Oh my WOW ... Fragrance Direct Haul

 

Over the past few weeks I have discovered the wonderful fragrance direct website! But seriously, where have I been all my life? If you haven't yet discovered this gem, Fragrance direct (.co.uk) stocks well known brands of make up, skin care products and perfume/aftershave at a discounted price.

I got a little over excited and the next thing you know I ended up with ... 45 items in my basket! Dangerous! After some careful deliberation and a reality check, as hard as it was, I tried my best to whittle this down to a reasonable number. When my parcel arrived (much sooner than I anticipated -brownie points) I felt like Christmas had come early. Most of the items I purchased were priced at £1.99, with the most expensive item priced at £3.99 which was the OPI nail lacquer, but hey what a bargain! And the cheapest (I think) was the little brush and the Rimmel liquid liner at only 99p.

 

 

Here is what I got:

 

 

 

Eye Candy false lashes in 003 and 007

 

 

Calvin Klein delicious luxury lipsticks in Cream Rose and Ethereal

 

 

I think I was a little over excited with the CK range as I also got the delicious truth lipstck in the shade Retro and the delicious pout lipgloss in the shade Sparkle

Rimmel Moisture Renew lipstick in 220 Pink chic

 

 

 

Maybelline Colour Sensational popstick in 030 Pink lollipop

Maybelline Colour Sensational lipstick in 832 Kiss pearl

 

 

L'Oreal Studio Secrets eyeshadow in blue eyes 284

Calvin Klein Tempting Glimmer creme eyeshadow in Bare silk

 

 

Bourjois Intense shimmer loose eyeshadow in 27 Sparkling blue

Maybelline Eye Studio mono in 412 Lagon blue

 

 

Rimmel Glam eyes liquid liner in 008 Aqua glow

Bourjois Khol and Contour eyeliner pencil in 13 Argent creatif

Dainty Doll eyeliner pencil in 004 Shake your tail feather

 

 

 

Essie nail lacquers in Pear and Desire which is a bright orange shade and We're in it together which is a sparkly pale pink.

 

 

L'oreal Colour Riche nail polish in Saphyr Lurex

O.P.I nail lacquer in I'm all ears

Calvin Klein splendid colour nail polish in Silverstreak

 

 

and finally, two very cute Bourjois mineral matt brushes

I have only sampled a few of the products so far and I'm very happy with my purchases. I would highly recommend Fragrance direct as you can find some absolute steals and even though I only paid for the standard delivery (5-7 days), my order arrived a few days sooner that expected so that was a nice surprise. My only issue however, was that the colour swatched provided on the website, in my opinion, are not fair representations of what the actual shade of the product looks like, so I would just be careful and double check the items at other retailers (if those products are available elsewhere).

 

Have you bought anything from Fragrance Direct? Would love to hear what your favourites were :)

 

 

 

　

NOTD: O.P.I Mariah Carey Collection Liquid Sand Nail Lacquer

This lovely nail polish has taken over as my absolute favourite! In the shade 'the Impossible', it's the most gorgeous sparkly dark pinky-red colour. It has a rough texture with bits of glitter and silver stars floating around.

 

 

The little stars are quite difficult to work with however, as they seem to refuse to stick to my nails. I quite like the 'sand' texture so wouldn't normally wear a top coat, but using a Rimmel lycra top coat made the nail varnish glisten and look beautiful! It also seemed to help keep the stars on for longer and prevent them from catching on things (mainly my hair). Apart from the stars, the polish lasts pretty well and I was quite impressed with its longevity.

 

(without top coat)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(with top coat)

 

 

Have you used any of the liquid sand collection polishes? Let me know which was your favourite!

 

 

 

Mini Haul

During a quick shopping sesh, I picked up a few items which I'm really excited to try. I will post separate reviews for these products once I've had an opportunity to try them out a number of times and give a balanced opinion.

 

 

Let's start with the make up items. I seem to have been loving Rimmel a lot recently, which is a bit of a rarity as I don't normally buy many of their products apart from my go to liquid eyeliner, so here we go.

Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Lip Tint and Balm in 120 Timeless Tango. A few of my friends really adore this lip product but I don't generally like lip tints as I tend to have dry lips and feel like tints tent to stick to dry bits and don't look very. But I thought it's time for a change and I'll branch out and try something different. (P.S. does anyone know any amazing lip balms?)

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in 370 Rose Shimmer.

MUA lipstick in the shade - number 12 ,which is a sparkly light to medium pink colour. I've actually had this for a while and recently found this at the bottom of a make up bag I haven't seen for a while so I thought I would just add it on to this mini haul.

 

Bourjois 16 hr Liner Pinceau liquid eyeliner in - 32 noir. Got this little one in the sale on Asos. I would normally consider this a bit pricey compared to my usual Rimmel fave so when I spotted it at a bargain price of £4 I thought I would give it a go.

Rimmel Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in  - 001 Black. This will be my very first experience with a gel liner so I'm really excited to try it out. In the past I've been quite sceptical about the precision of gel liners, as normal liquid liners tend to come with a thinner brush and I find that method of application so much easier to work with.

Rimmel Match Perfection cream compact foundation in - 200 Soft beige. This is also a new item to add to my collection as I haven't really used cream foundations before.

Rimmel Glam Eyes trio eye shadow in - 750 tempting ( lovely green shades).

Maybelline Dream Touch blush in - 02 Peach. Lovely and creamy.

Models Own nail polish in - Pink Paradise. It looks absolutely gorgeous in the bottle - a sparkly pink colour with holographic flakes, and as I love pink nail varnishes I am really looking forward to using this.

The last of the make up items is the L'Oreal Glam Bronze precious bronzing fluid in the colour - 04 Brunettes. Now I know that summer is over but its nice to have a little glow all year round.

And now onto the rest. Boots currently have a 3 for 2 offer on so I got a few products from my beloved, incredibly scented Lee Stafford range. They were: a Treatment for hair that doesn't grow past a certain length, a Treatment to get deep into the cortex to repair build and fix hair (lets see if it lives up to its name eh) and My big fat texturised hair super spray - this I'm most excited to start using as it claims to be a hair spray, wax spray, sea salt spray and more and finally the Poker straight intensive care for flat iron addicts.

To finish off on random note, but wanted to try a different toothpaste from the Oral - B range (aiming to try all of them of so I can pick a favourite) and it is the 3D White Luxe healthy shine toothpaste.

 

Hope you enjoyed this post!

 

L x

 

　

 

Topshop Eye Crayon

I have been falling in love with this Topshop crayon like there's no tomorrow. I purchased it quite a while ago but have only started using it over the last few weeks. This one is in the shade 'Mystical' and is beautiful metallic brown colour. It comes out quite dark so depending on what you like, may be best to limit it to evening wear. It's a twisty crayon so saves all the hassle of needing to sharpen it. 

 

 

I haven't really used many products from the Topshop make up range but was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this product. It has a really nice formula, creamy but dries really fast. I struggle to find creamy/pencil eye shadows that don't crease and his little one has answered all of my prayers! Providing you don't apply a mega thick layer of it, it dries very evenly and it durable without creasing. I was expecting to be reapplying it all day but there was no need it for! Very impressed with crayon and will definitely look into getting some more colours.

So far I've only worn it by itself with some silver liner in the inner corners of my eye and it looked lovely, but I think it would also look nice as a base with either darker shades or bronzy/golden shadow worn over the top.

 

(Note: for some reason the swatch looks much more silvery than the actual product. The crayon is most definitely a browny colour)

 

 

L x

 

O.P.I Outrageous Neons

 

I picked up these gorgeous O.P.I neon mini nail polishes at TK Maxx a few weeks ago and was dying to try them all out. The set consists of a white base and a top coat, followed by the lovely 'ridiculously yellow', 'formidably orange', 'riotously pink' and 'seriously purple'. All of the colours are lovely and summery but I must say the pink has got to be my favourite. I'm a big fan of OPI polishes as they last really well, which is such a big issue as my nails usually start chipping the next day! Really don't know what I do with them. These little ones have been doing pretty well and the colours look so shiny once the top coat is applied. Very happy with this purchase  :)

 

(excuse the security tag)

 

 

 Which one's your favourite?

 

 

 

 

L x

 

What's in my make up bag?

So for my first proper post I decided to reveal what's in my (main) make up bag, these are all of the products which I use daily. Pretty much all of these items can be purchased on the high street/at your local drug store. The two Victoria Secret products featured, I purchased in the US and have not seen them on sale at the VS in the UK unfortunately, but apart from that the rest should be easy to find. Enjoy!

Face

Maybelline Satin Liquid foundation in the shade 020 Cameo - one of my all time favourite foundations, provides a brilliant coverage and is really easy to apply.

Smashbox High Definition Healthy FX foundation in F0 Fair - provides a fairly light coverage (although I do prefer something a bit heavier).

L'Oreal Infallible 16 hours concealer in 01 Vanilla - have been using it for years and absolutely love it.

Garnier anti-dark circles roll-on in Fair - I don't really get dark circles but this product is lovely to brighten up the area around your eyes

Victoria Secret Luminous Blush duo in Starlet- A lovely medium pink blusher, not too bright, not too dark, just perfect. 


Eyes
 
MAC Mega Metal eyeshadow in Tweet Me - really sparkly and pretty

Bare escentuals eyecolor in the shades in 44073 High style and 44072 Snazzy - absolutely love these two, they're perfect for day and evening wear and blend really well.

Rimmel Exaggerate eyeliner in 001 Black - probably my favourite liquid liner of all time! Very well priced, easy to apply and very durable throughout the day.

Me Me Me Fat Cat lashes mascara - a big fan of this, genuinely gives your lashes a lot of volume.. just a shame it's running out.

Soap and Glory Thick and Fast super volume mascara in Black - have only been using this for a few weeks

L'Oreal Eye Designer crayon in 401 Black Grey (looks black when worn)

Victoria Secret Shimmer Fierce liner duo in Smoke & Mirrors - looks really pretty on, but I find it needs regular reaplication due to smudging

Miss Sporty eye liner in 002 - which I use for my eyebrows 
 

Lips

 As you can probably guess I like very similar shades of pink...

(in order of the swatches)

Rimmel Colour Show Off lipstick in the shade 020 Shake -up pink

Bobbi Brown rich lip colour lipstick in 13 Mod Pink

Sephora Lip Attitude lipstick in Star - really pretty and sparkly but the texture is quite rough due to sparkles in the actual product, but it is so nice that it's worth it!

L'Oreal Glam Shine Volumizer 6 hour gloss in 110 Addictive peach

Rimmel Vinyl Gloss in 440 Her Majesty



The make up bag itself is Bourjois Paris, which I purchased at the Clothes Show in Birmingham a couple of years ago :)

*Drum roll* ... First post

After deliberating over the idea of starting a beauty blog I finally decide to summon up the courage and go for it, so here goes my first post!

I am 22 and recent University graduate with a passion for all things beauty, especially lip products.. a girl can never have too many lipsticks, right?

I decide to start blogging to share my favourite products with other beauty fanatics as well as share my quest to explore a multitude of beauty products (without breaking the bank balance too much).

All the reviews will be my own opinion and should be taken with a pinch of salt, as the effectiveness of products often varies for people with different skin types and different preferences.

If you have tried any of the products I mention I would love to hear what you though of them!

Have a read and enjoy! :)

L x