Barry M Chisel Cheeks Contour Kit

Contouring isn’t going away any time soon and it seems this summer brands like Smashbox have really stepped up their contouring game with the introduction of their Step by Step Contouring Stick Trio and the Step by Step Contour Kit. So with an abundance of high end contour kits I was happy to find the budget high street end of things aren’t afraid to get involved either.

At the beginning of the summer I purchased the Barry M Chiseled Cheeks Contour Kit, I had been hunting it down for weeks, every time I went to pick one up it was sold out and at €9.49 for a contour kit that looks like an exact double for the Smashbox contour kit you can see why.

For a palette costing €9.49 it is good but compared to the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour powders which I also bought over the summer you do realise that paying a bit extra you will get a better quality powder but as a beginner kit it’s the biz.

The vanilla shade in the palette is a great dupe for the ABH Vanilla powder, I use it to set under my eyes which helps to brighten them up a bit. The middle bronze shade I use to bronze my cheeks (obviously). This shade is probably the colour I use least in the palette though, the bronzer is a bit more on the orangey side which doesn’t suit my complexion at all and it doesn’t blend very well either. The third shade in the palette is the contour shade, a lot like Fawn in the ABH kits, I pop this in the hollows of my cheeks and it’s a great colour to deepen even the chubbiest of cheeks.

I bought some of the ABH contour powders over the summer and sitting them side by side you can see they are very similar.

So if you’re thinking of getting into contouring and don’t want to spend a fortune I’d recommend the Barry M Chisseld Cheeks Contour Kit. While it’s not super amazing it’s definitely great as a starter kit and I’d probably give it a 7/10.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

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

Florida Outlet Bargains

Fingers crossed these haul posts aren’t starting to look like I’m bragging, I love to look at what other people have bought especially when it comes to makeup and things like that so I’m doing it for all of you who love them like me!

This is only a short little post. I spent a lot of time in various Outlets in Florida and in pretty much all the outlets I went to they had a store called The Cosmetics Company as well as having other beauty stores. The Cosmetic Company sell makeup such as MAC, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox and more at a cheaper rate, mostly because these are pieces from collections from a year or two ago.

I saw this Smashbox Ombre Eyes box that included a full sized Full Exposure mascara, full sized lip gloss and an Eyeshadow palette with 5 colours. The box was only $14, I was in shock when I saw the price and the only reason it was so cheap was that it was from a special offer where you got to pick which eyeliner you want to be included in the box. Needless to say at $14 I bought two.

I also bought these pigments from MAC, they were from the Nocturnal Collection that was out for Christmas last year. I haven’t had a chance to try these yet but they are just so pretty to look at and I’m dying to use the frosted colours. They were $24 and originally $32.50 so I like to think I got them at a bargain. They had other colours but I thought I would use the golds a bit more.

 

Another MAC item was the Studio Fix powder. I don’t think this is really for my skin type but it was in my colour so I bought it and only $19 when it’s usually $27.

The last piece I bought from The Cosmetics Company was the Clinique palette. I gave this to my mother so I don’t have proper pictures but the picture below is what it looks like on the inside.

 

Finally there was a Clarins store in one of the outlets where I picked up this lovely palette. Not that I need any more nude coloured palettes but they are very buttery and only $24.

 

I had been to The Cosmetic Company store in Woodbury Common in New York but it wasn’t half as good as any of the stores that I had been to while in Florida so I was very pleased to be able to pick up a few bargains.

I will definitely be back for more next time I go to Florida.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Sephora Wishlist

Sephora won’t know what hit it when I touch down in Orlando! Every time I go to the states I have to go to Sephora, they just have so many brands of makeup and skincare that we can’t get in Ireland and in some cases not even in the UK. I’ve picked out some of the items that I can’t wait to get my hands on, I’m sure more will be going into the basket but for now these are the beauty products that will be definitely coming back to Dublin with me.

Sephora have their own brand of makeup as well as selling other brands. This Color Festival Blockbuster palette has 72 eyeshadows, 28 lip glosses, 8 blushes, 18 cream eyeliners and 4 2 in 1 cheek and lip creams all for the tidy sum of $49.50. It might seem expensive but for all you get it’s a bargain!

Sephora are great for their value packs, usually containing a mixture of travel, deluxe size and sometimes full size products from their own brand and high end lines. I have my eye on Glitz & Glam pack containing Stila, Smashbox, Benefit and Makeup Forever minis as well as some other brands. I think the value packs is where I’ll do the most damage.

I love my Anastasia Beverly Hills brow powder duo so I can’t wait to get my hands on the Brow Wizz, the Brow Gel and the Dipbrow Pomade. They are some of the best brow products and I’ll be stocking up on the brand as it’s much cheaper to buy it in Sephora then back in Dublin.

I don’t know if I need the Beauty Blender but what I do know is that I want it in my life. From what I’ve seen it makes foundation application that much easier and quicker.

I’ve heard such good things about the Kat Von Dee makeup especially the Lock It Foundation and concealer. They’re longwearing which is my favourite kind of foundation so I hopefully I can find the right shade for my skin tone.

I know you can get the Glam Glow muds much more easily in Dublin now but with the exchange rate it might be a bit cheaper in the states so I’ve been holding off getting it until now.

The Stila Magnificent Metal Foils are another item that I can get in Dublin but it costs €44.00 here and only $32.00 which with the exchange rate is only €25.00. I’ll probably only be getting one of these, €25.00 is still pretty expensive for just one eyeshadow.

Bite is a brand that’s been on my radar for a while from watching all the American YouTube bloggers. I’ll be getting the Agave Lip Mask and the Luminous Cream Duo Lipsticks. The mask helps rejuvenate your lips and can be used as an overnight treatment for them to keep them in tip top condition. The Duo lipsticks are only $12.00 and for that price I just can’t say no to that!

Marc Jacobs makeup is exclusively sold at Sephora and I can’t wait to get my hands on one of the eyeshadow palettes. As you can imagine it is an expensive brand but we all deserve a bit of glam in our lives.

Make Up For Ever have recently come out with a new line of shadows and from the reviews I’ve seen they are amazing. They’re called the Artist Shadows and can be bought in singles or you can make up a palette of your favourite colours.

There’s a few Urban Decay items that I have my eye on but I really want to try their new Perversion Mascara and you can buy a value pack in Sephora that includes the a deluxe sample of the Subversion Mascara primer.

 

Finally the Smashbox Full Exposure Travel Palette is a miniature of the Palette that was out last year. I’ll have to see what it’s like when I’m in the store because I thought the original Full Exposure palette seemed a bit chalky but the palette is only $22.00 so I think I can manage chalky for that price.

That concludes my Sephora wish list, I’m sure I’ll come back with so much more but for the moment these are the main things I’ll be buying.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah