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Showing posts with label sale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sale. Show all posts


Several weeks ago, Illamasqua had a huuuge sale on to celebrate Christmas and me being me just had to get involved. I went onto their website with the mindset that I'm 'just going to have a look' and 'maybe get one or two bits'... yet after several hours and over £100 later, I'm here writing about the things that accidentally 'fell' into my basket. Accidentally. Yep, accidentally...




I bought this as I thought it would make the perfect contouring powder. I've almost hit pan on the one I'm currently using and surprisingly I have no alternatives! It's slightly on the yellow-y side but I think it'll do the trick just fine.







Ahh eyeshadow palettes... my kryptonite. The one thing I just can't resist - even if I already have more than Boots themselves! This is a gorgeous palette with a fairly creamy texture, which surprised me but in a good way. It's not reaaally creamy - it kinda just feels like a wet powder, if that makes sense. 







As soon as I saw this back in October I fell in love. I wanted to buy it there and then but I was trying to be good with my money (that lasted long) so with a face full of mourning, I closed the window and stayed away from the website to avoid temptation. I'm glad I waited now as it was so much cheaper in the sale!






Pink eyeshadow is something I've really been enjoying experimenting with for quite some time now. I like to apply it in the centre of my lid, blending it out and then applying brown shadow in the crease. It looks natural but still girly, feminine and classic. So when I saw Dizzy in the sale, I couldn't not get it!







I'd been considering purchasing this for well over a year but because I'd never smelt it in person, I was put off. But when I saw how cheap it was to say it was a 75ml bottle - mixed with the rave reviews - I thought I'd take the plunge, and I must say, it smells amazing.







A few years back I got a white eyeliner pencil for my waterline as I knew that it helps make your eyes look bigger and brighter but because I have a blue sclera (the 'whites' of your eyes - I have brittle bones so mine are blue) it just looked odd against the contrast. Vow is more fleshy-toned so I thought it would be more effective - and natural - than my old white eyeliner.







Resist is very similar to one of my other Illamasqua lipsticks in Glissade - except this one is slightly lighter and is matte. Therefore, because it wasn't exactly the same AND because it was the perfect raspberry pink, I needed it. Don't judge me.






I'd been wanting this as soon as I saw it, but I had a gel eyeliner yeeears ago that went dry really fast, so it put me off buying any more. As for the brow gel, I was worried that it would make my eyebrows look unnatural, so I was put off buying any of that too. Despite this, my fears quickly dissipated after reading the rave reviews on the Illamasqua website. Customers were saying how amazing the products were and that the brow gel was a staple in their makeup bag, so obviously I had to jump on the bandwagon.
I wasn't too bothered about the Vintage Metallix, so it was more of a bonus for me. I love the pots that they come in as well, they look so sleek and classy! Not to mention, the matching rose-gold box is suuuper adorbs.







As you can see in the picture above, my eyeliner came covered in this weird white creamy stuff (take your heads out of the gutters, please) and I quickly tweeted the lovely social media team at Illamasqua, for them to tell me that I should e-mail them, which I did. To be perfectly honest - I was kinda pissed. Usually their deliveries come in flawless condition (I should know, I order from them often enough) but for some reason, during this sale period, they seem to be slacking as I wasn't the only one with a problem with one of my products. Many others opened their packages to find their Reflection Palette broken - and I'm pretty sure when they e-mailed Illamasqua they were faced with the same reply - send it back for a refund or exchange. When I read it I thought 'Right, okay, I'll just send it back and ask for an exchange. Simple!' Except, it wasn't simple. Now, if you haven't already noticed - I'm pretty lazy. I like things hassle free, especially when I'm not the one in the wrong. The paperwork that I had to fill out for the exchange was bordering on a joke. You'd think that I'd found a thumb in my can of Coke there was that much to fill out and do. So typically I left it for a few days, which turned into a few weeks, and a few days ago I thought 'Ahh screw it!' and I cleaned off the white stuff with hand sanitiser and then sharpened the pencil. I haven't tried it on my eyes yet but lets just hope I don't end up blind *knocks on wood*.


Now, despite my big old sigh over that order - it hasn't put me off ordering again. I got an e-mail last Thursday from them saying that more lines had been added to their sale, so obviously I had a look. Aaaand I may (or may not) have added three more lipsticks to my ever-so-vast collection...




The perfect nude. Something I've always been looking for, and to be honest aren't we all? This is why I ordered it - I had a feeling it could be The One. The verdict? It very well could be. I'm gonna have to see how it fares for a little bit longer, but for now I'm pretty chuffed with it! Ahh, it's so pretty!






"I don't have any pink lipsticks... Not any this exact shade anyway" is what I said to myself when I clicked 'Add to Basket'. Truth be told, I have a lot of pink lipsticks, the hefty majority being from Illamasqua. But this one is different - as unlike the others it's a dark, almost-but-not-quite vampy, raspberry pink. Honestly, I don't have a lipstick like this. 'It looks just like Resist!' I hear you cry - yeah it does but it's darker. So hush. I thought it was much brighter when I was ordering it, but to my surprise it wasn't. And I'm even more happy about it now as it brings the guilt levels down...







I wanted a mahogany lipstick for a while, so this was the perfect chance to get one! Although Autumn is over and Winter is coming to a close - I know it'll look great when September rears it's head again. When I tried Growl on for the first time, it's safe to say I fell in love. I can definitely see this shade quickly becoming one of my favourites. It's so gorgeous!


I'm really gonna have to put a serious spending ban in place as I've been wanting a Mini for years and if I'm not careful, I won't be able to afford one. So if you see me shopping, you have my full permission to remind me that I don't need that extra eyeshadow...or those 5 lipsticks in my basket. Okay?!


Did you order anything in the Illamasqua sale?

"I am in favour of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being." - Abraham Lincoln
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Urban Decay has once again created an almost unattainable piece of heaven, this time in the form of the Mother Lode, a limited-edition collection of  UD's legendary eyeshadows. The colour-rich collection which boasts 68 mind-blowing shades was created to celebrate the re-launch of Urban Decay's newly packaged and re-formulated shadows, which this collection contains all of. All of the eyeshadows are full-sized, individually packaged and easy to pop out. The collection also contains an exclusive four-pan Build Your Own Palette so you can create the most perfect mini palette with all the shades in your arsenal to choose from, and it is all housed in a beautiful purple open-top box.
yes, it really does exist *insert dribble here*

The Urban Decay website states 'From super smooth mattes, pearly satins and shades loaded with shimmer and glitter, to gorgeous duotones that change color before your eyes, it's all here. Switch between sultry neutrals and daring brights with shocking ease.' - I must admit, I have had dreams of owning this gorgeous collection, which were soon shattered by the stark reality that I sadly do not have several hundreds of pounds to spend on mere (she doesn't mean it, she loves you really!!) eyeshadows. Despite this, the set is actually value-for-money. I know it sounds surprising 'cause it's pretty pricey, but a single shadow is normally £14, and because there are all 68 shades that would mean it should cost £952, and yet you end up saving a whopping £507. I guess it's more of an investment, especially if you're a make-up junkie like me. You can continuously tell yourself that whilst you cry over your credit card bill at the end of the month, I won't be judging you, I promise.


Unless I win the EuroMillions sometime in the very near future, I think that this collection will just have to be a dream to me...sigh.

The Mother Lode costs £445 but is currently on sale at Debenhams for a mere(!) £400.50 

Do you pine for The Mother Lode too?

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It usually takes me around half an hour to blow dry my hair 'cause I have a lot of it and it's pretty long. Because of this, I've always put off blow drying my hair and therefore rarely straightening it. I know blow drying is bad for your hair, but as long as you're not doing it every day it's fine, but I'd maybe do it once a month if that.

When I went to Home Bargains (if you've never been in you need to) a couple months ago I saw that they had a load of Lee Stafford stuff but at a fraction of the price. I picked up a few products but the one I was most excited to try was the Wonder Spray which promises to reduce the time it takes to blow dry hair and also helps de tangle hair. Now if you know me you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Lee Stafford's products, and so although I had my reservations about the spray, I did believe that it could work. And boy, does it work.

Like I said before it usually takes me around half an hour to dry my hair, so I expected that the spray would maybe reduce the time to around 20 minutes. I was shocked that after 4 minutes, yes 4 minutes, my hair was completely dry. This spray cost me like £3 and yet it does that! I am so pleased with this product and intend on buying more. Home Bargains probably won't sell it again but I know Boots do, and I'm more than happy to pay full price. 

The back of the bottle/can (I don't really know what it is) says that it's 'full of extra special ingredients to improve the smoothness of the surface of the hair and reduce friction, for easier combing and detangling of wet hair. With added heat protection to protect hair up to the heat of 220'C. It also contains a little bit of hold to keep your style once you have blow dried it into place!' And it doesn't lie! Not only did it help reduce blow drying time dramatically, my hair seemed less frizzy than it usually does when I blow dry, and it did make combing my hair easier. Plus it has the typical Lee Stafford scent that lasts and makes your hair smell b-e-a-utiful!

If you're a busy person like me and don't have the time or the effort to blow dry your hair, but wish you could, I'd highly recommend this Wonder Spray, RRP'd at £6.19 at Boots.

this one gets ♥♥♥♥♥ - I can't fault it!

What's your favourite Lee Stafford product?
♥



I wasn't sure what to write for today's blog post, I've have loads of suggestions from you guys but none of them were appropriate for this week so I've filed them away for later. Luckily, I haven't left you with nothing because I got a delivery today, a nice black box filled with Illamasqua goodies so I thought I'd share them with you!


Rich Liquid Foundation
in 133 - £7.50 

Light Liquid Foundation
in 133 - £7.50
Concealer
in 105 - £5 


Illamasqua have been having this 'secret sale' where products can cost either £5 (lipstick, concealer) or £7.50 (foundation) and I got informed of this by an old school friend who'd tweeted about it. Obviously with me being a make-up junkie I just had to check it out...and make a few purchases ;). My box of goodies include super white concealer (it was £5, why the hell not) and black lipstick (perfect for Halloween, and with the pigmentation that Illamasqua have to offer I really couldn't say no), not the most obvious of choices but they were cheap and I'm all for a bargain. £30 for 5 full-sized Illamasqua products? I didn't believe it was possible either.



Lipstick
in Sangers - £5 
Lipstick
in Pristine - £5

















Have you purchased any luxury bargains recently?
♥