New Lip Purchases

Today I have 2 little bargains of lip products I picked up recently to show you!  First up is a gorgeous lipstick from MUA, one of their newer shades, Number 14 - Bare:

And a couple of swatches in different lights to show you the various tones to this colour:

This is a gorgeous nude shade, kind of a pink/beige colour with a hint of peach.  This is my second MUA lipstick and they really are excellent quality, especially for the price you pay.  They are lovely and moisturising while still being fairly pigmented, and although the staying power wouldn't be up there with the likes of MAC, that's certainly no big complaint when you are only paying £1/€1.35 for a lipstick!

Next I got one of the Collection 2000 Cream Puff Lip Creams in Powder Puff:

I'm not a big fan of lip glosses, I just can't bear the stickiness of them, but these creams are a nice alternative.  Again, they are really moisturising and quite pigmented and this is a similar shade to the MUA lipstick.  Here's some swatches of it alone and over the MUA lipstick:

Left, Cream Puff in Bare on its own; Right, over MUA Lipstick Shade 14

Thanks for reading guys!

GOSH Bargains

Hi Guys!

I was in my local pharmacy the other day and found a few good bargains in a little sale basket there, so I thought I would share!

First up, I finally got my hands on a bottle of Gosh Holographic Nail Polish.  I have been keeping an eye out for ages for a stray bottle of this but could never get one until now!  I can't wait to try it out and I'll pop up a little nail of the day when I do!

I also got a lipliner pencil and an eyeliner pencil:

The eyeliner is in Copper Girl and the lipliner is in the shade Nougat Crisp.  Now I have been after Nougat Crisp for a while as the Irish YouTuber LittleKiva always uses it (check out her channel here), and I thought it looked like a good neutral shade.  Coppergirl is a gorgeous metallic coppery brown which is a really good colour with my blue eyes, and the consistency of this is so soft and velvety. Swatch time:

Top is Copper Girl, middle is Nougat Crisp heavily swatched and bottom is a normal thin line of Nougat Crisp.

I don't know why these were in a bargain basket, maybe they have been discontinued (I know Holographic is), but I saw both liners in another shop today at full price so I'm not sure what it's all about! Anyway, they all cost me £2 each so quite the bargain! Let me know if any of you see any GOSH items on sale like this anywhere near you!

Collective Beauty Haul

Hi Guys!

I have purchased a few beauty related items over the last few weeks so I thought I would show you them all together in a collective haul.  I'm just going to list them with prices and where I bought them in today's post, and I will follow up with reviews once I've used them for a little while!

Left to right, I bought:

Real Techniques stippling brush £11.99 and Eco Tools eyeshadow brush which was around £7, both from Boots.  First impressions of both of these brushes is good - they are very soft and dense and I can't wait to use them!

OPI Muppets Collection mini set of 4 polishes from the collection. I got this from Sallys and it cost me around £10.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 3W1 Tawny.  I love the finish and lasting power of Double Wear.  I have this in 3N1 Ivory Beige but it was too pink for me so I got it in Tawny as it is the warmer toned colour of the same intensity and it seems to be a far better match for me so far! This was £26.50 in Debenhams.

I also bought myself a new bottle of my favourite perfume, Armani Code, from The Perfume Shop.  I want to take a little time to tell you about the offer the Perfume Shop have on at the moment.  They have this thing called a Viva Box, which includes samples of 7 different popular fragrances and a little perfume atomiser:

Also in the box is a voucher which you can then exchange for a full size bottle of any of the sampled fragrances.  The box costs £34.99 and considering that you are getting a full-sized bottle of perfume plus 6 other samples and an atomiser bottle, this is great value!  Especially since Armani Code is normally £39.99 for this size of a bottle.  I'm pretty sure they have a couple of different boxes too, with different samples in each one.

Finally in the far right of the top picture, I got a new tube of Lancome Hypnose mascara.  This is my favourite mascara at the moment and I have bought it 3 or 4 times before so it is a long time favourite as well. I'm a bit of a mascara junkie and buy too many of them but this is the only one I have repurchased so many times!

Primark Eye Make Up Remover Pads

Today I thought I would write a post on these Primark fragrance free eye make-up remover pads that I picked up last week.

I was wandering through Penneys/Primark when I spotted these and decided to try them out seeing that they were only €1.50 for a twin pack.  Well I'm sorry to say I should have kept my €1.50 in my pocket.  I've tried them out on a few different occasions now and while they are OK at removing eyeshadow, after that their capabilities end.  All they seem to do is smear eyeliner and mascara (and not even waterproof eyeliner or mascara at that) around my face with not a chance of actually removing it.  They also get quite fluffy with lint coming off them and sticking to my eyelashes.

There are 1 or 2 positive things to say about them though - they are really moist and they are not at all irritating or drying on the eyes, so I guess you could use them for something like freshening up your eyes in the morning.

Overall though, not a good buy.  I have heard positive things about Primark's larger makeup remover wipes for the face but I haven't tried them yet myself - have any of you got any opinions on them?

MAC Studio Careblend Pressed Powder

A few months ago I decided I wanted to try out the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish (MSF) Natural.  So off I went to the MAC counter where the MUA convinced me to try out the Studio Careblend Pressed Powder instead.

The information from MAC on this product is:

"Formulated to provide a smooth, virtually invisible, fresh-looking finish, this soft, cream-like powder is carefully blended to provide the skin with extra care, nourishment and comfort"

I am around NC35 in MAC foundations and I told the MUA that I did not want the powder to add colour, just to set my make up.  She suggested that I get the shade Medium.  This is bordering on being too light for me but it's hardly noticeable.  This powder really does have a beautifully silky feel to it and it gives my make up a lovely soft finish without being in any way powdery or cakey looking.  I'm not one for touching up my makeup too often when I'm at work but I've given this a few good 12 hour tests through long work days and I am highly impressed with how it sets my makeup and keeps it in place for longer, without mattifying my skin too much.

I'd like to try out MSF Natural for comparison but I certainly cannot fault this powder.  Have any of you tried this or MSF Natural before?

Battle of the Liquid Liners

Almost every day I wear black liquid eyeliner, so I thought I would do a comparison of the 3 liquid liners which I have on the go at the moment! They are Rimmel's Glam'Eyes Professional Liquid Liner, Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Eyeliner, and GOSH Extreme Art Eye Liner Extremely Waterproof.

L-R Rimmel, Collection 2000, GOSH

L-R Rimmel, Collection 2000, GOSH

The Rimmel liner has been my everyday choice of liquid liner literally for a few years now and I have repurchased it time and time again.  It is probably the least resistant to water and wear of the whole lot of them but I find it is great for everyday use as the thin brush is my favourite kind to work with and the formula is nice as well, with a good consistency that dries to what I would describe as a satin finish - not too shiny but not matte either.  It's also a doddle to remove at the end of the day.

The Collection 2000 liner is also great for every day or for more dramatic looks as the applicator gives a thicker line.  I wouldn't be a fan of the 'marker tip' type applicators but of all of them I have tried this is the easiest I found to work with.  Again, not the best wearing liner in the world and it has a thinner consistency than the Rimmel liner so it isn't quite as pigmented.  This liner is the only one out of the three that dries to a completely matte finish.

Finally GOSH's offering. I have a love/hate relationship with this liner! I reserve use of it for nights out or days when I really need my make up to last! The applicator brush is a nice thin brush, similar to the Rimmel liner, but oh my the formula! The consistency of this liner can only be described as gloopy.  When you pull the brush out of the tube sometimes a string of the liner hangs from it.  This means that although the applicator brush is thin, it can be difficult to be precise with it.  It also takes this liner a full 5 minutes to dry (yes, I timed it!) and it dries to an almost glossy finish.  But when this baby is dry, there is no budging it.  After I had done the 3 swatches above, I washed my hands with soap and water and this did not budge.  So I went back and really scrubbed at it, and this is what I was left with:

Impressive, right?  Although this makes it a pain to remove.  A good oil-based waterproof eye make up remover will take this off without too much effort.  The first time I tried this I thought maybe mine had gone bad or something as it's so gloopy but my sister has this in 3 other colours and they are all the same.

Overall, each of these liners has their good and bad points.  If I had to drop one from my collection it would be the Collection 2000 one, simply because I'm neither a fan of completely matte finishes nor the marker tip applicators.  However, this is down to personal taste!  I feel the Rimmel liner is good for daytime use and the GOSH one is probably unbeatable when it comes to getting a liner that is not going to budge until bedtime!

Have any of you got any suggestions of other liners I could try out (high end or drugstore)?

Benefit Hoola Dupe?

It's likely that most make-up fanatics either own or have heard plenty about Benefit's Hoola bronzer, and rightly so! It is a gorgeous bronzer, with its completely matte finish making it ideal for contouring or giving a natural bronzed look.  However, at £23.50/€34 it isn't the most affordable of products.  Enter W7 Honolulu bronzer which costs around £3/€5 - quite the price difference!

On the outside, the packaging is very similar, both housed in sturdy boxes...but what about the most important thing - the product itself!

L-R Honolulu, Hoola

And a swatch on the skin:

Honolulu on the Left, Hoola on the Right

Pretty sinilar right?  W7 Honolulu also has a matte finish, and both products are equally pigmented and easy to blend.  I would say - and I think you can see from the pictures - that Honolulu is a shade darker than Hoola, making it ideal for the summer time, when I have a tan and Hoola is almost too light for my skin.  Although Honolulu would be fine on fairer skins if used with a light hand, Hoola would definitely be better for those of you who are paler.  The major difference in quality that I have found between the 2 is that Hoola lasts longer on the skin while Honolulu tends to wear off quicker.  You also get 11g in Benefit's Hoola while there is only 6g in W7 Honolulu - so it is worth bearing in mind that you are getting almost double the amount in Hoola.

If Hoola is on your wishlist but you just can't bring yourself to shell out the money for it, then Honolulu is definitely the best dupe I have seen for it.  Whether you would need both probably really only depends on your complexion but I know that for me, there is place for both of these bronzers in my make-up bag!