Sephora Haul

I’m nearly a month home now from Orlando and the depression is nearly over, the post-holiday blues where pretty tough this year.

I had an amazing time over there and would recommend anyone who has never been to head there on your holidays; it was probably one of my best holidays I’ve been on.

Before I left I had trawled through the Sephora website and made lists of everything I wanted. I had saved a good amount and new that the majority of it would be spent in Sephora alone. My mission was to buy things that I can’t buy in Ireland or that was much cheaper than Ireland.

As part of my preparation and planning of my shopping list I set up an account to join the Sephora Beauty Insider club. I had set one up when I found out that Sephora had begun ordering to the UK and was going to use Parcel Motel to get my order to me but I have yet to be successful – if any of you have managed to get a Sephora order to Ireland please let me know in the comments below. 

Anyway when you set up your account you need to give your date of birth because each birthday you get a special gift and as my birthday is in July I set up a second account and put a date in September so that when I got to Sephora I would get my little gift. The second reason for setting up your account is that you collect points, a lot like the Boots card. For every dollar you spend you get one point and after 100 points you receive a deluxe sample size or if you manage to get 500 points you get a box worth of products.

Getting down to the nitty gritty of what I bought and I bought a lot, an awful lot, so much so that in the middle of the holiday I had been told that I can’t go into a Sephora shop or buy any more makeup. I was also told that I have a “problem”, my boyfriend didn’t get angry but he did tell me he was “disappointed” which is probably worse than being angry at someone.

Anyway let’s start off with the little birthday gift, I think they change these each year and my gift was a sample set of a Make Up For Ever Smokey Extravagant Mascara and Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick. I haven’t tried either of these yet but it’s always nice to get something for free.

I had seen so many Youtubers rave about the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal and when I tested it in store I just fell in love with it immediately. The highlight this gives off is like nothing I have ever seen before. I wish I went back to get Moonstone which was slightly darker, I’ll just have to go back next year.

I love how Sephora have what I call beauty selection boxes; I wish boots did something like this, even just for Christmas. They have different boxes with a variety of beauty goodies featuring deluxe sample sizes and sometimes full size products. I bought 4 of their boxes, Give Me More Lip, The Superstars, Give Me Some Lip and the Meet your Match. I would have loved to have brought all the boxes home but I had struggled to fit everything in so I had to remove the items from the larger boxes.

The Superstar and the Give me More Lip are probably my favourite boxes. The Superstar box has the following:

- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown (Full Size)

- Benefit Cosmetics POREfessional

- Benefit Cosmetics They're Real Mascara In Jet Black

- Bumble And Bumble Surf Spray (full Size)

- Chloè by Chloè Rollerball (Full Size)

- Formula X Nail Color in Ignite (Full Size)

- Fresh Sugar Rosè Tinted Lip Treatment

- Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil (Full Size)

- Nars Cosmetics Blush in Orgasm

- Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 35 in Light (Full Size)

- Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day® Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner In Intense Black

- Urban Decay Eye shadow in Sin (Full Size)

The Give Me More Lip has:

- bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie™ Lipstick in Speak Your Mind (bubble gum pink)

- Benefit Cosmetics Hydrating Tinted Lip Balm in Posie

- Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Palomino (vibrant magenta)

- Buxom Mini Full Bodied lipstick in Menace

- Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment

- Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Icon

- Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Outlaw

- Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Blush (medium rose brown)

- Laura Mercier Crème Smooth Lip Colour in Red Armour

- MAKE UP FOR EVER Waterproof Lip Liner Pencil

- Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Black Dahlia Lip Tar: Matte Test Tube

- Sephora Collection Rouge Infusion in 10 Red Essence

- stila Stay All Day® Vinyl Lip Gloss in Nude Vinyl (medium pink nude)

- Tarte LipSurgence Lip Tint in Moody

- Tarte LipSurgence Power Pigment in Flush

- Too Faced Cosmetics La Creme Color Drenched Lip Cream in Naked Dolly

- Too Faced Cosmetics Melted Liquefied Long Wear Lipstick in Fuchsia

I love how you get so much in these boxes and there are a lot of products in them that I haven’t tried as well as colours that I wouldn’t usually buy. With there being so much variety it’s a great way to sample colours and items that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought of buying and you don’t have the commitment of buying a full size item and then have it not work out for you. These are great stocking fillers too but this time these are all for me J

Among the full size lip products I popped into my basket was the Smashbox Long Wear Lip Lacquer in After Dark. These are gorgeous highly pigmented lipsticks that are very long wearing, except when you’re eating they come right off. I’ll be reviewing these soon so keep an eye out for that soon enough.

The other full size lippies I bought where:

-          Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick Duo

-          Bite Beauty Matte Crème Lip Crayon

-          Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask

Finally I bought the Marc Jacobs the Lolita shadow palette; I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it. I have yet to try it out I’m waiting for a special occasion to break this bad boy out but I can’t wait to try out a smokey eye with it.

I also bought the Glamglow Supermud, the Beauty Blender sponge and Solid cleaner, Urban Decay Triple Treat Travel Pencils, Urban Decay Perversion Mascara, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade and Brow Wizz Pencil and Tony Moly Lip Balm.

So as you can see I did buy a lot and after some contemplation I probably do have a little problem and maybe I did buy a lot, I certainly spent a lot, a whopping $544 dollars’ worth of goods. I managed to get my 500 points and got a Buxom Too Hot to Handle Box (Pictured below). I also got upgraded from Beauty Insider to VIB and received a point’s card and a 10% off voucher that I got to useJ. I have to the end of next year to use the rest of the points; we’re already planning on going back next year so I should get use out of my remaining points and you never know I might get upgraded to VIB Rouge.

I will be doing in depth reviews on the majority of what I got so keep an eye out for that. Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

American Drugstore Haul

Some of my favourite YouTube videos to watch are Drugstore Hauls so I had a good idea of what was popular over in the States before I left for Florida. My main aim while I was there was to buy makeup that you can’t get in Ireland or makeup that was much cheaper than at home and I think I achieved that goal!

I made a drugstore wish list before I left and stayed pretty close to it, I don’t think I deviated too much. I bought my makeup in Target, Wallmart and CVS. I went into Wallgreens but it their prices were too high compared to the others. If you’re ever in the States then it’s really good to shop around as prices unlike Ireland can differ pretty dramatically from store to store.

I won’t be going into detail with everything as I will be doing individual posts in the coming weeks.

 

To start I bought some EOS lip balms and a hand cream. You can get these in Ireland in Harvey Nichols for around €6.00 but I got mine for $2.99 which is €2.40 so I bought 3 and a hand cream. They have a new flavour out in Coconut Milk which I bought as well as Summer Fruit and Pomegranate Raspberry. I love these, they’re just so moisturising and yummy.

 

I then went slightly bat shit crazy when I found the Milani stands in Walmart and CVS. We don’t get Milani here in Ireland but they are a very affordable makeup brand with some amazing quality shadows and blushes. The shadows I bought are from their new Bella range, which are a gel powder formula and are highly pigmented. I’ve only tested them out on the back of my hand so I’ll be excited to sit down and try different looks on myself. I’ve tried one blush and it’s pretty amazing, one little swipe of your brush and you have hell of a lot of product on it, I’m so impressed. I wish I could have gotten more but the shelves weren’t stocked very well in either stores but I think my boyfriend would have killed me if I got anymore.

 

I picked up some Maybelline pieces too. I love their 24 hour tattoo range so I got some pigments and a cream shadow, I also got their The Nudes palette which you can’t get here at all and the Eye Studio Color Plush Silk Eyeshadow quad in Copper Chic. I haven’t used any of these yet so I can’t tell you what I think but keep an eye out in the future for some reviews on them.

 

NYX recently came to Ireland within the last year but I haven’t been able to get near a store that sells it. I could have bought the whole stand when I was in Target but I managed to rein myself in and only get a few pieces. I had watched Sinead from The Beautiful Truth and her American haul before I left and fell in love when I saw her NYX blue liner so I had to pop one in the basket. Again I haven’t opened any of the products and the stores in America usually don’t have testers so you just have to hope you’ve picked a good colour.

 

You can get Wet N Wild everywhere in Ireland now so I was only on the lookout if they had anything that I couldn’t get here, they didn’t have anything that caught my eye but they did have the single eyeshadows for only .94 cent which is so cheap when they’re basically €2 each here. They only had 3 colours left unfortunately but I will get use out of them.

 

This is another recommendation from The Beautiful Truth who raves about it. It’s an eye liner that also helps boost your lashes which is always a bonus. I’m not the best when it comes to putting on my liner so hopefully I’ll have good luck with this one.

 

Noting really caught my eye in L’Oreal but I did pick up a lip crayon that I don’t think is available in Ireland and one of their Infallible shadows. I’ve never used the shadows but I’ve heard amazing things about them that I’m sure I’ll love it.

 

 I also picked up some of the Revlon Colourstay foundations that I wear all the time. I love this makeup but its €17.79 in Boots so when I saw that it was $9.98 in Walmart I was all over it. I bought the shade Buff and Sand Beige. I was Buff before I left so I bought Sand Beige the next colour up so I’d have a darker colour for when I came back but that’s a little too pale for me know as well but I’m sure by Christmas I’ll be back to my pale self.

 

Finally I got this Burt’s Bees’ Lip Crayon, I just like the colour so it got thrown in the basket.

That’s all the drugstore makeup I bought, if I didn’t have my boyfriend giving me the stink eye I probably and most likely have bought an awful lot more.

Do you think I missed out on anything? Leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works Haul

In the first of what I think will be about 4 or 5 posts in total of all my goodies from my recent trip to Florida I’m starting off with Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works.

If you don’t know already both companies are owned by the same people so I decided to put them together for this post.

To start we have Victoria Secret’s, I’m such a big fan and became hooked with the brand since my first trip to the states back in 2009. I even went over to London a few weeks after they opened their store there in 2012.

Each time I go I always stock up on their underwear and their fragrances as they always have offers on them. This time was no different, only this time I think I went a little over board with the sprays. They have offers of 5 for $30 which just can’t be ignored. The outlets have a Victoria Secret’s shop which have the same offer but the fragrances are from a season or two ago and are packaged differently, I bought my first 5 bottles here. I was then in the Florida Mall and went a bit cray there too, they had some fragrances that I don’t have already and they also had one that was a new release not included in the offer which was $5. I was also in the Miami VS and bought the little spray that was $10. I always buy the bundles as I sometimes include them in presents at Christmas. It’s also a great offer as single bottles are $14 each so I really feel like I need to buy them.

I also picked up this mini perfume set of all the perfumes that they have on offer, It was half price and I thought it would be great for having on nights out or when i'm going for weekends away.

I didn’t realise how many I bought though till I was packing, 13 in total I must be mad and I still have about 5 bottles at home from my trip to NYC last year that I still have to use up. I honestly do have a problem, but sure least I’ll smell good. I think I’ll have to have one in my bag and at my desk just to help use them up.

Now each time I’ve been to the states I’ve managed to stay away from Bath & Body Works but this time I made it into one. Basically they sell amazing candles, soaps, bath and shower gels and basically everything else that you’d want to keep you looking and smelling great after a wash. Like VS they too had a store in the outlets. I bought some candles from Christmas last year and they also had new season candles as well. For some reason I bought 5 hand sanitizers but they were on offer and I had 3 in my hand so I obviously had to get two more so I could get the offer.

As it is “Fall” everything is pumpkin flavour, the Yanks go crazy for it. I haven’t tried all the candles I’ve only lit the Sea Salt and Maple Popcorn flavour and since I have my house smells like freshly cooked biscuits which makes you insanely hungry, people are coming into my house drooling and expecting cookies. I might give one or two of the candles away at Christmas as well but they all smell so amazing I think it will be hard to let any of them go, they all smell so sweet and wintery they really put you in the mood for an open fire, dark nights and cups of hot chocolate!

Whatever about needing Victoria Secrets in Dublin we most definitely need a Bath and Body Works! Yankee Candles have nothing on these guys and they’re cheaper J

 I wish there was a way of you guys smelling everything I bought so you can get an idea of why I love the 2 stores so much.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Penneys Haul

If you don’t know already I’m heading off to Florida on Wednesday. I’ve been saving like mad but I popped into Penneys yesterday and the whole spending ban kind of went of the window. I did buy stuff for the hols and a lot of it was on sale, all those €3’s seem to add up very quickly though!

When I went in I went over to the sale rail as they were selling off their summer clothes. I grabbed this striped maxi dress which was only €3.00. I love the spaghetti straps, I’m just hoping the horizontal stripes don’t make me look huge.

I then found this denim dress for €7.00. It’s a light fabric which will be great in the heat and love how it’s a bit longer at the back.

The denim shorts weren’t in the sale but I couldn’t resist, I haven’t tried them on yet so fingers crossed they look alright on me. These where €13.00.

I have a few sandals and runners for the holidays but these cute little runners where only €4.00 and looked very summery. Fingers crossed they don’t cut the feet off me walking around the parks.

I then went round to the beauty section which is where I think I did the most damage.

I picked up this roller ball perfume for €2.50, I’d never seen it before and thought it’s cheap enough that if I didn’t like it then it won’t have caused too much of a dent in my purse. It’s a lovely fresh yet musky scent but you need to get close to it to get a proper sniff of it.

These revitalising eye pads looked really interesting, I can’t wait to see use them. If they work out good I might bring them to use them on the plane.

I then got these toothbrush holders, I just thought they were handy to put on my toothbrush and chuck into my case.

I don’t need any more nail polishes but it wouldn’t be a haul for me if there wasn’t some nail polish in the mix. I couldn’t say no to this little box of 12 mini polishes just look how cute they are and only €3. I think they’re for children but I’m a big kid and just couldn’t resist.

I’m trying not to pack so much and I know my skincare will take up the most space in my bag so I had to get these travel bottles to but my face wash and creams into, these where only €1.50.

To save even more space I got these oil balancing wipes to take off my makeup, I usually use a cleansing oil to take my makeup off but I think that will be too messy to bring the oil with me so I’ll use the wipes to take off the first layer of makeup and then go in with my usual routine. These where only €1.50 for a two pack – bargain!

I don’t know when I’ll use these but these lashes where only 50 cent each.

This ombre polish topcoat was really intriguing to me. You put different layers on your nails and it creates a graduated look. It was only €3.49 and I can’t wait to try it out when I take my Shellac off to see if it works.

I’ve been trying out a foundation that will be in an upcoming review and it hasn’t really worked with any of my foundation brushes so I decided to get a blender to try something new. It’s only €1.50 so we’ll see if it makes a difference.

Finally I got this PS Love Beauty lipstick, I got it because I don’t think I have this colour from their collection. It’s only €2.00 and smells like the fizzy stuff inside of a Refresher bar.

That’s it, I bought one or two things extra like socks and boring stuff like that. Just have to pack up everything now and I’ll be all set J

My Big Boots Haul

I was given a Boots voucher for €50 the other week and yesterday I decided to spend it. At first I didn’t think I was going to spend it all in one go but Sarah being Sarah I managed to spend €74 in total, I don’t even feel like I bought that much but I must have, but because I only really spent €24 I don't feel too bad.

In this post I’ll just be showing you what I bought and I’ll be doing a few posts from this haul over the next few weeks.

Here's what I bought: 

I bought 2 Collection Lasting Gel Colour polishes, these are €3.99 each but if you bought 2 you got them for €6.50. I got them in Raspberry 7 and Vixen Red 3. I’ve tried the Models Own gel effect nail polishes and didn’t think they were worth the money so I’m hoping these will be worth the price if not more.

 I got 2 of the Rimmel Moisture Renew lipsticks, I’ve never bought these before but I liked the colours that were on offer. These where €7.95 each and had an offer of buy one get the second half price. I chose 260 Amethyst Shimmer and 360 As You Want Victoria. I don’t think these are new but I do think they have just redesigned the packaging, but seeing as I’ve never tried them before they’re new for me.

Boots have finally started to fit permanent Sleek Makeup stands in their stores, it used to be that you could only get them in the Liffey Valley Boots but they are now in Dundrum and Jervis Centre too. I’ve a good few products from them already so I just picked up the Matte Me Gloss in 431 Fandango Purple as I haven’t tried the matte glosses before and the colour really caught my eye. The Glosses cost €6.49 each.

I love my volumising mascaras especially ones that are super affordable so I’m dying to try this Seventeen Falsifeye HD mascara. It promises “lash by lash separation, corner to corner volume and length for HD Impact” so I’m hoping it does exactly what it says on the tin (or at least box). Because it’s only new it has an introductory offer of €5.98, after it will cost €8.89 so if it lives up to the hype you still get bang for your buck. Silly Sarah was too excited though and just grabbed the first box she saw and ended up getting it in Brown/Black so it will be interesting to see what the colour is like when I get it out if the box.

Another mascara and another piece from Collection. This is the Colour Lash – All Day Wear Colour mascara, as the name suggests it’s a coloured mascara and I bought it in blue as you do. I’m not sure where I’m going to wear it but it only cost €2.69 so I’m not too worried if I only wear it a few times.

Bourjois where doing a 3 for 2 offer plus a free pair of glasses, I bought 2 of the Rouge Edition Velvet Matte lippies (€10.49 each) and one the new Color Boost Glossy Finish Lipsticks (€10.99). I’ve already bought one of the Rouge Edition Velvet Matte Lipsticks a month or so ago and I’ve wanted to buy more since, they have recently brought out a few more colours in the range that are a bit more darker than the ones they had on offer first. I chose 7 Nude-ist and 8 Grand Cru, I do love the darker colours. The Color Boost intrigued me, it says on the lipstick “comfort & Hydration with SPF15 for 10Hrs” it also says its waterproof and that’s the seller for me, I  can’t wait to see if this is true or not. I’ve a feeling the free glasses won’t suit my face but I haven’t tried them on yet but as my dad says “if it’s free, take it”.

I went over to the Soap and Glory stand to look at the new blush sticks that they have but wasn’t impressed by them, I looked around the rest of the stand to see if anything caught my eye (of course something did, I’m a makeup magpie). I picked up the Archery Brow Tint and Precision Pencil (€13.00), I’ve never seen a brow pencil like this, it has a tinted pen that you’re supposed to fill and shade your brow with and the pencil you use to shape your brows, it sounds very intriguing to me and it’ll be a bit different to what I’m used too. €13.00 seems a bit much for a drugstore brow pencil so it better do the business.

Finally I bought two Barry M polishes from their Aquarium Collection. They’re two toned which I don’t think I have any polishes that are two toned and I have a lot of polishes so I needed to get one for my collection. I got one two toned polish in 417 Arabian and a glitter polish in 412 Mermaid and they both complement each other. This was another multi saver offer of buy one get the second half price and they’re €5.99 each.

Hoping something caught your eye in this post and if you see anything that catches your eye and you want me to do a post about it before another product then leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading :)

Love Sarah