My Oxford Haul (So Far)!!

Happy Easter, everybody; hope you're all having a fabulous day! I've had a little splurge this weekend - all in preparation for my holiday, of course... so I thought I'd do a little haul post as I like to see what people have bought, so thought you might like to see mine!

My photo's aren't great as I'm on my mobile phone camera whilst away in Oxford - sorry about that!

Yesterday, whilst in Oxford town centre I bought some clothes,but I haven't photographed these (at least not yet anyway) and also a MAC lippy (Costa Chic) as I have wanted it for a while now but just never seemed to get around to buying it. Luckily for me this also coincided with the Debenhams 10% off beauty deal so I only paid £12.15 for it - bargain!

Today we went to Bicester Village, and it would have been rude for me to have visited and not bought anything from The Cosmetics Company Store, so (even though I was being quite restrained) I bought:

MAC Sweet & Punchy eye shadow from the 'MAC To The Beach' collection as I missed this first time around.

MAC Mineralize eyeshadow in 'Illusionary Burning Ambition'

Bobbi Brown Metallic Long-Wear Cream Shadow in Opal (it reminds me ever so slightly of the Gosh Rainbow polish - it's lovely).

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light foundation as I've wanted it for a while!

2 Ojon travel sized shampoos (the thickening variety) - there was a great looking set there for £34 but I would have found it difficult to justify buying that on top of everything else, haha.

I could have spent about £200 more in there though - easily but I have to be careful at the moment as our house is guzzling our money whilst we're doing the kitchen etc! I think I did quite well anyway to restrain myself so much, although Mr Beauty Scoop still thinks I am mental for buying yet more makeup!

I also bought a pair of Karen Millen sunglasses, they were a complete bargain at £24.95 and were the ones that looked best on me, even over the more expensive ones - which makes a change for me.

Lastly I bought some bits from Accessorize, a belt, a pair of sparkly flip-flops and a cute flower ring.

I almost bought a Michael Kors watch (actually, I almost bought 2) but I went away to think about which one I preferred as I was being sensible but then forgot to go back - silly me!


I'll be sure to swatch and review very soon!

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick - Rose!

I just love this Shimmer Brick; it’s the perfect blush to give you a bit of a rosy glow with just a touch of shimmer. You can easily build up a stronger colour, or leave yourself with just a hint of it which is another reason I love this so much. I think the fact that it’s not excessively pigmented works in the products favour as I do find that blushers can sometimes be too overpowering and way too easy to overdo on application.

The shimmer is not at all glittery, so you’re not going to look like you let a herd of children loose with several tubes of glitter (does glitter still come in tubes?) as you were applying your makeup. I find it gives quite a dewy finish that flatters the face and can be used to highlight the cheekbones perfectly.

As Shimmer Bricks come with a range of shades within the compact, you will find that you can customise the colour you get *very* slightly, by using certain areas of it more than others. You can also use the very lightest shades to highlight under your brows or any other areas you would normally use highlighter and because the powder appears to be very fine, it’s not going to look stupid or too heavy. I have this in gold and like to use it on my eyes sometimes too, great versatility.

I hope the picture shows the product adequately, feel free to ask if you'd like other shots as I can easily add more if you'd like. If you’ve been reading the blog lately, you’ll know that my normal camera is out of action and whilst it’s not a DSLR camera, it’s certainly a lot better than the camera on my phone that I currently have to use.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Beauty Products 2010!

As this month is breast cancer awareness month, I thought it only right that I should do a post in recognition of this, especially since I’ve noticed a lot of beauty brands putting their best feet forward to help raise money and awareness for this fantastic and important cause. Below are just a few of the many items available.

First up we have Elemis who have brought out the ‘The Sparkling Beauty Collection’ which frankly looks gorgeous. It’s priced at £50 and is an ideal present to buy for Christmas.

“Elemis are proud to support Breast Cancer Care with this limited edition skincare collection for face, neck and bust, containing all you need to indulge and pamper.

Includes:
• Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules 14 caps
• Pro-Collagen Marine Cream 30ml in a limited edition pink bar
• Pro-Collagen Lifting Treatment Neck and Bust 15ml in a limited edition pink 'boob tube'
• New Visible Brilliance 10ml
• New Elemis Eau de Parfum 5ml
• A stunning fuchsia pink cosmetic bag

With this collection, Elemis has pledged a donation of £10,000 to Breast Cancer Care.”

Bobbi Brown is offering a Limited Edition Pink Ribbon Shimmer Brick, priced at £29.50.

‘In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Bobbi created this limited-edition Pink Shimmer Brick Compact. This shimmering, brush-on powder creates a soft, light pink glow.’

It looks beautiful and what is even more impressive is that ALL money from the purchase price is being donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at the Royal Marsden. This has got to be one of the most generous donations of all; I am really impressed with this.

Clinique have a couple of special edition items available for purchase. The first is their Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion (£35), there's no change to the formulation or colour but it does come with a very cute pink ribbon keyring, each bottle sold in Selfridges during October will raise £2 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The next item from Clinique is a limited edition Pink Ribbon Long Last Glosswear Key Chain that holds three of their best selling gloss shades. For each key chain sold in Boots during October, Clinique will donate £2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Darphin and their retailers are donating £5 from every sale of their best selling ‘Darphin Intral Soothing Cream’ to Breast Cancer Research UK Foundation during October. The product, priced at just £36.00 is said to have been designed to soothe and strengthen intolerant and sensitive skin that is reactive and intolerant to external aggressions.

RevitaLash donate an ongoing portion of their profits to benefit breast cancer research projects after the developer, Michael Brinkerhoff’s wife lost most of her eyelashes whilst undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Their eyelash enhancer product is said to condition and nourish lashes to stimulate thicker growth, priced from £50 upwards.

Jo Malone is donating £5 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for every 100ml bottle of their lovely Red Roses Cologne sold throughout October.

Creme de la Mer will donate £2 from each UK purchase of their ‘Illuminating Powder’ (£58.50 from John Lewis) in October to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Both the product and packaging look stunning, and it comes with the silver brush as seen in the picture too.

Versace have their Bright Crystal Limited Edition Box available at House of Fraser for £42 and are donating a percentage of their profits to Breast Health International. The box contains 50ml perfume and perfumed body lotion in a pink cosmetics bag.

Tweezerman have brought out a special edition Pink Ribbon Slant Tweezer and are donating £2 from every sale to the Breast Cancer Campaign. These are available for between £18 and £20.

Smashbox are donating net profits from October sales of their Smile Brightening Lipgloss to Breast Cancer Care, buy the duo from QVCUK.

Aveda have made a special edition of their Hand Relief cream, each sale will donate £2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and if every pink-capped special edition tube is sold, Aveda will reach their fund-raising goal of £200,000!

Estee Lauder, like Clinique have 2 sets available to purchase. They are just £25 each, of which £7.50 will go to charity.

Evelyn Lauder Lip Collection: 

Evelyn H. Lauder hand-selected the full-size lipsticks for this exclusive set, all in chic pink cases:
• Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in Candy
• Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in Rubellite
• Pure Color Crystal Lipstick in Tiramisu
• Pink Croc-Print Clutch

Elizabeth Hurley Lip Collection

Enjoy New Pure Color Gloss in 2 dual-ended glosses for 4 shades in all, plus a Pink Croc-Print Clutch.

The shades for this exclusive set were hand-selected by Elizabeth Hurley:
• Nude Rose
• Rock Candy
• Brazen Berry
• Extravagant Pink

Last but by no means least, is a sparkly, girly pink jewelled ribbon brooch by Estee Lauder. Priced at just £10, this will not break the bank and can be kept forever. Net profits from sales of this goes to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, what more could you want?

I'll be honest, I’d be over the moon if I received any of these as a gift and even more so because of the charity element involved. At the risk of sounding a bit soppy, it really makes me quite proud to see so many companies stepping up and doing their bit. There are tons more products available throughout the next month, so be sure to have a look around and see if you can’t bag yourself a fantastic product for a terrific cause.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/breastcancer/

http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/