You can catch Part 1
here!
I'm gonna go ahead and warn you that this is really picture heavy! Sorry!
Also, I'll be using all the makeup products in upcoming FOTDs, so there are no face examples or reviews of how they last or look on the face, just swatches and first impressions!
So the reason I was even in town in the first place was for this:
Sometimes for a treat I’ll get my hair coloured as I get it cut at my favourite salon, but I can’t afford that most of the time and so I dye it out of a bottle. However, I like my red to be quite intensely red – not browny-red or purpley-red but more of a true red. So when these new Garnier colours came out I figured I had to try them out. I’m glad because I like the Garnier formula but thought the colours were less bright and this means I don’t have to resort to Manic Panic, which I hate application-wise. A full before and after and review coming soon! I couldn't find them on the internet except for at
Tesco, at the price I bought them for - £5.50.
But once I was in Superdrug I ended up buying a couple of things, and then I went to Boots and bought a couple of other things. Shortly after that, a nice box arrived containing my order from ELF so it was a bit of a makeup overload.
I already swatched and reviewed these polishes, which I love and got 3 for 2 from Boots. Check that out
here.
Barry M Lip Paints were 2 for £7 in Boots so I picked up these two colours:
The first is
Punky Pink, which is a really pigmented matte deep pink. Barry M products always seem to have a good colour payoff, and this being my first lipstick purchase I wasn't disappointed.
This is two swipes, so you can see it's a really gorgeous colour. It feels quite moisturising but I've heard other places that Barry M Lip Paints are drying so this might be the case. I'll let you know when I do put it on!
The second I chose was
Peach. I've been looking for a coral lipstick for ages and since it was on offer, I thought I'd give it a go.
Here it is swatched on the right, next to
Punky Pink. It's a really nice peachy coral, creamy and pigmented. This is, again, two swipes but you can see the payoff is great. I think this will look really good on more tan skin tones.
I also got a THIRD lipstick, and this one I was really excited about. I've heard about Sleek for ages now as I'm sure you guys have. I really wanted to get myself something from the brand but I'm holding off on buying the Storm Palette because it's my birthday 2 weeks today and I have my fingers crossed I might get it as a present. Instead, I bought a lipstick.
This is
Peaches & Cream (
£4, here), a sheer, glossy-looking peachy coral (again!). I just wanted to mention that I think the packaging is really cute and it's not often a company can stray away from the squared-off, classic lipstick format and still look classy (unless it's MAC!), but they seem to have managed it here. You may think this is the exact same colour I got from Barry M, so I compared the two:
Here they are side by side in tube: left is Barry M in
Peach, right is Sleek
Peaches & Cream.
Here's Sleek
Peaches & Cream swatched alone. I LOVE the formula here. The minute I swatched it it felt creamier and more moisturising than the Barry M formulas. It has a nice sheen to it, looks like it would be shiny without being glossy. I love the colour too - maybe a little more peach than coral, but I like it a lot.
Here they are swatched side by side - left is again, Barry M, right is Sleek. I think you can see, Barry M i s darker, more coral, and more matte than the Sleek. Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself that it was ok to buy both!
Ok, so the next thing I got was my E.L.F package! I was so excited for this - it's my first time buying from E.L.F and I can say in general I was pretty impressed with what I got - plus the speedy shipping (in my case, anyway).
The first thing I got was a Custom Compact with four removable eyeshadow pans (
£.150 for the compact, £1.50 each for the pans, here). I was surprised that the compact looked quite nice - not ultra expensive but not totally cheap, a decent sized mirror inside and it came with a brush (although, being a sponge, I'll most likely never use it).
And these are the colours I chose. In the left photo, left to right:
Pink Ice;
Golden Glow;
Mocha and
Moondust. In the palette, starting top left and going clockwise:
Pink Ice;
Golden Glow;
Moondust and
Mocha. So you can see I went for a neutral, golden-brown type palette here (probably NAKED envy!) but I really liked the colours before I even swatched them. And then I did:
Left to right:
Pink Ice;
Golden Glow; Moondust;
Mocha. This is about 2 swipes with a fairly heavily packed brush, but I think you'll agree that the pigmentation is great. I really like these colours, you could use them together or with other neutrals. The seem great for autumn to me, like they are quiet autumnal colours anyway.
Pink Ice and
Golden Glow have a little bit of shimmer to them whereas
Moondust and
Mocha are a bit more matte. The formula feels nice, although I doubt they'll be very long-wearing!
The next thing in my box is the All Over Colour Stick in
Spotlight (
£1.50, here). I'd run out of my Benefit Highbeam so was looking for a cheap alternative for the meanwhile. This is a cream stick so it's not quite the same but I quite like the colour. I also liked the packaging for this and how wide the stick is. It's quite chunky and cool.
It's a pearlescent, creamy almost white. I wasn't a massive fan of the consistency, especially with the first swipe it didn't seem creamy enough but I suppose warmed up between fingers or applied gently with a brush it might do the trick. When I use it I'll let you know. I also have to say this smelled really orangey, which I personally loved. Not like natural orange, more like orange sweets!
The next thing was Luscious Liquid Lipstick in
Strawberry, which was nothing as light or peachy as it looks on the website (
£1.50, here). I didn't like the packaging of this so much but the idea of clicking the product up onto the applicator was kind of neat and on the first go reminded me of Play-Doh. Like when you used to make hair with it?
So you can see this is a really raspberry pink. This is quite a lot of it, but one swipe so it's quite pigmented and very, very glossy. It is like a cross between a lipgloss and a lipstick with the colour being so full on, but I think its cute. Maybe a way to wear bright colours in the day? I'll let you know.
Lastly from E.L.F was the Warm Bronzer from the Studio line (
£3.50, here).
I definitely prefer the Studio line's black packaging, it's much classier. It also comes with a large-ish mirror which is great. The four colours are designed to be mixed together but I suppose if you really wanted you could use them alone, depending on your skintone. I used them all together when swatching.
It's not the best picture as by this point the light was fading but as you can see it's a pretty golden-brown colour with a little light shimmer in it. This probably works better for summer and they have a cool bronzer for winter, but I really like this shade. It's very warm, quite sheer, not too dark. It is, however, my first foray into the world of bronzer (for a pale Scottish girl like me, I always feared looking way too fake) so I'll have to let you know how it goes on my face!
Last three things very quickly! I got this free in Marie Claire so it's not really part of the haul but it's such a pretty colour, the Ciate Paint Pot in
My Fair Lady:
Isn't it cute? I love the way these bottles are curved to fit into your hand and that the handle of the brush is long for easier application (thank goodness, with my unsteady hands!). I'll do a swatch and review after I finish using this next product for a week, which should be Wednesday:
It's Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Daily Nail Treatment (
£4.75, here). You apply a coat of it to clean, dry nails every day for a week and it's supposed to improve growth and strengthen your nails. So far, on my 4th day, I can definitely see an improvement. My nails are stronger, I'm not biting them and they are therefore most definitely longer! So expect a full review of this soon!
FINALLY!!! Not a swatch or review, but - my boyfriend and I were cleaning out my room for a car boot sale when I stumbled across a bunch of stuff I got for Christmas but had forgotten about when I went away in January. Among all my glorious finds, I found:
A full-size, unused bottle of Benetint!! I was so excited!
Anyway, that's my haul over. What'd you guys think? Is this something I should do more of in the future and is there a way I could improve on the way it's delivered? Let me know!
S x
