a change in direction

After deleting and re-writing this post a good four of five times, the art of writing a summary of why after 2 years I have decided to dust the keyboard off and re-start my blog is, it seems, much more difficult than you would have though.  At the age of 14, I wrote my first post on this blog way back in 2012 and its fair to say that my interests at that age were very different to what they are now. For a good two or three years though, ‘Beauty and the Budget’ was my little hobby, my part of the internet where I could write freely about makeup and fashion – about the newest Barry M nail polish collection I had bought from Superdrug or sharing what I had bought on my latest ganders around Primark. True, reading through these posts now makes me cringe internally and question what kind of person I was as a teenager, but as badly written and poorly illustrated as these blog posts were, I loved my blog and writing away every week certainly made me one very content 15 year old.

So that’s the story of my blogs foundations but why now, 5 years later have I somehow remembered my password and logged back onto Blogger? Five years on, I am now a very different person to the one I was at the age of 14 having been through A-levels and two years of university but I still find myself craving to sit down with a cup of tea and just write. So I guess this is the start of my return to blogging and with a new blog title that allows me to write about so much more than lipstick and eyeliner, I am very excited to see how this goes.

Now with perhaps a little more going on in my life than say at the age of 15, I don’t reckon I’ll be posting as frequently as I used to. Nonetheless, being able to write about whatever I fancy so; travel, life, maybe even the odd beauty post is a very exciting thought to me and I hope for those of you that are reading along, you get some sort of enjoyment out of this too.

Emily

bourjois air matte foundation I review

in the past few months I've been having a bit of a foundation struggle. all the ones I have in my collection seem to be either too dark, too heavy, not have enough coverage or they don't last for the rest of the day. so a little stroll through Boots a few weeks ago saw me come across this new release from Bourjois and here is what I thought...

Bourjois have released six shades of their new foundation and naturally, being as pale as milk, I chose the lightest shade called ivory rose. Luckily, the shade suits me well but it does have quite a yellow undertone to it which is good for me but might not work for everyone so do have a thorough swatch session before you take it to the till!

What I like best about this foundation is its high coverage. When I apply it with my Real Techniques Sponge, the coverage is really high and you can easily apply more layers without the finish looking too heavy or thick. Although I find using a regular buffing brush still gives a nicely blended finish, it doesn't lend itself as much to building up the coverage as using a sponge brush does. Wearing time is also another plus point for this foundation and when I put this on in the mornings, I feel pretty confident it will still be there by the time I go to bed.

As a bit of makeup packaging obsessive, I really appreciate the sleek looking packaging Bourjois have chosen with the silver lid as well. It doesn't take up too much room in my makeup bag but equally, still looks good on the top of my dressing table.

 One of Bourjois' claims about their foundation is that it has a very light feel on your skin. I don't tend to find many foundations feel too thick on my skin and this one was no different. It feels nice and fresh and I like the fact that it's a non-comedogenic product so it shouldn't cause your skin to react badly.

 As well as this being a light weight foundation, it's also meant to have a matte finish which indeed it does. I know some people aren't big fans of the matte finish as it can make your skin look a little flat but I don't mind it personally and the finish of this base isn't too matte especially if you pop on some highlighter or a bit of a shimmery blush.

Luckily, I don't really have any bad things to say about this foundation. I've found a base that suits my skin tone, gives enough coverage without being too heavy and lasts pretty much all day whilst having a reasonable price tag. With this in mind, it's safe to say, I will be reaching for this stuff a lot over the Christmas period!

beauty and the budget

l'oreal telescopic mascara I review

Having a scroll through back the dusty archives of my blog, I saw that it had been an entire two and a half years since I had last noted down my love for the L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara. So having finally got my hands on another tube full whilst on holiday in Canada, I felt it was time to give you an updated, let's say 2.0 version of the reasons why this mascara just beats the rest..

My main love with this mascara is the wand, oh the wand.. It's long, thin and unlike nearly every other mascara out there, it's not double the size of my eye! This 10/10 wands means that you can actually muster up some clump and smudge-free length to your lashes even without having to dig around your makeup bag to do an emergency mid-mascara lash curl cause that big ol' brush is just flinging mascara everywhere - not to worry, we've all been there.. I have to warn you though, if you love a good bit of thickness and volume in your lashes, the Telescopic may not be the mascara for you as although, it gives off fluttery and long lashes in abundance, thickness is not the strong suit here so I'd say it's probably one to avoid in that case.

Now it's not only the brush that's making me swoon for this stuff, the formula is pretty tip top too. It seems to hold the length and curl that the mascara gives you whilst not flaking or fall flat for the day ahead. And when it comes to the end of the day, it also poses no problems removal-wise. A quick swipe of the Garnier Micellar Water on a cotton pad and the job's a good-un!

On a much more sad note, this mascara has very sadly disappeared from the UK drugstore shelves so iuf I've managed to convince you how good this stuff is or, you never needed any convincing and were already a huge fan, the best places to pick up this cult beauty product appears to be on Amazon which you can find here.

Beauty and the Budget

Bourjois Velvet Rouge Edition Lipsticks I Review

(Top to Bottom: Don't Pink of It!, So Hap'pink it, Hot Pepper)

In most makeup purchasing situations, I tend to have some sort of excuse for spending far too much money but in the case of buying three new lipsticks, other than the thought of seeing them all identical and symmetrical on top of my dressing table, there really was no excuse. Buut.. having said that, I am very glad that I made this little splurge in Boots as I happened to take home with me three of the best lipsticks I have ever tried from the drugstore - purchase justified!

The inner hoarder within me got such a little burst of happiness when I first saw these three little lipsticks lined up together with their very cute packaging - unlike some drugstore brands, these look a lot more high end and fancy (and make a good insta post too..) Bourjois have also picked some pretty good colours to have in their range today with a mixture of both bolds like 'hot pepper' and nudes including the aptly named 'don't pink of it!' and 'so hap'pink!' so there's certainly lots to choose from. The rouge velvets come with a nice applicator sponge-tip style thing (what are those actually called?!) which is a good shape for getting a neat finish which when you're applying a bold shade like hot pepper, it's pretty important - we don't want any lipstick on tooth incidents!

All three of the shades that I have are well pigmented and from my in-store swatches, there don'tseem to be any dud shades that aren't very opaque. This means that you don't have to apply a really thick, goopy layer to your lips to try and keep the colour on all day as only a thin layer is needed. Once you've got your lipstick on, the colour doesn't feel sticky or drying at all and once it's set, they don't really transfer heavily - so you can be sipping your tea with no worries! This is one thing i love about this range, don't you just hate those lipsticks and glosses that you can just feel on your lips all day, no thank you!

What i think is the best thing about Bourjois' matte lip offerings is their wear time. What other brand does a bright red lip product that lasts almost all day? This lot aren't going anywhere and even if they do slightly wear off at the end of the day, they kind of leave a bit of a stain rather than an odd 90's lip liner gone wrong kind of look!

As well as loving the formula, I also am rather in love with the shades that I got. 'Hot Pepper' is an extremely bright poppy red that although it will take me a while to work up to rocking, is a really beautiful colour and would look fab with just a bit of mascara and lots of highlighter. 'Don't Pink of It! is a much more wearable colour and actually seems to completely match my natural lip colour which is kind of cool as it makes this the perfect colour for me when I want to look a little more polished without reaching for a bright lipstick. A more pinkier-toned version of don't pink of it is 'So Hap'Pink!' which is another one of those lip colours that you can almost imagine Kylie Jenner whipping out of her makeup bag.

It's not often you find a lipstick range offering that I love as much as I do with this Bourjois range - the colour range, the lasting power, the formula - it just works! Next time this range are on offer, I will most certainly be stocking up on more shades.. did someone say 3 for 2?

Beauty and the Budget

Sephora and Canadian Drugstore Haul

Today I come to you not from my usual bedroom setting but thousands of feet above on the flight home from Canada and with 5 hours left of the flight and no chance of me getting to sleep, I thought I'd write a little post about all the makeup that I splurged on on a shopping trip in Vancouver.

Starting with every beauty blogger's favourite store, I picked up two new bits from Sephora. The first of which was the Origins Drink Up Intensive Mask. Having seriously dry skin means that any product claiming to help keep dryness away is always swiftly popped into my basket and this mask from Origins was no exception! I've actually been really liking (and have reviewed as my last post) another mask designed for dry skin recently from Quick Fix Facials which is a bit more purse friendly so I'll be interested to see how the more expensive Origins counterpart compares. I also stopped by the Smashbox stand and picked up a bottle of their 10 hour foundation which the assistant told me has a really good coverage but doesn't feel too heavy on the skin as some foundations can do especially if they promise more coverage. And over ochre, once I've given it a little try, I'll be sharing whether I feel it's worth the pretty hefty price tag compared to my usual L' ordeal foundation purchases. 

For any beauty blogger, one of the highlights of hitting North America is of course, the drugstore makeup hauls and Canada definitely did not dissapoint! One of the first things I bought was a new product that I saw Maybelline had just brought out which was there Studio Fix primers which look suspiciously similar to the classic Smashbox primers. I believe Maybelline did 3 versions of the primers; one for redness, another to illuminate and a third to control oil and I went for the green option. After a little bit of an in store swatch, I noticed that the primer doesn't feel as silicone-y as the Smashbox one does, more of a moisturiser texture which does feel nicer on your skin but I'm not sure how much it will help to keep my makeup on. 

When it comes to drugstore makeup, North America always seems to get new products released much quicker and fewer get discontinued which was definitely the case with L'Oreal's telescopic mascara which I loved but it then got discontinued in the UK. So naturally, when I spotted it in the drugstore, I had to pick up a tube. What I love about this mascara is that the brush is really thin and small so it really gets your lashes looking long and not clumpy at all like some bigger brushes can.

Another repurchase for me was of Rimmel's Eastend Snob lip liner which I just ran out of. This is seriously the best lip liner I've tried. The colour is close to my natural lip colour but just adds something more and makes my lips look a lot fuller and defined. 

You may have seen my last posts where I raved about my love for the Canadian eye makeup remover that topped any of the other makeup removers I'd tried before. Carrying on from that, I bought a bigger bottle of the stuff to take home with me so I won't have to track it down online and pay for postage in such a hurry. To be honest- I was thinking about buying 2 or 3 bottles but then, that might look just a little odd..

And finally there was no way I was passing up on the offer of Essie nail polishes at £4 so a last minute purchase was made of Essie's tart deco which is a colour that I've wanted to get my hands on for a little while now as I've been loving the Orange coloured nail options recently. 

Beauty and the Budget 

Quick Fix Facials Mega Moisture Mask Review

I don't know what attracted me to throwing this face mask into my basket more - the bright pink packaging or the promises of this mask injecting some well needed moisture into my crocodile-esque skin. But whatever it was, this mask has since become an essential part of my skincare routine and here's why!

The mask is white in colour and pretty thick, in fact is very similar in texture to a thick moisturiser. This actually makes it a really nice mask to use if you want to  have a bit of a pamper and sit and do nothing as it adheres to your face pretty well without sliding off. I like to apply this all over my face and leave it on for about 15 minutes and after, I remove it with a splash of water and a muslin cloth.

One thing I have to mention about this mask is that when you apply it, (particularly for the first time) it can really sting and your skin may come out slightly red when you take it off. For me, the stinging sensation was a little uncomfortable at first but it dulled after a while so wasn't too much of a problem but if you have seriously sensitive skin, I'd give this one a miss.

Once the masks been all rinsed off, my skin feels mostly the same as before until a few hours later when it feels noticably softer and more hydrated, like you've been slapping on the moisturiser like no one's business. As this mask is the only product that's made my skin feel so much softer after using it, this has quickly become a favourite for me even if the feeling lasts for only a few days after.

It's fair to say I'm a pretty big fan of this mask as the results I've seen using it have been really good. This have left me definitely wanting to try more products from the Quick Fix brand as I like how they have a mask to adress different skin woes of which, I have quite a few!

Beauty and the Budget

Max Factor Creme Puff Blush Review

It's been review central round here lately which I hope you've all enjoyed and today, I've got another one, a little review of the relatively new creme puff blush by Max Factor in the shade Seductive Pink. These little blushes are basically a hybrid of a blusher and highlighter rolled into one beautiful looking product that you pop onto your cheeks.

Seductive pink is a beautiful candy pink shade with a subtle but still visible gold shimmer running through it which acts as the highlighter part of the product. As well as the colour of this product being really pretty, the packaging also looks very high end and I love keeping this blush with the makeup that sits on top of my dressing table!

The blusher is nicely pigmented and translates well onto the cheeks providing some colour and highligh with only a few swipes in the product needed to get a good amount of colour. But do be careful not to go overboard (like I've done quite a few times..) and apply too much as the candy-ish tone of the blush can make to much product on your cheeks look a little odd. On the lasting power front, things are looking pretty good as well and this blush tends to stick around for most of the day which I feel satisfied with.

Overall, I'm a bit in love with this range of blushers from Max Factor as not only is the quality of the product really good, the shades just look so beautiful and much more expensive than their price tag of around £8. So I'd say if you're on the look out for a new addition to your blush collection, this is an essential one to go for from the drugstore and particularly if you were considering shelling out on the much more expensive Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushers which I know I was very close to doing (my finger was literally hovering over the 'place order' button on Space NK - thank God for Max Factor eh....)

Beauty and the Budget