, this is another colour which also requires only a minimal amount on a brush to be able to create a lovely flush of colour to the cheeks. If you have a darker skin tone you may be able to get away with layering this up a bit however on us extremely pale girls, we need to go easy on it! Just a small amount and the right amount of blending makes this wearable for even the palest of skin tones.

Swatches of all the colours.

As mentioned before, all the shades are incredibly pigmented, they layer well, blend rather easily and last pretty much all day on the skin!

Overall I feel like this palette probably is more suited to the Summer months however that's not going to stop me from continuing to use it now, even in gloomy January! Crochet is fast becoming one of my favourite shades to reach for. I've even had my boyfriend tell me how much he likes that shade on me so if a boy notices it, that's got to be a good thing right?!

If you're yet to try any Sleek products I highly recommend you give them ago. It's a brand that provides great high quality products for low prices and they have the most amazing colour range.

That's all for this post, I know I'm a bit late when it comes to reviewing this product as it's been out for a while now but hopefully this review comes in handy to someone!

Have you tried this product? What do you think of it?
What Sleek products would you recommend?

I hope you're all well.



Empties #1

 

Hello Readers,

It's been a while since my last post so apologies for that. I've been suffering from a bit of writers block recently and had no idea what to do a post on. However I was looking around my flat this evening when I realised that I have a fair few empty products laying around. I've never done an empties post before so I hope this is some what interesting for you all to read.

First up is the L'Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo and Conditioner. I recently dyed my hair a few weeks back and have been using these since. I only used a semi - permanent hair dye and I'd say this combination definitely helped my hair colour last longer. I normally find that all hair dyes seem to fade on me within 2 weeks max, but by using these I've managed to keep my hair colour quite dark for just over a month. I really like these for maintaining hair colour, however I'm not sure if I would repurchase as I really need to buy shampoos that will help control my extremely frizzy and wavy hair. So if anyone could recommend some shampoos for me that would be great!

 

Next is this Boots Botanics Rosewater Toning Spritz. I've had this product for months and have only just finished it. I use this product twice a day, once after I've exfoliated In the morning, and at night after I've took off my make-up and cleansed my skin. I really enjoy using this product and I feel like it really does freshen my skin and cleanse any remaining impurities. I would definitely repurchase this again. I featured this product in my skincare routine post which you can see here.

 

Next up is this Simple Spotless Skin Rapid Action Spot Zapper - phew! What a mouthful. I talk about this product quite frequently on my blog. I've gone through many tubes of this. It helps to gradually get rid of my blemishes without trying out my skin or irritating it. Simple is a great brand and I highly recommend them.

 

Next up is something that's quite dull however I thought I'd feature it anyway. I finished this pack of 100% Pure Cotton Wool pads. Again, I go through loads of packets of cotton wool and will continue to purchase packets of it as they're handy to use when taking off your makeup.

 



Finally the last item I have to feature in my empties is this pack of Osiris Deep Cleansing facial wipes. I picked up 3 packs of these wipes for a £1 in Asda, a month or so back when I was picking up bits and bobs for my holiday to Zante. I've never heard of this brand before and if I'm honest, I don't know anything about them still. I don't think I'll be buying these wipes again however as I feel like they have irritated my skin. Although I'm not 100% sure, I do think these wipes may have been the culprit.


That's all for my first Empties post. I hope this has been somewhat interesting for you!

I hope you're all well.

Paige.

 



Mini Haul #7

Hello Readers,

Today I have a mini haul to share with you all. I've been picking up a few bits and bobs over the last 2 weeks and I thought I'd share them with you. There's a mixture of beauty, clothes and accessories so I'll just get straight into it!

 

First thing I got was 2 Simple Kind To Skin Roll On Spot Zappers. I've got through loads of these little tubes now and I love them. The Roll On Spot Zappers are really kind and gentle to the skin and help to gradually get rid of any spots that I have. They contain Zinc, Chamomile, Witch Hazel and Lavender. Zinc PCA absorbs excess oils and helps to heal wounds, Chamomile acts as an anti inflammatory, Witch Hazel helps to tone and tighten pores and Lavender calms and soothes redness.

Simple is a skincare brand that I really trust, I do really like the idea behind their products and haven't disliked a single product that I've tried from them. At first glance you wouldn't expect this product to last you a long time, however just one of these tubes lasts me for months! I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I picked one of these up as it was so long ago.This product has a roll on applicator which means application is simple (no pun intended) easy and clean.These retail for £5.49 each however when I picked them up there was a buy one, get one free offer on all Simple products. So if you're interested in picking something up from this brand, I highly recommend you get to your local Superdrug now!

 

 

Next I picked up a little packet of T-ZONE pore strips. I don't often bother with pore strips as they're not really that great with your skin if you use them regularly. However I recently decided my skin could do with a good cleansing and I decided to give these a go. I'm yet to use these so I can't really say much about them right now. These retail for £5.05 (odd price) so I'm hoping they're good!

 

Next is a bit of a boring purchase however it was necessary. I picked up this bag of 100% Pure Cotton Wool Balls so I can use them to help take my makeup off. These retail for £1.49.

 

 

Next I picked up this pack of Superdrug's own Camomile Facial Cleansing Wipes. I personally hate spending lots of money of face wipes so I normally just go for the cheapest ones. I've previously used other Superdrug own face wipes however I've never used the camomile ones before. These retail for 99p.

 

Next I picked up a Tropical Cocktail face mask. As you can see from the pictures above this is a new product and I just had to try it. Cocktail face masks? How could anyone resist?! This face mask contains extracts of mango and noni fruit juice and it claims to "cleanse and revitalise skin". Me and my boyfriend both used this face mask last night and we both love it. We both felt like it had really cleansed our skin and left our faces feeling really smooth and soft. When I woke up this morning, I found that my skin looked much better! Not bad considering this product was only 99p.

 

Next I went to Primark and picked up this adorable black faux leather backpack. I've been wanting a backpack for ages now and I finally found one that I really liked that was also a good price. This cost me £9 and I just know I'm going to get loads of use out of it!

 

Also from Primark, were these beautiful Cigarette Style trousers. I've wanted to get a pair of trousers like this for a while now and what better time to pick some up when I'm in the middle of searching for a job. They have a beautiful yet subtle baroque style print on them which I think is just gorgeous. I picked these trousers up in a size 8 however I could have definitely done with a size 6 as they're too baggy on me so I have to keep shuffling them up every 5 minutes. I can't remember the exact price of these but I think they were about £12.

Next is another boring purchase however they are essential now it's getting colder! I picked up 2 pairs of tights, one being Primark's infamous super cosy tights which I don't think I've ever owned a pair of and the other being simple 15 denier black tights. I'm hoping the super cosy tights are as good as everyone says they are! I think the tights were about £2.50 each but forgive me if I'm wrong.

 

Next up is another basic purchase and it's just a simple white vest from Primark. As I've been going to interviews I've been needing a little simple white vest to put underneath any shirts that are a little too sheer. I think this was around £3.



Next I got this beautiful monochrome Skort from Ebay. My boyfriend kindly bought me this as a treat and I couldn't possible be happier with it. It's stunning! When I first started seeing skorts about I thought they were ugly, I thought the shape of them was weird and I wasn't going to be wearing them. However, the more I saw them, the more I began to like them until suddenly I was desperate to get my hands on one too. I got this from Ebay and it was around £7 with free delivery. The quality of this is amazing, it feels so comforable and soft and I'm so surprised considering it was so cheap. I picked this up in an XS and it fits really well. I really like the geometric style print and I can't wait to style this for you guys!



Next I got these 2 beautiful thin gold Midi Rings from River Island. They came in a pack of 2 and only cost me £2 which is amazing. I've been wanting some midi rings for ages now but most places were charging far too much for what they are. I was on Ebay the other week looking at a 2 pack of midi rings that looked exactly like these and they were £8. I'm so glad I found these and can't wait to start wearing them!

 

Lastly is this monochrome striped dress from River Island. I've been wanting a dress like this for ages, Motel Rocks did one like this with larger stripes that I really wanted however it was around £40 which I thought was too expensive for what it was so I decided to wait and thank goodness I did. I found this on the River Island website for just £20 so I picked it up straight away. I can't wait to start wearing this so keep an eye out for it being featured in an OOTD post very soon.

That's all for this post, I hope you enjoyed!

I hope you're all well.

Paige.