Wednesday 25 September 2013

Mid September Haul

I'd been meaning to set in place a cleansing routine for myself, I kept pondering brands and vowing to sample a few but Lancô me had these great gifts when you bought products. So I figure, go for it, I've at least tried theirs before from my mother's cast off freebie gift sets of tissue off cleanser&toner. 

Express Cleanser £22.50, Toner £22 each & Gel Cleanser £22

To receive the two full size products also, a third purchase had to be made. So I purchased the (L-R above) Express cleanser, Toner & Gel wash off cleanser. Below is the full size scrub I received, the mini's set and a tissue off hydrating mask. I love discounts and freebies, so I have to say having seen things like the Caudalie alternatives since in the Bentalls Beuaty Hall (where I work) at a much better price point (£15ish) I know I was well and truly sucked in by the lure of freebies (apparently over £100 worth of gifts! I don't doubt it at their price per ml!)

Scrub, minis set & hydrating gel mask.

So it's great that I'm finally looking after my skin, but my main irritation with such a routine is that you seem to use a lot of product and yet it removes far less product than a swipe of a face wipe. I am finding  I'm using alot of cleanser&toner and cotton wool to get off all my make up and that more often than not I still have a little mascara showing itself after my shower the next morning. The above pictures were taken after I've had them for 4/5 days and I feel every time I use them it really shows in the bottle. So it it that great that on my student budget I am paying over £40 as opposed to a few quid on face wipes? I also usually stock up when wipes are on offer so I pay a pittance really. Anyway, I do hope that I can report back to you that my skin is better for it and that in 10 years time I'll be grateful I moved on to proper cleansing in my twenties. 
Please do share your cleansing routines and cleanser vs.wipes views, I love a good bit of beauty market research!

Onto my kit haul! I had a job to prep for and I debated the possibility of buying a pre-made neutrals palette but it's not that I don't have neutrals, it's just that I felt lacking in a range and some particular shades. So as much as the costs rack up, I went for a Mac Pro pallette and refills. 

(L-R) Retrospeck, Sumptuous Olive, Bronze,
All That Glitters, Woodwinked, Mythology, Cranberry,
Malt, Quarry, Charcoal Brown, Blackberry, Scene.
Pro Palette Large/Single & Insert £20.50 and Single pan shadows £10 each

I already owned the entire middle row and the 2nd in Olive colour, I had to dig them out of their existing single pan container by forcing the thing apart & holding a lighter to the base to warm and loosen the glue holding the pan in place. I had to use a blade to slip in and prod a lot and I did nick a couple of the shadows as you can probably see. The red shadow in 'Cranberry' actually came out unharmed and I then proceeded to drop it on hardwood flooring between placing it in the brand new pallette :( I'm clumsy, you can probably do better! Really pleased with my new colour choices, much used on set for that job & used them alot on myself since. Retrospeck was a pleasant surprise, using it loads!

Eyeshadow in Mekong £18.00 & Satin Matte Lip Pencil in Train Bleu £17.50


Against my planned make up haul list, I picked up some Nars goodies! This photo isn't going to give you a good idea of what I've picked up and I've not yet swatched it as I hadn't decided if I would keep them. But in typical Beth-style I've since swatched the lip pencil with a Longwear gloss over the top from Mac, and I'm in love with the combo. So instead of returning something, I have to buy something else to warrant keeping it, hmm! The eyeshadow in Mekong was a shadow alternative to a Mac shade I found not to be as pigmented, plus I've since compared swatches and think that Mekong as a copper sparkle suits me more than the Mac's purple sparkle. Now with these, I promise full swatches and so I'll post again after comparing shadows in photograph & after picking up the gloss. The lip pencil is beaut on it's own! I just crave a glossy dark lip... that seems to be more dangerous somehow.

 Urban Decay 'All Nighter ' fixing spray £19.50, 'Turn On' Lipstick £15 & Liner £14, Grindhouse Sharpener £7 and Deluxe Sample of the Eye Primer Potion

I picked these up in Debenhams the evening before a shoot, because if you read my last haul post you'll remember me picking up above lipstick and promising myself the lipliner... didn't take long did it! You'll notice that about me, I can't leave a good beauty buy alone long! Very happy with the difference, it takes the lipstick from a very pigmented satin finish to a creamy full pigment finish and slightly matte somehow. Now I forgot to pick up a sharpener in Boots minutes before, then she tells me theirs are £7, I guffaw... until she tells me 3 buys will get me the Eye Primer Potion sample, something I'd been checking for cheap samples of on eBay days before! SOLD. It's that easy with me :s
The fixing spray, I'd seen a recommendation that day of an MUA using it on an underwater shoot and the make up not budging! Hell if water doesn't budge it, I want it in my kit! Been using on myself as well as on set and not convinced it does quite that much.. I hope to tell you very soon that it kept my make up perfect through thick & thin. A big night out in Cardiff next week should answer that! PHOTOS, I promise! I think I photograph enough for my blog posts then realise I've not got comparison pictures etc. I'll be a better beauty blogger I swear!



I bought these a couple of weeks ago but have neglected to show them off for you. Just a snap to show you what I picked up in a Beauty Wholesalers, so no prices as these were trade prices. Bed Head Shampoo & Conditioner picked up against the advice of my friends & those who worked there... they don't rate them but I needed to feel reassured by a description of anti colour fade and specifically for redheads, which this does. It smells like toffee and it tells me the right things so I am happy. The hairspray has been great, not too heavy and brushes out; perfect for me and on set. Ditto the shinespray, I'm a shine whore when it comes to my hair. It's either textured and wavy and thus shine is less important or it's loaded with shine products. Great, not dissimilar to what I had on the go, a Lee Stafford can; also used on set and very content with. One for me... one for my kit, just how I like it! You'll notice I use alot of kit for myself... I am a full time student so I'm not working enough to warrant an entirely separated kit and personal collection. I try to keep the bulk of kit in my kit trolley and my personal stuff out but there is crossover. 

Bubblegum Lip Scrub £5.50

This is one of those things I wished I'd considered in my kits before I did all those graduate look books. Just a learning curb, I didn't think about lip prep but it is essential. Nobody likes a flaky lip honey! It smells great, you can eat it straight off and it tastes good and it's all natural. Models will love putting it on, I know mine did the other day :)

No comments:

Post a Comment