£15 High Street Challenge | July

I know how much y'all look forward to this post, so I'm sorry it's taken me this long into the month to get the post up.  In fairness, I haven't long bought the products either, the month has really flown by and I just didn't know what to buy... well, in a week or so it'll be time for the next one, and this time I really want your help - if you have any suggestions on what I can buy for August, please leave your recommendations in the comments :)

If this is your first time reading my £15 high street challenge, I'll quickly let you know what it is and why I started it.  Basically, in January when I looked back to reflect on 2014's posts, I realised nearly every product I blogged about was a PR sample.  And while I know they're all 100% honest, I know a lot of people aren't comfortable with that.  So in an effort to break up the amount of PR review posts, I'm giving myself a wee budget of £15 a month to spend on high street makeup - the catch is I need to try and buy at least 3 items for my money.  I'm not super strict with it, as long as it's around £15 I'm happy.

If you want to see what I've picked up on previous months, you can read them here.  So lets see what I bought:

I went to Boots in my lunch break on my 1st/2nd day back at work and saw they had a good Bourjois offer on, 3 for 2 and if you do the offer you get a free pair of Bourjois sunglasses - this is an offer Bourjois do every Summer, and for the last 2/3 years Bourjois have supplied my summer sunglasses through this offer :)  Each year they're different from the last, I love that.

I could resist picking up their new blusher, Aqua blush. I picked a coral shade.  It really reminds me of a watercolour blush type product.  It's so beautiful on the cheeks, it gives a really natural flush of colour that says put for hours and hours.  When I apply it, I squirt it onto my finger, dot it on my cheek and blend it in with a stippling brush.

I also went for the Healthy Mix concealer - considering how much I adore the Healthy Mix foundation (hello, holy grail!) I just had to give this a go!  So far I've only worn it under the eye (big mistake), so next I'll be trying it on other areas of my face :)  It's just a bit heavy for under eyes, and for me, the wrong colour.

The third product was a re-purchase, the 1 seconde nail polish remover, it's seriously great, fast and leaves my nails smelling super lovely :)  Much easier than faffing about with nail polish remover and cotton pads.

This was a little over budget, coming in at about £18, but that's not bad considering what I managed to get for my money.

What recommendations do you have for next month?

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URBAN DECAY | Naked Skin Concealer

It's been a long time since I've tried a concealer and thought 'wow' this is something really special. The last one was probably the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer.  So, in walks this Naked Skin Concealer from Urban Decay, the new kid on the block.

It's oh, so creamy (I can imagine this is what the NARS creamy concealer is like), and sets really, really well.  What's more, it works under the eyes.  Since becoming a mummy, I've discovered a whole new world of tired (if you don't have kids yet, you'll discover this new level of tired when you do) and as such, I have pretty dark circles around my weary eyes, giving me a need to cover them.

While I don't believe any concealer is going to look flawless on top of skin that's starting to age, this probably comes as close as possible to looking pretty natural.  It's thick, creamy and very blendable, while offering good coverage for blemishes too.

This has been a staple under my dark eyes, and as I've been having a few breakouts recently, I've been dotting it on them too and it's concealed them really well, blending in very naturally with my foundation.  I also love the applicator, it's a normal doe-foot, but it's flattened.  When you take it out of the tube it gets squeezed throw a narrow slit, which removes a lot of the excess concealer from the wand, leaving you with plenty for under the eye or to cover blemishes, and it gives you a flat surface for doing that, love it.

This has been a big winner for me, it's something I've been reaching for every time I've done my makeup since I've had it (a few weeks), so it's had a good road test :)  This retails for £17.50 which you can find in places like John Lewis.

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*Post contains a PR sample

Bobbi Brown colour corrector in Light Bisque

** The concealer was applied to the inner corner of my eye (where you'd highlight) and on my eye bag for the inner third, up until the blue/grey of my eye starts **

You know when you watch YouTube videos and read blogs, and loads of people are talking about this 'cult' product, but it's a bit expensive so you don't immediately rush out and buy it?  Well, that's what this was to me.  But, when I was in London for a blogger meetup a few weeks ago, I was in Liberties (for the first time!) and couldn't not buy anything from there, it would have been rude not to right?

Well, my friend and I seemed to end up at the Bobbi Brown counter where I have to say, we were served by a really lovely lady, so polite and helpful :)  I'd gone in asking for the creamy concealer, but as soon as I started talking about why I wanted it, both of us realised it was really the colour corrector I wanted as I wanted it to get rid of blue and red under my eyes.  I brought up my concern that now I have fine lines, cream concealers crease on me like nobody's business, she assured me that she'd never heard of creasing happening on Bobbi Brown cream concealers or colour correctors.  She matched me to light bisque, I handed over my £18.50 and moved on to & Other stories (more on that later).

The next morning I woke up in the hotel, and excitedly put my makeup on with my new purchases.  About 10 minutes after applying my makeup, I checked it in a mirror only to see that wouldn't you know it, yes it had creased, pretty badly under my eyes.  'Never happens' eh?  Either I'm a freak of nature or the lady that served me was a bit unrealistic on the products she was selling.  That's not to say I don't like it, quite the contrary, I just make sure I only put it where I need it, which is the inner corner and the innermost third of my eye bag, any further than that, I get creasing.

It does last well, and definitely corrects the blueness and redness.  Would I buy it again? Yes, because it does a good job, I'm just a realist and know that cream concealers aren't for people with fine lines.  If they release a liquid formula of this though, I'd switch straight away :)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Hayley from Water Painted Dreams

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch

Hey guys,  having a good day?   

I have another review for you, today it's the Dream Lumi Touch by Maybelline.  Now, I love Maybelline and I'm trying out loads of new liquid concealers at the mo, so this somewhat excited me :)  I bought this in my Sainsburys haul a couple of weeks ago and I've been using it most days since.  Here's some pics - review underneath :D

My Thoughts

I like it - it's not amaze-balls, but it's good.  I like how it lightens my skin and does illuminate it.  My problem is that the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer has set the bar so high it's almost impossible for any other concealer to get close.  DAMN YOU COLLECTION!  But in fairness this is a good concealer, it's not runny/thin and it covers well.  It's not as good at covering blemishes, but it does get rid of the blueness/purple/darkness from under my eyes :)  I like it, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

Pixi3 out

xXx

Sainsburys Haul

Hey guys, so you asked for more hauls, you shall get more hauls.  Now over the next couple of weeks, it's going to look like I've won the lottery because of all the hauls - this sadly isn't the case, and happily everything was cheap/on offer etc :)  Yay for a bargain!  So, today (or by the time this goes up, the other day) I went to the Drs and right next to it is my local Sainsburys, so I headed over to pick up my prescription and had a browse... bought a few things... spent some money... yeah... I'll just show you the pics!  (Video haul and vlog at the bottom if you're interested!)

This is being added to my giveaway as a Runners up prize :)  A nice bit of Brit love for 2012 :)

These were amazing bargains!  Maybelline was on offer of 3 for 2, the olympic bands were reduced to £2, and some of the jewellery was half price :)

Here's the random video - such a brain melt in it too!  And watch this space for full reviews over the next couple of weeks of the Maybelline goodies :) 

Pixi3 out

xXx

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

Hello, good day to you all!  So, for years now I've been stuck in my ways using Boi-ing concealer by Benefit - never really, truely liking it.  But for some reason, I'd go back and buy it again, and again... but the breaking point was the last time, the girl outright told me that I was wrong, and that I would never have bought shade 02, it's clearly too dark, it's definitely 01... so taking her advise I bought 01, and whaydda know?  It was too light for me. 

As my skin has aged, I'm getting drier around my eyes too, and solid concealers just crack on me, well Boi-ing does and needs a lot of attention.  So, I decided that when it was finished, I'd try a liquid one, opting for a cheapy one first, just in case I didn't like it ;)  So I ventured into Superdrug and picked up (on a recommendation) the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in the lightest shade they do.  

Before concealer under eyes

 After concealer under eyes

My Thoughts

I'm finding it hard to pick a negative to be honest... after maybe, 8 hours, maybe 6, any blemishes could do with being touched up, but it has great staying power, it's lovely and thick whilst still being a liquid, it blends really well, doesn't smell bad and helps to minimise the mammoth bags I have under my eyes - and that's no mean feat I can tell you!  I really like this, I can definitely see me re-purchasing this and keeping it as a staple in my Collection <-- see what I did there?  ;)

Pixi3 out

xXx