Beauty Haul

Hey guys!

I was out shopping for a few essentials the other day and had absolutely no intentions of buying anything I didn't specifically *need*. However, both of my beauty 'go to' shops (Boots and Superdrug) seemed to have plenty of tempting offers on and I couldn't resist popping a few extra bits into my basket! I also had a bit of an online splurge last week and bought a couple of items from my favourite online beauty stores Feel Unique and Cheap Smells.

Rimmel 'Wake me Up Foundation' shade 100 Ivory £8.99 - I recieved a small tester of this in the March edition of Glamour magazine and as expected the shade was far too dark for me but I still tested it just to see how the texture of it was and how well it applied and how it looked on my skin. I obviously liked the feel of the foundation - I wouldn't have spent nearly £9 on it otherwise! A full review of this foundation will be up tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled for that one!

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent £3.99 - I've heard so many great things about this finishing powder I decided to pick it up as soon as I realised that ALL Rimmel cosmetics were on 3 for 2 offer at boots. I got the transparent one as I think coloured powders can look a little chalky on the skin if they aren't a perfect colour match, although if you did want a coloured powder there is 7 different shades to choose from. My initial reaction to the product has been so far so good, sets foundation nicely without giving an overly 'powdered' look and although the product is called 'stay matte' it doesn't completely matify the skin and I find my 'dewy' foundations still show through. I would say it is more mattifying in that it gets rid of any oily type shine so if you were looking for a matte look you would probably want to invest in a matte foundation too.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 086 Sugar Plum £4.99 - I own a few different shades of these lipsticks and love them but have been looking for something a little more daring for nights out, I find it quite difficult to find a bright shade that suits me due to my natural colouring (Red haired, fair skinned) so I never rush into buying bright coloues but after testing this I had to have it. It's a gorgeous pinky/purple colour that looks gorgeous on, stands out but not so bright that it looks ridiculous, I think it will look amazing with my Bobbi Brown Pink Raspberry Rich Colour Gloss layered over the top.

No7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter Powder £13 - Now I really wasn't planning on buying this product, I recieved a £5 off No7 voucher with my Rimmel purchases and ended up using it straight away! I had been admiring all of the new Floral Brights limited edition spring collection from No7 and took a particular fancy to this highlighter. At £13 though, I thought it was a little too expensive for an impulse purchase on a thursday afternoon, however when the nice lady at the till gave me the voucher I thought "Why not?!" and ended up buying it for £8, a price my purse is much happier with! The nice lady then gave me another £5 off voucher that I think I'll be using on one of the limited edition Floral Brights lipsticks.

Carex Protect+Plus Hand Gel 99p - I know this isn't exactly a beauty item but I felt the need to share it with the world! I think hand sanitizer is a staple in most girls' handbags and I am no exception. Due to my mums job we always have little bottles of regular alcohol hand gel hanging around the house but on this particular day I had completely run out of the one in my bag and felt a little bit lost without it so into Superdrug I went and I found this had been reduced to 99p. I wasn't expecting anything special, it is only hand sanitiser after all but I have to say I'm seriously impressed with it! The smell isn't unpleasent in anyway and actually has quite a soft hand wash type of smell to it rather than the typical alcohol smell that I absolutely hate but put up with for the sake of good hygiene! It also feels quite nice on the hands, I find alcohol rubs can be a little drying but this doesn't seem to be drying my hands out at all, so if you're out buying a hand gel I'd recommend trying this!

Melvita Rose Floral Water £13 - A friend told me about this product and it really appealed to me but after reading about it on feel unique  was a little sceptical about it. It claims to help prevent the appearance of wrinkles, which at 20 years old is not something I'm particularly worried about, I obviously want my skin to look good as I get older but anti-ageing products aren't at the top of my 'must have' list. I did however still buy the product as all the other claims that were made about it appealed to me and I have to say I haven't looked back since. I've been using the water morning and night for about 2 weeks now and I can really tell the difference with my skin, it is really moisturising, so much so that I now skip applying moisturiser on a morning which also helps keep my foundation on longer as moisturiser can sometimes cause it to 'slip away'. The smell of the product is lovely, I don't usually like rpse type smells but this is quite delicate and doesn't seem to linger for a long time.

Orly 'Rage' £3.95 from Cheap Smells - I've seen soooo many reviews and swatches of this nail polish so decided to buy a mini bottle of it, I did a NOTD post on it the other day so for more detail on it see here. I buy a lot of my nail polishes in mini's as it's cheaper and they're far more likely to get used up than bigger bottles that get gloopy after a while.

Until next time...

xxx