Shopaholic–New Goodies!

I’m sure I’m not the only one that finds when times get tough consolation comes in the form of shopping…? It used to be clothes, then makeup, now makeup and clothes!

I’ve been stressing about the new job and moving and everything. Even though it is what I’ve wanted for a long time it’s still scary when it’s really happening….so I buy lipstick and I feel better.

That’s the long and short of it.

I’ve picked up a few things in a few shopping trips over the last 2 nearly 3 weeks. I am NOT MEANT TO BE SPENDING ANY MONEY so spreading it over three weeks makes me feel (marginally) less guilty.

*Apologies in advance for the weird lighting, it is a disgustingly dull Yorkshire day and while what I’m looking at in real life looks ok, on camera it looks sh#t plus the photos are a mish mash of what I took at home and taken here*

I’m on a lip product binge again. It flits between blusher and lipstick with the odd splash of bronzer or highlighter thrown in for good measure.

First up was Revlon in Superdrug – there was an offer of 2 lip products for £9.99, I swatched one of the new shades of Liquid Lipstick when I picked up a new Grow Luscious the other week and the colour would not budge off my hand so when I saw it on offer I grabbed…

Prime Pink is the ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick and on the right is a Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink In The Afternoon.

From first impressions I can’t argue with the longevity claims but I did find this drying as hell. Not surprising though. The shade is a little frosty/pearly for me personally but it could work topped with a bit of gloss I suppose.

On me this is a bright corally-pink. Not bright crazy bright but a nice pop. I think this would be nice if you are a little scared of bright lip colours as a little introduction. This feels creamy on and isn’t drying as lipsticks go. I really like this an anticipate a lot of wear.

Next stop on this same trip was Boots where I had a perusal at 17’s offerings…

The Photo Flawless mascara is a repurchase – I used it previously along with my Grow Luscious and really liked the effect. Seeing as I am using Grow Luscious again I thought I’d grab this one too along with one of the new Metallic Eyes cream/mousse shadows! I love both of these! There was a GWP offer too of buy two products get a little purse with it containing

I haven’t used any of these but I don’t have a cream black in my collection so that’s handy!

Once my flat hunting had finished last weekend my parents and I went to shopping centre in the city where I’ll be moving where there is a CCO!!!! And it’s less than a mile away from the flat!!!! Obviously I couldn’t resist…..

Of Royalty is a cremesheen formula from the Fabulous Felines collection, I had wanted this at the time but it was sold out. Then there’s a Pro Longwear Lipcreme in Overtime. This is still available on the MAC website. I got both of these for £19!

This is in a similar vein to the first Viva Glam Gaga. It looks severe here but when I have makeup on it looks nice, the only thing is it shows up flaws and settles into fine lines after a bit. Nothing a quick smoosh can’t rectify but still, it looks a bit mental if you don’t catch yourself in the mirror.

I love this. It is a little drying as it is also a long-wear but not uncomfortably so. I wore this to my work’s xmas lunch the other day, it stayed on for four hours before we ate then it began to look a little dry so I popped some gloss on and it stayed on for three courses! There was a little bit of a ring around my mouth but not hideously so. I expect to get a lot of wear out of both of these.

Lastly, my Mum and I went for a spot of xmas shopping at the beginning of the week and in John Lewis I spotted that several counters were discounting products, maybe by 20%? I am looking for a new moisturiser anyway and ended up coming away with

I have heard good things about the concealer and it isn’t badly priced anyway (showing as £13 on their website) and the lady gave me a sample of the ‘A Perfect World SPF25’ moisturiser.

A few swatches…

L-R Prime Pink, Pink In The Afternoon, Photo Flawless Mascara Green Black, Metallic Eyes Wild Nude, Quick, Hide! concealer in 01 Light, Of Royalty, Overtime

Well done if you made it this far! If you want any in depth reviews or to see more pictures of anything just leave it in the comments!

Have you tried any of these? What did you think?

Do you have any recommendations for a moisturiser for combo/normal/oily chin skin?? I’ve no idea where to look!

Until next time :)

MIA

Sorry guys I have been absent for a bit, I’m stressing about new job and moving and money etc

Here’s what the weeks have been filled with…

My little Fluffer on our hideous kitchen floor. Incidentally, it is incredible hard to spot rabbit wee with the naked eye on this flooring. If you can’t smell it you’ll never find it. Gross. Anyway, she looks like she’s swimming. Brownie just looks adorable, you can’t really see how furry her paws are here, they are ACE!

I don’t mean to look so mardy, I was trying to be a badman. And I have a CRAZY HUGE spot on my nose here, that has also been gwaning this week. I haven’t had a spot on my nose since my first one when I was like 11!!!!!!!!!!!! Annoying beyond words. Still the hat is boom, £5 from the kids section at Tesco. To be honest I’m glad I can fit in anything in the children’s section regardless if its a hat and doesn’t really count.

And last but not least…

It looks wrong but tasted so right. This is ‘creamy cajun chicken pasta’ made following a recipe on the Big Oven app. I was talking to my sister while sprinkling parmesan on top so you can see it is EVERYWHERE.

When flat hunting had adjourned my parents and I went to a restaurant called Fire and Stone, they do mainly pizzas with crazy toppings! I had the New York which is topped with smoked bacon, garlic and rosemary potatoes, onion jam, sour cream and paprika. It sounds SO odd but it was really nice!

One of the Olympic mascot Wispa-esque things. I didn’t crop Fluff out, she looks thoughtful. Either masterminding her escape or capture of food.

Hm. Considering I don’t even buy Cadbury’s myself (Krafty bastards) I seem to have eaten a lot of it. My sister got these for a party at school she didn’t end up going to so I took it upon myself to save them from waste….. I love Animal biscuits

So there you have it. A lot of rabbits, food and headwear mixed in with a hefty amount of stress and impending grey hair. Brilliant!

I’m at the boys this weekend and he is working a bit so I will get some blogging done! If there is any light to take pictures with that is…….

I hope your all well :)

Nom

This is a test
I wanted to see how this Blogger app shenanigans works on my phone
And I'm eating a Wispa Gold

High….Eights?–Lipsticks

Happy Tuesday ladies!

I hope your having a good week and Monday wasn’t too punishing! I’ve got a long week at work, part of me is grateful because I need the money but part of me wants to hide in the foetal position and wake up on the 3rd of January when I start my new job with a flat all sorted! I hate that when I get stressed I want to run away…need to work on that fo sho.

Onto more interesting matters….I am trying to cover my favourites in my makeup collection and as I’m sure you have gathered lipsticks are one of my favourite items of makeup! I have waaay too many really but I can’t stop buying regardless. Here are the shades I perhaps don’t reach for every day but when I do I love it.

These pictures are taken on my phone as it picks up some colours better than my camera…

From L-R – Topshop Ooh La La, 17 Shine On Peace, Collection 2000 Lasting Colour Sweet Tart, Illamasqua Brink, Illamasqua Obey, MAC Viva Glam Gaga, MAC Pink Plaid, MAC Creme Cup

Ummm so my arm looks weird because it’s upside down, I swatched them backwards so left it like this to match…..

Same order as above…..

I would say my absolute favourite out of these is MAC’s Creme Cup. It’s a cremesheen formula so glides on really well and isn’t drying. It literally goes with EVERYTHING. Basically if in doubt wear Creme Cup. A close second is Ooh La La, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a clothes shop make up line but this is great! Again, another if in doubt use this colour. These are also probably the easiest to wear in terms of colour and formula.

There are a few others missing I do love, MAC’s Lustering and Chatterbox are brilliant but I haven’t worn them in a few weeks. Time to crack out a ‘lip a day’ scheme I think!

Are any of these your favourites? Or do you have any recommendations?

Exit Interviews: Concealers

Happy weekend ladies! How are your Saturdays? I had an early night last night reading, an early morning swim this morning and now I can barely move my arms or legs! A trip to Matalan may be in order this afternoon as I have my eye on some beautiful shoes but I should really be spending my money on presents or not be spending it at all and saving for a deposit on the flat I am going to need to rent by the end of the month for my new job! Who can resist pretty shoes though? Surely it’s not just me!

Anyway, as part of my not spending any money drive I have been using products I have at home, even if I have used them and didn’t like them. By using them in different ways or combining them with other products I’ve managed to finish two products this last week.

Concealer is one of the mainstays of my routine. I cannot (ok I can but I don’t like it) go with out. I have tried just about everything to try and hide my dark circles from a number of brands and here are two I’ve finished….

This is Bobbi Brown’s Creamy Concealer in Porcelain with White powder and Clinique’s Airbrush Concealer in 04 Neutral Fair.

I don’t know if the packaging has changed on this as this is around a year old but it has two layers, a concealer on top and powder to set it on the bottom. I got this after receiving my student loan and deciding to finally sort out my complexion products once and for all. I marched to the Bobbi Brown counter at my local John Lewis and came away with the Skin Foundation, Corrector and Concealer. If you have hideously dark circles like me you are supposed to apply the corrector then concealer then set. I did this for aggges as it was ‘what I’m supposed to do’, ignoring the fact that it was cakey as hell on me and didn’t cover sh*t, so eventually I stopped bothering and moved on to something else.

This time, to make it work for me I applied my eye cream only a few minutes rather then leaving it to sink in fully. I then used this mixed on the back of my hand with a little of Collection 2000’s Lasting Perfection concealer, patted it on with a brush then blended with my fingers. The powder ran out ages ago so I set it with whatever loose powder I have in front of me. The shade of the Bobbi Brown concealer alone is a little off on me so mixing it gave it a more peachy tone to cover my circles better as well as blending more with my skin tone. I actually liked the combination and would have used it daily for a while if it hadn’t of run out. However for the price (£17 on the Bobbi Brown website) it really should be able to do the job on it’s own.

Conclusion: No repurchase

This concealer is also from ages ago! It’s Clinique’s Airbrush Concealer as far as I can remember, though it is now showing in different coloured packaging on their website where it retails for £16.

Again when using this previously I had trouble with coverage both alone and over Bobbi Brown’s corrector. I have used just about every concealer in this bloody pen form on the market and NONE of them have been worth the excessive geld they retail for (YSL, Dior, looking at you!).

This time around I mixed it with GOSH’s Touch Up Concealer which is sadly discontinued. I’ll be gutted when it runs out. The colour of the Clinique concealer is a little dark for me especially now winter is setting in and I am returning to my ghost-like form. The GOSH concealer lightened it a little and again once it was powdered it lasted all day. As the coverage is light I used it over MAC’s Select Moisturecover in NW20 which covers the bluey purple of my circles though I didn’t bother doing this for work as the coverage was fine for my colleagues, they are used to my crazy face.

Conclusion: No repurchase. Despite both of these concealers costing a fair whack I still prefer my GOSH mixed with Collection 2000, the combined price of which was around £8!

I went to my local shopping centre last night and picked up a few things I need to play with before reporting back, expect a post in the week!

This is the book I’m reading…

My sister is reading it for AS English but she doesn’t ‘do’ reading as a rule (why do English then?!?!?!?) and was meant to read it over the summer but got as far as page 15 or something so YOINK! Bedtime reading for moi!

Can you recommend any books? I love Agatha Christie and murder mystery kind of things. Not just in books either, I am probably the only person that watches Diagnosis Murder at least 3 times a week. When my Dad was home from work and sat on the sofa all day it used to drive me wild being separated from Dr Mark Sloan and Jessica Fletcher for a whole two months!

Also what do you think to the concealers, have you used them?? Do you have any recommendations? Let me know!