Watch out for the post on make-up storage as I will certainly need some soon with the amount of beauty products I have been buying. I normally never buy much in one go just pick up a few bits and bobs here and there, but these past two weeks I have gone all out!
Here's most of the products I purchased ( I probably forgot some, silly me! )
So lets begin on the left with Oilatum, I purchased mine in Boots but I linked to Lloyds Pharmacy because it is cheaper! Now this is £6.10 in Lloyds Pharmacy, and I haven't used this for very long, but I have heard marvellous things about it; I must say so far so good, I'm definitely not disappointed. It hydrates quite well and takes away the raw/tight feeling I get after cleansing and isn't whatsoever greasy, after about 10-20 seconds you can barely feel it on your skin! I first heard about this product two weeks ago when I popped to the Urban Decay counter in Debenhams; the counter girl suggest I'd be better off with a finishing powder than the setting sprays, but I mentioned my dry skin, she was absolutely lovely and suggested a range of products she had tried herself one of which was this cream. I'll let you know how I get on with it in a later post.
They're Real by Benefit, now this is a mascara I desperately want to love, and in some respects I really do but in some I'm just not a fan. I'm a girl who doesn't like to stand out, in terms of my make-up, I keep it plain and natural so I don't think the mascara and I are a match made in heaven whatsoever! It's great if you like a lot of volume and striking lashes, I unfortunately found it a little clumpy and a pain in the bum to remove! So difficult in fact it became frustrating, I'll use it up but probably stick to Max Factor next time. In my opinion definitely not worth the £18.50 price tag, as you will probably only use it on night's out or parties so won't get your moneys worth.
Real Techniques Blush Brush, I absolutely love, love, love it! It's absolutely brilliant, for £9.99 you could not do better; there isn't much more to say! Come pay day I'll be back in Boots buying myself every single one in the range, just a pleasure to use!
Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray, well I can't say I can't live without it, but I do like it. I've been religiously using this for a week and half now and I do like it but no way do I get the quoted 16 hours. It also dims your make up down a lot so if you do use a powder blush be prepared to apply more than usual just because it will take away some of the colour. The reason I don't get the 16 hours may be because I don't use a setting powder so don't take it as a sign of it being a bad product! A lot of people love it and I do agree it has prolonged and slowed down the inevitable disappearing act of my make-up! I would say £19.00 is a little steep but I think you do get a lot for your money as you don't need much of the product.
TRESemme Salon Shine Glossing Spray, well it does what it says on the tin! It's not magic, it doesn't get rid of my frizz all together but it does help. It's light therefore doesn't weigh down my hair and it does contain Argan oil, so all in all a good product for £4.99. One little side note, I really don't like the smell, but that's me just being a little picky!
MUA Shade 17- Matt, You've probably heard all there is to say about the great, affordable eyeshadows. Lets leave it at that, it's lovely and it's only £1, this shade is an absolute essential for any look.
I've always been a bit unadventurous with my blushes, I got my first blush when I was 12 or so and stuck with it, imagine the emotional breakdown craziness that went down when the shade I loved and enjoyed got discontinued. Please don't judge me but I still have the old blush and save it for special occasions as I treasure it more than most of my other belongings and it's only a Maybeline mouse! Anyway so as it's slowly running out I decided to find a back up and I think I have, the Liz Earle Powder Blush in Coral 05. It's not a colour I'm used to as I normally stick to light pinks and rather natural looking colours, and one day I did overdo it, mum even asked if I was sick but what the heck I like it. You do have to be very careful as it is very pigmented but paired with the Real Techniques Blush Brush it's fabulous! I will definitely buy it again when it runs out and maybe add some more colours to my collection.
Last but not least I will do the lip products together because when taking pictures of swatches I realised they're basically the same. Great, got two lip products exactly the same shade.The Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Rendezvous is what one may call a dupe for MAC Cremesheen Ravishing in colour anyway.
Now there is a slight difference, the Balm Stain is slightly more sheer and has a shimmer to it, whereas the MAC lipstick is more matte, more of a pink tone to it and has a slightly better colour pay-off. However, what does one expect, one is only a Balm Stain and the other a lipstick. I initially bought the lipstick because I thought I needed something a little brighter to cut through the doom and gloom of London, and well the Balm Stain was just an impulse buy after I read the review by Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter, she did say she does get a lot of wear and does not have to re-apply and I don't know if it's just me or others have had the same problem but I wore it for the first time today and within an hour it was gone! I will give it a go with my lip primer but I thought this might have been the end to 101 and lip products in my little bag!
Just to prove when first applied they do look almost identical here's a picture of my lips.
Real Techniques Blush Brush, I absolutely love, love, love it! It's absolutely brilliant, for £9.99 you could not do better; there isn't much more to say! Come pay day I'll be back in Boots buying myself every single one in the range, just a pleasure to use!
Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray, well I can't say I can't live without it, but I do like it. I've been religiously using this for a week and half now and I do like it but no way do I get the quoted 16 hours. It also dims your make up down a lot so if you do use a powder blush be prepared to apply more than usual just because it will take away some of the colour. The reason I don't get the 16 hours may be because I don't use a setting powder so don't take it as a sign of it being a bad product! A lot of people love it and I do agree it has prolonged and slowed down the inevitable disappearing act of my make-up! I would say £19.00 is a little steep but I think you do get a lot for your money as you don't need much of the product.
TRESemme Salon Shine Glossing Spray, well it does what it says on the tin! It's not magic, it doesn't get rid of my frizz all together but it does help. It's light therefore doesn't weigh down my hair and it does contain Argan oil, so all in all a good product for £4.99. One little side note, I really don't like the smell, but that's me just being a little picky!
MUA Shade 17- Matt, You've probably heard all there is to say about the great, affordable eyeshadows. Lets leave it at that, it's lovely and it's only £1, this shade is an absolute essential for any look.
I've always been a bit unadventurous with my blushes, I got my first blush when I was 12 or so and stuck with it, imagine the emotional breakdown craziness that went down when the shade I loved and enjoyed got discontinued. Please don't judge me but I still have the old blush and save it for special occasions as I treasure it more than most of my other belongings and it's only a Maybeline mouse! Anyway so as it's slowly running out I decided to find a back up and I think I have, the Liz Earle Powder Blush in Coral 05. It's not a colour I'm used to as I normally stick to light pinks and rather natural looking colours, and one day I did overdo it, mum even asked if I was sick but what the heck I like it. You do have to be very careful as it is very pigmented but paired with the Real Techniques Blush Brush it's fabulous! I will definitely buy it again when it runs out and maybe add some more colours to my collection.
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| Here's a little swatch, and this is a very pigmented swatch just to show you the colour. Don't be scared you definitely don't have to apply it this heavy to your cheeks! I certainly don't. |
Now there is a slight difference, the Balm Stain is slightly more sheer and has a shimmer to it, whereas the MAC lipstick is more matte, more of a pink tone to it and has a slightly better colour pay-off. However, what does one expect, one is only a Balm Stain and the other a lipstick. I initially bought the lipstick because I thought I needed something a little brighter to cut through the doom and gloom of London, and well the Balm Stain was just an impulse buy after I read the review by Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter, she did say she does get a lot of wear and does not have to re-apply and I don't know if it's just me or others have had the same problem but I wore it for the first time today and within an hour it was gone! I will give it a go with my lip primer but I thought this might have been the end to 101 and lip products in my little bag!
Just to prove when first applied they do look almost identical here's a picture of my lips.
When first applied I actually prefer the Balm Stain but as I say it barely lasted me the train ride into work. As I say lip products in general don't last well for me and do crease, so do check out Louise's blog as I do agree with her opinion most the time and she is very honest!
Just before I finish I must warn you of the slight peppermint/eucalyptus type smell that the Balm Stain has, it's not really to my licking but some of you may like it. I didn't notice it on the testers so it probably fades with time!
Woah.. All done! Long post I know but I thought I wouldn't do this half heartedly as I've actually tried some of the products so just giving my opinion!
x
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