Big Boots/Online Haul!

Hi everyone! So I hadn't been shopping in quite a while which led to me going a bit crazy for some products I'd had my eye on as well as well as a few things I really didn't need. I'll start with all the things from Boots, beginning with the face products.

Loreal Lumi Magique Primer (£9.99) - I really love to use a radiance primer for all the normal areas of skin (everywhere but my nose) to brighten my face and even out redness and after hearing good things about this I thought I'd give it a go. It was quite expensive for a smallish amount but I do really like it. It leaves my skin looking glowy but not shiny and is quite a good dupe in terms of effect for the Laura Mercier Radiance Primer.

Smashbox Primer Try Me Kit (£19) - I'd had my eye on this kit for a while as Smashbox has always been a brand that's interested me and I hadn't tried anything from them before. It includes three mini's of their photo finish oil-free primer, their lid primer and their undereye primer. I haven't used them long enough to give a real opinion but i'm excited to try them out.

Max Factor Whipped Creme Foundation (RRP £9.99) - I hadn't heard anything about this on any blogs at all but after looking at it's unique texture I really wanted to give it a go. Straight off this stuff is amazing! I've used it most days since owning it and cannot get enough. I'm happy to do a full review if people are interested as it's quickly become a favourite of mine. I don't remember the exact price as I got this on offer in Boots but it's definitely under £9.99 and worth every penny.

17 On The Spot Foundation (£6.99) - Although I don't actually suffer from spots I thought I'd give this a go as the name suggests it would probably be good for the oily patches of skin I have. I've used this a few times and I'd say it's a really nice everyday foundation which lasts pretty well but it doesn't quite beat the Max Factor for me.

Bourjois Bronzing Primer £9.99 - This was definitely a total blogger influenced purchase. I've used it a couple of times now and although I like it I have to say, I don't love it. It's not that it's not a good product but I personally find it a lot more effort to use cream products than I do powder contours. I will continue to use it but so far I may be a bit too lazy to incorporate it into my everyday routine!

Bourjois 24 Hour Cream Eyeshadow in Gold (£6.99) - I'd seen a lot about these on blogs and was really torn between which colour to choose but in the end I went with this one. Again, I'm not sure if i'm totally sold on this yet. It's a nice product but I find it takes a lot of building up to get the colour to show which is either the product or just the shade I chose.. Please let me know if this is the case!

Collection Black Velvet Eyeshadow (£2.19) - I really wanted a nice matte black to use for doing a smokey eye and this one is really great. It's super pigmented and applies really nicely. 

Rimmel ScandalEyes Flex Mascara - I got this as a freebie for buying other Rimmel products and I'm not that impressed with it.. It's a pretty average mascara but it's not really the kind of brush or formula I usually go for so I wouldn't go out and purchase it.

Maybelline Brow Drama (£4.49) - I'm not overly impressed with this at all. Although it does a nice job of setting my brows this is in no way the quick fix to great brows. The colour pay off is pretty much non existant so i've been using it as a finishing set which it's worked much better for. I'm just disappointed that it doesn't have more of a pigment to it.

Revlon Super Lusterous Lipsticks in Kiss Me Coral and Berry Couture (£7.49) - Revlon Lipsticks have an amazing texture and finish to them and definitely rival Rimmel as my favourite drugstore lipstick brand. The colours are pretty self explanatory with Kiss Me Coral being a nice peachy coral nude shade and Berry Couture being more of a purpley pink shade perfect for Autumn.

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipsticks in Glam Plum Fulham & Lets Get Naked (£6.29) - I saw Glam Plum on Vivianna's blog as a dupe for Rebel from MAC which I've always wanted so thought I'd give it's cheaper alternative a go and I love it! I haven't tried Lets Get Naked yet which is more of a nude but these are seriously moisturizing and pigmented and i'll definitely look into getting more when I've used up some more lipsticks. 

Revlon Lipgloss in Adorned (£7.99) - I spotted this shade from Revlon's new fall collection and it is so, so beautiful. My camera didn't pick it up but it's a really bright pink similar to MAC Girl About Town and it is so, so pigmented. The most pigmented lipgloss I have ever come across in fact. It's got some shimmer running through it but doesn't feel chunky or uncomfortable at all on the lips, it's stunning.

Barry M Nail Paints (£3.99) - These don't have names but I spotted them both as limited edition shades and had to have them. I adore Barry M Nail Paints generally and knew they wouldn't disappoint. I haven't used the multi-coloured one but the silver has become my new favourite glitter EVER so I will definitely be stocking up! I'll post a photo at some point but it's an amazing multicoloured holographic effect when the light hits it that I cannot get enough of. It also lasted 5/6 days on my nails without chips. Love! 

Rimmel Lets Get Naked, Rimmel Glam Plum Fulham, Revlon Kiss Me Coral, Revlon Berry Couture, Revlon Adorned Lipgloss

Onto the couple of other things I got, I ended up purchasing the Make Up Forever HD Foundation (£30.95) and the infamous Ben Nye Banana Powder (£7.50) from a site called Guru Make Up - both of which have been on my wishlist for the longest time. I haven't really had much of a chance to properly test out the MUFE but the Ben Nye is a really lovely setting powder for the undereyes. The one criticism which is more my fault is the colour is very yellow so you do have to be careful to apply lightly if you are very fair.

Please let me know if you'd like to see a full review of any of these products as I'm happy to do them!

Mini Life Update & Current Favourites!

Hi everyone! Thought I would do a quick post on an update of what's being going on and why I haven't been posting as regularly as of late. In a nutshell, it's been a very hectic few weeks consisting mainly of working a lot. As some of you may know my actual job is at Space NK part time but I also work at a festival in Surrey called Redfest over the summer doing interviewing which took up a lot of time to prepare for and then work a lot whilst I was there. It was a really exciting weekend consisting mainly of making some new friends, partying in the pit watching Bastille and meeting some of my favourite artists and was such an amazing time which gave me serious post festival blues! In other exciting news I also found out the other day that I'll be doing an internship at Harpers Bazaar's beauty department next Summer which I am so, so excited for as it's pretty much my dream to work at a magazine as a beauty writer one day. So just thought I should offer a slight explanation of why i've been so terrible with updating my blog lately and hope you all understand! I'm now back to blogging as much as I can whilst finishing my last year at uni and glad to finally be back :)

I thought since it had been such a break, I would talk about some of my current favourites.

 Illamasqua Blush in Tremble (£18) - I got this a while ago when Illamasqua did a flash sale of all the products for 50% off totally on a whim and it's quickly become one of my all time favourite blushes. It's the perfect matte corally pink shade that I find so flattering in any season providing the perfect flush to the cheeks. The quality is amazing too, it's extremely pigmented so I barely need any, lasts a really long time on the cheeks and weirdly smells incredible! 

MAC Blush in Harmony (£18) - I love this as a great multi purpose product as I use it as a contour and a blush. It's a really nice shade, not too warm or cool and a nice mid tone brown so works nicely to provide a matte shadow in the contours or used lightly as a blush if I have a heavy eye look or bold lip on.

Topshop Eyeshadow Trio in Orion (£14) - Other than my MAC palette which I obviously put together myself it's safe to say that this is my all time favourite eye palette. I cannot fault these shadows at all, they are perfect shimmery shades and amazing quality too. There's a deep purple/aubergiene colour, a cross between a golden silvery shade and a light champagne which allow for so many different but beautiful looks. They are so pigmented and wearable and I can see me reaching for this even more in Autumn/Winter. 

Hydraluron (£24.99) - I have to admit that I totally gave into the hype with this one! I put off buying it for the longest time due to the slightly high end price tag but decided to cave when Boots recently had it for a third off and I'm so glad I did. This stuff is definitely my new addiction, it leaves my skin feeling so soft and hydrated the next day and has really helped balance out my skin's condition also. Love!

YSL Babydoll Mascara (£24.50) - Another blogger influenced purchase! I've been lusting over YSL mascara's for as long as I can remember as I've not really tried many high end mascara's and theirs have always looked amazing on other people so I decided to bite the bullet and try it out. This is definitely one of my favourites, it adds so much length and volume whilst holding a curl pretty well in my abnormally straight lashes.

Loreal Super Liner Perfect Slim (£6.99) - I'd spent so many years avoiding ever wearing liquid liner due to my terrible technique but when a lovely rep from By Terry came into store and taught me exactly how to do it I was determined to practice and master it, even if it took me years! I've been wearing it everyday and finding that this one being a pen has really helped me to get it quite even. I'm by no means perfect but i've really enjoyed the challenge and this liner a lot.

Soap & Glory Archery Brow Tint and Pencil in Brownie Points (£10) - I'm always on the hunt for products that give me the perfect natural yet thick brow look and I've been so impressed with this. It has a felt tip pen on one end and a waxy pencil on the other which may sound a bit scary but it does such an amazing job. I especially love the pen end as it doesn't come out a really dark, unflattering colour but more of a lightish buildable cool toned brown that helps imitate hairs where needed and draw a precise outline of the shape I need my brows to be. I then take the other end or my Hourglass Brow Sculptor and just feel in any sparse areas and I feel like my brows are better than they've ever been, it's amazing!

Please let me know what your favourites have been, I feel I'm so behind on beauty products lately and would love to hear what you've all been loving!