Mini Drugstore Haul!

As you all know, I have a severe makeup addiction and every time I even go near a Superdrug I end up inside with at least a handful of goodies. 

I didn't need any of these things even in the slightest!

Collection have recently come out with a range of priming product so since I don't currently use a primer (mostly due to sheer laziness) I though I'd pick up this Primed and Ready Pore Minimising face primer. I haven't tried it on my face yet but when swatched, it has a silicone sort of thick texture to it. It feels sticky which is just what you need to keep your makeup on but not so sticky that it's annoying. 

I only really use eyebrow powder but I don't always feel that I can get a precise brow with it. I have tried the Freedom Pomade before which I liked but the pomade dried up so quickly that I barely got to use it. When I saw this Makeup Revolution Brow Pomade I decide to give it a go in the shade Dark Brown (first swatch below) just from swatching I think that the shade is a good match for me and it is a nice thick but bendable consistency so I have high hopes.

Youtube is swimming in L'Oreal products at the moment, especially these eye paints (second swatch above). I have never really paid much attention to L'Oreal but these caught my eye, I got the shade 101 Eternal Light which is a shimmery almost white shade. I got this because I thought it would be a good inner corner highlight that would last a really long time. 

Lastly, I noticed that Tanya Burr Cosmetics was reduced. I love Tanya Burr products but there were many products that I hadn't originally bought because they just weren't wearable shades for me such as this very lipstick in Central Park (third swatch above) but considering it was reduced to an impossible to pass up 70p, I just had to have it. I'm so glad that I did because it swatches beautifully. I'm super excited to try it out!

Would you guys like me to do more haul posts? Help fuel my spiralling addiction?

Alberto Balsam Blends Collection

Alberto Balsam is a hair brand in the UK only I think? I might be wrong! But it is a popular brand because the shampoos and conditioners are a mere £1, the packaging looks classy and the scents are appealing. I've bought the standard Alberto Balsam line on many occasions and always been happy with them but never particularly wowed. 

When I came across the new Damage Repair range I just had to buy the whole lot. If there is anything my hair really needs right now, its damage repair. When I was a teen my hair had endless shine but now it looks very dull and I NEED all the help I can get.

Lets talk through the products one by one...

Alberto Balsam Blends Damage Repair Shampoo

This stuff smells incredible first off. I got the Natural Avocado Oil and Coconut Scent and my god is it heavenly. The product itself is a light green colour and the scent is very sweet and somewhat almond infused which I absolutely adore. I love a sweet coconut almond scent.

As shampoos go, this is nice, it lathers up well, a little goes a long way and it leaves my hair feeling clean and scented. No better than the original Alberto Balsam shampoos though.

Alberto Balsam Blends Damage Repair Conditioner

I'm someone who literally uses a whole handful of conditioner every time in an attempt to get soft silky hair but with this conditioner, that just isn't necessary. A small palm sized blob is the perfect amount, you can feel the conditioner doing its job straight away, hair turning to silk in your hands. Again, the scent is beautiful. 

Alberto Balsam Blends Intensive Mask 

This product is marketed as a mask but really it is just an intensive conditioner. You are directed to use it instead of conditioner, apply generously over the hair, leave for 3mins then wash out. Ive been using as well as the conditioner because I'm a rebel and I want all the moisture. Even when doing this, there is no horrible build up and my hair was left so freakishly soft. I really like this, its is so worth it. 

Alberto Balsam Blends Stunning Shine, Shine Spray

Shine sprays worry me. I have had bad experiences with build up and hair being left looking greasy which is basically my worst nightmare but I sucked up my nerves and sprayed this all into the ends and lower lengths of my hair. I then blow dried the spray dry and I was super impressed! It perfectly flattened out my frizzy ends and added some much needed shine. Im sure there are better products out there but for the price I would definitely buy it again. My only qualm here is that it is peach scented?! Why is it different?!

So overall, I've been loving these products. Especially the two conditioners which are revolutionary basically. The scent is beautiful and leaves my hair smelling delicious for the whole day. And this whole collection cost just £5! Like are you kidding me?! £5 for a whole hair care collection! 

I would most definitely recommend these products. If you have tried them or will try them, let me know what you think of them!

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24HR

The Maybelline Color Tattoos have been around for a while now and they had received great praise but I had never tried them. Due to a 3 for 2 deal in Superdrug, I decided now was the time to give them a go! 

I've always had a fear of cream eyeshadows, the idea of creasing and the greasy feeling that has happened with every other cream shadow I have tried. I was extremely reluctant but the promise of 24HR wear was pretty enticing along with the glowing reviews so I braced myself to slather grease on my lids. 

The packaging is both great and awful. The glass jars have an expensive feel, they hold a vast amount of product and they feel weighty and satisfying to hold. On the other hand, the sticker annoys me. It would have been better with a plain black lid, the underside has a clear label that looks so much better and would have sufficed alone. I understand that certain information needs to be present so maybe a box would have worked well. 

I bought three colours...

. Pink Gold

This is a soft pink with a slight gold shimmer, very slight. This makes a great base, I like it all over the lid with a dusky rose shade blended into the crease.

. Permanent Taupe

I bought this simply because it is by far the most talked about shade. It is literally raved about and I can see why. It is pretty much the colour of clay in my opinion and a little too dark for me, I can wear it but it is harder to blend out than the other two shades because of this. It feels like hard work and it isn't very flattering on me personally. 

. Creme De Rose

I love this shade, it is a super matte beige with a dusky pink undertone. It is literally the exact colour of my eyelid which I love because it worked as an amazing base or an all over lid colour. I liked to wear it alone because it completely covers up eyelid veins and gives a perfect bright look. 

Now, lets talk about the product itself. I love it. It is a cream of course but when you apply it, it is super thick, smooth and easily blended. Soon after application, it dries to a soft matte and doesn't budge. 

I haven't tested if it lasts 24HR's but I think it would. I wore it for a whole day and it lasted beautifully, free of creases, no grease and looked as perfect at the end of the day as when I applied it.

These little lovelies cost just £4.99 anyway but with the Superdrug offer they are even cheaper and well worth a purchase!

Let me know if you buy any or if you already have and love them!

What I Got For Christmas 2015!

I know this post is late, very late and I'm sorry but better late than never right? 

My boyfriend and I really love christmas, we like to visit garden centres, shopping centres, decorate our home like a winter wonderland, watch every christmas film possible and spoil each other rotten. It truly is our favourite time of the year. 

Now, this post is not bragging or showing off, it is simply showing the things I personally got for christmas. The things I asked for and the things my boyfriend thought I would like. All the gifts shown are from him and I am very grateful for everything I received. 

Lets get into it!

He knows I love Soap and Glory so he got me a couple of lovely sets, first being the Glam-O-Flage set which contains some of best selling products such as the Thick & Fast Mascara. I loved this because I actually hadn't tried a few of the products before and it will last me well through the year.

This is kind of a fun gift and an awesome one, he got me the Vanilla Frosting Yankee Candle last year and I never wanted to light it because I loved it so much and didn't to waste it. I still had just under half left come December and my boyfriend said he wouldn't get my another one until I had 

used it all, so I burnt it none stop all through December and finished it off, he replaced it with this delicious lemon cake scented candle.

I usually only buy palettes because I like all my eyeshadows to be kept together so he bought me this empty Urban Decay palette so I could buy some single shadows I had been lusting after. Such a thoughtful gift, I was so pleased when I opened it!

The past year, I have fallen head over hills with the store Paperchase and especially this beautiful rose gold frame, we also bought a puppy just before christmas so the frame was a perfect gift to display little Watson's gorgeous face.

I expressed my love for this Pandora Rose Gold ring so long ago and it shocks me that he remembered and got it for me. Hasn't left my finger since!

I have never bought anything from Benefit before and when I saw this lovely set with a selection of the boxed blushes, I just had to have it. My wonderful boyfriend got it for me and I love it so much.

This was my main surprise present and he was so excited for me to open it! As you all know, I have five guinea pigs and they are my world so this hoodie is just so me! Its so warm also which is a bonus!

Urban Decays Vice 4 was top of my christmas list and with good reason, it is unbelievably beautiful   and I am so pleased with it. 

Another thoughtful gift, he wrapped this up with a tag written by our puppy, well, by my boyfriend but only because dogs can't write, obviously. I'm so excited to fill it up with little family photos. 

Soap and Glory often bring out these limited edition palettes around christmas time and they are always spectacular. This one is full of shimmery rose golds and wearable nudes, it is the perfect everyday palette.

I love to read so he also got me some books, so far I have already read Looking for Alaska and Extraordinary Means and they were so good! Especially Extraordinary Means, which may now be my favourite book ever.

In my stocking, I got some luxury minis, nail polishes, wax melts and a whole host of chocolates. 

As you can see, I was thoroughly spoiled and had an awesome christmas. I also got other gifts from family such as Zoella Beauty products, Urban Decay Naked Smoky, candles, socks and all sort of other wonderfully thoughtful gifts. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, late as it may be. Let me know in the comments what you got for christmas, i'd love to know!

MakeUp Review: Carnival Colour By Seventeen

I popped into Boots last month looking for a glossy black polish to wear on Halloween, apparently many other people had the same idea because I couldn't find one. Not one!

When I was about to give up I saw a huge display of Seventeen polishes, not only were they 3 for 2, I saw a black one right in the bottom corner so I got down on my hands and knees and grabbed the polish. But it heartbreakingly it turned out to be an extremely dark grey.

All was not lost though as I noticed this gorgeous sparkly pumpkin orange that was amazing for Halloween. Of course, I also grabbed two others because with the 3 for 2, it would have been rude not too!

The orange is a metallic glitter which has a very different formulas to the two matte shades. The orange is by far my favourite, it went on super smooth and looked great with just two coats. It stayed chip free for halloween and a good few days after which is really good considering I am a waitress so my nails tend to chip pretty quickly. It is a gorgeous unique colour, it felt smooth and neat on the nail and it had great staying power.

The nudey pink is lovely, it is a fantastic everyday colour that would work with almost every skin tone. It really is nice. It took a good four coats to get full coverage but once dry it had that luxurious smooth and shiny finish that I love in a polish. Unfortunately, it chipped pretty quick, all the coats required meant that it was impossible to patch up because the chip was so thick set. Chipped in less than a day. Major let down. 

The Khaki green is the most unusual colour, the photo doesn't give the polish justice, it is much darker in person. I just had to have it because it is completely unlike anything I've ever owned. I am yet to use it but I am super excited too! I just hope it doesn't chip like the pink does. 

Carnival Colour By Seventeen seems to be a great little range! The glitter formula is far better than the mattes but I am still impressed, I paid £4.00 for all three so considering this, I think they are totally worth it. 

KIKO Cosmetics Haul / Review

KIKO is a beauty brand I knew nothing about until a shopping trip to Westfield Shopping Centre in London. I wandered in expecting it to be super expensive because everything looked expensive and was pleasantly surprised by how affordable it all was! I was also surprised by how gorgeous everything was, I bought a couple of nail polishes, loved them but ultimately, I forgot all about it.

Until, a store opened up at my local shopping centre, Bluewater. Memories of bargain prices and gorgeous packaging came flooding back and suddenly my feet were running through the stores doors. 

The whole brand really reminds me of MAC, the packaging is super similar, the colours, the way the store is arranged, even the products themselves. I have never been a MAC fan as I feel it is so expensive for items that are so boring, not that the products are bad but they don't excite me and the stores/counters are always a mess with teenagers swarming the testers and putting grubby little finger prints everywhere. I think the way the MAC stores are run is just unacceptable for such a big brand. 

KIKO is very different in that respect, I have only been in two stores but both have been completely spotless, well organised and the staff have been really knowledgeable. This and the bargain prices make KIKO incredible attractive. 

I bought two eyeshadows, both in light everyday shades. You can never have enough good quality everyday eyeshadows and these two are a little different to your typical nudes. One is a shimmery peach and the other a shimmery pink/grey, I really love them both. They are both super quick to apply, have great pigment and just generally great quality. 

The peach is in KIKO's single eyeshadow packaging and the grey is in the a pan with a plastic lid, KIKO have a clic system which enables you to create a custom palette (much like MAC) and these shadows are intended for those palettes but what is great about this is that they have a lid so that even if you don't have the custom palette you can still keep them as perfect little singles. I actually prefer the clic packaging, I will definitely be buying a palette to keep them in but on there own, they are so tiny and great for storage.

The lipsticks come in a variety of different beautiful packaging and in a variety of types. Matte, sheer, shimmer, cream and so many others. The colour selection is even more incredible.

I chose a cream lipstick in a your lips but better peach. It is really lovely for everyday wear and it is super low maintenance which is something I really love in a product. This packaging is super simple but sturdy and expensive feeling/looking. They also had some lipsticks in a gorgeous rose gold packing which I almost bought just for this reason. 

They also smell like sweet vanilla (like MAC) and vanilla is one of my favourite scents so this is just the best thing ever. 

I don't buy nail polishes much anymore, I have been an art student my whole life and for a long time I have also been a waitress so nail polish is just permanently chipped. But I saw this colour and I thought it would be perfect because it is the kind of shade that doesn't show chips badly. Ive had this on for days and it is chipped but you can't tell without looking closely. 

It is a complex colour, a sort of rose gold but with flecks of bronze and grey as well. I really really really super really love it. 

All in all, I am so crazy in love with KIKO as a brand and I have made it my mission to buy everything in the whole store. A little ambitious but I'm sure going to try. I am so impressed with how expensive looking and how great the quality is. The best part... I only spend £10.60

NYC Haul / Review

NYC is a well known makeup brand with tiny price tags. I make it my mission to try every budget brand I can get my hands on but for some reason, I haven't really tried many NYC products. But recently, while browsing through Superdrug, my hands went crazy and threw multiple products into my basket. It wasn't my fault, my hands have minds of their own. 

I bought a good variety of things, lips, eyes and face. I think this will be a great way to get a feel for the brand and know what I like and don't like for future purchases. Which I can already tell, there will be a lot of. 

NYC Big Bold Volume By The Lash Mascara

I have a love / hate relationship with this one. It is super lengthening and thickening, it looks really nice and has good staying power. It is an impressive mascara but my god is hard to apply, it is a very wet formula that often ends up smudged on my eyelids. The texture is almost watery, you need to be extremely careful when applying but it does look good. For this reason, I will definitely use up the tube but I'm not certain I would buy it again. But I would try another mascara from the brand to see if the others are any better. And hopefully thicker.

NYC Smooch Proof Liquid Lip Stain

I bought two of these, one dark shade and one light. They don't seem to have colour names which is the worst but the dark is a berry toned fuchsia and the light is a pink toned peach. I am a hoarder of lip stains because I am super lazy, I don't like to have to reapply lip products and I don't like colour transfer. So I jumped at the chance to try some bargain lip stains. 

The fuchsia is not good. It looks streaky and wears off on the inner lip after no time at all, I have only used it once and I don't think I will use it again unfortunately. The peach is a whole other story however, it looks very sheer on the lips which is the complete opposite to the fuchsia but the staying power is amazing. It is the perfect everyday shade that will look good with almost anything. 

NYC HD Color Quattro Eyeshadow

Let me start by saying that this little quad is only £2.50 and it is the quality of something a lot more expensive. I bought this because I wanted a dark khaki green shadow, the green is a shimmer though which is beautiful but I'm still searching for the perfect matte khaki shade. Despite this fact, I am still extremely happy with this purchase. The gold is a great all over lid shade, the champagne shimmer is a lovely inner corner highlight, the green requires a lot of building but is beautiful and I am yet to try the dark green brown.

NYC Smooth Skin Perfecting Primer

Call me crazy but I've never actually used a primer, as I've said before, I don't really look after my skin. The idea of having my makeup last longer did intrigue me so I decided to give a bargain version a go. Ill be honest, this stuff has a lovely texture and is moistorising but it smells pretty horrible and I'm not sure it works. I do for some reason like it though so I will definitely keep using it and ill let you know if I does start to work!

Overall, I am happy with this little haul! I've found a gem in the peachy lip stain and I am impressed enough that I will most certainly be buying more from the brand. I have worn the lip stain everyday for the past week!

Thanks For Reading!!!