December Beauty Haul

Hey lovelies

Most of the stuff I've bought lately is quite dull and house related (co-axial cable kit, anyone? Caulking gun? Plate rack?). 

But, I did do my first Boots run in a while to cash in my loyalty points for some Christmas stocking fillers, and bought a few things for myself too – hey, the points collecting has to re-start somewhere! 

It was one of those months where everything seems to run out at once, so I needed a couple of skincare items, and I decided to try out No7. 

I've had a few bits and pieces from them before but never tried their cleansers. Of course it was on three for two so I stocked up:

No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser

 

I'm a fan of two step cleansing, so I usually use one product to take my makeup off and then follow up with another to make sure I've removed any traces of grime from my skin. 

I'd ran clean out of any face wash products, and although I still adore my Soap and Glory Peaches & Clean, this time I branched out and picked up this instead.

It sounded intriguing because it's a gel that transforms into oil on the skin to lift away cosmetics and impurities.

It contains rose hip oil to moisturise as it cleans, hydrating any dry areas, which I have plenty of at this time of year.

So far, I’m undecided about this. It doesn’t foam up at all. While I know that's not necessary – and actually less drying for the skin - psychologically it almost feels like something is missing with no bubbles!

Even though it's supposed to be non-drying, I do feel like I need to apply cream after using this and it leaves my skin feeling tight. 

It's also very strongly scented and the fragrance I find quite old lady-ish. I'd prefer something fresher on the whole. 

But although my first impressions aren’t great, time will tell whether the formula really agrees with me.

No7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Oil

 

I've been wanting to try an oil based make-up remover for a while, so this product had caught my eye. 

It has Vitamin E and rosehip oil to condition the skin and I love using oils on my face, there's something very luxurious about it, especially in winter when my skin is all dried out. 

I've been using micellar water for ages now, so it seemed like time to shake it up a little on the cleansing front and try something new.

When I’ve been wearing a lot of heavy eye makeup (or have ran out of everything else), I have been known to use Johnson’s Baby Oil to take off my make-up and that always works really well. 

Some people say mineral oils are not good for the face though, so I wanted to try oil specifically designed for use as a facial cleanser.

This stuff works well and is effective at dissolving waterproof mascara, so I quite like it. You need to use quite a lot to get everything off though, and I actually think Baby Oil is slightly more effective, although this is probably gentler and doesn’t leave any residue behind, which is a plus. 

It’s a nice product as it moisturises your face at the same time as cleansing. A pretty decent find – I also like No7 packaging these days, its fairly classy and restrained. The pump top is very handy as well, I love things with that kind of dispenser.

No7 Pampering Dry Oil Body Spray

 

This was my third item! A bit unnecessary really because I have just ordered a couple of body oils from Avon but it was the only other thing I wanted at the moment. 

I'm really enjoying dry oil sprays right now because they're so quickly absorbed and easy to spritz on- perfect for those days and evenings at the moment where getting out of the shower is so freaking cold, you do not want to be hanging around in the bathroom at the moment waiting for cream to sink in!

This has Vitamin E and Almond Oil in which sounded lovely, and I liked the elegant packaing a lot. It's also fragranced with white florals and vanilla and I love that, you smell good all day instantly. 

Oil sprays are ideal for getting party ready skin as well, they give this sheen to your limbs that's very A list!

Eyelure Exaggerate 141 lashes

 

These were one of two purchases inspired by Claudia over at SunJunkieX. I met her at the Bloggers Secret Santa event last month and I totally loved her style. I wanted to copy her outfit and makeup straight away!

She had these amazing lashes that looked so long and fluttery but not too over the top, so I had to ask her what they were and she kindly pointed me to these.

I love Eyelure but I have to say these are definitely not a style I'd normally pick up from the shelf. But having seen how amazing they looked on Claudia, I'm going to give them a try! 

They look fairly similar to the Ardell Demi Wispies I bought recently, but possibly a bit denser. Can't wait to try them out.

Max Factor Colour Corrector Crayon - The Brightener

 

I've had my eye on these since they launched a while back, and with party season approaching I knew I had to get my hands on one.

These clever little crayons come in different shades, each designed to tackle a different complexion problem area through colour balancing. 

This one is The Brightener, and its yellow tones work to cancel out bluish purple shadows under the eyes. 

With all the recent stress, my dark circles are a real challenge at the moment so I need the help!

I also thought that this would be such a great product for some heavy duty, Kim K style contouring work. Her make up artist always seems to use a light, yellow toned product under her foundation on the highlight areas, and this being a crayon format makes it much easier to sculpt with.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr – Leather Effect in #98 Creamy Beige

 

Despite the blogosphere raving over these eyeshadows, I’ve never been that impressed. 

Due to all the rave reviews, I rushed out and got ‘On and On Bronze’ a while ago, but I found it really lack-lustre. It didn’t look bronze enough on me, so perhaps I just picked the wrong shade, but the beautiful pictures I’d seen of it made me very disappointed with the reality, so I didn’t buy any more of them.

Recently however, I’ve been looking for something really long-lasting that I could use to contour, and on Twitter I noticed some people were saying they used the Colour Tattoo ‘Endless Taupe’ shade for this purpose.

I’m no stranger to using an eye shadow to get my contour on (Makeup Revolution’s Mocha Love is a permanent feature in my make-up bag for this reason), but I wanted to try a cream product I could layer with it, and possibly put under my foundation.

Intrigued by the Twitter chat, I decided to have a look, but ‘Endless Taupe’ looked far too grey when I swatched it.

A little grey tone is good (you are mimicking a shadow after all!) but it just didn’t seem convincing and I worried I’d look like a corpse! 

However, they also had the Leather Effect shades in – which are more matte anyway – and the shade Creamy Beige looked perfect. 

The shade is much darker than what I would call beige, but it is a good tone for contouring on my skin, a lot more convincing. These don’t quit once they’re on, so I think it will make my fake cheekbones last a lot longer to use this!

Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Definer 'Eastend Snob'

 

An old favourite snuck into my basket as well! This lip liner is an all-time favourite of mine. 

In my Lipstick Addict tag post, I shared that the Rimmel Exaggerate lip liners are always my first choice. They're so smooth to apply and have a great angled shape, plus no need to sharpen. 

And they're so cheap you can get one in every colour to match different lip shades. 

Like everyone else in the blogosphere, I'm obsessed with Kylie Jenner's lip transformation of late (read my post on how to get her lip look here) so I wanted a good neutral liner to help with that. 

I browsed a few but it was back to my old faithful quickly! No other drugstore liner can match this for me. 'Eastend Snob' is a lovely shade as it's not too brown and goes with most beige or pink lip colours.

Vaseline Lip Therapy Queen Bee

 

You know I'm obsessed with the limited edition tins of Lip Therapy! I collect them all and always have a tin on me, I swear by the stuff! 

Even though I have a drawer full of spare tins of the last two special editions (Pink Bubbly and Paint The Town Red) of course I had to rush out and get a couple of these as well.

Love, love, love the idea of Queen Bee and the honey scent- another of my favourite things. And the super cute little stripy tin! Absolutely gorgeous. 

I got two and will probably buy a couple more at some point. Total love. My top tip is to pop a bit of this on the tops of your cheekbones. It gives a very natural, soft-focus highlight to the skin and just makes you look healthy. Kate Moss apparently does it!

Mac Honeylove

 

My second Claudia inspired item (sorry for jacking your style Claudia!), she mentioned on her blog that this is one of her favourite shades and I had Back to Mac containers burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to get it. 

It's the time of year when I'll be doing a lot of smokey eyes, so you need a really good nude lip with that and this looked ideal. 

It's not too brown and not too pale, so I think it will work so well, with a touch of gloss dotted on top.

Oral B 3D White Brilliance

 

I've heard great things about this toothpaste, so although I already use a whitening formula, I thought I'd switch to this for a change. 

I haven’t used Oral B before, my usual pick is Macleans because I prefer the taste – its not too intense with the mint like other brands. 

I’m hoping to use this in conjunction with my whitening trays to get a dazzling smile in time for all the Christmas celebrations. I’ve seen reviews where people claim they’ve really seen a difference using this and certainly the ads with Holly Willoughby in seem to be marketing it almost as much as a beauty treatment as a toothpaste.

Spinbrush Pro-Whitening

Not one to do things by halves, I also treated myself to a brand new toothbrush to go in my new bathroom. 

I must admit I normally use a regular manual toothbrush. I had an electric brush for a bit but I hated having to remember to charge it up, so it didn’t last very long! 

The Spinbrush is a good compromise for me because it uses batteries, so its kind of the lazy girls way to get a power clean. It has two heads – one that spins back and forth to get between the teeth and the other that moves up and down to clear plaque and massage gums. 

My teeth feel super clean after using this and its not too rough. Some battery-powered brushes only vibrate, which doesn’t do an awful lot, but this one really gets to work and is pretty powerful considering its inexpensive. 

Here’s to a white (smile) Christmas.

The Body Shop Mango shower gel, sugar scrub and body butter

Luck was my friend and I won this gift set at the very first blogger meet I went to. 

At the time I stashed it away and then promptly forgot about it, so it was a bit of a treat to discover when I was packing up to leave the old house. 

I decided it was a good time to crack it open, so I started using it the other week, and I love it. The scent is sweet but not overly fruity. 

Lately, I’m really loving Body Shop products and I can’t believe I didn’t go there for so long. I loved the place as a young teen but then I just moved on from it, so its like rediscovering an old friend with a new look. 

The body butter is intensely moisturising and really feels luxurious on the skin. Its like a little blast of summer on a cold winter’s day. It does take longer to sink in than the dry oil sprays I normally use, so I’ve been saving it for treats! 

I also get really dry feet, but I’ve found a dab of this and then a pair of socks overnight really helps. 

The sugar scrub is my favourite part of the set because it does such a good job, my skin literally feels like silk after using it. 

I’ve also been getting covered in paint for the past few days of hard labour decorating, and this stuff was so good at making me feel squeaky clean and pampered.

Makeup Gallery Good to Glow Matte Bronzer and Shine On Lip Gloss in ‘Nice and Nude’

 

This line launched a couple of weeks ago with the selling point that every item is just £1. I couldn’t resist checking it out at those prices. 

It used to really be that you got what you paid for, but lately some fantastic value lines have launched providing stunning quality - and now MUA and Makeup Revolution are up there with the best in my book, I love their stuff.

However, Makeup Gallery is a new level of cheapness even from that, so I was in two minds about it. For a £1 a piece though, you can’t really go wrong. I picked up the Matte Bronzer, which I was really pleased to see – they did also have a shimmer version, but matte ones are usually my preference. 

I think it's a little bit pale for me and a bit on the orange side but it sort of works as a blush instead on my skin.

There weren’t different colour options as far as I could see, but being sort of light-to-medium I thought I could get away with the shade.

 I also picked up the lip gloss in ‘Nice and Nude’. Its such a gorgeous colour, a really pretty pinkish beige and very well pigmented. 

It claims to be a moisturising formula, and it does feel nice on the lips – quite dense but not too sticky, with decent lasting power. 

It easily stacks up against much more expensive glosses and would be perfect for a night out, because at that price, you aren’t going to cry if you leave it in the ladies! 

Considering the prices, the packaging is quite nice as well, just simple and wouldn’t shame your make-up bag.

That's my little beauty haul for now, what have you been buying lately? Have you tried any of these?