Beauty Bargains and Black Basics ¦ Alice Phillips

If there's one thing that I absolutely love, its a good bargain. Be it clothes, makeup, or even a cheeky little find in the reduced section at the supermarket! So after finishing exams and working out my finances from now up until April, I thought it was time that I had a well-deserved shopping spree with some of my spare money to reward myself for all of that last minute cramming I'd forced myself to do. 

Although there really wasn't much spare money in my budget, I'm a very firm supporter of the idea that although expensive things are nice, why spend all of your money on one thing when you can get absolutely loads of new things for the same price? So that's when I decided that it was time for a refresh on some areas of my beauty collection, and also my staple basics in my wardrobe.

[All MUA: Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Halcyon, Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Dare, Undress Your Skin Under Eye Concealer in Luminous, Anti Bleed Lip Liner in Clear, Blusher in Bon Bon, Eyeshadow Palette in Romantic Efflorescence, Pro-Brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit in Fair-Mid]

To start my trip off, obviously me and my gal pals went for lunch (you can see my post about it here, such a lovely place!) and then I headed straight to superdrug for some new additions to my makeup bag. As I've never owned anything from MUA Makeup Academy before, I thought it was time to give them a try, especially as they had a really good offer on of spending £6 and getting a free Undress your Skin Under Eye Concealer. This meant that I managed to buy lots of fun, new products to try and it barely even touched my bank account. Amazing right?

One thing I've been playing around with recently is eyeshadow. My basic range of brown and umm... more brown is getting a bit boring, so a shadow palette was one of the must-have things for me on my list (I always use a list, I'm about as forgetful as they come!). This beautiful one is the Romantic Efflorescence Palette, full of lovely plum and purpley shades with some great metallics and bases thrown in. I thought it would help me stray from my plain brown, even if it's only a slight difference in colour, and at £4 for 12 colours it's an absolute steal.

Something else I've been meaning to try out is an eyebrow shadow, as usually I stick to my Benefit Brow Zings Gel in Light which is part of the Smokin' Eyes Kit (on sale on the website at the moment!), which although helps give me some shape, doesn't really define or give any variation. So I picked up the Pro-Brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit in Fair-Mid as my blonde hair and mousey roots fall right into that category. If it doesn't work for me, it's only £3.50 so it's just a bit of trial and error I suppose? But I'm definitely looking forward to having a play around with the two different shadows that are in it along with the highlight and gel. 

My Sugarbomb Blush  is coming to it's end sadly, so this £1 Blusher in Bon Bon seemed a perfect replacement to try out. I have already used it as I was way too impatient to wait until after I posted, and I can safely say it's lovely pinky peach colour is absolutely great for pale skin. Just be careful of how much you put on your blusher brush as it's a very strong colour and a little definitely goes a long way!

The first lip product I picked up was the Anti Bleed Lip Liner in Clear. As a lover of all things 'lippy', I sometimes get quite frustrated trying to find liners to match my lipsticks well, and therefore thought that it might be worth giving this clear one a go. It was just something that caught my eye, and also there's a little sharpener in the lid which is really handy.

 A product that I have been seriously lusting after for some time now is the LimeCrime Velvetine, which is a lip product that goes on like a gloss but dries in a super pigmented and beautiful matte that is touch and transfer proof and long wearing. As they are really difficult to get in the UK, mainly because they are always sold out, I spent a couple of hours browsing the web prior to my trip to find some dupes that would be fun for me to try out. Initially I wanted the Sleek Matte Me Lipgloss in  Birthday Suit, but it was the only one that was out of stock - typical! So instead I picked up these two MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers. 

The first is Halcyon, which is quite a nude colour with a peachy brown tint to it. I think it's so pretty, as it has a bright edge which I think will really perk up your makeup if you're going for the nude look. Also, it's been compared to the colour of Kylie Jenner's famous lips online, so that's always a plus!

The second is Dare, which is a new colour to the Luxe Velvet Lacquers collection, and is an amazing almost plummy fuchsia colour which will just be great for dressing your face up for an evening or night out. Definitely super excited to use this one!  

In addition to my lovely (not-so) little MUA haul, I took a trip to Primark to stock up on basics. For some reason, all of plain basics and staple wardrobe items that I have tend to go missing, and I'm forever having to replace them. Hence why primark is my go-to place as it's super-savvy!

Although I didn't really get anything exciting (apart from that boyfriend blazer which was reduced to £7!!), I managed to get a lot of nice new things for less than £50, which is always exciting enough for me. However, when I got it all home I realised that almost all of the things I'd picked up (bar the grey top, scarf and undies) were black! Boring much?

One of the pairs of shoes I picked up were replacements of old ones, as at £10 how can you not be able to justify prolonging your favourite pair of shoes? You just can't really!

All in all I think that my shopping trip was extremely successful. New wardrobe essentials, new shoes, and a brand new bulk of beauty bargains. Although I won't be shopping anytime soon (apart from my Makeup Revolution package which is waiting in the post office, eek!) I definitely think I've got enough to be keeping myself happy for the next few months. A bit of retail therapy never hurt anyone!

Alice x

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