Mini Payday Haul!

Hello!
So I may have briefly mentioned in my Sunday Roundup that I got paid last weekend! I decided to pop onto Boots and have a little spend. I originally was only going to spend £10.....but then I realised that 3 of the items I really wanted would come to £15 so I went for a £20 spend instead......I'm great at justifying spending sprees after being paid! This post is a little picture heavy but, when are my posts not? (It's also predictably waffly too! Yay!)

So first up I headed to the 17 stand (like always) and had a look at the other colours of the Berry Crush Lip Stains (£4.99 each) as I'm loving the one I've already got and decided to invest in a few others. The only tester that was there was a bit of a pinky-brown colour which wasn't for me. There weren't any other testers so I decided to pretty much risk it with a lighter pink and a red colour. I do find that red lipstick can look pretty bad by the end of the day so I was quite excited to get a really red lip stain and the light pink will be nice for a subtler look. I was a bit worried about the red as the packaging is a bit of an orange toned red but I decided to risk it anyway (why not right?) In my local Boots the Natural Collection stand is right behind the 17 one so naturally I just had to have a look... I was thinking about picking up another lipstick in Raspberry as the one I've got is getting a bit low and as it's one of my favourite lipsticks I don't want to run out! However, they didn't have one in so I had a little look at the rest and found this one in Cranberry. It's almost exactly the same as Raspberry but with a little sparkle in it. Lovely!

Here are some swatches of the two lip stains.

Top - Bombshell

Bottom - Smokin' Hot

Here are my lovely lips (ha!) with the lip stain in Smokin' Hot on them. I was SUPER happy with the colour that this red actually came out. It's exactly the colour I've been looking for! The colour pigmentation is really intense and this is with just one coat plus the conditioning balm on top (it has vitamin C in it to keep your lips kissable.....I'll test this out when I can ;) ) I really love how the felt tip type pen nib makes application really precise and easy to use, although for some reason I have found with the pink colours that I need to apply twice on my top lip for maximum colour.

This is with Bombshell on. I know this looks a little like I don't have any thing on and compared to Smokin' Hot and Pinkini (review found here near to the bottom) it is a lot calmer in colour but it's a really nice subtle everyday pink (for when I'm not quite feeling bold lip colour) It doesn't seem to have shown up properly in the photo (unlike all the tiny hairs on my face....cheers camera for making me paranoid! Haha!) But I really like the subtle pink. I now feel like I have a colour for every occasion now! (maybe a Coral colour is needed too?.......or a more subtle red?....hmm....)

Last up on my lip product list is the Natural Collection Lipstick in Cranberry. This one is a slightly lighter version of the Raspberry one but with a bit of glitter in it (swatch of Raspberry here) I've been eyeing it up for a little while and decided to just go for it due to the fact that Boots have 3 for 2 on all cosmetics and I have no will power.

Here is Cranberry on my lips. I really like the hint of glitter in it, it's not too much but enough for a little something extra. I really love this sort of deep pink and think that for £1.99 this lipstick is a fab purchase and will be one of my new favourites!

At the kiosk they still had the "buy any 17 product and get a pressed powder (usually £3.99) free" and as I feel in love with the one I got the other day (it feels like velvet when I swiped my finger across it to swatch my one!) I decided to pick this up for my giveaway prize as I wanted to include some bits that I love and I really have fallen in love with this product. I got it in the same shade as I got last time (mainly because it was the only one left besides Ivory which looked very pale) as I figured this one would suit more people for my giveaway. I hope whoever wins likes it as much as I do! I will be doing a full review on my one soon so you can all read my waffly rave review of this.

Next up....Models Own Beetle Juice nail polish in Aqua Violet (£5) I really took a shine to this shade when they first came out but my local Boots didn't stock Models own then. The slightly bigger one we have in my town now has a small stand of them and I spotted this beauty the other day and decided I had to get it! It's a really lovely teal blue with violet tones in it in certain lights. I'm in love with this colour and the shimmer in it. I think it's the first polish that I've worn just by itself in quite a while so that's gotta mean something! 

Here's another shot of the bottle in order to try and show the violet tones in it.

ie in my bedroom...) but still you can see the gorgeous teal colour anyway and I'm sure most of you have seen swatches of this by now anyway!

So for my final purchase I had one thing in mind. I needed a new foundation brush and I needed a good one! I've only just really gotten into wearing foundation and my ELF brush (from in the 10 Piece set that I got in the last 50% discount day, a fab starting kit but I'm starting to want to invest in slightly better brushes really) was fine to start off with but recently I've noticed how it can leave my face looking like it has brush streaks on it (and before you say anything, yes I cleaned it. Daily in fact!) I had gone in with the idea of getting one of the No7 brushes as I've heard good things about them but I didn't want to spend £14 on a brush (I know I know, it's not that much for a good brush but I just didn't have that much to spend on one item....£20 limit remember?) So I had a little browse of the brushes and saw these EcoTools ones. I was very interested in the fact that it was cruelty free as I've decided to make sure any brushes I buy from now on are made of synthetic bristles. I also love that it's got a bamboo handle. Not only does it look nice but it's also a highly sustainable plant so I feel like I'm doing something good for the planet!

The back of it gives a little bit of extra blurb about the good points of the brush. The bristles are 100% Taklon which I think is great as it means that the brush shouldn't irritate my sensitive skin and it also means my brushes will be easier to keep clean too! I like the fact that packaging has a pouch on the back to keep the brush in too.

The tapered point of the brush makes application of foundation very easy and the brush is SO damn soft!! I honestly couldn't recommend this brush any more (the metal is recycled aluminium too!) and guess what??......it was only £7.99!!! I was so impressed with how good this brush was for that price tag! I will be investing in more of their brushes in the future I do believe. There is a full list of brushes on their website and I'm thinking the buffing brush might be next on my list....

So that's my little Boots haul. It all came to just over £20 and I'm very happy with everything I got, especially the brush and the red lip stain! I did have a little spend in Superdrug too but those were for giveaway bits so I didn't want to include them in my payday haul.... I do need to get a few new tops and a work skirt too so there should be a clothes haul at some point (it won't be expensive pieces, I didn't get paid that much!) But what do you guys think? Any bits in my haul that you have or now want? Any bits you can recommend for me? (Seriously....no will power! Haha!)

Hope you're all having a good Tuesday!

Until next time,

xoxo