How I Try To Save Money

Whilst I'm waiting to start my business, I've not got a steady income like I used to, though I do still have the shopping obsession! Now I've taken up blogging again too, it's hard for me not to get caught up in the beauty world. I feel like I have almost missed a whole season of new products and must-have items that I really want to purchase. I thought today I would share with you how I have 'taught' myself to save, especially now I am on a tighter budget. 

So here are some tips that may hopefully help or inspire you to save a bit more. 

Re-shop your stash- This is an obvious tip that many bloggers do already. But seriously, it's better done sooner or later. See that new Urban Decay Pallet with really cute nude colours? Do you not already have different versions of the colours? I'm not too bad with palettes (as of yet!), but my gosh am I awful with lipsticks. It's amazing what you rediscover in your current make-up stash when you spend an extra 10 minutes looking. 

Save it for later- I have a habit of online shopping for something specific, and coming out £20 lighter because of offers and exclusive deals. Seriously, did I need that mascara in three different colours? Apparently so! Make a wishlist and budget yourself to one item a fortnight (or a week if you're that impatient!). You'll be amazed by how much you're saving. 

Is there a beauty dupe?- The thing I love about the beauty blogging world is the amount of dupe products we seem to find. This only means one thing- saving! It's worth researching different product dupes to find out whether you can get the same thing for a cut of the price. Or even shopping around in general- if you're willing to take an extra half an hour scowling the shops, you could even save money this way. 

Buy a piggy bank- This is a general, non-beauty, saving tip. For as long as I can remember, I have owned a tin that I put any £1 and £2 coins in. I also have a copper jar, but c'mon, it takes forever to see a benefit! It's amazing how much money you can save throughout the year by putting all your £1 and £2 coins aside. Even if you make it a rule to put a certain amount away each week, you'll easily be saving!

Do you need it?- I've recently started doing this. If I can't justify buying something, I wont. I made it a rule (yes, an actual rule) that if I can't give myself a genuine reason for wanting something, I must instead put the money aside for something else. I don't like to think of it as 'punishing myself' for wanting something. How I see it is, I was going to buy it regardless, but I don't need the item, then I also don't need the money right now. Therefore, if i'm willing to spend that money, I wont actually have missed it, so I should save it instead. If you get me? I know what I mean!

I hope this has helped some of you with your spending habits, especially after Christmas! What saving tips do you have?

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?

BB Cream.. Primer? | Rimmel London

BB Cream helps my skin so much on days when i don't need much coverage at all. I don't really like leaving my face completely nude, but also don't feel the need to go all out when I'm having a lazy day. I picked up the Rimmel London beauty balm a few months ago, because of the amount of moisture it's meant to give. I can honestly say I noticed it immediately and for a while, it was all I would use. 

Given my skin tone, I had to get their lightest possible shade. The cream is extremely thin and *ahem* creamy. Originally, I used to apply the product using my hands, but soon found out it doesn't take very well to my skin by doing it that way. The best way I've found to evenly apply the BB cream is to use my blending sponge as it helps to give a better coverage. I have noticed that the product becomes darker after drying though, so the blender sometimes gives you a false sense of security by thinking you can apply a bit more. 

I've read a lot of posts surrounding this BB Cream, as it seems to be a product that you either love or hate. As a BB cream, I think it's pretty thin. I also find it hard to agree with all of the results you're meant to achieve by using the product. Like I said, I do believe it helps to moisturize my skin, as well as it making a brilliant base/primer. However, for me, the cream didn't give an amazing cover to my skin and turned matte way too fast for my liking. I found it hard to apply to my skin as it would dry fast and leave orange patches on my face. There is no way I could use this product by itself. 

Read about the Rimmel London Lasting Finish Primer here.

As a BB cream, I wouldn't recommend, however, as a tinted primer, I think you're on to a winner!

Oh My GOSH | Lipstick

Until recently, my lipstick collection only consisted of extremely bright pinks and reds. I love a good, bright lipstick to make you feel sassy! Whilst I will probably forever stand by my bright lipsticks, I had an upcoming interview and realized it probably wouldn't look very professional to wear them. Queue these two beauties. I decided on GOSH because after spending hours swatching different products, they felt the most silkiest and had the biggest range of nudes to pick from. Plus they were on offer! 

I'm one for cute names, so I'm a bit gutted that the GOSH colours do not run like that. These are simply 'Cappuccino' and 'Nude'. Bit boring really, but I guess that is exactly what the colour is. The packaging is a really cute matte tube, with the brand name indented into shiny plastic. It makes them look really professional and quite expensive. It's really worth swatching too, because the colours on the bottom do not match the colour in the tube. 

The 'Cappuccino' is more of a brownish-nude colour, whereas the 'nude' is a pinkish-nude. Both colours are fairly pigmented, though I find I reapply it quite a few times throughout the day as it fades pretty quickly. It doesn't bother me though because they were inexpensive compared to others in my collection. They give a shimmery finish too, rather than a matte one, which suits me just perfectly since I need all the moisture I can get! I did notice the first few times I used them, they're so smooth, the product will stick to every last bit of dry skin on your lips. So during these winter months when your lips start to peel and dry up (gross), they're probably not going to be the best unless you're consistent in using lip scrubs before applying. 

I instantly fell in love with the Nude lipstick since it's a pink tone. It's great for an everyday look and I've started to reach for it most days. I was pretty stupid whilst shopping the colours, and whilst they looked pretty swatching them on my hand, I didn't think to match the colours to my make-up. I'm finding it hard to wear the Cappuccino shade, as it matches my foundation pretty perfectly, leaving me looking like I have smeared concealer on my lips (remember those days?). Lets just say it isn't very pretty. 

Do you own any GOSH lipstick? What do you think of the value for money?

Budget Eyebrow Kit | Collection

Filling in my eyebrows has only recently been a thing for me. I'm quite lucky in the fact my eyebrows are pretty full anyway. I've never been really conscious about my brows, and the only reason I felt I needed to fill them in is because they're a lot lighter than my current hair colour. When I was out shopping, I knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money buying a premium eyebrow kit, purely because I knew I wouldn't be using it every day. I like to fall back on Collection or Makeup Revolution products because they really are such good value for money. So when I saw the Collection Eyebrow Kit on offer, I picked it straight up. 

Considering the kit is only £3.99, you get a generous amount. I picked up the brunette palette, which has three pretty dark colours to suit any dark tone. The palette also comes in blonde, with a lot lighter colours. The kit also comes with a clear brow mascara, which does the job at setting your brows. I've also tried waxes to seal my brows, but I think the tube of mascara will last longer and it doesn't leave your eyebrows hard or clumpy. I have no complaints for the small brush either, one side it sloped to get a nice arch, whilst the other is rounded which helped me to fill quicker. The palette even has a mirror in, which I haven't needed to use, but Collection has clearly thought of everything for this! 

The colours themselves are ridiculously pigmented. Trust me- a little goes a long way with this kit, especially with the darker colours. I've been using this for the past two months and I've hardly made a dent in the product. I was worried at first that I was buying three colours when I only really wanted the one, but after realizing how pigmented they are, I would happily use the other colours as eye shadow. I think the darkest colour would make a really nice smokey eye. 

Overall, I'm really impressed with this kit. It's definitely a budget find that would have probably been overlooked. I'm surprised with how pigmented the colours are compared to the price, and this has stayed firmly in my make-up bag since I purchased it. The matte colours are so easy to mix, I think it's worth any beauty lover to give it a go at least once!

Have you tried this kit? What is your favourite budget product?