Hello everybody! Today I have a haul post for you all and it will most certainly be the last one in a long while, cause I'm still about that #studentlife haha. This haul spans from August till now and I'm really excited to share it all with you.
A couple of weeks back towards the end of summer, I went to Birmingham to meet with a friend of mine, and of course I couldn't resist having a bit of a shop! It was wonderful to spend time with Hoodo and towards the end of trip I had some time alone and decided to hunt down the Birmingham Space NK store. It used to be in the bullring, however they have moved the store and its now about a 5 minute walk. Usually I'd just think, naaah I'll leave it and just sit on a bench and people watch till my train arrives. But it was SPACE NK - a store I rarely get to enter, because my nearest is in London. So I used google maps and followed the path till I got there and boy oh boy was it worth the searching and walked avec heavy bags! All the gorgeous brands that you don't find in a typical department store laid out, all the products I constantly browse through online and the best part? No pushy sales assistants 🎉 I was seriously in my element and could have spent a good couple of hours browsing. I had intended to purchase the Becca Champagne Split in Amaretto and Prosecco pop, because it sold out instantly online and I was told via twitter that it was only available in stores. However after a chat with the sales assistant there, I realised it would make a lot more sense to purchase the champagne collection palette, which I was sure would be sold out anyway!
The split pans cost £32 each are are available still from here. Like I said I was not expecting the palette to be around, so I was taken aback to see it there haha. The palette costs £48 and when you compare the amount of product you get in the palette (20.4g), to the amount in the split pan (7.93g), its a no brainer that if the palette is available...ya get the palette! 😋 What made me umm and ahh a little was the question...will you really use all the shades? At least by buying a split pan, you know you'll use it up, but again the value for money was just better in this case. Obviously it has been quite a few weeks since I picked this up, however if you are interested in picking up the palette, I'd recommend you check out your local store just in case. I wasn't expecting to find it, but I did so who knows ^_^.
On to the actual palette itself I've not had a lot of time to try it out properly, but upon swatching the shades they're the same gorgeous buttery formula that Becca produces. The packaging is beautiful, white and gold, with an excellent sized mirror which is always a plus. Although I was unsure about the size of the blush pans at first, they're more than enough due to how pigmented the formula is. You only need to tap your brush on the pan and you'll get enough for one use. I also already have champagne pop, it was a gift I received for my birthday this year which was another reason why I was keen on getting the split pan initially - however its such a beautiful highlighter that I know I can use it for years to come now I have two. Presseco pop, the golden highlighter, is utterly dreamworthy for warm skintones and I cannot wait to use it soon!
I just had to put another photo in here - as you can see you're given a clear sheet with the names on, but when I do lose this it's all good because they have the names written on the back. I'm most excited by Amaretto, which is the matte/satin blush that is more of a nude colour and reminds me of what I envisage NARS Madly would look like. However Rose Spritz is reminiscent of Sleek rose gold and NARS Orgasm, so again another shade I'm looking forwards to wearing. I'm happy to have a selection of the mineral blushes from Becca as I'm such a fan of the NARS formula, I rarely spend a lot on other blushers.
Moving on to another exciting release in the U.K - horaaaay we finally have Kat Von D! It only took the U.K a couple of years to get this brand haha. I was incredibly excited to hear at the start of summer that we would be getting KVD here and I started thinking about what products I want from her line. You probably already know that I am smitten with the Shade and Light contour palette (£36) reviewed here, which has recently been re-released in a refillable packaging but for some reason that version isn't being stocked in the U.K. Yesterday I hit pan on a third shade within the palette, which is a first for me as I've never gotten through so much product! So that in itself speaks for how great the product is, which has led me to have high expectations of the brand in general. Recently Kat has released the 'lock it' setting powder (£20 for 19g), which I didn't hear too much about before the brand came to Debenhams, but the reasonable price meant I wanted to give it a go. I have been loving the Coty powder for lightly baking, so I wanted to pick up a higher end version. I really like the packaging, its sleek and pretty compacy. In terms of a difference from the drugstore one, although this is a little more yellow toned than the coty and finer milled, I haven't seen a big difference in the performance of the powders - but I shall keep you posted.
I was really interested to try the newly reformulated and repackaged 'lock it' creme concealer (£20), however I just have to say I hate how expensive concealers are becoming these days. 6g costing twenty quid??? Thats a joke if you ask me, when the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual skin enhancers aren't even double the price but contain a load of product and last a couple of years. This is the primary reason why I don't often spend my money on other brands for concealer, cause often they're not worth the money. Its much more beneficial picking up an expensive longer lasting product, than a £20 one which only lasts a couple of months, making it even more expensive than the product with the £35+ price tag! I hope I'm making sense here haha.
Anyway on to the actual concealer, I guess I purchased it out of complete and utter excitement that KVD was available online and I picked up the shade Medium 17 - warm. The online swatches are sparse, so I was VERY lucky to get a shade that works well for me. Its brightening and inbetween yellow and neutral. I do use a corrector first - but I do this with EVERY concealer because my dark circles are just that awful. I'd describe the coverage as medium but you could build it up a little. The formula is creamy and easy to blend, I use a damp beauty blender and its quick and easy in the morning - definitely quicker than Kevyn! For this reason I have been using it almost daily and although I would prefer a full coverage under-eye for special occasions, I'm actually okay with this for a daily basis. So far so good, but the pricing for the amount you get still bugs me...and I don't know that I love it enough to repurchase at this point.
Finally I picked up two more of her everlasting liquid lipsticks. I already owned Lolita and Double Dare, so I added Lolita 2 and Bow N Arrow. These cost £16 each, pretty pricy but you get a decent amount in the tube and I do enjoy the formula. By the way the swatch style I've used, is totally inspired by the beautiful beauty with charm ☺️. So far I really like lolita 2, it is a stunning orange toned mix of brown and red and I've been leaning towards this kind of shade since discovering and falling for ABH Ashton. Bow N Arrow looks VERY brown in the swatch, yet on my lips its more muted and slightly more on the nude side. Look out for a collective review of these in a couple of weeks!
What are your favourite recent purchases?
Thank-you for reading ♥
Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Instagram | Facebook
