Recent Purchases: Superdrug haul

I bought a few things from Superdrug last week and they were delivered today.
First up are 2 Rimmel Scandaleyes Rockin' Curves, 1 in black and the other in extreme black. Now I have no idea on the difference between the two, does anyone else? I really didn't need any new mascaras because I already have a few unopened BUT Superdrug had a 2 hour flash sale on these items to celebrate Rimmels 180 year anniversary and instead of the usual £6.99 price tag, I managed to buy them for £1.80 each. Bargain! Have you tried this mascara? Is it good? I think it may be a while before I try these out because I already have 2 other brands on the go.

I recently reviewed the MUA Intense Kisses lip glosses. (see my review here). For £2 each I was pretty impressed so I popped a couple of other colours in my basket. I chose shades Stolen Kisses and Quick Kiss. I will do swatches of these glosses in a future post.

Finally, in order to qualify for free postage, I had to bump up the order cost to over £10 so I popped Radox Bath Salts and VO5 Pump It Up dry shampoo in my basket. I have not used bath salts since I was a little girl so fancied trying a "blast from the past" and at just £1.05 it's not a big deal if I hate them. I've never used the VO5 dry shampoo so I'm looking forward to trying that too.

Did you manage to buy one of these bargain mascaras? I hope so.

I don't know if Rimmel are planning on doing any more Flash Sales for their 180th anniversary, but it will be great if they do.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care,

CJ xx

Review & Swatches: L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick

The past few days I have been using L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick which I purchased several weeks ago from Boots for £8.99.
I chose shade 500 Molto Mauve. 

Don't let the name deceive you, to me it isn't mauve at all, more of a "my lips but better" colour. Here it is swatched:

Instead of the usual doe foot applicator, this liquid lipstick applicator is tear dropped shaped.

It's not too sticky and it smells lovely. I'm not very good at describing scents, but to me it smells "tropical", sort of like a tropical fruit drink. Told you I was rubbish at scent descriptions! It applies easily and smoothly and isn't at all gloopy. 
The "blurb" from L'Oreal describes it as a cross between a lipstick, lip gloss and lip balm. They say it has the colour intensity of a lipstick, the shine of a lip gloss and the softness of a balm.
Here it is applied:

And 4 hours, 1 lunch, 1 hot drink and 1 cold drink later...
Not a great deal left, but L'Oreal make no claims about its longevity.

Now I have read a lot of great reviews about this liquid lipstick so what are my own personal thoughts about it? It's okay. Yes, just okay. To me it isn't anything special. It is very soft on the lips so yes to the softness of a balm. Colour intensity of a lipstick? Again it is okay but doesn't blow me away. High shine of a gloss? Again it is okay but I wouldn't class it as high shine. It is nice enough but would I repurchase in a other colour? I'm afraid not. I seem to be going against the grain of all the other beauty bloggers who have reviewed this and seem to love it but I have to give my honest opinion. Yes I will continue to wear it and I do like the colour and softness of it but given the choice of buying one of these or 4 MUA lip glosses, I know where my money is going... And before you all shout "but they are glosses, they don't have the balm included!", yes I am aware of that, but a quick slick of one of my many lip balms first and then the gloss and I'm good to go.
Perhaps my thoughts would be different had I chosen a more vibrant colour, I really don't know.
Have you tried this liquid lipstick? Did you love it? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

* purchased with my own money.

Review & Swatches: MUA Luxe Pretty Edgy Eye Shadow Palette & MUA Intense Kisses Lip Gloss

I've finally had chance to try the new items I bought from Superdrug the other week.
First up is the MUA Luxe Pretty Edgy Eye Palette which was £8. Now I have several eye shadow palettes from the MUA Professional range, but this was my first purchase from their Luxe range.

The first noticeable difference is the packaging. The case is much sturdier than the other MUA palettes. This palette is made in shiny black plastic with gold plastic stud detailing in the top. Also, unlike their previous palettes, this comes with a substantial mirror in the lid. It definitely appears more robust than their Professional range. I do like it.
Now onto the eye shadows.

The Pretty Edgy Palette contains 6 shimmer shades and 4 matte shades. I would say they are cool neutrals with some having a pinky/violet edge. The colours are certainly ideal for me.

Swatches of the top row of shimmers, L to R: Antique, Bow, Toile, Ruffle, Flounce, Lace.

Swatches of the bottom row of mattes, L to R: Sinful, Gothic, Wrath, Envy.

I think they are pretty true to colour. I found applying them easy and they are definitely buildable and easy to blend. I found there was a little fall out but it was minimal.
Here they are applied: ( apologies for my unkempt brows, I'm currently doing a 60 day Revitabrow trial so trying not to pluck them!)

I purposely did not use an eye primer before application because I wanted to see how these shadows held up in their own right. The picture below was taken after 10 hours wear.

I don't know what you think, but I am pretty impressed at their staying power. I think this is a great palette for £8. Personally I think the colours, for me, are more suited for evening rather than daytime. I am not sure that the eye shadows are any better than their Professional range, but then I think they are great too! (Hate the MUA single shadows, though). In my opinion, I think you are paying extra for the packaging. 

With my Superdrug order I also ordered a MUA Professional Intense Kisses Lip Gloss in the shade "Lips Are Sealed" which cost £2. It has the usual doe foot applicator.
Here it is swatched:

And applied to my lips:

It is a brighter pink than I usually wear, but I do like it. It was easy to apply and didn't feel too sticky. I decided to test the longevity of the gloss so here it is 4 hours later, after a hot drink, a meal and a cold drink.

Yes, it has faded considerably, and there is a little bleeding on my top lip, but I think for a £2 lip gloss this is pretty good. Also, MUA do not make any claims that this is a long lasting gloss. I always know if I like a gloss when I am happy to purchase in another shade. I would most certainly buy other shades of this Intense Kisses gloss. At £2 I really don't think you can go wrong.

Have you tried any of the new MUA Luxe range? What did you think of it?
Would love to read you comments.
Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

*both items purchased with my own money.

Tarte Haul! Purchases from QVC UK

They've arrived!
At last the products I ordered from the Tarte launch on QVC have arrived!
I've not had time to try them yet, but here is a sneaky peak in all their glory.
I ordered a blush, concealer, eye shadow palette and a set of 15 lip glosses!
It was my birthday earlier this week and my dear dad gave me some money so I used that to treat myself to some Tarte make up. The flowers in the pic were also from him.

First impressions are favourable but I will definitely be reporting back once I've had time to give them all a good try.

Have you tried Tarte? What are your favourites? I was tempted to go for the lipsticks too but most bloggers said they would be £20 but QVC aired them at £29.50 so it put me off. Have you tried the lipsticks?

I tend to waffle a tad in my blog posts, so today I have kept it short and sweet!
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

Recent Purchases: Boots and Superdrug

Bought a few beauty items recently at Boots and Superdrug so thought I would share them with you.
I had been good the entire time of the Boots 3 for 2, but I buckled at the last minute and purchased 3 items.

I had read so much about the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream on various blogs that I couldn't resist buying it. I want it for my "no make up" days. I have no idea if it will suit my skin because most reviews have been for much younger skin than mine so I shall report back soon on how it fairs on my less than perfect 40+ skin. I bought it in shade Ivory for £9.99.

I am still on the search for my Holy Grail concealer as I have suffered from dark circles since my teens so thought I would give the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Eye Cream in Ivory a try. I don't think this will be full coverage but may be ideal for my "make up free" days. I picked this up for £7.99. 

Now for my third item I really wanted the Sleek concealer palette but I couldn't find this brand anywhere in my Boots so I had to choose something else for my 3 for 2. I knew time was of the essence because hubby was due to meet me and I didn't want him to catch me buying more make up so I had to choose something and fast! I decided on the L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick by Color Riche in shade 500 Molto Mauve at £8.99. A girl (woman!) can't have too many lippies, eh?

As I am sure you are aware, the Boots 3 for 2 is no longer running but there is currently an offer on Bourjois. If you spend £12 or more on selected Bourjois cosmetics you receive a free pot of blush in Rose D'or worth £7.99.

I also decided to do a small online Superdrug order.

Now I have had my eye on the MUA Luxe Pretty Edgy Palette for a little while. At £8 it is a tad more expensive than their Professional range but I do think their palettes are great quality for the price so popped this in my basket because I want to see how it compares. Superdrug were doing free delivery on orders over £10 so I also popped a MUA Professional High Intensity lip gloss in shade "Lips Are Sealed" for £2 into my basket. When it was delivered Superdrug had also sent me 2 free fragrance samples which was a nice touch because they've not done that before. I received Jean-Paul Gaultier Madame and David Beckham Classic but I've not tried them yet.

Anyway, that's just a little taster of my recent purchases and I shall report back with swatches and first impressions once I have had a play with them.

Have you bought anything new lately or tried the new MUA Luxe range? I would love to hear from you so please comment below.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care,

CJ xx

*all items purchased with my own money. None of the links in this blog post are affiliated so I do NOT get paid if you click on them.

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