Big haul part 1.

An unwritten new years resolution for me was to not spend as much on make up... and here's to how it's going. After a long week at school and a little encouragement from a friend I found myself with 12 new products, oopsy.

 Revlon Lip Butter - Strawberry Shortcake - £5.00

Everyone and their aunt has one of these and loves it! I had always been tempted  but never been drawn in by the colour range. However I was dying to try one out so I bit the bullet.

The colour isn't for me, but pigmentation as well as moisturising properties  are spot on! I won't blab on as there are already a million and one reviews out there, but if you see a colour that you fancy it will hit the spot perfectly. I am tempted so go back and get either the nude or red that they have released so I can get a real feel for the product.

L'Oreal Carsse - Dating Coral - £5.99

These have always been compared to the Revlon Lip Butters many saying that they were far better, others saying the opposite. The colour range for the Carsse is smaller, although offering many of the same shades. Personally I prefer the Revlon Lip Butter. The consistency of these is much lighter and pigmentation is lacking.  Where as the Revlon Lip Butters are heavier on the lips more moisturising and far more pigmented. This in consideration I feel that they are different products, the Carsse is a tinted lip balm where as the Revlon is a lipstick/lip butter.

17 Mirror Shine Lipstick - Beehive - £4.79

This is was the last product that I picked up and the one that I am glad I did. I had been wanting it for ages!

It's lovely, a mix between the L'Oreal Caresse and the Revlon Lip Butters. The colour has no undertone and is just a sheer your lips but better colour, it would suit anyone. Furthermore it's a cheap as chips. The only down fall is the change in packaging as the blue shiny tube was far more appealing.

From left to right 

17 Mirror Shine Beehive - Revlon Lip Butter Strawberry Shortcake - L'Oreal Carsse Dating Coral.

MUA Pro Concealer and highlighter palette- Porcelain - £2.50

I brought this on a whim, purely because I was curious. It contains a pinkie toned concealer, a more neutral to yellow toned one and a highlighter. 

Overall it has blown me away, the pink toned concealer (to the far left) is perfect for under the eyes and the central concealer is gorgeous covering everything, however slightly too light for me. The highlight is okay, offering a undetectable sheen suitable for the daytime. If there's anything I suggest you go and check out from this post undoubtedly it's this. 

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Kohl Waterproof Liner - 005 Nude - £3.99

Finding a nude liner on the high street has never been easy which is why there was so much hype when these were released. Rimmel have always been known for their kohl liners and been a HG product for many. I love liners that open up your eyes but never been able to find one that stays all day and wears off evenly, until now. The colour is the perfect nude, not to white or too dark of a skin tone, it brightens the eye undetectably. There's not much else to say, it does wear off throughout the day but not in a patchy manner and doesn't settle in the tear duct. 

So there was part one of my haul, the other half should be on here around Wednesday  I am also planning on having a nail polish post up, and a 2012 favourites up :) 

Alanya xxxx

Birthday haul & ramble.

Hey dolls, needless to say this will be another of my long drawn out posts which fails to have a direction. But it was my birthday so I want to mention a couple of things I got, I also have done a tiny bit of shopping, found some new bits and bobs that I want to mention and fancy a bit of a ramble.

It would probably be a lot easier to do separate posts on everything I'm about to mention... but it's Christmas and quite frankly I can't be bothered with the faff.

Firstly my order from elf arrived, which I was super excited about! I didn't order much but I'm now a true elf fan!

The first thing I got was a cream eyeliner, it's black and was around £3. I was expecting it to be more of a gel, however it 100% falls into the cream category. Application is buttery smooth and staying power and pigmentation are perfection. Overall there is not much I can fault this product on. The packaging is plasticicy and could do with improving but for the price point I would highly recommend this.

In my eyes you cannot order from elf with out coming away with a brush. They're probably the most hyped product and most affordable brushes that you can find on the market.

Powder brush- £3.75 - Since I can remember I have seen this brush mentioned constantly on youtube and on blogs. I had always imagined that this brush would be scratchy, shed a tonne and basically just feel cheap. I couldn't of been more wrong though. It has not shed once, neither is it anywhere scratchy, I have been using it to apply powder. However it will be interesting to see how it applys foundation. Furthermore it washes a dream. The brush itself feels expensive and is a lovely density, it's not too stiff but the bristles are not packed it so much that it has no give.

Smudge brush - £1.50 - I'm neither here nore there with this brush. I don't love it due to the shedding and lack of bristles but for £1.50 you cannot expect much... It's nice, yes but it hasn't blown me away. Needless to say it does what it says and smudges eyeliner for example and is great for applying shadow along the bottom lash line but I wouldn't recommend it.

In conclusion, I'm pretty impressed with elf so far. I want to try the highlighter palette, concealer palette, more of their brushes along with there brush cleaner.

I received this palette as a gift on my birthday and was over the moon. The pixiwoo sisters have used this is a couple of videos so I was excited to try it.

The pigmentation isn't fab, although foiling the shadows makes a huge difference. The colours create a perfect cool toned smokey eye without being garish. I think this palette would work for many different ages teens up to ageing eyes., as the is minimal and basically unnoticeable shimmer. I wouldn't go any buy this palette for myself, but I can see myself hitting pan on it.

 I picked up these two nail polishes which I am in love with! There not much to say, they are comparable to O.P.I and apply like a dream. They don't dry too quickly which is a pain but the colours are beautiful and once dry they do not chip for days. You get 14.7ml which is a fairly large amount, the colours are also true to what you see in the bottle. Would definitely purchase more.

I have also had a couple of changes to  my preferred hair styles, and they way I care for it; which will be mentioned it a post soon (the exciting bit is that I'm now a hair model)

Anyway, I have enjoyed wearing my hair up in clips which is a lot better for it's health.

Hair spirals have also gained a place in my heart, they are perfect for when you're doing a top knot or messy bun, you just twist one in and you're good to go.

To close this post off I want to mention Lily-Flame candles. They were also a gift, and I'm obsessed. there's not one that you wouldn't want to burn, they also burn for hourssssss. Defo recommend.

That's it for today, apologies for the lengthiness of this post.

xxx