European Haul: Makeup

On Thursday I gave you a look at skincare products I bought in Europe (if you missed it you can read it here). From all the things I bought in Europe (wow, it sounds like I bought a truck load!), I was most excited about two things that I'm featuring in this particular post. Can you guess which?

Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker in "Yummy plum"

This is a lip plumping gloss in the fun Soap & Glory packaging that we've all come to love. The actual tube is a matte glass tube. It has a doe foot applicator and the gloss is thick, but leaves the lips sheer and glossy with a hint of colour. It smells like fruit candies and tingles as soon as you apply it. I can't really comment on whether or not it plumps up my lips, but it definitely tingles like crazy!

The Balm's Mary Loumanizer

This seems to be a bit of a cult product and after hearing so many beauty bloggers talk about it, I just had to put it on my list. Both the little box and the compact are super cute and fun. The compact is sturdy and comes with a mirror. The powder highlighter is the most beautiful gold and is super soft and buttery.

Clarins Instant Lip Perfectors in 01 Rose Shimmer and 02 Apricot Shimmer

The pretty coloured tubes match the colour of the gloss inside. These lip perfectors have very interesting sponge applicators-- not brushes or doe foot applicators. You squeeze the tube and out comes the gloss from a couple of tiny holes under the sponge applicator. The lip perfectors smell of vanilla and leaves lips glossy, tinted, and incredibly moisturised without being gloopy or drying out the lips.

Tanya Burr Lip Glosses in "Chic" and "Picnic in the park"

The glosses come in square tubes with doe foot applicators. The gloss is thick (thicker than I expected it to be) and leaves the lips glossy with a nice wash of colour. It smells like fruit candies and isn't sticky or gloopy. "Chic" is a light milkshake pink even though it looks quite dusty in the tube. "Picnic in the Park" is more of a bright candy pink.

BeautyBay Beauty Blender

I received this as a GWP with my BeautyBay order. The purple egg-shaped sponge is similar (in shape) to the Beauty Blender sponge. It feels much more velvety and soft than my pink Clicks knockoff! You wet it slightly under the tap and use it to blend (or "bounce") in your foundation or BB cream.

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush in "Flush"

A lot of overseas beauty bloggers raved about this, and I was intrigued about the whole watercolour idea. One tiny drop gives the most beautiful pink flush on the cheeks. It blends easily and lasts much longer than other blushes on my cheeks. I predict that this little bottle will also last me ages!

Too Faced Natural Eyes Neutral Eye Shadow Collection

The packaging of this palette is just beautiful. The tin is small and compact and surprisingly sturdy. It contains nine eyeshadows grouped by "day", "classic", and "fashion" looks. The base eyeshadow colours are bigger than the rest and the colour selection is just amazing. The tin comes with a large mirror and a booklet with instructions on how to create each of the three looks. Obviously you can (and should) create more than three looks, but this is just to get you started.

The shadows are soft and buttery and really pigmented. I expect to get a lot of wear out of this palette!

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I have wanted this eyeshadow palette for SO long and it is finally mine! It's quite a big palette, so travelling with it could be a bit problematic. The cardboard case is covered in chocolate brown velvet with the words "Naked" and "Urban Decay" in gold lettering. It contains 12 eyeshadows, a small mirror, and a double-ended eyeshadow brush. The palette also comes with four samples of the equally famous eyeshadow primer potions (it keeps your eyeshadow from sliding off your face if you have oily eyelids). The colours are bronze orientated but the variety is impeccable and I feel confident that I chose the right Naked palette for me! I have to be honest, I haven't used this yet, I just take it out of the box and stare at it for now!

The next two items aren't really makeup items, but it's closer to makeup than skincare I suppose?

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat and Seche Restore

I have proclaimed my love for Seche Vite to most people who know me. This is my second bottle and I will keep on repurchasing it. For those who don't know: this is the best top coat in the world. As simple as that. It dries your nails (and I mean DRIES) in seconds and leave them looking super glossy. It can shrink your nail polish at the edges, but I haven't really had serious problems with this in the past. The only bad things about Seche Vite are that it contains a small amount of Toluene (a "nasty" ingredient), it's pricey (much cheaper ordering from overseas), and it turns gloopy (or in my case, completely solid) in a few months. Which brings me to my next item...

Seche Restore is like paint thinner but for Seche Vite specifically. I thought about trying to revive my bottle of rock hard Seche Vite, but I think that ship has sailed. I'll rather keep it for the new bottle!

Phew, that was quite a long post! Is there anything you would like me to review? Let me know in the comments section.

Until next time!

Hildegarde

xoxo