Another little Essence haul!

Whilst I was in town this week, I popped into Wilko (supposedly just to pick up some wrapping paper) and ended up getting a few things from the Essence stand whilst en route to the checkout, oops.
I love their quick dry range of nail polishes, but was disappointed that they'd replaced them all with ones from the gel range.  I believe you can still order them to be delivered to store, but it's always a bit nicer to be able to pick shades out in person!  Otherwise, the stand was pretty well stocked, so I picked out a few other items to test out.

The first was a lipstick from their 'Longlasting' range, in the shade '15 Oh So Matt'.  It's a quite neutral brown-y nude shade, which I don't have anything quite like in my collection - the closest I could find was Soap and Glory's Sexy Motherpucker Gloss Stick in 'Nudist', but that's peachier and quite a bit glossier!  I'm still not quite sure if the shade washes me out on its own, but paired with Rimmel's Lipliner in 'East End Snob' it's perfect.  I think I'll get a lot of use out of it over the summer when I want very neutral, but still looking-put-together makeup!  I thought I should mention too that the scent is totally different to the other lipstick I have from the range, '01 Coral Calling' - the nude has a more fruity scent whereas the coral has more of a generic lipstick scent (not sure if all the shades have different scents).

I also thought I'd give one of their glosses a go, and as I don't really have any darker shades of gloss The shade I picked out was '34 Poppy Red' from their XXXL Shine Range which is a gorgeous orange-y red.  I did want to try the red from the longer lasting range, but the product actually looked like it had dried up inside the tube - not great!  I'm really happy with the one I picked though - it looks great over a matt lipliner/pencil and is nice for a sheerer wash of colour alone.  The product has a very light sweet scent, and it's really comfortable to wear - not sticky at all!

Lastly, I fancied giving one of their eyeliners a go and since they say that purple/taupe shades enhance blue eyes, I picked the shade '18 Berry Merry' which is a beautiful dark berry shade (as the name would suggest) with an almost coppery shine.  I'm really looking forward to using this in place of my usual brown liner in the waterline as it's soft but not too smudgy so should stick around well.  And the best thing - it was only 50p!  I love how the Essence range has good quality products (much better than their drugstore counterparts, MUA) but they're extremely affordable so you can afford to experiment a bit - I've yet to be disappointed by something from the range and would highly recommend checking them out!

L-R: Essence XXXL Shine Gloss '34 Poppy Red', Essence Longlasting
 Lipstick '15 Oh So Matt', Essence Longlasting Eyeliner '18 Berry Merry'

xxx

Summer eye look! Peachy golden shadow...

When I've got a little extra time in the mornings, I love to play around with different shadows and do a proper eye look.  Since it's been exam season for the last month too I've also been procrastinating a bit, oops, and spending some extra time on my makeup has become routine now!  I've loved wearing this particular look for the last few days, as it's not one that can be easily messed up, and I love the gorgeous peachy tones underneath the shimmer!

The finished look.  Apologies for the slightly dodgy lighting,
 the sun is just refusing to come out at the moment!

Firstly, I applied my Nars Pro Prime Eyesahdow Primer as if I don't use this my makeup melts off in a matter of minutes!  Then I added a thin layer of the Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'Creamy Beige', as this gives a slight orangey-tone underneath the other shadows.  (I'm not sure if this is still available as I had a lot of difficulty getting my mitts on one and this was several months ago.  I believe Mac Paint Pot in 'Groundwork' is very similar though, but it is quite a bit pricier!)  I then blended out the edges so there weren't any harsh dark lines, using my setting brush that had a little concealer left on it.  After that, using a fluffy brush I applied the Kiko Infinity Eyeshadow in the shade '219' all over the lid and also built it up a little in the crease.  I find that this, whilst being a beautiful rose gold shadow, can be a little too pink on my skin but over the top of a more orangey base it gives a lovely peachy effect.  These shadows are seriously longlasting though, and are extremely similar to the Burberry ones but are only a few pounds!  I also applied a little along my lower lashline using a smaller, pointier fluffy brush.  Finally I then applied a small amount of Stila Eyeshadow in 'Kitten' on the centre of the lids and blended it out towards the inner corner - this is so soft and pigmented that you need barely anything to give a gorgeous shimmery glow.

Finished off with a slick of mascara on the upper and lower lashes, it's good to go!

L-R:  Stila Eyeshadow in 'Kitten', Kiko Infinity Eyeshadow '219',
 Maybelline Colour Tattoo 'Creamy Beige' 

xxx

Neutral nails for pale skinned gals!

Essie 'Sand Tropez' Nail Polish

As much as I adore the lilac-greigey tinged nudes, there's always something about them on my skintone that just looks a little off.  As in 'hands a bit dead' off.  A while back though, I picked up a bottle of Essie's 'Sand Tropez' and was obsessed.  It's the perfect sandy, taupey, milky coloured nude that doesn't look a thing like tippex nails!  It also goes with pretty much anything as it's completely neutral which is something I'd been looking for for yonks.

The formula as per the usual with Essie polishes is great - opaque in two coats (with a base coat) and pretty longlasting.  I forgot to take nail pictures until a good few days had passed, yet there were little to no chips in sight!  All in all, definitely one to try out if you're super pale skinned and on the market for a nude polish.

xxx

The most luxe eyeshadow ever!

A couple weeks ago I got one of those emails from Debenhams, saying that they were running their 10 percent off beauty promo - so of course I headed over to the website to check a few things out!  I spotted that they now stock Burberry makeup, and as it's currently exam season and I'm feeling a tad stressed I thought I'd treat myself to something from the range as a little pick me up!

I decided on a shade of their Sheer Eyeshadow, as I'd seen some great reviews of it online.  The one I chose was 'Pale Barley', which is a gorgeous golden-taupey sheeny shadow that looks amazing alone all over the lid - paired with a slick of mascara.  Its the most expensive single shadow I've ever bought, but really do think it was worth the splurge as the colour is so unique, the shadow so pigmented and the lasting power (with my usual primer), oh boy.  Yesterday, I wore it for 16 hours straight with no creasing and little fading.  In comparison, a Sleek shadow with the exact same primer (Nars Pro Prime) it only lasts about 8 hours and then it's at risk of creasing - the joys of having oily skin haha!

Here's a swatch of just a tiny amount, to show how pigmented it is!
 I love how in some lights it's taupe, and others an almost khaki tinted gold.

Anyway, I definitely think it was worth the money and next time I feel like treating myself I'll be back for another shade from the range.  They'd also make a lovely gift, as the packaging is pretty special and the shadow itself comes in a lovely little velvet pouch!

xxx

A higher end makeup haul...

I'd like to start off by saying that don't worry, nope, I didn't purchase all this in one go!  It's a collective haul from the last month or so, as I didn't feel that every item warranted an individual post but I still thought it'd be nice to share them with you all...

The first thing I picked up was Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage, which is a super dry, high coverage concealer.  It was super pricey, but I've actually gotten quite a bit of use out of it on those no-makeup days where I'd still like a bit of coverage on any scars or blemishes.  It's also great used over foundation, but I've found it's best to powder first and then layer up or you can start to move stuff around a bit!  The best thing is that the lighter shade (I've got the lightest palette, SC-1 if anyone's interested) is actually lighter than my skintone!  It's also yellow toned, so does the redness-cancelling job really well.  The darker shade (which annoyingly is the one you get more of) is pinker toned and is useful to mix in with the other one for when it's just too light.  I use a tiny flat brush to apply it with, and the stiffer bristles mean you can really pack on the product without it looking cakey.  Overall, I'm actually really glad I've got this in my stash, as it covers so much better that liquid concealer!  You also get almost 6 grams of product, and considering how little you need to use it's going to last ages!

Next up was the Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara, which is super handy for when you want you lower lashes to look on point.  I do find it a bit of a faff to use though, and often can't be bothered so I might pass it onto my Mum so that it doesn't dry up before it's used up!  I love the cute silver design on the tube, which is probably part of why I was suckered in - but I do think it'd be worth the money if you tend to make a big mess with larger mascara wands.

Soon after, I splurged on my first Burberry Eyeshadow.  I'd been eyeing them up for a while, but they never had the shade I wanted in stock, and then when we actually passed a counter in duty free we had to rush to catch our plane and I didn't have time to stop, sadtimes.  But I got my paws on one eventually, and I'm super happy with it!  I've actually done a proper review of it, which should be the next post up here!

Finally, last week I saw that Escentual had a sale on.  I was picking up some of my usual bits and bobs and then on a whim decided to treat myself to a new lipstick!  I'd been really good up until then, and had been on a bit of a lip product ban but 20 percent off was a too good offer to miss!  I picked out one of the Rouge Dior Lipsticks in the shade 'Rose Bonheur' as I'd heard good things about the range online.  It's the perfect my lips but better shade for me, and although it's quite sheer the colour sticks around for a decent amount of time with no awkward fading.  The scent is also lovely - a more sophisticated version of love hearts sweets!  One that goes with everything, and since I don't have a lot of nude lip products I didn't feel to guilty about picking it up!


xxx