Recent Beauty Buys

An annual sale at our local department store means I get to go and buy a few new bits and pieces for my make-up collection.  This time I bought an eyeshadow trio, a blending sponge, and a new mascara.  The eyeshadow I bought was by Isadora, a brand I don't own much make-up from but I passed up the chance to buy a palette from them last time there was a sale and regretted it.  I spotted a few different selection of eye shadow shades and picked the cool toned browns one because I knew I'd get the most use out of it.
The shades aren't quite as pigmented as I thought they would be but they do have a lovely shimmer to them.  I prefer to use the middle one as an all over shadow by itself for some natural looking day time definition.  The darkest shade is probably the prettiest and I've used it as an eyeliner so far but would consider wearing it on a night out all over the lid.  The lightest shade is a nice, cool toned, silvery highlight which I would wear on the inner corners of my eyes.  The formula of these shadows isn't my favourite but the shades are wearable so I will get some use out of it.
The blending sponge I bought to try out because of the hype.  I didn't want to fork out for the beauty blender and this one looked so similar but was so cheap I thought I'd test it out.  I haven't tried the beauty blender so I can't compare but I've used this a few times and I'm pretty pleased.  It works well when you dab it on the skin blending in concealer to your foundation.  I wouldn't drag it across the skin as it's quite a hard sponge.  I will be using this when I apply my stage make-up as I don't tend to wear full base make-up everyday.

The best thing I bought in the sale was the Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara.  I had been using the Max Factor 2000 Calorie mascara and really liking it but it was going to dry out soon so I thought I would buy this to test out next.  Of course I couldn't wait until I had finished my old one to open it and give it a go and once I had tried I wouldn't use any of my others.  The Max Factor one was really good but I think it must have already been starting to dry out already because the Maybelline one blew it out of the water in comparison.  The formula is quite wet which I like because I can get a lot of product on to my lashes.   The brush is also really good because of the different length bristles on it.  It's a plastic bristled wand which I normally am not a fan of but I find I can achieve different results with this one depending on which part of the wand I use.  The longer bristles are good for lengthening and separating and the shorter ones are good for achieving a thick coat of black.  I tend to use a combination of both ends to achieve thick lashes with length towards to outside edges.  It's a really good mascara which might take a bit of practise because you get so much product on the brush it can clump some lashes together so I find brushing strokes one way and then the other helps to keep them separated.  Even without using eyelash curlers I can get a really good curl out of this mascara which is useful seeing as I lost my eyelash curlers this summer!  Over all I would really recommend this mascara.

Recent empties

Hi there!  It's been a few days hasn't it.  Winter time is the busiest time for the theatre so it's been go go go at work.  I've been pretty exhausted by it.  Yesterday our show of the Nutcracker was cancelled which meant I had nothing but ballet class in the morning but I spent most of the rest of the day asleep in bed or curled up on the sofa.  I've been so tired and I rarely nap so I must have needed the sleep!  I'm feeling much better today which is lucky as we have another show this evening.  I think it's because I had a good rest yesterday that I've finally found the energy to come and write on my blog!  I thought I would do a little post on the products I have finished most recently.  My husband will be glad I can finally throw away the empty pots!

Lumene Vitamin C Night Cream - I bought this a while back in the sale and I really really liked it.  I have dry skin, particularly during the harsh winter and this was really thick but still absorbed  very well in to the skin.  I like the idea of the vitamin C as well as any extra radiance is welcome in the winter.  When I bought this it was just before they reformulated the packaging.  It has a pleasant fruity scent.  I didn't buy another pot for ages even though I liked it because it was quite expensive (for me).  I found it this weekend in another sale so I grabbed another pot.  I've only used it once but the cream seemed lighter than before so maybe they reformulated to product too, although it still seemed really good.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Nivea Pure and Natural Night Cream - I bought this because it was a good price and because of the natural ingredients.  It seemed like a good moisturiser, though it doesn't do anything special.  It was quite thick and even a little too heavy for me in the summer.  It didn't make my sensitive skin sting which is good but other than that it just does what it says on the tin-moisturises.  However once I had purchased and tried the Lumene night cream this cream was relegated to the back of the shelf.  When I tried to use it again after a while it had basically turned into wax, which didn't surprise me because the cream really was quite waxy.

The Body Shop Blueberry Body Butter- Love this, great light fruity smell, sinks in to the skin really well and is cooling and soothing.  I use this to calm the eczema on my arms.  I just wish it was a bit cheaper, I buy this when it's on offer!

Body Shop Chocomania Beautifying Oil - Super yummy sweet scent.  More praline-y than chocolate-y scent but yummy all the same.  I really like this smooth oil.  The lemon one was my favourite but since they discontinued it this seemed a good alternative.  I would buy this again and use it in winter as it's too sweet for summer!

Alba Botanica Hawaiian Body Cream with Kukui Nut - Very strongly scented.  Sweet smell, reminiscent of caramel.  This was too strongly scented to use on sensitive areas of my skin but worked fine everywhere else such as on my legs for example.  The scent would really linger and the cream was very rich and moisturising.