Beauty haul - Boots (and a cheeky purchase from MAC, oops)

As you may or may not have known, I put myself on a spending ban in January because I felt I had been buying too much makeup, but I broke it a few days ago (lasted a couple of weeks extra than I had planned) and did some naughty hauling*. I can assure you I won't be shopping like this again for quite a few months, but I won't be on a full-on spending ban again, I'll just make sure I'm only buying essentials y'know. Anyway, without further ado, I will show you what I bought.

Revlon Colourburst Laquer Balm in Coy - £7.99
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Smokey Rose - £7.49
Revlon Colourstay Concealer in Deep - £6.99**
Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Lip Liner in Cappuccino - £2.99
Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Black - £3.99
Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner - £7.99
Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr Leather Effect in Creamy Beige - £4.99
Essie Nail Polish in Licorice - £7.99
Barry M Matte Nail Paint Top Coat - £2.99
MAC Matte Lipstick in Taupe - £15.50 (currently sold out at Selfridges, sorry)

As you can see, I spent rather a lot but due to A levels I don't really go shopping too often anyway so I probably won't go properly shopping again for a few months (so you can stop judging me now).

Have you tried any of these products?
If so, would you recommend them?

*Makes it sound as if I've been buying toys of the sexual persuasion, I can ensure you that I have not and if I were I wouldn't show you, we cater for prudes everywhere on 'fashion, beauty and an existential crisis'.
**I was under the impression that I had bought Medium Deep, this is a tad too dark for me - darn.

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Review | Essence Colour and Go Nail Polish in 113

I have to tell you something, it's been eating me up inside but I need to come out with it, and I hope we can see past this together - I don't like the Barry M  Gelly Nail Polish. Okay, I said it, and I'm sure you're now judging me pretty harshly as these are otherwise known as some of the greatest nail polishes in the world of beauty. I feel I should mention that I only tried out one, but I can't see how the formulation would be massively different between shades. 

Anyway, since trying out the Barry M Gelly nail polish, I have been on the lookout for a glossy, gel, pigmented nail polish without spending extortionate amounts, by which I meant £5 or more (hey, we're going through a recession don't judge my cheapskate-ness wise spending). 

After trying out various Essence products (which I've reviewed here and here), I came to the conclusion that Essence was amazing value for money and so when I saw they sold nail polishes I knew I had to try one, especially as they are gel nail polishes. 

The shade I picked up is 113 - do you speak love? I feel I should inform you that the number and the shade name isn't clear, you need to look at where the barcode is and it's in small writing, however I am glad they had a proper shade name rather than just a number. I refuse to have my beauty products reduced to numbers. It's a beautiful autumnal burgundy red so it's perfect for Autumn and Winter but I think red is generally the type of colour that you can wear all year round. 

I really love the packaging, it reminds me of Bourjois nail polishes because the lid is the same colour as the nail polish which also makes it easy to pick it out of a bunch. The brush is also amazing for application, it's wide so it covers the whole nail in one swift stroke - that's also the amount you need to get an opaque colour, just one swift stroke. You can go over with a second layer for longevity perhaps but I think it's fine with just a base coat and one layer. I've found that it lasts about a week before chipping really badly as in it has to be done a week later at the very latest otherwise  your nails are going to look a bit tatty and not nice. My favourite thing about this product has to be the fact that it dries so quickly for a gel nail polish, this was the problem I had with Barry M. With Barry M, my nails would be tacky for hours whereas with Essence my nails are fully dry in under 10 minutes, I'm sure it is even less than that but I paint my nails slowly otherwise I mess it up to such a large extent.

Overall, I love love love this product and I will definitely be trying out other shades. I find it hard to believe that such a high quality product only costed £1.60 from Wilkinsons.

What are your favourite products from Essence?

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Review | Essence Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

I'm not sure when it happened, but I feel like over the past few years liquid eyeliner just became the big thing to do regarding make up again. Personally, I blame Alexa Chung. Is there a person alive who doesn't want to look like her? Don't lie to me.

I started wearing liquid eyeliner when I was about 13, I didn't know how to use it and honestly it was not a nice sight. A few years later at age 16 I returned to liquid eyeliner hoping to be able to achieve the perfect cat eye flick, to this day I still fail but I am improving and that's the important thing. I feel that whilst technique is important with the cat eye flick, the eyeliner holds a heavy role in how it's all gonna go down so since age 16 I have been on a quest, a venture, an endeavour to find the best inexpensive liquid eyeliner for me. In this endeavour, I decided to try the Essence Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner because from what I've tried Essence are very good value for money.

The first thing that took me by surprise is how small the packaging is because on pictures I had seen online I somehow imagined it being bigger, however it still provides a good amount of product for only £2.50.

The main reason you're here is probably to find out if it is durable against water like it claims, and I would have to say yes, yes it is. I am an emotional person, yes I cry, and I cried whilst wearing this and it didn't budge at all which is great! 

It is quite black in pigment which is good too, however I did find that when layered on top of eyeshadow it doesn't always come up as strongly black but I think that's the case with most liquid liners, it was still very black though.

It doesn't claim to be a long lasting product but I think it is quite long lasting as long as you're not an eye rubber (which I'm not). I'm able to wear this for at least nine hours without needing to touch it up, in fact I think it lasts me longer than that because when it comes to late at night and I'm taking off my make up it still looks fairly in tact, but of course if you're the type of person who rubs their eyes a lot then it will chip off fairly quickly.

The applicator is probably the thing I like most about the product. It's a felt tip like nib but it's not thick at all so you can make a very thin line and do a nice flick - I would say it's practically fool proof.

Overall, I really like this product and I will be happily using it until it runs out. I can see myself returning to this product in the future, and it only cost £2.50 which is very affordable for such a nice eyeliner.

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