Mini Make-up Revolution Haul

I was on the look-out for a couple of new eyeshadows to add to my collection as I've almost hit pan on a lot of my everyday shades, but I ended up leaving town with 44 eyeshadows and highlight! I can't help myself when it comes to buying MUR products, as they're so affordable but don't compromise on quality.

Un Petit KIKO Haul

Whilst on my French Exchange in Rouen we visited a big shopping centre. A majority of the shops were the same as what we have in the UK but I spotted a KIKO store and couldn't resist taking a look, as there is not a store in Cardiff and I often make orders online. 

As soon as I entered the shop I saw the Frosted Look Lipsticks and had to pick one up as I have seen countless raving reviews. I got it in 04 Innovatory Red as we all know I'm a sucker for a red lip. I'm slightly confused about the name as from what I can tell it isn't my idea of 'frosted' (shimmering/glittery) but instead is a lovely bold colour. I swatched a few eyeshadows and immediately fell in love with the colour 118, a taupe with a slight shimmer, and 139, a dusty rose again with a bit of a shimmer. I'm definitely one for natural, barely-there eyeshadow and these colours seemed perfect for me and had fantastic pigmentation. I spotted that KIKO's Long Lasting Eyeshadow Pencil was on sale and as I have been lusting after one for a while I decided to pick it up. I got the shade 24, a gorgeous ash-grey/taupe colour. I swatched it in-store and it was still on the back of my hand hours later, completely unmoved, so it really is long lasting!

This really was a petit post, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. I absolutely adore KIKO and think they're such a good quality, reliable brand with amazingly affordable prices!

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Goodbye e.l.f.!

I was so upset to find out that one of my favourite make-up brands of all time is closing down. e.l.f. Cosmetics has been my go-to for good quality, affordable products for months and maybe even years, so I'm really sad to see it go as I'm doubtful about finding a brand which ticks as many boxes for me as e.l.f. does. One of the biggest shames about it is that their only store is in my city, Cardiff, and over the time I have been popping in there I have got to know the staff and they're always so warm, friendly and lovely.

As e.l.f. are shutting their doors for the final time, they're having a huge clearance sale so I thought I'd purchase a few things so I could make a sort of "farewell" haul post.

I have always wanted to try out the e.l.f. Studio Cream Blushes so I definitely couldn't resist when they were massively reduced in the sale and I knew I would never be able to try them again. I ended up getting two colours; vixen and seductress. I'm looking forward to using them in the spring and summer to give me a dewy glow, as I tend to stay away from having a thick base and a lot of powders. I'll probably use these on top of a sunscreen and concealer base to create a really natural look. I also picked up one of their HD Blushes in the shade headliner, which looks as if it will be really easy and practical to use with the pump.

As you know, I am really into my lip products, so of course I couldn't not get some final e.l.f. products to add to my collection. I got two Jumbo Lip Gloss Sticks, in a bold red (Movie Star) and a shimmery pink (Flirty & Girly). Apparently they apply like a lipstick but look like a gloss, which will make application so much easier as I can sometimes really struggle with slippery lip glosses. They contain nourishing natural ingredients to moisturise and condition the lips too, so what's not to love? I also got a Mineral Lip Tint in the shade Guava, which seems to act as a lip balm to save chapped lips while also adding a bit of colour. It contains some amazing ingredients to really nourish your lips such as Shea, Jojoba and Vitamin E, and it also contains no parabens, preservatives or chemical dyes. I think all of e.l.f.'s lip products are fantastic as they are so multi-purpose, looking great while also treating your lips well.

I'm so sad to see e.l.f. Cosmetics go, and I wish all their staff the absolute best. I can't wait to see what Distribeauty has planned for the future!

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KIKO Haul

I have seen KIKO mentioned many a time during my beauty blog reads, so I thought it was about time I gave the brand a try. The minimum order total was £25 so I ended up purchasing quite a few items which took my fancy.

1. Photo-age Sunscreen Cream SPF 30 - I have been looking for a facial sunscreen for quite some time; I am very aware that the sun can permanently damage your skin and darken acne scars, which I definitely don't want! Ensuring you always wear SPF on your face is also meant to prevent/postpone aging and wrinkles. I am going to try to apply this every day, before my primer.
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2. All-In Marker and Kajal - I wasn't too sure about what this product was, but it intrigued me and was in the sale so I decided to give it a try as I often use eyeliner. I'm not too sure what the "kajal" is meant for so please let me know in the comments if you have any idea!
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3. Purifying Mask - I am always on the lookout for face masks to help with my acne-prone skin, and this one sounded simple and appropriate for my skin as it "absorbs excess sebum", reducing blemishes.
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4. Smart Lipstick (912 Crimson Red) - I couldn't do an online beauty order without adding a lipstick to my basket, as they are probably my favourite product! This lipstick has amazing reviews and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it. I love this colour; it is bold and red but also slightly pink which gives off a softer look. The formula is really good and it has fantastic colour payoff while not drying your lips out!
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5. Face Skin Glow - I stumbled across this product and was intrigued about what it was. It is a moisturising cream which claims to even out complexion while also stimulating cell renewal and collagen production (goodbye acne scars!). It contains SPF and is recommended to be used before applying make-up as a sort of primer, but I think I will probably use it on it's own in the summer months when I don't want to have a face full of melting make-up!
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6. Pearly Kiss Balm (104 Passion Fruit) - My love for lipsticks also extends to lip balms as I think it's important to treat your lips well for any lipstick to look good! This balm is a lovely smooth, moisturising formula with impressive colour, I got a purple shade with a slight shimmer.

My first impressions of KIKO are extremely positive and I'm really excited to use all of these products! I will be doing a future post reviewing these items in more detail once I have had enough time to try them all out.

Gifts from my French Exchange

I am taking part in a French Exchange with my school and another in Rouen, France. Last week, my correspondent from France came over to Cardiff for 5 days to experience our language and culture. She was one of the sweetest girls I have ever met, really polite and helpful around the house and so happy and smiley. When she arrived, she was extremely excited to give me some gifts she had brought over from France. They consisted of a lot of food; chocolates, nougat & macarons, as well as some beauty items too, purely by chance! I thought I'd make a quick post showing you the generous gifts she brought, as I thought they were too pretty not to mention on my blog!

I am really excited to try out the L'Oréal Colour Riche lipstick she got me; it looks like the perfect pink colour to transition into spring! I love L'Oréal Paris products and I will be sure to pick her up a few Rimmel London products before I go to Rouen! While we were out shopping in Cardiff on Saturday, we decided to buy matching friendship necklaces to remember each other while we're apart. We chose some beautiful dainty gold necklaces with intertwined hearts.

I had an amazing time with my correspondent, Solveig, and I really missed her when she left. I am so excited to travel to Rouen next month to experience her culture and spend more time with her, as she was so lovely and we got to be really good friends. I'm looking forward to practicing my French - she warned me that hardly anyone can speak English there, and everybody greets you with a kiss on both cheeks! I will be taking my camera to France with me so I can take some photos of Rouen and obviously the beautiful Paris, and then I'll write a blog post documenting my time away!

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Solveig (left) and I (right) smiling away at Roath Park Lake!

MUA Make-up Haul

I popped into my local Superdrug to have a quick look at the MUA counter as I've never used any of their products, and I left with all of this! The brand is extremely reasonably priced and has been recommended to me by friends and fellow bloggers, so I'm really excited to try out all of these products!

Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder - Iridescent Gold (£3)

The first thing which caught my eye was this gorgeous highlighting powder. Recently, I have been experimenting with contouring as I've never really done it before. I have discovered that I absolutely love using highlighters, they really make me look radiant and bring the light to the right areas of my face! I swatched the tester of this product in the shop and it looked so breathtaking against my skin that I couldn't leave it on the shelf; it is the perfect shade and shimmery but not glittery. I can see highlighters becoming a little obsession for me in the future!

 Lipstick - Shade 16, Shade 14 & Shade 11 (£1 each)

I have a liiittle obsession with lipstick, to say the very least (I even love photographing them). I couldn't try out a new brand without picking up a few of their lipsticks! I swatched all of the colours as I couldn't pick between the huge range, but I settled for these three. The formula is really creamy & moisturising and the colours are bold, but the staying power is not fantastic. 16 is a coral pink/peach shade which I think will be perfect to transition into spring, 14 is a classic nude which I decided to pick up as I don't really experiment with nude lips, and 11 is my favourite as it's sort of a "your lips but better" shade and it really compliments my skintone, plus it seems to last the longest on my lips.

 Lip Liner - Red Drama & Caramel Nougat (£1 each)

Lip liner has never been something I thought I needed, as my lips are naturally very large, plump and well defined. I read online recently however that lip liners increase the staying power of your lipstick so I decided to give them a go. I picked up a pink/nude colour and a red which I hope will cover all of the lipsticks I own. I think it's really clever that the lids have a built-in sharpener, as I can never find one suitable for eyeliners and it'll be perfect for on-the-go!

 Eyebrow Pencil - Blonde (£1)

I have recently started paying more attention to my eyebrows, although they are already quite thick so I tend to just brush them into place. I plucked them quite far apart when I was a little younger and have decided to grow them back in, so I picked up an eyebrow pencil to fill in-between the growing hairs so my brows still look neat and groomed. I haven't been too keen on brow products in the past as I find they are too red-toned for my brows, but this pencil was the perfect tone for me as it's more of a light grey/brown colour.

Undress Your Skin Under Eye Concealer - Luminous (£3)

I have always used the same concealer product both for under my eyes and on blemishes, but there was an offer to get this free if you spent over £6 on MUA products, and I wasn't going to leave a freebie behind. I'm looking forward to trying this out as I get nowhere near enough sleep most nights due to late nights on the internet and early mornings for college!

I'm absolutely loving all of the MUA products and will definitely be going back for another look next time I'm in Superdrug! It surprised me how cheap all of the items were, as so many people rave about them and they seem to be such high-quality. I guess it just goes to show that you don't have to spend a ridiculous amount on beauty products, you just have to find the right ones!

e.l.f Cosmetics Mini Haul (Cardiff Store)

Last week I popped into town to have a look at the e.l.f store. I had no idea it was the only actual store in the world - I just assumed they were everywhere as I have seen so many blog posts featuring them! The girls in there were absolutely lovely, they were so helpful about the products but also up for a general chat about make-up! They were happy for me to take photos in-store and said they love bloggers, so hopefully I'll be there a lot more often from now on!

I love the way the store is decorated and set out - it is very clean and organised making it easy to find anything you're looking for. I am a sucker for black and white, as we all know, so I fell in love with the store straight away, even before I had tried their products.

Another thing I loved was the way they do samples - they have a full sized tester out of every product so you can really get a feel for what you're buying, and they are attached with magnets so are really easy to look at and pick up.

I picked up a few things to try out, as everything was really reasonably priced and I was slightly worried the products wouldn't be very high quality. However, I was pleasantly surprised and will definitely be going back in to pick up some more items! Their website says they are "the home of low-cost, quality makeup" and it certainly seems to me as if this is true!

 Baked Eyeshadow - Toasted (£3.95)

The first thing that caught my eye was this gorgeous baked eyeshadow. On the website it looks like a pale brown metallic colour, but in person it is actually the most beautiful copper/rose gold shade. The pigmentation is impressive and you get so much product for so little money. I'm going to go back and pick up more shades of this baked eyeshadow as they all looked amazing.

Essentials Lip Stain - Nude Nectar (£2.95)

This is the only product I was actually disappointed with. I was attracted to it because it "lasts for hours" but I wouldn't want it to as it looked so bad on my lips! I'm not sure if mine was just a faulty product but the tip was extremely hard and hardly any colour came off it at all, and what did was patchy. I have read online that sometimes these dry out if they are kept upright too long, so I might try leaving it upside-down for a few weeks to see if that changes anything.

Essentials Lipstick - Fantasy (£1.95)

I picked up this lipstick on recommendation from one of the girls in store. I absolutely adore the colour with my complexion and after a few uses it was soft and easy to apply. The only complaints I would make is that the packaging looks extremely cheap and the pigmentation could be better, but I guess that is expected sometimes from such an affordable brand! Next time, I'm going to go for some of their more expensive formulas, so I'll let you know how they compare.

Nail Polish - Desert Haze & Copper (£2.50 £2.00 each)

The store has tester bottles of every shade of nail polish, so I stupidly tested out almost every colour leaving me with very messy and sticky fingers by the end of my shopping trip! I thought both of these colours were lovely, I am currently wearing Desert Haze which is the perfect neutral shade for everyday wear, and I couldn't resist Copper as I thought it would go so well with the eyeshadow I had already picked up. These polishes are really great, I only needed two very thin coats to make Desert Haze completely opaque, and only one for Copper.

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Here is a photo from my Instagram of me wearing Desert Haze.

I think that e.l.f is perfect for those starting out in make-up or those who don't have a huge amount of money to fritter away on products. Everything in the store was affordable but without compromising too much on quality. Personally, I will definitely be going back to try out some more items (I have heard fantastic things about their blushes) as well as using other brands.