May Favourites

Hello lovelies!

I have FINALLY found some time to be able to share with you some of my favourite products of this month. April and May I have been very naughty for hauling beauty...

Naked Palette - This is something I never had the desire for because I have the Naked 2 & 3 palettes and thought the warmer tones would not suit me very well. How wrong I was! After my boyfriend insisted on getting me it because it frustrated him that I did not have a complete collection (which benefits me), we got this from Debenhams. I just love this so much more than I thought I would and it pips the Naked 2 palette to the post for my No2 loved palette (behind Naked 3).

L'Oreal Nude Magique Eau de Teint (100 Porcelain) - I really struggle to find foundations I love as I hate anything cakey or something that feels heavy on my face. After reading some reviews on this I managed to pick it up from my local Sainsbury's for £7 (which is a bargain for this foundation). This is one of the best foundations I own as it is light coverage and you cannot feel it on your skin once it is blended in. This will definitely be repurchased.

Collection 200 Lasting Perfection Concealer (1 Fair) - I found this so hard to track down in Nottingham as the lightest shade was sold out everywhere when I tried to find it. I managed to get it from a Boots that had less foot traffic and it is understandable why this is so popular. It hides dark circles, spots AND blends well. I won't review this full as their are hundreds of reviews about this and they and mostly glowing.

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick (Piccadilly Pink) - I find this in Poundland and decided 'why not?' for £1. I already owned some Moisture Renew lipsticks from Rimmel and they were just gorgeous. This one is no different. A lovely, dark pink that is somewhat natural.

Urban Decay Primer Potion (Original) - I love this stuff. It keeps my eyeshadow in place all day without creasing. I luckily picked this up from Cohorted.co.uk when it was in one of their cohorts and got it for about £5 cheaper than normal. Well worth the money and I have barely made a dent in it.

Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Liner - This is the perfect eyeliner of all time. I use this all the time but I felt this needed to be a monthly favourite because I still appreciate its quality. A must have liquid eyeliner.

Dainty Doll Blusher (002 My Girl) - I am a little disappointed this range has been discontinued but with it's original prices (think the same price you would pay for MAC or Benefit), it was a little bit of a rip off. The line then went into liquidation and the products were sold far cheaper and then became quite popular. The quality of this blush is amazing and the right shade for my pale skin tone. I wish I had picked more of these up before they had sold out.

What are your monthly favourites?

April/May Hauling

Hello lovelies.

Well, I feel I have been a little naughty with the spending the last few weeks and my cosmetics selection has expanded so much. My excuse it that I need waterproof stuff for going on holiday but it has not ALL been geared towards packing for my holiday...

Boots: 3 for 2

A few weeks ago I thought I would give myself a little treat for Easter. I picked up the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (as you can see, my hands have been greasy while I've used it making it look more 'well loved'), Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pink Gold and Bourjois Cream Blush in 03 Rose Tender.

I had had my eye on the Bourjois Cream Blush for a while ever since I managed to get my mitts on a stippling brush. A little goes a long why with this so it is no surprise that it is a 2.5g pot.

The Color Tattoo is something I wanted for my holiday. I have been looking for make-up I can wear in the pool without it smearing and this seemed to fit the bill. I chose Pink Gold as it looked like the cream version of 'Burnout' in my Naked 3 palette.

Sainsbury's and Poundland

This is a small stash I gathered rather recently from the Poundland in Kings Lynn and the Sainsbury's in Nottingham.

The Collection 2000 foundation came from Poundland and my goodness, I wished I had purchased more! For my light skin tone, it is try to it's name - it does adapt to your skin tone. I have been wearing this for a few days now and it makes my skin really flawless. Its not too heavy and the texture is light. This may not be for you if you like something more heavy duty but I still cannot believe this is streets ahead of my L'Oreal True Match foundation. If I can pick up more next week I definitely will.
I also managed to find a Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in 'Piccadilly Pink' in Poundland too. This has a great formula and a great texture. A nice everyday lipstick.

Sainsbury's also managed to have a few bargains too. I picked up a Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in 02 Peach for £3.49 instead of about £6.49. I had been on the look out for a peach blusher as the pink blushers that grace my bad can be a little too cool for my eye make-up. This is the perfect colour and I didn't have to shell out loads of money for it either!
Lastly from Sainsbury's is Maybelline's Great Lash Waterproof Mascara. I had heard good things about this mascara and for £3.99 I thought I would give this a go. I have tried this today and it was better than I expected. It separates and lengthens lashes really well despite having a smaller than usual brush. I would definitely repurchase it again for a drugstore mascara. 

Beauty Outlet

I went a bit crazy buying face powders as I have been trying to find some decent priced ones instead of my usual Rimmel 'Stay Matte' powder. Admittedly, the Becca Loose Powder in 'Ginger' is a repurchase as it is a fantastic loose powder and this particular shade seems to sell out quick. This shade was the last on the shelf and I only found it through foraging through other shades in the shop! This cost £6.99.

The L'Oreal powder must be an import as it is written in French. I had been eyeing up the True Match powders for a while but it was too expensive usually. I picked up the shade  C1 Rose Ivory and it is fantastic. It is super soft and applies well.

I also picked up a HD Brows powder foundation. It was a bargain at £5.99. The texture is smooth and it even comes with a lovely mirror. The problem? The shade '2' is a little orange for my cooler toned complexion. It is usable but I will probably give this too my Mum as she has a less pink complexion.

Debenhams and Cohorted

After trying out the potion samples that came with the Naked 3, I knew I had to get the full size bottle. When I saw that Cohorted.co.uk were doing it for one of their cohorts I immediately signed up. Luckily, it sold out meaning that everyone in the Cohort got it for £11.20 rather than £16. I was a little surprised when it arrived through the post as two travel sized potions rather than one. However, I am not complaining as it means that I get an extra 1ml of potion than if I had one full size.

Today was a little killer in Debenhams. I had intended to go in their only to by a bikini for my holiday as they had 20% off all swimwear. I made the mistake of walking through the beauty department where my boyfriend offered to by me the original Naked palette (because having the 2nd and 3rd one without the 1st was irritating him more than me!). Then because they had an offer on where if you bought an award winner item (the Naked palette) and other item from beauty or fragrance meant getting another £10 off. So naturally, I had to take advantage of the offer and settled for a beloved Dior Diorshow mascara which I have previously had samples of and LOVED. Nothing comes close to it.

As you can see with the Naked Palette, it has new packaging. No mini sized primer potion now. Just the samples you get with the Naked 3. Tut tut, Urban Decay!

Soap and Glory - 3 for 2

After Christmas, I decided to purchase some Soap and Glory products as a little treat. Something I fell head-over-heals in love with is their scrubs. I am currently half way through my original Sugar Crush scrub and I absolutely adore it. So today I decided to extend my range and also purchase Flake Away and Breakfast Scrub. I seriously cannot wait to try these. Nothing comes close to Soap and Glory scrubs.

Finally: the Fragrance Direct Prize!

I was a very lucky lady last weekend and won the 'Handbag Heros' competition being run on Fragrance Direct's Facebook page. I took a snap and uploaded it to them thinking it was a little bit of fun and to my delight I won their prize. I was so happy as I never usually win anything.

They sent me:

Katy Perry Killer Queen Oh So Sheer 30ml

Elizabeth Arden Double Density Mascara

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Hand Cream 30ml

HD Brows Bronzer 2

The perfume and the hand cream are definitely things I shall be keeping and possibly be repurchasing. I have already tried the Elizabeth Arden mascara before and it did little for my lashes so I have promised this to my Grandma. The bronzer, unfortunately, I cannot use because I am as pale as a ghost and it looks too dark for my complexion. So this is possibly going to be re-homed to my boyfriend's sister who is a lot darker than myself.

As you can see, I have had a good few weeks of goods this spring!

What have you been hauling recently?

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette Review

Hello lovelies!

After a very long and hard term, I finally get to come back to my blog and write about something I adore.
Like a lot of you, I go though phases of lust for different types of cosmetics.  First I was nuts for nail varnish, then blusher, next (briefly) was lipsticks and now I am frickin' crazy on eyeshadow palettes! It is a rather expensive phase currently.

So my latest addition to my collection is the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. It is something I've had my eye on since I saw it in the Debenhams 'sale' at Christmas. At that time it was £39.50 down from £45. That was still too expensive for a product I had heard little about and with the Naked palettes being cheaper, I held fire. I then saw it on Beauty Bay for the same price (£39.50) but they also had a promotion to get 15% off. Therefore it cost a little over £33. A great bargain!

This palette has drawn many comparisons to the Urban Decay Naked palettes. It is hard not to since this is a very neutral toned palette. So you must forgive me for my references to the Naked palettes!

L-R: Gilded Ganache, White Chocolate, Slated Caramel, Marzipan, Semi Sweet, Hazelnut, Creme Brulee, Haute Chcolate

L- R: Milk Chocolate, Black Forest Truffle, Triple Fudge, Strawberry Bon Bon, Candied Violet, Amaretto, Cherry Cordial, Champagne Truffle

First I want to comment on BeautyBay's service. They do free delivery which is great but unfortunately they use the courier service Yodel in the UK. I had to reschedule the delivery as the package needed to be signed for (apparently). When they redelivered, they did not use the door buzzer to give me the package or attempt to deliver it to my flat personally. They had left the package inside the outside cupboard where the bins are kept! I personally think this is awful service on behalf of Yodel and had I not read reviews on their service, I would never have thought to check where my bins are!

Another downer (unfortunately) was that my box and the tin itself was damaged. I don't understand how the tin can manage to be dented on the corner considering it was in a box and it was delivered in bubble wrap but it was!

Back to the product...

I have never tried any of Too Faced products before but have heard so many great things about them. The tin of this product in the shape of a block of chocolate which is so fitting with the theme of this product. In comparison to my Naked palettes, the tin feels really light and almost cheap as it is lacking the weight that makes the Naked palettes feel so robust. The tin is also quite thick which is did not need to be considering they are just eyeshadows. However, because this is so light, I will be packing this for my holiday in the summer. 
It is also fastened by a magnet which I am indifferent about. It is rather easy to open as the magnet is not incredibly strong.

Inside are the eyeshadows. If you have already read other reviews about this product, you will know it is true to its name and smells chocolattey! The scent reminds me of Coco Pops and is a lovely novelty. For those that are worried it might be an overwhelming smell, it really isn't. In fact, I was rather disappointed its scent wasn't stronger as for me this was a huge selling point.

The eyeshadows themselves are infused with cocoa powder which probably gives it that scent. This is because Too Faced wanted an anti-oxident in their eyeshadows for this palette. However, I have not seen any real benefits from that as of yet.

These eyeshadows come with a plastic overlay with the names of the shades written on them. This is a little annoying as I loathe having to remove the sheet and putting it back on each time as I want to know the names. Another disappointing thing about the palette is the lack of brush. I believe that if anyone is paying £45 for an eyeshadow palette, it could at least come with a decent brush! However, I understand that this would have meant making the eyeshadows smaller or creating larger packaging.

For me, this palette has two sides. The left hand side has warmer tones where the right hand side has much cooler tones. This means this palette can work for most skin tones. Surprisingly, I found that the warmer side of the palette to suit me really well which has left the cooler side feeling a little neglected!

The pigmentation of these eyeshadows are pretty great. Some apply really well and some can be a little more patchy. Unfortunately, there can be a little too much fallout for my liking as the eyeshadows are so soft.

So what about the colours? Here are my opinions on a few...

The shadow I thought I would like better: Champagne Truffle - I love the shadow, I really do, but it seems a little patchy. I am not sure if this is because I have been teaming it with an Urban Decay Sample of the 'Eden' primer potion (that is so poor in comparison to the original) but the application isn't my favourite. The colour its self is very pretty though.

The big surprise: Creme Brulee - After thinking I should give up with gold tones, this changed my mind! It is a bronzey gold with some green undertones which works well with my green eyes and pale skin. It is definitely a pale girls gold eyeshadow.

The shades I use most: Creme Brulee, Hazelnut and Milk Chocolate - these create the most stunning smokey eyed looks.


Overall, I do like this palette but I would possibly recommend it for 'Naked' virgins. This has some fantastic and versatile neutral shades in this palette yet it still doesn't live it to the King of Palettes create by Urban Decay. The shadows are not quite so smooth and can create a little fall out.

However, this product is great for gimmick lovers like myself. It comes in chocolate bar packaging, smells like chocolate and (I have failed to mention) the eyeshadows do actually taste sweet too (I found out through curiosity)!

Is it worth the full RRP of £45? In short: no. This palette is purely a novelty and if you want to spend good money on a great palette, the Urban Decay Naked palettes are a fantastic investment. However at the price I managed to get it for, I would tell someone to give it a go. It has a lot of eyeshadows for different complexions and eye colours.

Urban Decay Naked 2 Eyeshadow Palette

Hello lovelies!

I have to admit, I have caved and given into the blogger hype. 
Yes, I have bought my first Urban Decay palette.

I decided to settle for the second edition of this palette mainly because of reviews. I have cooler toned skin and I had heard that it is more suited to warmer toned girls. At the time I had bought it, Naked 3 had sold out. This didn't matter as I wanted a true neutral toned palette where the Naked 3 was more rosy-hued. So I managed to grab this from House of Fraser in January with my Christmas money.

As you all probably know, the Naked palettes all come with 12 shades in. This palette (I think) has around 5 exclusive shades to this palette. This is a bit of a bummer if you particularly liked a shade and wanted to buy a bigger pot.

However they have repeated the shade 'Half Baked' from the original Naked palette. This is slightly cheeky if you already own the first one but luckily, I didn't.

It comes in a nice, robust, metal tin with a large mirror on the inside. I love the mirror! It is large enough to do your whole make up routine in if you wanted. This would make it ideal for travelling.

This also comes with a miniature Lip Junkie lip gloss. I have seen many bloggers moan about this but I have to say I am rather happy. I quite enjoy wearing the lip gloss on occasion and it tastes minty.

 Foxy - A matte, cream colour. It is actually quite yellow.

Half Baked - A shimmery, gold colour. 

Bootycall - A champagne, shimmery colour. It looks slightly peachy/pink.

Chopper - A bronze shimmer. 

Tease - A matte shadow that is a mauvey/taupe.

Snakebite - Almost a khaki-brown shimmer with gold micro-glitter.

Suspect - A light brown shimmer with champagne tones.

Pistol - A grey, gunmetal colour with micro-glitter.  

Verve - A beautiful shimmery, light silver.

YDK - A cool toned copper.

Busted - A very dark brown with frosted undertones.

Blackout - A matte black.

These shadows are all of excellent quality. Super pigmented but yes, there is occasionally some fallout. However, there are some of the shades I don't think I will hit the pan with. I will give you my over view below:

Surprisingly great colours: Personally, I LOVE Tease. I usually gravitate towards shimmery colours but I love this matte brown. I can wear it on its own or smoke it out with others -  I love it.

Blackout was also a surprise. I thought I would never use a matte black as it is too dramatic. However I tend to use this more and more as a soft eyeliner.

The colours I didn't get on with: Half Baked & Chopper. I wore these on a day off fearing they may not suit me and I was right. As a stand alone shade on my eyes, they are too warm and make me look as if I'm ill. I may use these in a smoky eye look but not as a stand out shade.

The shades I wear the most: Snakebite, Suspect and of course, Tease. All of those can be used to create some great looks but also can be used one their own for when you don't have time to create a perfect face of make-up.

The shade I thought I would love more: YDK. I love the colour, I really do but I find that I already have a cheaper, dupe of this in my make-up bag. Rimmel's Mono Eyeshadow in 102 is so similar to YDK that I think I've kind of grown bored of it before I even got the palette. I know that sounds odd.

This palette made me love Urban Decay so much that I managed to get the Naked 3 for Valentine's Day (Lucky me!). So for those who have their heart set on the Naked 2, I would just buy it and love it as much as I do. I get the feeling I will get a lot of use out of this.

Which Naked palette is your favourite?
Is it worth getting the first one?

American bloggers, I need your help!

Hello lovelies!

I am currently very excited because I have a friend going to the US that is willing to bring me over some make up goodies we cannot get here in the UK!

I have already thought of a list I want but I cannot help but think that it's a small order. I really want some great suggestions. Here's what I have already asked for;

Milani baked blush in Dolce Pink or Coralina
Eons Lip Balm
Physicians formula Happy Boost Blush in Pink
Physicians Formula pH matchmaker lipgloss
Burt's bees lipgloss in spring splendor

Anyway, I would love some suggestions on drugstore brands that you find fantastic. I've tried to do my research and it fell a bit flat. But who else better to ask than experts like yourself?

Love
Raisa xxx

Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes by Alber Elbaz in DO5

Hello lovelies!

I want to share one of my little treasures from my post-Christmas sales purchases. This year I found the sales to be utterly fantastic if you went to the right places (Debenhams in Nottingham still had some fantastic offers a week after Boxing Day).

I could not help but grab the Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Eyeshadow Pallette by Alber Elbaz in DO5. After swearing I would not spend my money on Lancome eyeshadows again (after purchasing a palette before and believing the pigmentation was not up to scratch), I caved as this was half price. Instead of being £38, this was £19. Not a bad reduction for Lancome. However you only get 2.7g of product in total! I would have been very annoyed if I had paid full price for this for very little product.

The packaging is very enticing. The designs by Alber Elbaz seem to be aimed more towards a younger, more 'kooky' market. I cannot imagine this is the kind of palette my grandma would have on her dressing table! I love how different the design is - it is right up my street.

The palette came with instructions on how to create perfect smoky eyes in three different intensities. This was perfect for me as I have always struggled to create a look that works (I'm getting there!). The colours come listed as 1 to 5 with the diagram showing which shades to use for the different intensities.

From the swatches, you can see that the shadows are quite pigmented apart from number 1 which is the highlighter. It is very glittery and cannot really be used independently.

The rest of the shadows are rather lovely. The colours are typical of what I would usually wear as they are very neutral. The pigmentation is not as fantastic as brands like Urban Decay, but it is better than my last Lancome eyeshadow palette.

The shades seem to blend really well too. I find many shows hard to soften out the harsh edges but this palette is almost like a 'beginners' tool to smoky eyes.

I would never have paid full price for this product because of its minimal amount of product. It is only just worth what I paid for it at sale price. 

That said, the colour are gorgeous and the instructions have been very handy for me. I don't regret buying this product but if it was a permanent addition to the Lancome line, I would not repurchase this.

Why would anyone have paid full price for this at £38? I would rather spend a pound less and indulge in a Urban Decay Naked palette.

Boxing Day/January Sales!

Hello lovelies!

I hope you have been enjoying the January sales as much as I have. This year seems to have been absolutely fantastic. If you got into the shops early, you would have found some true bargains.

My make-up collection is now at a point where I have had to nip to IKEA to buy a set of draws to store my stuff in (as I literally had just a make-up bag before). So what did I manage to get my paws on?

Soap and Glory Powder Trip

£20 £10

This was something I managed to claim for myself. My boyfriend was doing some after-Christmas Christmas shopping for his family (as we were going to see them at the weekend) and he was buying some Soap and Glory goodies for his sister. When we realised the gifts were half price we grabbed this and a bath set for her. However, I was too besotted with this to gift to to someone else.

I knew this was a bargain as these products individually are over the £10 mark. I have wanted to try the blusher for a long while and wasn't too fussed on the bronzer as I am so pale. However I have been using the bronzer more than anything!

Solar Powder is a must have for pale-faced bronzing.

Debenhams

bareMinerals - An Affair to Remember - £35 £17.50

Lancome - Hypnose Doll Eyes by Alber Elbaz - £38 £19

Two gorgeous, bargain eyeshadow palettes for the quality of the brand.

The bareMinerals palette I nearly didn't get because, again, it was a present for my boyfriends other sister (who loves big-named cosmetics). I regretted instantly not buying one myself and was on the hunt for it again after.

Luckily, Debenhams in Nottingham City Centre had loads of these left so I managed to pick one up. Then the reduced Lancome stand allured me and I had to buy a palette from their too. Total? £36.50. I also got 500 points on my beauty card for spending over £35!.

Stila Cosmetics online

Positively Pink Set

£13 £3.75

A fantastic value set. I bought this when Stila had free shipping and their sale. I had never tried their products before but I knew it was regarded highly. I bought two of these, one for me and one as a birthday gift.

The quality of both products is fantastic. I would definitely purchase in their sale again.

Did you get anything great in the sales? If you did, link me your page so I can look!

Happy New Year! What did December bring me?

Hello fellow bloggers!

Wow, I have not posted for a very long while. December is a very busy month for most of us, Christmas and the shopping! Which means that I have sooo much to blog about but not enough time to do it. So I have decided to do a round up of what I've bought or received last month, so sit tight: it's going to be a long post!

Fragrance Direct Haul December 2013

(Italicised text are the things I kept) 

Eyes

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Colour Maximum Volume Mascara

NYC Eyeshadow in Gossip Girl and On The Radar

Lips

Rimmel Vinyl Gloss in Mischief

Maybelline Super Stay 24h Lip Colour in Infinite Petal

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Oxford St Fuschia

Dainty Doll Lipstick in In His Kiss 005

Nails - OPI

Excuse Moi

Steady As She Rose

Diva of Geneva

Congeniality Is My Middle Name

Pedal Faster Suzi!

Miscellaneous

MNY Blush 101

NYC Applelicious Glossy Lip Balm in Apple Blueberry Pie

Pets Rock Compact Mirror

A big(-ish) haul, huh? The reason I did this haul was my itchy fingers when I see new OPI colours come into stock on the Fragrance Direct website. I was desperate to get my hands on ' Excuse Moi' from the Muppets Collection.

Best product of the haul: Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Oxford St. Fuschia. I had heard people rave about this lipstick for a while and decided to pop one in my basket. Perfect colour and doesn't dry out my lips. I will probably purchase these again at full RRP if Fragrance Direct does not stock up again.

Most disappointing: Possibly the Mini Bourjois Nail Files shown in the first picture. I bought for my handbag to remedy snags away from home. These, however, just fall apart in one use. Not worth the 99p.

I wish I had kept: The Applelicious Lip Balm! I ordered two: one for my cousin and the other I had ordered accidentally. I was going to keep it but my sister needed bits for a stocking filler. She better like it!

Birthday (16th December)

With a birthday so close to Christmas, it is always difficult to figure out what you want. There is only so much stuff you can suggest to others to buy before running out of ideas. Now, I had asked my lovely BF for the Clarins 'The Essentials' Eye Palette and asked him weeks in advance. However, the last minute shopper that he is discovered that the shops had completely sold out. So this left him asking me if I wanted any fragrances. The only one I knew I wanted for my collection was J'adore Voile de Parfum. I didn't expect to get it because of it's extortionate price tag. However I was very lucky to be given the bigger size of this product (100 ml) to use. It is a gorgeous floral scent that is extremely classy. Gorgeous.

Secret Santa

I did two Secret Santa's this year: one with my University friends and one at my school (which was much bigger). I think I can safely say, those that picked my name knew me quite well. The budgets were £5 so I was pretty amazed with what I got.

The Secret Santa with my uni friends could have turned out to be a disaster. I was picked by a male friend of mine! Luckily, he had heard me gossiping in seminars with my girl friends. So I received two Claire's nail polishes which are all very Christmasy. I have yet to try them out but I will look forward to wearing them.

Next, I have no idea who bought me my Secret Santa when I I was at school but clearly I look like a girl who loves her make up! I got a three tins of lip balms in different flavours and a gorgeous eye shadow palette.

I could not have asked for better suited gifts!

Enough with this post. I will hopefully get round to posting a 'January Sales' post soon!

Did you get some lovely gifts for Xmas?