creativity and positivity: haul

LUSH VALENTINE'S RANGE 2018 - MY TOP PICKS

February 01, 2018
22 Comments

SEPTEMBER BEAUTY HAUL FT TOO FACED AND TONYMOLY

Every month I limit myself to one big spending splurge. In July I spent most of my money on beauty buys and a few fashion pieces, whilst in August the majority of my spending went towards homeware for the apartment. With the arrival of Autumn, the new academic year and my first student loan instalment at the end of the month (*Home Simpson voice* woohoo!), September is already shaping up to be an expensive month. My inner student is screaming at me to save money, and get back into the thrifty shopping habits I abided by last year. But then I walked into TK Maxx. After that, my memory gets, ahem, a little fuzzy and the next thing I know I walked out with lots of new beauty bits and pieces. Shit happens I guess. Today I'm going to share with you the results of my September beauty haul, featuring products from Too Faced, TonyMoly and Make Up For Ever.

Let's kick off with the TonyMoly face masks. Sheet masks are all the rage right now, and TM have always had a reputation for being one of the best providers. Their cute packaging is definitely appealing to my inner aesthetic nerd, and I've previously tried out the Pomegranate mask that claims to improve elasticity. It left my skin feeling hydrated and toned, smelt great and gave me a good giggle every time I walked past a mirror. So I'm definitely excited to try more from them (and trust me, there were loads more sheet masks that I could have chosen from, but I took my own skin type into consideration and decided to go for these three. Sensible Rachel won the fight over impulsive Rachel).

My skin suffers from every type of problem you can imagine; oiliness, dry patches, break outs, uneven skin tone, redness, the list never ends. That's why I chose to go with the Aloe Mask Sheet to help moisturise and soothe my irritated dry patches, the Seaweed Mask Sheet to purify my skin and give it a good all over detox, and the Tea Tree Mask Sheet for soothing and mattifying my oily, breakout areas. I prefer to keep my sheet masks in the fridge because they make my skin feel cool and pampered when I'm in the mood to treat my skin. Some brands recommend you keep the masks on for over 30 minutes to allow the excess oils and moisture to sink into the skin, but if I'm totally honest, I don't have that much time on my hands, therefore I usually leave mine on for about 10-15 minutes. Plus I have a small face, so sheet masks rarely fit comfortably on it and there's only so long I'm willing to obstruct my vision and breathing for the sake of vanity.

I'm no stranger to Too Faced's products either. Their palettes have often featured in my wishlist posts and I own a few of their Melted liquid lipsticks courtesy of previous trips to Tk Maxx. Under no circumstances would I claim them to be my favourite lip products, sometimes I find them a little too glossy for my typically matte tastes. However, I do reach for them when I want to glam up and feel awesome, as long as I'm not heading out for food! And at discounted prices, how can I really complain?

I don't have a lot of red or pink shades in my lipstick collection, I'm more of a nude lip type of girl, hence why I picked up the Melted Metal Liquid Lipstick in "Debutante." Yet, for some reason I was drawn to the regular Melted lipsticks in "Candy" and "Frosting." They add a little bit of variety to my makeup bag and they aren't extravagant, unusual shades that take me completely out of my comfort zone.

TOP TO BOTTOM: "CANDY" "FROSTING" AND "DEBUTANTE"

As you can see from the picture above, they swatch more like a gloss than your typical liquid lipstick would, so they're great to layer over deeper, darker lipsticks to add a different tone and dimension to your lip look. Out of the three, "Debutante" is definitely my favourite. The colour is stronger but still gives a really lovely natural look, without making me feel like I'm too made up. My only other complaint with these lipsticks, is that the staying power just isn't on par with the rest of my lipsticks, but as they were discounted, I won't hold a grudge against them.

I've lusted after many of Too Faced eyeshadow palettes, but had never been fortunate enough to get my hands on one until this week. The "Cat Eyes" palette comes with nine classic shades for both day and night, natural and glam looks, and even includes this handy 3-step guide to help perfect those looks. I figured that this would be a good starter palette, and I would be able to tell whether or not to invest in other TF eye products in the future.

Another selling point; all the shades are named with various feline words. How cute is that?!

TOP TO BOTTOM: "PURR", "TIGER'S EYE", "LEOPARD", "MEOW", "PUSSY CAT" AND "JUNGLE LOVE"

TOP TO BOTTOM: "KITTEN", "KITTY GLITTER" AND "PANTHER"

All of the shades, with the exception of the dark, glitter shades, swatched like a dream. I found it easy to build up the lighter colours, and they make for fabulous base colours with a little bit of a shimmer. I didn't have a lot of fall out from any of them either, well nothing that would illicit horrific complaints from yours truly. They're also really long-lasting, that swatch of "Panther" is STILL on my arm as I write this (and yes, I have washed). I also created a lot with the three Day shades, and found them easy to blend, yet they still stood out individually on my eye.

I finished my eye makeup look off with an unbrushed eyebrow and lashing of Make Up For Ever's "Smoky Stretch Lengthening and Defining Mascara." When it comes to mascara I'm not usually fussy, I have naturally long lashes anyway, so I always go for something to enhance that quality and give my eyes a wide, doll-like appearance. I'm definitely impressed with this mascara, as it gives me everything I want without being clumpy, flaky or giving me serious panda eyes.

As of now, I'm on a serious spending ban and my wallet has definitely received a firm telling off from the rational side of my brain. However, I have to say I'm very pleased with my purchases and I look forward to creating looks with them!

What have you splurged on recently? Have you tried any of the products above? Let me know your thoughts!

I hope you enjoyed reading, until next time.

Rachel