Bluewater haul

When I normally go shopping, I buy loads of makeup and that's it. Today was different. I actually brought clothes which I haven't done in months! 

I went into Zara and decided I needed a new pair of jeans as my current jeans have a hole in them- my bum has defiantly grown since I got them. Both of the back pockets have split and I have now been left with two holes. I ended up getting two pairs because why not? I chose a black pair, as you can never have too many black jeans and some denim ones, as my other denim pair are getting too tight and I fear the same may happen to them with the holes. I love Zara jeans! They're so comfy and fit me really well. I struggle with other stores as a size 8 (UK) may be too small, so I'll try on a size 10 and they'll be massive, whereas at Zara an 8 is perfect! 

Before we actually started shopping we went for lunch. Whilst we were walking to the food court, I noticed they'd opened a kiko store! This made me very happy, but then I realised that I hadn't been to Bluewater since it opened! I couldn't believe it as I didn't even know they were opening a store there. After lunch we looked in there. I was super excited and surprised as I thought it would have been expensive. I couldn't decide what to pick, but in the end I chose the metallic shine eyeshadow in shade 02 and the intensely lavish lipstick in shade 01. I could have brought more but I had to stop myself. 

We then went into boots and I brought the sleek blush in flushed as I saw it in Youtuber Roxxsaurus vampire tutorial (which I'm copying on Saturday for work). It's a beautiful shade and it's perfect for this time of year. I also picked up the new No7 nail polish in soft truffle. It's a gorgeous nude shade. 

I went into H&M and found a top I reall yes liked. This is rare as I'm not a massive fan of H&M. It's just a simple, plain everyday tee. I wish I had got it in black too but my mum said she had something similar to it in black- I'll still be getting it in black! 

The last store we looked in was next. I love next and they've done the shop up so it looks 100x better. I wasn't too bothered about looking at the clothes- I needed to replace my watch. I brought one at the beginning of the year and the strap has just broken. I decided to go for a thicker strap and a neutral colour. My old one was pink, so I would only wear it at work, whereas I can wear my new one with anything as its black. It also said the strap was leather so it should last longer too! 

I will have swatches and a review of the kiko makeup up soon, so make sure to check it out! 

Xoxo

P.s. I changed my Instagram name! I had enough courage to do it and not care what people say! 

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Family wedding makeup and outfit

Last Friday, Ollie's cousin got married. Now we didn't go to the actual wedding itself as there are a crazy amount of cousins in Ollie's family, but we went to the reception in the evening. It was a bit up and down if we were going- Ollie originally said yes before someone reversed into his car, but luckily his sister and brother-in-law said we could borrow the work van, so we ended up going. I was super excited but really nervous at the same time as I was meeting most of his family. 

I brought the dress a few weeks back as I fell in love instantly with it. I had been eyeing it up for months but couldn't justify buying a Ted Baker dress for £139 as I don't go to places fancy enough to wear a dress like that. Ollie told me we were going and now I had the perfect excuse to splash the cash!

For my makeup I started with the nenefit porefessional primer. In my Youbeauty discovery box this month I got a sample of the Vichy dermablend. Normally when foundation samples are sent, the never match me, but this seemed to be a perfect match. The shade is 15 opal, and blended with my skin so naturally. I'm going to try it a few more times but I'm really impressed. 

I set my foundation with the No7 perfect light loose powder. I know the pressed powder would be easier for on the go, but I ran out so quickly last time that I thought going with a loose powder would be better, as it'll last longer and I can 'bake' my under eye concealer too. To contour I used the contour stick from the smashbox contour stick trio. This gives a natural contour and featured in my September favourites. I went over the top of the contour with benefits hoola bronzer. 

I highlighted under my eyes and down the bridge of my nose with the Nars creamy concealer in Chantilly- which also features in my September favourites. I baked my concealer whilst I preped my eyes. 

I started with Urban Decays primer potion and went over the top with my Mac paint pot in painterly. 

I brushed away the excess powder from under my eyes and pressed the brush over the paint pot to set it before applying my eye shadows. I have really oily kids and this helps to stop them from creasing. 

Before I did my eyeshadow, I filled my brows in with the soap and glory brow archery pencil. I brush through my brows with the brush on the other end. 

For shadows, I chose the Urban Decay Smoky Palette. I've been loving this palette and creating different eye looks with it. I started with Bobbi Brown's woodrose as a transition shade and then applied radar all over the lid. Using a pencil brush, I applie whiskey in the crease and blended it out with a big fluffy brush. I went back in with whiskey on the same pencil brush and applied more to the crease to darken it up. 

I did this a number of times till I reached the desired intensity. I then swept whatever was left on the pencil brush in my lower lash line. 

As a brow bone and inner corner highlight, I used high. This shade is so pink and so sparkly, perfect for a brow bone highlight! 

I applied a couple coats of too faced better than sex mascara. I was going to wear falsies but 1) I haven't quite mastered it. I mean I can apply them but it takes like half an hour before they're on right and 2) I left them at home- oops! 

Anyway better than sex makes it appear like I have falsies on when I don't (I had a woman at work ask if they were my real lashes and I told her yes and that it was too faced better than sex mascara- to which she laughed!) 

I realised after applying my mascara, I hadn't put any highlighter in, so I rummaged through my makeup bag and found my No7 instant radiance highlighter. This looks very pink but once blended in, it looks natural and gorgeous. I applied it to my cheekbones and blended it out with my finger. 

Once the whole of my makeup had been applied, I sprayed the Makeup Revolution oil control fixing spray- check out my review! Just before we left, I used the Lush mint julep sugar scrub, then applied the Burt's bees mango lip balm. I let that soak in for a few minutes and pat the rest in with my finger. I used Mac Mehr lipstick as it's not too dramatic! 

We had a great time, even though the drinks were a tad over priced. It was lovely meeting everyone and I can't wait to see them all again! 

Xoxo 

Twitter- xosaratalks

Instagram- sara_harpum

Beauty haul

I've been collecting a few beauty items for a while now and some I have done posts about already, but I wanted to do a haul and I had written those posts before I collected enough items. Some are old loves and some are new discoveries. 

My old loves include the body shop seaweed pore-cleansing facial exfoliator. I briefly touched on this in my skincare routine. This exfoliator is great. It does as says and cleanses the pores. I notice the blackheads I have start becoming not less and less visible. It cleanses them amazingly and I have gone back to using it, and I'm glad I have! 

Another old love is the garnier micellar water. I tried this when it first came out and I'm glad I did. As soon as j start running low, I stick up! It takes seconds to remove my makeup and it's so easy! I repurchased the exfoliator a few weeks back and the micellar water a couple of months back- which triggered the 'haul'. 

Some new discoveries have been found within the past month, one being last week! As you've probably seen, I'm obsessing over the makeup revolution oil control fixing spray. Now as I have a full review in this product, I won't go into too much detail, but I will mention that when I don't use this, I am one big, oily mess!! 

Another discovery for me- even though it's been out for some time is the Urban Decay smoky palette. The colour pay off for these shadows is great and they blend so easily. The palette is featuring in a 'get ready with me' post and should be up within the next day or too! 

This foundation I discovered was an accident. Normally foundation samples are WAY too dark for me- #paleprobs, but the Vichy dermablend foundation I received in my Youbeauty discovery box in the shade 15 opal (I wear NW13 in mac studio fix fluid, calico in No7, 01 in Clinique and N1 in L'oreal true match.. For those of you who're interested in colour matching) is spot on! It's my colour, it's not too orange it too pink and has great coverage. I used the sample in my get ready post and fell in love. I'll be posting a review on it soon as I brought the full size today. 

These will be repurchased when I run out! 

If there are any products you recommend, let me know! I'm always on the look out for new products to try and review. 

Xoxo

Twitter- xosaratalks

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Makeup revolution pro fix oil control fixing spray review

I brought this product simply out of curiosity. I hadn't seen it before in superdrug or on their Instagram page, maybe it's because I just wasn't looking for a setting spray. A few years back I brought the travel sized urban decay setting spray and wasn't 100% sure on it. 

I have combination skin, so anything which helps control my shine, I'm all for! I was sucked in by the 'oil control' which made my brain think I NEED this! As its only £5, I thought it wasn't a bad price compared to the urban decay setting spray. 

Upon using the makeup revolution fixing spray, I noticed one big difference from the UD setting spray. From what I remember (and I big part of why I wasn't 100% sure) was that the UD took forever to dry and once it was dry, it was very sticky on my face. When I sprayed the MR, it dried almost instantly and didn't leave a sticky feeling on my face. 

I was a bit skeptical at first as I thought it would be like the UD, but I was very surprised to find it was completely different. I fell in love with it! I spray it all over my face after my moisturiser has soaked in and again after I've completed my face makeup. The reason I used it twice was because I wanted my face to remain matte throughout the day and it locks in moisture. 

I would 100% recommend this for anyone on a budget, with combination/oily skin or just looking for a setting spray. They do have a regular fixing spray got every other skin type, so if you want to try this spray out but haven't got combination/oily skin, give that one a go! It also retails at £5 so is still a bargain! 

Xoxo

Twitter- xosaratalks 

Instagram- sara_harpum

September favourites

My September favourites have been put into categories: food, haircare, skincare and makeup. 

I'll start with food. I only have one item for this category and that's the new galaxy cookie and cream bar. These came out the same time I was on my period (TMI, sorry) but I had one and craved them for the rest of the month! A fact I found out thanks to Nikki Phillippi is that the reason you crave chocolate around that certain time of the month is because you're body wants more magnesium which is found in chocolate! Crazy right? 

I've always relied on dry shampoo on the days where I'm just too lazy to wash and dry my hair. Because I have thick hair the process takes me at least an hour to wash and dry my hair. I recently discovered this amazing dry shampoo. It's the Tresemmé instant refresh dry shampoo. It gives volume, it doesn't make my hair go white, I can use my fingers to work it into my roots and it smells good. I just love it! My hair looks refreshed instantly!

I wash my hair every other day (or if I'm not going out every third day) and when I do, I use the herbal essences beautiful ends shampoo and conditioner. This smells so good too. It's got a pomegranate scent which smells so good and it leaves my hair feeling soft and the ends feeling super healthy! The conditioner just tops it off, leaving my hair looking shiny and feeling soft. I always struggle to find a shampoo and conditioner where the scent will last and one brand I've found which does is the Aussie range, but this also lasts in my hair and I'm constantly smelling my hair in public because it smells that good! 

If you've read my skincare routine you'll recognise these products. I won't go into too much detail about them as I did that in my skincare routine but I'll tell you which products I've been loving. First is the garnier pure active micellar water. I've gone through bottles of this stuff, it's that great! The second is the Clinique take the day off balm. I love how effortlessly this removes my makeup. The third is the origins zero oil oil-free moisturiser. This hydrates my skin without feeling greasy and makes my skin feel soft. 

I have a real big problem when it comes to makeup, I mean it's more of an addiction than a problem. It's an addiction I need to stop as it's the beginning of the month and I'm already skint! A couple of these are samples and a couple were presents for Christmas and birthday so it's not all that bad. I'll start with the samples. Each month I receive a box from Youbeauty discovery which gives you two samples of your choice and two which come with every box. A few months back I woke up specifically at 7am to pick the toofaced better than sex mascara. I had to wake up extra early as products like that are normally sold out by midday. I have been loving this mascara! It gives so much volume to the point I've had customers at work ask what false lashes I use! 

The other sample I have is the Clinique antiblemish foundation. As I work in boots next to a Clinique counter I was talking to the girl about how my skin is always getting worse. She gave me a few other samples- check out my skincare routine to find out what they are, and gave me a sample of this foundation. I've been using this foundation for over a month (she filled the sample pot right too the top) and I love it! It's full coverage without looking like you've got a lot of makeup on! The first day I wore the sample, one of my colleagues said how amazing my skin looked and asked what I had done to get it to look like that. I told her about the foundation and later that day she went and got a sample too. It covers my spots and my skin just looks instantly better. This would be a product I would 100% recommend for anyone with problematic skin. 

As my dad works for an American company, he travels out there a lot. He was over there just before last Christmas so of course I took advantage and asked for makeup which is difficult to get over here in the UK. I asked for a few Mac products as they're cheaper over there and I also asked for the Anastasia Beverly Hills dipbrow pomade. The shade I got was soft brown as I had darker hair then. I still use it but I have to use a very light hand otherwise my brows are really dark! I love the consistency of this product. It goes on so easily and blends really well. It is however a pain to get off at the end of the day as its waterproof so I have to use wipes and rub back and forth on my brows- which does pull some out. After I have blended it, it looks really natural compared too a pencil. 

I love benefit oroducts and one I've been wanting to try out for ages was the hoola bronzer. I'm really pale so watching youtubers who have the same skin tone as me use it got me wondering. It doesn't look too orange or ashy when I contour, it looks natural. A little does go a long way, I overdid it the first time I wore it as I had been longing for this product for a long time. It has become my favourite bronzer and I can't get enough of it! 

I'm not sure if this product can be considered a cream contour product or not, but I have been loving the smashbox contour stick trio. It comes with a contour stick, a bronze stick and a highlighter stick, which as always is too dark for me! I apply the contour stick to the hollows of my cheeks, my temples and under my jaw line. I also apply the bronze stick in the same places to add a bit of warmth. It blends out seamlessly with either a brush or a sponge. I prefer a brush as I can really work it in but there are days where I feel like using a sponge and I get the same results, I just have to work that tad bit harder to really work it in. After I've blended it, I always go over the top with my hoola bronzer. 

I've seen loads of youtubers rave on about the nars creamy concealer. I jumped onto the bandwagon not too long ago and must say it's great for highlighting. I have the lightest shade- chantilly, which is slightly too light when I highlight. I always use a sponge when blending this out as it soaks in some of the product so it doesn't look too light and I find it blends better with a sponge. I use a dry disposable sponge to blend this is as I've found a damp sponge wipes off my foundation. After I've blended it in, I always set it with loose translucent powder. If I'm feeling it, I 'bake' the concealer but when I'm lazy I just set it in place. 

Xoxo

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