Haul | Sephora USA, LA Splash & Sephora France!

Recently I took part in a blog swap with my friend, Rena, who lives in New Jersey, you can see the blog swap post here if you're interested. In the swap box Rena had kindly said I could have things to her house to save myself a bit of money, I got some things from the US Sephora and LA Splash sent to her house.

The stuff I got from the US Sephora I'm really glad I got and I can't wait to give it all a try! Since when I did the order last year it was my birthday month I got the Sephora birthday gift, the one I picked was the NARS One Year Bolder lip set. The set comes with two miniature pencils: Cruella and Rikugien. Cruella is a lovely red shade and Rikugien is a nice your lips but better nude shade. I also got a 100 point freebie, the one I decided on was the Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in the shade Lovecraft, this is another nude shade - it looks like it will be quite a good nude shade and hopefully it suits me. 
Sticking with Kat Von D - I got two more things from her range - I am so excited for her brand to launch here! I also decided to buy the High Voltage Eye Primer, I don't actually remember buying this, so it was a nice wee surprise seeing it in the box. Her makeup seems to be pretty heavy duty and it'll be interesting to see how it helps eye makeup last. The last Kat Von D thing I got myself was the Shade & Light Contour Palette. It was between this one and the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour kit, I think I chose the Kat Von D one because it was a little cheaper and the colours looked to be better for my skin. My NARS laguna bronzer is running out so hopefully one of the shades in this palette will be a good replacement. 
Next up is the Becca x Jacklyn Hill Champagne Pop Highlighter. I bought this when the hype for it was at its highest. And basically two weeks after I bought it, it was released in the UK. Just my luck. It looks stunning though, I'm not sure if its too gold toned? I'll have to have a wee play around with it to see how suits my skin. 
The final thing I purchased was the Sephora Ultimate Oil-in-Gel Lipstick Remover. There is no worse thing than being unable to get last nights lipstick off that has now encrusted itself onto your lips. Or when you decide to change your lip colour but its a stubborn one and stains your lips. Hopefully this comes in handy and will help with taking off a bright lip. 

Next four things I've got are from LA Splash, they're all part of the Dia De Los Muertos collection that was released last year. The shades I have are: Catrina, this looks to be a grey shade with hints of green and purple running through it; Sangre Azul, this is a beautiful blue shade - I've always wanted a blue lipstick but finding one in the UK is a little tricky; Guadalupe is a beautiful burnt copper orange shade - I can't wait to try this out; and finally Hasta La Muerte, a very dark purple shade - its definitely the darkest purple shade I own. I'm thinking of doing a first impressions video with swatches of these so keep your eyes peeled! 

Final things are from Sephora France, I only got two things but if I had waited and gone into the Champs Elysees store I'd have probably spent a lot more! The first thing I got was the Sephora Metamorphosis Exfoliating Power, it cost around 15 euros and it looks like you get a fair bit of product. I do quite like exfoliating my face once or twice a week, but I much much muuuuch prefer the powder ones, but again there doesnt seem to be a lot of these on the market. 
The final thing I got was an ETTANG Charcoal Peel Off Mask Cup, it looked really interesting so I decided to pick one up - I now regret only getting one but alas too late now to go back and get more. 
Product reviews will probably be coming up soon on the blog and maybe even in YouTube video form. Have you tried any of these before? 

The Original Make-up Eraser | Review

The first time I saw the Make-up Eraser I was in Rome, I really wanted to try it but it wasn't exactly cheap. I'm glad I held off though as I got the one I have now I bought from Amazon for around £14. I honestly didn't really know what to expect from this - I know its meant to be some kind of wonder product for taking off your make-up, but I don't really hold my hopes up too high for it... Like I think I'll still need to do a second cleanse, but it'll be interesting to see how it does. 
The Make-up Eraser is essentially a big face cloth, one side of it removes the make-up and the other exfoliates - although to be honest with you I think both sides feel exactly the same and for the life of me I couldn't tell what side was which. The cloth is meant to last for up to 1000 washes - essentially this should last me a good couple of years - cause really how am I gonna wash my face 1000 times in one year? The cloth is so so so soft, like unbelievably soft - I wonder if its one of those things that will get less and less soft as time goes by? Only time will tell I suppose. 

The first time I used this I didn't feel that it did anything. Like at all. Zilch. Nada. I put it in the washing machine to see if that would help it. It seems to have done something to it, honestly though I'd have never thought that washing it would do anything to it, but somehow it has...
After leaving the cloth alone for what I'm pretty sure was months, I decided to give it another go, and I've honestly mixed feelings. It took my make-up off but it felt weird on my skin while I used it. Clearly its taken at least some of my makeup off, as its all over the cloth, but I'm not sure if it removed all traces of make-up. I'd definitely still want to do a second cleanse to ensure that its definitely all off. None of the makeup I've tried with this has been waterproof, I can though imagine that with a little encouragement that it could do a pretty good job or taking it off. 
I'd love to say I really enjoyed using this and that it'll be an integral part of my routine... But, the weird way it feels on the skin puts me off it. I'll probably take it to Connors as an easy way of taking my makeup off, if not I'll keep it here and break it out when I'm playing about with my makeup.
Have you tried the Make-up Eraser? What did you think of it? 

Rome Beauty Haul | Sephora & Kiko

As soon as I booked to go to Rome, I knew I was going to be hitting up Sephora and Kiko. The poor boyfriend was dragged around 4 or 5 different shops before I decided I bought everything I wanted. 

I got a few Kiko things while in the main station, Termini - they had a Sephora too! Kiko in Italy is a little cheaper than it is in the UK - so I waited till I got to Rome before getting anything from them. I got their 3D Lifting Foundation - I got in in the lightest shade, I've yet to test it out but the colour looks pretty good for me. 

I also got a Rebel Bouncy Blusher in the shade Velvet Peach - it was on offer and looked pretty, couldn't say no to it! 
The last thing from Kiko I bought was one of the Water Eyeshadows, its in the shade 200 and looks stunning! 

Sephora is a place of dreams, I can only imagine how I'd feel in one of the American ones - one day I'll go and spend all my money!
Make-up wise there wasn't much that caught my eye - the skin care stuff on the other hand did. 

The first time I went into Sephora I tried a bit of the Bubble Mask on my hand and was amazed when it actually went bubbly - I don't know why I didn't expect it to bubble. I also got myself a Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water and cotton wool to go with it - I didn't actually realise the girl asked if I wanted cotton wool until I'd already said yes and it was too late. Oh well.  

 I went a bit mask crazy... They had face masks, over night masks, hand masks and lip masks - why don't we have that amount of masks? Connor bought me a few things too - he's a cutie pie.
I got myself an overnight Green Tea mask and a fibre green tea mask. I've yet to try any of these out, but all the masks cost 3.90 euros each - around £2.70. Not the cheapest masks around but I don't mind. 
I also got a Rose Lip Mask too - my lips are so dry now that they needed all the help they could get. 

 3 eye masks also found themselves in my basket, they seem really cool - and I'm interested to see if they do anything for my eyes, I got the honey; Rose and Pomegranate eye masks.

These last few things are some of the bits Connor was kind enough to buy for me. Shea lip mask, Pearl fibre mask and a Sephora brand cleanse gel.

Have you tried any of these products before? 

New In From Superdrug

Superdrug isn't a store I usually venture into, but I had time to kill and decided to take a wander about. I picked up a few items, so lets get on to them... 

The Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan Mousse is something I've seen raved about on blogs, and I made the decision to go ahead and purchase one for myself. It cost about £8, and if its as good as everyone says then I'll be a happy bunny! 

I kind of did a double take when I saw these, I honestly didn't think Palmers did facial care products! They looked really cool though, the Daily Cleansing Gel was about £6 and the Gentle Exfoliating Facial Scrub was about £8. I can't wait to try these and see how I get on with them! 

I was actually looking for the new concealers they have out, but the store I was in didn't have much in the way of MUA products. I did spot this little Pro-Base Prime and conceal palette - so I'll give this a go then maybe get the ones I like in the single palette form. 

Have you picked anything up from Superdrug recently? 

Bodyshop Haul

This was one of those shopping trips where you go with one thing in mind and then spend about 10x more than you ever planned on spending... 

I honestly went a little bit mad, buying loads of different hair care things. My hair is dyed and I'll try almost anything to keep the colour looking fresher for longer. So hello to the body shops colour shampoo and conditioner. Again each cost £4.50, so well worth the money. 

Again another shampoo and conditioner, £4.50 each, but this time for oily hair. I've not tired these yet, but I'll let you know how I find them. 

The banana conditioner smells absolutely heavenly. Like for real - my new favourite thing. Its meant for tuggy hair, and trust me when I say it really does get rid of tugs. I'll be doing a full review of this soon, and definitely stocking up on this. For £4.50 you can't really go wrong. 

The only thing I went in for was the Blackhead Remover, it costs £4 and I'm not entirely certain how to use it. I've also bought a replacement of the Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash, I loved the sample size of this - it costs £8.50 and I use this with my Magnitone facial brush, my skins actually cleared up considerably since using this. Last two things I bought were bought only because they had a skin care 3 for 2. The Vitamin E Overnight Serum is something I've seen other bloggers posting about a fair bit in the past, so decided to pick it up - £13 later its mine. The final thing, is the Vitamin E Eye Cream, complete impulse, just needed something to make up the 3 for 2 so picked this - it cost £11 so heres hoping its good. 

A Massive Amount of Empty Products

Since its been an absolute age since I actually made a video or typed up a blog post I've accumulated a stupid amount of empty products. Daisy, my puppy for those of you who don't know, has really enjoyed running around with all the plastic packaging. She has a real thing for plastic stuff, and shoes - the more expensive the better apparently...
I'm sorry if the pictures are a wee bit rubbish, I took them fairly late at night. But I think messing around with the settings made them come out okay, what do you think?

First things to mention are all bath type products. The Body Shops Honeymania bath melt, is absolutely lovely. It gives really nice silky soft bubbles that smell beautiful. If your not an overly huge fan of honey scents I would still recommend giving it a smell - my mum hates honey scents but really liked this one. Another Body Shop product is their limited edition blueberry body scrub. It looked and smelled like jam, the scrub was really good considering it wasn't overly harsh feeling on the skin. And of course it left your skin smelling divine. Another Body Scrub by Soap and Glory this time, this is ( possibly was...) my favourite scrub ever. Its the old design - maybe the formula is different now too - but I love it, it just leaves your skin feeling so so soft and nourished, I'm all for something that scrubs and moisturises in one step. I finished, after the longest time of owning, the Sweetie Pie shower Jelly. I don't know why it took me so long to get through this - I adore Whoosh - I think it might have just been how sweet it smelled or that its a little glittery? Who knows, but it basically just smells like jelly beans but only about 1000 times stronger in scent. Bath and Body Works, oh how I wish you would come to the UK. I did have two products finished from them but I think my mum threw out the other bottle. This mini sized bottle of Japanese Cherry Blossom smells absolutely heavenly, I don't think I'd ever smelt something even remotely similar. The other one I had was one of their aromatherapies bath foam and body washes. It was in the scent Sensual and boy oh boy did it smell good. I need more of it like... I cant think of anything that doesn't seem slightly insulting or rude, hmm. But I really want more of it, its just so good and for $13, which is approx. £8 its not that bad. Yes its maybe a tiny bit more expensive than the average shower gel but its more of a luxurious product, like Soap and Glory and Champeneys would be. 

Hair care now, and I've not used that much in the grand scheme of things. I've gone through another bottle of the 10 Wishes Marrakesh Oil, and I'm very close to finishing off my current bottle. I get this from my hair dresser as it acts as a heat protection and a detangler. The Umberto Giannini hair mask is something I actually finishes months ago and I'm only certain it made my hair feel soft, sorry I can't say much about it. I'm just a bit forgetful sometimes all the time. Since going from natural to red to brown hair I've been using products from my colour so thats why theres a nice empty bottle of the John Frieda Brunette shampoo. I've repurchased this in the big massive salon bottle as it worked out to be better value, I do find that it does help my colour last that bit longer - which is always a plus when getting it coloured is so expensive to start with. Two empty cans of the amazing Aussie dry shampoos. Best dry shampoo I've ever tried. Period. There's no competition with it, I'm still to try more but from the ones I've used this comes out on top. 

Skin care time, I' actually quite surprised at how much skin care stuff I've been using recently. The DHC Cleansing Oil is an absolute love of mine, I've yet to repurchase this exact one but I have bought a few other brands recently. The Philosophy Microdelivery exfoliating face wash is something I bought last year, and I've really enjoyed using it. IT may be a little on the pricey side but I'd been using it 3 times a week for a whole year and that's it only just being used up now, so it really is well worth the money. The Sanctuary Spa Hot Cloth Cleanser isn't something I've had for long, a couple of months maybe. And since it is about a tenner, its a little on the expensive side. I did really enjoy using it but I think next time I might just try the Liz Earle one. The Ren Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser is such a lovely product to use, your skin feels so clean after you use it, but not tight! I'll definitely be buying this again soon. Can you tell I wanted to get absolutely wanted to get all of the Origins Checks and Balances Cleanser out? I mean look at it! I cut the top off, sign of a good cleanser - looks like it. 

Final thing, is the Hello Mouthwash. I love all the products Hello sell, their mouthwashes all taste lovely and give you a really fresh feeling mouth. I'm currently using the Mojito mint one and I have to say I think it might be my favourite one. 

What have you been using recently? 

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A Small Boots Haul

Being back at university means one thing, I spend a stupid amount of time in Boots. I've been into Boots 3 separate times in the last 2 days. Yes I went in twice in the same day...

So the story behind buying this, is basically because I couldn't be bothered going back to the salon and paying £20 or so to get a tidy up. In hind sight paying £9+ on this wasn't worth it. It took so long to use, I used so much of it and it hurt so so so much! I think I'll just stick to letting a beautician do it for me.

My DHC cleansing oil had almost run out when I decided to buy this. I think this was about £10, it looks pretty good and there is lots there. Here's hoping my skin doesn't freak out when I use it!

 Complete impulse buy, but at a pound I was hard pushed to say no. The black seaweed one looks like it might be good for unblocking pores - heres hoping. 

I saw the invisibobble's online ages ago and had wanted to get one for ages, they were just under £4 for 3 bobbles and I'm hoping they work a treat. I was a little surprised at how small they are, not sure why but the pictures of them just make them look soooo much bigger. Just me and my weirdness I guess. 

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The Body Shop Haul | Skin Care

When you're low on skincare and you pass The Body Shop and notice they are doing their loyalty card for free if your a student you can't help but buy a few things. They had 3 for 2 on skin care, so y'know, I had to take advantage of it. The Camomile range is something I've been wanting to try for a long while and this was just the final push I needed to buy some items from them. 

I saw this little set and thought I would be quite a nice way of trying some items from their Seaweed collection - this range is aimed at oily skins, aka my horrid face. This set was £11, and comes with 4 little samples. It contains a day cream, facial wash, clarifying toner and a night treatment. Maybe it will help my horribly oily and spotty skin, fingers crossed - eh? 

The Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter was something I'd been seeing on blogs for quite awhile. I like cleansing balms and this one gets nothing but praise, so I thought it was about time I gave it a try. For £12 it looks to be a pretty decently priced balm, I'll report back with how I get on with it. 

I've recently become somewhat of a sucker for cleansing oils, and since this one was technically free (£10) I couldn't say no. I have a lot of redness on my skin and hopefully these products can try and combat this. 

Have you picked up anything nice from The Body Shop Recently? 

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Before Bed Skin Prep | Bedtime Routine

The past week or so I've really got into quite a routine at night: 1. to try help me fall asleep quicker and 2. To try make my skin feel and look better. For me personally bed time is just the burden of my life. I 99% of the time can't fall asleep before 3 in the morning or my puppy goes mental meaning I just generally can't get to sleep.

The absolute first thing I do now when I'm getting ready for bed now is to light a candle - preferably a non-scented one. I've been burning Avon's Sleep Serenity one recently just to see if it can actually help me drift off better. But I just like have a candle burning as I get into my pj's and fix my face and what not. I'll also spray my pillow with a pillow mist, the one I use is also from Avon - anything to help me drift off. I do quite like this one, and while I was still going to classes this really did help me fall asleep a lot quicker and when I did drift off I slept a billion times better.

The next thing I'd do is to moisturise my face, so just now that means the La Roche Possay Duo followed by Hydraluron and finishing off with a cheap Garnier moisturiser that I've been trying to use up. After my skins all lovely and soft its only fair to give my lips a little attention - so on goes Reve De Miel. Perfect little pot of sherbety lemony buttery goodness.

My body does need a little bit of loving as well, more so my feet. I've been making sure that they get a good slobber of cream on them each night. I'll quickly buff over my feet with my pedegg, I'm not high class enough to have an electric foot buffer, and then cover my feet in a thick layer of cream and wear socks over night.
For the rest of my body I apply some of the Body Shops Pink Grapefruit lotion to any overly dry bits on le bod. The smell of this is heavenly.

What do you do before you go to bed?

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Skin Care Routine

Recently I've been really keen to take better care of my skin and even spending more on the products that I use. I've got into a fairly regular routine, at least compared to how I used to be with my skin care routine. I enjoy my routine - and I think thats where I was going wrong before. Before I got stuck into this routine I had been trying to use up a fair lot of the products that had been in my collection for awhile, and as each old product was gone I slowly brought in shiny new ones. I'm still working through some products that I've had for awhile so in a few months my routine will probably change slightly again. My skin care routine for in the morning and before I go to bed are very similar, there is maybe only a slight difference in it.

In the morning I tend to wash and exfoliate my face while in the shower. I tend to exfoliate my skin before cleansing, the one I'm using just now is the Soap and Glory Scrubatomic - I only use this 2 or 3 times a week because the scrub is quite abrasive, and even though its described as being daily scrub I really don't think you could use it daily. The cleanser I use in the morning is the Origins Checks and Balances frothy face wash. You don't need very much of this - at little really does go a long way. I love the smell of this, its quite minty.

After I've washed my face I'll take myself back to my room to finish my skin care. If I have any spots I'll use a spot treatment on them - just now I'm using the La Roche Possay Efficlar Duo. I've not tried this as a moisturiser yet - because I've heard that it doesn't work well that way, but it seems to do pretty well as a spot treatment. I'll then use my Hydraluron before my moisturiser, I don't quite know what this does for my skin but I think my skin is better off with having it. Final step in the morning is to apply moisturiser, I've not yet got myself a new brilliant moisturiser, so the one I'm using is by Garnier - I'm not quite sure what its called but it smells nice and controls my oil pretty well. Origins GinZing is waiting in the wings for me.

My night time routine is pretty much the same, the only difference is how I wash my face. If I've been wearing make-up, which now I'm back at university is most days, then I'll have a double cleanse. First up I'll probably use Garnier Skin Natural Makeup removing gel, this removes everything so easily. If I've been wearing a fair amount of make-up then I'll use this twice with a face cloth before going in with a different face wash. The next face wash I'd use is the REN ClearCalm 3 Clarifying Clay cleanser. I've never used a clay cleanser before, so I wasn't really sure on what to expect. I do really like this though - for taking off make-up I wouldn't say this is the best for it. I find this is really good for absorbing excess oil, so I don't tend to feel like my skin is feeling yucky when I wake up in the morning. This doesn't strip my skin and hasn't broken my skin out. I genuinely love using this. The next steps in my routine are the same as in the morning.
My routine is pretty simple but I think it is really effective and works well for me. My skin is in such better condition than it used to be and hopefully it will just keep getting better.

What products do you love for your skin?

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