Haul – Page 4 – Clairey Sweetie

Hey Sweeties,

Despite being Blogmas, it’s also Tuesday which means I cannot not honour Beauty Review Tuesday can I?!

When I was last up in London last month at Elle Magazine HQ to celebrate Estee Lauder’s new Modern Muse Chic fragrance, before heading home I had a quick mooch along Oxford Street. Intending initially to just head to the beauty halls in Selfridges and Debenhams, I actually stumbled upon a Kiko store which I hadn’t noticed before and I’ll be honest, I went a bit lip liner crazy.

This is a totally new brand to me but because I have heard good things about Kiko, I felt I could be confident in buying several products rather than just one or two to try before later returning for more (because you know I would have done!). In all, I came out of the store with 5 lip pencils -2 of these of the Precision kind- and 1 lipstick. At the moment in my beauty collection as well as my look, I feel lips are the area that I want to spend some time on perfecting.

I think the main thing to emphasise here with the Kiko brand is how reasonably priced (dare I say, cheap?) it is! Good quality lip liners for £1.90-2.90? yes please! My total bill at the end of my little splurge was a very purse friendly £19.40!

The lip pencils/liners:

These are great! Great for pigment, great for durability and great at doing what they were designed for… they really are just great! The Precision liners (310 & 300) only differ really in that they have a much pointier nib (for a preciser application) but at this moment I don’t feel they necessarily have a better quality pencil than the other normal liners. Saying that, on the blunter pencils, as you line your lips with the product you really can feel their creaminess and if you prefer to fill in your lips with liner before applying a lipstick over the top, these work fantastically for that also. For me, I love wearing a bold lip when I can and of course a liner is essential for a defined pout but while I am still getting used to some lipstick formulas and testing their staying power, particularly when out eating and drinking, one of my makeup nightmares is having slightly washed off lipstick but still a heavily lined mouth. So for me, where possible I do fill in some if not all of my lips with liner as well as lipstick… just for that security.

The lipstick:

This wasn’t a planned purchase (not that the lip liners were of course when I left home that day), but it was out on display and caught my eye as I was making my way to the till point so of course I stopped to check it out further. I fell in love with the colour which is I guess is quite like a coral shade so it’s both peachy and pink; it’ll be great for the summer months.

The lipstick -Ace of Diamond in no.32- is an incredibly creamy formula, I would almost go as far to say it’s more like a lip butter than it is a lipstick just owing to the texture and feel on the lips once applied. I want to describe it as a buttery matte as it’s matte in appearance but you want to be constantly smoothing the product between your lips as you would with a balm (or a butter) until it settles and dries in place.

Because the product isn’t pointed, you don’t get precision application as you would with a lipstick which is why actually, in this case, it works brilliantly with a lip liner, particularly no. 702 as seen above. I also expected this product to slide off almost as soon as food or drink passes across it but surprisingly, it stays put really well and even if for the most part when it does go, it leaves behind a wonderful stain which for me, is kind of what you want.

I would definitely be encouraged to purchase and try more from this brand in the future.

Until tomorrow x

Hey Sweeties,

I have been itching to go and visit The Cosmetics Company store in Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth for ages but it’s hardly somewhere I can just casually pop to unfortunately, so I have been ever so patient and waited until an opportunity arose to do so. Fortunately, this was last weekend –Ian was attending a football match down there so I decided I would go with him and go shopping instead!

This to date, I think is my most expensive beauty haul which amuses me really as for someone so firm in not spending lots of money on high end products because essentially I don’t feel I need to, as you’ll read in a moment, when you find those dream items price it seems, becomes irrelevant. Maybe this rule just applies differently to outlet shopping? Hmmm…

So, despite a strict budget (which I did sort of keep to) for the day, I did blow 99% of it on beauty but the day wasn’t without sacrifice; I had to abandon hopes of anything from Origins and a Mac blusher got put back, but hey ho. Beauty is pain.

My Haul! £50.50 RRP £72

The store isn’t that big but it is packed with different brands. Immediately upon entering Mac is to your left so I darted there first and had a beautiful light peachy pink blusher –Immortal Flower– in my grasp quite quickly. I moved on.

It actually took me a few minutes to realise there was a Smashbox stand at the back however, once this was on my radar there was no stopping me getting to it. For regular readers you’ll remember that I have recently purchased a lipstick from Smashbox and I have said how eager I am to explore the brand more and treat myself to a consultation in the near future, so you can only but imagine what I was like faced with a whole stand of reduced products! I initially grabbed the photo finish primer which has not had a bad word said against it and it is regularly featured up there with the best primers on the market. But next to it was the ‘Try it Kit’ containing a BB cream, Halo powder, a brush and the primer as a bonus addition to the set. This to me seemed the obvious choice to purchase.

Smashbox Try it Kit £18.25 RRP £26.00

To the left of the Smashbox stand was Bobbi Brown and this is another of the brands I am itching to try. I have her make-up manual and there is a store in Windsor where each time I pass the window I hover and gaze in. I have pretty much already decided that Bobbi Brown will be who I select for my wedding make-up (when the time comes) but I can’t wait that long before trying something.

-Now here is my surprise purchase if you remember what I said earlier about spending too much on a single (high end) item-

A few things caught my attention as I was browsing the stand but then I got to this pink blusher –French Pink– with a brush next to it I naturally took a swipe of it across the back of my hand. Oh my God, it was love. It was also, £24.50. Who cared, I needed it (and it did come with a brush…)!

Bobbi Brown French Pink Kit £24.50 RRP £35

I now had a Mac blusher, Smashbox Try it Kit and Bobbi Brown’s French Pink Set in my hand… something had to give. I tried putting back the Bobbi Brown blusher but I just couldn’t so Mac had to go. Ouch!

In all, I went into and around the store about three times during the three or four hours I spent at Gunwharf Quays –my first initial visit, second to go back and check the Mac blusher as I was convinced I could find the budget from somewhere… but I still walked away (*pats self on back*). I went in for a third time to go and re investigate the Bobbi Brown stand as I had swatched a gorgeous purple eye shadow pencil/stick and it literally didn’t budge from my hand… I was tempted but at £14 it took me over budget. I genuinely didn’t need it (said no woman ever except today). BUT, I did manage a cheeky nail varnish purchase –Bobbi Brown’s Tuxedo Black- which I thought for Christmas with some silver glitter over the top would look fabulous. So I totally justified it.

Bobbi Brown Nail Polish £7.75 RRP £11

Phew!

I will review and do separate posts on each of the above over the next few weeks so be assured I will confirm if my most expensive beauty haul was money well spent.

Sweetie needs a lie down now!

Until next time x

Hi Sweeties,

I have had such a lovely weekend! My Mum came up on Friday to help wallpaper our living room (FYI, while we’re on the point, I’ll be doing a new home update/haul post soon where I’ll share with you more of what has been happening with that side of life)… and we had a day in London yesterday. Now Mum has headed back to Devon (so far away, sob!) and Ian has gone to work I am now sat reflecting on everything and things have become silent for the first time this weekend.

So, let’s get to the juicy part of my weekend… the London trip and a bit of a show and tell of what I picked up while there!

I’m terrible really, I am trying to not buy anything between now and January and then have a real wardrobe update and blowout in the sales but as the seasons change, there are always gaps that appear. For me, this year rather than do big chunky jumpers, I want to layer with tops and chunky cardigans and things like that… all of which I don’t really have. Doh!

Anyway.

London Shopping Haul-

I actually didn’t really pick up much in the way of clothing but I did pick up an amazing fluffy gilet from Forever 21 (above). I saw it and was like, “that’s mine!”. This will be ideal for layering over pretty much anything to be honest and I can’t tell you how snuggly it is; perfect for wearing around the house and when out and about.

Now, I can’t resist a hat but finding one that fits me well is quite rare as I have an odd shaped head. While Mum and I were in Aldo, I saw this hat, plonked it on my head and was like, “Wo!”. Mum took one look at it and practically marched me to the till point… she then noticed a lovely scarf so I treated her to that and she me the hat. Win win!

My next purchases were of the beauty kind…

Beauty Purchases

Topshop, The Body Shop & Urban Decay

Let’s begin with The Body Shop.

As you know, it was merely a few weeks since I was last in there having a little skin care haul and to be honest, didn’t expect to be back there quite so soon… if I did, I would have taken my £10 off voucher with me (doh!). Moving on, we were passing and I thought while I had the opportunity I might as well stock up on my cleansing butter which I have loved since first purchasing it. I also grabbed a muslin cloth as I have learnt a flannel really doesn’t work… well it does, but despite washes and rinses following cleanser removal it gunks up something horrid with make-up!

While in the store I took the opportunity to investigate and take a look at the new Drops of Youth Eye Concentrate. I have been on the hunt for an eye cream of some kind as that’s the only area of my face that needs attention that I haven’t covered in my skin care routine so far so I thought I would give it a go. I’ll do a review of the product in a week or two once I have had a good chance to try it out.

Before heading to the checkout I had the briefest of glances across the make-up stand and this eyeliner caught my eye. I love a black liner as we know and now the weather is changing it’s creeping back into my everyday look but black can be quite harsh so I am exploring other colours. This product is the Smoky Plum Eye Definer and it’s a beautiful deep purple which I am excited to try.

Next!

As we also know, I don’t really venture into Topshop that often but the store on Oxford street is so big it can’t be ignored and the lull of the beauty section is impossible to avoid so, of course I didn’t leave empty handed.

You guys will remember the lipstick haul I did from there a few weeks ago and Depth has become a real favourite out of the four but I have lacked a lip liner to go with it… so I bought a lip liner in shade Deception which is a fairly deep red. I also picked up their highlighter in the shade Sunbeam. Now, I as yet am not really a wearer of highlighter but again, as we drift into the colder months I want to achieve a bit of definition and draw a bit of light to my upper cheekbones so I figured now was as good a time as any to make the purchase! Unfortunately the shade is a bit too difficult to swatch effectively enough to show you but it’s basically a yellowy gold shimmer; really pretty.

My next purchase I should really apologise for but I won’t. I will though confess it was purchased solely out of envy and feeling left out. Let me explain…

My Mum -like me- has really started to have a real allergy to certain eye shadows but I have been getting a long fine with my Sleek palettes and my Naked 2. So, as any good daughter would, I have been talking a fair bit about Urban Decay and suggested it’s something she should try by which I mean, wear some of mine for the day and she how she gets on. However, we passed House of Fraser and ventured through the beauty hall and low and behold, came across the Urban Decay stand. Mum loved the colours in the individual pans and picked out a beautiful pinky purple shade (Toasted). For ages she has also been desperate for someone to show her how to achieve a good smokey eye and Benefit are an obvious choice to achieve this. But the beauty assistant on the UD stand sat Mum in the chair and using Toasted as well as a couple of the other shades in the Naked 1 palette, created her the most brilliant but simple smokey eye using pink and brown colours. She absolutely nailed it! A traditional black & grey smokey eye would not have suited mum at all but this one she had done was perfect for her skin tone and also, her age. Mum was sold! Rather than just purchase Toasted (£14), it proved far more cost effective to buy the whole Naked 1 palette (£37). Of course, on reflection Mum really should have seen how she got on with Toasted and whether or not her skin reacted to it before taking the plunge with a whole palette but hey ho! While paying I got this strange overwhelming sense of envy… I wanted Naked 1 as well! So… I did (*hangs head*).

Ok, the haul is done! However, before I leave you I wanted to share something really exciting. Following my visit to The Design Studio a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I fell in love with their pink and black bomber jacket… well, guess what arrived for me in the post…

Ta Da!!!!

…My very own TDS Bomber jacket! Yippee!! I just so love this and like my new gilet, I am going to be wearing this all over the place throughout the autumn-winter months. I can’t tell you how snug it is! Thank you so much Sally and Lettie! *Mwah!*

What have you guys hauled lately??

Until next time x

Hey Sweeties,

So, I went to The Body Shop this morning which -and I hate to admit this- is probably the first time I’ve really properly been in one for a very long time, if ever.

In my defence (before you all gasp in horror), I have actually been using products of theirs for quite a while but I have been in the fortunate position that I have been bought most of it as gifts rather than purchase it myself so I think in this situation I can be forgiven.

However, my reserves were running low and I wanted to try a few things I have seen many of you using so it was about time I ventured into my local The Body Shop store.

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In my efforts to be totally prepared and ready for autumn when I plan to really champion the lipstick, it seems only right that I ensure I have an adequate collection to last the season. So, with that in mind while I was mooching about town the other day, I ventured into Topshop to take a look at their makeup products.

I don’t really shop in there usually but I have noticed that I see the odd bit of their makeup appear in magazines, blogs etc. so I figured I should check it out for myself.

Fortunately Topshop do a 2 for £12 offer on their makeup so I ended up with four new lipsticks in total which without the offer would have cost me £34! Quite a lot of money to be honest but with the offer it came in at a more purse friendly £24. I selected four shades –The Damned, Depth, Nevada and Wicked.

Wicked, Nevada, Depth, The Damned

Wicked is a beautiful burgundy red and has become a real favourite of mine. It’s both a pop of colour and something suiting when you want a bit of depth to your make-up look so for autumn it will be great.

It also has real staying power! I think this colour got released either as part of the promotion for the film Maleficent (which I have still yet to see), or it just got very conveniently released at the same time? My mind fails me, apologies but that is how I was initially made aware of both the shade and another reason I was interested to try out the makeup from Topshop.

Nevada is a lovely peachy nude and The Damned is a pinky purple. I picked this one up because I needed a fourth colour to round off the offer so it’s not a colour I think I’ll wear a lot of but it’s never the less a good shade to have in my collection.

My other favourite asides from Wicked, is Depth. It almost looks black on appearance before it is applied to lips but it’s actually a very dark purple; very gothic and I just love it. I am excited to see how often I’ll be able to pull this off over the next few months.

Not sure this really worked… but you get the idea

I quite like the distinctive packaging of Topshop lipsticks, of course they don’t look like a luxury item but for high street I think they look great and I particularly like how the lid gives a satisfying ‘click’ when it connects to the rest of the product. The four of them look great on my dresser and I think in future I would definitely purchase from the Topshop makeup range again.

Man, makeup is addictive…

Until next time x

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