MEGA bargain haul.....

Hey guys , Im sorry that this post is a little long but it has over four weeks of shopping so stick with me on this.

So i found myself wondering around the savers shop in Sheffield i was only in there for some shampoo but ended up browsing the make up shelves anyway :D and i found some W7 products which are mega cheap and they seem to be copies of Benefit blushers and W7's 'Africa' looks just like Toofaced pink leopard! i had to try these! and at £1.99 each it was a steal. Tj Hughes also stock loads of W7 products which is where i got the 'Double act' from that was £2.99.

Dupe for Benefits Hoola!

Not as pigmented as Pink leopard but gives a nice highlight to brow bones and cheek bones.

Dupe for Benefit's '10'

 I also picked up W7's 'crackle' in 'Earthquake black' i'm not really one for nail varnishes but these crackle effect varnishes seem to be the 'in thing' at the moment so i thought i'd give it a chance and again at £1.99 i thought that it was worth the try! (i actually went back and bought the white and silver version of this aswell)

Although this looks white on this pic it's actually the silver which is a little glitzy aswell.

 Also another amazing bargain i found in savers! Right by the till was a shelf full of Eylures Girls aloud festival lashes gift sets (you get the lashes, the glue and a coloured lanyard) for 99p! At the time they only had 'Cheryl' (black winged lashed with gold sparkle) and Sarah (black and red criss cross lashes) but i went back later and they had 'Nadine' (black lashes with multicoloured gems at the base) and 'Kimberley' (black winged lashes with little feather extentions). i have the whole set now. Please don't get me wrong i don't like Girls Aloud and i'm not even sure if i really do have the whole set of lashes as i don't know who is in the group or how many! lol But they are really cute lashes and i've already got some neat ideas for looks i could use them in!

So yesterday i went into the city centre after work and to see what i could find so headed to T J Hughes, mostly i think they sell a lot of rubbish, market brand tat but every now and then you stumble across a steal! In this case Urban decays Liquid eyeliner in gash and lucky for only £2.99 each. They have also had the Urban decay brow boxes in TJ’s too.

Also in Tj’s they had a huge range of W7 cosmetics and one in particular was a bronzer/highlighter which looks like a dupe of Benefits ‘10’.

You really just have to look around to find these steals my favorite places to hunt for bargain products are-

-TK Maxx

-Savers

-TJ Hughes

- Ethel Austin (yep i’ve found Bourjois and urban decay here)

-Your local market, you really never know what you’ll find but be on the look out for fakes and avoid them as they aren’t made to the high standard the originals are and you could be putting anything on your face.  At my local market i managed the pick up a bourjois nail varnish for 65p! and a collection2000 mascara for £2.00.

While browsing several make up sites and articles i kept seeing the brand Stila mentioned and especially their smudge pots. I tried to buy direct from their US site but like an awkward few brands they don’t deliver to the UK. After a quick google i found a place to buy stila from even if it was a little unexpected. It seems our online argos stock Stila aswell as other top brands such as Benefit. These have to be reserved online to be collected instore. To me this is a welcome addition to Argos and i just hope in time these products will be available in-store. I reserved the Stila smudge pot in cobalt and a a Benefit eyeshadow in blushing bride.

I also wanna tag on a couple of orders i received through the mail from Eyeko

I've have been hearing alot about these products so i thought i'd give them a go. I have to say i entered a ambassador code which as this was my first purchase i should have received a free gift but i didn't so i've sent an email to Eyeko to see what they can do. Anyway on with what i did get i chose the Big Eyes Mascara which is lengthening...

..Eyeko cream which is a cute light pink 3in1 cream(highlighter/moisturiser/eyecream) with a slight shimmer to brighten your skin.... 

and Eyeko tinted cream which does everything the original cream does but it's a bronzer rather than a highlighter.

Also last but not least i found a really cool cheap website http://www.halfpriceperfumes.co.uk/ that had the Bourjois liner effect mascara in blue for £1.00 and when you bought that and entered a code you got a free ombre stretch eyeshadow which is worth £6.49.

Then they also had Rimmel single eyeshaows for £1 each too :) i love these they are so cheap and the colors are really bright and highly pigmented.

Thanks for reading this huge haul post and i realise i haven't written about anything other than hauls but i've been writing something for the blog and it's just taking me a while due to other things going on in my life. Any way thanks for reading my blog :D

Love Jo x x x

Thank you and goodbye- Ruby & Millie :D

Hello again :)

So if you haven’t already seen the Counters at boots that stock Ruby & Millie then let me tell you there is a bargain to be had! Although it was a couple of months ago now that Ruby & millie announced that they would no longer be selling their range in Boots so in order to sell all the range and make way for something new Boots declared a 75% off SALE!! Now don’t get me wrong this late in the game means that online stocks are nil and the counter i visited was extremely sparse! With only a few eyeshadows, a few lipglosses and foundations in only a couple of shades. So i saw this and went as mad as i could go with such a small selection.

I love eyeshadows and i believe you can never have enough especially if you are a make up artist or a make up addict in general. I Chose Purple, Red, Black, Yellow, Brown and Green some have a Beautiful shimmer to them and they all are highly pigmented, i can see i’m going to have alot of fun with these. £2.75 each!!



I love how these pots open :)



top left to bottom right-black010p, orange300p, smokey eyes purple, purple510p, beige830m, green720p, red420p, purple520p



and they stack! so they're easy to store neat and tidy <3



Then i picked up a purple lipgloss because the colour was fab but upon testing it i noticed that most the pigment collected at the lip line and left the mid lip section looking all washed out so i think it would look alot better over a purple or black lipstick. I also think that to say it should have cost £10.77 you dont get alot of it-£2.69!!

I also chose a white kohl pencil and it is sooo creamy and soft to apply i love it already. £2.50!!- Update- on another trip i picked up the blue and the green kohl pencils because the colours are really nice.

Next up nail varnishes, now i’ve never been one to be into nail polish i own a few colours sure but i would never pay over £4 for a nail varnish unless it was super duper special limited edition beautiful or if it was the most amazing product ever. The colours in my collection are either black, dark blues, dark greens or reds and pinks. But looking at the almost bare counter two colours caught my eye a bright light pearl blue and the cutest bright yellow with just a touch of sparkle.

My local boots also had a couple of box sets, some of which were open so useless to me but i found one right at the back which hadn’t been opened and mauled. It was the metallics collection which contained 3 liquid vials with wands that were a rose gold highlighter, a silver eyecolour and a golden highlighter also in the collection was a coral blusher and a pale peach blush along with 2 brushes. £4.64!!

And while we’re on the topic of brushes i managed to grab the very last brush they had which was a foundation brush and it is amazing. Soft and well made the handle is long so it’s easy to hold. My love of make up brushes continues. £3!!

Update-

I went to the larger Boots in Meadowhall and they had alot more stock. i had also found on the 'tools' aisle that they had ruby and millie brushes that didn't have any of the 75% off signage so i asked a very helpful counter assistant and he said he had been looking for those brushes to put on the counter so i led him to the racks of brushes and he scanned them to see if they were in the sale and sure enough they were so i picked up atleast one of everything :D you can never have too many brushes :D

brushes left to right- powder, foundation, longer handled foundation, cheek, eyeliner 7mm, i-brush, lip, i-define.

cosmetic sponges, slanted tweezers & i-lash curler.

Also on this visit i picked up an eye primer pen (although i thought  was a lipgloss until i got home and read the label lol)

 and i picked up a duel eye powder pen in turquoise/white. i love how the turquoise has a metallic shimmer and the white is matte.

Also the best thing about boots is if you have an advantage card you can pay for your goodies with your points if you have enough so i paid for some of my Ruby & Millie products with my boots points so my haul should have cost £342.82 at its original price but with the 75% off and using my points i saved £267.58 in total! I love that kind of math J

Love Jo x x x

Double Elf haul :D

Hello again! I hope you are all well. I know it's been awhile since my last post but i have been writing while the site was down so i have alot to post now. This post is about 2 orders i received from ELF.

Ok so I wanted to do a tutorial before another haul but i haven't had the time and then my second Elf package arrived.

If you haven't heard about elf i'm going to change your make up buying habits forever. Elf, which stands for Eyes Lips Face, is a cosmetics company from America that sells cheap make up. Over in the US the range starts at $1!! and the studio range is $3 but due to import costs the UK website is slightly more expensive and starts at £1.50 and the studio range starts at £3.50, which is still a bargain if you ask me. 

So this is the second order i have placed with Elf the first order i made was just for the studio brushes which are amazing for the price. This time i decided to go for a selection of the studio range make up as well as the studio stipple brush and the large brush holder.

This is really handy as i have loads of make up brushes and things like eyelash curlers, pencil sharpeners and other make up applying gadgets. There is alot of room in this holder and looks really stylish my only problem with this is that one of the bottom corners hasn't been glued together properly so there is a gap but it doesn't affect the function of this holder and you can't really see it unless your really looking for it.

I ordered the studio stipple brush as this is the last brush i needed to complete the set of studio brushes. It's a really soft brush and i'm looking forward to trying it out soon.

I also bought the HD powder which is a ultra fine setting powder for your make up that is said to be a must when you are wanting a HD quality finish. If you are going to a wedding, getting married, going to prom, on a night out or are doing a photoshoot this stuff is for you! it feels amazing and softens the look of your skin! not bad for £6 :D 9/10

Next up is the eye lift pencil. One side is a brow pencil they have a selection of colours i chose dark and the other side is an ivory lift and highlight pencil(same colour on all pencils) for under the brow arch. I think this is a really good product but the chunky pencil makes it a little awkward to get a delicate brow so i would suggest using a brush like the Elf studio small angled brush to create your brow with small strokes. The lift pencil can be applied from the pencil but your going to want to blend the line out with your finger or with a brush like the Elf studio contour brush.

I bought the lipliner aswell which comes in a nautral colour it's a twist up liner on one end and a blending brush on the other side. i like this colour in it's own right.If you line your lips and then fill them in and use the brush to blend it in, it has a matt finish which is perfect for the daytime and when night time rolls around just reapply your liner and either add gloss or top with your colour of choice.

By far my favourite product again from Elf is the Studio Cream liner which i purchased in black. This comes in a stylish clear pot and even has it's own little brush! The brush is really good quality which surprised me. At first when i dipped the brush into the creamy/gel liner i thought it was alittle wet maybe too wet but it made application smooth while still being highly pigmented and after it was applied it was set in about 15 seconds and was a lovely Matt black. Now for me eyeliner is an every day essential! so i thought i'd put it to the test so i had a session on my wii fit and it stayed just where i'd put it. Even a splash of water didn't budge this eyeliner! i think in the future i'll be adding the Purple, Midnight and Ivory liners to my collection.

I also bought the Elf studio Matt Eyeshadow in charcoal this comes in the same style pot as the cream liner and also comes with a mini eyeshadow brush which is of top quality. I haven't used this yet so can't really comment.

I also ordered a few more bits from ELF that arrived this morning so i thought i'd tag them on to this ELF haul. So this is my Third order from ELF and i used one of the many discount and freebie codes so i got a little extra gift with my order :D

As you can see i bought the cream eyeliner in Midnight and purple. I Love the purple it's a plum purple with slight blue undertones once on stays just like the black liner however the midnight liner i thought was going to be a dark blue but it's more like a dark grey. See colour swatch below.


Left to right- Black, Purple and Midnight.

 I also bought the Matt Finisher nail polish which as it says on the box if applied over a nail colour it turns the polish Matt. Also this is a good product to use if your doing a male manicure to finish off instead of a colour or gloss.

So my free gift was two nail colours in black and white!

Sorry for the rubbish photos.

 If you check out ELF on face book they have codes almost every week and every 5000 fans they get the code is for either free delivery or 20% off the entire site. All orders over £30 get free delivery aswell.

Well i hope you've enjoyed reading about my ELF hauls and inspired you to go and check them out :)

Love Jo x x