June Haul: Beauty and Fashion

 

Hello my lovelies!

For once I've calmed down on the clothes shopping a bit! With my birthday at the start of the month (plus the Selfridges beauty haul I treated myself to) I felt spoilt enough for once. But I’ve still picked up a few bits and pieces over the course of the month, so I thought I’d do a little posting about them.

Oxblood cut-out ankle boots
 

prettylittlething.com, £34.99

 

The trend for ‘ugly’ shoes is well and truly established now, and although its not my usual style, something about this pair appealed to me. Perhaps I was just in a stompy mood! I originally planned to wear these with my festival outfit, but the rainclouds meant I opted for wellies instead. I loved the oxblood colour because it was so unusual, a change from all the black ankle boots I own. I also liked the cut-out details and the tassel at the sides. These would be perfect for de-prettying a floaty summer frock or making a bandage skirt more tomboy-ish. 

Makeup Revolution Eyes and Brows palette 

makeuprevolutionstore.com, £4.00

 

I couldn’t resist another purchase from Makeup Revolution, who are turning out to be one of my favourite brands lately. I was really impressed with the Iconic 3 palette I got from them recently (which is a dupe for the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette), so when I spotted this little beauty I had to try it. The shades are a lovely mix of neutrals and gold shades with a useful black and a  beautiful blue as well and I knew I’d get a lot of wear from it. There are also two matte brow powders -  the light one is too light for my brows but could serve as a contouring shade. The palette is really neat and slimline, so it will be perfect for taking away with me on summer hols!

Leopard print suede flats 

£6.00, Primark

 

A cheeky little Primark purchase snuck in! I went there on the hunt for a black slip to wear under some sheerer dresses and I couldn’t resist checking out the footwear while I was in. I’m going through a total flats phase at the moment, I really can’t be bothered with heels and sore feet lately. I tend to run my flats into the ground, so I decided to go through my wardrobe and get rid of the most battered, worse offenders. One of the victims were my beloved leopard pointed flats with the clear side panels - I’d literally worn them to shreds! So I was on the lookout for a replacement pair and these were perfect. They’re still ponted and leopard, but they have a cute little strap that goes across the foot and elevates the design. These are the perfect mix of dressy and casual and have been getting lots of wear, both at work and off-duty. 

NYX Matte Lipstick in 'Hippie Chic'

£6.00, Next

 

I picked up a couple of NYX items, because I realised that you can now get them in Next – no more shipping charges! There’s a couple of things I’d been after for a while, so I got this lipstick – its one of those I’ve been looking at for ages, because I just loved the colour, which is like a neon salmon pink, so 70’s, hence the name!

 

This is very matte, chalky and drying so I wouldn’t wear it without slapping on a boatload of lipbalm first. But it was still a good buy because the colour is so unique. 

NYX The Wonder Pencil

£4.50, Next

 

This was the other item I’d been after – as an obsessive user of Benefit’s High Brow pencil (now discontinued, although I’m still on backups), I wanted to know if this would do the same job for less. The idea behind it is that it’s a light flesh coloured, matte pencil that you can use for a host of things – highlighting your brows, contouring, concealing, as a primer for light eyeshadows,making your pout look fuller or your eyes more wide awake. You name it!

 

This does all that really well and is pretty indispensable - additionally, as the nib is a lot finer than the Benefit pencil, you have a lot more delicacy and control of application. A good buy!  

Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner Pen

£6.30, boots.com

 

Liquid liner is one of those things I can’t be without, so when my usual choice from Eyeko ran out, instead of having to order one item online, I went to see what Boots could offer. I like felt-tip style liners, because they’re harder to mess up but some of them have serious staying power issues. This Maybelline one did not impress me much -  I went for a dark brown shade and although the swatch looked nice on my hand, for some reason this isn’t great at leaving its mark on my lids. There’s not much durability either and I wasn’t pleased with the overall effect. A bid of a dud really – and one that’s taken an instant backseat in  my collection. How you could mess up something as simple as this I don’t know.

 Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser

£7.99, boots.com

 

I was also tempted to pick up some of their infamous primer, many have likened it to Benefit’s The Porefessional, which I love. I have to say though, although I don’t hate this, its not as good as I hoped. What it is good at is smoothing out my fine lines and making my skin look fresh, but as for making my warpaint stay on longer, I don’t think it does much. 

The main thing I want from a primer is to give my base longevity, but the effect of this seems to be neither here nor there. Its certainly nowhere near as good as the Benefit stuff, and even in the same price range, I was far more impressed with the Elf Mineral Primer, which maes base much more durable.

Where this has come in handy is as an ‘optical blurrer’ in the manner of Nanoblur or the ones L’Oreal and Garnier have launched. As the tube is quite small, I’ve popped it in my make-up bag and I find it works best for me on top my base -  so this redeems it a little.

L'Oreal Infallible Lip Liner

£4.30, feelunique.com

 

I was tempted by this nude lipliner as it just seemed such a nice, neutral shade and a useful bit of kit. It is very faint on, so I have to pile it on to get a decent outline, so perhaps it wasn’t the right choice for me! I like the packaging and the fact that it doesn’t need sharpening, but overall I don’t think I got the shade right – its just too nude for me and takes far too long to show up. Perhaps due to that, I also don’t notice it being especially long-lasting as its from their ‘Infallible’ range.  Another bit of a fail!

Bronze Pyramid Necklace

£6.99, H&M

 

On my recent trip to Birmingham, I found myself killing some time waiting for my train and I was drawn into a couple of the shops on the high street.  I was conscious that I had to carry back whatever I bought, so I didn’t go mad, but this necklace was too pretty to leave. Its quite a simple design - a row of bronze triangular pyramids on a heavy silver snake chain. I liked the mix of metals and the slight rock edge to this, it will go with a lot as well. I included the necklace as part of my festival outfit recently as well.

Nails Inc Feather Collection

£12.99, TK Maxx

 

We went off to IKEA for the day recently to get some stuff for the house, and on the same retail park they have a TK Maxx. Because I can never resist a bargain we popped in to look at the homeware bits, but of course I was drawn to the beauty shelves. 

When I saw these, I think I might have let out a squeal of excitement!  I coveted these awfully when they came out but I never got it together to buy them - not sure why, because they’re beautiful. I have a thing about Nails Inc polishes and I collect them.

 
 

 TK Maxx had so many reduced Nails Inc sets, I could have gone crazy in there – I had to be really strict with myself to only take one lot to the tills! And it had to be these. There are three of the four Feather polishes in the set, and it was only £12.99, so a real bargain. I love textured polishes like these because I’m really lazy with nail art and I just like to paint something on in one go!

The shades are ‘York’, which is cobalt blue and white, ‘Chester’ which is yellow, turquoise and peach and ‘Edinburgh’ which is coral and cornflower. Also in the range, but not included here are ‘Cornwall’, which is coral and white, and ‘Brighton’ which is teal and yellow. One coat gives a pretty spinkles effect, but build it up and you get a dense, textured finish. 

Kings and Queens Shimmering Body Milk - Nefertiti Honey

£6.00, TK Maxx

 

This was another TX Maxx find that intrigued me because it sounded so delicious. I haven’t come across Kings and Queens before, and I must admit it was the lovely packaging that drew me in at first.  All of the products are designed around ancient beauty rituals used by kings and queens of old – hence the name – which is a lovely inspiration for a line. Then when I saw it was honey-scented I was sold because its my favourite scent, and this is gorgeous. Its based on a core mix of pomegranate, blue lotus and malachite extracts -  fancy! I really do feel like a queen using this, it leaves skin very soft and with a subtle golden shimmer that’s super flattering. I’m keen to discover more from the range.

Invisibobble Traceless Hair Rings

£3.79, boots.com

 

This little thing is the Invisibobble and its from the same company that brought you the Tangle Teezer. Now, the TT is one of my holy grail products and I won’t use any other hairbrush. I don’t know what dark magic brought it into being, but I’m hooked. So of course any new launch was bound to be innovative. 

Invisibobbles look like a plastic wire from one of those old-school telephones. But what they promise to do is to hold your hair without leaving any indentations that result in those crazy kinks. I have long hair so I put it up at night into a topknot to stop it getting tangled and pulled, but this invariably means I have to re-straighten each morning. Would this bobble really stop that happening? 

Well, after a few nights use I can attest that these really do deliver. Its something to do with the pressure on the hair being more evenly distributed which can also help if you get tension headaches when you wear a ponytail. The hold these give is also really good so you don’t get a sagging tail! 

They’re pretty magic. I’m also using them when I curl my hair, so I can sweep it off my face and let it cool and set while I’m doing my make-up without kinking it up in the wrong places. These are awesome!

Soap and Glory Supercat Liquid Black Eyeliner Pen

£6.00, boots.com

 

This could well be a beauty blogger’s favourite, because when I was at the Birmingham meet, talk turned to what liner we loved. A chorus of ‘Supercat!’ went across the room and I must admit I was intrigued because I’d never heard of it. 

I’ve started to use a few Soap and Glory skincare items recently, but I had the bias in my head that they are a ‘skincare brand’ so their make-up would be rubbish. I’m not sure why I think like that – clearly one doesn’t preclude the other, but I feel as if brand extensions are too often an afterthought and not done to the same standard as the mainline. 

But when the Maybelline liner I purchased turned out to be pants, I thought I’d try this as it came so highly recommended. I wasn’t disappointed! This is easy to use, very pigmented and long lasted – plus what a great name. As my usual fave eyeliner is harder to get hold of, I can see this becoming my regular buy now. I eat my words!

Soap and Glory Sexy Motherpucker Candy Gloss

£9.00, boots.com

 

This is another recent purchase from the S&G beauty range, basically my obsession with Kim K’s beauty regime led me to seek out a nude lipgloss with a gold shimmer, and this little lovely came to mind. I’ve tried a Sexy Motherpucker lipgloss before and I liked it (especially the name) although I didn’t think its plumping effect was especially amazing. This one fares a little better, but I think that’s more down to the golden shimmer than the other ingredients. 

 

What I like about this gloss is that its heavy and smooth, it applies really well on top of other lip colours to give them some pizzazz. Even on its own, it just provides a nice hint of shimmer that’s very flattering.

And that was my little haul for June! What have you been buying lately?