Haulage.

So I popped into Selfridges with the mentality of “picking up a few bits”… Well…we all know how that one goes. Enter: Massive Haul.

Major Haulage

I’ll start off with the mascara. I had the Maybelline “The Falsies” Volum’Express when it first came out, in just the plain bright pink tube, so I picked up the new “Black Drama” version. I quite like the packaging, it’s got a pretty lace detailing round the top which appealed to the 5 year old girl in me. Obviously it’s not the most grown up thing you’ve ever seen but it’s bright which makes me happy!

The packaging!

The brush!

As you can see, the brush is curved to fit your lashes. I find this works really well to cover all the lashes, and although the brush is quite big, I didn’t find it clumsy or difficult to use. It does state that it’s clump-free, which I wouldn’t totally agree with. The formula is quite wet, so after one coat it is a little difficult to stop it from clumping, but its nothing a mascara comb wouldn’t sort out. Also, I feel it’s worth it for the fantastic length and volume that this mascara gives – it really is a “false lash look”! The only thing I don’t particularly like is the smell – a bit “chemically”, but it’s not a huge issue.

Clean lashes

One coat

Two coats

Please excuse the dark circles, I’d wiped off my undereye concealer for the swatches! I bought mine for £8.19 from Superdrug.

Moving on to the lip stuff,  after buying the Illamasqua Valentine’s “Succubus” lipgloss, my intense reading of other beauty blogs informed me that Sleek had come out with their own Valentine’s collection. Neither the blush or the polish interested me much, as the polish was a kind of standard bright red and the blush was waaaaaaaaaay too bright for me! But the tinted lip balm, or “Pout Polish” in Scandal totally floated my boat.

It doesn’t look like much in the swatch above, but it really does add quite a bit of kick to my natural lip colour. I was worried it would be really gloopy and stick from the the tester, but it’s quite a firm texture. It’s less “slippy” than Vaseline, just sits nicely on the lips and sinks in after a few minutes. It really does feel moisturizing and it’s got a lovely vanilla scent to it. It was £4.29 from Sleek at Superdrug.

Next port of action: 17’s Mirror Shine Lipstick in “Beehive”. I’ve been lemming this for soooo long, ever since Holly from YMBB posted about it.

Beehive

It feels really glossy and moisturising on the lips, it has a nice bit of slip to it which makes me worry it won’t last long, but it wasn’t expensive so not too much of a problem. The colour is lovely, a natural nude perfect for every day wear. Would look really nice with a pale pink gloss over the top – something like MAC’s “Underage” or “Fashion Scoop”. It was £4.59 from Boots.

The next lipstick is totally different. I picked up Revlon’s “Black Cherry” before Christmas, which I love – it’s the perfect vampy winter colour. My friend Anna has this lipstick (New Black, from 17) and as it’s a similar colour I thought I’d get it as well. I must say, the quality and pigmentation is nowhere near as good as Revlon, it was quite hard to build up the opacity. As I wasn’t using a lipbrush, I apologise for the messy swatch! I got mine for £4.29 at Boots.

17 New Black

New Black swatch

Like I said, the pigmentation isn’t great but the colour is lovely once you build it up. I could have applied more for an even heavier finish, but I quite liked it as it was.

Next up, Max Factor’s new “Weightless Foundation” in Raw Silk (45). It includes an SPF of 10, which is always good for palies like me. I have their second skin foundation which I like, but I find it doesn’t really last very long on me, and when testing this I noticed it had a more matte finish so I thought it might last me through the school day better!

Foundation swatched heavily on left, sheered out on right.

It seems to have a medium coverage, that could easily be built to full. It is supposed to have a “weightless” feel, and it seems to have a nice slip to it, suggesting it probably has quite a lot of silicone in it. I haven’t worn it for a full day yet, but I’ll upload a full face in order to show the blushes below as well at some point soon. It was £12.99.

So, speaking of blush, I picked up two of Topshop’s cream blushes, in Nutmeg and Flush.

Nutmeg

Pinch

Aren’t they luuuurvely?? I forgot to photograph the front of the packaging, but you can see the boxes in the photo at the top. The lid has little sketchy black polka dots, and the case feels sturdy. Pinch is not true to colour in the photograph, in real life its more like a glowing neon pink, which sheers out to a bright powder finish on the skin. Nutmeg is what I like to call a “grown-up” blush – a neutral, toned down colour you can use to give yourself a bit of definition without too much colour. They both have a nice cream to powder finish, and are 4g each, which when you consider a MAC cream blush is 6g and £17, is quite good value for money. Considering how nice the packaging is, and the fact that they come with a mirror (which MAC’s don’t!), I consider them a bargain, to be honest! They’re nicely pigmented and easy to blend. You can pick one up for £6, from Topshop.