first impressions

Sleek Makeup Mini Haul

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It feels a bit like most of my posts recently have been hauls but this is probably the last for a while and one I’ve had planned for ages. I’ve had my eye on a few of the Sleek I-Divine eyeshadow palettes for a while and did plan on buying four, but the main one I actually wanted (Peach Perfect) was out of stock and off the website so I wanted to do this order before the rest disappeared too as they’re all limited editions. There will be proper reviews of these in the fairly near future when I’ve had a chance to play around with them but I wanted to show you guys how pretty they are in case they do a disappearing act too before I have a chance!

In a recent declutter I realised that, although I have many palettes and more than I actually need, I did have some gaps in the colours I had. Last spring I was loving their All the Fun of the Fair palette full of shimmery pastels and I really wanted some more pastels to add to my collection. The Nordic Skies palette was around last year and I thought I’d missed it but it appeared back in stock so I got it along with the Spirit Animal and Dream a Little Dream palettes. I also ended up buying their light eyebrow kit so now I’ve gone from having no eyebrow colour product to two. I’ll have to give it a go and see how it compares to the NYX one I got in my recent HQ Hair Haul and get back to you guys with what I find.

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Next Outlet Clothes Haul

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After a recent declutter of my wardrobe I had a list of things I was looking for and I’ve got better at not buying things in sales just because they’re cheap but I did end up getting some things I didn’t have planned on a couple of recent trips to the McArthur Glen Outlet shopping centre in Bridgend. Everything I bought ended up being from the Next Outlet, they have had such good bargains recently, £2 for a good quality top or £10 for some jeans is such a good price if they’re what you want. For years I didn’t get that much from Next but it feels a bit like half of my go to wardrobe comes from there.

The Next Outlet stores often have extra reductions, which is what happened with most of the things I’ve bought, beyond the reductions in the normal sales. They also have older stock in lots of sizes sometimes as well as a range of clothes that are exclusive to the Outlet stores in the Special Purchase range. I know some people have said they aren’t the same quality as the standard line, they’re definitely cheaper than equivalents at full price, but I’ve bought quite a few things from them and they last just as well for me.

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HQ Hair Mini Haul

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I’ve been doing some decluttering recently, will be doing some posts on that when I’ve given some of the maybes more of a go, and it showed some things I didn’t have that I wanted. It’s one of the dangers of decluttering; it makes you want more! This is only a small haul and I had a 20% off discount because I hadn’t shopped with HQ Hair for a while so I don’t feel so bad.

One of the things I’ve had my eye on since they appeared everywhere last year was a red based eyeshadow palette. The Balm Nude Beach eyeshadow palette may not have quite the same colours as the ABH Modern Renaissance but I love the warm tones and had to get it when I saw it was in the offer. I also was lacking blues and greens in my gel polish collection so got two from Red Carpet Manicure, along with a Real Techniques Face Brush and a mini eyebrow kit from NYX as it really is time I tried to do something with them, even if it’s just to find out I don’t get on with these type products.

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Review: Eyeko Black Magic Mascara

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Mascara is not something I am low on at the moment, especially black mascara, so I’m going through the ones I have and trying them all to see which to keep and which to get rid of. Most of these are sample sizes and this Eyeko Black Magic Mascara is what I’d call a travel size at 4ml so useful for a handbag and big enough to get quite a few uses from. It came in the Marks and Spencer beauty advent calendar last year and you can see my first impressions post here. I’ve not tried much from Eyeko but I’m a fan of their liquid eyeliner pen so I was looking forward to seeing how this mascara compared.

One thing I’ve noticed about this when looking for it online is that there seem to be different brush versions. Some may be bad photographs when showing the shape but they’re available in a skinny and normal brush, both the same price. The full 8ml tube is £16 on QVC UK or £19 from the Marks and Spencer’s website, which seems to be the standard price. It claims to be waterproof and add drama and curl and the standard wand has a curved shape that’s supposed to match the shape of your lashes, which I think is a nice touch but does mean you can only really use it one way.

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Korean Beauty Haul

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I recently made another order from the F2plus1 eBay store for Korean beauty products, I think it seems to be this time of year that I make these orders. A couple of these products were ones I’ve had my eye on for a while and I may have bought some more sheet masks. I already have enough to last months but these ingredients sounded unusual and I do love anything lychee or mangosteen so they ended up in my basket.

I’m always a bit wary about ordering from eBay, especially when it comes to cosmetics as there are so many fakes out there and I think a fake plastic figure is one thing but something you put on your skin is another. But I trust the f2plus1 store as I’ve bought from them before. They also have an online store away from eBay, BeautynetKorea, which I haven’t used but think it’d be as trustworthy. It does take a while to get here, two or three weeks in general, but considering it’s all the way from South Korea that’s pretty quick.

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Lush Boxing Day Sale Haul Part 2

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I may have ended up spending more than I originally planned in the Lush Boxing Day Sale. I only went into be one day but I’d originally planned on getting the 12 Days of Christmas gift box and decided against it when I saw it. I ended up regretting that decision and as my mum.and sister were going in the next day asked them to get it so here’s everything that came in that gift set.

The Twelve Days of Christmas hat box is always one of the big ones from Lush, they bring out a version every year, as it has twelve of their Christmas products in it. I think it was £35 in the half price sale and was one that there were quite a few left of so there may be some in some of the lush stores. This year it has a wide range of different product types as well as scents so could be a good introduction to Lush if it’s in your budget.

As some of these things may be still available in your local Lush I thought I’d do a bit of a mini review of each of them in case you manage to find any to pick up. They also sometimes seem to pop up in the kitchen throughout the year do if there’s something you’re interested in it may return at some point. Don’t quote me on that, I don’t know what’s coming or how Lush decides what’s going up, it’s just going by past experience.

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Lush Boxing Day Haul, Part 1

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I think I’m going to be a bit late posting any sale hauls, the few other things I’ve bought haven’t arrived yet and I just haven’t done all that much sale shopping this year! I did, however, manage to get into my local Lush a couple of days after Boxing Day and it wasn’t too manic so I had a look round and bought a couple of gift sets and some other bits I was planning on getting. The reason this is part one of two is because my mum and sister went back and I asked them to get another gift box in the sale for me which has quite a bit more in it so this post would have been very long.

As some of these things may still be available in your local Lush I thought I’d do a mini, one or two line, review for each of the things in the sets as a first impressions. A few I’ve used before so I’ll either link to a review I’ve done or it’ll be more on experience than first impression as I’ve actually used them. Anyway, onto the haul and I hope you enjoy.

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It’s Christmas! Blogmas Day 25 and the First Day of Christmas.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you’re having a good day and enjoying yourself whether you celebrate Christmas or not. As it’s the last day of the Marks and Spencer’s Beauty Advent Calendar and the official first day of Christmas it’s the last day of Blogmas. Not that my Blogmas went as I was expecting, December has definitely been more hectic than I expected it to be so I didn’t do the same posts I was expecting. Today’s gift in the advent calendar is a makeup bag. It’s not one I can find on their website but as their makeup bags are £12 in general I’m going to stick with that as the value they’ve put in this one, not sure if it would be.

The first day of Christmas from my Twelve Days of Ciate London Calendar is a liquid lipstick. I love the look of this calendar in general and I’ve wanted to try the Ciate makeup after loving their nail varnishes for years so couldn’t resist it when it was on offer. The liquid lipstick is a Liquid Velvet Liquid Lipstick in the colour Oh Honey! The full sized version is £17 normally on their website (currently on sale for £13.60) and is part of the new nudes range. This mini size is 2ml to the 6.7ml of a standard one which means it has around £4 of product in it. These minis are always enough for me in liquid lipsticks anyway and I can see this one lasting well.

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Blogmas Day 24: Advent and Christmas Eve Traditions

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It’s the second to last day of the Marks and Spencer’s advent calendar, though I know a lot of advent calendars end today and they always did when I was growing up. When does advent actually end? I always thought the 24th but so many include the 25th now too. Anyway, today’s gift is the Pur Illuminate and Glow Primer, the second primer in three days so I kind of wish they’d spread the two out a bit more. It’s a corrective primer that has some shimmer in it to give a glowy look for a base. The full sized tube is 30ml and £24 so this 10ml tube contains £8 of product. It has a bit of a peachy bronze look to me and definitely has shimmer in so I’m not sure how much I’ll use it as primer.

The second thing from an advent calendar, well kind of, is the Forest Walk Wax Tart from the Scented Seasons Shop Twelve Scents of Christmas set I bought and have been picking them out at random as a kind of home done advent calendar. The set was £15 for twelve wax tarts or they can be bought individually for £1.25 each where you pick your scents.

I can’t believe it’s Christmas Eve already! We have some things we do on Christmas Eve every year, they’ve become traditions as well as some of them being practical. Things like getting food bits ready or watching certain movies, I love these things that become traditions and are different for each family and don’t necessarily have anything too Christmassy about them.

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Blogmas Day 23: Lush Tree D Bath Oil Review and Advent

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Todays post may turn out to be a bit shorter than normal as neither of the parts is as long as I thought they’d be. I originally planned on doing a whole post to review the Lush Tree D Bath Oil but I really couldn’t think of enough to say about it. It’s definitely disappointing so I wanted to get this post up before the sales start as it might be one people are tempted by. I’ll go into more detail in the post if you want the full review but the short version is it just isn’t worth the money. Unless I have a dud but the ones I’ve seen in store seemed the same.

The second part is more positive and it’s the Marks and Spencer’s Beauty Advent Calendar gift for today; the Formula Absolute Ultimate Sleep Cream from Marks and Spencer’s Beauty. I haven’t really tried this one out properly, it’s a night cream and it’s today’s gift so no chance really, but also apparently I got this exact tube last year. It’s a 15ml tube as the mini and a full sized jar 50ml costs £22 so this tube is worth £6.60 I think. I will try it tonight and put my first impressions (or is that second given I did that last year too) in this post anyway.

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