Fragrance Direct | Lipstick Haul

I recently found a website called Fragrance Direct- it's basically a discount website full of male and female beauty products. I'm not sure whether it's well known or not, but I stumbled across it one day and I've been adding things to my basket since. As far as I can see, the company sells off old or discontinued stock at a fraction of the price. They have quite a few brands I've never heard of, like Technic (which I decided to try), but they also have a great selection of high end products like MAC! I just want to add straight away that in no way am I being sponsored for this post, I just really wanted to share my new find with you guys! Anyway.. take a look at what I bought!.. 

The first thing I added to my basket was a Bourjois Ombre eye shadow in Raffine. This little compact shadow packs a punch and has a crazy amount of pigment! It's a golden orange colour and very shimmery, I've been using this colour a lot since I bought it as it is so easy to apply and lasts all day. The shadow came with a tiny sponge applicator, which is pretty cute if you're out and about. But seriously, does anyone even use those things? The RRP for this is £9.99. How much did I pay? £1.99!

Looking for some cheaper lipsticks, I found Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede in shade It Girl. It's a really pretty coral colour and I thought it would be really cute for the summer, since I don't already have one. I'm not used to such a wide and round application, so I felt a bit weird applying it at first. I will say, the lipstick is more like a tinted lipbarm rather than an actual lipstick. It's very glossy and wet, and you have to apply around 2-3 layers of the colour to really get a nice coral colour. With an RRP of £8.99, I'm glad I only paid £2.99, as it's not worth the hefty price tag. 

I've never heard of the Technic brand, so thought I would give it a try. The lipstick promises to give a matte finish, and although it dries slower than others, it doesn't disappoint. The stick itself is a very vibrant red with a nice orange tone to it, however again, it's very poorly pigmented and you have to apply quite a few coats to get anything of a red colour. The RRP for this is £2.75, however I only paid £0.99. 

Bellapierre lipstick retails at £20 each, so when I found the Burlesque lipstick on Fragrance Direct for £2.99, I snapped it up. You know I love a bright colour! This was my best purchase of the bunch! It is extremely pigmented and is a really nice pink colour that also has a hint of plum. It is really moisturizing and I would probably even pay full price for it! The only downfall is the packaging is extremely tacky as it is a thin plastic. Eww. But if you can get past that, you'll be fine!

My last purchase was the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stain. This retails at £7.99, but I got my mittens on it for just £0.99. I think this was maybe a less popular or discontinued colour, and I can't seem to find it on the website anymore. But whatever the reason, it's a really beautiful light pink/purple colour. I have loads of lip stains and this sits firmly with the rest. It's highly pigmented and leaves a long lasting stain on your lips. It's a lot lighter than I usually go for, but would really suit people who don't quite dare to go fully bold!

I hope this has inspired you in some way to check out Fragrance Direct. I really think they have some good quality products at such good prices. If you're somebody stuck in your usual routine, it's probably not best for you, since a lot of these products are discontinued or less popular products. But if you fancy a smooch at some of their stock, click here! Again, I wasn't sponsored to do this, I just wanted to share this amazing find with you all! 

Have you ever shopped here?

Drugstore Beauty Haul | Budget Buys

Please excuse the background to my photographs at the minute, I'm still trying to find the niche for my blog, so I'm practicing with different backgrounds and lighting! I do apologise in the meantime! Anyway, I was quite naughty recently and found myself having a little online shopping spree. I don't often like buying products online until I've physically seen and had a play with it beforehand, so I'm not sure what went through my mind when I found myself adding more and more products to my online basket! 

I'm not going to give a full review of each product today, as I don't think I've used them all long enough to give a real opinion of each. So expect to see posts in the future including these purchases:

• Makeup Revolution Ultra 32 Shade Palette- Flawless Matte
• Makeup Revolution E103 Eyeshadow Blending Brush
• Makeup Revolution Liquid Eye Primer
• Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer- Fair
• Collection Contour Kit- #1

I should mention that this palette was immaculate when I first received it. I opened it up and was greeted by the stunning, perfectly flat colours. I should also mention I own a 10 month old German Shepherd puppy. Put two and two together, and this was the end result. I had had the palette for less than two minutes. In fact, I don't even think I had managed to have a look at all of the colours before he thought he should jump up me to get in on the action. 

I've been using this every day since I bought it, and for the price (£8), I'm pretty impressed. I must admit, the colours aren't amazingly pigmented, especially with the lighter colours. I chose the matte edition because my skin is often so shiny anyway, adding more shimmer to my eyes would quite possibly turn me into some kind of glitter ball! 

Buying a net palette also meant the 'need' for an eyeshadow primer. I used to religiously wear liquid eyeliner, so didn't feel the need for one before, but now I have an excuse! I also treated myself to a blending brush, since I never needed one of those too!

I've taken the plunge and decided to try my hand at contouring! (help!). I've stared with a cheaper drugstore brand in case I become so frustrated, I give up altogether! The Collection Kit was on offer from £4.99 to £2.99, so I thought it was a real steal! I have watched so many videos, and seen so many pictures of people looking stunning because of their contour. I mean, people are even going to extremes of contouring their stomachs and boobs nowadays! (whats all that about?!). Then there's me, who can't even contour my nose. If anybody has any tips, or has written a post about contouring, please please PLEASE feel free to share it with me! You don't know how much it will be appreciated!

Do you have any contour tips? How did you take the plunge into starting?

Real Techniques Dupe | Budget Beauty

When I first started my blog, I really wanted to invest in buying some Real Techniques brushes, since everybody raves about them. But to be fair, I had never really looked at the price of them. I know a few of you will be thinking 'You can't put a price on beauty'. Well i'm sorry, but I can! I often browse through ebay to find beauty bargains (it never lets me down) and one day I came across these little beauties. Now obviously they don't have a name (if they did, it would probably be something similar to the real things), but after comparison, they are so similar! 

I first bought the rose gold blender brush for £1.99.. I kid you not! It came within the week and I couldn't get over how soft it was! Apart from the name, I couldn't tell the difference- I still can't after using it for a few months. The hairs don't shed at all, and it is super easy to clean too. The only difference I have found at all from this is the price.

I then went on to buy the pink blush brush for £2.49. Again I thought this was a bargain, and I use this for my setting powder since I don't use blusher. I just can't get over how good these brushes are. The only downfall to the blush brush is that it wasn't as high a quality as the first one. I brought it off another seller, and as you can tell, some of the hairs are far too long for the brush. I did have to spend around 10 minutes trimming it all to make it look better. But it can't be all that perfect for the price!

Obviously, I want to make it clear that i'm not slating Real Techniques at all- I actually think it's great that two girls have managed to create something great. But for someone on a small budget, I unfortunately had to look elsewhere. I just thought it would be a good idea to share my findings with other people on a budget.

Cheeky no make-up selfie.

Britain & Irelands Next Top Model | Mascara Set

Todays Budget Beauty is Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model Mascara set. Now before I begin, I did a bit of research this morning and found that you can't actually get these anymore, which is a shame because they are really good. I got these from Boots on a 3 for 2 offer around a year ago, and use them quite often. They came in a set of 3 for £9.99. So for any mascara, that it's ridiculously cheap anyway! They are my go-to mascara for lazy days, since it's easy to apply and easy to remove after.

There are three kinds- Curve, Long-Lash and Volume. 

The Long-lash mascara uses a straight brush, with thick hair (at least I think it's hair) bristles, which i'm guessing helps to lengthen? I don't know.. The mascara itself is quite a thick texture, which I prefer because you then don't have to apply many coats of the stuff. It doesn't make your eyelashes clump together though, as you would have probably thought. There is a really nice fruity smell to it too, and it dries super quick. Neither of the products are waterproof, however, which isn't an issue for me. But if you feel the need to wear mascara whilst swimming, crying or in the gym, all you would need to do is add a topcoat of waterproof mascara. I use the long-lash the least, because I don't really think it makes a difference to my lash length, so doesn't really work like the others. But it is good for a basic mascara. 

As you can see, the brush on this literally is a curve, which helps. The bristles are rubber, which I prefer. And again, there is a really nice fruity smell to the mascara. Obviously, for a cheap mascara, you can't really compare it to the upmarket mascaras that claim to add extra curve. However, I feel this one really does add curve, at least more curve than the long-lash or volume ones. So it doesn't fail in that sense. I usually use the long-lash mascara as a base, and the curve mascara as a top coat for best results from the two. Hopefully you've noticed that the bottles are all slightly different shapes too- this one is wider at the bottom, whereas the long-lash has a weird extra 'corner' (if you can call it that). The volume bottle was just bigger all round, but I thought this was a cute little touch to the design of them. I ended up running out of this, because it was really good.

It's a shame I can't seem to find these around anywhere online, because they really are worth the money.

Nail Art Tools

 Over the years, I have gained quite a large collection of nail polishes, which I will show in depth sometime soon. But i'm also always on the lookout for new art tools to use to make the nail designs look a lot more professional. I've already shown you some of my designs, so I thought today I would move on to the tools I use. All of these were extremely inexpensive- I literally brought all of these for around £10 off ebay, they're so cheap!

Okay, so obviously these weren't under £10, but I think they were only around £18 for 36 of them! They come in quite tall bottles too, which all started off full to the brim. I bought these unbranded colours simply because the brush is a fine tip for extreme nail art designs. I use these for most of my designs because they are so easy to use, and the colour ranges are incredible. 

I'll start left to right with these ones! When I first brought the finger for my false nails, I thought it was the scariest thing I had ever seen! But it has come in handy so much. I now use this every time instead of getting the paint on me or anywhere else. It was only around £2 too! 

Secondly are the extra fine brushes. These are just paint brushes that I cut down to the sizes I wanted. The white/pen-like brushes are actual nail art brushes, but i've only used them a few times. I don't use the brushes as much though, since I can't really get on with them. They are a lot harder to use than I thought. Each set was around £2-£3 depending on the seller.

The black and white 'wheel' kind of things are literally stickers. I've used these quite a bit for when I want straight lines, as they are easy to pull off, or even to give straight/thin lines to a nail design. Once a top coat is added, they last for quite a while. Again these were dead cheap (2 for £1).

The wooden sticks are basically cuticle pushers/cleaners or whatever they are called. I got them in a nail set for christmas quite a while ago, they're extremely cheap to buy though. I use these to help add gems or touch up a design without having to use big brushes. They are mainly used when I do water marbling though. (Post soon to follow).

Lastly are my dotting tools. Hopefully most of you will know what these are already. They are literally just plastic tools with different sized balls on either end. I bought a pack of 5 for around £2, if that! These are a must for anybody wanting to do even simple nail designs. They help to easily add layers of paint or spread the colour easily. I really can't praise these enough, and they're so simple to use too!

So the close up of my brushes don't make them look very good at all, but they are. You can pretty clearly see that I cut the first three myself, since they look more staggered- I know I didn't really do a good job of it, but they still work fine. I needed them shorter! The last three are still the original size, which is probably why I find them so hard to use, since they are so long. I've also found (as you can see above) the small hairs tend to part, which makes it even harder to create the thin/neat lines.

I hope you all enjoy my nail art obsession. I'll more then happily show you techniques, tips and tricks on how to use these tools too!

Summertime Haul

I was wandering around Asda this morning, looking for a last minute Mothers Day present (I know, shame on me!) and I couldn't resist treating myself too along the way. I had been umming and arring about getting most of these for ages, and finally came to the conclusion that I deserved to treat myself! Obviously the tights were a necessity for me anyway because I always find myself ridiculously short on them, and i'm far too self-conscious to get my legs out in public. After that, I found my basket started to become heavier and heavier... 

I've read so much about green tea and how good it is for you.. yadda yadda. So I finally thought instead of constantly reading reviews about the effects, I should just give it a go already! I had to pick one with a bit of flavour, since i've heard it's like drinking warm water otherwise. I didn't realise just how many brands and flavours there are! I'll let you know how and if I get on with these ones later on! 

Next, I just couldn't resist it any longer- I had to buy some fake tan. Now I have never, like EVER fake tanned in my life. So lets just say I am extremely nervous about it! Being the ridiculously pale person I am, i've always imagined it would look completely stupid on me, but I can only cross my fingers and hope that it comes out really well for tonight. I'm that new to tanning too, I didn't realise how many different types there were for this either. It was a spur of the moment purchase, so I picked up the mist, which after reading some reviews straight after, I wish I hadn't have- the mousse sounds so much better! Especially for a first timer like myself!

Lastly I had to buy myself some new eyelash curlers, since I use them every day and my old pair had decided to split. I never realised just how much this beauty malarky would cost me! You should be pleased to know that I did eventually find my mum something too, which she will hopefully like :)

Make-up Store Sets | Budget Beauty

I thought I would try a different 'Beauty Budget' buy (wow what a tongue twister) and I bought a few make-up sets instead. How cute are they though! I must admit, i'm unable to use the bronzers.. well you've seen how pale I am. They are far too dark for my skin colour. But I have been using them as eye shadow palettes instead, which work just as well. These sets would both make cute presents for any tanned/dark skinned make-up fanatic. They are just so ridiculously pigmented, considering they are unbranded and inexpensive.

I've been using the eye shadow palette the most (at least i think thats what it's meant to be). These are also super pigmented and last for ages. They also have a hint of glitter in each colour too, since they're meant to be used on toned skin. I use the white the most to brighten up around my eyes. The tiny brush is pretty cute too. I don't wear eye shadow, in fact, this is now the first and only palette I own, but it's small enough to fit in my make-up bag, and is neutral enough to keep me happy.

I've only used the mascara a few times. It's a super tiny, compact mascara, which is surprisingly really good. There is no smell to it whatsoever, not even a horrible chemically smell that sometimes taints mascaras. Overall, it's actually a really good product too- not too thick or thin, quick to dry and although it doesn't really make your lashes look much longer/thicker, it does make them extremely black. C'mon, what do you expect for a make-up set?

Lastly, like I said, I use the bronzer as another eye shadow. Obviously this palette is far too big for me to carry around though to top up my eyes, so I haven't really used it that much as off yet. I did think the brush was ideal for my setting powder though.. until I tried it. I guess I should really have expected cheaper brushes to fall apart on your face, but I wanted to remain optimistic throughout. Well at least I tried!

Budget Beauty

First of all, i'm sorry for the week off. I've been ill, so took the week to recover and start to feel like myself again. So let me begin...

I know not everybody can afford the expensive make-up purchases that many blogs are able to have, and although it's nice to see their reviews even though you will probably never have a chance to purchase them anyway, I rarely see any 'budget' make-up posts. So with that being said, I have taken it upon myself to start off a weekly 'Budget Beauty' post. I even went to the trouble of creating the stamp above!

I won't spend too long mentioning the Collection 2000 concealer, as by now I hope everyone owns this. For £4.19, it's the best concealer I have ever used. I remember back in the day, when I first purchased this (I was about 16) and it was only around £2.99 for the tube. Just shows how good it is, that people are still buying it even with the price raise! I've seen many posts about this concealer, and many have even said it's better than MAC concealers. There's not much more to say about the concealer, it does what you expect it to do any has very little flaws. It provides full coverage, lasts all day, and is just any girls necessity. 

Next is Natural Collection pressed powder. Natural Collection always seems to get pushed to the side for some reason. I personally think it's because of how cheap their make-up is. You pay for what you get and all of that. Though I could be wrong. But I know i'm one of those people that tend to walk straight past the Natural Collection station when i'm out shopping, and it's sad to think we could all be walking past a really good product. I have used their pressed powder for as long as I can remember. Granted, it doesn't come in many shades (3 to be precise) but at £1.99 it does it's job perfectly. I use the powder every day to set my foundation, and it lasts all day. It also gives enough coverage for your lazy days when you don't want to go all out with your make-up. Considering I do literally brush a thin layer of the powder all over my face every single day, I have had this tub of the stuff for around 8-9 months. Which is crazy considering the price. I think this is the perfect powder/setter for anybody getting in to beauty or who are on a tight budget. 

Let me know your thoughts on Natural Collection products, and how do you like the 'Budget Beauty' posts?

Outfit Of The Evening

So I thought I would try something different and post an OOTE, instead of the after pictures from the night. I absolutely love this new dogtooth print that is coming back into fashion, and the day this outfit came into stock at work was the day I purchased this baby. The only fault I have is that they both only come in two sizes- S/M or M/L. Very American. This suited me fine, as I was able to buy the S/M for both, but the M/L didn't look much bigger at all. 

The top was £12.99, and the skirt was £9.99. Luckily for me, I work for New Look, so got them both half price. So as you can imagine, this just made me even happier with my purchase! I'm always after new outfits that are able to show off my figure properly, as (since I have much bigger boobs than most) I can't wear many types of dresses/two pieces, as they make me look big and frumpy. I also forgot to mention that I am extremely pale, and have not yet fake tanned.

The necklace was an added extra at the till, since I love big statement jewellery pieces at the moment. I'm slowly starting to gain a collection of them all, which i'm not complaining at! I think the necklace was around £12.99, which again was half price for me (YAY!)

I've saved my purchase of the day until last, as I absolutely love them, and still can't get over the price. If you have ever worked in a clothes shop, you will have realised just how many odd pairs of shoes that are left over, when people don't bother to look at the shoe sizes before buying/selling them. At New Look, we decided to sell the odd shoes, to get rid of them whilst still making a profit. You can't tell when they are on, but these are actually one size 5 and one size 6. They have stretched really well, so fit me just like any other shoes do.. and now for the best bit... They were only £3! I know, i couldn't get over that either!! 

If you can live with knowing one shoe may be bigger/smaller than the other, than it is really worth asking clothes shops if they do have any odd shoe sales. A lot will not put them out on the shop floor, as most customers are too ignorant to understand that this is how they are being sold. But it's a cute little saver if, like me, you don't mind! 

What is your opinion on the dogtooth pattern coming back in to fashion? And would you ever buy odd shoes for this price?

Eyeliner | Liquid or Kohl?

After declaring my love for Rimmel London Scandaleyes Kohl eyeliner, I felt the need to try out their liquid eyeliner, and man how disappointed was I! I used this on a night out recently, and found I had to reapply the liquid around three times before I even left the house! (I really wish I was joking). I only decided to try a liquid eyeliner to give a smoother coverage when wearing fake eyelashes, but in the end, it became so faded that I gave up and went back to my trusty kohl.

I know it's not the best picture, but on the left is the kohl eyeliner, and on the right is the liquid eyeliner. Hopefully you can see how the eyeliner is already fading, after only applying it a few minutes earlier. It also takes a while to dry- hence the faint lines above my right eye from where it has already smudged. I also don't get the straight line i can achieve with my kohl eyeliner, which i am really surprised at, as the liquid nib is so fine and precise.

I did a few swatches on my hand (kohl on top, liquid underneath), and waited a few minuted before smudging. I've always been able to smudge the kohl eyeliner, to help give me a more defined smokey eye look, whilst at the same time, keeping the colour in its original place. However, I just couldn't get the same look, or anything similar from the liquid pen. The pen goes on back, and after around a minute or so of drying, completely loses its blackest colour, and starts to turn grey. I have used this eyeliner around three times now, and each time it has proved to be a waste of money, in my opinion. Luckily I brought it on Boots' 3 for 2 offer, so I technically got it for free, otherwise i would be so mad. 

Has anybody else had this problem with liquid eyeliners? I'm hoping it's just this eyeliner that does this. Please recommend a good liquid eyeliner :)

Boots Haul | Beauty reviews

Today I'm going to give a few reviews on my recent purchases from Boots. I wanted some more VO5 hair mousse, and couldn't resist the 3 for 2 offer they had on. 

After using a friends Avon make-up remover lotion, i absolutely loved it. I had never heard of a make-up remover lotion before, so i knew i just had to try it properly.  I didn't want to have to wait for Avons lotion to arrive, so instead took my chances with the 3 for 2 at Boots. For me, it isn't as i expected. I didn't find it oily, as other people have suggested. Though i did find that, when i got it in my eyes (which was a lot), it absolutely stung. The whole process was extremely messy too. Though i am used to using make-up wipes instead, so it's probably usual for liquid make-up removers. Maybe it's because it was my first time using it, and there is probably a much better technique to it, so i will carry on using it anyway. It does somehow magically break down all of my make-up though, so it does do a good job, and conditions my eyes really well afterwards. For £1.50, you can't really complain though, since it is a good make-up remover (when it isn't in your eyes).

I also picked up Rimmel London's Scandaleyes liquid eyeliner. If you have read my previous post (here) you will know i love the Scandaleyes khol eyeliner, so felt the need to try the liquid version- plus it was only £5.99. I've used it for around a week now, and i'm still trying to make up my mind about it. This is the first liquid eyeliner i have tried, so i've not really god a basis to go on, or to judge it by. 

The tip is thin enough to create tiny lines, which is great for smokey eyes, or simple everyday looks. However, i found that after only a few hours, the colour starts to fade, and it turns a more grey colour. I'm keen to find out how long it lasts for, and whether it will easily dry up too, since you obviously don't have that problem with pencil eyeliners. It's a lot easier to take off too, compared to the Scandaleyes khol eyeliner, so that is a plus. 

I will also be giving a review of VO5 Pump it Up mousse soon, as it's the best mousse i have ever tried!