Pound shop bargains!

I love to have a rifle through the makeup bits and bobs at pound shops. There's a lot of shit to be had but also some great steals! Here's my favourite buys.

Would have done swatches of the gloss and blusher but my camera is a bit shit at close up shots!

 

Starting with my most recent purchase, and one that I'm sure is still available to buy, is a blusher from Pound Land's own makeup range 'Chit Chat'. The blusher is in the shade 'Desert Rose' and I've seen a darker shade as well as a brighter pink. It looks like a dusky pink in the pan but swatches as a more peachy slightly frosty colour. It's a bit like a blusher/highlighter in one as it does give add somewhat of a glow. The texture is very soft and it does kick up a lot of powder when used, however its a delicate, easy colour to wear  and one I can see myself reaching for lots.

I was well chuffed to find the Collection 2000 lipglosses as I had heard good things about them, but I believe they have been discontinued. I found the two 'Love Your Lips' glosses in Pound World. They were each part of a set including a nail polish. The polishes are actually pretty good also. One was in 'Lifes a Peach' a sheer shimmery peach shade and a Hot Looks polish in 'Swizzles' a bright fuchsia. I have them in the shades 'Adore' and 'Delight'.  Both are rather nudey colours but 'Adore' is more pink while 'Delight' is lighter with shimmer running through it. I love the smell of these - 'Delight' in particular, smells more tropical! They also have spf 20 so they'll be great to use in the summer or if I get the chance to go away on holiday.

The mascara I also got when I bought the blusher. It's by Miss Sporty and is the 'Fabulous Lash Xtra Black Lash Building Mascara' It claims to have 'extra black pigments' but I don't think it's any blacker than anything else I've used. In truth it's not the best ever but for a pound it's pretty good and I'm never truly bowled over my any mascara! I like this just as much as my most expensive mascara at the moment, the Max Factor Falsh Lash Effect one.  The brush looks like this and is effective at grabbing all the lashes. I like the slimness of it. Can't be doing with the big fat brushes!

I wouldn't say it's extremely lash building but it does a good job of defining and making them look a bit thicker. A good everyday one really.



My name is Laura and I'm a nail polish addict. I love nail polish and can't stop buying it! Therefore I'm always on the hunt for new ones when I'm in the pound shops. These three are great. On the left is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 'Delphinium'. It's a darker more 'smoky' lilac than the picture shows. In the middle is a Rimmel 'Pro' polish in 'Urban Princess'. It's very much a Barbie, bubblegum pink- so pretty. And on the right is another Sally Hansen one in 'Model Behaviour'- a very in-your-face bright blue. Again this would be perfect for holiday, especially on my toes.

I would have done swatches but I'm giving my nails a break-they're so stained! Don't often have the patience for base coat!

There you have it! My little essay on my pound shop finds :D  



Book Review: Breakfast at Darcy's

I seem to go through phases of reading lots to reading nothing at all (apart from mags, I'm a bit of a magazine fiend and devour them). I got this one at The Works as part of a 3 for £5 deal. I like fluffy easy to read chick lit and this seemed to fit the bill! Last year I read 'From Notting Hill with Love...Actually' by the same authour, Ali McNamara and had enjoyed it so hoped I'd like this also, which I did. Basically it's about a girl called Darcy, funny enough, who is left an island in Ireland by her Aunt Molly in her will. However to get her full inheritance she has to make the island habitable again and build a community of at least 15 people. Of course it wouldn't be a proper chick lit book without some romance! This is where Conor and Dermot come in. Who will take Darcy's fancy?( Incidentaly as I was reading it Dermot reminded me a lot of Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls. And I heart Luke)). Well I have to say this was where the book was very predictable. I knew from the offset who she'd end up with as I'm sure most readers would! I also found the story a tad unbelievable at times. I find it very hard to believe that her beyonce-esque flatmate would really join her on the island and give up her London life. But hey! an enjoyable read none the less. Though it didn't have enough romp-age for my liking. Do like a bit of filth haha.

Make up faves part 2

So here are my favourite eyeshadows which I forgot to include in yesterdays post  (Read: Too tired/lazy to add!)
 Firstly I've been enjoying using the middle shade from an eyeshadow trio that I got given as part of a set at Christmas. It's by No 7 and I don't think it has a name. It's a hard shade to describe. I'd say it's a minky/taupey bronzey shimmery colour. It might actually be the 'Mink' shade that you can get as a solo shadow from the range but I'm not 100%. Anywho, it's nicely pigmented and silky smooth.

Next up is the Fearne Cotton eyeshadow palette which I got in the sales after Christmas. They had two versions a daytime one and an evening one, but I was more drawn to the subtle  colours in this one. I love the packaging so much, the scarabs remind me of The Mummy movies which I adore. Is that shameful? Plus I thought the colours were a bit different to what is usually on the market. They are very shimmery and I do get a bit of fallout but they are just such easy colours to wear, perfect for a delicate daytime look.

Cuteness right there

Another palette that I get a lot of use out of, as I'm sure a lot of people do, is the Sleek Storm palette. In particular I use the bronze/golden shades but I really want to experiment more with the other colours, especially the rosey pink ones, top right. I actually wore the brown shades to my graduation :) They have a lovely easy to blend texture and are long lasting.

Finally I have a lot of love for my cream eyeshadow in Dawn from Elf. Again it is easy to wear (I do favour neutrals) and is perfect for swiping on when I'm in a bit of a rush. I think it would also work quite well as I base for powder eyeshadows. I think I did actually try this once with my first fave eyeshadow. It does crease after a while but it wears much better than other ones I've tried and it's not terribly noticeable. 

So there you have it. Not the most exciting colours in the world but I like them! I also feel like I need to mention my recent love for my MUA palette in Starry Night. I've finally mastered the smokey eye look with the help of this beaut. 

Me looking rather cheesy. But with eyes I was well chuffed with! Oo also on my lips I wore Sleek Barely There with Sexy Mother Pucker gloss on top in Candyfloss

Make up faves!

Hello! So this will be my first proper post :D It's not very exciting and my photography skills leave a lot to be desired but hopefully this blog will give me something to do whilst I'm job-hunting, there's only so much Maury I can watch after all!
I still think this blog will be about all sorts really, books, food, random ramblings etc.. but I thought I'd start with a makeup post as I love reading beauty blogs and I probably start every day by having a look through them all! Sad.
On with the post, foundation first, my favourite has to be Loreal True Match Minerals powder. I have it in W1 though I should probably go for C1 as I'm cool toned but I like that it warms my skin up and gives some colour to my face.

Shocking picture aside I really like this foundation and I'm on my third one now. I've had a few compliments when I'm wearing this so that's always good. I find it gives me a lovely glowy finish with good coverage. Downsides are that it is expensive at about £15, the powder can get everywhere and the brush could be softer. However I think the positives easily outweigh any negatives!
If I feel like wearing a liquid foundation then my favourite one is mymix in fair by myface cosmetics. In all honesty I haven't really touched this in a while, but I'm not sure why as the colour match is excellent and it goes on so well. I'll definately be trying to get more wear out of it. Plus it cost me something like  £12 at the time for quite a farty amount so I'm gonna use it whether I like it or not!

Next, on to blushers! My favourite has to be my Natural Collection one in Pink Cloud. It's just such an easy colour to wear and it's only £1.99. Bargainous! My other current fave is Pink Passion by Elf from the Studio line. It's a gorgeous bright pink and a little goes a long way. This is the blush that I took away with me on a trip to Romania as I had to pack lightly and wanted to wear as little makeup as possible for times sake. So this, along with the Loreal powder and mascara, and I was good to go :)

Left: Elf, Right: Natural Collection

Speaking of mascara my favourite is another Natural Collection item and is the WaterGuard one. Again it's only £1.99 and I think it works better than most other, more expensive, mascaras I've tried. It doesn't clump and defines my lashes nicely. Only negative is that it's a pain to remove and I'm a lazy get so really don't appreciate the removal of it eating into my sleep time!

Finally we have my favourite lippies! I love a good lippy me. 

Maybelline Colorsensational lipstick in 'Pink Brown' (brown tube) - This is the perfect colour to just slap on and go. It's really moisturising too and has a great smooth texture. The name don't lie. Its a pinky brown.

17 Mirrorshine lipstick in 'Flirtini' (blue tube) - I've been in love with this lately. It's a bright but sheer shimmery pink so all in all very summery. I actually think these are better than the Revlon Lip Butters and cost much less! 

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Color Comfort Lip Color (mouthful or what) in 'Pink Blossom' (greeny tube) - I found this at PoundWorld. For a whole pound, would you believe. And again I love it and wear it often. Just seems to fit in with a variety of makeup looks. Not like I have many but you get the gist! Its a lovely soft mid toned pink colour with a smooth texture-not drying in the slightest. Such a steal!

BeautyUK Lip Lust in 'Date Night' (the only lipgloss, with BeautyUK on it.) - I saw this on the blog Midnight Violets and I had to have it. I thought it would be a good pinky/browny 'my lips but better' shade and it has proven to be just that! It's not sticky at all and smells yummy. Its only £2.99 too so very reasonable! I have the 'Playboy' shade too but I'm not as keen on that colour.

So yes, there we have it. And I've just noticed I haven't mentioned my fave eyeshadows. Plop. But this has tuckered me out for now, see I said I was lazy! so I'll add them later. 

This could take a while...

I set up this a while ago in the hope that I'd start up a food blog and I might still do that but at the moment I think it will just be place to ramble. I'm not very good at technical stuffs so forgive me if everything looks a bit shitty.