Some haulage! (and updates)

I have not blogged in FOREVER.

It's been tough. I have lots of work to do, so I know I should be writing that rather than posting blogs, but I just can't stop myself any longer!!! It will probably be a while until I make another post after this, but I know I won't get a lot more work done on this Saturday night.

I have two little hauls to show you :)

1. Liz Earle
(purchased from her website here)

Although a little pricey, I actually adore Liz Earle products and love using most of the ones I've tried! (moisturizer and toner aren't on my re-purchase list) The Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser has become one of my must-haves in my daily skin routine. It's the best product I've found to remove my make-up at the end of the day. I have to say that I hardly use the muslin cloths though... But I was running out of this wonderous creamy goodness so purchased a fat 200ml tube, which should last me a rather long time!!

And then, because I had a little money from working over the summer, I got myself a little treat - Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion! This is something I would LOVE to be able to re-purchase everytime I run out, but it's not plausible at £9.50 for 150ml. Granted, I don't use this everyday, but I think I would if I could afford it!! It's super gentle formula will remove any traces of eye make-up residue left after cleansing your face and it hasn't stung my eyes yet! It's also great to soothe and relax your eyes if you soak some cotton pads with it (like cucumber!) :D

Liz Earle products always come beautifully packaged so it's like opening a present each time! (And they also send you a sample they think you might like!)

2. AmazingCosmetics
(purchased from QVC here)

Okay okay, so normally I wouldn't buy something if it was only available online and I couldn't buy it in store (make-up wise) that isn't a very well-known brand, BUT after seeing this pop up a few times on YouTube by various people and then Helen (aka cherrychan108 youtube blog) also saying good things about this product, I had to test it out for myself. Helen is a great lover of concealers, as I'm sure we all are, so I trust her judgement well. Concealer would most definitely be one of the items I would pack on my trip to a deserted island!

AmazingComestics known in the industry for their complexion perfecting products has been the "go to" brand among celebrity makeup artists and their high profile clients for over six years. The niche brand has been the chosen cosmetic company for numerous television and film projects that once again have brought AmazingCosmetics into the spotlight!

I did a little research and found myself purchasing 'a little amazing kit' which includes: two 6ml tubes of The AmazingConcealer, Concealer Brush, Travel Tub and Cosmetic Bag. I call myself a medium skin tone, but I'm definitely on the lighter side of medium so I picked light/medium (haha!) and was sent a tube of light and a tube of medium. I actually haven't opened either tubes yet... I had it hidden away so I only found it the other day! But from the instructions and other youtubers I've seen, you don't need to use a lot of the product to cover imperfections, which is -not to sound too cliche now- amazing!! LOL :P

The little brush it comes with is made of synthetic fibres, but for concealer I find synthetic brushes work a lot better. There are no pores in the fibres to soak up product and so much easier to clean aswell :) It's quite a stiff brush with only the tip giving movement when using gentle force, so all in all a good concealer brush. Again, I haven't really had a chance to test it out properly yet. I will do a video review if anyone wants one (comment me below) !!

I have another product which has been hidden away for a while because I had to bring it back from home and unpacking just isn't in my vocab XD So I only really opened it yesterday and I've been testing it today. It's one that was sent to me by a PR company so I managed to get mine before it was officially launched! You may have seen it advertised and I do believe it is in stores now. Here it is!

Garnier's Caffeine Anti-Dark Circles

Another cosmeceutical product on the market, which we all love :) Following the HUGE success of the Garnier Caffeine Eye Roll-On, this product is almost identical but with an added extra! I never purchased the original roll-on but I have tried it before. It's definitely something that would improve my puffy eyes in the mornings but a few times when I went to purchase it, it was out of stock so I took that as a sign and didn't look out for it anymore. Anyway, this new little roller ball stick contains a tinted concealer. I don't think it's amazingly covering, but for those of you who get dark circles (luckily for me, mine are quite faint and generally my foundation covers up any blue I can see - or it's my own fault and I didn't get enough sleep) you may not need both concealer and foundation with this product, but just one of them.

The one I have is in Medium to medium dark skin tone (I asked for medium and fair is often way too light) which isn't a bad match for me although I could tell there was a hint of orange compared to my natural skin which could be corrected with a thin layer of foundation over the top. So far, I really like this product! The packaging is great! I love how small it is as you could carry it with you, like you would a lipgloss! It comes in a box (pictured above) which is crammed with so much information on it so I'd urge you to pick one up on your next trip to Boots or Superdrug (or wherever you could get yours) and have a good read! It's very soothing and cooling when you apply it and the roller ball gives your under-eyes a mini massage! You do have to pat the tinted concealer into the skin but I feel that this also helps promote the skin to absorb the caffeine and lemon extract which leaves a refreshing feeling. There is one sentence about the formula containing a UV filter but I doubt it's very strong. However, any added protection is a brilliant extra, don't you think??

So in my latest haul video, I showed this wonderful cute little desk organizer which I bought to help house my ever expanding make-up collection :P Being covered in cupcakes and the cuteness of the pink and blue polkadot design, it was a big hit and I had many questions about it! I bought it at WHSmith's for around £12GBP, but I don't know if it is sold anywhere else, sorry! I thought I'd give you a little insight into how I'm currently storing my products whilst I'm at uni. I refuse to do a room tour here as I don't like this room... LOL

Starting from the top left, I have hair and jewellery pieces. This does not contain all my hair and jewellery accessories I've got here but just some little things that I use more commonly.

The top middle drawer contains packets of face masks, a mini Impulse Body Fragrance in New York and my Hello Kitty badges! The top right contains some random little bits and bobs including Clean&Clear Advantage Quick Clear Spot Treatment Gel, Body Glitter gel, a mini Burberry Weekend perfume, White Tiger Balm, Carex Antibacterial Moisturising Hand Gel, some surgical spirit (or rubbing alcohol) in a spray bottle and Tea Tree Blended Oil.

In the left middle drawer, I've put my foundations in. It also contains my Laneige Sun Block, Missha Perfect Cover B.B Cream and my GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer. The right middle drawer has all the nail products I brought to uni with me, such as O.P.I. Nail Envy, nail files, nail buffer, orange sticks aka cuticle pushers and nail clippers. Oh, not forgetting a few random nail polishes too :)

The bottom drawer is now holding my 'face products' (meaning blushers, bronzers and highlighters) and concealers. My MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder and my bottle of Benetint are in there too!

The top two drawers in my purple documents boxing thing now contain eye products (apart from concealers) - the top is eyeliners, mascaras and eye bases (incl. UDPP). The second has eyeshadows :D And the bottom drawer still houses my lip products.

Okay, so this is actually a super long blog post... oops! But I have many things to say. This is what happens when you don't blog regularly, Ling!!! Get in gear! Haha!!!

So something completely unrelated to blogging...
MALTEASTERS!!! Ever heard of these little chocolate gems?? These cute bunnies usually pop up for Easter and they're already out this year! YaY! Super delicious so I recommend buying two at a time so you'll have one extra :P

And just to wrap up, I have been dedicating my latest videos to helping out the victims in Haiti by holding mini give-aways every couple of days. All the revenue that I get from any of the Haiti videos will be going straight to Haiti so if you can't afford to donate and enter my give-aways, please watch anyway! This is currently (Saturday 23rd Jan 2010) the one that is open:

I've already got two videos ready to upload:

one hair tutorial...

...and one nail tutorial too!

So watch out for those when the give-aways are over :D

Love love and majorlongpostlove! XD

Toffee xXxXx