New Lip products

My name is Kerri and this month i have become addicted to.....

Lip products.

I have even managed to persuade my mother bear to buy some too so i could try out some more. I bought the most amazing, beautiful, wonderful Chanel Lipstick which Mother Bear has stolen off me, and to compensate i have bought these wonderful items. I have never before been that into lip things so it is about time my collection featured some new beautiful things - Ebay has been fantastic this month and i have got some great bargains.

I thought if i was honest and shared this then i could justify how naughty i have been.

:D but i am very happy.....

xxxxxxx

Birthday swap

Hello!
Last month i joined a birthday swap which was organised on the Beauty Box Swappers facebook group. I have mentioned them before, you can get amazing products you want for things you don't want. One girls trash is another girls treasure and all of that jazz. However this one was different, i paired up with two ladies and have received both of my lovely boxes from Stacey and Danielle. I will have to hunt together everything from stacey as i did not have my camera when it arrived but it was lucious filled with treats and goodies that i adored. I promise to upload pictures from that one too this week. My second box arived today from Danielle and i had my camera to hand so i got snapping.

Massive haul wrapped beautifully

So this swap was arranged and we agreed on a £10 budget -You will see how naughty my birthday swappette was and blew the budget and then some!

I am blown away with the sheer amount of thought that went into this box. There is not one thing that i dislike and the thoughtful extras and the accompanying notes made me so happy. My fave items were the real techniques brush (swoon) and the Chanel lippy and nail varnish (stunning colour) My mum was here when i opened this and she loved the idea, so we went shopping for more things for Danielle's box - i hope she likes it! Thank you so so much darling, you are amazing - so strange to be strangers and send each other gifts. This was seriously my best birthday present this year :D

Have you done any mystery swaps? 

xx

Revlon lip butters - Review

I have officially jumped on the Revlon lip butters bandwagon. I have been excited for months to get these and i really really wanted to love them! I have been visiting my local boots for weeks now trying to get hold of these but being a small branch they have taken longer to get them. There were five shades in stock and they were all very limited. I actually asked the manager when they came in and she insisted they have been there for 6 months as they have not had a new stand recently, hmm i know more than she does apparently. I got these on the 3 for 2 offer and they were priced at £7.99 each making all three just short of £16.
The colours i have are Strawberry shortcake, Peach Parfait and sweet tart.

Camera refused to focus - sorry!

The colour selection was not the greatest for me, i love a pink lip but i did not think these colours were anything too special and i have many similar products in my collection. I spent ages swatching the colours and choosing the most wearable shades for me.

Sweet Tart - Peach Parfait - Strawberry Shortcake

The product

Sweet Tart is a lovely and pigmented bright pink which has a nice shine to it. It is very easy too apply and feels great on my lips.  Peach Parfait has a slight colour on my lips but is definitely more on the nude side which is complemented with a gold glitter. The glitter feels quite gritty on my lips which i don't really like but the colour is pretty. Strawberry shortcake gives a nice pink glow to the lips without being too bright, this one i would get away with wearing to work.

My final thoughts

I'm going to make a very controversial statement here, i have no idea what all the fuss has been about. I think they are ok nice, they apply well and are soft and moisturising. I like them but i do not love them like i thought i would.  They simply do not justify the £7.99rrp price, this is so expensive for a drug store lip balm. No way would i have bought these without all of the hype, but due to the amount of fantastic reviews i thought something amazing was going to happen once i wore them on my lips as the initial swatching did not excite me. 

To put it bluntly they are nothing special. I heave read reviews from America where i have seen peopleinding these at $4, roughly £2.50. At this price i would buy the whole collection, they will be great to have in my handbag for on the go, but at nearly eight pounds there is no way i will buy more, i will stick to my pink Vaseline (£1.99) thank you. 

What do you think?

Kerri

xx

My pound shop make up haul

Hello Chickens,
Today i had an hour to kill before work so i popped into town and had a gander in the new pound shop. I found a whole wall dedicated to beauty, the majority of it was rubbish however there were some interesting products. Firstly i discovered that pound land stocks cat shaped vajazzles, these seem popular as half of the stand was empty, wow! After that shock i had had a gander at the make up items and was rather impressed with the selection. I only picked up a few bits because i had spent up buying baby bits for my nephew.

My £3.00 Haul

Firstly i picked up a Sally Hansen nail varnish in Hollywood Scarlet. I always read and watch blogs and Youtube videos about these but i have only ever found the treatments such as the nail hardeners.

Sally Hansen Salon nail lacquer in 350 Hollywood Scarlet

Sorry about the terrible picture quality, its dark and i have been struggling to get my camera to focus. The bottle is really nice, something i would be happy to display on my dressing table. The lid is rubberised with grips which i think is a good touch as i have on a few occasions dropped a nail varnish lid and its gone on my carpet, eeps. The brush is small which is a bit annoying as its harder to apply neatly as it does not really fan out but the consistency is fabulous and two coats looks perfect. There were loads of other pastel colours, i know these are bang on trend right now but they look rubbish with my super pale skin and stumpy little nails - all in all really worth a quid if your passing!

Secondly i picked up a Maybelline cool effect blush duo.

Maybelline Cool Effect Blush in 01 Pretty cool pink and 06 Chillin' Chocolate

These were in a pack together so i could not test the colours in the shop. I have never seen these before so i thought it was worth a try for 50p each. After swatching these it was pretty obvious these are not suitable for  the same skin tone so a pretty rubbish duo, however i really quite like the pink toned one.

Left: Chillin Chocolate Right: Pretty cool pink

These are applied by a brush, similar to a nail varnish. Chillin Chocolate is way too dark for my skin and i will not be using this, however Pretty Cool Pink is quite flattering to my skin tone and works in the same way as Benefit High Beam and is rather similar in colour too! The consistency to these are rather runny and i would not use the brush to apply it on my face and would use my finger instead. As i have said on a previous post i have my main make up bag which lives on the dresser but i plonk other products in my bag for touch ups for during the day, for which this is perfect. If you are strapped for pennies i would suggest this as a very cheap Benefit high beam dupe. I found these online for around $6 each.

and finally i picked up this lipstick by Rimmel in Alarm, a very bright red.

Rimmel 170 Alarm

I recently lost my only bright red lipstick so was very happy to see this. Again this came in a packet so could not see the colour in store but the sticker on the bottom is pretty true to colour. This lipstick is very bright, i applied it using the stick and it looked terrible for a photo, need to use a lip brush with this one because mistakes are super obvious! I did a quick search online and found that this exact lipstick is stocked now in Lloyds pharmacy for £4.99 so this is a pretty good bargain.

I will be going again very soon because there were a few other things i fancied trying, including nail art pens, eye liners, lip glosses and some bargain face and hair masks (10 for a £1!). For a quid i think its worth a risk and the majority of the brands were from well known drug store brands.

Have you found any beauty bargains in discount stores, i would love you to share your finds :)


xxxxx

My staple make up bag

Hello Ladies,
I thought i would share with you my go to make up items that i use every day. I am a sucker for buying lots of new lines but tend to keep returning to these products.

I am not really loyal to any brands and am willing to give anything a try as proved by my absolute stash of make up products. I did keep everything in bags but that got messy so i turned to the huge pink and spotty Soap and Glory box from the Christmas collection 2(?) years ago which is over flowing. I really need to come up with better storage but after moving house in December I have just not got round to it yet.
Just this week me and my boyfriend have been allocated our own rooms. My room is pink, has a pretty dressing table and pretty bedding and lots of pretty pillows. James room is the guest room, he chose to paint a blue feature wall and it now houses his brand new computer and boy things that were not welcome in my lovely room. We sleep in "my room" but otherwise he has to take his mess elsewhere ha ha! I like this arrangement a lot.
Sorry for that ramble back to make up...I have two make up bags on the go at all times. My first one has a good selection of products that i chop and change with and that lives on my dressing table, the other is called my handbag. When i find a product that works it usually lives in my main make up bag and then i have random spares and repairs items for when i am on the go that live among the other random items in my bag. I have a trillion little make up bags that would be perfect to pop in my bag with a bunch of carefully chosen products but that is just far to organised for me.

So these are the items i reach for most days

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B10 Beige Pastel and Mac Studio Fix in NC15

Generally i have quite good skin so i prefer a light coverage foundation. I fell in love with this Chanel foundation instantly, It literally feels like it melts onto the skin and provides a natural coverage and a dewy finish. I have now had three bottles of this foundation and i adore it. The second foundation of choice is the Mac Studio fix foundation which is used on 'lady days' when my skin goes crazy and spotty. I also use this foundation if i am going out on an evening as it provides a medium coverage and makes me feel a little more polished.

Clinique almost powder make up in 03 light and L'oreal True match powder in N4 Beige

I am very very pale, some would say English rose, i would say ghostly. I have problems with powder because they tend to look very orange on my skin, even in the lightest shades. I have an oily T zone so powder is important for touch ups and setting my foundation. These are my current faves however powder is  my most changed make up item.

Mac Semi precious Rose Quartz mineralise skin finish

I again use various blushers ever day depending on my mood but i always apply a little of this Mac Skin finish to my cheeks. I got this last summer at Manchester Airport and after daily use still has loads left. Really worth the pennies in my opinion.

L'Oreal Paris Glam Bronze in Blondes

I have only recently got this bronzer from a swap with Gina and i really like it. As i said i am super pale so bronzer does not really suit me. This one is really subtle and gives me a really nice healthy colour. This has quickly replaced my usual bronzer from Mac.

I love the L'oreal Telescopic mascaras, i have bought these time and time again. I love trying new mascaras and i am lucky to have pretty good natural lashes so i do not find problems with many mascaras, but this one is so quick to apply and builds up brilliantly.  Highly recommended!

Revlon Shiny Sheers in Dewy Blossom

I constantly change my lipsticks and lip glosses but i always go for pinky shades for the day and deep pink or red for the evenings. This lipstick is more of a gloss but has an excellent colour pay off. I have been using this in the mornings when i do my make up then choose one of my many lipsticks that float around my handbag for the rest of the day.

I use this pallet daily however i only tend to use a few of the shades. I have found that as i have got older (I am only 22 guys!) i now do not suit the dark greys and blacks that i used to favour. I now like a good old neutral eye and darken it up a little at night. The colours i mainly use are Virgin, Sin, Naked, Smog, Toasted and Hustle. The rest are basically untouched, eep.

Chanel Chance Eau Tendre

This in my opinion is the yummiest perfume ever. My mum bought me this a few years ago for my birthday and i fell in love. I am terrible with perfumes, i never buy them for myself. My mum usually buys me a bottle of this for my birthday and when she goes on holiday from duty free. I would happily only wear this one for ever. That being said i do have a selection of other perfumes that i have now started using as i am running seriously low now but i am hopefully going to get another bottle soon (my birthday is in April) *Hint hint  mother bear*

I hope you enjoyed having a nosey through my make up bag, if you would like a review on any of these products then let me know.

I love being nosey so please comment and me know your go to products :)

xxxx

Today's Haul

Whoops.....
I have been very naughty and purchased some new goodies that i probably should not have done.  I do have an excuse (kind of). Firstly i received £15 worth of L'Oreal vouchers as i bought my usual Telescopic Mascara which had no product in when i opened it! After sending it back they sent me vouchers in return through the post which were a little more than the mascara so i could not let them go to waste and purchased some other lovely things which then led to buying some other bits and bobs.

So here is what i got,

So due to the vouchers i got a few L'Oreal things as they also had 3 for 2 on.
L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara in Magnetic Black. I find that L'Oreal mascaras are great but have not tried this particular one out as i bought a stockpile of Lash architect 4D mascara a few months ago because they had an offer on. I am keen to try this as it has a plastic brush which is different to my usual mascara. I have used plastic brush ones before (i can not remember which brand) and hated it as it kind of flicked back and me and got mascara everywhere so keen to try this one out and see if it works well for me.

I then bought two nail varnishes from the Colour Riche collection in number 601, French Riviera and number 202, Marie Antoinette. I have never fried L'Oreal nail varnishes out so i am keep to give them ago. I have Terrible nails at the moment, they have all snapped off and turned flaky so i am hoping they grow again and i can have myself some beautiful talons (unlikely).

Next i got the Studio Secrets universal lip glow. I know i read about this somewhere and could not remember if it was good or bad so tried to Google it on my phone while in Boots - my internet on my Blackberry was so slow the shop assistant in boots came over to ask if i was OK so i just gave up and bought it.

So i went to the counter and purchased these goods which all came up to £10 after i cashed my vouchers in and used some boots points which was a bargain and they gave me a £5 voucher! I instantly went to No7 and got a nail varnish for £2 in the colour Betty Blues then i remembered i needed conditioner so went searching for some. On a pretty stand i found L'Oreal Elvive Nutri-gloss crystal shampoo and conditioner  which comes in a pink bottle and the shampoo is glittery so had to grab that too (i am a sucker for anything pink or glittery). I got another No7 voucher but put it in my purse this time because the guy in boots was looking at me like i was crackers by this point.

I then nipped to a cheap shop in my little town that sells the most random things ever, i got some nail varnish remover (essential) and some pads and at the till there were Rimmel Mono eye shadows for 39p in the colour Frivolity - So i grabbed two. I would not wear pink on my eyes but thought it might work as a blush highlight as it has a little bit of glitter in it.

After this i got myself home as quickly as possible because my purse was getting very light and i am rather poor at the moment. I start a new job next week so will soon have more pennies to buy more pretty things which excites me greatly - i am super fed up of buying things like paint and washing machines.

As this is a brand new blog i have decided that i am going to do a little give away once i reach 20 subscribers. I will be giving away one of the Rimmel eye shadows and a brand new No7 nail varnish in the colour of your choice, OoOo.

Will be posting back here soon with some reviews and stuffs so please subscribe :)

Lots of love,
Kerri
xx

Hello!

Hello! I'm Kerri, aged 22 with a bit of a beauty buy addiction. Ever since i was little i have been fascinated with all things make up and beauty. I would much rather buy a lipstick than some shoes, thus meaning i have a pitiful wardrobe and a huge stash of make up. I have recently had to cut back on my spending as i have just bought a house with the boyfriend who told me i need to buy light fittings not lipsticks *insert sad face here*. I have been inspired to do this blog by my friend Danielle, http://www.ablogfromblackpool.com/ (Sub to her shes FAB!) and by joining Beauty box swaps on Facebook where i have collected loads of goodies and met some really wonderful like-minded ladies. So here are my secret beauty buys, reviews and other random stuff that comes up. Please subscribe so i can have a valid excuse to buy more make up hehe x