Another Essence haul!

This week, I happened to nip into Wilko to pick up a few bits for uni, and remembered that I'd been meaning to try out some more items from Essence's makeup range.  I'd been particularly impressed with their 'Colour and Go' nail polish, so chose a couple more colours (plus another blush, oops!)...

'111 English Rose' and
'146 That's What I Mint!'

I've already tested out the mint shade, and much as I love how it applies, there is some light shimmer running through it that I didn't spot in store.  However, it's pretty much opaque in two coats and dries super fast.  The colour is also almost a light turquoise on the nails, not as light as expected but still lovely!  Judging by how the colour from bottle-to-nails translates a smidge darker, I'd expect the rosy shade to be almost terracotta on the nails - which should be perfect for autumn.

I also grabbed their 'Blush Up!' cheek colour in the shade 'Heat Wave'.  This was the one item I regretted not picking up last time I was at the stand, and although I really didn't need another blusher, it was so pretty that I couldn't not pop it in my basket this time around!  I've been experimenting with orange blush, having purchased Sleek's 'Life's a Peach' a couple of weeks ago and although this isn't as sheer, I feel that with the gradient you can get the perfect customised peachy-pink shade.  This blush is a lot less sheer than the Sleek one, so you have to be quite careful with it - just a dab is enough.  The compact also feels very sturdy, and although you don't get a mirror with it, I can hardly complain about the gorgeous design being on show!  (The perspex packaging reminds me a little of the Clinique Cheek Pops aswell.)

L-R: Swatched across the gradient of the blush (orange side to pink side),
then all the colours swirled together on the far right.

You can find the entire Essence range here at Wilko, and in store.
The nail polishes cost £1.60, and the blush £3.50.

xxx

August Favourites!

To be thoroughly honest, August has flown by.  When I realised it was nearing the end of the month I started compiling a list on my phone of thing things I'd been really loving, and although it seems like no time at all has passed, that little list got longer and longer!


Makeup...

This month has been all about the lip products - specifically, lip product rediscovery.  All three of these are items I'd semi gotten into previously, but having given them another try this month have fallen head over heels.

Carmex Lip Balm Tube £1.79, Boots (currently on offer)

Everyone had this in their pencil-case throughout secondary school, and oh boy could you tell by the vanilla-menthol scent that followed us all around.  However, I never really found it that soothing on my lips and in the end migrated to Nivea.  Recently though, I decided to give it another go, as the weather was boiling and the idea of a cooling lip balm was seriously appealing.  Now, I'm addicted.  Somehow, perhaps due to the different weather conditions, I find this a lot more soothing than my usual waxy lip balms and butters and I've been dabbing a little of this on instead of my regular gloss day to day.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 'Honey' £7.99, Boots

I purchased this a while back, at the same time as a couple of lip butters.  It's quite a drying product, which put me off at first, but if you mix a little regular balm in it's absolutely lovely.  On some people, it stays true to bullet, but on myself it oxidises to a gorgeous bright berry shade (if you've been eyeing up any colour-changing balms such as the Dior, give this a go!)  Best thing though, is the staying power - it really is a stain.  The colour hangs around pretty much all day, and if you've reapplied a few times, till you exfoliate.

The packaging is a very
bright coral, but the product
itself is almost fluoro-pink.
(Similar in shade to Soap and
Glory SMPGS in Fuschiaristic)

Nyx Butter Gloss in 'Peach Cobbler' £5, Nyx website

Mine was ordered from Amazon, but if you're in the UK you can get it direct from Nyx a lot faster.  This is one of those super messy glosses, that if all you do is use the doe foot applicator you end up with a streaky, sticky mess.  One day though, when my lips were too dry for the aforementioned Revlon balm, I decided to give this another go.  Somehow, when you blend it in with your fingertips, by magic the colour becomes your lips.  And stays.





Clothing...

M&S 5 Pocket Denim Jeggings £22.50

I rambled on about these in a post earlier this week - they're the perfect stretchy skinnies, almost identical to the Topshop Leighs - I've been been wearing them all month!







M&S Footsies £3.50

Earlier this month, I went a little nuts and bought a pair of gorgeous suede loafers.  And then attempted to break them in sockless.  Needless to say, this was rather daft, and I ended up with the King of Blisters on one heel.  After a week of hobbling and tlc, I've reattempted the breaking-in process, this time with much more success.  These footsies although thin, stop any chafing and mean I don't have to go full 'trainer sock' - huzzah!



Food...

Pret a Manger 'Jambon-Buerre' Roll £2.50ish

Thickly sliced ham and crunchy gherkins, all wrapped up in a crispy French roll.  Need I say more?

(Apologies for the lack of picture here, I thought I'd taken one in store but sadly can't find it now :(  )



Movie(s)...

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

I absolutely love each and every film Marvel comes out with, and this was no exception.  Hilarious, action packed - but still thought provoking.  We went to see it at the start of the month, and it's kept popping into my mind ever since.  A fantastic summer blockbuster, which I feel also introduces new viewers to the MCU without utterly confusing them!  A must see.

Till the next one :)

xxx

Makeup chores #3: Storage

Before I left for uni - with a somewhat trimmed down selection of makeup to take, I thought I might share how I store everything at home.  As I don't have a mirror in my room, almost everything lives in the bathroom down the hall.  This means that surface space for storage is pretty limited, so once I realised that everything was piling up in one great big makeup graveyard box I decided it was time to hunt down a decent storage solution and have a good clear-out.  I don't have a lot of makeup at all, as once I really love something I'll tend to stick to it religiously and then change it in and out of rotation (if it's something like a blusher).  However (as you'll see in the pictures below), I have a slight addiction to sheer lip products - so there're a decent number of these!

To start with, I purchased a set of these pop-up boxes from Ikea.  They're great because you can wipe them clean, and they easily fold flat.  These four you can see in the picture are the smallest, and held together with a couple of large paperclips fit perfectly upon the top of my bathroom cabinet.  They also have high sides so you can pile a lot of things up in them, and I could see them being really useful as drawer separators if your vanity drawers are especially deep.  The larger two (which aren't shown), I am using as 'clothing in use' and handbag storage boxes in my room - so they're a very versatile storage solution that I'd definitely recommend investing in.  I keep brushes (in a candle pot) and face products on the left, eye products on the top-right, and moisturisers/primers on the bottom-right.

'SKUBB Box Set of 6' £6, Ikea

Next, I picked up one of these lipstick holders from Ebay.  It's cheap and cheerful, and does the job nicely.  Considering the price I paid, and the fact that delivery was free it feels decent quality and is reasonably sturdy.  An essential if you're a lip product addict like myself, as it means you can see everything you've got (so then won't forget about a product for months!)  It also looks very sleek on your dressing table.

'24 Grid Makeup Organiser' £2.48, Ebay

xxx

A dupe for the infamous Leigh jeans...?

My jeans collection is one that I'm not massively proud of.  There are many pairs that I've barely worn, whether they be too small (meaning that they won't even go past the thigh area) or too baggy (perfect upon purchase and then subsequently stretched out...)  Earlier this year though, I purchased my first pair of Topshop Leighs for an eye-watering £38.  They were in a gorgeous tile print, are ridiculously comfortable and I love them to bits.  They're just high rise enough to prevent you flashing a bit of midriff at people, and are super skinny and stretchy.  However, if I filled my entire jean drawer with Leighs I would be well on my way to bankruptcy.  It also doesn't help that everyone says they wash/stretch out in a year - as you don't want to be replacing circa £100 of jeans on a yearly basis!

Marks and Spencer 5 Pocket Denim Jeggings
£22.50

Topshop Moto Leigh Jeans
£38

                   vs

Recently though I was making the obligatory stop off at M&S whilst shopping with my mother, and we spotted a stand filled with jeggings.  But these weren't your standard jeggings...they had proper pockets and a zip and button closure!  I went and tried them on - and was sold.  They're supersoft and stretchy, fit just like the Leighs - and they come in multiple lengths!  I'm 5'6 and a size 10 in Topshop, and the size 10 medium length fit perfectly...best of all they're only £22.50!!

As I'd already got a pair of carbon black jeans, I decided to get the ones that are officially labelled as 'slate' grey - but are actually more of a worn in black.  They're lovely as they are not too harsh for the summer (and your legs don't bake in the sun!)  The 'light indigo' ones are next on my list, the challenge now is to find somewhere with my size as they're really picking up in popularity!

5 Pocket Denim Jeggings are available here for £22.50.  If your size isn't available online, it doesn't mean it won't be in store (popular sizes are practically all out of stock but my local store have plenty).

xxx

Just another mani Monday...

This week seems to be the one for dreadful-pun-post-titles.  It's probably because whilst I'm writing this that it's been well over six hours since I last ate anything.  Well, apart from one of those Moser Roth chocolate bars a couple of hours ago (but that doesn't really count, does it...?)  Anyway, today I painted my nails with one of the Kiko polishes I picked up quite a while ago.  I've previously only used it on my toenails, but as I was feelin' the vampy mood I decided to go matchy matchy and use it on my fingers too...

Kiko Nail Laquer in 286

Its a gorgeous dark wine, that's almost berry-red in the bottle but translates much darker on the nails.  As I said before, it is quite a vampy shade and I can only really get away with it now as we're approaching the end of summer.  It is one of those reds that you've got to be super careful with as it'll go everywhere if you haven't got a steady hand (I think I got through about five cotton buds tidying it all up!) but the finished effect is beautiful.

Kiko's polishes also dry very quickly, so if you need a third coat on one or two nails (like me) you aren't going to end up with a splodgy sheet-marky mess come the next morning.  The brushes are nice and wide, not quite as tapered as I'd like - but I'd much rather be swiping the edges with cotton buds than dealing with streaks.

And here it is on the nails.  This is true to colour - you can
almost see a bit of reddish brown peeking through.  Very 90s chic.

Kiko Nail Laquers are available here, priced at £3.99.  My shade (286 Purple Red) is currently reduced to £2.50 - bargain!

xxx

Taking the plunge...cleaning your Lonchamp tote

I've had my Longchamp le Pliage tote for well over two years now.  It was practically abused for the first (as a college bag stuffed with folders and textbooks), and then rehabilitated slightly and used as an everyday handbag for the following year.  The handles have definitely worn, and I've had to seal up the corners with superglue - there's also a little cracking of the vinyl interior where the most creasing has occurred.  (I have asked in the Longchamp store in London about cracking vinyl, and they will carry corner repairs out free of charge - but I don't think I could be without a tote bag for over a month!)  However, now that it's being properly looked after I think I'll be able to get good few more years out of it.  The one thing I'd been avoiding though, was giving it a good wash.  I'd been wiping it out with a damp cloth every month or so, but had never given it a proper clean (some people fling theirs in the washing machine, but I could never be brave enough to do that!)

But last week, disaster struck.  I'd (as per the usual) popped a bottle of water in my bag, to keep hydrated for the day.  We were on a long car journey back from holiday, and I'd just left my bag on the seat of the car whilst I had a nap.  Upon reaching our lunch stop, I reached in and encountered approximately 3-4 inches of water in one corner of the bag...immediate panic ensued.  Luckily, the phone was safe, but various other items were drenched - and I'm forever thankful that I'd chucked in several packets of tissues for the journey as these had absorbed a lot of the water.  In the end, after leaving the poor bag and its contents on the dashboard to dry out everything was okay - but the bag itself had a massive black tide mark where the water puddle had sat for several hours...

Anyway, once we got home I decided to give the bag a gentle cleanse in warm water to see if it could be returned to an acceptable state.  I'd taken a few pictures along the way, just so I knew afterward what I'd done - and as it was so successful I thought I'd share it with you all!  (Excuse the rather dodgy quality in some photos - these were originally just for personal reference so I didn't worry about the lighting at the time.)

The red area indicates where the staining was
(as being rather disorganised I've managed to lose the picture
of the original damage...oops!)

First of all I filled a washing up bowl with warm water,
and gave the bag an initial rinse.  In the end I didn't
bother keeping the leather dry, as it would've been too fiddly.

I then added a capful of gentle detergent to a fresh
bowl of water, and set to work... 

After thoroughly rinsing all the soapy water off
I then patted out as much of the water as I could
with a clean towel.  Especially focussing on the leather.
I then stuffed the bag with several towels and put it in
 the airing cupboard overnight.  The leather flap was still
a little damp the following day, but it had completely
dried after 24 hours. 

I then used some clear shoe protectant (this is the 'Natural' one
from Clarks) to recondition the handles and flap closure.
I also sprayed the bag with a canvas protectant (also from Clarks)
to give it a little more waterproofing.  I'll also be going in with the
superglue again to tidy up the corners when I get round to it...

And here's the finished product! Good as new, and smelling
fresh as a daisy :)

xxx

Budget brand focus: Essence

When you're counting the pennies (especially after that little trip to Space.nk turned into a full on splurging spree), it's a relief to come across a new budget brand to try out.  I'd seen a few posts about Essence recently, but as my closest Wilko is 45 minutes away I hadn't yet gotten around to picking anything up.  Price point wise, they're somewhere inbetween MUA and Rimmel - but the products I managed to get were well up there in quality.

I just wish I'd gotten more things to try!  In total, these
cost £4.30, an average of £1.43 each (bargain!)

I was especially impressed by the 'Colour and Go' nail polish I picked up - the brush was just the right shape and size to cover the nail in a couple of swipes and it dried super fast (I believe I did my nails in 15 minutes, which is a complete record!)  The shade 168 is a gorgeous dusky lavender, slightly more purple than Barry M 'Almond' but very very similar.

Apologies for the slightly shaky picture here,
but I thought it was definitely worth showing
the brush shape - it's just like the Essie polishes.

The blush I chose was from their Silky Touch range - and is very highly pigmented.  The texture is very soft and not chalky at all, and it lasts all day on my combination/oily skin.  This, like the nail polish felt comparable to much higher end products!

L-R: One swipe, Blended out

As the whole range was on 3 for 2, I also chose a glitter topcoat (for fun!) which I haven't yet tested out.  It's a gorgeous rainbow glitter, that I'm sure I'll use coming up to Christmas/New Years - and as it was so cheap I won't feel guilty for not using it all the time.

All in all, my first experience with Essence as a brand has been stellar!  I'll for certain be popping a few more of their polishes in my basket next time I'm in store.

The entire Essence range is available online at Wilko, and there's also a limited range in store.

xxx