'Look Of The Day' Haul + Discount Code

Considering how all I have been doing on social media at the moment is panicking about how I am unemployed, I have been spending an awful lot of money. I couldn't resist though when I stumbled across 'Look Of The Day', a new Missguided/Boohoo sort-of-store, which was offering 50% off all orders! I mean...I'd have been stupid to ignore it, right? 

Here are the bits I picked up (apologies for the not so great photos, the weather royally did me over!).

Jeans: £25

I adore these jeans, the wash of them has a real vintage feel, but I cannot help but have a love/hate relationship with mom jeans. They completely flatten your figure, and I don't have much of a booty anyway so I need all the help I can get with my jeans. I do still love how they look from the front so I am definitely keeping hold of these.

Off Shoulder Top: £12

I'm loving this style of top at the moment, it reminds me of when I was younger and these tops were in fashion. With a diamante choker and black jeans I think this top could easily be dressed up too. 

Grey Cropped Top: £8

It had a frenchie on so I bought it...I don't really have any other justification for this purchase. But it is super nice quality and it is a nice top just to throw on everyday.

Crochet Zip Back Crop: £20

I bought this top to wear with the camel trousers I did a post on here. I'm not the biggest fan of crochet, only because I hate feeling the breeze through all the little holes (weird complaint I know), but it's everywhere at the moment so I got a little sucked in. 

Black Playsuit: £12 (unfortunately no image of this one since it didn't have a zip so no way to actually get it on, which was a bit strange)

I'm hoping to do a couple of outfit posts with the items I bought, I'm so excited to style up the jeans and the crochet top. What's your favourite item?

Use discount code: TAKE50 for 50% off all orders!

A Chanel Treat

  

I feel I have come to an important milestone in my beauty blogging days, I have bought my first Chanel lipstick. On my way back from Majorca I stopped at the Chanel counter at Palma airport and found this most beautiful orange toned red lipstick. It is called Incandescente and is from the Rouge Allure collection. For me, Chanel is the one of the most luxury lipsticks you can own, the packaging is just so sleek and beautiful, and I feel so stylish even carrying it. The sleek black tube and 'pop' opening is just so luxe and I am in love with it.

  

As for the pigmentation and the formula, I found that the lipstick was fairly pigmented, however it was definitely buildable, and the picture below shows it on my lips with just one layer. The colour is amazingly vibrant and would suit any skin tone. The formula is very satin in finish, its far from matte but it is definitely not a 'glossy' finish. It reminds me of the Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple which is one of my all time favourite lipsticks, and perhaps the only lipstick I have ever finished. I wore this to work and at the end of my four hour shift I still have a true colour left on my lips, despite having several drinks.

 Overall I would definitely recommend splashing out on this lipstick as it was possibly the most comfortable lipstick to wear, and it's so versatile and buildable. I feel like I will never get bored of Chanel packaging either, it will just never go out of style. These retail for £26, but I paid around €26, which is equivalent to just over £18, so it was an absolute bargain! Duty Free is my love.

Are you a fan of Chanel Lipsticks? Please tell me I am not the only one obsessed with Chanel packaging?!

Duty Free Pick-Up's

What is going on holiday without having a stop and a splurge in Duty Free? I am the biggest culprit for spending too much money before my holiday has actually begun, but sometimes you just cannot ignore the bargains! My first purchase was MAC Chilli Lipstick which is a matte finish. It is a dull toned red which is much more wearable than say Ruby Woo, and it is definitely one of the more comfortable reds. Initially I did want to pick up more than just this one lipstick, but the Duty Free shop was closing so I just had to pick up the one.

We wanted to have a look in JD as well, since the Duty Free prices are just so much more reasonable. My lovely boyfriend bought me a pair of trainers and this lovely floral crop top for the gym. The trainers are the Nike Flex Trainer 5 Training Shoes, and I am absolutely in love with them. They are the most comfortable trainers I have ever owned, and they go with all my gym outfits which is brilliant since before I was going to the gym in blue leggings and pink trainers (not a good look I assure you). The crop top was from a brand called Supply and Demand which I hadn't actually heard of, but all of their stuff was incredibly fashionable and feminine which is something hard to find in gym gear. I was very tempted to the matching bottoms but they didn't have the full length ones in stock so I left those behind.

What are your favourite things to pick up at Duty Free?

Mini Kiko Haul

These are the first products I have bought from Kiko, despite all the hype surrounding their collections, and I am honestly kicking myself for not trying their stuff sooner! I went into the Brighton store a few weeks ago and they had a sale on, so a lot of the stuff was half price. Luckily I managed to tear myself away with only a small bag and four items, round of applause please?  

Immediately I was drawn to the huge array of eyeshadows, in particular the Water Eyeshadows, which are beautifully embossed and debossed into a water pattern. These shadows can be used wet and dry which is a massive bonus as I like to use most of my shadows wet to create a more intense colour. The shade I picked up was 205 'Chocolate', which is a gorgeous deep, warm brown, which can be used to create a brown smokey eye, or even a more natural look if just applied in the crease.   Sorry I couldn't resist using this before I photographed it *smack on the wrist*! But the wear on these shadows is really good, however I do find that they give a small amount of fall down during application, but this can easily be cleaned up, and with such high pigmentation it was expected.

Onto the lipliners and I went a bit mad and picked up three. They were reduced to around £1.90 which I thought was an absolute bargain, and I am totally getting into just wearing lip liner and no lipstick, so these were good investments. I've been all over nude lips at the moment so was immediately drawn to 700, a brown toned nude, which is my perfect "your lips but better" colour. I have been pairing it with my MAC Taupe Lipstick, and the combination is beautiful. Perhaps the most daring pick was 715, which is a very pale lavender colour, and something that is definitely not my everyday colour. However, that is what drew me to it. It is definitely something I will have to work with to make sure I don't make myself look ill, but there's something about it I really like. My final selection was 710, which is the perfect Autumn/Winter lip shade. It is a very gothic dark purple with a hint of red. It's one hundred percent more my lip colour than 715, and I have already got a great deal of use out of it. The lasting power of this one in particular is amazing, and it won the battle of eating and drinking. Saying this, the staying power of all three liners is insane, and the application was very soft for such cheap liners.

From L-R: 710, 700, 715, 205 dry, 205 wet

What products do you recommend from Kiko?

MAC A Novel Romance Haul

I say "haul", I only bought two things (which I am super proud of myself for!), and I am absolutely in love with! When the preview for the collection was released I really wanted to buy everything, but obviously I am a student, I cannot afford an entire limited edition MAC collection, so I limited it down to two lipsticks: Lingering Kiss and Hearts A Flame.

  

Lingering Kiss is a very deep red toned purple colour and has a matte finish which I think is better for bolder colours. It's definitely more of an Autumn/Winter colour, but I think I shall be making an appearance with it at London Fashion Week next week. 

As for Hearts A Flame, its yet another red lipstick, but again it is a very Autumn/Winter colour. It is a medium-dark red which are my favourite types of red as they really flatter my skin tone. I definitely didn't need another red lipstick, but how could I turn this beauty down?!

 Neither of the lipsticks are drying on the lips, which is quite surprising considering that they are so matte. Both are also extremely pigmented and leave a slight stain behind once the initial colour has come off. 

Did you buy anything from the Novel Romance Collection? The single eyeshadows looked absolutely gorgeous!

Duty Free? Yes Please

 Don't panic guys I didn't go overboard with the Duty Free Shopping at the airport two weeks ago, but I thought I would show you what bits I did pick up.

I actually only went to MAC because the artists weren't starting work until 6am at the other counters, and it was only 4am. MAC was the only place where I knew exactly what I wanted and needed so I didn't really need much help. Of course I picked up two lipsticks, Brave Red and Plumful (due to EssieButton), and also Face and Body Foundation just because I wanted a lighter coverage to use during the hotter weather (which now does not match my skin colour due to my tan).  

Above is just a swatch of Brave Red (L) and Plumful (R) in the sun because it shows their true colour. Both of the lipsticks are super creamy and moisturising on the lips and can both be really pigmented. Plumful is definitely more sheer but can easily be built up. 

Just some more swatches.

Are you guys going to be taking a list to Duty Free this summer? If so, i'd love to know what's on it!

Christmas LUSH Haul & Gifts

Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are all still enjoying the excuse to eat loads of food! I apologise for my lack of posts over the festive period, I was working every single day except Christmas Day itself so I literally had no time at all to post.
It seems that everyone found out about my love for LUSH this Christmas because I received 5 bath ballistics on Christmas day. I then went and bought 4 other bits from LUSH in their half price sale yesterday, oops, but I thought I would share them all with you because they are some of my favourite ever bath and shower products.
1. The Christmas Penguin Santa kindly left this adorable bubble bar in my stocking for Christmas. The smell of this one is not very sweet but more sophisticated I find, and perfect for an evening bath. I believe that two of the main ingredients are orange and lemon, which explains the citrus tinge to the product. I think I love this one so much because it is a penguin...and they're my favourite animals because they are so adorable. LUSH suggest to only use half of the bubble bar and agitate the bath to create more bubbles, so I will definitely be trying this out.

2.  Avobath This is one of the more basic Bath Ballistics that LUSH do, with a lemongrass and avocado scent. Its such a refreshing scent, probably not to everyone's taste but I think its perfect for a morning bath or an early evening bath to give you that little pick me up. They say that the Avobath is good for thirsty skin, however since I have not tried it yet I can't tell you whether that is true. Although it looks fairly boring I reckon it'll be one of the ones that will do wonders for my skin.

3. Luxury Lush Pud I have seen so many people talk about this Bath Ballistic on Youtube, it seems to be one of the more popular Christmas products. This one is meant to turn your bath a wonderful purple/pink colour which is rather exciting! It used to turn baths brown but I believe they reviewed the product and changed it so it was more appealing. With some of the ingredients being lavender oil, ylang ylang and tonka, the smell is really relaxing.

4. Dragons Egg One of my all time favourites from the regular lush Bath Ballistic collection! This bath bomb is full of surprises, changing your bath to every colour under the sun, and leaving it at a final colour of gold. One of the main ingredients is Lemon Oil, so again the smell is fairly fruity. Boring on the outside but rather intriguing. Don't judge a book by its cover!

5. Father Christmas Unfortunately I was dying to use this one on Christmas Day so I don't have a decent picture of it. The detailing was so fantastic with the Santa face on the front. Now when I first looked at this I wondered why it was so expensive for what it was, but when I popped it in the bath I soon realised. It turned my bath bright green! It was so crazy. The main ingredients in terms of the scent are mandarin oil and orange flower, which makes this a very feminine smelling bath ballistic. 

6. Candy Mountain My favourite Bubble Bar. Vanilla, sweet, sugary goodness. It just reminds me of rainbows and unicorns and all things dreamy. I literally want to use this every single day it smells divine! It creates so many bubbles and turns your bath a pretty pink. I'm not actually too sure if this is a Christmas special because when I went in it was in their 50% off sale - I'm hoping its not a Limited Edition because I didn't stock up!

7. Santa's Lip Scrub Now I know a lot of people have negative opinions on the LUSH lip scrubs, saying that they are very overpriced for what they do, which is true, they are fairly expensive, but I got this one half price. It smells of Cola, although the smell is not to strong. I did want to buy the Popcorn one which is very popular, but it wasn't reduced and this was only £2.75. I am yet to try it but when I do, I will tell you if it is better than old fashioned Lemon, Olive Oil and Sugar.

8. Snow Fairy Shower Gel Need I say anymore? An incredibly popular item amongst beauty bloggers and I am not at all surprised. This was in the 50% off sale, so this 250g bottle cost me £3.43 which is amazing. I was hoping to get the larger bottle but it was completely sold out but the time I got there. This smells of candyfloss and pear AND ITS GLITTERY! Perfection in a bottle.

9. Snow Fairy Massage Bar Now, I didn't actually pay for this one, the lovely lady at the LUSH store was talking to me and turns out I served her at my work earlier that week and she remembered me. She asked me if I liked Glitter, obviously I said yes, and then she gave me this for free! I was super happy because I was actually going to buy one but it was one of those things I was unsure as to whether I would use it or not. But I definitely will now that she has explained to me how it works and how much it moisturizes your skin! It smells exactly like the shower gel too which is just yummy!

Unfortunately, since a couple of these products were Christmas Limited Edition ones, they may not still be available in your local LUSH store. 
Did any of you receive any LUSH things for Christmas?

Fragrance Direct Haul!

As payday was last week I decided to order a few bits and bobs from Fragrance Direct (amazing makeup for extremely reduced prices). I ordered 2 Maybelline Popsicle Lipsticks, a Calvin Klein Lipstick and an Elizabeth Arden Colour Intrigue Cheek Colour (i.e Blusher). This lot only came to something like £12 which is incredibly considering the Elizabeth Arden blusher alone is usually double this (at precisely £24).The Elizabeth Arden Blusher was only £4.50 and I got it in the shade "Berry Blush" because I own quite a few pinky blushers and I thought that a purpley shade was different, and something I certainly wouldn't normally pick up in Superdrug. I was a bit worried one I placed the order that maybe this was the wrong choice but now that it's come and I've tried it out, I'm so impressed and happy that I bought it! You really don't need a lot of it (else it looks like a bruise on your cheek), and the colour is so beautiful yet subtle. There is a slight shimmer to it but not too much - which is perfect for me! I'm so pleased I put this in the basket before I paid because it was 100% the right choice!

 I got the Maybelline Popsicle Lipsticks (RRP £7.49) in the colours Tropical Pink and Cherry Pop. Again I hadn't heard very good things about these lipsticks but at £1.99 I thought I might aswell give them a go. I chose the pink and the red because they were the most standard colours available and the ones that I would get the most wear out of. I swatched them on my hand when they arrived and I thought "what...they don't even have a colour" - but if you go over it a few times there is a subtle colour and it looks really natural and pretty. I find that these leave my lips feeling moisturized unlike most lipsticks! I do recommend these but I don't recommend paying the full £7.49 because although they are good, they aren't that good. 

Lastly, the Calvin Klein Delicious Truth Lipstick in the shade Contrast. I was a bit disappointed by this product if I'm completely honest because I find the twister to make the lipstick rise up is very weak, in other words it takes a lot of twisting before the lipstick is usable. I'm not sure if mine was just faulty but I found it didn't seem right. The colour on the other hand is lovely, maybe slightly too much shimmer but the colour itself is very nice and bright. I suppose that since I only paid £1.99 for it (RRP was £15) I cannot complain about there being too much shimmer.

Hopefully you can see the colours and the way these products came out on my skin from the swatches above. Personally I think my camera has dulled down the colour of all the swatches a tiny bit - but you can get the idea!

Don't forget to leave a comment and follow my blog!

♥