New York Haul

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Birthday Haul

So I am another year older and I have been thoroughly spoiled. I have to give my mother and sister a lot of credit this year, they have amazing taste and picked out the perfect presents for me. These are not all of my presents, I received some of the most thoughtful and sentimental gifts from family and friends and my parents are also taking me to New York in two weeks time. I am a very lucky girl. 

My mother knows my love for anything beauty related all too well. I got a MAC pro palette, a new Glamglow Youth-Mud Tinglexfoliate Treatment, a MAC Lipstick in Shy Girl, the Bobbi Brown Old Hollywood Eye Pallette, a Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Compact in Nude Glow and a Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation in 20 beige.

L-R 1st Row -Vanilla, Naked Lunch, Omega, Brun

2nd Row- Chocolate Brown, Woodwinked, Mulch, Filament

3rd Row - Satin Taupe, Patina, Brule, All That Glitters 

I have wanted a MAC Pro palette for a while now after accumulating so many eyeshadows. 6 of the shadows were given to me with the palette and the rest I de-potted to put them in the palette this morning. I only have three more spaces left in the palette so I am going to keep to the neutral based theme and start a new one when I go to New York with brighter colours.

I was so happy to have been given a new Shy Girl lipstick, it is my all time favourite MAC shade, but I lost mine a few months ago. This shade is like gold dust, I never seem to find it when I visit a MAC counter, but as a new one has just opened near me my mum managed to get her hands on it. Thankfully I also got a new pot of the Glam Glow Youth Mud treatment. I am almost done with the own I currently own and have been using it sparingly as my bank account can't cope with the price tag. 

I have been eyeing up the latest palette from Bobbi Brown. The Old Hollywood eye palette has been released for Christmas. I have resisted buying it because, as you probably already know, I have enough far too many neutral palettes. This will be perfect for travelling with as I visit the states a lot and it has all of the colours I will need for day and night. 

I have wanted one of Bobbi Browns shimmer bricks for the longest time now. My mother and sister are also fans of Bobbi Brown and both have one of the shimmer bricks so I used to steal theirs but, now I have one of my very own. I got the limited edition shade in Nude Glow, I love the packaging and the colours are beautiful either on their own or mixed together. 

Finally I have a Chanel Foundation. I have wanted the Vitalumiere Aqua after seeing so many raving reviews on youtube. I haven't used it yet as I need to take it to my local Chanel counter and make sure it is the correct shade, but I am so excited to try this and see if its worth the hype. 

My best friend knows me all two well. She got me a hamper full of Lush goodies and American candy. She spoiled me and even managed to pick up some Lush products I have never tried before. She got me Rose Jam shower gel which smells phenomenal and apparently is also great as a shampoo, Shine So Bright hair balm, Angels Delight soap, Think Pink bath bomb, Tisty Toasty bath bomb and a Magic Wand bubble bar. I haven't used any of the products just yet so my room currently smells amazing. 

Finally I got some more of my favourite hair products, the Macadamia Shampoo, Conditioner and Hair Mask. I have used all of these products before and they are the best hair products I have ever tried. About a year ago I had to cut my hair to shoulder length because apparently bleaching, sea salt and no heat protection causes a great deal of damage to your hair (go figure). Lets just say short hair does not suit me and now I am very over protective with mine. These are the salon sized bottles and last me about a year, so they are a great investment. 

Malaga Haul

I have recently got back from a trip to Malaga and I may have possibly brought a few makeup products ... Okay, I brought a lot! Malaga is surprisingly good for shopping, I did not expect to come back with this many products and I managed to get my hands on a lot of things I've wanted to try for a long time. A little tip for anyone who is travelling to Malaga in the future, there is a huge department store right next to the train station which has every brand you could possibly ask for. They have a counter for High end brands and lower end brands, so there is something for everyone. Its called 'Court De Anglaise' (The spelling maybe wrong but the store is easily found) and you can save 10% off all of your purchases if you have your British passport on you. Don't ask me how my mother found this out - she can find a deal no matter where she is! So I managed to get a little discount on a lot of the makeup I brought, I am I very happy girl! 

I have no idea where to start with this post, so lets just start with mascaras as they are my favourite makeup product. I had been eyeing up the Yves Saint Laurent Shocking mascara for a few months now after reading many reviews on it and figured it was time to see for myself just how good this mascara is - and its okay. Its not brilliant, but its a nice mascara. I like products that do what they say on the tin and it definitely does what its advertised for, its a volumising mascara which it does a good job at. The formula is very black and has a wet constancy, it also has a hint of fragrance which is noticeable at first  but if that is something that usually bothers you then keep this in mind if you buy this product. 

I also picked up the Dior Show mascara after remembering this used to be a huge favourite of mine when I was younger. Again this mascara has a wet formula which I find harder to work with as it clumps my lashes up easily, but once this product dries up a little I know i'm going to enjoy it a lot more. These products paired together do a lovely job. I have to wait in between applications for each coat to dry, but together these mascaras give my lashes volume and length which is a combination I am loving lately.

I'm pretty sure I was at the MAC cosmetics counter for at least an hour touching and trying everything in sight. I am a huge fan of MAC but there isn't a counter near me, so when I do come across one its a huge treat for me. I knew I wanted the strobe cream as I have seen various youtubers and bloggers rave about this stuff but sadly they where out of stock. However the sales girl told me that the Strobe liquid lotion is pretty much the same thing so I brought that instead and it is beautiful! Its much lighter constancy than the strobe cream and I am much happier with this product because I don't use it as skincare. Instead I mix a few pumps with my foundation and it gives my skin the most gorgeous dewy glow which I am loving. 

I didn't intend on buying the Prep and Prime translucent setting powder and I am so grateful that I did. This powder helps to set my foundation all day long AND it stops my under eye concealer from creasing. Well it doesn't stop every tiny crease from appearing but this is a miracle product for me because I used to hate my concealer creasing. 

(l-r) Morange, Candy Yum Yum, Sunny Seoul, Pure Zen, Pink Nouveau

I also picked up 1 or 2 lipsticks from MAC. Okay I brought 5. But I couldn't help myself, i'm obsessed with lipsticks at the moment. I walked up to the counter knowing two shades I definitely wanted but a few others caught my eye and I have to take them home with me. I have wanted Morange for the longest time and finally had the chance to try it on. Its the most pigmented, fluorescent orange I have ever tried and its amazing. I am a sucker for an orange lipstick, so this is was a no brainer for me. I also knew I wanted to buy Pure Zen as I needed a nude shade but the popular shades from MAC like Myth and Hue just make me look washed out. Pure Zen is more of a pinky nude, so its the perfect shade for me. I use this if I am wearing a heavier eye makeup look and I pair it with other lipsticks to tone them down. 

Candy Yum-Yum was a colour I never thought I would wear, I quickly assumed it wouldn't suit me and moved on to the other shades. I kept going back to this colour, 'uming' and 'ahhing' over it until I decided to try it on. To my surprise this colour actually suited me and its now one of my favourite lipsticks! I also picked up Sunny Seoul and Pink Nouveau as I needed a few more 'day time' pinks in my collection. 

I needed to re-purchase a MAC mineralise skin finish and also some eye shadows. Omega and Brule are staple colours I think every makeup lover should have in their collection. They are pretty versatile shades that can be used on their on, together for a natural look or with any eye shadow combination with Brule as a highlight and Omega in the crease. I also use Omega to fill in my eyebrows which shows how many different ways you can use these shadows. I also picked up Mulch as its a colour I haven't owned yet.

 Probably my favourite purchase from Malaga is The Balm Mary Lou-Manizer highlighter. I'll review this product in a separate post as it is my new favourite highlighter and I can't stop raving about it. I had never seen this brand in England and I have heard so much about this highlighter from youtubers but I hadn't been able to get my hands on it. When I walked into a tiny pharmacy and spotted this I freaked out, a few other customers stared at me and gave me weird looks, but I was just so happy to finally add this to my collection. 

I know i'm pretty late on the bandwagon with these but I finally brought some Real Techniques brushes. I have quite a few Sigma brushes already in my collection from my makeup course I completed a few weeks ago, and I love them. I didn't think I needed anymore but after every other beauty blogger raving about these I thought it was time to find out for myself just how good these brushes are. And they are fantastic. I don't know why I waited so long for to buy these, I was so impressed that when I got back to England I brought more! I still love my Sigma brushes, but if you want high quality brushes but don't want to break the bank, then these are perfect for you. The quality of the makeup brush you use makes such a difference to the overall application. I have used these everyday since I purchased them and I am very impressed so far.