Primark Beauty Haul

Hello ladies, 

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, it has been a busy few weeks for me, but I'm back now with some amazing buys to share with you all. I have been hearing a lot about Primark's new beauty range, and as a fan of their nail varnishes already, I was really excited to check it out and go on a bit of a spending spree. I actually bought more than I meant to as I seemed to get a bit carried away with the £1-£1.50 price tags...but carry on reading and you'll see why I got quite so excited...

This lovely little lot came to just £16. Incredible right? They had a brilliant selection of products on offer including loads of other lovely bits of makeup such as lipsticks and waterproof eyeliners. (They're on the hit list for the next visit!) There was also a lot of make up and nail tools available too such as tweezers, scissors and make up brushes (apparently the brushes are pretty good for the price).

Let's start with the makeup I bought...

These 3 products came to a total of £4. £1.50 each for the lip gloss and the lip crayon and £1 for the eyeliners...

I'd seen a blog post before I went into Primark that mentioned these eyeliners. They are an absolute steal at £1 for the set as it even comes with a sharpener. This is cheaper than even the eyeliners from MUA which are £1 for one! I could only see this set in the colour black which is fine with me as that's all I wear, but if you like a splash of colour in your eye makeup, then perhaps Primark liners aren't for you.

The eyeliner goes on very nicely and is pretty soft. It's also very blend-able so you can get a great smudged effect with it. I love eyeliner pencils as they are very versatile and last for ages. So if you buy this great pack of 2 you won't be needing to buy anymore for quite a while!

Next up is the lip gloss. There was a pretty good selection of colours for this but I'm a sucker for a lovely pink lip gloss!

There was one of these opened in the shop so I got to have a good look at tube and tip before I actually bought it, and I loved the fact that it has a brush tip. All of the other lip glosses that I own have a wand so this makes a nice change. This colour is a gorgeous shimmery pink. The picture above isn't great and doesn't really represent the colour as it looks a bit light, but it looks lovely when it's on. Gives a great shine on your lips, lasts for quite a while and even smells nice! Great make up bag staple so well done Primark.

Sticking with the theme of lips, I decided to give one of the lip crayons a try...

I was really excited about this purchase because as I've mentioned before, I do love a good lip crayon. I was especially excited about this one though as I finally found the nude colour I'd been looking for. Again, this product was available in numerous colours but this one jumped out! I tried to do a colour swatch of it, but it was too light to show up in the photo which shows how nude it is. It's a lovely thick crayon and goes on nicely. It has a lovely creamy texture and doesn't dry your lips out. It is long lasting too. Excellent product and is as good as some of the more expensive crayons I own.

I then moved onto the vast nail section and this is what I came away with for just £12...

The Black Board set isn't actually from the new range, it has been in store since last year. I have been wanting to get it for a while and was a bit worried I would be too late, but I found it on a bottom shelf on sale for £2 (original selling price of £4). There was only 2 left so I felt pretty lucky to get it!

The kit comes with 'Black Board' paint which is a plain black matte paint and a matte top coat. I do already own the Primark matte top coat so a spare never goes a miss. It also comes with 2 pens for doing the designs on the nails. I expected these to be a felt tip style but they're actually just a push down to release nail art pen. Very similar to Barry M nail art pens. The colours of the pens are pretty cool and they do look good against the black. I only did a small amount of experimenting with this set but it was effective. Well worth £2.

Also from the old range I picked up this Spotty nail polish.

This was also in the sale and I got it half price at £1. I haven't actually tried this polish yet but one of my besties (who is also a bit nail obsessed!) has this and said it's great. She was the one who told me to buy this. Like I said at the start, I already own a few old Primark Beauty polishes and I've been very impressed with them so I can't see this being any different.

Primark now has a new range of polish out which comes in 10 colours and is a slightly bigger bottle than the ones from the old range. I only picked up one of these to try but now regret that and wish I'd picked up more. I chose this lovely brown/mink colour.

It's a 10ml bottle so great value for £1. I love the design of the bottle too. Make a nice change from normal polish bottles. The polish itself goes on very nicely and 2 coats is plenty for good coverage. It has a nice thick brush so it doesn't take long to paint your nails at all, and gives a very neat finish. The only criticism would be is that it has a funny smell. I do find that you get an odd smell with most cheap polishes though, so if you can get over that then you'll be fine.

This is a quick manicure I did with the polish to show the colour off, and this is just 2 coats with a top coat. As you can see, it gives great coverage and is a gorgeous colour.

I picked up the nail art pens as a bit of a last minute thought. They weren't originally in my basket as I'd only recently bought some nail art pens, but I couldn't resist the colours of these, especially the metallic ones. These are just £2 for each set of 3.

When you unscrew the lid, each one has a lovely thin brush, but as an added extra, when you pull the top of the lid off, they also have a tiny precision nib. What an added bonus! I'm yet to properly experiment with these but I think the designs you can do will be endless!

Now, I'm not a massive fan of false nails as I think they can look cheap and tacky but the selection in Primark is pretty incredible! They have everything on offer from detailed designs, to Ombre, to plain French manicure. I decided to limit myself to 3 sets to try them out...

These are just £1 a set which includes 24 nails in various sizes, and some nail glue. I love painting my nails and doing nail art so I only bought these for a quick fix before a night out if I haven't got time to sit and paint my nails. So far I have only used the owl set and I was pretty impressed with the finish.

The nails themselves aren't too long and they fitted onto my nails perfectly so no filing required. Having never used fake nails before, I wasn't too sure about how much glue to use and it was definitely trial and error. I found that you do need to be pretty generous with the glue. I'd lost 2 nails on my left hand (the hand I did first) within about 30 minutes, but when I reapplied them I used more glue and that seemed to do the job as I didn't lose anymore that night. They were a pain to get off the next day but after lots of soaking and filing I did get them off. As suspected though they did ruin my nails, but I'd say it's worth it for such good looking nails, and it's nothing a bit of TLC won't fix!

Finally I picked up this nail polish remover pot.

Priced at £1 this is a wonderful purchase (I've since bought another one!). It does exactly what it says on the tin. The removal is instant and it saves messing with cotton pads and normal polish remover. The pot isn't great for removing glitter polish but as we all know, glitter polish is a nightmare and I'm yet to find an effective technique for removing it! This is a great investment.

Overall, the Primark beauty range is fantastic. A great selection of quality products in a good range of colours. I love that Primark is really tapping into the nail art trend and is offering cheap products that are very accessible. Obviously it depends on the size of the shop as to what products they have on offer, but I have seen a good selection in even some of the smaller stores. Also, look out for little goodies by the till...there seems to be different bits in those plastic bubbles to what there is on the shelves. Happy shopping!

Sam x

Today's W7 Haul

I've seen the cosmetics brand 'W7' in shops and online for a while but I've never branched out and tried anything from the range. I decided that today was the day to change this...I popped into my local W7 stockist armed with just a £10 note to see what I could get for my money. (I made the executive decision to stay away from their rather amazing nail varnish range as I feel like that will need a separate post of it's own!) Judging by what I saw today, this brand has the potential to be one of my new favourites. First off, here is what I managed to buy for a mere £9.95...

The range of products in the shop really was extensive so I settled on buying a few basics to try out. Each of these products cost just £1.99 each. The first thing I noticed was the lovely packaging. It certainly doesn't look like a budget brand! As well as looking nice, the packaging is very sturdy. No flimsy lids or cheap looking plastic in sight.

The product that I was most keen to buy was the 'Light Diffusing Concealer'. At first glance I thought that it was the Yves St Laurent Touche Eclat! Let's just say that I didn't think twice about putting it straight into my basket!

As far as I could tell, this only comes in one shade so I decided to just risk it and hope for the best. It has a lovely soft brush applicator with a clicking action on the bottom to release the concealer...

The colour isn't too dark at all and is very blend-able. It has a very nice silky feel to it, and even though it is a thicker than a lot of other concealers I have used, it blends in well and doesn't sit too heavy. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this product some more.

The next product to go into the basket was the 'Puff Perfection' powder compact.

I've been after a new face powder for a while now as I'm unhappy with my current Rimmel one. I'm not a religious foundation wearer so wanted a fairly creamy face powder to give good coverage. This fits that bill nicely. I went for the shade 'Fair' and I'm pretty pale. When I got home I initially thought that this shade might be a bit too dark, but after trying it out on my face, I found it to be a pretty good match.

It also comes in 3 other shades including a Translucent which is always handy to have in your make up box. It gives good coverage and it even smells nice! It also comes with a little sponge which is an added bonus. Overall, a really good quality face powder, and at just £1.99 it is an absolute steal! 

Next up is the 'Duo Blusher'...2 shades for £1.99...can't get much better than that!

This set is '01'. I love both of the shades in this set especially the bottom dusky one. If you're into brighter shades then they have more sets available and there is something for everyone. I've done a little swatch of the shades as they always look different on the skin.

The two shades are very different to each other so this sets gives you the chance to change your look as you please. I think the brighter shade is lovely for spring and summer, and the dusky shade is perfect for the winter months. The blushers themselves are very silky and blend nicely. The set even comes with a little brush which is perfect if you're on the go and need a quick touch up. I'm definitely going to be investing in more of these sets in the other colours. Well worth the cash.

I was a bit reluctant to buy any of the mascaras as I'm very loyal to the No7 mascara I use, but I was too intrigued to not give this one a try. I bought 'Big Lash' in 'Blackest Black'.

There was a lot of mascaras to choose from but I liked the packaging of this one in particular and it leaped out at me. The best thing about this mascara is the brush...and what a brush it is!

I can't stand flimsy brushes in fancy shapes. Give me a traditional brush any day! This brush is a lot bigger than a lot I've used in the past, but I didn't have any problems at all with applying the mascara. I just took a bit more care so that it wouldn't make a mess. It gives good coverage without any clumps and does a good job of lengthening the lashes. The only problem I can find with this product is that it isn't waterproof. I think that is personal preference though rather than anything against the brand. A decent mascara for under £2...go and snap one up ladies!

Finally I purchased a 'Chunky Lips' lip crayon. This was more of an impulse buy as I already have quite a lot of lipsticks/crayons/stains...but then again, a girl can never have too many lipsticks right?!

This shade is called 'Sumptuous', and going on the colour of the packaging, I thought that this would be a bit lighter than it is...

I am a fan of pink lipstick, so I don't dislike the shade at all, I just hoped that it would be a bit lighter so that I could wear it on a daily basis. As it goes, I would only really wear this shade for an evening out, but for £1.99 it certainly doesn't hurt to have an extra lip shade in the ever growing make up box. This has a nice thick tip as is easy to apply...

You get a nice matte finish but you could apply some lip gloss over the top for a shinier finish. For £1.99 I'm going to be getting this in a couple of the other shades and I was already eyeing up the bright red... ;)

I'm extremely impressed with my first W7 shop, and with products ranging from around £1-£4, you really can't go wrong. I'm not 100% sure what shops W7 is stocked in but I did see a small amount of the range in B&M Bargains. I've seen a few blogs where ladies have said that they picked some of the nail varnish up in Poundland. If you can't get to a shop that stocks W7 then you can shop for it on Amazon and eBay, with a lot of sellers offering free postage. Just make sure that the product is listed as new. According the Twitter page of W7, they are working on launching a brand new website so fingers crossed that that goes live soon. So if you come across this brand in a shop anytime soon, then take the plunge and give it a go :)

Sam x