17 Vintage Collection.

photobooth picture. 

I ordered some of the lovely things from the 17 Vintage Collection online, because it wasn't in store and I really, really wanted them and didn't want them to sell out, which they will do!

I bought the two eyeshadow palettes, Perfect Pastels and Metallic Nudes and the blusher in First Flush. I love bright pink blushes so this looks like it's going to be such a lovely bright colour. 

How cute is the packaging? I absolutely adore it, so cutesy and vintage (obviously...). The colours are so pigmented, to be honest I've never really bought anything from 17 since I was younger because I really thought it was generally marketed at younger girls but I'm pleasantly surprised with the quality of these palettes. They sweep on so well and can be blended easily. The colours go so well together too, and they look so lovely.
The best thing about these palettes is the price, for £5.49 each (available here) you get great quality eyeshadow palettes, each with six gorgeous shades complete with a reasonable sized mirror and double ended applicator. They look so cute on my dressing table too.
I'd definitely recommend getting these, if they're still available near you (or order them online like I did).

A gorgeous bright pink colour blush, which I got for free in the Boots 3 for 2 deal. I really love buying blushes, and I have a similar blush to this which is a cream blush but I'm more into wearing powders as they just work better on my skin.
I think this will be my go to blush for the next few months!

I also got a few other nice things from Boots, which I will be posting about when I have used them and have an opinion on them.
Thanks for all the lovely comments recently too. If there's anything you'd like me to review, just get in touch! 

Smashbox Haul.

I recently bought quite a few things from Smashbox, which I think has some really lovely products. I bought the Publicist Powder Blush, Double Exposure Lip & Cheek Colour in Irresistible, Proof Sheet Powder Blush, Cream Eyeliner Pencil in Antique Gold and Eyelights Palette in Special Effects.
I can't stop buying blushes recently, I'm pretty sure they all look the same anyway! Such lovely pink colours, I can't wait to try them.


I just swatched the blushes on paper, but you can see the Smashing Publicist blush is a gorgeous peachy colour, and I think this is my favourite one. The Proof Sheet blush is a bit more of a rosy pink, which is nice and natural for day time & work.
The lip and cheek colour is a bit more of a coral/pink, which looks lovely on my lips. I will probably end up wearing this more of a lip tint because I tend to wear powder blushes.
It's so lightweight, it doesn't even feel like I have any lipgloss on. It doesn't feel sticky either, which is a massive pro! It's quite natural, it gives a slight pink tint to the lips rather than a full on gloss. It's also moisturising which is a plus for me as my lips are constantly chapped!

The cream eyeliner just glides on, so creamy and easy to apply. I've never worn a gold eyeliner before so it's definitely something I want to try. I always wear black eyeliner which is getting a bit old now.
I'll probably use this with the palette I bought, or maybe use it above my black liner sans eyeshadow.






I absolutely adore this little palette! It'll be so good for taking away with me when I travel. I love nude and natural colours, I'm not brave enough to wear anything too bright. I can't wait to try this on, I haven't swatched it but I'll take a picture of it on this week.
I'll use the first shade (L-R) on my brow bone, the second on my lid and the third on my eye crease.
The palette comes with a reasonable sized mirror and a little brush (which I usually throw away if its the sponge applicator but one side is a small angled brush which may be good!).
I love the Smashbox packaging, it's simple and chic. Although the rubber exterior does get really dirty but I think it can be wiped away with a wet cloth. I love the plain font, I think it's really classic.

I'd definitely recommend the Smashbox brand if you haven't tried it already, the products are amazing quality and good value. I've got a few products from Smashbox in the past and most of them I use every day.

I also got a sample of the Photofinish Primer (which I already have and love) and the High Definition Foundation which I'm excited to try. I love samples!

What are your favourite Smashbox products? Any recommendations?

Weekend Haul.

Yesterday I headed into Superdrug to get some lipbalm, and ended up leaving with all this. I've raved about my love for this Neutrogena Scrub before, which you can see here. I was always going to repurchase this, because it really is amazing. 

I also got some Batiste Dry Shampoo for dark brown hair. I'm one of those people that has to wash their hair every day, I couldn't just leave it so this dry shampoo is more for adding volume to my hair than "washing" it. I have really soft hair, and it's impossible to do anything with. Backcombing won't hold, and my hair goes flat in minutes, so Batiste gives it that sort of dirty feeling that not-washed hair has, so I can work with it more easily. I have the original version, but I could never use it as my hair is too dark and the white powder could be seen. Even when I rubbed it in properly and brushed it through, I was still paranoid throughout the day that it was showing! 

So you can't imagine how pleased I was when they released a brown version! My hair absolutely loves this, I am actually sporting a top knot today which I could never achieve before because my hair just fell out of place. 

The smell is divine too! I'd definitely recommend this, especially for instant volume and body. It also comes in a few different varieties, including Original, Silver Shimmer, Gold Shimmer, Fresh, Nude, Brit, Tropical, Blush and Boho which you can purchase here.

I also bought this Garnier Body Intensive 7 Days Ultra-Softening Lotion as I'd heard good things about it. I got the version for dry to extra dry skin, but there are others including one with Aloe Vera for normal skin and Mango for dry skin. There are a few others which you can check out here. 

The product is quite viscous which I think is important in a body lotion because it seems more appealing. It has the most gorgeous smell which lingers on your skin for a while. It reminds me a bit of suntan lotion. It rubs in easily and my skin feels moisturised and supple afterwards. I often get dry skin around my ankles so I'll need to see how it works there.

It claims that skin feels "hydrated for 7 days" but i'm not sure how this claim holds up as i've only had it for one day. It contains glycerin which is a humectant and a main ingredient in moisturisers as it increases the water content in the skin cells meaning skin isn't dry and dehydrated. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out for me, as I love a good body lotion. 

I also bought some nice things from Lush a while ago, including my favourite Honey I Washed The Kids soap (I did buy double of what is pictured but I cut pieces off and use them quickly) I adore the smell of this soap, it's gorgeous! 

I also bought this 'Its' Raining Men' shower gel, which was from the Valentines collection. Although it seems it is still available online (the online store is back up, having semi-recovered from the hacking). It's meant to have the same scent as Honey I Washed the Kids, and I've heard other bloggers raving about the smell, but I just don't like it! It does smell similar to the soap, but it has a funny after scent which is putting me off a bit, hence why it's hardly been used. 

Has anyone else bought this product and not fallen in love with the smell? 

Finally, I got the Catastrophe Cosmetic face mask, which is my favourite! This has actually all been used up, but I'm keeping the packaging to take back to the shop. It contains blueberries which are really rich in antioxidants and are just amazing for my skin. If you haven't tried this, I really recommend it because it's gorgeous! 

ELF Products.

I was recently contacted by ELF to write about a few of their products. A week or so ago and also a few months back, I bought some ELF products but haven't had a chance to review them so this was the perfect opportunity.
I'm a massive fan of ELF products, their prices are very reasonable for the quality of the product and I often buy quite a few things from their online shop to make the postage worth it (always kidding myself into buying more).

ELF Eyelid Primer 
I've been experimenting with eyeshadows and new looks recently, so I'm really glad I bought this primer. I'm sure you've all heard how brilliant it is, it's been hailed as a dupe for Urban Decays Primer Potion, but I actually use my ELF primer far more than I ever used my UDPP. This product is £1.50, which is such a good price for the quality of the primer. I don't feel guilty when I use it because at that price I can always afford to buy another one.
Even when I don't plan on wearing eyeshadow, I like to sweep some of this primer on to my eyelids, as it makes them a lovely natural colour.
Of course, as with all eye products, it will eventually crease. That is inevitable. But I would say you get about 4-8hours of wear before any signs of creasing show.
I'd definitely recommend this product to anyone, if you're a fan of UD Primer Potion, then you really need to check out this!

ELF Studio Blush in Candid Coral
Before I bought this blush, I'd been searching for a coral blush for some time and couldn't find one that had more pink undertones than orange as I am reasonably pale. I love buying blushes and this is definitely one I've been reaching for a lot lately. It has a slight gold shimmer to it, which I love! I usually wear a highlighter but if I use a shimmery blush then I don't feel I need to.
This is a more subtle colour than other blushes I use, so it's better suited for daytime wear (although I sometimes layer it for a more noticeable glow at night).
I really can't fault this colour.

ELF Small Angled Brush

This has to be my favourite item purchased from ELF ever. I use this pencil to fill in my eyebrows, I have a thing about having nice arched eyebrows and this has really helped the way I shape them. Before this brush, I was using a brow pencil, which worked well but I can't imagine using anything else but this brush now. 

It's the perfect size for filling in brows (or maybe applying eyeliner or lipstick) and the slanted edge makes it easier to give my eyebrows a perfect straight edge and arch. I can imagine this would also be excellent for doing eyeliner, especially the flicks at the outer corner and I'm contemplating buying another one of these for that purpose. 

I highly recommend this brush for filling in eyebrows, you can see from mine that they're a nice shape and this takes literally minutes to do with a good coloured eyeshadow. 

ELF Mineral Lipstick in Runway Pink

This quality of this lipstick is amazing, it's even more amazing when you consider the price (£3.50/$5.00). This is a highly pigmented matte pink colour with a slight sheen, and it suits me perfectly. I wear this night and day and it goes with anything, so natural and easy to wear. It's actually very moisturising too, I sometimes find it hard to wear lipstick because it dries out my lips, but I've never had any issues with this. 

I also really like the packaging on this too, it's very sturdy and simple which makes it easy to find in my bag since I have the worst habit of throwing about 10 lipsticks and glosses in my handbag. 

L-R: Blush in Candid Coral, Mineral Lipstick in Runway Pink, Eyelid Primer

These are my favourite ELF products from the two hauls I've bought, and I'm definitely going to buy more. I love the quality of their products, especially the Mineral and Studio ranges and the price is amazing. Being able to buy good, honest products for less than £5 is incredible. I'm really impressed with their brushes, and I think they're definitely worth a purchase. 

I'm going to purchase another darker blush and more lipsticks, and I've also heard good things about the ELF eyelash curlers. 

It's annoying that ELF products aren't sold in stores in the UK, but I think the shipping costs are reasonable, and if you spend over £30 then shipping is free. 

Also, on the US site, there is shipping for $2 if you spend over $15. Which is definitely worth it if you live in the US. 

You can also check out this blog for an awesome review on the ELF Studio Endless Eyes Pro Eyeshadow Palette. 

All links here are to the US site (which has customer reviews of the products underneath), but you can visit the UK site here. 

MAC & Topshop LE Haul.

I decided to treat myself to a little bit of MAC today, so I picked up the Fanfare Cremesheen lipstick and Fleur Power Powder Blush.

Both colours look amazing, I can't wait to try them out.

I also got a couple of things from the Limited Ed. Topshop collection, including a gloss stick in "Ablaze" and a crayon in "Equinox" which are both lovely.

L-R: Topshop Crayon in Equinox, Topshop Gloss in Ablaze, MAC blush in Fleur Power and MAC lipstick in Fanfare

In this picture I'm wearing The Topshop crayon on my eyes and the Topshop gloss on my lips. 

I've really been enjoying Topshop makeup and I can't wait to get more pieces when they come in in the next couple of weeks. 

Tomorrow, Graeme is playing in Mint Lounge in Manchester so I'm going too. Haven't decided on what to wear yet, but I think my Topshop makeup will make an appearance. 

What's everyones plans for the weekend?