Beauty Haul

I haven't done a written beauty haul in forever and I thought is was about time I did! This is accumulation of the bits I have bought since about Mid december till now so yeh, get a cup of tea and a snack, you may need it to get through this! One thing I did want to say is that some of these will have more in depth reviews coming up on here over the next couple weeks, others may not. If there is something you want to see please do let me know! 

On with the haul....

Revlon Quick Dry Case Coat- Love this! dries really quick (like the name might suggest!) By the time you've done your second hand, the first is dry. It's also helped strengthen my nails. They haven't been breaking as much 

Maybelline Forever Strong Pro In 130- A really dusty pink that goes with everything. Everyone needs this kind of colour in their collection and I love the brush and formulation of the Maybelline Varnishes. The brush is rounded and wider so it doesn't take as many strokes to cover the whole nail. This varnish took two coats to become fully Opaque and dried quickly. 

Rimmel Lasting Finish in 700 Block Your Green- A lovely green that seems to look more teal in the photos but its a darker green with a slight glitter sheen to it (You can't see the glitter unless you look really close) again like the brush but found got wear on  the tips after a day. 

Rimmel Precious Stones in 001 Diamond Dust- I love the colour of this and it does go opaque after a couple coats but my god is this a bitch to get off! 

Rimmel Apocalips in Stellar and Celestial- I have already done a post on these babies which you can read here

MAC Brick-O-La Amplified Lipstick- I had seen a couple of bloggers mention this and it instanly caught my eye. It's a really browny pink, the name says it all it is a brick colour and I just love this. Perfect for the days were you want a bit of colour but nothing too drastic and I absolutely love the Amplified finish, soft and pigmented. 

MAC Eyeshadows- I needed a new brow shade as the one I was using was in a huge palette and it was just a pain in the arse so I got Charcoal brown, which is a matte shade to fill in my brows with. Just defines them without making them too harsh. Cranberry is one that seems to be very popular at the moment. It's a frost finish so it's got a lovely sheen to it. Haven't had a chance to play around with this yet but looking forward to it! and lastly All That Glitters, which has now completed my quad and a perfect addition. This is the most gorgeous rose gold shade and I imagine would be perfect for any skin tone! 

3 more hyped products that I have only just got round to getting!

Rimmel Scandaleyes in Nude- I already had one on the go hence waiting to get this. It's a nice product and I will be doing a quick review after I have used it for a while. 

Benefit They're Real- I used this yesterday but applied it in such a rush I'm not counting it, although taking it off last night was a bit of a bitch. I only bough a little one as I'm so fussy with mascaras it seemed silly to buy a big one incase I didn't like it. We shall see...

MUA Professional Eyes Primer- I have so much bad luck with eye shadows creasing so just another product to see if I can actually get my eyeshadows to last all day! will report back on this! 

We're nearly at the end I promise.. 

Rimmel Match Pefection Light Reflecting Radiance Foundation- Long enough name?! This is my new go- to foundation. Totally in love! Plus it's light enough YAY! They actually do this in a porcelain shade.  I will be doing a full review of this soon!

Avene Extremely Rich Compensating Cream- I bought this just before christmas and my God this has saved my skin. If you have dry skin, buy this bad boy! You will never look back. Again I will probably  do a more in depth review of this soon.

Boots Botanics Hot Cloth Cleansing Balm- I've heard mixed reviews about this. I personally thought it was ok and don't mind the residue it leaves but that is all personal choice. 

Lush Let The Good Times Roll Cleanser- This cleanser has Popped corn oil, polenta, maize flour and cinnamon. It's a really gentle cleanser/ exfoliator and great for everyday use, it leaves my skin feeling so soft and fresh. 

Origins Out of Trouble- I bought this the other day with Sarah who runs new modern damsel. She took me to the Origins counter and I knew i wasn't leaving without buying anything. I did want to buy the Make A Difference + moisturiser but decided not to but bought this instead. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but will be soon!

Lastly two random bits but they were to cute not to include!

Dolly Bow Bow Flower Crown- I have wanted one of these for so long and saw this one and fell in love. I love the colour and the fact that the flowers aren't to big. I might try and do a make up look to fit in with the headband, we shall see! 

Lastly my Cath Kidstion Pocket Diary! I have been trying to find a cute diary for so long and this just fits the bill. Its small enough to pop into my bag but big enough that I can fit everything in. 

So there you have it! I think writing a make up haul is better as it means you can actually see the products and colour better than on a video, let me know what you think? All the products are link just click the bold and that will take you through to where you can buy them. 

MAC| Mineralize Charged Water

I don't usually like to show products that I just didn't get on with at all but I thought I would share this because really it did nothing. I like to think I am fair, I gave it a good go but I just didn't see any benefit from it at all.

When I bought this I originally wanted the mini Fix+ and some how I managed to get talked into buying this and a full sized bottle at that. The lovely MUA said it worked in the same way as the Fix+ but had the added benefit of more minerals.

Charged water can be used after cleansing, before moisturising and to help refresh makeup. I have used this spray in both ways and truthfully, it just doesn't feel or look like it does anything.

One thing I think it would be nice for is during the summer as a refreshing spray, much like the Caudalie Beauty Elixir.

I do like this to refresh my make up, however the spray isn't fine enough and I find that the spray actually makes my makeup run, meaning I have to re do my make up anyway. 

Like I said I don't usually like giving bad reviews but I wanted to let people know what I thought as it may be something you want to give it a try in store before you commit to buying. 

If you did want to give this product a go then it is available in Mac stores and concession counters and online here 

£15.00 for 150ml

Guest Post| Sophia from Tattooed Tea Lady

Hi everyone! My name is Sophia and I run a little blog called Tattooed Tealady where I blog about every aspect of beauty, with a few lifestyle posts and book reviews thrown in the mix! Today I am writing a guest post for the very lovely Sophie – Sophie has been a good blogging-friend of mine for a while now and I absolutely adore the girl, so I am happy and honoured to be writing a post for her blog! I hope you will enjoy the post! So, here goes…

Top Tips for the Perfect Lip

When I was in my teens, the only thing I thought of when applying lipstick was which lipstick to use. I never considered that the way my lipstick looks, can drastically change by both the way I apply my lipstick and the way I look after my lips. Now, in my mid-20’s I am ~I would like to think~ a lot wiser where make up is concerned, particularly with lipsticks. Whereas in my teens the most I would be willing to pay for a lipstick was a few quid, I will now happily splurge on a high-end lipstick. Because of this, I like to make sure my lipstick looks the best it can look, and there are five steps I follow to achieve the perfect lip.

Step 1 – Use a Lip Scrub

Every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed, I use a lip scrub. My lip scrub of choice is the Bubblegum lip scrub from Lush. It smells lovely, it tastes lovely and it’s pink, where can you go wrong? It’s important to use a lip scrub on a daily basis to ensure your lips are left silky smooth and keep any dry skin at bay. The smoother your lips are, the better your lipstick will look. And it also prevents your lipstick from looking cracked and drying throughout the day, as you often find if you have uneven or cracked and dry lips.

Step 2 – Use a Lip Balm/Salve

Like the lip scrub, I apply lip balms and lip salves in the morning when I wake up, at night before bed and also throughout the day. It’s a quick and easy thing to do which ensures your lips stay soft and smooth. My favourites are Carmex Original lip balm and Balance Me Rose Otto Intensive Lip Salve.

Step 3 – Lip Primer

Before I bought my very first MAC lipstick, I didn’t even know lip primers existed. But now you can always find me applying my MAC Prep + Prime before applying any lipstick, particularly pink and red shades. It just works really well to add the right amount of moisture to my lips, smooth them and prime them before I apply lipstick. I find particularly with my red lipsticks, that they stay on a lot longer when I have used this product and I don’t need to reapply half as much as I would without it.

Step 4 – Use a Lip Brush

This step is more one of personal choice but when it comes to my darker or brighter shades, such as reds and pinks, I like to apply a layer of the shade with a lip brush first. I just find it makes my lipstick stay on longer, prevents it from smudging, creasing or fading and helps me keep my lipstick within my lip line. I just use a cheap brush from 17 that I have had for years, but you can use any form of lip brush for this step.

Step 5 – Apply Your Lipstick

After all the other steps, when you finally go to apply your lipstick, it will make your lips look perfect! And that’s a promise!

So those are my top five tips for the perfect lip. Five steps may seem like a lot, but when you think about how long each takes and the benefits you get from each step; it doesn’t take long at all and is so worth it for the end result!

Thank you Sophie for letting me ramble on your blog! I hope you all enjoyed my guest post! You can find me over on my own blog which is Tattooed Tealady, and I also co-run a weight-loss blog called Bloggers Go Skinny. Alternatively, you can also find me on Twitter, I’m always happy to chat so send me a tweet @tattooedtealady!

Love, Sophia xo

Thank you to the Lovely Sophia for taking the time to write this post! She is a lovely gal and an amazing blogger and I really can't stress enough how much you need to go and check out her blog! 

Mac |Pink Plaid

This is my first ever Mac lipstick and I love it. I had been browsing the website and picked out this colour, then totally forgot about it. I went to my local Mac and was just having a browse of the the lipsticks and I was draw to this colour, not knowing it was pink plaid. So I thought I would have a little treat. 

 Pink Plaid is a Matte shade and is a lovely dusty pink. I found that it wore quite well, it was about 3 hours before I left I had to reapply. I have heard from others that they find that the matte shades tend to dry their lips out, however I didn't seem to have this problem. I guess it depends on the condition of your own lips.

The colour is lovely and pigmented, which showed up well on my quite naturally darker lips.

I think that you could most likely find a similar colour in a drugstore range but I just think you don't get the same quality and one thing I always seem to find with drug store ranges is the packaging is cheap. Whereas I love the Mac packaging. It is simple but nice. 

Any other colours that you think would be worth a try?

Love

Miss S 

xxx