Essence Make Up Haul

My first foray into Essence cosmetics was a pretty successful one, and since this haul I've been back to my local Wilkinsons a good few times! I won't go into too much detail, but everything pictured ranged from 99p to around £3.50 - pretty bargainous! 

Everything I've tried so far has been, for the price, amazing quality! The only product that was disappointing was the All About Matt! primer, which 'balled up' on the skin if I rubbed it in too much! The nail polish was nothing to write home about in terms of lasting power, but the colours they have are gorgeous! The lipsticks are amazing and come in a wide range of shades, and for 99p the purple sharpener was a funky replacement for my old one. The Blush Up! in 10 Heatwave is a stunning ombre blush that ranges from orange coral to bright magenta pink - go lightly with this one! Finally the powder and blush brushes are great quality and a handy mini size - perfect for popping in my make up bag. 

Overall I'm really impressed with the Essence brand, and I'm so glad we have it now in the UK! It's available in pretty much every Wilkinsons store across the country.

Fiona xox

MAC | Alluring Aquatic Haul

MAC Alluring Aquatic Extra Dimension Blusher in Seduced At Sea 

MAC Alluring Aquatic Lipsticks in Goddess Of The Sea and Enchanted One

I'm a little late in showing you my Alluring Aquatic haul, so I'll keep it short and sweet! As you know, MAC released this collection last month and no one could resist the amazing packaging. Both the boxes and the outer packaging of the products are an aqua chrome with 3D waterdrops! Not printed waterdrops - you can actually feel these when you run your fingers along the packaging. It's just beautiful. 

The extra dimension blusher in Seduced At Sea is described as a plum colour, to me its a very ruddy nude colour! Its not my absolute favourite blush shade, but the extra dimension formula is so smooth and creamy for a powder blush - MAC are bang on when they say its almost gel like. 

I love both the lipsticks - Goddess of The Sea is a plummy purple shade with a cremesheen finish. It's nothing like any of the other MAC purples I own and somehow a bit more wearable! Enchanted One is a peachy nude with a matte finish and I've seen it compared on other blogs to Kinda Sexy. 

It's the Alluring Aquatic packaging that I think most people have fallen in love with - MAC had better keep this standard up for future collections! 

Fiona xox

lllamasqua Sale Haul

I'm a bit late in posting this but I picked up a few bits in the Illamasqua post-Christmas sale. I bought two powder blushes in Lover and Tremble for £7.50 each and a lipstick in the shade Magentism for £5.00. Not a bad wee bargain!

Christmas Sales Haul | 2013

So I've just lost this entire post and truly can't be bothered writing it all out again, so I'll do the quick version for you! I went a little mad at the Christmas Sales this time, and even ordered a few things for collection in Boots, something I've never done before! I'll quickly show you what I bought: 

Sephora Haul | Body Wash, Eau De Toilette & Eyeshadow Palette

Sephora Creamy Body Wash in Blueberry and Laguna

Sephora 7ml Eau De Toilette in Blueberry and Laguna

Sephora 'It' Palette in Smoky

Recently my parents brought me back a few things from their trip to Spain, and I was very very excited to see the Sephora logo on one of the bags! The creamy body washes' and the eau de toilettes are lovely! Blueberry is a really sweet berry scent and Laguna is a much more grown up scent and actually one I think both men and women could get away with! I think the size of the perfumes is fantastic, here in the UK we very rarely get small sized perfumes like these, which is such a shame! 

The palette is stunning, and very winter/Christmas appropriate! All the shades are super sparkly (with the exception of the matte black) and really pigmented. I wouldn't normally go for a palette with lots of silver in it, but my Mum knows I need pushing out of my comfort zone! I really like it and I can see it getting a lot of use during the Christmas party season! I'm totally in love and really wish they would bring Sephora back to the UK!

Fiona xox

Boots Haul | Real Techniques & Maybelline

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 125: £7.99

Maybelline Fit Me Anti-Shine Stick in 130: £8.99

Maybelline Fit Me Powder in 125: £5.99

Maybelline was on 3 for 2, who can say no to that? I picked up the Fit Me foundation in the shade 125, I've been using a sample in 135 which was a bit dark for me, so 125 is perfect! I really really wanted to try the anti-shine stick, so picked it up in the shade 130, which is a tiny bit too dark but Boots had a rubbish shade range! I have a bit of a summer tan just now so its fine. Finally I picked up the powder in 125, as I don't have any 'travel friendly' powders for popping in my bag. It comes with a powder puff which is handy too!

Real Techniques Your Eyes/Enhanced Starter Set: £21.99 (£11.99)

Real Techniques Duo Fiber Collection: £23.99

Real Techniques were on a buy one get one half price offer so I picked up the two sets I've had my eye on for a while. The eye collection contains some brushes I'll use for sure, and others I might not. So far, I've used the brow brush, which I really like, and the base shadow brush and the deluxe crease brush. The deluxe crease brush is a bit big for detailed crease work, but for blending out an over defined crease it could work! I haven't tried any of the duo fiber brushes yet, but I'm sure they'll be up to the usual RT standard!

I don't normally blow this much in one go at Boots, but it was my birthday! I hope you enjoyed this post!

Fiona xox

Fragrance Direct | Dainty Doll Haul

I jumped on the bandwagon and joined the masses of bloggers purchasing uber-cheap Dainty Doll products from Fragrance Direct! I don't have a lot of money at the moment, but this lot cost me less than £15.00! 

I got all four of the powder blushes at £1.99 each, a cream blush at £1.99 and two lipsticks, also at £1.99 each, bargain! Considering these are only being sold at 1/3 off in Boots its an amazing saving. 

From l-r - Money Talks, Hippy Shake, My Girl and You Are My Sunshine - 

These blushes are great! They are pretty sheer on me as they were designed for really pale skin and although I'm hardly tanned, I'm not beautiful Dita Von Teese pale either. But they make for a nice wash of colour on the cheeks.

Cream Blusher in Billion Dollar Baby - 

This is pinker than I was expecting, but it still makes a nice cream contour without being too ashy. 

Lipsticks in It's My Party and Storm In A Teacup - 

It's my party is the most amazing neon pinky red, the only colour I can compare it to is Stellar from the Rimmel Apocalips. Perfect for summer. Storm In A Teacup is a not too pale shimmery nude, and doesn't make me look like I've got concealer lips, hooray! 

All in all I got an amazing bargain from Fragrance Direct. They don't have much left now but they may restock as they have done before. So grab a great deal while you can! 

Fiona xox 

Small Haul | Boots & Superdrug

So, no Shopping The Stash this week! I'm feeling lazy, I've been walking Bailey in the rain and the lighting was rubbish. So instead, here's a small haul from yesterday! My spending cut down is going quite badly! But I did buy most of this with a gift card left over from Christmas. 

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo - 2 for £15.00 from Boots. 

Katy Perry for Eyelure lashes in Ka-Pow! - £6.95 from Boots and Superdrug

Models Own Nail Polish in Jack Frost - £5.00 from Boots

Maybelline 24/7 Colour Tattoo in Pink Gold - £3.99 from Superdrug

These are the newest lashes from Katy Perry and Eyelure! They're a colour pop range, and come in three different colours, black mixed with purple, green or blue. They're designed to make your eye colour pop! These are supposed to be for brown/hazel eyes, but I bought them without realising, as I always though purple made green eyes pop!

I love this polish, I've lusted after it for so long! 

I ummed and ahh'd over this for ages, and finally bit the bullet. 

Finally, I bought two bottles of  Effaclar Duo. They were two for £15.00 and are £13.00 each, so technically I got one bottle for £2.00! I've heard so many good things about this, and I have really big pores, so I'm hoping this will sort them out!

Hope you enjoyed this wee haul, Shopping The Stash will be back next week! 

Fiona xox

ELF Haul

Hello again everyone! Last week, before I went on my spending ban, ELF were doing a 50% off deal on all their products. I bought a few things for Christmas pressies, and more than a few things for myself! So I thought I'd show you what I bought:

I ended up buying a lot of things I've never tried before, and a few of their new products. As always ELF delivered pretty quickly even though they must have been so busy with orders.

ELF Hypershine Lipgloss - £1.50 each.

I bought two of the hypershine glosses for myself in the shades Sugar Plum and Joy. Technically I paid 75p each for these so I can't complaing about much. I'm not a big fan of the whole 'twist brush' thing, but the colours are lovely and the gloss isn't too sticky.

ELF Studio Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum - £3.75

These baked eyeshadows are some of ELF's newest products. They also have some baked blushes and bronzers which I'm dying to get my hands on but they haven't been released in the UK yet.

This is a beautiful purple/red plum colour, its amazing. It really makes my green eyes pop but I do apply some nude eyeliner to my waterline to avoid that 'junkie' red rimmed eyes look. Its so pigmented and really perfect for a winter eye look.

 

 

ELF Studio Single Eyshadow in Pebble - £3.95

 

I love love love this colour. It's like a cross between MAC's Copperplate and NARS' Lhaza. Its a lovely grey taupe. Its not as pigmented as the baked shadow but a few sweeps will do the trick.

 

 

ELF Studio Blushes in Blushing Rose and Berry Merry - £3.75 each.

 

I wanted to try some darker blushes for winter, and as I know my lovely Mummy has bought me NARS Sin for my Christmas, I didn't want to splash out. Blushing Rose and Berry Merry are similar shades, but Berry Merry is more pink toned than Blushing Rose. Berry Merry is also more pigmented.

 

 

ELF Studio High Definition Powder - £6.00

 

I'd been eyeing this up for a while as I was curious to see if/how it worked. So far, I'm not too sure but I'm going to keep trying with different brushes to see what effect I get.

 

 

ELF Studio Small Stipple Brush - £3.75

 

What can I say about this? Its a lovely soft small stipple brush, perfect for highlighting, blush and possibly contouring. I'll definitely get good use out of this!

 

Thanks for reading, bye for now!

 

Fiona xox



Lush Haul

Hello everyone! Us beauty bloggers love a trip to Lush, especially around Christmas time. I picked up a few things on two trips to Lush. I don't often get to Lush so to be near one two times in one week, well, I couldn't resist!

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel 250g: £6.50 - I love Snow Fairy. And so do lots of other people, which is why its so popular when it comes out every Christmas. With new girly packaging, it really stands out. I don't normally enjoy sickly sweet scents, but Snow Fairy is different. Its a gorgeous creamy candy scent, it smells a bit like pear drops!

Sweet Soap Of Mine Set: £6.25 - This is a duo of two of Lush's soaps from their permanent line, Rock Star and The Godmother. They come pre packaged together, which is handy if you don't want to go about the fuss of picking and cutting soaps to the right size/price. Rock Star is a lovely sweet scent, I don't know how to describe it, and The Godmother smells just like Snow Fairy!

Fun in Green: £5.00 - This is the newest product from Lush, a multi purpose shower/bath/hair/clothes wash that is also fun, because its mouldable like playdo. It comes in five colours and scents, green, yellow, blue, red and pink. The green one smells like lemon and lime. I tested this out in the shower today, and to be honest, I'm not all that I'm impressed. It smells nice, but it doesn't really lather up very well. Its a bit of a novelty to be honest, and I doubt I'll buy it again! But for kids and those who want a reminder of childhood it might prove more, well... fun!

Thats all for now, bye! :) xx

Models Own Haul and Exciting News!

Hello everyone! My Models Own order arrived this afternoon, so I thought I'd show you what I got, including some of the new Mirrorball polishes! I've also got some exciting news to share with you, but I'll save that for the end of the post.

Models Own Purple Mystique: £5.00
Models Own Beetlejuice Purple/Blue: £5.00

Purple Mystique doesn't look like much, until it catches the light. Its a beautiful dark purple, not dissimiliar to Baptiste by Illamasqua.

Beetlejuice Purple/Blue is a lovely mix of, well, purple and blue! It changes colour in different lighting, and is a good dupe for MAC's Formidable polish.

Models Own Boogie Nights, Hot Stuff and Freak Out! £5.00 each

These polishes are incredible. They're a mix of different coloured and sized glitter particles. Some circles, some hand cut chards.

Boogie Nights: A mix of lilac, purple, magenta and dark blue glitter.
Hot Stuff: A mix of light pink, dark pink and gold holographic glitter.
Freak Out!: A mix of dark blue, light blue and purple glitter.

They're all gorgeous! Now, onto my exciting news! It isn't too obvious in the photos, but the packaging is still on these polishes; the reason?

I won £1000 of Models Own goodies thanks to Malibu UK! I can't even believe it, £1000?! Its incredible. I was contacted yesterday so the prize can be sent out to me. I am so so chuffed, I can't wait to show you what arrives!

New Look Haul

Hello everyone! So, today is my first fashion related post in a while. I am a plus sized girl, so a lot of the clothes I buy arn't available to most of you slimmer ladies, so not worth showing! But I bought a few bits and bobs from www.newlook.com from their Inspire range, which are also available from their main clothing section, and I got some accessories, so I thought I'd show you!

I'm going back to Uni for my 3rd year pretty soon, so I needed a few things for wearing everyday. First up, I got two pairs of leggings:

New Look Inspire Cross Print Leggings: £14.99
New Look Inspire Galaxy Print Leggings: £14.99

Both of these leggings are available from New Looks main line of clothing for £12.99 each, The cross pair are really flattering, I thought I might look like I was wearing jammies! The galaxy print ones are amazing, I never thought I would find plus size galaxy leggings. They are black, with a purple, white, pink and neon green print, all my favourite colours!

New Look Unicorn Print Snood: £7.99

I love love love this snood. Its big, long and won't fall off or blow away in the wind because its all attached! And the Unicorn print is so cute and right up my street. You can wear it loose and long, or double it up when it gets really cold!

New Look Gold Skeleton Necklace: £5.99, Buy One Get One Free
New Look Gold Skull Necklace: £5.99, Buy One Get One Free

These were buy one get one free, can't complain! The skeleton necklace is very long and dangly, and so cute! The triple skull necklace is a little more edgy, its quite short so I might have to find an extender chain for it.

New Look Socks: £1.99 each or 3 for £4

I fancied some fancy socks, so I picked up these three pairs. Leopard print, Houndstooth and these wintery 'Aspen' style socks with a Skull twist. They're so cute and I can't wait to see what they look like worn with creepers peeking out the top.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to enter my 100 follower giveaway here! Bye for now! xx

Haul: The Body Shop, MUA. Benefit

Hello lovelies! I've got another small haul to show you, mostly cheaper high street brands or bargains. So lets get on with it :)

The Body Shop Tea Tree Pore Minimiser: normally £7.50
Luckily, 'Love Your Body' card holders were getting a discount off new products, so I got 30% off this pore minimiser. Unlike their seaweed pore minimiser (review due in the not to distant future), this is more of a primer than a facial serum, and will live in my make up drawers instead of the bathroom.

Benefit Silky Powder Eyeshadows in Low Profile and Moody: £1.99 each
I can't believe I found these little beauties hiding in Semi Chem for £1.99! They're the real deal, but were discontinued long ago. I can see why. Although pigmentation looks fantastic when swatches, they're a bitch to apply with a brush, Low Profile really is low profile, you can barely see it! They're lovely neutral mattes though, and I can see me reaching for them when I'm wearing a bold lip.

MUA Lip Liners in Softly Lined and Brooding Plum: £1 each
These are pretty much what they say they are! Basic lip liners, Softly Lined has a lot of shimmer to it, which I'm really not liking, but Brooding Plum has no shimmer and will be great for lining dark lips.

MUA Pearl Eyeshadow in Shade 11: £1
You just cant go wrong with MUA eyeshadows. Highly pigmented, creamy texture and they're only a pound! Shade 11 is a lovely shimmery brown. I'm planning on copying Describing Beauty by getting myself a eyeshadow palette and depotting my MUA shadows into it!

Thats it for this haul! Hope you enjoyed seeing my bargains!

Don't forget to enter my 100 follower giveaway here! Ta ta for now! :) xx

Small Haul: Urban Decay, MAC

Hello everyone! So I went on a trip to Glasgow yesterday and treated myself to a few bits and pieces, so I thought I'd show you what I got!

Urban Decay De-Slick XL: £23.00
I was given a £20 Debenhams gift voucher for my birthday, so technically, I only paid £3 for this hugeeeee bottle of setting spray. This spray is for before and after applying make up, and is supposed to have oil control properties, fingers crossed!

MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study: £14.50
After seeing the new range of Maybelline Color Tattoos that are only available in America (boo!), I really wanted a lighter cream eyeshadow base. Bare study is a beautiful pale shimmery colour, I'm so glad I bought it!

Bare Study

Annddd, I got one more thing!

Police To Be Woman Ea Du Parfum: £16.66
I purchased this perfume on offer in boots, £16.66 for 40ml seems like a great bargain. It has a lovely floral scent, nothing over the top. You may have noticed theres a skull on the box, which leads me to my favourite part of this perfume, the bottle!

It's a purple skull! Its absolutely gorgeous!

Anyway, thats it for now, stay tuned for my upcoming 100 follower giveaway! Ta ta for now xx