Recent Purchases: YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Lipsticks plus Free Gift With Purchase

When an email dropped into my inbox from YSL offering a free gift with purchase (GWP) I resisted for a whole week before going on their website and placing an order!

I decided to order 2 Rouge Volupte Shine lipsticks because I absolutely love the formula and the packaging is fantastic. Yes, they are expensive but so worth it. I do think the colour swatches on the YSL site are dreadful so I did a fair bit of research on various blogs before I decided upon no 7 Rose Infinite and no 17 Rose In Tension priced at £25 each. I shall do swatches in another post because I want to get this post up quickly because I'm not sure when the free gift offer ends.

Now if you have never shopped at YSL before, you receive 2 free samples with every order. You cannot choose these samples but you can see what you will receive because they add them to your basket. Although only 2 samples were shown in my basket, I actually received 3 samples. The samples I received were: 1.5ml Eau de Parfum of  Manifesto, 1.5ml Eau de Toilette of L'Homme and a 2ml mini Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils (Luxurious Mascara for a False Lash Effect), all pictured below.

The email I received from YSL said that if I spent £45 or more and quoted JUNETREAT in the promotional code box then I would receive a 5 piece deluxe makeup gift set worth £50.

The items are received were: another L'Homme sample, another Mascara Volume Effet but on a card this time, 3ml Forever Youth Liberator Eye Creme, 0.8g Waterproof Eye Pencil in black and a mini Rouge Pur Couture lipstick in shade no 9 Rose Stiletto.

I've never tried a YSL mascara or eyeliner so I can't wait to give them a try. I've also never tried the Rouge Pur Couture formula lipstick so I am eager to try that too. I am really pleased with my free GWP. I am not sure how long the offer is on for so if you are interested I wouldn't hang around because it is probably just whilst stocks last.

Since my order I have received another email offer from them. Argh!  This is for a free summer make up gift set with a £40 spend. 
The code required is SUMMERTREAT 
Now I don't know if this new code means the one I used is no longer valid, which would be a shame because I feel the JUNETREAT is a better gift. The Summer gift does not have a lipstick and has a make up bag instead and still has the mascara but alas no eyeliner.

There was also a code in my parcel for £10 off any L'Homme fragrance, code LK24Z4, but again no expiry date. I wish they'd state expiry dates!

Have you tried YSL make up? What are your recommendations?
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

**purchased with my own money

Review & Swatches: YSL Mother's Day Eye Shadow Quad £5

Well, I've finally had a chance to have a little play with my YSL Mother's Day (number 7) eye shadow palette. Now, they are not colours I would usually choose, but as it was just £5 with a £50 purchase, I couldn't resist. 

The four colours are all,shimmers, pale pink, white, gold and a plum colour.
Here they are swatched dry.

I must admit I expected much more pigment from such a high end brand. The pink and white are very glittery and I found there was considerable fall out. The gold and plum colours had much more pigment, less glitter so,less fall out.

The beauty of these shades is that you can also wear them wet.
Here they are swatched wet.

As you can see, the colour pay off is much better when used wet and there is much less glitter fall out.
Here they are on my eyes. I used them dry, the pink over my eye lid, the plum in the outer corner (used wet just to line), washed the white over entire area and under brow bone to highlight, then a light wash of the gold in the centre of the eyelid.

I have not tried them all wet on my eyes yet, because I think that would be more of an evening look. I actually liked them better on my eyes than in the palette. What do you think?

This is after 10 hours wear. I purposely did NOT use a primer because I wanted to see how they worked on their own. I think they held up quite well.

Next time I use them I think I will put on my concealer and foundation AFTER the eye shadows because there was considerable glitter fall out from the paler colours which is not a good look for me! Would I pay the full price of £39 for this quad? Probably not. I expected the pigment to be better for a higher end price point. I would happily pay around £20 - £25 for this quad, mainly because it is lovely packaging, but there are better shadows out there for much less money. That said, for £5 it is a no brainer. 

My original post about it is here. I hope to do a review about my other YSL purchases soon.
Do you have any YSL recommendations?
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

*purchased with my own money.

Recent Purchases: YSL Eye Shadow Quad for just £5!! Plus other YSL purchases

I have lusted after YSL make up for a long time, and last weekend I finally succumbed!

My best friend told me to choose a lipstick from the YSL range for my birthday because they knew I really wanted one, so last Saturday I took a trip to town to the larger Boots to choose a colour. I told the YSL assistant that I wanted a lipstick from the Rouge Volupte Shine range because I loved the packaging and I also told her that I wanted a pinky shade not dissimilar to my natural lip colour. I wanted a shade that I would be able to wear lots. I also told her that I didn't have much time because my hubby was waiting. She picked out quite a pale pink shade but I thought perhaps it looked darker on the lip than in the bullet. She applied it to my lips (and also on my chin?!) with a lip brush and she made a right mess of it. It was way too light for me. She then chose a deeper red shade, but this time I chose to apply it myself. This time it was too dark. Then another customer came and she started serving her! To be honest I felt this was quite rude, especially because I had already stated I had limited time. Do you think this was rude, or was I overreacting? Anyway, I continued to look at the lipsticks on my own because she seemed totally uninterested. In the end I walked away feeling totally deflated and disappointed by my experience.

That said, I still lusted after the YSL lipstick, so that evening I looked on the YSL Website. I feel that the colour swatches on their website are incredibly poor so I decided to choose a colour with the help of swatches on beauty blogs and You Tube! I eventually settled on Pourpre Intouchable (number 2) which is a plum colour, slighter darker than I wanted initially but lovely nonetheless.  

Whilst browsing their website, I saw that they had a Mother's Day offer of an eyeshadow quad (worth £39) for just £5 when you spent £50. I didn't need much persuading! After perusing some more beauty blogs and You Tube videos I decided on a lip stain gloss, Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres, in Rouge Vintage (number 5). Just the colour I wanted, perfect!

For me, the eye shadow quad (number 7), has 3 wearable shades, the gold shade I'm not too sure about, but I may change my mind once I've experimented with it.

I shall do a full review, including swatches, of all 3 products soon, but I wanted to get this blog post written in case anyone is interested in purchasing the quad for just £5. I'm not sure when this offer ends, but Mother's Day is March 30th in the UK, so I am guessing it is prior to that.

Delivery is free at the moment in the UK and I ordered on Saturday night and it was delivered by DHL on Thursday (signed for). I also received 2 free samples - a vial of L'Homme Eau de toilette, which I shall give to my other half, and a 7ml sample of YSL Forever Youth Liberator serum.

I was so unhappy with the YSL sales assistant, but in the end she did me a favour because I now have 3 lovely new products for £50.

Once I've had a play with my new things, I shall report back.
I bought all these products with my own money, except for the lipstick which was a birthday present from my wonderful best friend. Love you lots!

Have you bought any YSL products? Do you have any recommendations?

I'd love to read your thoughts.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care,

CJ xx