In January I ordered quite a few US beauty bits and now they've finally all arrived and I've picked up a few other things, I though I'd do a round-up haul post with some mini-reviews, first impressions and swatches. I've also shared how you can get your hands on these brands if you're in the UK.
Sephora
Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks in Double Dare & Lolita | $20 each
I was originally going to order Lolita I and Lolita II but Jess at Making It Up Blog mentioned Lolita II was quite orange in colour so I though I'd wait to see it in real life when I go to New York. In the meantime I've picked up Lolita I and Double Dare. I've heard a few people say these are drying and whilst they're not as creamy as the NYX ones, for example, I don't actually find this. They're very fluid but still highly pigmented and incredibly long-lasting. Whilst Lolita is nice, for me it's all about Double Dare! It's described as a 'cocoa blush'; its a gorgeous pink with brown undertones that's just so flattering. I think it would suit so many people and I'm already obsessed with it. Lolita is a 'chestnut rose' - a more brown-toned shade with some rosy undertones that's also lovely. All in all these were worth the hype for me.
Sephora Shipping: Sephora offer a flat rate of £6 for UK shipping if you spend £80 before tax. However this time round I just decided I wanted these lipsticks but didn't want to spend £80 and it cost me £12. Sephora's shipping is very fast and my orders have always been with me within a week of ordering.
Dose of Colors
Matte Lipsticks in Stone and Truffle | £14.50 each
I originally ordered Stone as it was the only shade I thought I'd like that was in stock however the grey-mauve is too cool and light for me so just washes me out! Luckily I got my hands on the warm brown nude: Truffle, which is much better on me. The formula has to be one of my favourites; it's very fluid but doesn't dry out my lips and lasts for hours. I'm definitely after a darker option in this and have my eye on Mood from the new range, which I hear is launching in the UK in the next few weeks.
Dose of Colors Shipping: DoC can now be found on the UK site BeautyBay.
ColourPop
Lippie Stix in Brink | $5
This has to be one of my favourite things in this entire haul! It's the perfect warm brown-toned everyday nude; think MAC's Spice, Velvet Teddy and Taupe all mixed into one. The formula is so creamy and non-drying. Although this is labelled as a matte finish, I find it more satiny.
Ultra Matte in Lumiere 2 | $6
When I saw a liquid lipstick version of Lumiere, it was perfect timing as I'd been wanting to try ColourPop's range for a while. It is deeper and more vibrant than the original (I've done some comparison swatches below) however it's still is nice mauve colour. These can be a tad drying on the lips however the longevity is incredible. I've seen a new creamier formulation making the rounds on YouTube so no doubt I'll try those out when they're released.
Super Shock Cheek Blush in Between the Sheets | $8
I decided to pick up another ColourPop blusher because a cream formula that's long-lasting on my skin and doesn't look greasy is a rarity! This is a gorgeous warm pinky-mauve colour that pairs so nicely with my signature lip shades (MAC Twig and Mehr, Nars Anna etc.)
Super Shock Eyeshadow in Blaze | $5
This is an Ultra Metallic formula in a gorgeous bronzy gold colour. It is quite glittery but hey, sometimes that can be fun! It's not as long-wearing as some of the more matte formulas but it still lasts well enough on me. If you're not familiar with ColourPop; all their eyeshadows are a super-pigmented spongy cream formula.
Super Shock Eyeshadow in DGAF | $5
This definitely wasn't what I was expecting but oh well! Again, it's an Ultra Metallic but the colour is a sort of red with iridescent golden glitter. It's a very unique shade but I haven't found a way to make it work for me yet - tips welcome!
Super Shock Eyeshadow in Cricket | $5
I've been loving smoky eyes at the moment so that's how I chose this shade (again an Ultra Metallic finish). This glittery blue-toned purple is probably a bit much on its own but with something like Bill across the lid you can just put this in the outer 'v'. I'll let you know this and my dalliance with smoky eyes goes!
Super Shock Eyeshadow in Bill | $5
This is a pretty lilac-taupe shade in a Matte formulation. It's so pigmented and creamy and can work all across the lid or just in the crease for any cool-toned eye look.
ColourPop Shipping: I use Shipito to get ColourPop in the UK and there's a full guide on how to do it here. I would warn you that ColourPop don't package the products very securely so they can tend to rattle around in transit and as you can see there was some damage to my order. This time around there was less than two weeks between ordering on ColourPop and it arriving to me via Economy Airmail. As a rough guide for how much everything costs in total is 30% on top of the cost of the products themselves (so you can pretty much swap the $ for a £ as a rough guide on tax, shipping and insurance costs).
Makeup Geek
Contour Powders Pan in Complicated & Half-Hearted | £7.95 each
When I saw Makeup Geek had released an inclusive line of contour powders at an affordable price-point, I snapped up the two medium shades. Half-Hearted is described as Medium Warm and Complicated as Medium Cool, which I'm not quite sure I'd agree with! However the texture of these is seriously smooth and creamy. This means it does kick up a bit of fallout; the first time I used this I plonked my brush in and created some sort of a dust cloud! You only need to tap your brush into the product very lightly. They apply really nicely and look natural on my skin. They don't take ages to blend in and they're really long-wearing (they don't even go patchy on me by the end of the day). All in all a big thumbs up and I really hope Marlena releases some highlight shades to go with these.
Makeup Geek Shipping: Makeup Geek is stocked by Beauty Bay, which is UK-based.
BH Cosmetics
Carli Bybel Eyeshadow & Highlighter Palette | $20
I've actually already featured this in my Perfect Palettes post, but I thought I'd throw it in here anyway. It's a gorgeous blend of plummy, gold and champagne eyeshadows, with both mattes and shimmers along with highlighters and bronzers that range from pearly pinks to champagnes to golden-bronzes. The formulas of both were really impressive in texture and pigmentation. They apply beautifully and wear nicely throughout the day for me. All in all this is a fantastic little palette, especially for such an affordable price.
BH Cosmetics Shipping: I paid around $6 for shipping (all taxes were calculated at the point of purchase) and it arrived in a little over a week.
Morphe Brushes
E4 Angled Contour Brush | £11.25
I have a couple of other Morphe face brushes and whilst they were ok, they didn't really wow me. I picked up these two as they looked a little like the Sephora ones and although it was a long shot, I thought I'd give them a try. I have to say these (I believe they're the 'Elite' brushes) are definitely much better than their standard brushes. I love this as it's precise enough for contouring (as opposed to being a bronzer brush) but it's quite fluffy and large enough to get a subtle, everyday look. I really like the angled bristles as you can angle this different depending on how defined you want to go. The bristles apply the product evenly and allow me to blend it out with minimal effort.
E27 Pro Round Blender Brush | £5.50
The bristles on this eye brush are very similar. There's a limit to what you can do with this, as it is very large for an eyeshadow brush however I'm really enjoying it for softening out any harsh edges.
Morphe Brushes Shipping: Morphe Brushes is stocked by UK-based Beauty Bay.
What's on your US beauty wish list?
Don't forget to follow me on:
Twitter | Bloglovin | Instagram