My American NYX Haul: Away We Glow Liquid Highlighter, Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder, Total Drops Foundation

I'm sure most of us can agree that NYX is definitely one of the best makeup brands out there. The quality for the price is really on point and I am a fan of a lot of their products, especially their lip and face products. Unfortunately for some of us British people, we are not lucky enough to get the new NYX launches or products immediately, whereas America usually do. Luckily for me, I was able to pick up a couple of NYX products on my recent trip to New York that are not yet available in the UK. 

Of course - 80% of the NYX products I picked up were highlighters. 

Mini Sephora Haul (NARS & Laura Mercier)

 

My brother has just come back from Chicago and Toronto, and he got me these little gifts from Sephora. Even though I'm going to New York in January 2017, I like that I have them now so I can use them when I travel there. I am a huge fan of the Nars creamy concealer (Custard is my shade) and Laura Mercier translucent loose powder, which is the best baking powder. As you know, I'm a freak when it comes to miniature versions of makeup products and I love these. I can't wait to go to New York and raid Sephora for the first time, but for now - I'm going to enjoy these miniature minis. 

 

NYX Haul Part 2 of 4: The Eyes

Now for the eyes haul. If you haven't already, you can check out my insane lip haul from NYX here. I didn't go as crazy as I did with lips for the eye products but I decided to be a little more adventurous and strictly get brighter colours for my collection since I am constantly only purchasing neutral brown/nude shades.

NYX Haul Part 1 of 4: The Lips

NYX is a brand that I have known for a few years but wasn't widely available in the UK. I had the odd product from the range but since I couldn't get my hands on them as easily, it wasn't a brand I really invested in. I had the odd blusher and lip pencils but they are the old packaging. Now NYX lip range is insane. The colour selection is amazing, with plenty of nudes (my favourite) to choose from and from my NYX haul I have purchased nearly all the nude shades. I will probably go ahead and select a few darker shades for Autumn but for now, I am enjoying all these shades and formulas. 

Benefit Minis: Boots Exclusive

If anybody knows me, I have a terrible weakness for any beauty product that is small or travel-friendly. And if you're anything like me, then you'll really love these Benefit minis that Boots currently have on offer.

Dublin Beauty and Fashion Mini Haul

My lovely friend surprised me with a trip to Dublin for my 24th Birthday, and knowing that Dublin have a few stores / brands that aren't available in England - I was super excited for all the shopping (of course). 

February Beauty Haul: NARS, Revlon, NYX, Hourglass, Becca, L'Oreal | Haul

I have been terrible this month and went a little crazy on the makeup...as usual. Here are a few little bits that I have purchased this month. A mix of drugstore and high-end face products that I'm excited to test in the next couple of months. I have used some of these a lot recently, and so far I am quite impressed.

theBalm Lou Manizers, Overshadows, Bronzer and Eyeliner: Collection & Review

Oh theBalm. When this finally hit the shelves at Superdrug, I naturally got excited and wanted to try everything. I didn't go crazy and buy everything at once but I slowly made little purchases over time. Out of what is currently available on their website and in-store, I would say there is probably 5 more products I want to add to the collection to try out, but for now I am quite happy with what I have. Currently I own: Mary Lou Manizer, Cindy Lou Manizer, Betty Lou Manizer, Bahama Mama, Schwing, and 3 sexpots overshadows. 

London Beauty Haul: Charlotte Tilbury, Illamasqua, MAC

My short but sweet trip to London last month was filled with good food, beauty adventures and family time. My main aim was to buy stuff I can't get in my local area (I like to see and swatch in person before I buy any beauty products), and so far I'm loving everything I've got.

Smashbox Step-by-Step Contour Stick Trio & Full Exposure Travel Palette | Mini Review

Smashbox Step-by-Step Contour Stick Trio (£35.00)

These 3 sticks come in the form of contour, bronzer and highlighter, and a handy paper guide to instruct you on how to contour based on your face shop. I particularly like the contour colour as it's quite a cool grey shade, the bronzer is a medium warm brown, and the highlighter is a pale yellow shade. The formula is very creamy and bendable using both a beauty blender sponge and the NARS Ita Kabuki brush. You can definitely get a light contour with these sticks, and build up the colour as you go. I like to set these with a powder contour on top to make sure I get a bold contoured look. The set also comes complete with a pencil sharpener so for £35, it may seem expensive but I'd imagine it'll last a long time.

Smashbox Full Exposure Travel Eyeshadow Palette (£17.50)

Now this palette is something else. I've been lusting after this palette for a very, very long time but from my knowledge, it was only exclusive to Sephora in the USA. I had friends hunting around the world in different cities seeking out Sephora to find it, but it wasn't available. I was randomly looking on the Boots website last week and seen that it was available and immediately went to Boots the next morning to find it and lo and behold, there was a stand with about 10 of these mini eyeshadow palettes. The stand looked like it was full at one point, and the sales lady told me they had been out for 1 week and they were almost gone. I was so happy to get hold of it! The texture of these are reasonably pigmented (not as pigmented as MAC in my opinion) but the colours are beautifully shimmery and mate. It is a handy little palette to travel with - literally, it is the size of a credit card, super thin and compact with a mirror that I know I'll get a lot out of.

Have you tried any of these two Smashbox products yet? Let me know!

YSL Babydoll Kiss & Blush | Lips & Cheeks Soft Matte Colour | Mini Review

I made a naughty impulse purchase thanks to watching one of my favourite beauty YouTubers, Holly Annaeree. She recently talked about one of these YSL Babydoll Kiss & Blush products (Shade 12) in one of her favourite videos. She paired the shade with MAC Soar lip liner which looked gorgeous so I had the urge to go out and get it. Of course they offer a huge range of gorgeous colours so I couldn't just get one, I naturally got two.

Mini MAC Haul

So, I did it again. I made another order to MAC and got few stuff I've been wanting for a while and some stuff for my upcoming holidays to Geneva. I didn't need some of this, but I got a bit click-happy and started sending items to my basket and before I knew it, the lovely black parcel showed up on my doorstop. 

Conceal and Correct Pro Palette 'Medium' | Lightful Tinted C Cream 'Medium' | Amber x 9 Eyeshadow Palette | False Eye lashes '43' & '33' | Tranquil Cleanse Off Oil (Travel-size) | Chromographic Pencil 'Hi-def Cyan' & 'Pure White' | Pro Longer Lip Pencil 'Morning Coffee' | Lip Pencil 'Soar'

Mini Drugstore Haul and Review | Maybelline |

Hello my loves! My plan of not buying any beauty products in May kind of went down the drain (typical...) and I ended up spending my last pennies on a Maybelline haul because Boots keep having those great 3 for 2 offers and naturally I ended up taking advantage of this offer....twice. I had no choice - I promise! Well, basically I spied the new BB bronzer creams, the nude lipsticks and their lip liners...I did a little swatching and before I knew it, I was wanting 4 products - the two BB bronzer creams, a lipstick and a lip liner. This messed up the offer so I decided to get two more items - another lipstick from the same nude range and a nail polish that I recently saw on the beautiful Imogen from Foxy Locks Extensions. 

Maybelline: BB Bronzer Cream in Light/Medium and Medum/Deep | Color Sensational "The Buffs" Lipstick in Honey Beige and Velvet Beige | Color Sensational Lip Liner in Velvet Beige | Crystalized Nail Polish in Rose Chic.

I've only tested the BB bronzer cream in the shade light/medium by mixing it with my new Mac Lightful C Tinted Cream and it gave me a glowy finish. It sheers out a little and doesn't add a lot of coverage so I will most likely test this on it's own, but on first impression, I don't think it will cover any blemishes. This product reminds me of a illuminator and that's why I bought it and the reason I bought it in the medium deep shade is because it remind me of the limited edition MAC Strobe Liquid Golden Elixir Lotion from the Temperature Rising 2013 collection (loved this collection!) that I sadly missed out on. I wish they would bring it back out but in my opinion, The Maybelline BB bronzer creams remind me of this where it can be used alone, mixed in your moisturiser or foundation. 

For the lipsticks, I purchased the shades Honey Beige and Velvet Beige (I originally wanted Tantalising Taupe but there was no stock in my local Boots....*sad face*!) but the textures are creamy and moisturising. Velvet Beige reminds me of what MAC Whirl Lip Liner would look like as a lipstick...a muted, medium dark dirty rose shade. I paired this shade with MAC Morning Coffee Pro Longwear Lip Liner and love this combo - perfect for work!

And the final product I tried was the Maybelline Crystallised Nail Polish in the shade "Rose Chic" because I saw it on the beautiful Imogen from Foxy Locks Extensions. I put a nude polish coat underneath but I really didn't have to - one coat of the Maybelline Rose Chic polish was all I needed, it is incredibly opaque. It has fine and large silver sequins, and a shimmery silver-pink colour and definitely my taste. I prefer darker colours during the Autumn/Winter time and nude colours only during Spring/Summer.  I just hope this won't be a b*tch to remove as most of you will know how hard glitter is to get off....

Have you stumbled across any great drugstore products lately? Or have you tried the new Maybelline BB bronzer creams? Let me know! 

Limecrime Velvetine Lipstick Haul

I've been a little MIA on my blog recently, as I've been super busy with work and family stuff but it hasn't stopped me from making a cheeky purchase. I found a website that sold Limecrime products and immediately made a purchase for their infamous Velvetines Lipsticks. 

YesStyle | Asian Skincare Haul | YesStyle.co.uk

Alas! My YesStyle package came through. After a little blip of waiting for my credit card to be verified, this little haul finally became mine in just over a week. I think these goods were shipped over from Hong Kong so I received it really quickly and I have read that others receive their packages within a week or so, too. I do appreciate speedy delivery!

Public Desire | Laila Lace Up Heels | #PDBAE

Public Desire Laila Lace Up Heels in Black and Nude | £29.99 each (clickable links)

Can we please just take a moment to appreciate how pretty these shoes are? I've been lusting after this particular style ever since Zara brought out their black lace up heels a few seasons back and sold out completely. Now they're selling on eBay for over £100 and that's just simply ridiculous. I've seen this happen a few times before where people will sell coveted items on eBay from Zara for more than twice the price. Unless you really love the item, then bite the bullet and buy it for the price they're offering, other than that, there will be similar options available out there. You just need to do the research.