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

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

Revlon Colourburst Balm Stains - Review and lip swatches...

I recently picked up a couple of extra shades of the Revlon Colourburst Balm Stains, which I briefly talked about in my drugstore haul post.  Having used them for a little while, I felt I could give them a proper review now and can compare all three shades that I own from the range!

'Honey' I've raved about multiple times previously...it transforms on the lips to the perfect soft pinky-berry stain shade that stains the lips beautifully.  The formula of all three of these dries out my lips a tiny bit, but is so lightweight and comfortable to wear - some people aren't fond of the minty scent but I love how it feels soothing - a little like Carmex.

'Lovesick' is a lovely bright cool-toned pink that because it's somewhat sheer, isn't too in your face!  This one stains the lips immediately though, so beware - any chapped areas will be left bright pink on removal.  I'm really looking forward to wearing this throughout the warmer months and hope that this will help me build up the courage to try out a more opaque version of the colour!

'Rendezvous' looks pretty daunting in the bullet - completely orange - but in reality is extremely wearable.  Because my teeth aren't the whitest in the world, I tend to avoid super warm toned lip shades but as this looks like more of a dark orangey red on the lips I can just about pull it off!  It does make dry patches more noticeable than the other shades, but much less so than other lighter lip colours I own.  It also did require a bit of building up to get the result pictured, but I don't
really mind as once you've applied it the colour sticks
around long after the product has worn off!

xxx

Huge drugstore makeup haul!

This time last week, I decided I'd head into town for a little shopping pick-me-up.  And ended up going a little bonkers in the aisles of Boots and Superdrug!  I thought It'd be fun to share them with you, as I don't often purchase this many items in one go - oops...

It's been at least a couple of months since I purchased any lip products, and since I absolutely love the Revlon Balm Stain in 'Honey' I thought I'd try out some other shades from the range.  In a post last week I mentioned I had a gap in my lipstick stash for a bright pink and an orange lip colour - so when I was in Boots I picked out 'Lovesick' and 'Rendezvous'.  They both look gorgeous, so fingers crossed the wear time is just as good as 'Honey'!  I also happened to wander past the Barry M stand, and I ended up grabbing a couple of their polishes - who can resist, right?  'Eat my dust' is a gorgeous pale, pastel blue that pulls a tiny bit lilac, and it's from their Speedy Quick Dry range which I was curious to try.  'Damson' is the most stunning bright blue shade, from the Gelly Hi-Shine range (which I've been super impressed with before).  Plus, they were buy one get one half price, so it was a win-win situation!

In Superdrug, there's also a 3 for 2 on currently but across all brands.  I'd heard a lot about the Max Factor Creme Puff blushes, and how they have a very similar glow-y effect to the Hourglass ones but at a fraction of the price.  Since I love Rimmel 'Santa Rose' as it's the perfect natural blush for my skintone, I thought I'd give '10 Nude Mauve' a go - which is very similar but adds a little more dimension to the face as it's not totally matte (I've already tried this out aswell, and it's super soft with very little fallout so applies like a dream!)  I also decided to try out Rimmel's (relatively new) foundation, which is the Nude version of their Lasting Finish formulation.  As I have a tiny bit more colour in my skin post-holiday, I think '010 Light Porcelain' should be a pretty good shade match - thankyou drugstore brands for finally catering to us super pale people!  Finally, I knew that my Benefit Roller Lash was on it's last legs so I was on the market for a new mascara.  In the end, the lovely counter staff pointed out that Max Factor's False Lash Effect had several pounds off, making it cheaper than the other two products which meant I got it for free!  I'd seen Suzie from Hello October talk about this, and since her lashes always look amazing I thought it was definitely worth a go.  Plus, the packaging is super pretty (I think part of the profits go to the Marie Curie trust, which is awesome too).

And just as a little add on at the end, whilst I was in Wilko (getting ice cube trays if you must know!) I stopped off at the Essence stand and chose one of their Longlasting Lipsticks in the shade '01 Coral Calling' It's a lovely, bright peachy coral and was only a couple of pounds.  It has a similar scent to their lipliners - slightly chemically woody cherry but isn't strong at all (or that offensive to be honest!)

xxx

Counting up the corals...

I know for a fact that I've got so many sheer, pinky-coral lip products that they're practically coming out of my ears!  I'd never really lined them all up before though - so I thought I'd share my somewhat messy armful of swatches with you in case anyone else would find the colour comparisons useful...

From L-R: Soap and Glory Gloss Stick 'Fuchsiaristic', YSL Glossy Stain '111', Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil 'Red Square', Dior Lip Glow '4 Coral', Korres Lip Butter 'Mango', Nyx Butter Gloss '6 Peach Cobbler', Revlon Lip Butter 'Juicy Papaya', Barry M Gloss '11'

The most long lasting of the bunch are the YSL and Nyx, which really don't shift unless you eat something oily.  Rather surprisingly these are followed by Barry M's offering.  Despite it being extremely sheer, it really sticks around for a good few hours!  'Red Square' is a bit of an odd one out - not a coral at all - I just scribbled a bit on my arm to see how orangey it really was, and honestly it pulls a lot cooler than you'd think.

I use the Korres Lip Butter almost constantly, as it's so ridiculously hydrating - and then I'll usually top it up with the Dior Lip Glow as that feels pretty much the same but in stick form.  The Dior does change from an almost orange colour to a light fuchsia after a while, but is still quite a bit more pigmented than the original version.  The Revlon is pretty good as a budget dupe, but I do find that it needs quite a bit of building up to get the colour payoff you can see in the swatch and is a little waxier in texture.

Last of the bunch there's Soap and Glory's Sexy Motherpucker Gloss Stick, which is a very sheer hot pink.  Looks gorgeous, but for some reason I haven't used it lots.  'Nudist' gets a heck of a lot more love (and tbh is looking rather battered) - possibly because it's a bit more unique?  I might start popping this in my bag more so it gets a bit more use, perhaps as a slightly brighter alternative to my beloved Revlon 'Honey'!

All in all, having lined them up I feel there's a place for a more pigmented orange and maybe even a hot pink for the spring/summer?!  I've had my eye on a couple of Revlon products for a while, shall keep you updated with what I end up picking up...

xxx

The Sheer Berry Lip...

All year round, I always seem to gravitate towards sheer berry-red lip shades.  I don't know whether it's the 'I woke up like this' look that they give, or just that on me that they're a great MLBB shade - but either way I have quite a few of them!  The three I've picked out here are the ones I feel are the best dupes for each other, at various price points.  I'm not saying that they are identical in formula, but colour-wise they are pretty indistinguishable on the lips.

L-R: Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain' in 'Honey',
MAC Lustre Lipstick in 'Plumful',
YSL Volupté Sheer Candy in 'Mouthwatering Berry 5'

Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain' in Honey

This one is the most wallet friendly - rolling in at a fairly reasonable £7.99.  The colour in the tube is very different to when you get it on the lips, on mine it oxidises from a pinky nude colour to a bright berry pink.  It's not quite as red toned as MAC's offering, but a very similar colour for less than half the price if you catch it on offer in Boots.  What I love about it is the staining quality - it can be a little drying without a balm.  I tend to work it into the lips with a little Carmex if there's some chapping going on, otherwise you can just swipe it on and it sticks around for most of the day.  Also, some people can't stand the minty scent, and have mentioned that it goes slightly rank after a while - but I can say that after about six months of use mine is still fresh and lovely (although the packaging may look rather battered!)


MAC Lustre Lipstick in 'Plumful'

I love the formula of these lipsticks - they're just so creamy and moisturising but the colour really sticks around.  I wore it last night down to the college bar, and it just perked up my twelve hour old makeup enough for me to look passable (when you're that tired the last thing you want to be doing is tidying up your eyeshadow!)  It is the boldest colour of the bunch here, but still isn't too 'in your face' either.


YSL Volupté Sheer Candy in '5 Mouthwatering Berry'

The whole range of YSL Volupté lipsticks are just to die for.  The ritzy packaging, the gorgeous mango scent and the weightless formulae.  And did I talk about the packaging?!  Just look at that tube - I could not bear to throw that away once it runs out!  This one is from their super sheer range, which I purchased a couple of lipsticks from at the start of the year.  The other I have is the orangey toned 'Dewy Papaya' which doesn't really have much colour, and I wish I had saved my money for a more pigmented lipstick from their range (but it does make a super luxurious lip balm!)  This one has a lot more colour payoff, probably the most of the whole range - and although it isn't super long lasting - it's almost a bullet form gloss - it's great when you don't want a sticky, thick product on your lips.

T-B:  Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain' in 'Honey',

MAC Lustre Lipstick in 'Plumful',

YSL Volupté Sheer Candy in 'Mouthwatering Berry 5' 

Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain' in 'Honey'
 on the lips - you can really see the colour difference!

xxx