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

Payday haul with some bargains!!

Hey guys!, so yesterday was payday and also brought news that the elusive Naked palette from Urban Decay was being restocked at debenhams!! Ok so i know Urban decay is one of the upper priced make up brands but check this out this palette contains 12! eyeshadows which include 4 exclusives, a mini eyeshadow primer potion and a 'good Karma' eyeshadow brush all for the sum of £32 (or £28.80 on debenhams.com).



left to right- Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal.



Yeah i know it still sounds steep but the brush included costs £14.50 and if you take care of it, it will last you forever.

I've used the primer potion before as i have it in the full sized version which is £12 from debenhams too. It works really well i'll review it later. 

Now on to the true bargains of the week another Urban Decay Purchase but this time from TK Maxx

Two Urban decay loose Pigment pots in 'X' which is a metalic shimmer gold and 'Shag' which is a metalic shimmer bronze the came together in a clear pouch which cost £5, yep a fiver for both pots! on the Debenhams website this pigment eyeshadow pots are sold at £11.50 each!! so i got a really good bargain. tk maxx has some really good brands every now and then just waiting to be snapped up.

I like the idea of the brush that lives in the pots but truth is when you take the brush out you have to be careful or the product goes everywhere.

Left to Right- Shag and X.

I love how this behaves on the skin, it's such a solid colour but i can see when using this translucent power will have to be used under the eyes because there will be alot of fall out from this product.

My next big bargain again from TK Max was the benefit 'Betty brushes up on beauty' make up brush pouch which cost me £1!! it was in the clearance section and didn't come with the brushes but thats fine as i can add my own :)

I hope you've enjoyed my first Haul, it won't be the last! and remember when your out and about shopping have a mooch about the clearance section you never know what might be lurking there but also beware because it's not a bargain if the product has been opened or used.

Happy Shopping! Love Jo x x

Pop goes the blog cherry :D

Hey Guys and welcome to Lipstick & Pennies!

This is my first ever post on my first ever blog! First off i want you guys to get to know me and what i want to acheive with this blog.

My name is Joanne (or Jo for short) i studied beauty therapy at college and been forever obsessed with make up!
From the age of about five i remember watching my Nan apply her powder make up in the large mirror in her hallway and asking her for some make up for my birthday. i remember the tiny bright coloured palette of eyeshadows, blushes and lipsticks she bought for me and said i could have it 'when i'm older' every visit would see me peek in the cupboard to see if it was still there and ask her if i could have it yet :). Fast forward a few years and it was my Aunty that really got me into make up by teaching me everything she knew about make up and how important it is to never leave the house without atleast a few coats of mascara! 
Mostly i experiment with new make up buys on myself or my sister but i have also been assistant make up artist on a music video and also done bridal/mother of the bride/bridesmaids make up too.

Today make up is a billion pound business with everything from the dior/chanel/lancome boutique products to the poundland/primark value range and everything inbetween. Not only is it about Brands or the price tag but about what the products contains, does it contain parabens? is it vegan? tested on animals? Minerals? does all this really matter? I want to show you how to gather a collection of make up that you can create great looks with without costing loads of money.
Mission statement: I want to use this blog to arm you with the knowledge of-

• How to look after your skin,
• What to look for when buying your make up,
• How to use your make up,
• Tools of the trade, 
• Make up looks
• Hauls and make up reviews
• and more importantly how to cut the cost of looking good!

Thanks for reading, i hope you follow my blog and tell your friends about the blog plus any constructive feed back you have for me is welcome!!!

Love Jo x x x