Huge Collective Beauty Haul Featuring NARS, Tarte And Ebay - Picture Heavy!

I said I had a few haul posts today and this one is probably one of the biggest. Don't worry though I didn't buy all of these products at once, this is a collective beauty haul going back to around April time -eek I really am that far behind with posts! It's a nice mixture of things with some high end buys (birthday money treats( and a few budget and quirky things, and even a couple of freebies, So sit back cuppa in hand and enjoy reading about my new pretties x

We'll start off with some of the higher end bits and a little Space NK haul. Okay maybe it wasn't so little price wise but I was really good and despite a little discount promotion that was running at the time I only bought two items but what beauties they were.

I'm going to be doing a full review of both of these items so  just a couple of sneaky peeks x First up one of the gorgeous Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushers, Radiant Magenta

and the droolworthy, although now copied, NARS Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette. I'm loving NARS at the moment and this palette made a nice addition to my And God Created The Woman palette which I've also picked up recently (You can read my review and win one for yourself here x )

Any beauty blogger or beauty buyer loves a sample and I love Space NK's sampling policy. I know it quite common abroad but in the UK we seem to be a bit stingy with our samples but I was lucky enough to be able to choose two sample sachets to go with my Space NK order. I got the - Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer Oil Free SPF 15 and the Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide in Ecru. Again I'll be reviewing these samples for you when my Sample Saturday series resumes later this month x

As well as NARS another brand that I'm loving at the moment is Tarte. For years and years it was impossible to get hold of in the UK but now we can be selected items through QVC. I've treat myself to a few bits lately including the gorgeous Poppy Picnic palette and cheek brush.

I will do a proper review of this soon but it's such a nice palette, with a beautiful shimmery blush, and easy to wear neutral matte eyeshadows x

Last week also saw the long awaited first ever Tarte Today's Special Value on QVC UK, and it was a goodie I used my remaining birthday money to make a little purchase.

Beautifully boxed in a Missoni type design, the kit came with a full size Lights Camera Lashes Mascara, an exclusive to this kit neutral toned, eyeshadow quad, a full size Coloured Clay Bronzer Blush in Park Avenue Princess, a Lipsurgence Lip Creme in Vintage, and exclusive double ended patterned brush and a full size Coloured Clay CC Primer in Light.

It also came with a gorgeous Missoni esq zig zag designed make up bag.

Most of the items are on sale separately either on QVC or via Sephora so I'm going to do a full review of the individual items as soon as possible x

So they were the high end bits now onto a few more budget friendly things starting with one of my favourite shops of the moment, Poundland, and their own Make Up Gallery line. After my positive experience with their Feeling Blush Blusher in Candyfloss 2 (read my thoughts here) I decided to try another shade, this time I purchased Soft Blush 1, a really neutral peach, nude tone x I haven't had a chance to use this one yet so I'll let you know what it's like when I do x

As well as the Make Up Gallery range it's always worth having a look at the rest of the make up on offer in Poundland. At the moment they seem to have an awful lot of Rimmel in, including Apocalips shades, Maybelline Colour Show polishes and lots of Barry M. Once one of the beauty bloggers favourite brands, Barry M is one of those brands that doesn't seem to get as much publicity as it once did but the nail polishes and Dazzle Dusts are still firm favourites in my eyes. The store I was on seemed to have a lot of Dazzle Dusts and a quick look at the Barry M website seems to suggest that a lot of the shades have been discontinued :(  Not good news in my opinion but it's good for bargain hunters because I managed to pick up shade 1.

Excuse the terrible picture but this is a gorgeous champagne shade that will a fab highlight shade on the eyes or even on the cheek bones.

Although I don't think I'm going away on holiday this year, I'm still trying to get myself summer ready and summer ready means getting my feet out - there are a few things in this haul to make my feet look less hobbit like and one of those things is a set of Moisturising Socks from Allura.

The idea is simple, slather your feet with foot cream, and pop the socks on over night and voila much softer, less dry feet I swear by these and I also picked up some of the gloves to help with my dry, hands.

The other thing that you see in the picture is a piece of the nigh on impossible to get hold of Allura Acrylic Storage. This general make up one and the lipstick holders are like gold dust. I grabbed this one from my nearest Poundland and to be honest I haven't seen either style again.

I'm trying to revamp my make up storage yet again so I also made another acrylic storage purchase this time from ebay.

This two drawer set is much smaller than the Muji drawers that I own but they were ideal for the smaller space that I have. I'm going to use them for mascaras and eyeliner storage. They were £7.49 including postage from this ebay seller.

I've made quite a few ebay beauty purchases over the last few months and sticking with the dry feet and hands theme I also bought some of these hand and foot peels.

I've tried similar things in the past which were quite a bit more expensive then these so I'm hoping that they work .The foot masks were just 99p from this seller and the hand masks were also 99p from this seller.

Something else that I bought from ebay was something that I'd had on my watch list for quite a while - the Tony Moly Cats Wink Clear Pact Face Powder in No.1 Clear Skin.

Basically all it is, is a translucent face powder, but I couldn't resist the cat head shaped packaging. I love Asian cosmetics for their packaging and Toly Moly are definitely one of the cutest brands out there. I can't find the original ebay seller that I used but there are plenty of these available for around £4.80.

As well as the powder the seller I used was also kind enough to include some sample sachets, I got two sachets of the Tony Moly Glow Aura Luminous Glow Aura CC Cream SPF30 x Let me know if you would like to see a review xx

From super cute to interesting and practical - If your looking for a make up brush on a budget than ebay is the place to look. I loved the look of the Bare Minerals Perfecting Face Brush but the £24 price tag put me off, so I had a look on ebay and found this almost perfect dupe.

It just looks like a normal face brush but when you take a closer look (hard to see in these pics admittedly) you notice that the brush has a little well in the centre, where you put the foundation.

This is something else that I haven't managed to try yet, but for the price and the saving on the original it was worth a try. It was just 99p with 79p postage from this seller.

Over the last month of so I've also placed a couple of Avon orders, you seem some of my nail polish and jewellery buys already but I also got one make up item.

I've seen a little bit of a buzz about these CC Colour Correcting Pearls already, and their similarity to the Guerlain  Météorites Pearls Powder so I thought I'd given them a go. They claim to perfect the skin and add radiance so I'll see how I get on. The Guerlain version retails at around £37.50 compared to £10 for these ones so they are well worth trying x

I also bought another foot care product to make hobbit not so much look better, but feel better. I mentioned in my most recent empties post that I suffer from hot, itchy and tired feet, well the Avon Foot Works Beautiful Cooling Crackling Mousse sounds like it's designed especially for me. It's basically a mousse that you rub onto your feet. I smells very like Elizabeth Arden Green Tea and it feels cool and fresh and the skin, and you also get a crackling popping sound and sensation very look popping candy. I'm still going to be picking up some more water refreshing spray but for just £3 this is definitely worth a try and I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone who spends a lot of time standing up and on their feet.

Next a couple of bits from Superdrug, this should have been a slightly larger haul but they messed my order up - I'm sure you'll already know about this if you follow me on twitter or instagram but needless to say I'm still not a happy bunny with Superdrug! Never mind I just ended up with two things - a replacement MUA Make Up Academy Power Pout in Irreplaceable (read my review here),
#

and another pressed powder - my skin is like a shiny mess at this time of year so I always like to make sure I have a face powder in every bag. This is a real budget one,  the Miss Sporty So Clear Anti Spot Pressed Powder in Transparent.

It looks a tiny bit darker than what I'd normally go for but hopefully I get a bit more colour as summer goes on x

My final proper beauty purchase was yet another duo pack of the Primark Tea Tree Face Wipes, I've lost count of how many of these I've used over the years and at just a £1 for 2 packs they are well worth the money. I mainly use them for cleaning up swatches but they're also great for freshening up and quick make up removal.

You should now by now that I love a freebie, well over the last few months I've managed to pick up a few good ones, thanks to a few online chums. First of all Burberry ran an online promotion to get a free mini 1g Burberry Kisses Hydrating Lip Colour, Yes please, I requested No. 05 Nude Pink and it's a real beauty x I'll be featuring it in an upcoming Sample Saturday post but here is a sneaky peek.

Another high end website also had a little freebie promotion and that was brand de jour Charlotte Tilbury. This is definitely one of my most lusted after brands at the moment, and I quickly put my name down for some free foundation samples I was sent four 1.5ml sachets of the Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder Youth Boosting Perfect Skin Foundation SPF 15 in 1 Fair, 2 Fair, 3 Fair and 4 Fair to help my pick my perfect shades. Again I'll be featuring swatches of all of these shades in a Sample Saturday post for you to lust over and pursue x

Some other freebies come courtesy of the news stand worth of magazine that I buy every month. Okay they're not technically free as you need to buy the magazine, but you can pick up some good things and it can give you a chance to try some new products at a much lower price. We're very lucky in the UK with our magazine cover mounts so I always take advantage when I see something I fancy. Alas some of the issues are no longer on stands but I'm just showing you in case you would like any review x

First up some Eyeko London Mascara Off Eye Make Up Remover Wipes which came with I think April's issue of InStyle. These retail at £6 for 10 wipes which made this a decent freebie. It seems a lot for just £10 wipes so I'll see if I think they are worth it. Also in the picture you can see something which came with last months copy of UK ELLE, a 30ml bottle of Percy & Reed Volumising No Oil Oil. I've already got one of these somewhere that I've never tried, this is a bit of a cult product though so I really need to give it a go.

Last months InStyle also included a free gift, a 10ml size of the new Clinique Smart Custom Repair Serum.

Last month's Red also had a free gift last month a 25ml size of the Rodial Stemcell Super-food Glam Balm which is worth around £21. This is basically just a rose, floral smelling multi purpose balm that you can use on your lips, your cuticles and any dry patches. It's a bit highly scented but I've been using it on my lips and cuticles last think at night and my lips definitely feel less cracked and dry.

Speaking of rose scents the May issue of Marie Claire also came with a 50ml Neals Yard Hand Cream. There were a few different scents to choose from but I went for Wild Rose.

As I say all of these magazines are long gone but I've also picked up a couple of free gifts that you can still get your hands on. The new issue of Marie Claire comes with a choice of two free 15ml Elemis products. You can either choose from the Papaya Enzyme Peel or the Pro Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm which was the one I went for.

The new issue of Glamour is not only just £1 but it also comes with one of four Model Co products. I've tried a few of their items in the past so I went for the Model Co VolumEyes mascara. Finally ELLE magazine, I haven't seen this issue in store yet and I'm not sure if this is just for subscribers but with my latest issue I got a Malin + Goetz mini set which contained a cleanser, a lip moisturiser and a face moisturiser.

If your still with me I'm proud of you - that was a pretty epic haul even for my standard, I'm going to try and review as many of these items as I can but if there is anything specific you would like to see please let me know xx Thanks for reading x

Fruity Firmness Courtesy Of Lovea - A Review For My Pure*

I've reviewed quite a few products from French brand Lovea over the years but I haven't reviewed anything from them for quite a while, so for one of May's My Pure reviews I decided to revisit the brand.

Lovea produce a wide range of organically certified skincare, hair care, body care, and sun care products, that contain a high level of natural ingredients, and are suitable for vegetarians. The majority of their product contain either Tahitian Monoi, Shea Butter from Burkina Faso or Moroccan Argan Oil but the one I'm trying out this time round is a bit different.

Whether it's down to age, or weight loss and gain, I'm starting to see a bit of wobbliness and slackness on my body skin - woe is me :( I know that the best way to firm up the skin and body is through diet and exercise but keeping the skin moisturised and using the right product can also help.

Lovea Papaya Firming Body Gel is not only designed to hydrate and moisturise the skin but it's also designed to help firm and tighten problem areas. 95% of the ingredients are from a natural origin and the two key ingredients are papaya extract, which is good for moisturising and exfoliating, and caffeine which can help with fluid retention, and help to firm the skin

.

The product itself comes in a jar and has a thick gel like texture, and an amazing fruity scent, which reminds of tropical, summery cocktails. 

It's a really simple product to use, all you do is massage a small amount, in circular motions into your problem areas. I've predominantly been using it on my thighs, my bum and my tummy but I guess you could also massage it into your upper arms as well. 

It feels quite cool on the skin, but there is no hot / cold tingly feeling like what you get with some products. It takes a little while to soak in completely but when it does your skin is left feeling smooth and a little bit tighter.

I've only been using this for about 3 weeks so I'm yet to see a real difference, bar the initial feel on the skin, but it's a nice product to use so I'm going to keep using it, and enjoying the smell, and hopefully I'll start seeing some results when I combine it with new weight loss regime x  Lovea

Papaya Firming Body Gel retails at £7.99 at My Pure for a 200ml jar. If you have any questions let me know x Thanks for reading x 

*Sample

Trimming My Stash - May 2015 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews

Well here we are we've survived the first 6 months of the year, this year is flying by and I'm in total denial that in 6 months time we'll be opening the doors on our advent calendars I refuse to even think about it when we haven't had any summer yet - I had the heating on yesterday! seriously what is wrong with this weather?

Anyone enough of the blogger being a typical Brit and complaining about the weather - it's time to reveal May's empties.

Elemis Jasmine And Rose Milk Bath - 125ml
May Beauty The Incredible Face Mask - 10ml
Beauty Formulas Body And Face Cooling Mist - 150ml
Barely There White Lily & Sweet Rose Blossom Bath Salts -100g
Total - 4 Items

1. Elemis Jasmine And Rose Milk Bath - 125ml

I've talked about this product before and I have to say it's love. I'm a huge, huge Jasmine fan, and who doesn't like the smell of roses. Add those expensive and pure extracts to Elemis' famous Skin Nourishing Milk Bath and you have the most indulgent bathing experience you can imagine. You can use this in the shower but in my opinion for the most luxurious and pampering experience you need to use it in the bath. The water is delicately scented, and feels super soft and silky on the skin. I love it but I'm not sure I can justify the spendy amount to just use it in the shower - the bath is where it's at and it's the way to see this product at it's best.

2. May Beauty The Incredible Face Mask - 10ml

This is something that I was sent for review purposes and I'm in the processes of testing it out at the moment. It's a face mask ideal for people with breakouts and problem skin and a full review including scary pictures will be on the blog in a few weeks x

3. Beauty Formulas Body And Face Cooling Mist - 150ml

It's not often that a product appears in an empties post before or without appearing in a haul post but this product was bought and used up in less than a month. Basically it's a cooling water spray that you can pick up quite easily in Poundland. Due to my illness and the amount of medication that I take I tend to get quite warm at night, and my skin especially on my feet often feels itchy and as though it's on fire. I've kept this on my bedside table and if I've had a hot or itchy spell I've had a quick spritz, and I have to say it's helped a lot . The pressurised container keeps it's cool so it's great for freshening up especially when the weather is warmer, and I'll definitely be picking another one up this week.

4. Barely There White Lily & Sweet Rose Blossom Bath Salts -100g

This bottle of bath salts came in a gorgeous, hat box gift set, that originally came for Wilko. Bath salts can be seen as a tiny bit old fashioned but these salts had a gorgeous smell. If you've ever smelled either the L'Occitane Shea Butter Body Lotion, or the Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath than you'll know what this smelled like. It had a soft, delicate almost creamy baby powder type scent which I loved. Unfortunately I can't find any trace of this product or anything else in the range on the Wilko website but I still have quite a few of the products still to use up and I'm going to enjoy using all of them.

4 items in one month to be honest is disappointing but I have also finished a lot of Lush and Bomb Cosmetics products including some bubble bars, melts, and a few ballistics that I haven't included so it isn't all bad.

Bath products again dominate my list and it's just as well - After several cancellations we have yet another date for the bathroom refit so I'm really running out time to use up all of my bath products. I've made a serious dent in my bubble bath collection but I still have a few large bottles left, I'm thinking that I could use some of them as shower gels so hopefully nothing will go to waste. Instead I'm going to try and use up my remaining Lush items, I was actually doing okay and I only had a few bits left but I got a few bits for my birthday - I'm not complaining though nothing beats a Lush bath and I'm going to take full advantage while I still have my bath. If you have any questions or comments on anything I've finished or my Trimming My Stash posts then leave me your musings below xx

A Small Nail Polish And Nail Art Haul

If you're a regular reader of my little place on the internet you'll know that I used post nails of the day posts quite regularly. Although I've never had the longest nails out there I love changing my polish and showcasing all of my different shades, brands and textures. Lately though my nails have been too rubbish to paint let alone photograph!

Never mind  though after a few months of short, split, and peeling nails I eventually have some little stubs to paint again. My secret? Dr Lewinns Renunail, lots of cuticle oil (including something new which I've been loving) and lots and lots of hand cream. So to celebrate my now all be it short, but neater nails I've been buying some new polishes and some nail art bits.

Every time I do a haul at the moment I seem to buy something from Poundland and this one is no different. I'm a huge, huge fan of nail art and I seem to spend a lot of time lately looking at Instagram and Pintrest to pick up some ideas for when my nails grow back, so I decided to get a few nail art bits from Poundland's own Allura range.

The first thing that I got were some Nail Art Tools, these are basically 4 double ended dotting tools. Each tool comes with a swirled, plastic handle, and every rounded metal tip is a different size so you can make different sized dots. You can also use these for picking up gems, decals and crystals.

I also got a pack of 7 Nail Art Brushes. You get a wide variety of brushes that you can use for striping, freehand and detail work. You also get a fan brush to create a fanned or feather effect. I've seen a single nail, fan brush priced at £2 so this kit is great value.

As well as the tool the Allura range also includes a variety of fake nails, nails stickers and gem wheels. I've already got a gem wheel and a few tubs and packets of crystals and sequins but I couldn't resist this fruit decal wheel.

I've already got a few fruit decals that I got from Nail Rock, but these ones are a bit thinner which I actually prefer. You get a wide variety of thin slice of plastic fruit including dragon fruit, kiwis, apples, limes and oranges. You also a miniature nail file and an orange stick to help with application.

Sticking with nail art I also bought some gold nail foil from Avon. Years and years ago I was obsessed with nail foils. QVC used to features a brand called Special FX, that sold all different sorts of nail art kits including lots and lots of foils. The idea is pretty simple you paint your nails as normal, then you paint you nails with the special glue and when it goes clear you press the foil sheets against your nails. You can either cover the whole nail or you can draw designs or just place random splodges of glue to create different looks, I recently picked up some more foils and glue from Essence but with this one from Avon you just apply it on top of wet polish. I'll let you know how I get one with it x I'm planning on just using it for maybe an accent nail or for a bit of freehand work.

As well as the foil I also got a few nail polishes including another one of the Stardust colours from the sale brochure.

I love these polishes, these have an almost demi matte finish and they're packed full of sparkle. This shade is Cherry Dazzler and it's a lovely red packed full of gold glitter. These shades really are for people who like sparkle with a twist.

These Stardust polishes do occasionally pop up in the sale catalogues and if I can I'll definitely be trying to pick up a few more shades. If you can't manage to get your hands on these though the new Avon Magic Effects Mineral Crush polishes are very similar -how do I know? Well I bought one and on the left of these pictures you can see Topaz, a pale, turquoise blue packed full of tonal and silver sparkle.

From the new range I also picked up one of the Magic Effects Fringe polishes in Jacquard Metal. These are basically topcoats that give a sort of feather effect. This one has a clear bases and is crammed full of thin strands of gold and teal blue glitter. I think that would look fab over a plain gold polish or even a paler blue or turquoise.

I have quite an addictive personality and I'm very addicted to buying nail polish, I just love looking at row upon row of pretty colours, and a month or so ago my dreams came true when Models Own opened their first North East bottle shop in the Metro Centre, near to where I live.

I love, love, love the look of these little nail polish bottle shaped stores, and I was like a child in a sweet shop when I popped into the shop on opening day. The polishes are organised by colour and you have the opportunity to swatch till your hearts content. Although I was tempted to buy everything I was good and only got two polishes.

On the left you can see one of their Scented Polishes in NP152 Grape Juice. This is a lovely pale, pastel lilac that has a subtle scent of grape bubblegum :) I also got one of their Colour Chrome Polishes in NP239 Chrome Silver. I'm a bit funny with foils and metallics and brush stokes, but when one of the lovely assistants swatched it, IT looked pretty good, so I thought I'd give it a go. Since it was their first day I also got a little branded, hand mirror as a gift with purchase x

The final polish that I've picked up lately was a magazine freebie. A month or so ago Cosmopolitan magazine had a free New CID Cosmetics I Polish on the cover. There was a couple to choose from but I went for a hot, summery pink perfect for toes, Pink Macaroon.

This issue isn't on sale any more but if your a fan of magazine freebies then you might want to check out the new issue of UK InStyle, which is on sale today and includes a free full sized Nails Inc polish. There are four shades to choose from and the shade names are all themed around 80's pop and rock anthems.

If you want to listen to my talking about this haul in more detail please have a little watch of my latest You Tube video, and if you subscribe don't forget your entitled to an extras entry in my NARS giveaway x



Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or any suggestions  as to what to do with my nail art bits, then please let me know x