Estee Lauder Goodies!

Hello!

Firstly, another little apology for the lack of blogging. My laptop decided to completely die on me last week! My Dad is a computer genius so I was hoping he'd be able to fix it and I was using one of the ones my brother had brought down for my Mum in the mean time....but alas, he was unable to save it and I am now using this fairly bad laptop for the foreseeable future... I mean, it isn't terrible and is quite fast really....but the keys are all in the wrong place, the screen is tiny compared to my old 19"widescreen and there isn't a pound sign anywhere on here!! It's just all wrong! Luckily my Dad has been able to take the hard drive out of my old one and has been able to save everything that was on there (I think...I haven't actually checked yet because I've been too busy...It's my next task for today, so wish me luck!) Anyway, that is why I haven't blogged. Because I don't have any of the photos that I had taken for posts that I've already written and because I'm being a fussy pants with this laptop and was living in hope that mine would be fine!

Anyway, on with the post. I recently had to do a dreaded late shift at work when we had a mega week. This means that I had to stay til 8 when the last customer was served at 6.05 on cosmetics...so basically it was dead. I did some paperwork and then went to chill with Lyn on Estee Lauder. She's like the mother on that floor....but one that's awesome you know? She's just hilarious and I'm glad my late shift was with her! Anyway, this meant that I had time to actually have a browse on her counter without having to disappear because of pesky customers actually wanting us to do our jobs! Haha! I was having fun swatching things and generally laughing about with Lyn when I came across this gorgeous red lipstick called "Forbidden Apple". I asked Lyn if it was alright to put it on and she was cool with it, so I popped it on and instantly fell in love. I asked what Lyn thought and she said it looked lovely but I joked that she was only saying that because she wanted a sale! Haha! I wore it home and the vote was unanimous, it looked lovely. I have always had a bit of an obsession with finding the right red lipstick as red lipstick was the first bit of make-up I ever owned as an adult (I don't count the glitter filled things that I had as a kid for school discos. Who thought roll on body glitter was a good thing?!) This one was just the perfect shade and I was totally in love. I was also skint so paying £19.50 for a lipstick made me cry on the inside a little bit! (I literally just had to copy and paste that pound sign from wikipedia. This damn laptop.) I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about it for a week and then had the unexpected payment of my travel money from Benefit (it's only been what?....4 months since I put in for it???) I know I should have used it for other things but I thought "oh screw it! It's my money, I'll spend it how I like!" Now then, some of you might know that Estee Lauder currently have a gift on (pretty sure it's in all stores anyway...) where when you buy two items (one to be skincare) you get an amazing free gift with lots of make-up and skincare bits in it....one of the perks of my job is the perk of "when someone has a gift on, they give staff a little leeway with the gifts" so Lyn said that I could just have the gift if I brought the lipstick. Now then, whilst that's super kind of her, I felt a bit cheeky doing that so I had a little browse and found a beautiful eyeshadow in a colour that I didn't already have too (I was tempted by the nail polishes but I pretty much have dupes for all of the Estee Lauder ones at the moment I think!) So the other day I went ahead and brought both of these beauties as a nice treat to myself! 

The packaging is so pretty on both of them!

Pure Color Vivid Shine Lipstick in Forbidden Apple - £19.50 (£15.60 with staff discount)

Pure Color Gelée Powder Eyeshadow in Arctic Sky - £19.00 (£15.20 with staff discount)

So that's £30.80 with discount...and then I had £10.00 on my beauty card so I opted to take that off too...bringing the total to £20.80 for the two! Not a bad deal I think you'll agree!

The Lipstick is a more of a deep raspberry red kind of colour with a lovely golden shimmer in it. Plus it smells like Christmas I think, which is awesome! I've found that it stays on really well but does need a touch up after drinking/eating which is standard for most lipsticks really. 

The eyeshadow is this beautiful kind of periwinkle blue colour with a multi-tonal shimmer. It is BEAUTIFUL but the colour they show on the website makes it looks really vivid blue. You can see that it clearly isn't. I was a bit sceptical that this colour would suit me, but brought it anyway and I was so glad that I did! 

Eyeshadow and Lipstick swatches without flash.

Eyeshadow and Lipstick swatches with flash (to show up the shimmer in Arctic Sky)

Here is a weird picture of my face with the two on before I went to see Motion City Soundtrack last night (my favourite band fyi...) I did do a quick top up of my lipstick after this picture because I realised that I had rubbed some of it off when eating my chicken dippers (....I swear I really am 24 and not 9! But chicken dippers are damn tasty!) Please ignore the make-up mess on my bed behind me....I really will master the technique of taking pictures of myself one day (doubtful...) Also I need a haircut.

More weird pictures of my face. This was the other day when I got home and just had to try them on! I'm seriously in love with this colour and was surprised by it as I always thought blues and purples looked weird on me!

I absolutely adore this shade of red. It's the right shade and is dark without being too dark and making me look like I'm 5 and have raided my Mum's make-up. Really like the shimmer in it too! I've found that it's quite moisturising too, which is always a bonus!

Here is the free gift that they have going on at the moment. There are two versions, one for younger skin and one for older skin. I spent a good deal of time debating between being selfish and getting a gift for myself, or being an awesome daughter and getting the gift for my Mum to try out. I decided on being a nice daughter and got the one for older skin for my lovely Mum! My Mum has recently started using the Bare Minerals make-up that I got for her but has been borrowing my cleanser on the days when she's worn it, so this gift was perfect for her as it came with a mini skincare routine.

The gift contains: (all full size prices based on the smallest one available)

• Soft Clean Moisture Rich Foaming Cleanser - 30ml sample size -  £ 5.04 (Full size 125ml -  £21)
• Soft Clean Silky Hydrating Lotion - 50ml Sample size -  £5.25 (Full size 200ml -  £21)
• Resilience Lift Firming/Sculpting Face and Neck Creme SPF15 - 15ml Sample Size -  £18 (Full size 50ml -  £60)
• Advanced Night Repair - 7ml Sample size -  £10.27 (Full size 30ml - £44)
• Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in Rose Petal Creme - 3.8g Full size -  £19.50 (I'm fairly sure this is a full size lipstick, but the colour doesn't seem to be on their website, so I'm guessing it's a gift exclusive colour...)
• Pure Color Gloss (double ended - Rock Candy and Plum Divine) - The glosses on the website are 6ml and aren't double ended (unless you look at the doublewear ones) so I assumes that these were sample sizes at 3ml for each end, which makes this a 6ml sample -  £17 (which is the price for a full size 6ml individual gloss)
• Sumptuous Extreme Lash Multiplying Volume Mascara - 2.8ml Sample size -  £7.70 (Full size 8ml -  £22)

So the gift is worth (according to my calculations at least...) around £82.76!!

Swatches of the two glosses and the lipstick from the gift - from top left:

Rock Candy, Plum Divine and Rose Petal Creme. 

Another perk of the job is that, when you say you'll get the gift for your Mum because you think she'd like it (even though you think you might keep the make-up....which didn't happen by the way because my mum LOVED the lipstick and gloss colours and they really suited her so I gave her the whole gift in the end! They wouldn't have suited me anyway! Although I'm jealous she got the bag because I actually really like it! Haha!), you occasionally get a "hold down the fort, I'll be back in a minute!" and then Lyn rushes off and leaves you standing there on her counter hoping that no one will turn up whilst she's gone because you can't help out on her counter at all... Anyway, she came rushing back with something that had come in the other day and is going to be a little gift for next time. She said that as I was being such a nice daughter, that I deserved a little treat too! And as I'd tried the little sachet of Daywear that she had given me the day before and loved it, she gave me this little gift for myself!

The gift contains:

Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator - 7ml Sample size - £10.97 (Full size 30ml - £47) 

DayWear Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Creme SPF15 - 15ml Sample size - £11.70 (Full size 50ml - £39)

So this little gift is worth £22.67 altogether! I have been using it for the last few days and I think I'm a little bit in love with them both! I love how the skin illuminator looks just by itself! So so beautiful!! I'm really tempted to buy the full size, even though I can't really afford to and should buy other things with that money!

So, all in all, I brought two products that should have been £38.50 (without discount) for £20.80...and then I got lots of free stuff that ultimately adds up to £105.43.....that's quite a bargain and a half!! It's time like this that I realise that I really can't complain about my job that much can I?? I know this post will come across as a little bit of a brag but....well..it kind of is to be honest! Haha! I wasn't expecting the extra gift and I was so grateful to Lyn for being as awesome as she is! 

So what do you guys think? Am I bragging too much?? Any products that you love or loathe there? Any Estee Lauder products that you would recommend? Anyone want to help justify my wanting to get the Idealist product in the full size???

Until next time,

xoxo

p.s. you know you shouldn't be treating yourself to two things when you have to split the payment between two cards!!!