Boots and TK Maxx Haul

It seems all I do lately is buy things, but I guess that's what I signed up for when I decided to become a beauty blogger. I keep reading reviews and haul posts and about ten things get added to my wish list each day. However, at least most of the things I bought today, I needed or had been lusting after for months.

Tangle Teezer.

I was lucky enough be blessed with long, thick, curly hair, however, when it's damp, it's a nightmare to brush. I often have to ask my boyfriend or sister to brush it for me as half way through my arms begin to ache. I also feel my hair being ripped, leaving me with hundred of split ends. I'd heard about the Tangle Teezer but didn't really fancy spending over £10 on a brush. Looking in TK Maxx, there were similar ones for about £7, but after my boyfriend checked the reviews on his phone, there seemed to be more 1 star reviews than 5 stars. I've read a lot of good reviews about the Tangle Teezer, so decided to go for it. It cost £12 and I'm excited to see if it works. Of course, I'm still going to ask my boyfriend to brush my hair for me. After all, what are boyfriends for?

Physicians Formula Colour Correcting Powder.

I spotted this in TK Maxx for £2.99 and was intrigued. I don't own anything like this product and I was shocked when I looked on Amazon that it was going for nearly £30! I don't think that that was the normal price as I'm sure on the RRP sticker, it was only about £10, but nevermind, I still saved money. Like most things sold in TK Maxx, the box was a bit battered and sore but I don't think the product had been touched. They should really start making people buy the products they rip open to test, they must lose so much money each year by having to chuck used and broken makeup away.

Real Techniques Core Collection.

I think it's official that you can't be a legit beauty blogger without owning this brush kit. I've read so many reviews about these, especially the buffing brush, and I was desperate to try them. I've seen them on Amazon for £15 but just never got round to buying them, so imagine my delight when I saw them in TK Maxx for the same price! £6 cheaper than Boots and Superdrug, it works out just under £4 for each brush which is amazing. I can't wait to use these.

Pearl Drops Tooth Serum.

I read a review on this a couple of months ago and became desperate to try it to see if they really do whiten teeth overnight.

Books

As always, I nipped into Oxfam to check out their books. They always have the 2 for £1 offer on and I quickly spotted the Kite Runner which is on my list of books to read. The others I hadn't heard of before, and it will be a while before I get to read them, but as someone who collects books, you can never have too many.

Fruit Gummies

Lastly I got some Fruit Gummies from Poundland. These are delicious!

That's my haul over with. Not that much stuff, but I'm happy with everything. When I got home from shopping, my package from E.L.F had arrived so expect another haul soon :)

Bristol Haul 2 - Lush, Urban Decay, and more...

If you read my last post, you'll see I've recently returned from a trip to Bristol, and whilst I was there, I splurged, buying all the products not readily available in Grimsby. I was quite surprised with myself as everything I bought, I had pre-planned to buy. Nothing popped into my basket as a spur of the moment decision.

My first purchases were made in Lush. I've almost finished the Angels on Bare Skin cleanser bought in this haul and decided to try the other one recommended to me- Herbalism. The woman in Lush was very passionate about this product and it's supposed to be good for oily skin. As the weather has begun to change, I've noticed my skin getting slightly more oily so it will be interesting to see if this works. The ingredients are rosemary and vinegar so not the nicest smelling thing around.

The next thing I bought in Lush was a bath bomb for my 8 month old niece. I bought 'Ickle Baby Bot' and I've never used a bath bomb from Lush before so I'm excited to see how good it is. The bomb is supposed to help her sleep at night, which she doesn't really have a problem with anyway, but I'm sure she will enjoy the bubbles. We just have to make sure she doesn't eat them!

The next things I bought were these Sleek palettes from Boots. Nowhere in Grimsby sells Sleek and in Hull, only Superdrug does, but as Boots have a 3 for 2 offer on at the moment, I decided to take advantage. The one I desperately wanted was the Ultra Mattes Brights palette (I think it's also known as the acid palette but I could be wrong?) as I've seen so many youtubers rave about it. It does look a little scary but I think I'm going to have a lot of fun experimenting with them.

The next one I picked up was the Garden of Eden palette as I've recently read a lot of reviews about this. The colors are along the green spectrum, which I don't really own, so again, I'll have a lot of fun experimenting with this one.

The last palette I picked up was the Vintage Romance one. I love the names of the shades in this palette such as 'Pretty in Paris.' I used this palette already and I love it.

In Savers, I spotted the Garnier Micellar water for £2.99. I'm currently using the B. Pure one from Superdrug but I've heard so many good reviews about this, I had to try it.

In Superdrug, I picked up a Tanya Burr lipgloss in the shade 'Vampire Kiss.' I actually only paid £2 for this, as the day before my dad bought my mum £50 of face cream, and with the '10 points with every pound you spend' offer on, I got lucky. I tried this gloss already and I love it, I'll definitely buy a few more when I'm next in Bristol.

I found out a couple of weeks ago that Harvey Nicholls has started to stock EOS balms, so I headed there to buy one. I got a green one which I think is Honeysuckle and it tastes amazing. I was already a fan of Balmi which are similar, but the packaging started to peel away. Hopefully these are made of tougher stuff.

The last thing I bought was an Urban Decay eye primer. I got the smaller one as the lady kindly explained that it was £16 for 11ml or £8 for 6ml. Buying 2 small ones works out a better deal as you get more product. I decided to just get one to see if I like it. This was reccommeded to me by Rea and I already love it.

I also bought Cosmopolitan for something to read over the weekend.

So there's my big Bristol haul, and I won't be spending like that again for a while.

Bristol haul Part 1 - Primark

I've just this minute got back from visiting my family in Bristol and can't wait to share the amazing things I bought with you all (mostly so I won't feel guilty about opening and using the products without taking photos and blogging about them first.) I've decided to split my haul into 2 posts, as when I lay it all out on my bed, it was quite a lot of stuff and I don't want to go on forever in one blog post.

If you follow my blog, you'll know I've been quite excited to visit the Primark in Bristol as it's about 4 times the size of my local Grimsby one. I decided to give myself a budget of about £50, but to be honest, when I was shoving stuff into my basket, I wasn't keeping track and I was just lucky everything came in at about £46. There were a couple things I knew I wanted, but I was just desperate to get my hands on some PS Love goodies, and if you read on, you can see I definitely did that.

When I entered the shop, the first thing that caught my eye was a Breakfast Club T Shirt. The Breakfast Club is my favourite film of all time, and I already have a shirt, but this one was white and had a different photo on, so completely justifiable that I needed it. Unfortunately they only had size 6 and 8 left (sad times :( ) so I didn't manage to get it. As I was walking away, I heard my dad shout me. In his hand was a Lion King T Shirt, another favourite film of mine (fun fact- when I was about 2, I wanted a Lion King bedroom so my dad used Xmas Lion King wrapping paper over normal wallpaper to give me the room of my dreams. Best. Dad. Ever.) The shirt was in the same style as the other one and only £6 so I decided to buy it. I think I will wear this over black skinnies or leggings. I'm also aware the top needs a good iron before I wear it.

The second clothing item I purchased was this watermelon skirt. I've always been a fan of these types of skirts, often seeing them on vintage reproduction sites such as Tara Starlet or Collectif, but I can never justify the price of buying one. The cheaper alternatives all seems to have skulls or other rockabilly features, and as much as I love that style, I just wanted a nice and cheerful skirt. I almost put this back, but a voice in my head said I will regret it, so into my basket it went.

The frilly socks were also spur of the moment. They sell them at my local Primark and I could have bought the whole rail, but I decided to stick to one pair as I've bought frilly socks before but don't tend to wear them. These cost £1.50.

I only bought two things from the accessories section. These earrings were too cute to leave behind and remind me a lot of the style of wedding ring I want. £2 for 9 different pairs of ear rings is brilliant. The next thing were these sun glasses. I love how retro looking they are and they'll probably break and scratch easily as they were only £3, but they come with their own case.

Now onto the beauty stuff! If you remember the PS Love nails review I did a few weeks back, you'll remember I said that I wanted to buy some more as I liked them that much. Well, I bought six different sets. I love the quirky ones like the cupcakes and the owls, but I also love the pastel colors. I think I'm going to wear the rabbit ones to embrace Easter first.

I picked up this brush set as I thought the design on them was adorable. Also 4 brushes for £3 is amazing. I haven't used these yet, but the quality feels good. I think I prefer the eye brushes as they're quite stiff so can be used for cream eye shadow or concealer. Even lining the eyes. The blush brush is quite soft and I'm not sure if that's a good thing as my Eco Tools one has a bit more bounce to it. But there's no harm in trying it  out. After I purchased these, my parents asked again why I needed more makeup brushes. Sigh. They just don't understand.

I actually put back a mini manicure set as  I knew I wouldn't use it, but I was so glad when I found this. I used to have a cuticle pusher with a cuticle 'nipper' at the end (I don't know what their correct name is) but now I can only seem to find them in TK Maxx costing about £7. This cost £1.

I picked up some of their makeup, wanting to test it out. The first thing I grabbed was this lip gloss. I don't know why as I'm not a big fan of glosses but it cost £1.50 and the colour is gorgeous. An almost orange red. I've used it once and not sure if I like it yet, but I'll post a review once I've come to a conclusion.

The next thing I picked up was a kohl eyeliner. It's in a black case, like a lipstick and you twist it up to use it. The shapes like a kajal eyeliner which I've never owned before so it will be interesting to see if I like this. I've not used it yet, so can't comment on first impressions but I already love the packaging. This cost £1.50.

The next item kind of fell into my basket and I didn't put it back. It's a brow pencil. I'm quite happy with my HD Brow palette but I'm all for experimenting and trying something new, and for £1, I couldn't really go wrong.

The next thing was a felt eye liner pen. I love these types of eyeliner but find they dry out so quick as I apply them on top of eye shadow. If I fall in love with this one, I'll be very happy as it only cost £1.50 instead of the usual £8 I spend on these types of eyeliner.

The last thing I bought was this eyeshadow palette. I went a little crazy over the weekend with palettes, but I loved the colours in this and for £2.50, I couldn't resist. First of all; how great does the packaging look? It reminds me a lot of Sleek; black, sturdy and clean. When opened, there's a mirror which is always a bonus, and you are presented with 8 different shades that create a night time look. I haven't used this yet, but I've rubbed the product with my finger and it's very pigmented. I'm already very impressed. There was also a day palette but I wasn't as impressed with the colors in that one, so I left it.

So there's my Primark Haul. I hoped you enjoyed reading. Keeping checking back for the second part of my haul, featuring Sleek, Lush, Tanya Burr, Urban Decay and more...

Benefit's High Beam VS Technic's High Lights

A few months ago, I was browsing my local Body Care when I came across High Lights by Technic. It looked exactly the same as the Benefit's High Beam I had back at home, and for £1.99, I couldn't resist leaving the shop without buying it. Please bare in mind, the High Beam I own is only a mini, the High Lights isn't a giant bottle.

Like High Beam, High Lights is a liquid highlighter applied with a brush. As you can see from the photos, the packaging is very similar. So is the actual product similar?

First of all, the brush in the Technic bottle isn't as good as the Benefit one. Considering there is a £17.50 difference, this is to be expected. I found the brush clumpy and hard to apply to the product with.

When swatching the products, you can see they look very similar. I'd say they're the same texture and consistency. I then went on to blend the product into my wrist. High Beam blended in a lot quicker than High Lights and you can see there is still a lot of product on my wrist, whilst High Beam has completely melted into the skin.

Left - High Lights. Right - High Beam

On the skin High Beam leaves a nice shimmer and doesn't really alter the colour of the skin, whereas I found High Lights has a white tint to it.

Of course, High Beam is going to be the better product and the cost reflects this, but I do think High Lights is a suitable dupe. For someone who doesn't want to splurge that much on a highlighter, I think with a lot of blending, you can get the same results from High Lights.

Benefit- Confessions of a Concealaholic Review

I was lucky enough to receive this little kit at Christmas from my boyfriend. Of course, I picked it, brought it home and wrapped it, so it wasn't a total surprise when I opened it Xmas morning, but it is the thought that counted :)

I love that Benefit have their little kits, as I feel it gives you the chance to try 4 or 5 high end products for the price you'd usually pay for one. At £28.50, this kit still isn't cheap, but at least there is a good chance to find at least one product you completely adore.

First of all, the packaging for this is amazing. Benefit have made it look like a diary which I love. There's a protective sleeve on the top, and when you remove it, you can open the box up like a book. Inside there is a mirror and a little booklet detailing exactly what each product does and where to apply it. Basically, if you've never applied makeup before, you couldn't fail. There's a quirky little diary entry which makes me smile everytime I read it too.

The first product that instantly stands out is the Bad Gal Primer. Now, I'm not a lover of primers, or at least, I haven't found one that I really love yet. This includes this one. I don't know whether this is because the sample is so small, I'm reluctant to give it a good go, but I'm not sure whether I'd buy this is full size. I have a brightening primer from Bourjois I have yet to use, and I'm desperate to try the Technic one as it's a dupe for Bad Gal (at least the packaging is anyway.) The primer is a pinky colour and smells absolutely divine. After I blending it onto my wrist, I couldn't stop sniffing it. The leaflet says this can be used under and over makeup to give a brighter complexion, so I may have to be brave and use it a few times to decide whether I like it.

The second product in it's own packaging is the Benefit Erase Paste. The shade is medium, and you can't change it, but I'm very pale and it suits me just fine. I'm not sure how it would suit darker complexions though. It's a very pink toned concealer, designed for under eye use. I feel this erases all dark circles and instantly brightens my eyes. Seriously, when I put it on, I look like an alien as there is no depth to my face as all shadows have gone. Of course this goes, once I apply eye makeup. But I really feel this is one of my Holy Grail products. I would say I would buy this in full size when I used it, however, I've been using it most days since Christmas and there is still half the pot left. Plus it's £20.50 for the full sized which is 4.4g. The mini is 3.2g, so not really that much different. I'll have to decide whether it would be worth purchasing the whole of this kit again or just the one product.

The Boi-Ing Concealer comes in shades 01 (light) and 02 (light/medium.) I honestly don't use these that often as I don't really get pimples. I know some people use it to cover dark circles, but I don't do that, as I have my Erase Paste, and I think the Boi-Ing is more yellow toned, so more suited to cover redness. The women at the Benefit counter said this had some antibacterial ingredients that help remove spots, however after researching this, half the reviews say it does and half say it doesn't. Also, it doesn't mention this on the Benefit site. This concealer is very creamy and it claims it doesn't crease. Like I said, I don't use it under eyes so I wouldn't know. I wouldn't purchase this full size, as it has lasted me for ages and I also have a back up that came in my Best of Benfit kit Boots released at Xmas.

The product underneath is Eye Bright. I don't know if you can see, but it's a very pale pink. I'm not going to lie; I have no idea what this is meant to do. I know it's supposed to brighten up the eyes when placed in the inner and outer corner, but once blended, my eyes look exactly the same. I honestly, don't even use this product at all and would never buy it full sized.

The last is Lemon Aid and I was really excited to use this when I first got it. The women at the Benefit counter put this on me, as well as Erase Paste and I loved it. It's supposed to be a colour correcting eye primer, but now I have it, I honestly don't see the point in it. They say you can wear it instead of eyeshadow, but it creases really quickly. As it's supposed to be an eye primer, this doesn't go down too well. As for the colour correcting bit - This does work and I do like the effect, but like I said, it creases easily, so I would use eyeshadow on top of it. Therefore it doesn't really matter if it corrects my skin or not. I'm a bit gutted this doesn't work for me but I'm going to keep at it - maybe use another eyeprimer before putting it on (ha, an eye primer for an eye primer.

Just to mention before I finish, the kit comes with 2 double ended brushes and they have labels on saying what they are for which I love.

Overall, I love this kit and I think it's a perfect gift for any concealer loving girl. Even though I would only buy one product full sized, I'm so glad I got to try out the others.

Beauty Storage: Acrylic Drawers

I've decided to start a small mini series on how I store my beauty products. Beauty storage posts are my favourite posts to read and watch on Youtube, so I thought I'd do my own and let you know how I store my makeup, nail polishes, hair products etc. After I have finished these, I may do one for jewelry and accessories.

For those of you who don't know, my boyfriend moved in with me over a year ago, and until I graduate in the summer and start earning some pennies so we can move out, we're basically living in one small bedroom. One thing I'm good at is finding different ways to store things as you can see from my last post. Everything in my bedroom (apart from my bed frame which my parents bought when I was 17) I've chosen and paid for myself, so I'm very proud of my room. I still find it amusing that as a 19 year old student, all of my friends were going out every weekend, and I'd rather spend my money on laminate flooring and floral curtains for my bedroom.

The acrylic storage is every inch the cliched beauty blogger, but I think they look so stunning and clean. I was planning on waiting until I moved out so I could have a proper vanity to put the acrylic drawers on, but I'm too impatient. After extensive searches on the internet, endless treks to B&Q and Homebase, I eventually purchased the 5 drawer and 2 2 drawer cases from Muji. I found these were the cheapest in terms of price including postage. There were also a lot of good reviews about them. I think they came to just under £50, including postage as there was a 10% discount deal on. They came within 4 days I think (I ordered on a Friday too) and they were heavily wrapped in bubble wrap so absolutely no damage came to them.

Nearly all of my makeup fits inside these drawers so it was a good investment to make. I'd definitely recommend these Muji boxes if you're looking for some acrylic storage.

5 Drawer

I will say the 5 drawer box have very small drawers in term of depth. If you're looking for somewhere to store your foundations and powders, I would not recommend this box. It was because of this, I bought a 5 drawer and then 2 2 drawers, instead of simply 2 5 drawer boxes. I use my 5 drawer to store my Rimmel Lipsticks, as I like to be able to see what shade I'm going for. I also have my mascara's, eyeliners, single eyeshadows and palettes. I've took some photos so you can see the kind of things that fit. I've doubled up on my palettes, so you can fit a few in.

2 Drawer

The 2 drawers are a lot wider and I'm able to fit all of my foundations and BB creams, and also my taller powders such as the MUA Loose Powder. My Confessions of a Concealaholic Box by Benefit fits perfectly if you wanted an idea of how tall it is. Two of these came to about the same price of one 5 drawer box, so perhaps buy these if you're simply looking for a way to store bigger makeup items.

TK Maxx Organiser

When looking through the TK Maxx in Hull, I was very surprised to find they had a selection of acylic storage as it usually either sells really fast, or they simply don't get it in. Or if they do have it, it's a holder for like 9 lipsticks and that's it. This organiser cost me about £17 and I was debating whether to get it or not, but I hadn't seen anything on the internet like it, in terms of having so many compartments and even a drawer. I was running out of lipstick space so I bit the bullet and bought it. As you can see, it over hangs the Muji box a lot, but I don't think it's too much of a problem. I put the lipsticks in here which I can see the shade straight away without looking at the bottom. I also put the bigger pots of product that won't fit in the Muji boxes. In the little drawer I keep samples I get in magazines or have been sent, as I used to keep them in my dressing table and forgot about them.

Disadvantages

Although a lot of people buy acrylic storage, and it is sturdy and gorgeous, there are a few disadvantages not really mentioned. As you can probably imagine, the boxes get dirty quite easily. This hasn't really been much of a problem as I tend to wipe my makeup after I've used it if I think it will dirty the box, however, if you're in a rush, I imagine it could be a problem. My foundation drawer has a few smears that need to be wiped. Also, I have laminate flooring, so my room gets dusty quickly, as there's no carpet to catch the dust. This leads to dust on the boxes and makeup in the organiser, and is quite a pain to dust every couple of days so I tend to wipe it whenever I use it. Of course, this could be avoided if you stored makeup in a bag or case etc. Just something to think about.

Another thing that's irritation is whenever I open and close the box, the products move. This isn't really the Muji boxes fault, just a fault with this type of makeup storage.

I hope you enjoyed this post :) There will be another three posts about my beauty storage coming up in the next few weeks. Remember to follow me on bloglovin so you don't miss out :)

What do you think of acrylic storage?