Olympia beauty haul part 2: Swatches!

Happy friday people! I hope this week has treated you well?

As promised here are the swatches from my little Olympia beauty show haul. See part 1 here

My show purchases

NYX butter glosses

I always have at least one butter gloss in by bag at all times. They give a lovely wash of colour that isnt too over the top for every day wear. Definitely a make up bag must have for me.

Tiramisu & Madeline

Natural light without flash 

With flash

NYX Butter lipstick

Lovely feeling on the lips although very sheer. If you don’t like anything too heavy coverage wise then this is for you. I’d be interested in hearing what some of the darker colours are like though. So if you’ve tried them link me to reviews please 🙂

Snow cap

Without flash in natural light

With flash

NYX High voltage lipstick

This is my favourite lipstick ever! I love it more than (dare I say it) VELVET TEDDY!! It stays on for hours and is so pigmented you literally just need one sweep and it gives perfect coverage. I am 1005 buying more for my pro make up kit.

‘Stone’

Without flash in natural light

With flash

NYX Eyeshadows

These are really highly pigmented and for like £4.50 I think they were a bargain!

Without flash in natural light

With flash

Inglot amc gel liner in black 

I’m still new to wearing eye liner myself but this is a pretty intense black liner which can be hard to find. Its easy to apply and glides on like a dream. However once its on it will not budge so if (like me) you find it hard to get your liner right first time remember a little goes a long way, also have some make up remover and q tips handy for any mistakes so you can clean up quickly before it dries. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Gel liner in Black

Without flash in natural light

With flash

Milani Bronzer & Blush

These had been on my wishlist for some time. I mean just look at them, what girl wouldn’t love them?? And they didn’t fail to impress. I love a coral blush on myself and I also find it suits many other skin tones but some are afraid to try it & are put off by the colour thinking it wont suit them.

Go on, try it and let me know what you think!

Milani Bronzer in ‘Amber nectar’ & Blush in ‘Coral rose’

Simply beautiful!

Taken in natural light

This weeks manicure!

I’m still sporting shorties but went for a raspberry shade this week.

Gelish in ‘Rendezvous’

Have a fab weekend!

Sam 🙂 x

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30 day blogger challenge: A beauty box review -Birch box first impressions

I have been subscribing to birch box for about 9 months and this months is a little disappointing for me especially as it’s their 5th birthday box. Maybe I was expecting too much.

The box is pretty but the samples aren’t great this month, as I rarely swap my regular hair products and this months (as with most other months) are mainly hair related.

I have taken pics holding the products so you can get an idea of the sizes.

Laura mercier facial polish 11.3g/0.4oz (£26 full size price)

This I will use, although it is a tiny sample. I suffer with very dry skin so I can always use a facial exfoliator. And I am a fan of Laura mercier products!
John masters organics- citrus neroli detangler 30ml £16 full size price)

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This will get thrown in a drawer and never get used. I mean, why give me a bottle of detangler and a brush? I’m 30, I think I’ve mastered the art of removing knots from my head thanks. It does smell nice though. Very lemony.
The birch brush £5.99

See above, it will probably live in one of my handbags never to see the light of day again.
Laqa & co cheeky lip pencil in ‘cray cray’ (£17 full size price)

A gorgeous bright coral, chunky lip & cheek pencil. This will go in my make up box and I’ll enjoy looking at its bright cheery packaging but unfortunately it’s not a very wearable shade for my skin tone. But it is a decent sized sample and would lay someone quite a while.

Beauty protector body wash (£8 full size price)

It’s probably enough for maybe half a shower with the amount of shower gel I use. The packaging is cute but it smells very sweet, too sickly sweet for me.
Benefit- the POREfessional (£15.50 full size price)

Decent sized sample. However I’ll never use it seeing as I have DRY SKIN! Come on Birch box don’t you check our beauty profiles?! So this is basically useless to me.
So that was my Birchbox! I’m giving it another month to see if it improves but if not I’ll be cancelling my subscription.
What did you think of this months birch box?

Do you subscribe to any other monthly beauty boxes?

I’d love to check some more out so please leave recommendations in the comments 🙂

Tomorrow’s post is: my make up collection!

Sam 🙂 x

Kate moss for Rimmel lasting finish nudes collection

It’s the eve of my 30th birthday and I’m feeling a little depressed. So what better way to cheer myself up than with an unplanned purchase! YAY! (That’s what I call them so I don’t feel so bad. It’s not like I went in search of an item, it just well, happened you know? )

I’d heard about the Kate Moss for Rimmel London lasting finish nude collection but not really being a lipstick fan myself didn’t think much of it. 

Until I saw them…..

  
Aren’t they pretty? Even if I don’t use them they’ll look pretty in my make up kit.  

 First impressions, the lightest shade (40) looks like a concealer. It’s that pale! And I’ll probably save 48 for Halloween seeing as I already look like a ghost or ‘pale & interesting’ as some like to describe the Casper like shade of my skin. 

However for me shades 42, 43 & 45 look promising. 

   
 
L-R 40, 42, 43, 45, 48

Application: They glide on easily enough and the coverage is quite sheer from what I expected it to be but they are buildable. 

They felt a little dry after a short while (if you suffer with dry lips these probably aren’t for you) but the colour stayed put for around 2-3 hours.  So I’d definitely recommend throwing one in your bag for touch ups throughout the day especially for a night out.  

If you can only buy one I’d say 45 will be perfect for most skins. But they are nice to layer if you do decide to purchase more than one. 43 over 45 is lovely!  Have you tried them? What did you think? Let me know in the comments 

 
Me in shade 45 – excuse the dressing gown I was running late for work 😉 

For £5.49 I think they are a bargain. And buy one get one half price in Superdrug at the moment (for a limited time) plus a free make up bag when you spend over £15, so if you want the set your winning in life! Get them here: http://www.superdrug.com/Rimmel-dare-to-bare%3F/c/rimmel-dare-to-bare?q=%3Aname-asc%3Acategory%3Apt_make_up_lipstick&text=&minSel=4.0&maxSel=7.0&minSlider=4.0&maxSlider=7.0&resultsForPage=20&categorypt_make_up_lipstick=on

I’ll work out how to put those words that link you to the products eventually I promise! 

Just a quickie, I thought some of you might like to see which manicure I’m sporting with each post? If so let me know and leave a comment. 

So here’s my birthday mani to start it off:

 
My urban decay smoky palette is winging its way to me as I type! So as soon as it arrives I’ll have a little play & a swatch and get the next post up ASAP! 

Happy Saturday people! x