Selfridges Haul - Urban Decay, Charlotte Tilbury, Mac, Xenca & Weleda

Hi Dolls

I’ve been dying to post about the goodies I picked up in Birmingham at the weekend. I went to the Mids Blog Meet, which was the second blogger meet-up I’ve been along to. It was a brilliant day filled with beauty, wellness, laughs and pancakes! You can read my post about the day here.

Of course, it would have been very rude not to take advantage of Birmingham’s shopping situation, and myself, Kerry, Laura, Naomi and Caroline led the charge to Selfridges to see what was on offer.We were also treated to some samples from Weleda and Xenca, which is a new brand I discovered on the day.

There’s nothing quite as dazzling as the beauty hall at Selfridges in London, and the one in Birmingham has to be a very close second. 

To a beauty blogger, its literally kid in a candy store time. It had some brands that I can’t access in my home city that I was excited to try. I don’t mind buying online, but I won’t buy premium cosmetics for the first time from a website, just because you can never be sure of shades and obviously you can’t return cosmetics. So there were a couple of things I was keen to try out. 

Using the excuse of it being my birthday the next day, I treated myself to some beauty booty. Here’s what I came home with:

 

Weleda is a heavyweight brand in the world of natural, organic skincare and takes a holistic 'mind, body and spirit' approach to its products - indeed, a lot of them are licensed as medicines, meaning the ingredients are of premium quality. Beloved by star names including Victoria Beckham and Jessica Alba, who have both come out in support of the brand, you're getting a top-notch product that will really perform.

I haven't really explored Weleda before, so it was great to have a talk and demo from the lovely Jo at the Mids Blog Meet and get to know a bit more about their approach. We very kindly got a goodie bag from the meet, and it had these in.

The Calendula Lotion is great for sensitive skin. The range was designed for babies so its ultra soft and gentle, but of course us adults can get in on the act as well! I'm looking forward to trying the nourishing benefits of this.

The Pomegranate Firming Day Cream is something I'm really excited about. Its designed for mature skin, but as I'm definitely starting to get lines etc, I would go for it anyway. The cream claims that it:

•  Reduces the appearance of wrinkles
•  Helps tauten the skin
•  Reactivates skin regeneration

Dermatological tests have shown that after 28 days of use depth of wrinkles reduced by 14% and skin elasticity improved by 11% -  definitely worth a try then!

 

We were also introduced to a brand called Xenca, they're a new British company that makes a wide range of beauty and wellness products, including a range of collagen powders and pills that I got tempted by!

They also have a make-up range, called Perfection. The products are all made of natural, organic ingredients and they come in really nice recycled cardboard packaging, which is a bit of a change from all the cheap plastic we usually find. We were allowed to choose a product to take home, and I opted for this lipstick in a shade called 'Candy', which is a light, pastel pink and very flattering on.

 

The formulation is fairly smooth and glides on easily, the staying power of this is also really good. I love the unusual retro colour! The company doesn't test anything on animals either, which is a huge plus point.

 

I also purchased some of their Revitalise Collagen Capsules -  now this is a product I was seriously intruiged by.

Like most girls, I'm happy to spend a small fortune on serums, gels and creams designed to stop the passage of time, but I never think much about what goes inside my body. Could it be that its better to spend your pennies on supplements than skin creams? How much actually gets into your body when you put it on your face? Does beauty really start from the inside?

Collagen is key for our hair, nails, skin - as well as a bunch of health benefits such as joint mobility and connective tissue.From early adulthood, the body actually stops producing as much collagen and we go into a net loss, so I'm hoping taking these supplements will balance that out and help my skin, hair and nails all look better.

You can buy Xenca's collagen in capsule format or as a powder that you mix into water (we tried some of that and honestly, it doesn't taste bad, or of much at all!). Its made with types I and II collagen (in the form of collagen hydrolysate - which means the body actually absorbs it properly).

I can't wait to report back on how my first foray into beauty supplements goes!

And then we hit Selfridges:

Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup
£34.00

When this first launched, I looked at a few review posts and considered it, but never went any further with it. I ended up buying the Naked Skin BB Cream instead and layering it under my Bare Minerals.

But my interest was sparked again recently when Kim Kardashian’s make-up artist release a list of the products she used for her wedding make-up. Surprisingly, there were no $500 products made from crushed unicorn horns, gold leaf and the souls of rare white Himalayan tigers. All of the products on the list were affordable and it was filled with L’Oreal and Urban Decay. Quelle surprise!

 This was what he used on her skin, which really brought it on my radar again. I’m not too keen on Kim as a person but the girl does have her make-up game on absolute lockdown, and from what a narcissistic perfectionist she seems to be, I was confident that any product used on her wedding day would have to be pretty amazing.

I used up my Bare Minerals the other day and decided that it was time for a change, so I’d almost decided before I got there that I was going to treat myself to this if I passed a UD counter. I might be a little bit obsessed with them.

The shade range is glorious and fairly extensive, so I swatched quite a few before settling on 3.5. I love, love, love the packaging. Firstly, it gets massive points for being in a pump. Second, the sleek chrome trimming on the bottle has that premium but funky feel that UD have absolutely nailed.

It calls itself a ‘weightless Ultra Definition liquid make-up’ and promises to ‘blur imperfecions’ (I have plenty of those to blur) that delivers a ‘professionally retouched’ finish. Photoshop for my face? Don’t mind if I do! It’s oil and paraben free as well, so much kinder to skin. And there’s a boatload of skin goodies too, like wrinkle busting peptides, antioxidant green tea and hydration technology.

From the reviews I’ve seen most people are pretty pleased with this product. I did like the Naked Skin BB Cream but the coverage was just a bit too sheer for me, so this could be that next step up. I haven’t worn this properly yet, so I’ll report back on how I get on with it in a full review.

Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Colour Morphing Eyeshadow Pencil -  Dark Pearl
£19.00

 

When I saw the Charlotte Tilbury counter in Selfridges, I was practically hyperventilating. I’m one of her biggest fans -  in my opinion she’s the best make-up artist in the UK right now and she seems to make everyone look amazing. Plus she’d be great to have a glass of vino with- that gravely laugh of hers. You know she’d have some good stories to tell! I’m obsessed with her YouTube videos and I have them all downloaded onto my iPhone so that I can follow one of her tutorials at any time. She is the undisputed master of the feline eye, and if there’s one thing I love, it’s a feline eye!

So, yeah, I was kind of excited. I’ve drooled over her make-up collection before but never tried any of it, so now was my chance. I went crazy swatching and sampling. I would have loved a proper make-over on the counter so perhaps I’ll have to book in for one next time. There was so much I wanted to buy, so I think it was very restrained of me to only come away with one item. And that item was the Colour Chameleon Eyeshadow Pencil.

I really liked the idea behind this. There is a range of shades and each are marked for what eye colour they’re designed to complement. The product claims to ‘bring out your natural gemstone sparkle’ and is ‘infused with synthetic sapphire’. The principle is that using clever lighting tricks and contrasting colours, you can enhance your shade and make your eye colour pop.

 

There are two shades for each eye colour – one for day and one for night - and I chose ‘Dark Pearl’ for brown eyes. It’s a gorgeous metallic taupe brownish purple and a very unique colour. With some of the other shades I felt that you’d more easily find a dupe, but this shade is very pretty and unusual. It’s supposed to be the daytime one but honestly, I think its one of those nice colours that’s fairly neutral but also dark enough to use at night as well. The colour really sold this to me.

I put some on in the store under my eyes and it looked gorgeous. You know I’m fairly obsessed with anything in a crayon form as well, so this wins extra points for the sheer ease of use. Its super pigmented, just as you’d expect, and you get a small window of ‘play time’ before it sets into a budgeproof formula. The packaging is in the signature CT burgundy and rose gold which is pretty nice – although a little plasticky for something at the higher end of the eye pencil cost spectrum!

This seems like a wonderful product and I’m really looking forward to creating some eye looks with it. The colour is just beyond perfect.

Mac PatentPolish Lip Pencil – Innocent
£14.50

 

And speaking of things in a crayon format, I was also on the hunt for another nude lip product. I really liked the Charlotte Tilbury lipgloss in ‘Bardot Beige’ but I couldn’t justify it. So it was back to the old favourite, Mac. I noticed these launch a while back but I hadn’t really been drawn to them, mainly because it felt like they weren’t doing anything new – I mean, talk about being late on the bandwagon with the whole gloss pencil thing. But the usual Mac lipsticks weren’t impressing me with the nude offering - they were all too pale, or too peach.

The perfect nude lip is something I’m always searching for. I found a pretty good one in the Nars Satin Lip Pencil in ‘Biscayne Park’ but not nudes are created equal and I also wanted something with less brown tones that would be a bit paler. I thought I’d tried all the nudes and not found anything when I literally happened to swatch this on my way out the door, expecting it to be too pale, and fell in love.

This product combines the glossiness and easy application of a gloss with the pigmentation of a lipstick and the finish is so gorgeous -  shiny and light, not sticky. I think its down to the shade and the shine but it also made my lips look fuller. There’s a twist-up applicator, so no messy and wasteful sharpening either (the OCD in me hates the look of stumpy pencils on their last legs!). I was also pleasantly surprised that this is long lasting as well, and certainly went a good few hours on my first swipe.

Innocent is a pale pinkish peach and I thought when I picked it up it would be too pale, but I think it looks beautiful on. I’ve read other reviews saying this shade is ‘barely there’ but I thought it showed up very well on my lips and I was pleased with the finish.

After the other girls had left, I realised that I had a good hour or so to kill before my train home, so I ended up doing a quick tour of the high street favourites as well. But I'll be saving that for another post!

Have you tried any of the products above? Let me know what you thought if so!