Dubai beauty haul

For a bit of a change of pace, we visited Dubai last weekend. It's a five-hour drive from Muscat, and it feels like entering another planet; the contrast between the places is so huge. Having not purchased any beauty products for six months -- I'll pause and let you take that in for a moment --  I was keen to see what was new and treat myself for being so restrained for so long.

Make-up has a whole new meaning for me since moving to the Middle East; frankly, it's not so fun. The heat here means makeup just melts off your face no sooner you step out the door. After watching a video by Lisa Eldridge about pinpoint concealing, I decided that is the approach I need to take: a light base to even, and a thick, full-coverage concealer for the problem areas.

So with this in mind I picked up a few things.

The first stop was Makeup Forever, which is available in Muscat, but the staff are so unhelpful (to the extent that they don't even acknowledge you have entered the shop) that I haven't actually tried anything yet. I know the HD foundation is meant to be good, but I picked up the Full-coverage Concealer (shade 7) and Aqua Brow (shade 23). I 'm not sure if the Aqua Brow is something I can get used to, I expect it will need a lot of practice, but on the day the makeup artist did such a good job of making it look easy (and my brows amazing) that it had to be purchased.

Next was Sephora, and I picked up the Nars Tinted Moisturiser in the shade L3 Groenland, which I really hope I have matched myself to correctly. I had a rather useless sales assistant who thought it was appropriate to match me to my hand rather than my face.

I also picked up another shade of the Cream Lip Stain (shade 6). I discovered my love for these after my last trip, although I heard they have changed the formulation so we'll see if the love remains with this shade. The shade looks a little light in the image, but it is actually a mauve/brown colour.

Finally, I also threw into the basket, rather impulsively, the Sephora Airbrush Foundation brush (number 58). I have, and love, the concealer brush, and this feels exactly the same, but it is a rather odd pointed shape. Having used buffing style foundation brushes for so long, it will be interesting to see how this compares.

So that's it, a modest haul from Dubai. I really want to hone in on products that really work for me. I feel like I have a good collection when it comes to skincare, but not so much when it comes to base products.

I feel it was quite a modest haul considering how long it has been since I purchased anything new. Look out for full reviews soon.

Beauty fix: Dubai haul

I'm back! Apologies for the unplanned break, I actually didn't realise just how long it had been since my last post.

Settling into a new life has been challenging, and one of the more challenging things is living without the British high-street! But, during a recent trip to Dubai, I managed to get a beauty fix with a small haul from Sephora and duty free.

Beauty haul: Christmas treats for me

So my plan to use up two makeup products before repurchasing one has failed spectacularly, and although I would like to say I feel bad, I don’t and even though I don’t do this often I am excited to share my haul with you.

Ideal Home Show 2013 haul

So with 13 days left, it happened, I broke my spending ban. BUT it was worth it.

In my original spending ban post I mentioned that I would be visiting the Vitality Show and Ideal Home Show this year and that I would allow myself those days to spend but only if there was a really good deal to be had.

I resisted the temptation at the Vitality Show, opting to buy food instead with the aim of achieving good skin and beauty from the inside out. However, when I spied my favourite makeup up brand at the Ideal Home Show, it was going to be hard to resist, especially when I was planning on buying something after my spending ban anyway.

I recently visited the Bella Pierre counter at House of Fraser for an updated colour match after noticing that my foundation was making my face look darker, almost orange, compared to my neck. I’ve never changed my foundation between summer and winter, so it didn’t really occur to me that I might have to.

I was matched the shade Nutmeg in the pressed compact, which in theory is a darker shade, but the compact formulation and my current undertones make it suitable for me to use in the winter. If I do happen to see any sun this year and get a tan, I can then go back to using my original shade cinnamon.

So in theory this was a needed purchase, as for the bronzer and primer I picked up too, I have no excuse! I have never used the compact version of the foundation, so I will have a review up as soon as I have tested it.

Other exhibitors at the show were Beautiful Brows and Tropic skin care, which I have purchased and reviewed in the past. Benefit were also at the show and were offering 10% off and a free gift with any three product purchases, so my sister took advantage and picked up the goodies above. They also have a product of the day, which is at further reduced price.

The Ideal Home Show closes on Monday and if you are heading down I recommend you check out Bella Pierre and come back and let me know what other bargains you found!

Vitality Show 2013 haul

So after looking forward to it for so long this year’s visit to the Vitality Show has come and gone. Although there were plenty of bargains to be had, this year was “the year we bought all the food” Well not literally, but it felt like it.

The show was divided into six zones, health and nutrition, sport and fitness, beauty and styling, life change, holistic health and healing and yoga.

As I said, all of my purchases were food related, which means I am still on track with my spending ban, woohoo! I products I am most excited to try are Aduna Boabab (powder and capsules), Pure Gold Collagen and Matcha green tea.

I knew after reading a review on All That Slap’s blog that I wanted to start taking Boabab so the 30% discount at the show made the purchase even better. Briefly, Boabab is considered the latest super food and is meant to improve mood, increase energy,  relieve stress, boost the immune system, aid digestion, assist in weight management and maintain good skin and the anti-aging process. 

Pure Gold Collagen is something I read a lot about in the blog world when it was released and I was curious to try it at the time but wasn’t willing to spend £35 for a box of 10. At the show one box was on offer for £10 and I was told because of my age I should only take one bottle twice a week, which means that I have a months supply. My sister and mum also picked up a box each and we will hopefully all report back on results, if any!

Finally, I also picked up Matcha green tea. I have been buying and loving Matcha green tea drinks from Planet Organic and Bubbleology and at an average price of £3 each I figured that a tube for £15 would save me a lot of money. Although I brought it because of the taste, matcha green tea is also meant to have lots of health benefits containing 70-times the antioxidants of vitamin C. 

Imedeen, anti-ageing skincare formulators, were also present at the show and were performing skin analysis using an ultrasound machine to look at the different layers of skin and the collgen at the protein levels. Due to our genetics we were all told that we had above average levels of protein in our skin compared with the average for our ages. We were also given a 16 day supply of the most suitable nutritional supplement for us if we did want to consider taking anything. 

Although I resisted adding to my collection, there were a lot of beauty bargains to be had. The Vintage Cosmetics Company were offering two sets of lashes for the price of one and brushes for 50% off. Tropic Skincare, Green People and other natural/organic brands were also at the show. Zest and Health and Fitness magazine were also on offer with goody bags containing a variety of different treats.

Finally, launching at the show was SoukSouk, a ‘green and clean’ beauty box. If you want to find out more I will be have a separate post dedicated to it, but if you are heading to the show tomorrow be sure to look out for it, I am sure you will be impressed.

Overall, as ever, we had a lovely day at the show. We were stuffed on samples and managed to get some great deals, I can’t wait to see the results of my beauty treats working from the inside out.

Christmas 2012 sale haul

Today was a day of impulse purchases. I am a sucker for box sets and nothing is better than a half price box set.

To start I hit Space NK, I noticed that their website didn’t have any of the skin care sets on sale but luckily this wasn’t the case in store.

I picked up two Eve Lom sets, the day time collection and the luxury collection. I've always admired the packaging of Eve Lom and having heard good things from Mouldy Fruit about the cleanser, which is their cult product, I was curious to try it for myself. The only thing that stopped me was the price…..and of course the fear that I will love it and then want more!

The day time collection contains a cleanser, muslin cloth, morning time cleanser, rescue mask and kiss mix. The luxury collection contains the cleanser, rescue mask again and a moisturiser. The kits were £65 and £85 respectively, but I essentially got two for the price of one with each of them 50% off. Of course I will have reviews up as soon as I have tested all thoroughly. 

The next stop for me was Boots, I was on the hunt for the Umberto Giannini curl friends kit, which I spied before Christmas but it was sold out in my local store. Instead I brought two Sanctuary sets, a hand wash and moisturiser duo, half price at £5. I would like to get into the habit of moisturising my hands after washing them and I thought that having the products neatly side by side might be a good way to start.

The second kit was the winter facial in a box. The kit contains 6 products for a 30-minute home facial. They are all sample sizes and for the original £20 price tag, there is no way I would have purchased this but at £10 I think this will be a great way to test some products in the range. The kit contains a polishing hot cloth cleanser, radiance exfoliator, firming youth serum, a 5 minute thermal detox mask, life and brighten eye complex and stop the clock moisturiser SPF 15.

Next I picked up a Big Fat Hair hair care set as a gift for my sister. These are the sets that I think are the best value for money because the cost of the kit (in this case £8) almost makes it the equivalent of buying one full sized product with three thrown in for free. 

Finally, my most impulsive purchase of all, a Mark Hill wicked waver! I have always been intrigued by these odd barrel shaped wavers and at half price (£29.99!) I thought it was worth trying. I’ve never tried anything from the Mark Hill range before so this will be an experience all round. I’m hoping that is will be a great tool for reviving my hair two to three days post wash, when I am too lazy to wash but the curls have fallen out. Again I’ll have a full review up when I have had a chance to test this out. 

I think I will stop myself from visiting any more sales for a while, although I do have a voucher for Debenhams so I may be taking a quick peek……

Let me know, what has been your best sale bargain?

Instanbul Haul — Flormar and Golden Rose cosmetics

I couldn’t resist a spot of beauty shopping whilst in Istanbul. The city has a good selection of stores selling both high-end and high-street beauty, but I was on the look out for brands that I hadn’t heard of before and that weren’t available in the UK.

 

The first brand I spotted was Flormar, which reminded me a lot of Barry M with it's bright coloured store. They had a good selection of makeup, makeup brushes, nail polish and even hand/nail cream and perfume. I asked in store if the brand was Turkish, and was told yes, but the bag I left with and the website both say founded in Milan — go figure!

I lot of the eyeshadows and blushes were very shimmery and frankly I really shouldn’t be adding more of these to my collection. Instead I picked up a BB cream, which when I swatched in store I realised is actually nothing like a BB cream but may be a very nice tinted moisturiser, based on the consistency and feel of the product.

I also picked up three lip liners. Recently I have been wearing bolder lip colours, which could do with the additional lip definition. One thing that immediately impressed me about the lipliners is that I recognised names on the ingredients list, with the main ingredient listed as hydrogenated palm oil.

Another brand (which I believe is Turkish) was Golden Rose, which I found in pharmacies and convenience stores and therefore had a smaller product range. Again the products here all seemed to be very heavy on the shimmer. One thing I spotted, which I now regret not buying, was a baked eyeshadow set that could be used wet or dry. However, what I did pick up was the Terracotta stardust blush in the shade 03, again this is shimmery, but with a light hand I believe this will look very pretty.

Istanbul seemed to offer a lot of was homemade beauty, soaps in particular. I found a few individual shops selling homemade goods and there were also a few stalls in the spice and grand bazars.

The stalls listed the ingredients/scent use and the benefits that the ingredients were meant to have.  I however, based my choice on smell and chose Olive oil with cinnamon and fig. Both smell gorgeous and although generally I don't use soaps on my face, if I find that these aren't suitable I know I will be able to use them on my body. The soaps cost just over £1 each, which is a bargain compared to the cost of handmade and natural products in the UK.

I will of course do full reviews of the makeup products once I have had a chance to test them. I would love to know if you have heard of or tried either of these brands and what you thought.

TK Maxx Bella Pierre haul!

On one hand I feel guilty about this recent haul but on the other it was just too much of a bargain to miss out on.

I know I have mentioned a thousand times that Bella Pierre is my favourite brand, I use their mineral foundation daily and almost exclusively (with the exception of dabbling with BB creams) for over 2 years.

So imagine my delight when my sister walked in with a Bella Pierre skin care set she found in TK Maxx for a bargain price of £35! I had been prepared to myself to spend over £100 for these, which I included in my 2012 wish list, so the 60% discount was a nice surprise.

After this, the mission was on to seek out more Bella Pierre bargains, which included the complete face kits, 9-eyeshadow shimmer stack and a lip kit. They also had some other eyeshadow trio kits, which I decided to pass on. 

I was lucky that the medium complete face kit contains my exact shade, however even if I did have to pass the foundation on to someone else the brushes, blusher, bronzer and more in the kit still make it excellent value for money.

I will of course be blogging about the individual items as I get a chance to test them out but in the mean time if you are a fan or want to give the brand a try I recommend checking out your local TK Maxx.

I’m back! Dubai haul

So after over three weeks in the Middle East I have returned! I had a lovely time, but it has taken me a while to get back into the swing of things here.

Dubai is full of huge malls with lots of well known brands for beauty, clothes and jewellery. Of course I was most interested to pick up beauty products that I can’t get here in the UK, so without further ado here’s what I got…

Bath and Body Works — I was actually picking up gifts but couldn’t resist treating myself too. I picked up a scrub, moisturiser and body spray all from the Aruba Coconut fragrance collection. I think coconut is one of those scents that divides people in terms of love-hate, but I love it! I like to use fragrance sprays on top of moisturisers to enhance the scent and make it last a little longer.  Because I had spent a set amount, I could buy travel bag filled with goodies for an additional £10.

Dubai seems to have pharmacies everywhere all stocking a huge collection of skin care products and I noticed that there are a lot of French brands available. I would have picked up a lot more if my luggage limit allowed but I limited myself to picking up a face mask, moisturiser and night oil from Alba and another face mask from Himalaya herbals. I have become very interested in Ayuverdic products (a traditional medicine native to India) but what I have tried in the past has been very harsh and more suited for oily, acne prone skin — so I was glad to see a product aimed at dry skin but that is still meant to help clean out clogged pores and minimise blemishes.

Finally the product I was most excited to find, Bioderma micelle solution! I have read so many positive reviews on this and even put it on my beauty wish list so I can’t wait to try this out.

I also picked up a few beauty purchases before I even reached Dubai! In Heathrow duty free I found a cosmetics store selling Victoria Secret. After swatching so many of the eyeshadows (and asking the opinion of my twitter followers!) I picked up the ultimate supermodels kit, which contains 64 eyeshdows, 16 lip sticks, 16 lip glosses, 2 bronzers, 4 blushes and 2 highlighters. I also picked up another set of body lotions and sprays in the Bombshell scent.

Finally I am not going to focus on these products too much but they are definitely worth a mention — I found a spa selling Nivea makeup, which I never knew existed! Unfortunately, I also found out that it is being discontinued but I did manage to pick up a selection of what was left for £2 each!

As usual I will be back will full reviews on these products as I try them. If you have tried these brands before I would love to know your thoughts.

Bourjois pop-up shop haul

Close to two weeks ago I headed down to the Bourjois pop-up shop in Shoreditch with my sister and beauty bloggers Safira and Aysha.

The shop was set up to coincide with London Fashion Week and had discounts on products as well as the chance to have a makeover.

We decided to get there early and be one of the first 50 so that we could get our hands on a goodie bag, it also meant we had the place before it got too busy to get a really good look at some of the products on offer. The venue itself was decorated like a sweet shop for makeup lovers — with a lot of the eyeshadows displayed in jars and the rest of the products in different trays.

Contents of the goodie bag, I love the light up mirror and I’m also looking forward to trying out the cream wash

So here is what I picked up, I will of course review and/or show makeup looks with the products when I have had a chance to test them fully.

I knew I wanted to pick up the bronzing powder before I arrived, I went for the ligher shade, which doesn’t swatch well but I hope that it will allow me to subtly contour and that it can be built up for a bronzed looked.

I also picked up one of the eyeshadow pots in the shade 08, which is the nude/flesh tone I have been looking for. It has a slight sheen, but I am hoping to use this shade to even out the colour of my eyelids for neutral looks or as highlight, it blends in so well to my skin tone that I couldn’t photograph it well.

I also picked up three eyeliners. Two shadow and light in the shades gris and petale, and brun and caramel. I am not sure how to use these together to get the best look, but the shades are beautiful and apply smoothly. The petale shade I expect to be great for brightening up the eye. I picked up the contour clubbing waterproof eyeliner in blue remix, which is a vibrant turquoise colour. I only ever use coloured eyeliners on the lower lash line and I am hoping the waterproof formulation will mean that it lasts well.

Finally I couldn’t walk away without buying a nail polish. . . .  but I will save that for a nails of the week post.

I did walk away regretting not picking up the felt tip eyeliner, but I think I will make use of a £2 off voucher we were given. Are there any Bourjois fans out there and if so what else is worth looking out for?