New Budget Makeup Brand – I ♡ Makeup

Hey Lovelies!

Very excited about this post and aren’t we all lucky to be living in such exciting times (okay, maybe I take makeup too seriously), just think about it, in just the past year the number of decent budget cosmetics brands have doubled! At least, it sure seems that way to me because I only knew of E.L.F. and MUA before (don’t they love their acronyms?) and then again, maybe E.L.F. doesn’t count because it’s only available onine. Then just a few months ago Makeup Revolution launched to much hype and fanfare, now it’s been barely that much longer and we have I ♡ Makeup!

Above are two of my favourite palettes from the brand, can you tell already that everything’s going to be kitchsy? Not that that’s a bad thing. Almost every other makeup palette that launches these days has that sleek black plastic casing, which is meant to look professional but obviously we know it’s just economical (and I definitely won’t complain when there’s amazing price points to be had as well!

Top 5 Budget Red Lipsticks under £5

Hi there my pretties!

So, seeing as Valentine’s is today, the internet is practically abuzz with all sorts of V-Day makeup look tutorials! Did you know, that the Chinese have their own Valentine’s Day based on the Lunar Calendar? And tomorrow, for the first time in a long, loooong time, the Chinese and English Valentine’s coincide on the same day! Right, trivia for the day done with… time to get to the topic of the day which is budget red lipstick!!

Back to Valentine’s looks, most of these seem to contain that quintessential red lip. Depending on how you pair it with the rest of your look and whether it’s a warm or cool red lip, it can be sexy, dangerous, classy, inviting… you name it. Honestly you can never have too many red lipsticks and I for one don’t think I’ve found my ultimate, perfect one yet but I have found loads of amazing budget ones in my parsimonious quest for good makeup.

This post is for those of you who want to rock that glam, V-day look without breaking the bank 😉

And even if V-Day is not for you or it’s long past by the time you read this, a red lip that you like should always be an essential part of your makeup bag!

1) MUA Matte Lipstick in Scarlet Siren

Scarlet Siren

You’ve probably read my million and one posts that I’ve already done about the amazing MUA Matte Lipsticks and how they’ve come to my rescue in a makeup emergency one time in Germany but I can’t resist mentioning them once again.

Budget Asian Drugstore Mini-Haul

Happy Sunday Everybody!

I’m not sure if you’ve realised but I’m trying to have a good balance of ‘beauty’-type posts (ie. reviews, hauls, etc.) and ‘freebie’ type posts (ie. samples, deals, sales, etc.). Just out of curiosity, what do you prefer??

It’s extra-hard to plan ahead on this blog because I never know what new freebie is going to pop up tomorrow and I swear I’ve a ton of products I’ve used and done hauls about and promised to review that are now no longer products but are ’empties’ (yep, been that long…), one day this backlog of reviews will come flooding in.

Anyway! Let me know 🙂 But for now, haul time!

It’s a teeny-weeny haul but I’m excited to share it because all the items were on my wishlist for 2014, I’m ticking through it pretty fast and also being quite good in not veering off it (which is what a wishlist is for!), makes me feel ‘productive’, haha, cheap thrills.

I guess it’s also a small haul because there’s just so much that fascinates me in an Asian drugstore (because I haven’t been in one for  very, very long) that I know if I let myself go I’m gonna come home with a ton of random stuff, so I’m being very strict on following that wishlist!

It really is a mini-haul isn’t it!!!

;”>

Europe Drugstore Beauty Haul – Essence, Catrice, Manhattan

Happy Sunday All!!

Sigh, I always find myself in these situations… it’s late at night, I’ve an early train to catch tomorrow (a 4-hour long train!!), bags yet to be packed but I’m determined to stick to my laptop till I’ve written all the posts for this blog that’ll go up daily while I’m away… it’s my fault really, I need to learn how to create a buffer!

As you all know, a couple weeks ago I was in Berlin and although I was there for a church conference, I knew I’d have a couple days free time after it and so I’d written myself a little shopping list. It went something like this: beer, sausages, beer, ampelmann (I love the ampelman…), beer, GERMAN DRUGSTORE MAKEUP. With that emphasis, I kid you not.

I even did my research before I left and had jotted down a few brands and their top products (I’m such a nerd, once a nerd always a nerd, even with makeup of all things) and so when my really lovely boyfriend one day suggested that I should pop into a drugstore and spend some time at the makeup aisles I was like ‘I LOVE YOU’ and promptly spent the next 20 minutes very, very seriously pondering the makeup aisles… I felt very bad making him wait but he very thoughtfully reminded me of all the times I’ve patiently waited for him as he built MTG card decks or stood looking at Warhammer figures (lol) so I guess we’re even.

Anyway, most of this post is going to be a picture-spam of a look into a German drugstore (currently) and then my haul!

Starting in alphabetical order… here’s Astor, a popular European drugstore brand.