Collective Beauty Haul!

Over the last few weeks I've been a little bit naughty and instead of spending all my hard earned money on Christmas gifts, I have been spending it on Christmas gifts for myself. Oops! Well what's a girl to do when all the best offers are on at this time of the year?
I Thought I would share with you a little collective haul of what I've bought recently.

Starting with this beautiful little duo. These are Soap & Glory's 'Flake away' and 'The righteous butter'. Flake away contains shea butter, sugar and peach seeds and is a body scrub/polish. While the butter contains again, shea butter, and aloe vera. I wish so badly that smellyvision was real as I cannot explain to you with any of the words in my knowledge just how amazing these smell. They're sweet, feminine and softly floral. They are the perfect scent for every single woman. I don't actually know of one person who doesn't like the scent of these and what's even better is that they do the job that they're supposed to. I bought two travel sized pots, as I had never actually tried any S&G products before, with the thought that I could just use them on my face for a while to see how I liked them. And boy do I like them!? My face hasn't been this soft in a very long time and as I mentioned in a previous post I get quite dry skin on my face around the cooler months. That hasn't been a problem at all since I started using flake away. I like to wash my face as normal, scrub it all over (obviously avoiding the eye area) and then rinsing, patting dry with a towel before applying the body butter all over my face. The only issue I have with the righteous butter is it takes ages to sink in. I'm talking 30 minutes to an hour before your face stops being sticky. But it's worth it for the end results so if you don't like having that sticky feeling I would recommend using this before you go to sleep allowing it to sink in before morning. These two are definitely a 10 out of 10 product.

 

 

Next are a few nail products. First up are the two Maybelline color show polishes. The red shade is called "Downtown red" and the purple shade is called "Noite De Gal" which translates to Night Gal.
The formulation of these polish's is lovely, while they're quite thin and you do need to use two to three coats, they are perfect for a busy lifestyle. I found that they don't chip at all and they're really long lasted. I did mention one of these in my November favourites so if you're interested go check that out.



 

 

 

And secondly I bought three Barry M Nail paints. I believe they are all either limited edition or special effects or something along those lines but they're all amazingly beautiful. The black one 'espresso' is a matte effect polish which I adore. I think matte polishes look great with nail art. I have done a few designs with the black and the gold that I very may well do a blog post/tutorial on in the very near future.. if you're good! The gold is absolutely beautiful and is part of the foil effects range of Barry M. I have a few gold polishes in my collection and this is by far the most like liquid gold. I love this. And the final is the most beautiful silver glitter top coat. You barely need any of this yet your nail is covered in glitter. It has a transparent base but after two or three coats of this you can barely see anything but glitter. I've seen a lot of people on Instagram who are just going wild over this polish. The great thing about Barry M is that they're so affordable and so brilliantly formulated and pigmented. You can never really go wrong with Barry M.


I have recently got a few things for my face as well as you can see in the picture. Firstly is Collections "Pressed Powder" in the shade "18 Ivory". This is simply a replacement for my old one, as you may have seen in a previous post, was on it's very last legs. This powder is brilliant and something I use every day simply to set my foundation in place. I like the fact that it doesn't look orange no matter what foundation I use it with as I have found that with some other powders that was the case, for instance the Maybelline Fit Me powder foundation did not like to be mixed with many other foundations at all. Collection are absolutely brilliant for base products like their foundations powders and concealers.

Next is something I never thought I'd actually buy, and that is Technic's high lights daily highlighter. I saw this in bodycare for about £1.99 and when looking at a tester they had open I was a bit off put by it. Not so much the actual product itself but the packaging. The brush inside is just terrible, it is flimsy, twisted and just feels cheap. However the product is just fantastic. This is a really very nice highlighter which looks fantastic on the top of the cheek bones and under the brow bone. I'm so glad I picked this up as it really is just a total bargain for a brilliant product.

Speaking of testers, you may notice that the next thing shown in the picture is just that, a tester. But please don't think that I've been thieving haha! No, this is from poundland and to be honest I can't say I have ever heard of it previous to seeing it. It is Rimmel London's wake me up intense radiance shimmer touch, in "004 shimmering sand". All in all it's again a highlight but this one has more of a bronzing effect. Like the wake me up foundations it is very bright and this is actually packed with glitter/shimmer particles. I did find this a little hard to get used to using to begin with but now I've found that applied correctly in the right places this can really lighten up your face. This is great as it was only £1 but I can already tell it is going to last a very long while.

And finally from Osiris Avise is this amazing CC cream in "Natural". I love to wear this on days where I'm feeling pretty good about my complexion as this is very light and sheer whilst having good coverage where needed. A little of this goes a long way and although it is winter now, it has SPF 15 and UV protection which is awesome all the time. I love this CC cream and have been using this near enough most days the past few weeks. It gives such a perfectly natural look that I would recommend this to all.

If you have me on Instagram (irishlouisegemma) then you may have seen a post I uploaded not long ago about a free gift I got when I spent £15 on Bourjois products in Boots. Those products are shown below along with one thing I bought to get the gift.
Firstly is a sample size of their volume glamour max holidays mascara which is brilliant. It creates a really voluptuous lash look and has great lasting power, I also found that it elongates lashes wonderfully.

Next is a lipstick that I actually purchased to get the gift, and that is from the shine edition in shade "21 rouge making of". I love this lipstick, it's not totally pigmented but is very buildable so with one swipe you can have a nice tinted gloss look, but with two or three swipes you can have a lovely bold red lip look still with the gorgeous shine. The lasting power of this lipstick is brilliant also and I am absolutely in love with the packaging as I think it's adorable. I will definitely be getting a few more colours in this range.

 

Next up is the 3D effect gloss volume and shine elixir in shade "06 rouge democratic". I wasn't ever really one for glosses as I hate having to reapply my makeup every few hours or so, well, that was until I got this however. This gloss has changed me, it's beautiful, it's pigmented and I swear on everything I love it smells and tastes like refreshers. If you don't live in the UK you may not know what refreshers are but if you do, go buy this gloss and eat a bit and come back here and just be like wow, she was right. ...Apparently I get very passionate about cosmetics that taste like sweets! haha.
Next up is a nail polish in shade "24 rouge escarping". This polish is super pigmented and extremely chip resistant which is great however it takes an absolute life time to dry which I hate however the colour of it is pretty much worth the wait. I'm loving the pure vibrant red look right now.

 

And finally is a smokey eyes trio in "01 gris dandy". I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. While I love the applicator and the fact is stays on for hours without smudging, it's just not as pigmented as I'd hope for. I have plenty more black eye shadows that are as black as possible just like this looks, however when applied this is just sheer and grey. Hopefully I can find a way to wear it that suit me fine. But anyway considering this was a free gift I shouldn't really complain hey? Thanks Boots, you babe.

 

Finally are a few purchases I received today from Avon. First is their nail enamel in "night violet" and is part of the diamond collection. I love this polish, it's deep and dark but very glitzy. I feel this is a perfect every day winter nail look however with the Barry M glitter top coat shown earlier over it could be a perfect party look?

Next is the plump pout lip gloss in luscious mauve which is a lovely peachy nude colour gloss that smells and tastes quite minty. This is going to be something to used to as when you're wearing it your lips tingle for ages as it works it's plumping magic to make your lips fuller. The look it gives though is gorgeous.

Then we have the super extend mascara in black. I haven't had chance to use this yet as I already have mascara on today, however the brush is very familiar to a few I have used in the past which I remember created a very thick and full lash look so hopefully this will do the jobby just right. I will keep you updated on this to let you know if it's a flop though.

And finally, possibly my most favourite product of this whole post, is an ultra colour lip crayon in "reddy for me". I adore this so much. It is the most perfect matte red lip colour. This has stayed on all day and has barely worn off. It's super pigmented and doesn't feel cakey or balmy like some lipsticks do. You can barely tell it's even on. I really do love this, and I must invest in some more of these lip crayons simply for the formula and price!



 

 

That's it for today collective haul which I really hoped you enjoyed reading and has inspired you to go out and buy some of these goodies if not for yourself (like me) but for others as beautiful Christmas gifts.
I have one last post (maybe two, dependant on the nail art one) due to do before Christmas. Keep your eyes peeled for a red lip party look!
Much love, G x