High end beauty: Hourglass Lipsticks

Let me just start of by saying, I love a bargain. When you find something cheap that you love - it's great, however when you find something you would have happily paid full price for but it's significantly discounted, that makes my day. Especially if it's lipstick(s).

Secondly, as a makeup lover I find it hard to save money. There is always something popping up that I wanted to buy. So with my holiday coming up (Dubai, hello Sephora!) I thought about going on a spending ban. Then lent came, and I thought, perfect I'll give up buying makeup for lent. Guess how long I lasted? 

3 weeks.

It's all because of these two beauties. 

Off I popped into TKMaxx one day after work, rummaging around the shelves spotting some excellent brands: Nars, Stila, TheBalm, Hourglass. Wait, Hourglass?! 

Hourglass is a brand I adore. With such a high end, cult beauty status I never expected to find it in TKMaxx. I have two of their powder palettes and some blushes, already but I've always wanted to try one of their Opaque Rouge lipsticks. However at £24 for such a diddy size, I've always been tempted but held off. So when I spotted one in Riviera, a beautiful orange red I grabbed it straight away for £14. Still quite expensive but after trying it out, the colour payoff is amazing and it lasts for hours, so it is definitely worth it.

Then I spotted some other Hourglass packaging and found this beautiful Femme Nude Stylo lipstick in Nude No5. I absolutely love the packaging for this, it's so luxurious and stunning. The colour is a perfect beige nude with a slightly glossy finish, the only issue with this lipstick is the scent. It smells like the cheap toy makeup I used to play with as a kid, but I'm sure I'll get used to it!

Left: Opaque Rouge in Riviera, Right: Femme Nude Stylo in No5 Nude

So there we have it. Two new beautiful lipsticks to the collection. 

Now this time, no more spending!

Libi xx

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Best of Beauty 2015

Happy New Year everyone! I cannot believe we are in 2016. I hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Years (and general festive period). Also hoping I'm not the only one dreading going back to work, after what seems like a lifetime off! It's given me chance to chill and spend time with loved ones, but also do what I love best.. shopping, oh and eating.

I absolutely love reading these kind of posts because unlike a monthly favourites they tend to be products that people have loved for the whole year and dare I say it "holy grail" products. The ones I have here are my complete staples. So before I ramble too much here are some of my most loved products from 2015.

Best Primer
Primer isn't really a category I am particularly bothered about most of the time. I've tried a few but they all seem to dry my skin out without any real benefit. This all changed when I purchased the Seventeen Skin Wow Primer. Although I don't think it makes my makeup last much longer, it gives such a beautiful illuminating finish under foundation that I can't go without. I don't use it on an everyday basis, but just when I feel I need a bit more radiance. As for eye primers, Urban Decay's Primer Potion is the only one I've ever tried but it does the job brilliantly so I will continue to use and repurchase.

Best Foundation
You may not be surprised by this, given I did a whole post about it earlier in the year, but my top foundation has to be Nars Sheer Glow. I thought I had found a new favourite in the MUFE HD foundation, however I always come back to sheer glow. Another favourite for lighter makeup days is the Dr Jart+ Regenerating BB Cream. I never thought I'd be able to get on with a 'one colour suits all' type of product, but blended in this seems to match my quite light skin tone perfectly. It is also so hydrating and contains SPF so a great one for when you may not want to go bare faced on holiday.

Best Concealer
Both of these are products I have discovered in 2015 and absolutely love. For blemishes and general covering around the face it goes to Clarins Instant Concealer. Hydrating and the perfect colour for my skin tone, this covers without being too thick and the hefty tube will probably last me a lifetime. For highlighting under the eyes, I love Urban Decays Naked Skin, it's so brightening and I think I may have to get another shade for bad skin days as the coverage is just amazing.

Best Beauty Tool
Without a doubt it's got to be the Beauty Blender. Since buying this in America in April, I've probably used it every day, with the exception of using my hands a couple of times! It works with everything from BB creams to Concealer to Foundation. I've even heard of using it for powder, although I am yet to try that out. Definitely worth the price tag and worth the hype. P.s. Please excuse my dirty one, I need a new one.

Best Highlight
Like primer, highlight is one category where I have never felt the need to have a collection of different products. For the last 4 years I stuck with MAC's Soft & Gentle and used it till it's very last bit. Then came the release of Champagne Pop and I see a similar pattern occurring. It suits pale skin, it's beautiful, go buy it!

Best Bronzer + Contour
I've put these into the same category as they are very similar powders and come in one palette. They are Fawn and Java from the Anastasia Beverley Hills contour palette in light. I use Fawn to contour, it has such a grey undertone so it mimics a shadow underneath the cheekbone perfectly without looking muddy, and Java is just great to warm up the face. I like that I can keep them both together too.

Best Blusher
This was a late 2015 discovery. I've always stuck to MAC blushers as they've never done me wrong. However after watching so many of I Covet Thee and Hello October's Youtube videos, I knew I had to try out one of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushers. After owning some of the brand's powders and getting on with them so well I thought I'd give them a go. It was love! I've since bought the Ambient Lighting Edit so I could try a couple more colours.

Best Fragrance
Jo Malone's Nectarine Blossom & Honey. Beautiful scent, so classic and simple. The first 'Grown Up' type scent I've had for a while.

Best Single Eyeshadow
Possible my most worn eyeshadow of the year is Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in On and on bronze. Quick and simple, easy to blend too. Great for when you want to look like you've made a bit of effort when you actually haven't.

Best Eyeshadow Palette
I think this was my first beauty purchase of 2015 in Singapore on Jan 1st. It is the Marc Jacobs Lolita eyeshadow palette. A palette of beautiful nude shades in a variety of finishes that can be used on their own, or combined to make daytime and evening looks.

Best Eyeliner
This is a non mover from the last couple of years. An oldy but a goody in my opinion. Soap & Glory's Supercat liquid liner. I wear liquid eyeliner every day so I have been through so many of these over the years.

Best Mascara
Mascara for me is where I've always liked to branch out with different brands. I don't think I've ever bought the same mascara twice. Meaning I've probably tried most of the drugstore ones available. One of my faves, recommended by my Mum is Clinique's High Impact Mascara. She always has sample sizes of these hanging around as they are great for travelling and I've managed to go through quite a few (still never bought the full size though!). It is defining and lengthening, it doesn't smudge and is easy to remove so a winner in my books. Another contender to best mascara, as I couldn't choose just one, is Urban Decay's Perversion Mascara. Another sample size I received in the post! This is another great one with similar qualities to Clinique's offering. Although it may just give slightly blacker and more voluminous lashes.

Best Brow Product
Up until this year, I had used the same brow product daily and always had been complimented on my eyebrows. Then when in America this year I had to pick up Anastasia's Dipbrow Pomade, as everyone and their uncle were raving about it. It is definitely confusing to use at first, but once I got my technique down my eyebrows don't take that long to fill in in a morning. And they definitely look more natural. I probably haven't even used 1/3 of it in nearly a year.

Best Lipstick
My favourite budget lipsticks of the year are Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets,.I keep collecting them and I now have four. They go on very precisely and last for a long time. The variety of colours is great, all the shades are lovely and they're only £8.99! On the higher end side of things, MAC wins and always has for me. I'm constantly building my collection and then Back-to-MAC-ing and coming back with even more new shades. They smell great and there are so many finishes and colours. My favourite colours of the year have to be Velvet Teddy and Mehr. Both are 2015 purchases.

Best Lipliner
Mac again. Suprise, suprise. This is the first year I've ever tried and got into using lip liners and they definitely prolong the lasting power of your lipstick and help give a bold lip that extra wow factor. The colours pictured are Ablaze, Spice and Soar.

New Things: October

So there's many advantages and disadvantages to working full time. But one advantage is spending more money on makeup. I mean, I don't need any more lipsticks, but do I buy them, of course I do. Most of my purchases are usually influenced by bloggers or youtubers and they go onto my little wish list for a while until eventually I give in and they come home with me!

First up is a lipstick (of course!) this is Mac All Fired Up from the Retro Matte range. This is a colour that I've wanted for about 2 years and always pick up and swatch in store. I've held off by thinking I didn't really need it, however when I got chance at a Back to Mac freebie it went straight in my basket. It's a beautiful combination of a bright pink and red, a good bold lip.

Also from Mac, a new brush for my collection. This is the Mac 266 Small Angle Brush. As you may have seen from my New York haul in March. All I've been using for my brows is the Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade and I've been using the same old thick cheap brush since I first started filling in my brows, so this was a sneeky little treat for myself. It has definitely improved the precision in which I apply product so hopefully no scouse brows in sight!

I've never seen so much hype about a concealer like I have for Urban Decay's Naked Skin. I've never really been fussy with my concealers as long as they cover. However, recently I've needed something to help brighten my under eyes. Due to my (desceivingly) pale skin tone, I've never really found anything to do this and help highlight my face. But this has completely done the trick, so much so I'm considering buying it in a slightly darker colour for the rest of my face.

Finally some cheeky Space Nk purchases. I'm not afraid to say going into store intimidates me slightly. The staff to customer ratio is a bit off and I always feel a little judged. So I tend to have an idea of what I want before I go in.

One of which was Emma Hardie's Amazing Face cleanser. I was stuck over this or the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel, but in the end this reigned triumphant for the fact it seemed to have a much creamier consistency for dry skin. This has been in my possession for just over a week and it is most definitely love. This has completely changed my skin for the better, it is no longer as dry and using it as a second cleanse has meant that my skin is much clearer!

The other purchase: one of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes in Dim Infusion. This is a beauty, cue the love heart eyes emoji! The colour is a beautiful coral with a lovely glow to it and no sparkle in sight. Due to it being a combination of a blush with one of the Ambient Lighting powders, it's ridiculously blendable and I love it that much that I may have made a cheeky order for the new Ambient Lighting Edit palette so I can try two more colours and one of the bronzers. What can I say Hourglass have just sucked me in.

Well then, I'm now a bit skint. At least I have lots of pretty things! Until next time..

Libi xx

A New York Sephora and Walgreens Haul

It's been a solid 2 months since I came back from The States. You get back from a holiday and quickly settle back into old routines as though you had never been away. I came back to university and got distracted, only to realise now during my exams I never posted a good old beauty haul.

Now there had been quite a list of things I wanted to purchase whilst in America and I knew the drugstores and Sephora would be my first port of call. After a few days of sightseeing and an evening in the big apple free, we decided some shopping was in order.

In Sephora I knew I had to head straight for the Anastasia Beverley Hills counter. Although many online stores in the UK do now stock the brand, it is still much cheaper in the US and I also had chance to see the shades in person. 

After hearing a lot about the Dipbrow Pomade I picked up the shade Chocolate which matches me exactly. I love the texture of this product and after using a powder for so long it's definitely different. Another thing from the brand I wanted was the Contour Kit in Light/Medium. This constantly sells out online and I picked it up for $40 as opposed to £40!

Other great finds include the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette which was also a bargain, a Beauty Blender and sat just next to the tills as though to entice me, a double ended mini BITE Beauty lipstick. These are so creamy and pigmented.

After leaving Sephora happy with my new buys, I headed to Walgreens picking up two Wet n Wild lipsticks for a combined price of $3 (around £1.90). These are so great for the money and I definitely wish I had picked up a couple more. I also bought an Essie nail polish in There's No Place Like Chrome, a colour I had never seen in the UK and the Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso which is not pictured.

Lastly I headed to MAC to see if I could pick up Velvet Teddy lipstick which is never in stock on the MAC website or at my local counter. To my surprise they had lots of them and after realising how much cheaper everything was compared to home I picked up a 15 pan palette and two shades to accompany it - All That Glitters and Amber Lights.

That just about rounds of all of my beauty buys from NYC. I'm still upset I couldn't get my hands on the Lorac Pro Palette whilst I was there, but there is always a next time. I'm sure I'll be back soon!

Libi
xx