So, as you can probably tell, having left my job in order to be a stay at home mum I’ve lost my disposable income.
It’s the best thing I have ever done BUT, and I’m being totally shallow and honest here, at the same I miss buying stuff frivolously!
My favourite thing to do when Mr Luxe was working weekends would be having a mooch down the town, swatching, sniffing, trying on and drinking copious amounts of Starbucks.It wasn’t paradise but it looked pretty good and smelt pretty good too.
We needed to nip out today and I decided to treat myself to a few bits for spending the last eleven months surviving on 2 hours of sleep. If I bought “basic” things that couldn’t be naughty really, right?
MUA Pro-Base Smooth, Set & Prime £5
So the first thing I picked up on my spree (Ok, not a spree really but it was for me!) was a powder by MUA.
This is a setting powder and also a primer from what I gather from the packaging. I’ve got to be totally honest when I say my knowledge of make up can be limited when it comes to bases and primers etc. I’ve always been sucked in by bright colours of eyeshadows, lipstick and nailpolish.
However, when I do my face now it’s got to last all day and I’ve been getting a bit of a shine as I get older so thought I’d give this a whirl. It cost £5 which, for a powder looking at the slightly higher end of the drugstore brands, was pretty good.
Freedom Glycolic Glow Toner £7, Freedom Fixing Spray Anti-Shine £5, Freedom Brush Bath £7
Next I hit the Freedom stand and was overwhelmed first of all by how many colours of brow pomade they had. I can’t colour match particularly well at the best of times, and as I had an increasingly bored husband and baby in tow I decided to forego spending too long on it.
I was recommended the Glycolic Glow Toner with Ginseng and Aloe Vera on a beauty group. It’s a pretty high end looking bottle for £6 and it’s something I’ve actually already given a go when I got it home.
I only had eyeliner on today, had cleansed, toned and moisturised and yet the crap that came off on my cotton pad *shudder*. It was one of those situations where I was both super pleased and utterly disgusted all in one.
Keeping on the theme of making make up last, I picked up the Freedom Fixing Spray in Anti-Shine. I actually wanted the regular one but there was only one bottle that had been obviously opened *yuk*. This was £5 and I am planning on picking up the Avon equivalent too in order to do some side-by-side testing.
Lastly from Freedom I spotted this Brush Bath for £7. Everybody hates cleaning brushes and I thought this looked easy enough. It’s like a solid block that you wet your brush and then swirl into, then clean as usual. I’ve given it a try with my MAC 133 as that had a heavy dose of NARS Deep Throat all over it and it cleaned easily and is currently drying. I will report back on how it performs.
MUA Pro-Base Concealer Palette £3.50
Concealer scares me. For years I relied upon my trusted MAC NC25 and slathered it all over where needed. I’ve always been fortunate enough to not struggle with redness or spots too much. However, long nights and age are catching up and it’s not cutting it now.
There is so much at the moment about colour correction and different consistencies, I get a tad overwhelmed and just grab the first thing and run out. Looking at this palette now, I think it may be a bit too light for my complexion but for £3.50 it’s worth a play. I can always use it for contouring if it’s really not right.
Revolution Dia de los Muertos Palette £4
This popped up on my Twitter feed the other day and I got VERY excited. Mr Luxe and I went on honeymoon to Mexico SPECIFICALLY to enjoy Dia de los Muertos and he has a sugar skull tattoo as well. On the Revolution Dia de los Muertos palette, the colours are a mix of matte and shimmer, even having a neon yellow. I’ve not opened this to even try yet but I can see me having some fun putting together some muy caliente looks. At a mere £4 for 18 shades you can’t go wrong!
Finally, because Superdrug is awesome and understands how much I love free stuff, there was a promotion on 3 for 2, plus a free gift if you buy three items. So I got this for free. Strangely enough I was actually looking for a new body wash and hand cream for my bag. I’ve not heard of the brand before or tried it out yet but nothing smells better than free gift!
Patisserie De Bain Cranberries & Cream Body Wash and Hand Lotion RRP £10 (Free!)
Let me know what you guys think. Did I miss a trick with any of these brands? Any Holy Grail items? Have you tried any of them yourself? What did you think?
Leave me a comment or drop me a Tweet @so_notluxe. I’d love to hear from you!
Dani X
So Not Luxe 