Best Foundation Ever? | L'Oreal Infallible Matte Foundation Review

I've scheduled so many posts recently meaning I've not actually written a post in ages! Scheduled posts are in short supply now though and my love for this foundation is going strong! 
The foundation is in a plastic squeeze-y tube, different and I find better than the standard glass bottles that are usually used. The packaging is plain and simple, I don't think you could buy a foundation because of packaging - it's jut one of those things that always seems to have really plain bottles/tubes... 
It says it gives a medium coverage and I really think it does, you could easily build it up as well to get a much fuller coverage but I've been finding recently with this I'm not wanting nor needing a full coverage. The coverage it gives me is just perfect for me! 
Despite it being a matte finish, I don't find the finish to be overly flat like some mattes can be. I'm not sure if its how oily my skin is or if it is a slightly dewy finish but I'm really loving this foundation's finish. 
In fact I love everything about this foundation, from the coverage to the finish to how long it lasts. A lot of the time I tend to find that my foundations slip off my face, but not with this! It lasts a really good while, who knows if it lasts the 24 hours it says it does, cause really - who wears their foundation for that long?! I could put this on in the morning though, and still have it looking fairly good by well after dinner time.
When I use this I feel the need to use concealer is dramatically reduced, tending to only really wanting to use concealer every so often on my under eyes when I've had very little sleep.
For £7.99 I don't really think you can go wrong, and if your wanting it be be even more perfect why not try their new matte primer along with it? 

Boots Haul | Stila and L'Oreal

I feel like all I've done recently is buy things I know I don't need - oh well, makes for a blog post anyway... I went into Boots for one thing and naturally left with a few more things than intended. 

 These were completely unnecessarily bought - I basically saw then on an isle end saw the word new next to it and the beauty junkie in me went mad and told me to buy it. I don't regret buying them though, because I've used them a fair few times I can say for sure they are pretty good. The foundation is a fairly good coverage for daily wear - but a full review will come later.  

Recently my skin has been unbelievably uneven and red, so I've been on the hunt to try find products to counteract the redness or to cover it. Hence buying this, the Stila One Step. Its not the cheapest thing - I think it cost around £24, but if it does the job then it'll be worth it. 

Have you bought anything new recently? What make-up do you love? 

Blog Swap | UK & USA

I don't even remember how long Rena and I have been planning and buying for this swap but let me tell you its been a long time! We set quite a high budget, and that is maybe why we took such a long time between starting and sending. But anyway, I've been reading Rena's blog for a year or so and I really enjoy reading all her posts. Her blog is Kiss and Make-up and I highly recommend that everyone goes and has a wee look and maybe gives her a follow. She is seriously good with make-up and I'm envious of her skills.
Rena received her box before me - which just made me even more excited to receive mine. I have to hand it to the Royal Mail, they managed to get it over seas so quickly. I dare say quicker than some British parcels I've sent....
My box arrived the day after Rena received hers, it came stupidly early in the morning but I was so excited I wasn't bothered my being summoned from bed at an ungodly hour. The box was a blooming nightmare to get into, you taped this up so well! When I finally got into it I had to contain my joy and stop myself from just ripping through the box. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of all the items together (at least properly) so it'll just be lots and lots of smaller groups of items.
Can I just mention how beautiful the card she sent me is? Like, wow, its definitely getting saved - might see if it will fit in my photo album. I did try to film me opening the box but half the film was corrupted so yeah, that was a fail. Obviously the pictures are in absolutely no order, but I'll try say a wee bit about each thing - like what it is and colours and such like, nothing too detailed.

 In this pretty little black and pink striped box was a few lovely little bits from NYX, it was such a cute wee detail to put them in a box. Rena got me two eyeshadows in Golden Amber and Nude - Nude looks to be the colour I've been searching for, it just looks like it will be the most perfect base. Also in the box was a Roll-on Shimmer in the colour Almond and a lip stick in the most gorgeous red shade, Snow White. Very fitting.

 So much Bath and Body Works!! I'm so happy! The candles all smell amazing, Hulas and Hibiscus smells really sweet I can't quite figure out what it reminds me of but it definitely smells like some kind of baked good. Rena also kindly picked up for me Peach Bellini - smells exactly like peach with the cocktail edge to it - and Pomelo Grapefruit, this smells exactly how it sounds. Heavenly all of them. As if the candles weren't enough - Rena you spoil me - she also kindly sent over a couple of lotions and shower gels. She sent a few things from the Sweet Pea range - shower gel, body lotion and body spray. Its the absolute best thing I've ever smelt, she picked these out because they are her favourite so thank you a billion times over. She also sent me a body lotion in Endless Summer, not a strong scent but it is really nice and Japanese Cherry Blossom. The final Bath and Body Works product she sent me was the Aromatherapy Sensual Bubble Bath and Body Wash - this really does smell sexy. Its kind of musky? Is that the word I want... Hmm, could be. But this really is an absolutely amazing scent when this runs out I'll be so so sad.

 I love nail wraps, they are the lazy girls way of getting really cool "nail art" looking nails. The designs on these are so cool and not only do I have some for my fingers, I now have some for my toes! I don't think I've ever seen toe ones in the UK so it will be really fun to use these ones.

 This I know for a fact was the last thing I got, since it was hidden right at the bottom of the box. But this little notebook is so sweet. The colours are right down my street, chevron blues with a pink band. Perf.

Oh Rena how I love thy choices, she sent over two trios and one - shall we call it a palette - palette. The trios are in the colours On Cloud Nine - which is a blue toned one - and Sweet as Candy which is much more of a neutral kind of one. I'm not sure how much use On Cloud Nine will get but I'm sure Sweet as Candy will get a lot of use. The palette she sent me is in the colour The Naked Truth - the colours in this look really wearable and I'll definitely be trying it out very soon. 

 I was sent a few more bits from NYX. Although we are able to get NYX in the UK its harder to come by and tends to be a lot more expensive than it would be in the States. Rena sent over two of the Jumbo eye pencils, a blusher, an eye shadow palette and a pair of eyelashes. I love eye shadow pencils so I was really happy to have received these - and in two lovely colours as well! The colours I received were Iced Mocha - a lovely bronze-y colour - and Cottage Cream - possibly the perfect silver colour for the inner corner? The blush she sent me is in the colour Dusty Rose, I was actually really close to buying this not too long ago so good job I didn't eh? The eye palette - in Adorable -  is the perfect kind of neutral colours, there is a pink shade in there as well but the palette is so so so wearable. Now for possibly the most beautiful eye lashes ever? These look so fluttery and feathery and just out right perfect. I can't wait for a night out so I can wear these bad boys.

 Two more eye shadow palette type things, my eye shadow collection has grown so much. lolz. The Almay trio is so pretty, the colours look perfect for everyday wear - not too shimmery either - and its the one designed for brown eyes. The ULTA palette is very bright but the colour that I homed in on was the blue colour - wow it is such an amazing colour, I've never seen a blue like that before.

Next up is some bits from Milani, the last swap I did I got a blush and a lipstick from Milani and I quite wanted to try some more from them. Wait a minute... Quite wanted? That is such bad English, but you know what I mean. Rena kindly sent over a shadow eyez pencil, an eye shadow, a lip gloss and a liquid liner. The shadow pencil - your feeding my love - is in the shade Sand Dunes, it looks to be quite a gold toned brown colour. The shadow is in the colour I Heart You and my oh my, can we just take a minute to appreciate how beautiful this colour is? I adore red eye shadows like this - I have a few cream ones in my collection - so this is going to get a fair bit of use. The lip gloss is in the colour Sweet Grapefruit - unfortunately it doesn't smell like grapefruit - and looks to be a really pretty pink shade. The liner really intrigues me, this seems like an odd thing to say but I've never owned a liner in this colour and I very rarely buy liquid liner, I really want to use this but since its blue I'm not sure where I'll find the confidence to wear it out.

 I've come to the conclusion that American beauty products use a lot of packaging in comparison to British ones. With that side note, two new mascaras to try. I'm not sure if we have these in the UK or not but I'm really excited to try them. The L'Oreal Volumious Carbon Black mascara looks amazing - so hopefully it will be as good as it looks. And the Maybelline Volum' Express Mascara looks really cool as well, this is one of the Mega Plush ones and is purple so it'll be quite cool to see what it looks like on the lashes.

Rena had said she would be able to get me a sample size of the Benefit Bad Lash and she did! The They're Real just doesn't work on my lashes so fingers crossed this does a better job. I'm assuming these are all sample sizes? Why don't we get samples when we shop? Tarte recently came the the UK on QVC and I was quite interested in the mascara so now I get to try it before I pay full price for it! Okay so I'm not 100% sure if this is for your brows or for your lashes but it is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Genius, I think I'll look up what its for then go from there.

 Liners, liners, liners! Pencil and Liquid. Rena sent me over two Essence liners in Teddy and Love Me Lavender, along with a Wet N Wild black liquid liner. The applicator nib bit for this looks like it could be pretty easy to use, it seems to be pretty thin so in theory no crazy thick lines. Right?

Rena also sent me a Stila lip glaze - I think I had one of these years ago - in the colour Strawberry Lemonade and a Pacifica Color Quench lip tint. This is in the shade Guava Berry and it looks really pretty, I love lip balm things and I'm always on the hunt for the perfect one so this will for sure get lots of use.

 Next up is a few products from ELF, we do have access to this in the UK but only if we order online and sometimes I'm a bit wary of ordering makeup online if I'm not sure of my colour. Rena sent over a set of three lip glosses - the darkest one looks pretty darn cool! She also sent over two Jumbo Eye shadows in Little Miss Thing - a lovely gold - and Midnight Rendezvous - a really pretty brown. The final ELF product was a Shimmering Face Whip in Lilac Petal, it looks like it will be a really pretty light highlight.

 I'm not sure if we have this concealer in the UK, but I'm excited to try it anyway. The colour Rena sent me matches my skin so well. The Maybelline Fit Me range seems to be a really good range.

 Face wipes are the thing I use when I'm too lazy to take my make-up off properly, I'd ran out of wipes but I now have these Green Tea ones to use.

 I know we do get NYC in the UK but its not a brand I've ever really been interested in. Until now though - the bronzer (in Sunny) looks like it could be even better than my NARS Laguna!!! She also sent over a Sparkles Eye Dust in the colour Amber Glitz.

Final thing now from the swap box! Miniature shampoos/conditioners by Paul Mitchell - I think we have this brand in the UK, although I honestly wouldn't even know where to get it from. I was sent the Awapuhi Shampoo and the Detangler Conditioner - after I wash my hair it gets very tuggy so it'll be interesting to see if this helps.

This post was massive! I hope you enjoyed reading it and thank you so so so much Rena for doing this with me I love everything you sent me! Any items you would like to see reviews on let me know and I'll try get them up soonish :) x

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Not another sales haul | Urban Outfitters, FeelUnique.com

So I shopped the sales - again. This was all basically online things - so I did have to wait for this stuff to arrive. 
A couple of weeks ago I went to Urban Outfitters and the skirt I really wanted they didn't have in my size - so of course I had to go online and buy it there. But y'know it seems a waste to only buy one thing, so like any sane and reasonable person I picked up a few things. 

The skirt I got is this beautiful blue and green tartan print with flowers on it as well - I really love the zip detail on these skirts - I think I now have 3 or 4 skirts like this one. I just need to find some tops to wear with them. This skirt is in a small - gotta love UO sizing - and was £18 down from £35(I think).

I love Urban Outfitters jewellery, but it is rather expensive full priced - so what better time to get some than during a sale? This pack of 3 earrings was originally £10, but was reduced to about £4. They are quite cute, and simple. I don't wear earrings nearly enough so having these nice ones might encourage me to wear them more. The pack has silver v's, gold triangles and rose gold squares. 

I also got this ring from the site. I bought this ring thinking it was a midi ring - which I'm pretty sure the pictures on the website showed it as being, and got it in a S/M since I do have small fingers. It was around £3 in the sale so I thought the price was pretty good. When it arrived though it was huuuuge - they had sent me out a M/L! I'm hoping to get this exchanged for a smaller size - if not then I'll just get a refund. I unfortunately don't think I'll get a smaller one as their site is all sold out. 

When my new storage unit comes - this little guy is taking prime place on top of it. How cute is this owl tea light holder?! I spotted it months ago - but didn't fancy the £18 price tag that came with it. So when I saw it in the sale section of the website it took me all of about 2 seconds to add it to my basket. I believe he cost me £7-8 - still a little high - but it injects a little colour to my plain black and white room. I thought it would be a lot small than it actually is - its rather large.... 

Next up, Feel Unique. I went through their website quite a few times before finally finding a few things that I'd really love to try.

I didn't order much from Feel Unique since there wasn't really much that caught my eye - but two things did. The less exciting of the two being the Badger Sleep Balm - I really really struggle to fall asleep at night and I've wanted to try sleeping aids for awhile. So when I saw this I decided to give it a go - I had wanted to try things by This Works, but this was slightly cheaper so seemed the better starting point. It cost me £5.59 - in hindsight not a huge deal cheaper than the This Works set I could have got from Space NK - and there is just over 50g of product. It is a really thick balm, than melts slightly when you rub it. It smells quite nice, and does actually make me feel a bit tired for a few seconds after sniffing. They say "The soothing scent of Lavender and Bergamont will help you relax before sleep", they also suggest rubbing a thin layer under your nose, on the lips, on temples and any other pulse points. I'll let you know how I get on with this and if it does indeed help me fall asleep quicker. 

I finally caved in and bought myself the YSL Babydoll mascara - I think in a YouTube video a couple of weeks ago I said that I would never buy myself a high end mascara because of the price and the length of time they last. Well yeah, I lied.  This gift set, containing the mascara and their eye make-up remover cost less than the mascara on its own did. Being the logical person that I am - I decided that this was a massive bargain and therefore - after asking twitter about it, ofc - I must have it. It cost me a rather hefty £20.83 - next time I'll use my boots points I think. But I have been told it is worth every penny you pay and I can't wait to see how it works. 

Last up - not actually sale items but I felt I absolutely must include them. Its the L'Oreal #TXT styling sprays. I bought both ones that Morrisons stocked - I think there's another member of the #TXT family. I got the Volume Supersizing Spray and the Wave Creating Spray. Recently my hair has been a bit, bleugh and I've desperately wanted to do something to give a bit more life and va va voom. Hopefully these will help, I think the wave spray was about £1.80 and the volume one around £3.30.

Have you tried any of the products I mentioned? 

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