London Loot - Makeup!

Hello lovelies :)

Some of you might remember my earlier post calling for any of you UK gals to let me know of any products I should pic up while I was over there for a day's retail therapy, a big thanks to anyone who commented!

As you can probably tell from the pic above I am now back in Ireland with some gorgey purchases! I thought I'd let you all know what I picked up. First off I just wanna mention that I don't usually buy this much makeup at once, but I saved because I knew this trip was coming up! It was also my birthday in the past few days so I had a few extra pennies :)

I'm not gonna go into too much detail, as I have a feeling that I'll be doing quite a few reviews!

♥ Britney Spears Fantasy - I adore this perfume. I'm rubbish at describing scents but I love this for daytime wear, it's girly and just yum!

♥ Sleek Pallettes - At last I got my mitts on these babies! I ran straight for these when we got to Superdrug on Oxford St, and picked up the Sunset and Original palettes. I had a look at the acid palette but decided against getting it as I felt I had similar shades already. I was a bit disappointed when I didn't see the Storm palette, but I had heard it was a bit harder to find. Until....I found one hiding behind a bunch of acid palettes -YAY! I wanted the contour kit but they were all out of the light shade :( I did pick up medium to see what it'd be like when I have tan on. If it's still too dark I'll just pass it on to a friend and get her opinion on it.

♥ Beauty UK Palettes 4 & 5 - Again I picked the palettes in shades most suitable to what I like wearing lately. These were a little smaller than I expected, but at under £4 they are amazing value. I need to give them a trial run and will get back to you :) Oh one more thing - when I got home I realised that one of the shadows had shattered during transit :(

But losing one isn't so bad I suppose!

♥ Barry M - Lipsticks in 100, 101 and 129. Following the crowd here I know but I've heard such great things that I just had to try em out! I also picked up their lovely mint green nail polish. Can't wait to try these out!

♥ Nars Orgasm and Laguna - I have been lusting after these for the longest time! Theres no Nars counter in my area so i am particularly happy at having been ale to pick these up. :)

♥ Mac - I picked up 5 shadow inserts for my palette, in shades Satin Taupe, Black Tied, Woodwinked, Sable and Sketch. I also grabbed blacktrack fluidline and blackground paintpot - Obviously I'm loving dark eyes right now! :) I had intended on getting Dollymix blush and a couple of lipsticks but just didn't have the time in the end... I guess they'll have to stay on the lust list for a little while longer! :)

♥ A Few Other Random Bits of Gorgeous - A couple of drugstore lipsticks, Gosh concealer in shade 2 (I'm crossing my fingers and toes and everything that this will keep my dark circles at bay!), and Prestige Skinloving Minerals in Glam Tan.

That's about it!

I don't think I'll be hauling (ugh hate that word...why can't there be a nicer word for it!!!) for a while again! But I'm so happy with what I picked up.

I also picked up some clothes and accessories while i was there and if anyone would like to see a post on this please leave a comment and I'll happily do one!

*Thanks so much for reading *

x x x

Ash

x x x

I'm Alive!!!! And a ginormous RAVE!

Remember me?!

Super sorry for my absence, stupid interweb has been playing up like you wouldn't believe. :-/

But I am back now and will waste no more time with excuses as I have a new love to tell you all about and that's far more interesting!

You may remember a little haul I did a few weeks back, one of the items being Benefits Box-o-Powder in Coralista...

Well.. What can I say...??

Long story short....I bloody love this stuff!!!!!

As for the long story...

I've always admired Benefit for the effort they put into the presentation of their cosmetics. I defy you to find a brand with all-round cuter packaging! Its not the most important thing when it comes to buying makeup, but I gotta admit I have been swayed by gorgey packaging on more than one occasion!

One thing that I do NOT admire Benefit for is their prices... High end makeup ain't cheap but Benefit really can push a gal to her budgetary limits!!

This is something that has put me off a lot of Benefit's stuff before now so I'm very glad to have found something that I am genuinely happy that I forked out my hard earned pennys for! :)

Coralista has been like a breath of fresh air to my makeup routine. It's the most gorgeous mix of pink and peach with a hint of shimmer that will totally brighten up any complexion. I can't think of any skin tone that this wouldn't suit!

Unlike Benefit Dandelion which goes on far too sheer for my liking, Coralista's colour pay-off is to die for, which makes it a big step up for Benefit in my opinion!

The packaging is equally impressive. Sure, Benefit may still insist on putting powders in cardboard boxes and leaving them prone to damage, but gosh-darnit its cute cardboard!

I adore the finish it leaves on my skin, and I cannot wait for summer... I reckon this will be divine in the sunshine on the beach or whatever! Oh, and it smells yum too :)

I have tried to think of some cons, but I can't find any! This is deffo my FAVE out of the Box-O-Powders I've tried and I ask anyone who has thought about making a first Benefit purchase to run straight for Coralista, because this is one product that will not dissappoint :)

Any other Coralista fans out there?!

*Thanks for reading*

x x x

Ash

x x x

Happy (Belated) Valentines Everyone!!

Hope you all had a great day!!! x x x

Quick Review and Swatches: Nyx Make-Up Artist Palette

Hi my lovelies :)

Well I very recently got this Nyx Make-Up Artist kit and I thought that I would give you a super quick review of my initial thoughts on it...

warning: picture heavy

The goods include too layers, one of 35 eyeshadows and the other with powder blushes, highlight/contour powders and lipglosses. It also comes with a couple of foam e/s applicators and a teeny tiny blush brush but I don't think I'll be using these to be honest!

When I first opened it and saw the huge eyeshadows glaring up at me I thought oh yay! But then I nearly had a heartattack because I almost dropped them... It took a moment for my blonde self to realise the top layer just lifts completely off the palette... :/

Once I got over that initial shock I realised that that would be pretty handy while doing your makeup at the mirror, as you wouldn't need to try and balance the whole big heavy bulky palette in your hand... So thumbs up there!

Here are the shadows with flash...

and without....

And just because I am in a swatchy mood here are some random swatches especially for you! :)

As you can see from the pics this is not a palette for those against shimmer... I like a lot of these vibrant colours but it would've been nice to have a few matte shades in there for variety.

On to the second layer... Please excuse the finger marks!

Swatches of the blushes:

Ok.

Not trying to be a moaning mindy over here but I'm not crazy about the blushes so far... The browny shades are just not for me. These and the contour shades seem a little too harsh on my skin, even with a light hand.

The baby pink one on the other hand (second swatch from the left) I am loving! It's a real Barbie pink :)

As I said I haven't had this very long but I am looking forward to trying out the shadows. Some of the shades look so so pretty I'm hoping that will translate well onto the lid!

As for the glosses...well...I'm not a huge fan of glosses in palettes to e honest so they haven't excited me too much! However I will give em a try and who knows they could be amazing!?

I'm sorry that this wasn't the most detailed review, but if anyone is interested I'd be happy to do an update on this after some more use :) I thought it'd be nice to share my first thoughts on this with my gorge followers!

I'm off to the land of nod now. No matter how many shadows we have, we still need the beauty sleep girls! Sigh...

Anybody else tried this or another Nyx palette? Let me know what you thought!

* Thanks so much for reading *

x x x

Ash

x x x

Stephanie's Lush Contest: I WON!!!!

Hi all!

I've only gone and won a contest for myself! :)

The gorgeous Stephanie Louise held a Lush contest with the following up for grabs

1 x 100g 'Rock Star' Soap

1 x 30g 'Iridescent Glitterbug' Massage Bar

1 x 100g 'Creamy Candy Bath' Bubble Bar

1 x 100g 'Yummy Yummy Yummy' Shower Cream

I'm so excited to finally try out Lush for myself and see what all the fuss is about!

I wanna say a huge Thank You to Stephanie for holding the contest, and any of you who haven't already checked out her blog - you so should! It's super cute.

http ://vintageheartsx.blogspot.com/

Review and Swatches: Urban Decay 24/7 Super Stash

Care for a quick UD review with some rushed swatches???

You got it! :)

I was lucky enough to receive this as a belated Chrimbo present a couple of weeks ago.... Happy times!

So whats the dealio?

Nine mini versions of their waterproof 24/7 eyeliner pencils, some safely dark, some colourful, all gorgeous!

First impression - happy! They look great. Really cute packaging (gotta love UD for that) so they'd make a great present.

They are really small which is annoying when you love one and are afraid it'll run out but they are great for trying out new colours and throwing into your bag on the way out somewhere.

These are seriously the softest liners I have ever used... love em!

Pigmentation and lasting power are also up to standard you'll be glad to hear! :)

My faves are zero, oil slick and El Dorado, but I have to admit I probably won't get much use out of graffiti - I guess I just amn't really a green eyeliner kinda gal.

If I'm honest I probably wouldn't buy a full size of all of them, but it's great to have the chance to add a rainbow of colours to your collection in one swoop with these minis!

All in all, a big thumbs up from me :)

Swatch time:

Left - Right

♥ Zero (classic)

♥ Oil Slick (new & exclusive)

♥ Corrupt (new & exclusive)

♥ El Dorado (new & exclusive)

♥ Graffiti (classic)

♥ Binge (new & exclusive)

♥ Ransom (classic)

♥ Stash (classic)

♥ Rockstar (classic)

x x x

Ash

x x x

Small Haul - Mac, Benefit, NYC

I never really liked the word haul, I don't know why, just isn't the nicest sounding word is it?

Anyway, here are just a few bits I picked up :)

Mac 109 Brush

Benefit Coralista

Benefit BadGal Lash

NYC Colour Wheels in Peach Glow and All-Over Bronze Glow

Some of you might remember me mentioning Benefit Coralista and Mac 109 brush as two products I wanted to get my paws on in 2010. Well here they are! Isn't Coralista gorgeous?

And hopefully I will soon be the supreme queen of contouring with the help of this baby!

Now onto the BadGal...

Just look at the size of this brush - it's ginormous!

It's like bigger than my eye!

As for the colourwheels, well NYC is a brand I haven't tried out yet, and these have been rated quite well from what I've heard. Plus they are super cheap! These were under a fiver each... Compare that with my Coralista and theres a pretty hefty difference.

I'm not too sure about the peach shade yet. I'm usually pretty predictable when it comes to blush. I go shopping for makeup and think I'm all adventurous with my purchases and then I come home with about six variations of pink blush. So I decide to try this peach out... Gotta admit not crazy excited but we will see!

BTW guys, I'm not bragging here. It's a beauty blog I gotta tell you what I'm using don't I! :)

Anyone used any of these before? What did you think?

If anyone would like a review on anything leave me a comment :)

* Thanks for reading *

x x x

Ash

x x x