Danielle's Beauty Blog: Beautybay

Monday, 29 August 2016

Best UK Beauty Sites and how to save money

best online beauty shops site uk boots beauty bay look fantastic space nk feel unique escentual debenhams house of fraser

Happy Bank Holiday Monday everyone! I've been planning this post for a while and scheduled it last week without realising today was a bank holiday so if you are planning a splurge - now is the time! The majority of my spending is done online because more often than not there will be a discount code flying around or my favourite brands are only sold online but yeah mainly the discount codes, with an expensive beauty habit I need all the money off I can get! I’ve put together a list of my favourite online shops for beauty and skincare and what I like to buy from them! A lot of the brands crossover but some sites have better offers/more frequent offers/a better loyalty card etc. so I’ve tried to make it as detailed as possible without writing a dissertation on it!

Boots

Probably my most used beauty site and where half my wages seem to disappear every month - good old Boots! As well as shopping frequently in their stores I seem to make orders regularly too as a lot of my local stores don’t stock what I want!

Best time to buy?

Anytime! Boots always have 3 for 2 or buy one get one half price offers on but I also like to wait for a coupon with a points offer like 400 points when you spend £40 (easily done)! The advantage card is my favourite loyalty card and the points add up quickly so you can treat yourself and feel a little less guilty! Oh and they do the best Christmas/Boxing Day sale but you need to get in quick!

Brands to check out?

Soap and Glory, Bondi Sands (their dry tanning oil is amazing and exclusive to Boots), No7 (Perfect Light translucent setting powder in particular), SEVENTEEN, NYX, Smashbox, Origins, Liz Earle…I’ll stop now!

Beauty Bay

Ah Beauty Bay, probably the most controversial of the shops I’ve listed as a lot of people seem to complain about their delivery service. I’ve never had a problem though and they are my favourite place to get my Makeup Geek and Zoeva fix! They don’t usually have many offers on, things go out of stock fast and bear in mind that discount codes don’t work on a lot of items because they are excluded but delivery is quick (for me anyway) and they have a great range of hard to find brands!

Best time to buy?

Wait until you have a few things in your basket – their deluxe gifts are brilliant, I’ve gotten a High Definition Eye and Brow palette and a deluxe Kevyn Aucoin Flesh Tone lip pencil before and been really impressed with both! The best offer I’ve seen was the half price Makeup Geek sale but as I’ve mentioned, things went out of stock fast and I know people had trouble getting it to apply to their basket (they have also now upped their prices too)! See my Makeup Geek collection here!

Brands to check out?

Makeup Geek and Zoeva as previously mentioned as well as Morphe LA Girl, Z palette and Spectrum! Gerard Cosmetics are next on my hit list and I may have placed an order on Friday with the money off spend code Beauty Bay have up for the weekend!

Escentual

I love Escentual for their skincare offers, they seem to have a new one every week and a great range of products from some of my favourite brands!

Best time to buy?

Wait for a big percentage off – they do them all the time and I think the most I’ve got off was 25% which was applied to everything on site! Their 1/3 off French pharmacy offers are also very regular and great for stocking up on your faves!

Brands to check out? Hylamide, Vichy, Eucerin, La Roche Posay, Bioderma.

Cult Beauty

A little more luxe and edited, Cult Beauty stock - you guessed it - cult beauty and skincare products!

Best time to buy?

Wait for the gift with purchase offer! I always splurge on things I’ve been wanting for a while when this offer comes round then feel a little less guilty because the GWP is always filled with loads of new products to try from amazing brands! I am hoping they have another one soon because I have my eye on quite a few things!

Brands to check out? Pixi, Becca, Huda Beauty, Beauty Blender, Anastasia Beverly Hills, OUAI, MOA, Stila.

Feel Unique

Another great site that stocks loads of brands and always seems to have an offer on or 10% off! They also have a new Pick ‘n’ mix service where you can try five samples of products out for £3.95 shipping then get the money back on your next order!

Best time to buy?

Wait for 10% off site wide or a save on spend offer and have a splurge! They also do 10% off for students if you have an account with something like Unidays (but this can’t be used with other offers!)

Brands to check out? Urban Decay, Estee Lauder, Giorgio Armani.

Look Fantastic

I literally get an email from this site every day, it’s a pity most of their discount codes have a lot of excluded items but like all the websites I’ve mentioned, they have a good range of brands and other offers like free gifts on constantly! They also do a monthly beauty box which you don’t have to subscribe to for £15. I like to check any reviews at the start of the month for spoilers to see if I want it – I haven’t bought one in ages but it can include products from brands off their site so NUXE, Caudalie and Ren pop up quite a bit!

Best time to buy?

They do timed offered like the first 200 people to checkout get 20% off quite often though see above note about excluded items!

Brands to check out? Illamasqua, Deciem, Trilogy, Shiseido.

Space NK

Like Cult Beauty, Space NK to me is a little more luxe and on the expensive side of things! I have managed to get a few good things from the sale but you have to be quick as things sell out so quickly!

Best time to buy?

Wait for a £15 off £60 spend offer, the sale, or until you have enough N.centive points to get some money off!

Brands to check out? NARS, Kevyn Aucoin, Hourglass, Grown Alchemist.

Debenhams

I thought it was worth mentioning Debenhams too as they often have 10% off beauty and do a loyalty card. I never get much use out of mine but I suspect this will all change as Kat Von D is coming next month! Exciting times!

Best time to buy?

A 10% off beauty offer, they do them regularly and they last for a good few days!

Brands to check out? Too Faced, MAC, Urban Decay, Benefit, Kat Von D.

House of Fraser

Very similar to Debenhams in my opinion and I am just realising they do a loyalty card too, I don't order off these two websites as much as the ones at the start of this post so I think my points expire before I get a chance to use them! They do student discount like Feel Unique so you can get 10% off!

Best time to buy?

They do 10% off beauty offers too and a regular £10 off £50 spend when you buy one of their favourite beauty products but if you are a student, any time really!

Brands to check out? Charlotte Tilbury, Laura Geller.

Special mention also goes to ASOS who have a pretty good beauty section with brands like NARS and Illamasqua and regularly have offers on (as well as doing student discount). Marks and Spencer are great for Pixi and Emma Hardie, Cloud 10 Beauty for The Balm, The Body Shop for their 30% and 40% off codes and Superdrug for most things that Boots does as well (I just don’t have one near me so rarely shop in it!).

I’m signed up to all of these sites email newsletters and while some can be a bit overkill with how often they send them out most are great informing you of offers or new arrivals to the site! I also always google discount codes before I buy something in case I've missed an email so it’s good to check before you hit buy!

Like I said, I’ve added a brands to check out list under each online site but obviously a few of these crossover into different stores, I’ve just went with where I’ve found the best deal!

I may have also made a few orders this weekend as it was payday on Friday and there were some offers on that I couldn't resist! I post a lot of my hauls to Instagram so follow me there if that’s the type of thing you like to see!

Let me know if you bought anything this weekend! What’s your favourite online beauty site?

Danielle xx

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Geeking out over Makeup: Updated Makeup Geek Palette

makeup geek collection eyeshadow extra large z palette neutral shades

I think we all know by now that I am a huge fan of Makeup Geek shadows so when BeautyBay recently had 50% off, I couldn’t resist! I picked up some shades I had been meaning to for a while as well as some crowd favourites that people had recommended and I saw constantly popping up in other’s collections! My collection has grown considerably since my Makeup Geek Palette of Neutral Dreams post so this is a mixture of what I picked up in the sale and what I had picked up since that post!

I actually only put all the shadows in my extra-large palette for the purpose of this post, in reality I still have my small palette which I use day to day then a large palette which has the rest of the pans! The majority of my shadows are in the standard formula but I also have two foiled shadows in Starry Eyed and Mesmerised and one duo chrome shade in Steampunk. All the shadows are highly pigmented, easily blended and long-lasting, in the six months since I discovered them they have quickly become my favourite formulation!

makeup geek collection eyeshadow pan extra large z palette neutral shades

So onto the swatches! I’m never overly happy with swatch pictures I take and these don’t do the shadows enough justice but I hope someone finds them helpful!

Row 1: Vanilla Bean, Sand Dollar, Shimma Shimma, Starry Eyed, Peach Smoothie, Creme Brulee, Latte

Row 1

Vanilla Bean – light shimmer with beige undertone, I use this as a base or sometimes as a brow highlight (doesn’t really show up on the swatch as my skin is so pale!)

Sand Dollar – a matte light greyish shade, I use this as a base or near my inner corner to lighten before transitioning to a darker shade (again not showing up on my skin in the swatch!)

Shimma Shimma – a metallic champagne shade I used as an inner corner highlight

Starry Eyed – this is one of the foiled formulations and is described as a champagne shade too but obviously it has a lot more shimmer than Starry Eyed! I use this over the lid

Peach Smoothie – a matte peach beige I have been trying to embrace as a transition shade through the crease

Crème Brulee – a matte warm sand colour

Latte – a matte medium brown it looks a lot warmer on my eyelids than it does in the swatch

Row 2: Prom Night, Homecoming, Taupe Notch, Pretentious, Brownie Points, Friend Zone, Hipster

Row 2

Prom Night – a light purple grey shimmer though it always looks more bronze when I swatch it!

Homecoming – a medium brown shade with gold shimmer

Taupe Notch – a taupe shimmer

Pretentious – a bronzey gold metallic shade I like to wear all over the lid at night, swatches almost the same as Homecoming on me but looks different on the lid

Brownie Points – a cool milk chocolate matte, not as pigmented as some other matte shades I have

Friend Zone – a purple/grey/brown matte again not as pigmented as others

Hipster – slightly shimmery light taupe colour, I love this all over the lid, the shimmer is so subtle it’s gorgeous!

Row 3: Barcelona Beach, Frappe, Cocoa Bear, Wild West, Mocha, Mesmerised, Steampunk

Row 3

Barcelona Beach – medium brown cool toned matte, another one of my favourites!

Frappe – medium brown warm toned matte

Cocoa Bear – a matte red brown

Wild West – another red brown matte, I need to give these three more love!

Mocha – a deep matte brown, love this for the darkening my outer crease or as a liner

Mesmerised – another foiled formulation this is a medium brown with hints of purple, no fallout and it looks gorgeous on!

Steampunk – my only duo chrome finish, this is a dark copper shade that I haven’t had the chance to wear yet!

Row 4: Moondust, High Tea, Twilight, Unexpected, Vintage, Bedrock, Concrete Jungle

Row 4

Moondust – a silver taupe

High Tea – a greenish/grey/brown matte

Twilight – a mute purple shimmer

Unexpected – a matte purple taupe

Vintage – a purple mauve

Bedrock – a medium matte grey with brown undertones

Concrete Jungle – a deep matte grey

This entire row has been neglected by me! I used to wear grey shades all the time, Vintage and Unexpected always stood out to me whenever I saw them swatched and the other three will be great lid shades!

Row 5: Stealth, Taboo, Americano, Bada Bing, Peacock, Drama Queen, Corrupt

Row 5

Stealth – a medium slate grey matte with blue undertones

Taboo – a deep purple matte

Americano – a dark brown matte with burgundy undertones that I love for my outer crease

Bada Bing – a deep brown with flecks of gold, this works great as a liner

Peacock – this is my one out of my comfort zone shade and I haven’t worn it yet! It’s described as a matte deep teal blue

Drama Queen - a dark purple shimmer

Corrupt – a black almost matte with a bit of sparkle, this is super pigmented and one of the blacked shadows I have, it really gets into my upper lash line and defines it!

My favourite shadows are definitely Barcelona Beach, Mocha, Hipster, Shimma Shimma, Americano, Mesmerised, Bada Bing and Corrupt but all the shades are so smooth, pigmented and long-lasting!

I’m currently on holiday at the minute and will be back at the end of the week so I might be a bit quiet on the comments to then! I’ll probably do a few Instagram posts of what makeup and skincare I’ll be taking if you want to have a look there!

Do you love Makeup Geek just as much as me? What are your favourite shades?

Danielle xx

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The Makeup Geek Neutral Palette of Dreams

Makeup Geek small z palette neutral brown shades

I have a little update post on my now finished small Z palette of Makeup Geek eyeshadows! You can read my first post on the original shadows I ordered here! Since then I've become a little obsessed reading everyone’s collection posts and looking up swatches online! If you’ve read my blog before you’ll maybe know I like a neutral brown eyeshadow (understatement of the century.) So, it’s no surprise that what we have here are eight shadows of varying degrees of brown neutralness and one creamy shimmer colour!

The first four shades I picked up were Taupe Notch, Barcelona Beach, Mocha and Homecoming followed quickly by Hipster then Shimma Shimma, Pretentious and Bada Bing. Latte was the elusive last shade that I could not get my hands on as it was always out of stock. This of course made me want it even more and now I have it it’s my least favourite shade! Just a touch too warm toned for me unfortunately but I am trying to embrace warmer colours so it does still get used!

makeup geek neutral z palette brown shades

Top - Shimma Shimma, Hipster, Taupe Notch, Middle - Homecoming, Pretentious, Barcelona Beach, Bottom - Latte, Mocha, Bada Bing

My most used shades are definitely Barcelona Beach or Hipster all over the lid with Mocha in the crease for during the day then Bada Bing on my lash line and Shimma Shimma as an inner corner highlight and lightly on my brow bone. I love having the other shimmer colours as options for a smokier eye but don’t tend to wear them on a day to day basis.

Sorry these photos are all different sizes, editing is not my strong point and PicMonkey is so slow for me!

makeup geek homecoming pretentious barcelona beach swatches

l-r - Shimma Shimma, Hipster, Taupe Notch

Make up Geek describes these as:
Shimma Shimma – metallic champagne

Hipster - dark sand and light taupe tan with a slight shimmer

Taupe Notch - taupe (with shimmer)

l-r - Homecoming, Pretentious, Barcelona Beach

Homecoming – medium brown with gold shimmer

Pretentious – metallic bronze

Barcelona Beach – medium sand shade with a matte finish

Makeup Geek latte mocha bada bing swatches

l-r - Latte, Mocha, Bada Bing

Latte – matte medium brown

Mocha – deep matte brown

Bada Bing – deep brown with flecks of gold

I've also just got my hands on a few of the foiled eyeshadows and oh my god they are so pigmented and buttery! I love how they fit in the Z palette and can be easily moved about depending on what you want to take with you if you are travelling. To make it perfect it should really have a black shade but I have so many already I decided against ordering one just for the sake of having a ‘complete’ palette.

The quality of these eyeshadows is right up there with my Urban Decay and Too Faced which are my favourites! I’m so glad Beauty Bay stock these as well as the contour shades and the blushes which I also have a couple of! Have you got any shade recommendations for me?

Danielle xx

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Zoeva Rose Golden Vol. 2 Complete Eye Brush Set Review

Zoeva Rose Golden Vol. 2 complete eye set review

I needed these like a hole in the head but welcome to my Zoeva brush family the Rose Golden Vol. 2 eye set! I ordered these just before Christmas when I was doing my Makeup Geek order because obviously I needed new eye brushes to go with it and just look how pretty they are! Hard to resist or what?

The set includes twelve eye brushes in a limited edition (although still available) nude and rose gold handled set. Zoeva do not test any of their products on animals and this brush set is made up of brushes with both natural and synthetic bristles. As with all their other sets, the brushes are super soft and wash really well! So, onto the brushes!

Zoeva Rose Golden Vol. 2 eye set review 142 325 227 322

142 Concealer Buffer

First up, this is actually the third copy I now have of this brush (also in the Rose Gold Set and Bamboo Vol. 2 set I have!) and I don’t like it so I sold it on Ebay! I found with the others it just moved my concealer round and I ended up with no coverage and I just prefer using my fingers to pat it in! If you have any other uses for this brush do let me know as I have two sitting unloved in my brush pot!

325 Luxe Brow Light

I usually use a much smaller and more flexible brush to apply highlight to my brow but I have been enjoying using this as it has such a light touch! It’s a bit too big to use in the inner corner of my eye though!

227 Luxe Soft Definer

I’m always happy to have another blending brush in my life and this one does a great job!

322 Brow Line

I usually use a Zoeva Wing Liner brush to do my brows if I’m using powder or something like ABH Dipbrow Pomade and from pictures I had seen of this before I got it I thought it was going to be as thin as the wing liner but shorter. It’s actually a lot thicker than I thought but still works really well at giving a precise line and doesn’t look too overdone so I’m really happy with it!

Zoeva Rose Golden Vol. 2 complete eye set review 232 235 231 221

232 Luxe Classic Shader

Another standard brush to pack on shadow with! I actually prefer the Real Techniques base shadow brush when I’m using matte shadows all over as these Zoeva brushes can be a lot stiffer and I can sometimes go overboard but they are great when using glitters as they really press it on!

235 Contour Shade

I was really hoping this would be like the Real Techniques angled shadow brush as it’s my favourite for blending but it’s not as thick and fluffy so I haven’t been using this as often as I would have liked!

231 Luxe Petite Crease Brush

This is another one of my favourite brushes and I use my original Zoeva Rose Golden version every day when putting a darker eyeshadow shade through my crease and in my outer corner! I forgot how stiff it was when I first got it but I like to wash it a few times to separate the bristles a bit so it’s softer for me to use!

221 Luxe Soft Crease Brush and 228 Crease Brush

These are two lovely tapered fluffy brushes great for blending or adding a transition shade through the crease!

Zoeva Rose Golden Vol. 2 complete eye set brush review 228 230 238 310

230 Luxe Pencil

I have wanted one of these brushes for the longest time! This is great when doing a smoky eye and adding a little shadow on the bottom lash line!

238 Luxe Precise Shader

This reaches places my Luxe Brow Light brush doesn’t so is great for inner corner highlight!

310 Spot Liner

This brush is super small but not small enough for my hooded lids! I tried it with gel eyeliner and it was just a little too thick for me but if you don’t have hooded lids or can get away with thicker eyeliner then I’m sure it would be great! Or if you have more makeup skills ha!

Overall, this is a great set if like me you are looking to expand your eye brush collection! I was tempted by the mixed eye and face set but I’m really happy with the face brushes I have so was glad to expand my eye collection! It’s a totally unnecessary set if you’re not into eye makeup but even though I’m not that experimental with it, I do wear eyeshadow every day! It’s such a luxurious set from the colour scheme to the detailing on the zip and I’m glad to have it in my collection!

I got mine from the BeautyBay website for £56.95! If you like this post you might like my favourite brushes post here or my review of the Zoeva Bamboo Vol. 2 set here! Have you got this or any other Zoeva brush sets? What do you think of them?

Danielle xx

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Beauty Bay Haul #2 Makeup Geek and Z Palette

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! I have had the loveliest couple of weeks off work and I hope you had too! The week before Christmas I did a sneaky order from Beauty Bay and treated myself to these guys! Like everyone else it seems I jumped on the Makeup Geek bandwagon and bought myself a few shades to see what the fuss is about and boy am I glad I did! I also invested in a mini Z palette to house them in and these are a match made in heaven!

Being the neutral lover that I am, I went for some brown shades in a mixture of matte and shimmer finishes including Homecoming –a medium brown shimmer with gold, Taupe Notch – a shimmery taupe shade, Barcelona Beach – a medium brown matte shade and Mocha - a deep matte brown shade. Each pan is £4.95 from Beauty Bay and they fit perfectly into the Z palette with a satisfying magnetic click!

This palette is perfect for travelling with and I loved having it with me a few days ago when I was in Amsterdam! I used the two matte shades for during the day with Barcelona Beach all over the lid and Mocha in the crease then at night I either used Homecoming or Taupe Notch all over the lid with Mocha again in the crease! I also took the Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 palette with me so used that for highlight and liner!

l-r top row: Homecoming, Taupe Notch, Barcelona Beach, Mocha

All four shades are beautifully pigmented and some of the best payoff I’ve ever got from swatches for blog photos! They blend so easily and it won’t be long before I fill the rest of this palette up with more from the brand! I actually went to order a few more but one that I wanted was out of stock and I know Beauty Bay sold out really quickly when they first started stocking them but they seem to have a good selection back in stock now!

makeup geek eyeshadow swatches homecoming taupe notch barcelona beach mocha pans browns neurtrals

l-r: Homecoming, Taupe Notch, Barcelona Beach, Mocha

The small Z palette which was £8.95 also comes with magnetic stickers for any eye shadow pans that may not stick by themselves! I actually regret not getting a bigger Z palette now as I have a few depotted Benefit eye shadows that I have in a cheap plastic palette from eBay which I glued in so I might get another one at some point and re depot! It doesn’t bother me that it doesn’t have a mirror on the inside as I like to use a big mirror anyway but if there was one thing I would change it, would be that the palette didn’t swing back on its hinge when opened as it sometimes closes by itself when I’m in the middle of applying the eye shadows!

As I have hooded eyes and am blessed with oily lids I find no eye shadow lasts all day on me however these wore away evenly and didn’t transfer but if you have any eye shadow primer recommendations I’m all ears! I currently switch between Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Benefit Stay All Day and love the consistency of both but they’re not long lasting enough for me! I’m thinking of trying the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base next but would love to hear your suggestions!

Just a quick word on Beauty Bay too as I see so much negative press on their Twitter page but I order from them all the time and have never had a problem! I ordered this (along with a Zoeva eye brush set) late at night on the 21^st and it was here on the 23^rd and they also do great samples when you spend over a certain amount! Everything’s always been packaged well and dispatched quickly so I would really recommend them!

Have you tried Makeup Geek shadows before? Any neutral recommendations for me?

Danielle xx

A Morphe Haul

Morphe Brushes Beauty Bay review 35N colour matte palette

I don’t know about you but I was so excited to see Morphe Brushes come to one of my favourite sites BeautyBay! I've seen them crop up in a few different YouTube tutorials and they seem to be so pigmented and good quality that when I saw the prices I knew I would have to try them for myself!

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review 35N colour matte palette swatches

Generally speaking, I’m a fan of matte neutral shades so the Morphe Brushes 35N 35 Colour Matte Palette (£15.95) is right up my alley! The size of the palette does remind me of those giant ones you would ask for at Christmas and practically have to dig into to get any colour payoff but thankfully this isn't anything like that! The shadows are so pigmented and don’t kick up too much dust when you put your brush in them! I haven’t noticed any creasing with these either and they stay as vibrant from when I put them on in the morning to when I take them off at night! The packaging is sturdy but there is no mirror which doesn’t bother me as I never use the mirrors in palettes anyway! The only negative I would say is that there are obviously a lot of shades I won’t use in there but at £15.95 for the entire palette it doesn’t worry me too much!

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review 35N colour matte palette 1st row swatches

First column

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review 35N colour matte palette 2nd row swatches

Second column

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review 35N colour matte palette 3rd row swatches

Third column

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review 35N colour matte palette 4th row swatches

Fourth column

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review 35N colour matte palette 5th row swatches

Fifth column

The first column as you will see from the pictures of the palette and the swatches are very light mattes that could be used as a base colour or matte highlight. The palette then moves into a few warmer shades with oranges and pinks which won’t get a lot of use from me but I can imagine people who are a bit more daring with their makeup using these! The palette then moves into the darker colours and a few purple shades which I can’t wait to use in a smoky eye! I have mainly been using this in the daytime with the browns in the last two columns along with the black shade in the very top corner as a shadow liner! Pigmentation varies a little through the palette with the most noticeable shades for me being the grey/black beneath the corner black and the grey at the top of the third column, I can’t get very much payoff from those at all but the rest have a really lovely smooth feel to them!

Morphe Brushes BeautyBay review M330 blending crease B8 badger goat deluxe fan brush

I also picked up a couple of brushes to try out. As you can never have too many blending brushes I got the M330 Blending Crease Brush (£4.75). The bristles are slightly longer than I’m used to which makes it a little bendier than my other blending brushes but nonetheless it’s soft and I like it! Probably the one brush I’m missing in my collection is a fan brush so I also ordered the B8 Badger Deluxe Fan Brush (£4.75). Again this is really soft and I’m enjoying applying highlighter with it as an extra step in my routine! I couldn’t find anywhere that stated Morphe Brushes were cruelty free so I sent them an email asking and they replied with “we work with many different factors that purchase their bristle from suppliers that are certified cruelty free”.

My order was dispatched really quickly and arrived a few days later packaged really well! Beauty Bay also have free delivery on orders over £15!

I definitely want to try a few more things from Morphe especially more of their brushes and some other palettes like the blush one! Do you have any recommendations? Have you bought anything from a brand you haven’t tried before recently?

Danielle xx

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Zoeva Bamboo Vol. 2 Brush Set Review

After treating myself to the Zoeva Rose Golden Brush Set earlier this year I fell in love with them and wanted more. Knowing which brushes I used a lot, I looked about getting another set that included a few of the same while also adding some new shapes to my collection. I ended up going with the Bamboo Vol. 2 set and I love the bamboo handles and the gold detailing! The brushes are Vegan friendly and made from Taklon bristles and the set also came with a makeup/brush bag and a container/tube to store the brushes in if you want! I got the set off BeautyBay, they have really quick delivery and offer a good selection of deluxe gifts when you spend over a certain amount! Here’s what the set includes:

103 Defined Buffer

I’ll get the biggest disappointment out of the way first; I just didn’t think this was all that great. I used it to apply foundation and much prefer my Silk Finish brush from the Rose Golden Brush Set! I might try using it with cream blush next and see how it performs!

128 Cream Cheek

This has become my favourite blusher brush! I know it says cream cheek but it’s perfect for powder blushers and I love how the angled bristles allow me to cover the fullest part of my cheek then taper up with the thinner end of the brush! This is really similar to the Luxe Sheer Cheek Brush from the Rose Gold set but I prefer this one for some reason!

109 Face Paint

This is the brush that initially attracted me to this set as I had wanted something similar to the Real Techniques Bold Metals Flat Contour brush. I found it to be a lot smaller than I was expecting and to be honest though I’m still using my old contouring favourite the No7 Powder Brush over this as I find the square shape quite harsh on my face! I prefer it with a really cool toned powder like the NYX Powder Blush in Taupe instead of more bronzy shades.

105 Highlight

Although I don’t highlight too often I thought this would be a handy brush to have. It’s a really nice size and works well for contour as well!

142 Concealer and Buffer

This is really great for fitting into those hard to reach places like either side of my nose! It’s one I don’t use as often as I should because it is an extra step in my routine but I’m glad I have it! This is another double from the set I already have too!

227 Soft Definer

Perfect for blending, I can never have enough of these as they get dirty so quickly and I maybe don’t wash them as often as I should…

232 Classic Shader

Brilliant for packing on a bit of colour all over the lid!

317 Wing Liner

This was another brush I was happy to have a double of as its soft but not too soft and works perfectly for me as both a liner brush (mostly with eyeshadow) as well as an eyebrow brush! Love this one!

Have you tried any Zoeva brushes? Which would you recommend? Personally I want the whole line as well as all of their makeup!

A BeautyBay Haul

<img src="beauty bay haul" alt="laura geller flawless in a flash beauty bay spackle primer hydrating louise young mascara brush ly22 philip b hair zoeva luxe blush shy beauty">

I have a very bad feeling this blog is going to encourage my already out of control spending habits and just be a collection of hauls… Oh well, Beauty Bay had an offer on last week and depending on how much you spent you got 10, 15 or 20% off so I did a little shopping.

<img src="beauty bay haul" alt="laura geller flawless in a flash beauty bay louise young mascara brush ly22 philip b hair zoeva luxe blush shy beauty">

The first thing I picked up was the Laura Geller Flawless in a Flash set which includes the main reason I got it, the Spackle Treatment Hydrating Make-up Primer. I’m excited to try this! The set also includes the Baked Balance-N-Brighten Colour Correcting Foundation in Medium, the Baked Colour True Blush in the shade Catalina, the GlamLASH Dramatic Volumising Mascara in black and a mini blush brush. Not bad for £12!

<img src="beauty bay zoeva blush shy beautyjpg" alt="Zoeva luxe colour blush shy beauty danielles beauty blog">

I also added the Zoeva Luxe Colour Blush in Shy Beauty to my basket although unfortunately the 20% off doesn’t apply to Zoeva products but I couldn’t pass the chance to try it! It is a lovely peach colour and I can’t wait to see what it looks like on! The packaging is gorgeous too and really sturdy, even the box it came in had a beautiful silver inside. Ha, getting excited over packaging!

The last thing I got was the Louise Young Mascara Brush LY22 which I got with the intention of using in my brows. I tried it out this morning and have to say that while it does the job, the handle is extremely slim and I prefer something a bit thicker to get a better grip.

<img src="swatches.jpg" alt="laura geller flawless in a flash beauty bay Baked Balance-N-Brighten Colour Correcting Foundation Baked Colour True Blush in the shade Catalina zoeva luxe blush shy beauty swatch swatches">

I also didn’t get the chance to photograph the Alpha H Liquid Gold I bought because my mum claimed it straight it away but it was purchased too!

When you spend over a certain amount you get to choose a free deluxe gift so I went for the Philip B set of three minis which are the Nordic Wood Hair and Body Shampoo, the Forever Shine Shampoo and the Forever Shine Conditioner. I haven’t heard much bout Philip B but I’m looking forward to trying the minis.

Have you tried any of the things I mentioned? I may also have done a small Look Fantastic skin care haul and a slightly bigger Nyx and Wet n Wild Haul. Look out for those over the next few weeks! Then a spending ban will have to be enforced!

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