ASOS, Feel Unique & eBay Beauty Haul

Okay, we all know I've got a shopping problem, that was established a longgg time ago, and yes I am looking into rehab for exessive shoppers.. or maybe just confiscation of the bank card.

 

In this post are the little beauty bits and bobs that I have picked up in recent weeks and this was originally intended to be an 'online beauty haul' post ..until I accidentally stepped foot inside Superdrug too.

oops!

 

 

ASOS

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How amazing are these super bright neon orange make-up brushes from ASOS? I absolutely love them! They were so inexpensive too; the set of 5 brushes originally cost £10.00 but I bought mine whilst there was a 20% discount code going around and got mine for £8.00 with free postage. The handles are quite short, making them easy to work with and the bristles are soo soft - plus, you'll never lose them in your make-up bag when they're this bright! The set includes: a powder brush, a lip brush, a shading brush, an angled brush and a blending brush.

 

 

Feel Unique

- link -

I moan lots about my She Said Beauty Box subscription but there is no denying that it has introduced me to some amazing products that I otherwise would never have tried! In November's box there was a sample size of Redken's new Smooth Lock shampoo and conditioner duo which I didn't think much of at the time of use.. but 6 days after washing when my hair was still perfectly styled, smooth, frizz free and minimal traces of greasy roots (nice, I know), I was very impressed. I could not stop running my fingers through my hair, amazed at how soft my dry and damaged ends were so I just knew that I had to purchase the full sized bottles. They're not cheap at about £11 a bottle so I never would have taken the plunge if I hadn't tried out a sample of them first. Available on Feel Unique at the moment is a gift set version of the duo with the full sized bottles available as a pair for just £17.00 saving you a huge 15% as RRP of the pair is £25.25.

 

 

SuperDrug

 

Ermmmm.. did somebody say '3 for 2'? Such an irresistable offer! I picked up the Rimmel Precious Stones nail varnish in 'Diamond Dust' because I already have the red one (Ruby Crush) and love it to pieces but on all swatches that I have seen this silver version looks much nicer so I thought that I would give this a try too as you can never have too many nail varnishes.

 

Another thing that you can never have too many of is lipsticks! I picked up this very bright pink shade from Rimmel's Kate Moss range in shade 20 as it is an apparant dupe for Mac's 'Girl About Town' at a fraction of the price - and look how well it matches my nail varnish! (See picture below)

 

My third, and technically free product was MUA's 'undressed' eyeshadow palette, which, as the name suggests is a dupe for Urban Decay's 'Naked' palette - why spend £36 when you can spend £4?? MUAs shadows are amazing quality, super pigmented and long lasting, and I was looking to extend my collection of their singles so just thought why not pick up a palette with 12 shades in instead.

 

 

 

 

eBay

 

I found a seller on eBay who I'm sure will gain a lot of business from me in the future: hairproductsonline_ltd and their stock is like a hair care and bargain lover's dream! I'd been eyeing up this Macadamia Infused Hair Brush on Beauty Bay (link) for literally months but was reluctant to spend £16.75 on just another brush when I already have so many ..so when I saw it being sold on eBay for £15.99 but with a 10ml bottle of the oil treatment too then I was sold and clicked purchase right away (link). Browsing this seller's stock I also noticed that they sold bottles of the Osmo Berber Oil Hair Treatment in various sizes. On Feel Unique this Osmo Berber oil costs £5.90 for 10ml but I found it for £3.20 on eBay (link) - if I can save £2.70 on something then I will; every little helps.

[Full reviews coming soon]
 

Last but not least.. I fell for the Bioderma hype and bought the make up remover solution in the 250ml bottle! You can shop around for it on eBay but I found it for the cheapest price that I saw and it was £7.49 plus £2.79 postage costs totalling £10.28 (link) which is quite an expensive total for something which is essentially a bottle of glorified water that can take your make up at the end of the day, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've been using this daily for nearly 2 weeks now and my views on are just a bit 'meh', it's okay but not worth the hassle of buying from overseas or the price tag.
 

 

 

 

 

 

I know I should be shopping for Christmas presents instead of bankrupting myself on superficial treats but all of these were just irresistable!

 

Have you ever tried and loved anything that I've bought here?

 ♥

 

 

Review: Babyliss Pro Argan Oil

After religiously using this hair oil for over 6 months I thought it was about time I did a little review on it and shared it's wonders with you all. Using oils in hair care, in particular Moroccan oil and argan oil, has taken the beauty world by storm in the past few months and if it's something that you haven't tried yet then why not? If you're using the right one and the right amount then oil is reaaally good for adding moisture to those dry and brittle ends that are often a problem with long or over processed hair.
 

This hair oil treatment from Babyliss was my very first dip into the realm of argan oils and I've not looked back since! After loving this one so much I decided to try out alternatives from other brands to see how they faired in comparison but this is the one that I have always come back to. It's not a particularly high end brand and it's by no means top of the list in the highest rated hair oils, and it isn't very costly either - it's just a really good quality and good value for money helping hand for my dry ends. I bought this from eBay back in May of this year following a recommendation from Kayleigh (Couture Girl) and the seller that I both bought this 100ml bottle from can be found here: link. At the time I purchased this oil it cost me £14.58 and it has now been reduced to £13.14 which is a really good price for the amount of product and and the quality (especially when compared to other brands such as the original Moroccan Oil which will set you back a similar price for a quarter of the amount of product), BUT even better than this, I have since seen this same product on Beauty Bay for just £10.95 with free delivery (link) so snap it up from here if you're interested!

 

As you can hopefully tell from the pictures I am not even a quarter of the way through this bottle and it has been used after every wash (with a couple of exceptions) for six months, so I thankfully won't be running out of this any time soon as a little bit goes a really long way. One thing I'm not keen on is the dispenser for this bottle as it makes it quite easy to pour out too much product which leads to wastage sometimes and it's always best to start with a little amount and add more if necessary - you can't take it away once it's on your hair. I add the amount shown below through the midlengths and ends of my hair after it has been towel dried - my hair is really long and thick and this amount is plenty enough for me even at my hair's most unruly state!
 

 

 

Described as a 'nourishing oil treatment' this multi-purpose oil is ideal for all hair types and can be used to style, smooth, condition, tame and treat dry and damaged hair. Although I have spotted some silicone based ingredients on the ingredient list (which some people prefer to steer clear of), this is alcohol free and absorbs almost instantly into the hair leaving it shiny but not greasy. Unlike some similar oils this does not leave a residue on your hair; it is completely absorbed. This oil feels really luxurious to use and it smells gorgeous too! It can be used to protect from heat damage and protects and strengthens the hair which in turn reduces the amount of split ends and frizziness.

 

My last hair cut was back in May (yes, criminal, I know) and that is the same time that I began using this product. Yesterday, I got my hair cut for the first time in 6 months and I only made that decision because I was examining my hair and noticed my very first split end since having it cut all that time ago. I don't know about you but lasting six months without a hair cut and only discovering one split end at the end of it is pretty impressive to me. In almost 20 years of life my hair has never managed to last that long without being cut before (I am always one for regular trims) and I put this down to two factors: regular use of this hair oil and a reduction in use of heat tools. This oil is now a staple product in my hair care routine and it always leaves my hair feeling extra conditioned, soft and smooth. It does not only benefit the hair externally as a quick fix, but actually penetrates the hair and really nourishes my locks for a silky smooth finish.

♥

eBay: Acrylic Storage

Hello, hope you have all enjoyed your weekend. It's been such a lovely day here today and despite a minor hangover I've still managed to spend the day enjoying the sunshine and went out into town for lunch. Hope you have all made the most of the rareity that is sunshine in October!

 

Acrylic storage for make-up is a big thing in the beauty and blogging world and I wanted to join in and jump on the bandwagon. Muji seems to be the leading brand for storage and although each individual unit is quite reasonably priced the total can soon add up when buying enough to house even just the average girl's make-up collection, let alone a shopoholic and beauty addict's.

 

I'm a massive lover of eBay and find myself bargain bits and pieces on there all the time so that is where I headed on my hunt for acrylic storage, searching very simply 'acrylic make-up storage' and received hundreds of results in return. I found that a lot of the items were very similar, if not the same, product but with slight variations in cost and postage charges with most of them coming from Asia. I wasn't in a particular rush to receive anything to estimated delivery dates were irrelevant to me. The item that I decided to purchase in the end was this one here (link) which costs £0.99 plus £5.69 postage and packaging, totalling £6.68.

 

 

I ordered this on the 27th September and it was shipped the same day with an estimated delivery date of 12th - 30th October as it originated from Hong Kong and it arrived yesterday (20th October) which I think is pretty fair despite the fact I was starting to get impatient waiting for it to arrive! The parcel was very well packaged in a good few layers of bubble wrap but despite the seller's efforts unfortunately it still arrived with two cracks in the plastic. They make no difference to the function of the product and can barely be seen, it's just a bit of a shame. If I had paid more for this then I would have been annoyed. What I am annoyed about however is the way that this was advertised as a 'LIPSTICK NAIL POLISH MAKE UP COSMETIC STAND' ...and the rack is in no way big enough to hold a bottle of nail polish, even my teeny tiny 5ml bottles! I was extremely close to ordering more than one of these, one to hold lipstick and one, maybe two, to house nail polish bottles but I am glad I just tried this out first.

 

So, if you're looking for a rack to store your nail polish bottles in then this is no use to you, but if you're looking for something pretty to display your lip products in for a pretty reasonable price then maybe you should try this out! I ran around looking for as many lipsticks as I could but they're scattered all over my life; uni, home, various bags, boyfriends house, car etc etc but the pictures below should give you a general idea of how it looks!

 

I think it looks really nice displayed on a dressing table and it will definitely make getting ready and choosing a lipstick a little easier than rooting through a huge make-up bag or box. I will definitely be getting some more acrylic style holders for things, i.e. sets of drawers, but this was a good place to start.

Do you use acrylic storage for make-up?

If so, where do you get it from?

If not, what do you use instead?

 





This is the larger of the two cracks ..if you can make it out!



 

Don't forget that I am currently running a celebratory 200 followers GIVEAWAY that ends at the end of this month.

Enter now for your chance to win!

CLICK HERE

♥





(2-in-1 Post) eBay Bargain: Shamballa Bracelet and Topshop Nails 'War Paint'

Hello, I've got 2 mini posts wrapped up in 1 for you all today.

eBay Bargain: Grey Shamballa Style Bracelet

These Shamballa bracelets have been rocking around on people's wrists for quite a long time now and I've been lusting after one for months but have always been a bit confused why some of these bracelets retail for up to £150, i.e. the Tresor Paris ones, and some are selling in other good quality jewellery retailers 'on sale' for around £20-30. It wasn't until somebody explained to me that the 'original' shamballa bracelets are the Tresor Paris ones that are the extortionate price and the others are just 'shamballa style', not exactly rip offs, just cheaper imitations but are still legitimate. My bracelet, however, is from eBay and cost me just £4.99 with free p&p! It ticks all the boxes for the 'real' bracelets; it has 9 balls, it is heavy, and the end balls are even magnetic - something that I did not expect from just a cheap knock off. If you hadn't have read this blog post then you would never have known how much this cost me. The only thing about this that is probably different from the Tresor Paris bracelets is the level of sparkle, as my bracelet isn't incredibly sparkly. I will link the seller I bought mine from here: link. There is a range of different colours to choose from and this arrived super quick. Definitely recommend. 

Topshop Nail Varnish 'War Paint'

I absolutely love, love, LOVE Topshop's Nail Varnishes.. I want them all! I cannot sing their praises enough and at just £5 (£4.50 if you get student discount like me) each they are a bargain too. I am willing to pay more than this for a good quality nail varnish as OPI and Essie are amongst my favourite brands, but Topshop more than meets their standards. The pigmentation is great, I got full coverage from just one coat (but put on two just out of habit), it applies smoothly and evenly, the colour choice is amazing; ranging from the prettiest of pastels to the most dazzling of brights with the occasional special editions being brought out along with the glitter and metallic colours too. Plus, I've had this polish on for four days now; 2 of these days I was at work and I had one night out before I took these pictures and you can see how minimal the chipping is on them. Other polishes I've had from Topshop have been the same great quality so I'll definitely keep going back for more. I love the shade of 'War Paint' it's a really bright pinky-red with the slightest of hints of neon to it too. Great for summer and looks fab with a tan.

♥