Trying New Things

Hi everyone! So (and I hope this doesn't come off as me showing off) I recently won a giveaway (YAY!) from the lovely Zinita of Beauty & the Payroller - which I was really excited about, not least because it included the coveted Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette, which is top of everyone's wish list lately!

The bundle of stuff I won has enabled me to try new things - including stuff that's not actually available in this country, like the Sephora Kiss Me Lip Balm, which I love. At first I was a bit confused by it, as it's a massive rollerball lip product that looks like an egg! But the colour - 'Strawberry Fizz' is gorgeous and reminds me a little bit of Mac's Show Orchid lipstick. It has a lot of pigmentation for a balm and applies really nicely. I would definitely recommend checking this product out next time you get the chance - it would be great if we had a Sephora in the UK!

I also really like the Benefit lip balms Benebalm, Posiebalm and Cha-cha balm, which are all adorably small and great for travel. 

As you can see, Benebalm is the most pigmented of the three, but the other two aren't bad either. These balms are designed to match their corresponding lip tint, and I actually own samples of Benetint and Posietint (Posietint is almost empty!) so the only full size tint I own is Lollitint, which I think would still go quite well with Posiebalm.

The beauty bundle also included some nice bath/shower minis from Cowshed - a brand I previously hadn't tried before. The body lotion smells amazing and the little bag it comes with would make a lovely makeup bag.

I've also finally got to try Bioderma and see what all the fuss is about - again in a handy travel size - and it is quite good! It seems to get off loads of makeup quickly and leave my skin feeling nice and clean. I'm not sure if I've been wowed by it enough to pay more than I would for the Garnier micellar water though. Another product I've heard a lot of good things about is the Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan - as I've mentioned before, I'm not really into fake-tanning, but I'm still interested to try this out sometime (possibly for a night out, because flash is unforgiving). It sounds very quick and easy, and the mitt included is machine-washable, which is handy!

Zinita also gave me some face masks, two from Sephora and the Pur Minerals Dirty Girl Detoxifying Mud Mask, which I literally just tried before typing this - first impressions are that this stuff goes seriously tight, so it was a relief to wash it off! I now have super-clean feeling skin, although my nose is a little red. Also from Pur is a 'Big Look' mascara which comes in lovely pink packaging.

For eyes, as well the Naked palette, Zinita sent me a Lord & Berry smudgeproof eyeliner in black (plus a handy waterproof eye makeup remover from Sephora, which is good because this eyeliner is waterproof!) and two Fashion Fair eyeshadows in Suede (a dark brown) and Nude (a lightish brown) these should look great together, and again the brand is new to me. In fact, I think the only brands I've tried out of what I've received have been Urban Decay and Benefit!

After some consideration, I decided to sell the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette. It is untouched, as literally all I've done with it is open the packaging and marvel at its beauty, but the packaging doesn't look opened. I hope Zinita doesn't mind - it's just that, as much as I love the look of this palette (and am very tempted to swatch it) I don't think I would get much use out of it, as I own the original Naked palette but barely touch it - partly because I don't wear eyeshadows very often anyway (I rarely have time in the morning for a proper eyeshadow look) and also because the shades don't suit me very much, being quite warm-toned. So my Naked palette is sitting unloved, which is a shame because there's nothing actually wrong with it, and I don't want the same thing to befall this palette! It deserves to go to a loving home.

(With that said, I just looked at online swatches of it, and I need a dupe of the shade 'Armor' in my life - if anyone owns the palette and knows of a similar shade in their stash please let me know!)

It's now sold, but please take a look at the other things I'm selling :)

Thanks for reading!
Sabrina xx

Current Favourites and a Mini Blog Sale

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts lately...I started a new full-time job last month (I'm getting paid to write - eeee) so I've been busy settling in, so that unfortunately meant that my blogs have been a bit neglected!

In this post I'm firstly going to talk about my favourite products recently, and then I'm making my first foray into the world of blog sales with four items for sale including two MAC lipsticks.

So, recently my Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara has been looking a bit gloopy and generally worse for wear, so it was time to get a new mascara (one of the few makeup items I can justify buying despite being skint - because if you don't get a new mascara at least every six months you'd basically be putting yourself at risk of getting an eye infection!) I actually really liked that mascara, it was definitely one of the best I've tried in the past year or so and if it weren't for my penchant for trying new mascaras I'd probably repurchase it.

I decided to buy the Bourjois Volume 1 Seconde Mascara: (which was £3 off when I bought it but the offer has ended, sorry!)

Look at this fancy limited edition 'Retro Summer' packaging! It might not even really be summer anymore but this packaging is lovely and cheerful. This mascara is one Bourjois' most well known but the only mascara I've tried from them has been the Volumizer one (one of the many Mac Haute and Naughty copycat 2-in-1 mascaras that were coming out in 2010 - I really liked that one, even if the 2-in-1 thing is a bit gimmicky.)

Anyway, this isn't technically a favourite because I've only been using it a few weeks and haven't made my mind up yet (I'll probably write a full review on this once I've been using it longer) but so far I have quite mixed feelings on this mascara. On the one hand, it does provide a very nice look quickly, with good volume and length. You certainly don't have to put much effort in to get a decent mascara look. On the other hand, the brush is flipping massive, so you have to be careful, and I've noticed that at the end of the day a few times it has smudged onto my lower lash line, so that's not ideal. But I will keep using it and I'll let you know how it goes!

In terms of other makeup, I've been enjoying long-lasting lip products - at work sometimes I can simply have a cup of tea and a biscuit and the next thing I know the lovely pink lippy I had on before is almost gone. So Benefit's Lollitint (which I talked about in my high end favourites post) is great for increasing the wear of my lip colour. It looks good either on its own or layered with a lippie like Nars Roman Holiday.  

In terms of long-lasting lipsticks, Rimmel's Lasting Perfection lipstick by Kate in 01 and No7's Moisture Drench lipstick in Rosy Ribbon have been great options. Rosy Ribbon is a dark pink which leans slightly reddish on me, although next to Rimmel's Kate in 01 it looks very pink! It was recommended for my particular skin tone with the No7 Match Made Service.

Left - No7 Rosy Ribbon. Right - Rimmel Kate.

Rimmel Kate promises up to 8 hours wear, which I don't think is true although it does last very well. I can't see any claims about wear time in the description for No7's Rosy Ribbon, so it may or may not be this particular shade which is long lasting. At £5.49 Rimmel's Kate in 01 is more affordable than the No7 one which is £9.95 - quite pricey for a drugstore lipstick, but No7 do offers quite often, for example right now there's a 'buy one get second half price on selected No7 cosmetics' offer.

Moving on to concealer and I'm still loving the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer - I don't know whether mine is actually starting to run out though as I keep having to put more effort in to get product out. It doesn't look like it's nearly empty, but still...nooooo. Living in London, I'm now on a serious budget so I can't really afford to repurchase this when it runs out, sad times. But I am still happy to use the good old Collection concealer (you know the one) as a perfect budget alternative which is around £18 cheaper (seriously.)

I'm still using and loving the Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk which I reviewed here. It smells amazing, albeit a little bit sickly sometimes, and is great for removing face makeup. Finally, a haircare favourite I wanted to mention was the Garnier Ultimate Blends The Colour Illuminator, a one minute treatment which nourishes my hair as well as protecting the colour radiance. My hair gets quite dry at the ends (especially as I've been blow drying it more lately - oops) and this stuff really helps. I also use coconut oil occasionally as an overnight treatment.

The Mini Blog Sale...

This is UK only - sorry! The prices below include £2.80 postage. Please let me know in the comments if you'd like to buy something and provide your PayPal email address - I will then send you a PayPal invoice. (If you don't want to post your email address on here, just DM me on Twitter.)

Please try to pay within 24 hours of me sending you the invoice and then I will post your item/s as soon as I can and let you know they're on the way. Also, if you live near ish to me in Tufnell Park in London then we might be able to knock £2.80 off the price (from postage) to meet up in person so I can give you what you bought - walking distance only though please. I won't accept returns/refunds I'm afraid.

From left to right in the image above, here's what's on offer:

1. Eyeco Skinny Liquid Eyeliner Black (never opened or used as I already have one) RRP £12, Price: £7

2. Jemma Kidd Light as Air Foundation in Ultra Light (about 80% left) (not sure what its RRP was, I think around £25) Price: £13

This foundation used to get raved about a lot before Jemma Kidd's makeup line was discontinued. This is a really nice foundation but I'm selling it because it doesn't work very well with my oily skin. (It used to work with my skin when I first bought it!) It has an SPF of 18 and the shade Ultra Light matches fair skin tones like my own quite well.

3. MAC Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick (used about 4 times) RRP £15.50 Price: £11

I wrote about this in my MAC lipstick collection post - (you can see swatches for both lipsticks there.) It's a great lipstick but I'm selling it because it doesn't work well with my skintone! It's been discontinued.

4. MAC Vegas Volt Lipstick - used 4-5 times. RRP £15.50 Price: £10.50

I'm also selling a Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius book over on Gumtree if anyone's interested!

Closer look images:

Thanks for reading!

Sabrina xx