11 February 2011

My E.L.F Order

6:47 PM Beauty Bitz , ELF 2 Comments
Hello again!!
So a while ago I made my first ever order to ELF. I do have some ELF products already including a powder brush, blush brush, eye shadow brush, lip stain and blusher; but I bought all of these in Target while I was in New York last year.  I made my order while they were having free shipping. I recommend following/liking them on their Twitter and Facebook pages as they update regularly with lots of special offers. One of the best companies I’ve seen to do this actually. Anyway, down to business!! Here’s an overview of what I got!

I’ll start off with the 32 piece eye shadow palette (which I got for half price! down to £4.50/€5.30... oooh ya!) The packaging of Elf products in general is very nice I have to say. This is a bit sticky to open, maybe it’s just mine? To be honest I haven’t used this a whole pile to give a proper review, but from what I have used from it I’m a bit 50/50 about it. It’s a bit too glittery for me....I’m just NOT a glittery person – if you are you’ll probably like this product a lot more! Pigmentation is quite good, and there are plenty of shades. I don’t know why, but I’m not overly enthusiastic about this. But in saying that, it’s handy to have lots of different colours in one nice sized lovely looking palette. It comes with double ended sponge applicator (yock!) and a nice sized mirror in the lid – which is a lovely idea. Size wise I’ve left it with a 10c coin below for comparison.

 

 

(I went to look for a link to this on the website but it seems it’s not there anymore. Not sure if they’re getting it back either)
Next up is the blusher – which I love. I got the shade ‘Merry Berry’ from the Studio range. Its was £3.50/€4.10. Again it’s a tad on the glittery side....well; the shimmer within it contains some glitter, but not enough to put me off. It’s a gorg berry colour and I don’t have another blusher like it. The packaging of this is fabulous – one of, if not, my favourite blusher packaging. Really similar to Nars. Love it!


 
 

Next – Nail Varnish. I got the shade ‘Desert Haze’ for £1/€1.20 - 33% off! I found it hard to choose a colour as they has a lovey range of shades on the site. I eventually decided on this and I’m glad I did. I LOVE this colour.


I’ve heard people saying that the staying power of their nail varnishes is not great, but personally with this one I find it fine. I used 2/3 coats all right but it didn’t start chipping until about the 3rd day (this is good for me, I’m fairly handsy!!) Again I love the packaging – quite sleek. One thing though, I think mine may have been used before I got it. When I opened the lid this is what I saw:


No, biggie as it’s a nail varnish. Now if it were an eye or lip product... I’d be on the phone! But for now Elf, I forgive you as it’s such a fab shade! ;)



I also bought the Therapeutic Conditioning Lip Balm after watching Julie's video on her You Tube channel. You can watch the video HERE. After seeing that I was like “hell ya I’m buying that!” I also took in to account what she said about the nude nail varnish colour she picked – I was about to go for the same one!! Thanks Julie ;) ha! Anyway, the lip balm, I got it for £1.50/€1.75 and I chose ‘Vanilla Creme’ thinking it would be vanillaish smelling... nope, it’s not. BUT....it smells of something else. Something nice (in my opinion – this may be weird!!) I smelt it and was like... “What the hell?”....it was familiar... I knew this smell.... I defiantly knew this smell. I stood there for a few minutes sniffing away at it. Ugh WHAT WAS IS!? I was at home alone apart from Cathal so I asked him, haha! And he said “it smells like lipstick mom”....right Cathal, thanks!! My sis called over a few hours later – thank god because when I can’t remember what a smell is, or the name of a song, or someone’s name etc. it drives me bonkers! Wana know what it smells like???? CALPOL!! Yep it def smells like calpol! It’s loverly!! Ok that was a bit of a rant... sorry!! It’s a fab lip balm, nice size, feels beautiful on the lips, you already know what I think of the smell... but one negative. When I opened it (twisted it up) it wouldn't go down...ahhh! I tried gently to push it down as I twisted but the formulation is so soft it just squished it. I had to slice it off with a knife and I’m making sure not to put it up too much anymore. Hopefully this is just a once off cause I def want to repurchase and try some other fragrances.



I bought a Hypershine Lipgloss in ‘Mauve’ for £1.50/€1.75. This, I’m not bothered with at all. The packaging doesn’t particularly look nice. I like that it has a brush applicator. The colour looks nice but unfortunately on my lips it does nothing. It just looks like a clear gloss. I have fairly dark/red lips. Again this may be lovely on someone else, just does nothing for me :)
 

And lastly I just bought the Dual Pencil Sharpener (which includes a bonus single sharpener too) for £1.50/€1.75

And that’s it for now!! Overall I was very pleased. I felt the products can be a bit hit and miss. When they hit, they hit very well and to be honest I don't mind missing so much because of the brilliant prices they have. I will be shopping with them again. Have you purchased from ELF? What did you think? Thanks for reading and speak soon!


Slán!
Laura  xo 
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02 February 2011

New Boots!

3:22 PM Fashion Fitz , Footwear 5 Comments
Hello girls!
Just a quick post to show you my new booties!! Now I’m aware some people will hate them and some will like them so I’d really love to know what you think. Personally I like them, my boyfriend hates them and one of my friends said they look like biker boots! (which btw I decided to take as a compliment!!) Have a little look-see below:

There were some similar (probably nicer) ones in Pennys for €23 which I was immediately drawn towards, but I said NO LAURA...Cop on stop spending money. But when I passed the sale rack in Barrett’s I couldn’t but help having a gawk. And shur when I saw there were originally €75 reduced to €29... bam.. I was sold. Which I know is pathetic. The power of the yellow/blue/orange sticker eh!??

Slán!
Laura  xo

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28 January 2011

My Asos Order

11:08 AM Asos , Barry M 105 Comments
Hello again.
So a while ago I received an order from Asos. I bought a few beauty bits from the January Sale and I have to say I was very happy with everything. It came in a box (which I always am happy about for some reason – when they send something thrown into an aul envelope it feels so...lazy!!) Pic below:
First up and the thing I was most excited about is the Too Faced Pixie Pin Ups Palette. It comes in a cute little pop up box and a little drawer with the contents pulls out underneath.


Included are 6 eyeshadows, a mini Shadow Insurance, a mini Lash Injection Pin Point Mascara and a mini Lava Gloss Black Eyeliner. I’ve tried some of the shadows and.... I like them. They’re quite neutral subtle colours and perfect for everyday wear. They also have good staying power. I haven’t tried the Shadow Insurance (primer) yet as I don’t want to open it until my other primer is finished. Below are some pics of the shadows:
(Above I used: Heaven (cream), I Know What Boys Want (pink) and Like A Virgin (brown))

Next is the Mascara. Now the first thing I noticed when I opened this was..... not good. The smell. Euuuugh! It has a really strong, industrial, chemical smell. NOT good. The formulation and wand are ok. If you like subtle mascara then this is nice but personally I wasn’t amazed by it. It did find however, that the brush was good to grab all the small little lashes – but that might be because the wand itself is so small. Overall, it stinks, but it’s grand.
And then the eyeliner. It’s really black. One of the blackest liners I’ve ever seen so thumbs up for that!
Next I bought my first Eyeko 3 in 1 Cream – Moisturiser, highlighter and eye cream. This is nice to use under foundation for an extra glow. I’m not sure about using it as an actual highlighter though. I’ve this weird thing thinking that putting it on after my foundation that it would just mush it!

I also got the Big Eyes Mascara. I am in LOVE. This mascara is fabulous! It makes my lashes so much blacker and looonger. Beautiful. Best looking mascara I’ve used. It’s in a squidgy tube – really unique. Also the wand is quite unusual. The bristles are swirled around and it looks like it's gonna be completly crap - believe me, it's not! The only downside – getting it off. It literally stays put all day long so this is the trouble in the evening trying to get it off. Wipes do not work. I have just been using warm water and rubbing my lashes between my fingers (do not pull if you wana lose your eyelashes!!) This is my FAV mascara. So happy I discovered it.


Along with that came a Graffiti Liquid Liner pen in purple. It has a felt tip. It sometimes tends to bleed (as you can see in the pic below – swatch to the left) but other than that it’s good. Good staying power too.

And the last thing I got were some Barry M products. A Pink lipgloss – in Bubble Gum Pink and the Intense Black Eyeliner Pen. The Lipgloss is lovely. Surprisingly wearable so don’t be shocked by the luminosity of it. It smells beautifully like Bubblegum! The eyeliner is lovely too. It’s a kohl one and is quite pigmented. It’s a twisty one which is handy seeing as though I’m always losing my pearers/sharpener/pointer or whatever you like to call them!!

I also got a Bourjois Blusher. This one is a Bourjois Asos Exclusive, Limited-Edition Vintage-Blusher in the colour Pink-Shimmer. (bit of a mouthful) I love Bourjois blushers. They give a sweep of colour and I find in a lot of them they also have some highlight shimmer too. It has a handy little mirror and comes with a cute little brush....which I immediately give to Cathal to paint with!!


So that's it. Have you ordered from Asos before? Whacha get!!? How did you find their service?

Slán!
     Laura  xo




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24 January 2011

The Travalo

9:35 PM Beauty Bitz , Perfume 49 Comments
I NEED to talk about this next product! It is thee handiest thing for perfume lovers. It’s called the Travalo.
It’s basically a little refillable perfume atomiser – meaning that you can insert any perfume into this little container and throw it into your bag instead of hauling around a heavy and breakable perfume bottle – also ideal for when you’re travelling by plane to avoid all that liquid limit pain in the ass! It’s roughly the size of a lipstick and when filled it contains on average about 50 sprays. It’s really easy to do and is spill/mess free! Below is how I filled mine.

I chose my Juicy Couture - Couture Couture perfume. I just popped off the spray nozzle.
On the bottom of the Travalo is a small little plastic hole.
Place the tube of the perfume bottle into this little hole and pump up and down until it’s as full as you desire. There’s a handy little fill indicator on the clear part for you to see.
Simples!

It comes in a variety of colours including silver, gold, pink, black and red. I got mine in a Unicare Pharmacy. I haven't seen them available in Ireland anywhere else apart from there or alternatively you could order one from EBay. The Travalo website doesn’t seem to ship to Ireland. They can to the UK via another crowd who only ship within the UK....bummer. So if you’re lucky to spy one of these I highly recommend picked up a few for your fav perfumes!


Slán!
Laura xo
UPDATE 31/01/2011 - Josie who was reading my blog informed me that Pixmania are selling the Travalo now also. Click HERE to have a looksie! Thanks Josie :)

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21 January 2011

Vaseline Cocoa Butter & Cheap Naked Palette Dupe!!

11:50 AM Beauty Bitz , brown thomas 14 Comments
So I thought I’d share my 2 latest discoveries! Well, one discovery of my own and one recommendation from another girlie. I’ll start off with that. Recently, fellow blogger Dollface posted on her twitter about adoring the New Vaseline Cocoa Butter. Immediately the body lotion sprang to mind as I was addicted to that for a long time and still have a supply in my drawer. So I responded agreeing that I loved it, but then thought, “WAIT that’s not particularly new??” It was the new Vaseline Lip Therapy she was referring to, so I popped into the chemist after work and was delighted to see a few on the counter. For €1.99 it’s a steal and well worth it for these harsh cold days. It smells gorg!! Will def be keeping this in my bag!

Next up is a cheap alternative to the infamous Naked Palette by Urban Decay. It’s a little 4 pan palette with a gel liner and you’ll never guess who makes it? Essence. A lot of you might be familiar with the cheapy brand which is widely available throughout Ireland in chemists and most Dunne’s. Their latest range ‘Metallics’ caught my eye as I’m a sucker for greys, browns silvers and other metallic shades. I was in a rush and picked out the brown palette. I took it out that evening and had a look at it and was pleasantly surprised. The next day I wore it and it stayed all day! Well, I did use UD Primer Potion... but still, I loved it. Here are some pics:

(The larger swatch to the right is the gel liner smudged out.)


I also picked up the matching little eyeliner brush. It's dotey and actually a lovely precise little brush. The eyeliner on the other hand is not the best. If I'm to use it it'll be as a base for darker eyeshadows.



Now for a few €uro you can’t go wrong with this, plus it’s a nice and handy size to bring along in your bag with you instead of the larger Urban Decay palette – which I’m sure if you’re lucky enough to own you won’t want to damage.

Slán!
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