Okay, so since becoming a beauty blogger, I have come across a whole wealth of brands that I never knew existed, or learnt that products from brands I had heard of are actually really good! Now, I have tried and tested many, many beauty and skincare brands in my time and buying little beauty bits and bobs is one of my favourite things to do. This is my first little blog series I’m starting, where each week I will be taking £5 out with me on my lunch break, to see how much I can buy from my wish list.
Let’s see how well I did on my first budget beauty haul…
Apologies for the quality of the pictures- I work in the basement at work so the lighting is pretty awful, and I only had my phone with me to photograph with!
After hearing really good things about MUA, a drugstore beauty brand on sale in Superdrug in the UK, I decided to take a look at their range. Their lipsticks are only £1- I couldn’t contain myself! I’ve bought a coloured eyeliner from them before, which I was impressed with, but as I’m usually a Boots girl for drugstore shopping I rarely venture in to see what Superdrug has to offer.
The only thing with budget beauty brands is that the annoying 12 year-olds who come in after school decide that its perfectly acceptable to mash and mangle any testers in the attempt to find their first lipstick. This is something I don’t understand- how do product testers get in such a state? This meant that half the lipstick colours I liked the look of either had their testers missing, or were mushed up at the bottom of the container and were broken. Some people may be okay with buying a lipstick in a daring colour and trusting it will look good on them when they buy it, but I haven’t been wearing lipstick very long and having very pale, pinkish skin and blonde hair means I have to be certain a product will suit my colouring before I take the plunge.
I ended up playing it safe with Shade 14 (Nude) and Shade 7 (Pale Pinky-Coral). I have been much more daring with lipstick purchases recently, so am lacking in the ‘everyday’ department, meaning this actually worked out quite well. I tried both shades once I got back to work, and at the moment I prefer the pinkish-coral because it gives a nice little flush to my natural lip colour. I’m less sure of the nude, because I feel a bit washed-out if I’ve not got much eye make-up on (I can’t wear eye shadow very often as my eyelids get really irritated by any products I use), but I’ll definitely be experimenting with this in the future.
Both lipsticks are really creamy, which is something I don’t usually go for- I’m a matte lipstick girl- but it is nice to have some moisture on my lips. I usually slick some of my Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lip Therapy tin or a Soap and Glory crayon over the top of matte lips to keep them moisturised. For £1 each, you really can’t go wrong, and it means that you can experiment with shades you’re unsure of and not feel guilty if they don’t suit you! Expect to see these featured again very soon.
Now, onto my other more necessary purchase (did I just say lipstick isn’t necessary? Somebody slap me!) My poor little hands have been crying out in this freezing cold weather recently, and the fact that I have eczema definitely doesn’t help. I use Diprobase (prescription cream) on them at home, but it’s so boring and it doesn’t smell of anything, and is too thick to use as a proper hand cream. I recently bought some E45 Moisturising Lotion to use at home as well, as it’s thinner but just as moisturising, so works well on any dry patches. But these ginormous tubs aren’t portable, or pretty, and I was in need of some on-the-go nourishment for my thirsty mitts.
Cue Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Concentrated Formula cream in a handy portable tube! Now, I could go on all day about how amazing Palmer’s products are- me and my mum have been fans for years thanks to the gorgeous signature smell and the fact that it works! Take a look at the full range– I was amazed at how much they do now looking at that link, and want to try everything. They have a hair care range now, which I will definitely be purchasing sooner rather than later, as it looks amazing and is designed for dry/damaged hair- hello! The facial skincare range also looks good enough to eat- could I resist that smell being so close to my lips? Well, the answer is yes, because I’ve tried their lip balm before, and it is GOOD.
I used this cream as soon as I got back to work, but I accidentally used too much- as it is a concentrated formula you really do only need a pea-sized amount or even less! It needed a fair bit of rubbing in because of this, but my hands definitely feel moisturised and nourished, and now there’s no excuse as this little baby will be in my bag at all times from now on.
I also picked up some Propercorn with my lunch (not part of my beauty haul, but still worth mentioning!), which I have seen so many times before but never bought for some reason! I got the Sweet & Salted version and it was yummy- I don’t know what it is about sweet mixed with salt but I love the combination- salted caramel anything is a particular weakness. I love the packaging design because it’s so cute, quirky and fresh, and it works really well in the healthy foods market.
So, there you have it, my first lunchtime budget beauty haul! My hand cream and two lipsticks came in at just £4.09- and they were all full-price products which is pretty impressive. Normally, I look for anything that is on offer, so I love finding full-priced bargains!
Do you like the idea of my new budget beauty haul series? Do you have any budget beauty items you swear by? How often do you buy drugstore products?
