A Day of Bargains!

Long over-due post, yes I know.
On Tuesday I went into Cardiff, thinking maybe I'd get myself a little something as very soon I'll have no money (due to moving, increased bills yadda yadda).
I ended up having a rather good day, makeup-wise anyway.

I went to Debenhams to buy some Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation in RF 105. It's a pink-toned white, which I've been wanting for a while to mix in with my other foundations.  Usually I go for the palest in any foundation range (about NC15) but quite often it is still too dark, or too yellow.  I already had the Rich Liquid in 120 (one of the palest flesh-tones) so knew that it mixes quite well with other products and that it will last me an incredibly long time (a little goes a long way).  I usually use the Illamasqua highlighter brush or a damp sponge to apply.  It is notoriously tricky to blend, though when mixed into another product this is not a problem.
It retails at £21.50 but I count it as one of my bargains as I had enough points on my Debenhams Beauty Club Card to take £5 off.  Yay.  I love surprises like that.

105, 120 in natural light

105 and 120 mixed in natural light

mixed with flash

 On to bargain number 2.

I do love a bit of MUA, very good quality at the lowest of low prices.  In fact, I thought it couldn't possible get any cheaper.  I was wrong.  I've been browsing their online store recently and despite their very good online offers (there's always a buy ... get ... free) when I have a Superdrug as close as I do, it pains me to pay for delivery.  I'd been eyeing up the pearl eyeshadow in shade 6, a rather lovely aqua green colour.  The wonderful lady at the til spotted the colour in my hand and instead gave me a 3 eyeshadow set from the Christmas range....wait for it...reduced to 49p.  Three eyeshadows for 49p!!! The set contained pearl shadows in shades 5, 6 and 7.  Having played around with them a bit I would definitely use all 3.

Shades 5, 6 and 7

5, 6 and 7 with flash

5, 6 and 7 in natural light

 Are you ready for bargain 3? This is probably the one I'm the most excited about, I'm just writing them in the order that they occurred.  I'm really into NYX at the moment (great lip pencils) and had heard that they were sold in some House of Fraisers.  I went into the Cardiff one expectantly but alas, no NYX.  Somewhere in my brain was a memory that NYX palettes were spied in TK Maxx, so off I trotted.  No NYX there either but there was a different gem of a find.  A box set of 5 Lip Fusion inFATuation lip glosses.  Yeeha! I don't know that much about them other than Sam Schuerman loves them....and I rather love her so I was extremely excited when I spotted them.  I was only thinking the other day that I did not own a red lip gloss yet, and now I do.  These colours are all really beautiful.  They contain no shimmer, which is quite unusual for me, and they have a plumping effect.  They feel cool on the lip rather than burny like some plumping glosses, and unlike others the feeling lasts quite a lot time.  The gloss is quite thick so stays on for a few hours (without drinking etc.).

Oh yes, the important bit....they should have been something like £29.99, I got them for £6. Yay! I love you TK Maxx.

Aren't they so pretty!?

L-R La Lip Jolie, Big & Bare, Screen Siren, Full Frontal, Pucker Up

In the same order as above, in natural light

Bargain #4 was very unexpected.  I went into a Tesco Extra late at night looking for pomelos (boo, there aren't any around at the mo). My husband wanted a new hair brush so I, of course, wandered a few aisles over to the make up.  All of the main counters had their shutters pulled down so I was quite dismayed....until I spotted a little clearance basket.  Most of it was Tesco's own, so quite cheap to start with, but then I saw these little babies. There were 2 Bourjois 3D effect lip glosses, usually just over £7 each, reduced to £1.70. Hurray! I bought both colours.  As this is my first swatch-y post I thought I'd mix it up a little and so photographed these on my lips.  However, my auto-focus is broken in this lens which proves quite problematic when trying to take photos of yourself! Please excuse the blurriness.
#3 Rose idyllic is a pearlescent pale pink, not my usual colour at all but looks quite soft and girly.  I can get used to it.
#44 Cannelle unic (I think the label on the shelf called it unique beige or something like that) is a dark nude and very wearable. It's very natural looking, only a shade or 2 darker than my natural pigmentation.
The gloss isn't as thick as the inFatuation glosses, nor as opaque, so doesn't have the same staying power but is lovely all the same.

Rose idyllic

Cannelle unic

Rose idyllic, Cannelle unic in natural light

 I'm not going to be able to buy makeup for a while...unless there's an amazing change in circumstances, however I have a big backlog of blogs to create so it's all good!