March Haul

Payday was last Tuesday, so naturally I was straight to Brent Cross with my list at hand, ready to spend a large chunk of my pay on more makeup. Enjoy this haul!



MAC Eye Shadow Pans in Tempting and Red Brick


Naturally, I wanted to add some shadows to my pro palette, so I went for Tempting, which is a gorgeous rich cocoa colour with a golden shimmer, and Red Brick, which is a matte orangey red.

No7 Lash and Brow Perfector


I've been on the market for a brow gel for a while, considering that I use a pencil to fill in my eyebrows, and I have really long eyebrow hairs that just wanna do pretty much whatever they want. As most of you know, Boots give out No7 vouchers with most purchases, and this one wasn't that expensive, so I thought I'd give it a go!

MAC Lipstick in Japanese Maple


This is a gorgeous nude beige with a slight pinky undertone and a cream sheen finish. It's lovely for everyday cause it's just so natural. I'm sad cause I've already lost it. Well done me. That's what you get when you take your new makeup out on a drunken night. I will most probably be repurchasing when I'm next out shopping.

MAC Mineralize Glass in Be Nice


This is a lovely peachy pink non-shimmer lip gloss. It's really great for the spring season, especially if you're wanting to rock a more dramatic eye look, this gloss will really balance that out nicely. It's really not very sticky which I love, considering I'm usually put off of lip gloss because of the stickiness.

MAC Pigment in Rose


A gorgeous highly pigmented (duh) rose coloured loose shadow with coppery shimmers. Absolutely great for a number of looks, whether you want a subtle wash of sparkle over your lid, or with a matte brown blended into your crease to turn this girly, feminine shade into a harsher, dramatic evening time look. I love it so far and am excited to experiment different looks with it.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Warm Medium


I've heard great things about this concealer, and for the price I figured I had to give it a try. It's a thick liquid complete with sponged wand for application. So far so good. I think it's pretty similar, if not thicker, than the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, but literally so so much cheaper. It's pretty good as a liquid highlighter as well! I am very happy.

L'Oréal Paris True Match Foundation in N7 Amber


I've always heard great things about this foundation, with beautiful YouTuber Lauren Curtis being one of the biggest advocates for it. I went for a darker shade as I needed something I could use once the fake tan has been lathered on. Also, always better to go for a foundation that's too dark rather than too light to avoid looking run down and pasty. I really like it so far. It has a very watery consistency which makes it really lightweight, but the coverage is really great and long lasting.

Eyelure 101 Eyelashes, Philosophy Purity Facial Cleanser and Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara


These three beauts are repurchases because I've loved them oh so much in the past, I needed them in my life again. 101's are my go-to Eyelure Lashes, perfect for both day and night in my opinion, depending on how you do the rest of your makeup. No other cleanser quite compares to Purity as it removes makeup like a dream and leaves my skin feeling lovely. They're Real is like no other mascara I've tried. They genuinely give that "They'e Real" effect, and the compliments I get on my lashes after using this are endless.







Dani Alexandra
Xoxo

YSL Rouge Volupté Lipstick | Review

So I've mentioned this lipstick in a couple of my previous posts, but thought it was a good one to do a full review on. This is in the shade Peach Passion.





Like most, I was probably drawn to this little beaut because of the gorgeous and sleek gold packaging, the band representing the colour of that particular lipstick surrounded by the beautifullness of the YSL logo, and the way it makes your entire lipstick collection feel that much more expensive, important and unique. So yeah, completely sold by the packaging.

Appearance- Creamy
Longevity- Short
Price Range- £££
My Rating- ♥♥

It's a shame that the packaging doesn't quite live up to the expectations of this product. I got it because I wanted an everyday subtle lipstick and thought that paying as much as £25 for a lipstick, it had to be one I was going to wear a lot. I will say, the colour is absolutely beautiful and everything I wanted. It's a lovely coral edging slightly more to the pinky side, but the peach in it makes it so subtle and beautiful, it can literally be worn on any occasion and goes with EVERYTHING. Absolute plus.

The texture is really creamy which is nice for everyday, but it is surprisingly very drying and I feel I really need to lather the lip balm on after using it. This creamy-ness also means that I really don't find this lipstick lasting any longer than about an hour, and whatever is left is just really choppy and cracked. If you constantly press your lips together like I do, then this lipstick really isn't for you cause it just makes the longevity even less and it takes every fiber in my body to stop myself from doing it cause all I want in the world right now is this lipstick to last longer than 1-frickin-hour! I should also mention that the creamy-ness means that every dry patch and crack on your lips will be very very visible, so you wanna exfoliate those lips to the max beforehand.

A little really does go a long way, and even though you may feel you need to coat it on, 3 small swipes will do, with a lot of pressing it and blending it with your finger. Lathering will just waste the product and make it look far too greasy, in my opinion. This technique of applying it is how I've found it to look the best and last the longest. Still not that long though. On a side note, on discovering that only a little is needed per application may mean this product having a long lifespan, but at the same time the need to reapply so often may make it run out just as quick as any other lipstick. I've used it a lot and there still seems to be quite a bit left, but I'll let you know!

I really really wanted to give this 3 hearts, but I think that I want to love it more than I actually do. For the price paid and the way I can make it initially look on my lips makes me need to adore it, but the hard work it takes to make it look good and the amount of time it lasts takes a lot of that adoration away. Nonetheless, I will continue to use it either until it runs out or I purchase another daytime peachy lipstick that I love the initial look of just as much as this, and I am keen to try some of the other types of lipsticks YSL do, but I probably won't be getting another Rouge Volupté in the near future.

Here's a link anyway if you do want to check it out yourself, and below are some photos of it in action over the past weeks! (Yes you would have already seen some of these photos, but I like to recycle where appropriate :))






Dani Alexandra
Xoxo

Daytime Simple and Awakening Makeup Look

The past few weeks I've been doing some super early 7am shifts at work (which means waking up at half 5 WAA), so I've really been enjoying wearing this look. It's really really easy to do and doesn't take long at all. I just feel like it makes me look a bit more awake and glowing when in actual fact under it all, I am pretty much asleep..



If you like this look, then keep reading :)


I start by, as always, priming my T-Zone with Benefit's Porefessional. I just use my fingers to blend it into my skin. I then use the Garnier Caffeine Anti-Dark Circles 2-in-1 Roll-On, I think in the shade either Medium or Dark, I cant quite remember (and it's not on the bottle)! I use this under my foundation because I feel that the caffeine and anti-dark circle stuff probably works better directly on the skin, but that's just me! I also just dab that in with my finger. I then buff my Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Soft Beige all over my face using my Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Brush. I used about a pump and a half today.


I conceal/highlight my eyes, sides of nose, chin and forehead with the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Radiant Touch in 1 (I probably need a slightly darker one to be honest, but I also feel the lighter colour wakes my face up a bit more!) and then set that and the rest of my face with the Rimmel Stay Matte Transparent Powder. Yes, there is no lid and yes, I lost it on a night out. I do not know how...



I put some colour back in my face by contouring my cheekbones and forehead with NARS Laguna Bronzer and then join that contouring together via my temples. It just gives my face so much more definition and nice sun kissed glow, especially after sweeping some NARS Gina Blusher up that contour line. I then fill my eyebrows in like I always do with the Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Black Brown, then clean up any mistakes or eyebrow fallout with the Touche Eclat.



I then take my Sigma E25 Blending Brush with my Laguna and just blend that into my crease. It just gives the eyes more definition and wakes them up that little bit more. I'm loving eyeliner flicks at the mo and I think gel liner is great at making them look professional and sleek, as well as it being a lot easier to control. So saying that, I did a flick and a medium-ish line of Topshop Gel Liner Ink using a Sigma E56 Small Angle Brush. I then lined my waterline with the MAC Coffee Eye Pencil, which I think is great for the daytime because it adds nice definition to the eyes, while not looking too harsh because of the colour. I finally finished the eyes off with a couple coats of Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Mascara on my top and bottom lashes.



I finish off the look with Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Lipstick in 13 Peach Passion. This lipstick is so so creamy, which unfortunately means every little crack and piece of dry skin on your lips is so visible (so excuse the picture), but I do actually really like it for the daytime because it's a little softer and subtle, and again adds to the whole sort of 'awakening' attempt. I also think this colour is absolutely GORGEOUS.

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this look, have a great week :)












Dani Alexandra
Xoxo