New Urban Decay Palettes Haul!

Hello. So if you saw my recent beauty wishlist you'll know that I firmly had my eye on the Urban Decay Flushed palette. As soon as I heard about it I knew I had to have it, being a big fan of the Naked palettes. However when I wrote the wishlist I never expected that the next day I would end up purchasing it!

Going shopping with my best friend is always dangerous. We both love makeup and we have a habit of encouraging each other to buy more! So, when we went into Debenhams I knew I was in trouble. I saw so many things I'd like to own, but when I saw the two newest Naked palettes wrapped together in a bargain bundle I couldn't resist!

In total the two ended up costing a pretty sweet £30 because I had £5 to spend on my Debenhams' beauty card. Get in! The palettes are just adorable...so tiny!

The Flushed palette is beautiful. I love how it allows you to carry around a bronzer, highlight and blush all in one. It's so compact which would make it ideal for travel purposes. I was also impressed to find that the fastening is magnetic. Not sure why, but this instantly appeals to me...I love magnetic things!

On first impressions the products seem really good. I was a little worried that the bronzer would be too dark and a little harsh on my skin tone but actually I'd say this is the most build-able of the three. It doesn't come on really strong and took a few swatches to get the colour in the photo.

As for the highlight colour, I think it's really pretty and everything you'd require in a highlight. It applies to the skin really well and leaves a nice shimmery soft finish.

The blush is possibly the most pigmented of the three and a little bit appears to go a long way. Keeping to it's title, it gives a nice 'flushed' pink look. Love it!

The Basics palette, for me, is a nice bonus at essentially £10. Don't get me wrong, I liked the look of it when it first came out but I wasn't sure if there was much point in me buying it because I already have the two Naked palettes. However when I saw just how small it was, and super cute, I gave it more than a second glance. I was pleased to see that it only had one of the same shades as the other Naked palettes, 'Foxy', yet on comparing the two back at home they do seem to differ in colour? Odd.

I always love Urban Decay's eye shadows and these are no exception to the rule. I like that this palette offers 5 matte shades, with the only shimmer being 'Venus', because the bigger Naked palettes are a little skimpy on their mattes. The practicality of this palettle is a traveller's dream. Being a uni student I'm always packing a travel makeup bag to head home etc and I think I'd be pretty happy with just taking this little guy as my only eye shadows. I reckon it possesses the potential to create a fair few decent eye looks...including a nice smoky eye among it!

All in all I've really excited about owning these!

I'm sure that full reviews will follow once I've become accustomed to using them! In the meantime, let me know if you have these? What do you think? Or, are they on your wishlist?

Travel home make-up

Hello lovelies :)

So, last week was half term in Nottingham which meant I got to go home...see my mum & dad and all that :P

Above is what I call travelling light. In fact, I did take more makeup home but I decided to only include what I actually used whilst there!

I love my Paper Planes by Disaster Designs Wash Bag...it's not only cute in the form of a parcel but it's rather large so it can hold a lot. I bought mine here. 

I'll start with essential brushes. 

From the left is my Mac 129se which I love for applying blusher; 

my Sigma f82 rounded top kabuki great for foundation; 

another Mac 129se to apply my face powder; 

a cheap angled-eye brush for my brow kit; 

and finally the brilliant Mac 217 blending brush for eye shadow.

Face stuff.

From the left... No More Shine Setting Spray by Skindinavia. This is one of my holy grail products. A must have to keep my makeup in place and take away that powdery finish. I ordered mine from the Skindinavia site but it's cheaper here.

Pressed powder by 17. It does the job and it's pretty compact :)

Enzymion moisturizer from Lush. I love the citrus-y scent, it's brill for oily skin and helps prep my face for makeup. 

A Bobbi Brown blush in Slopes. Pretty colour.

bareMinerals Matte foundation. I used this the most whilst home...on those days when I wanted a lighter finish.

Benefit's Porefessional. This is a brill foundation primer...however I only used it once as I find it doesn't work too well with mineral foundation.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere...I love this foundation A LOT. However I only needed this heavier duty foundation on the one occasion whilst home.

Lastly, Mac's Studio Finish concealer. Very important for me, especially with my recent acne outbreak!

Eyes.

The Naked palette by Urban Decay. Enough said. 

Max factor's Clump Defy mascara. I'm enjoying using this purple tube atm!

Urban Decay's 24/7 glide on eye pencil. I'm all about the black eyeliner and this one is a beauty. It has serious staying power. Next to it, I also took home my liquid eyeliner by Rimmel which I used on the same occasion as my Chanel foundation (I went pubbing it :P)

Benefit's Brow Zings has been a part of my essential makeup for over a year now and I can't imagine ever not using it!

Liiiips!

As you can see I was quite strict with myself in terms of lip products. 

Generally I just used Lush's lip scrub in Popcorn flavour. This is simply delicious and it helps keep my lips nicely exfoliated. 

Afterwards I'd put on a bit of my Pomegranate lippy lip balm, from The Body Shop, to moisturise my lips and keep them nice and soft.

Finally, on more special occasions, I applied my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stain on top to add a pop of colour. I love the build-able red colour that the shade Romantic gives!

...And that's a wrap!