River Island try on haul

River Island just had a 25% off code in Grazia magazine so I couldn't resist buying a chunk of my wish list at such a good price. I'm loving their stuff at the moment, I could happily just shop there and no where else.

I thought I'd show you what I bought...

Embellished Cold Shoulder Blouse

I'm still majorly into the 'cold shoulder' trend this season and my collection is growing. I love this blouse (which they also do in pink). Perfect for a date night, or drinks out with friends.

It is currently out of stock on the RI website, but they still have it on ASOS if you hurry and maybe in store.

Blue cold shoulder mesh top

This blue cold shoulder mesh top is perfect for summer. It would look great paired with some white jeans or denim shorts.

White bardot top

I saw the classic white bardot top on Amelia Liana's YouTube channel and immediately added it to my wishlist. The flowy chiffon material is perfect for giving your outfit an instant feminine flare.

Khaki frilly bodysuit and boyfriend denim shorts

The khaki frilly bodysuit is another summer appropriate piece, but the colour will allow you to also take it into the early stages of autumn when paired with a nice black cardigan or jacket. 

These denim boyfriend shorts also come in a light wash and as the perfect casual day time shorts, I'm kind of wishing I had bought them too.

Black daisy lace overlay bardot top and Amelie light wash ripped jeans

My previous pair of light wash ripped jeans made their way to the charity shop a couple of weeks ago as they seemed to have stretched and become too baggy for me. As soon as I saw the light wash ripped Amelie super skinny jeans, I knew they'd be the perfect replacement.

The black daisy lace overlay bardot top is another versatile piece that can be dressed up or down. I actually wore it to work today with a grey pencil skirt and it made a cute, smart outfit.

Now after this lot, someone really needs to take my debit card away from me. :)

Little MUA haul

I am on the MUA mailing list so get various emails advertising old and new products. Last week the temptation got the better of me and I made a little order.

Clockwise - Fashionista powder compact, Fashionista illuminious foundation, MUA Luxe precision felt eyeliner, MUA Luxe power brow, MUA lip trio in siren and Fashionista vanishing cream primer

I am loving all of these! Got some of the bits on sale prices. The foundation and primer were £3, the compact was £2 and the lip trio was £1.25. The power brow and felt eyeliner were £3 (full price).

Powder compact 

Good level of coverage. Great for the handbag and touch ups during the day. Has a decent size mirror which you can rotate to any angle (thinking very handy if trying to touch up your makeup at your office desk).

Illuminious foundation

Very good level of coverage, though I wouldn't say 100% flawless, but it is buildable. Gives you a lovely glow, similar to what you get from the Rimmel wake me up foundation. I watched a video on YouTube when the reviewer found it far too shiny and said it didn't last 2 hours. But I'm happy to say it lasts all day on my skin, and as I said it gives a great glow. 

Precision felt eyeliner

Very easy to use and looks good, but you can't get as black-a-line as you would get from using a liquid eyeliner, the formula just isn't thick enough.

Powerbrow

Love love love. This is double ended; it has a pencil on one end and a highlighter on the other end. Both ends are extendable/retractable by turning. The pencil goes on well and lasts all day and the highlighter is a great little extra to use and goes on well also.

Lip trio siren

I bought these because MUA advertised them and showed a model wearing one of the shades from this trio and I thought the colour looked great. Am happy with the colours and they come with a little applicator. The applicator could do with being a little brush rather than similar to an eye shadow applicator, as it soaks a lot of the product up. 

Vanishing cream primer

Nice to use, covers well with a small amount of product. But I couldn't really see what benefits there were from using it.

So that's my haul. What have you been buying lately?

New York haul

It was my birthday recently, on October 27th to be precise. If you know me, you know I love New York, and I had been going on about going there for my birthday for ages. After what seemed like talking about it for ever, we eventually booked it earlier this year in August.

Whilst in 'the big apple' I did a fair amount of shopping, I could have done more but was a good girl. Today, I thought I'd share what I bought.

My first shop stop was Tiffany & Co. I bought myself the Return to Tiffany heart shaped silver earrings that I had been eyeing for well over a year. You just can't beat that Tiffany experience and the enjoyment of coming out of the shop with your little green/blue box in the cute little bag - love it!

I then wandered into Apple to pick myself up a spare charging lead as my unofficial one wont work now - damn you and your restrictions Apple!

In Times Square there is an American Eagle Outfitters - great range of clothes at great prices. I got myself a couple of pairs of jeans, a NY hoody, a slouchy jumper and some bangles.

In FAO Schwarz they have a huge sweet/candy section. Here is most of what I got (some didn't make it home to the photo)!

They have so many different flavours in the US, from mint or pretzel m&ms to Raspberry cupcake chewing gum. Luckily we only went for 5 days, or I may have been over the weight limit.


Then there was my trip to Bloomingdales where I got my first Alex and Ani bangle. You can read all about that here.

Finally after following my boyfriend into Swatch, I got tempted by the pretty watches and bough this one called Lady Passion. It is silver and rose gold with some diamantes in the strap. I have such skinny wrists that I had to have 3 or 4 links taken out of the strap - luckily none of those had the blingy bits on. I think its a gorgeous watch to wear day or night.

 

We had such an amazing holiday, hopefully one day my boyfriend will take me back to New York!

MUA haul

I have been wanting the MUA brow kit since I first knew it existed. I've checked 5 different Superdrugs and they've all been sold out for ages! I saw it was still in stock on the MUA website, but begrudged paying £2.95 postage on something that only cost £3.50. 

Last weekend the MUA Facebook page advertised free shipping on orders over £20. This coincided with them teasing me with the new Top Model palette for only £7.

So I decided to have a little browse and see if I could make up an order for £20 to get my free delivery.

Here is what I got...

The Artiste Collection £6

Brow Kit £3.50

Britain's Next Top Model Palette £7

Intense Gloss in Smooch £2

Fashionista Super Length Mascara £1.50

Exactly £20 worth. Now I know I would have been better off just getting the brow kit and paying the postage, but then I wouldn't have all this great new makeup.

It arrived during the day yesterday and naturally I tried most of it this morning.

The mascara is great, does add length and provides nice definition without making your lashes look like spiders legs.

The gloss is a great every day colour and  seems to last really well.

The colours in the brow kit are great, but the brush is not the best. I like the idea of the brow gel as I normally use clear mascara, but will have to see if it matches up to last well through the day.

The Artiste Collection palette has some nice shades and I always rate MUA eyeshadows. The blush shades and contour and highlight also look great. Though I think I need a new brush to apply the contour as my fake Mac brush put it on far too heavy.

The Top Model palette is my experiment for tomorrow.

Adiós!

Boots mini haul

I went to Boots the day before yesterday and had myself a bit of a haul, well a mini one anyway. I'll tell you a bit about what I got and my first impressions. Full reviews will follow as I've only tried this stuff out once due to just buying it.

L-R: Essie Grow Stronger base coat, Nivea Express Hydration Primer. VO5 Dry Backcomb Spray, VO5 Tousled Style Spray, Nivea Pearly Shine lip balm

Essie Grow Stronger: My nails are so weak, always have been. It may be down to the fact that I used to bite them when I was younger, or it could be down to my diet (I hardly eat any fruit or veg, this is very bad of me and I'm sorry mum!).

I'm never one to really bother with a base coat, I tend to always have nail varnish on, so I am not worried about stains on my nails and because I do my nails every 4-5 days I try and do them quick quickly. However, it would be nice if I had stronger nails that don't break and peel and would probably make my nail varnish last longer, so thought I'd give this a go.

So far so good. I applied it under fresh nail varnsh two days ago and there's only a slight sign of wear on the ends. We shall see.

Nivea Express Hydration Primer: As I don't give myself much time to get ready in the mornings I try to have a pretty quick makeup routine and don't bother using a primer on a day to day basis, only for special occasions, I do however moisturise. So when I saw this advertised on TV - a moisturiser and primer in one, I thought I'd give it a go. I think Boots had it on a introductory price too at £3.33 rather than the RRP of £4.99. I bought the one for "dry and sensitive skin". My skin is quite sensitive to break-outs so I am always warey of trying new moisturisers. Again, so far so good. It's a really nice moisturiser, not strongly scented, but nicely scented. It does a good job of making you feel moisturised and fresh, and I think my makeup is holding on better too and lasting longer.

VO5 Dry Backcomb Spray: I saw this being used on SWalkerMakeup's YouTube channel and the results were really impressive. I requires no backcombing and therefore no damaging of your hair, just spray and plump!

I curled my hair yesterday and it was quite volumised to begin with so I didn't use it then. After sleeping on the curls last night, my hair was looking rather flat this morning so I gave it a go. It definitely does work! I didn't get as extreme results as I saw on the video, but this could be due to not using enough, or maybe my hair length or type. When I've used it a few more times I'll be able to tell and report back. Overall I am impressed and it smells lovely.


As Boots were doing 2 VO5 products for £5 and one cost £3.89, I decided to pick up something else too.

VO5 Tousled Style Spray: This also got used on my day-old curled hair this morning. After brushing my hair it had gone a bit fluffy, so I needed something to bring it back to a more sleek look. Great smelling product again and it worked really well. It's a bit like using mousse, it sticks strands of your hair together to give you a bit of the beach hair look, I really like it and will give it a go when having my hair natural as well as curly.

Nivea Pearly Shine: I love having a lip balm on hand at work, something I can slick over my lips inbetween rushing around when I don't have time to look in a mirror and reapply my lippy. I have seen many people referring to this over the years so decided it was time to try it. I like the slightly pinky pearlescent shine it gives you, it looks lovely on. In terms of moisturising the lips it's OK, but it doesn't compare using Vaseline. I probably wouldn't buy again, because for me it's not moisturising enough.


Here concludes my mini haul. Let me know in the comments if you like this type of post as I'll do more in the future. Have a nice day!