COLOURPOP UK Haul: Impressions and UK shipping (basic starter kit for dark skin)

Woop woop finally guys, finally I have some ColourPop in my life! 

As I said in my Blogger Beauty Box post.
 February is my birthday month and I went into full "treat yo'self" mode.
I just decided to get myself a few little things here and there and let the parcels roll in all month.

I have been waiting a long time to get my hands on these.
As I am pretty sure like many bloggers have.

I remember seeing a woman on youtube, who had pretty much every colour in early 2014 I believe.

I promptly sent it to my friend like uhhh yes, we need some of that sexiness ASAP and waiting for it to become available in the UK....

Unfortunately ColourPop still don't deliver to the UK.

(They have our spelling of colour but you don't deliver here?!)- woe is me yada yada, you get it I just couldn't wait any more.

So as the clock struck midnight on February 1st, I took the plunge and placed my first order.

The only way to get it to the UK is to use a courier service.
As you can imagine.

I have had a lot of time to check out courier websites and ColourPop, reviews, swatches and hauls and compile a list of things I wanted to try.

I decided to chose things that would be the foundation of collection.
A basic starter kit for dark skinned folk, if you will.

I went through my original list and cut it down ruthlessly, to things I really wanted and that would fit that brief.
Making sure I stuck to a reasonable budget.

This is also important to keep your overseas shipping costs down.
I am happy to say there are many products on the website, that cater to several skintones.

This time around, I mainly chose lip products as I will get more use out of them.

The products on the website are between $5 and $8 for individual items, which is incredibly affordable against the pound.

At this time this is an equivalent of £3.47 to £5.55.

I also signed up for their newsletter which snagged me a $5 welcome discount.

I am really into grungey tones and the colours I chose work well with this.
I chose liquid lipsticks and matte lipstick formulas as I love a matte lip!

Colourpops strength definitely lies in their liquid lipsticks. 
From the selection I picked up I am most impressed with the liquid lipsticks and highlighters.
 That is not to say however I don't like the matte lippie stixs, I just don't think they are the second coming.

*Each product type in order of favs*

Ultra Matte Lip $6 each

Lax -vampy darkened brown berry

Limbo -neutral chocolate brown

Tulle -dusty pinkish mauvey brown

Chilly chilli - orange pinkish brown

The ultra matte liquid lipsticks are very forgiving and not as drying on me as other formulas.

Chilly Chilli seems to have a more watery formula than the others and has started to separate on occasion. However hasn't leaked yet and I am keeping it at an angle to be safe. 
It isn't streaky thankfully just a lot more watery.

I also luckily haven't had any issue with the LAX formula.
Which has had reports of being patchy. My one applies great.

Tulle is also interesting pink tone, that warms up in tone the longer it is on my lips, making it a little darker and more appealing to we wearing it more often.

I tested out the ultra matte lips thoroughly and found that they are pretty much immovable unless you eat greasy/ oily foods. I had them on for at least 6 hours
. Then I saw some transfer and rubbing off in the middle of my bottom lip.

Which makes sense as you remove them with oil based products. 

On myself however I didn't require a touch up as the area that rubbed away was small and not visible to anyone else.

Matte Lippie Stix $5 each

Ellarie - deep browned berry red

Bichette - dark red

Pitch - 60% dark chocolate and a splash of milk

They have a vanilla scent to varying degrees, similar to the famous MAC scent.
Browns/ neutrals are my my jam but surprisingly I wasn't blown away by Pitch.
It is nice to have in my collection but yeah.

In terms of the texture, I would say they are very creamy and moisturising and take a fairly long time to become matte.

I would describe them as semi matte as it took at least an 20 minute before I noticed that the sheen had settled to a matte.

In future I would be more interested in the colour pay off which is good rather than the level of matte.
Bichette is a really beautiful statement red and Ellarie looks even more striking with a lipliner.
Both stain the lips when wiped off.

Highlighter $8 each

Avalon - warm golden peachy bronze

Butterfly beach - mid tone silver/ gold flecked iridescent combo

The highlighters are just beautiful and super pigmented. 

I chose 2 stunning  pearlised shades. 

One gorgeous peachy warm toned bronze shade and a mid toned light iridescent gold tone.

They have they same texture as the ColourPop eyeshadows.

The highlight texture is so different to the touch, just like that of their eyeshadows and it is encouraged to apply with the finger. 

However they can be applied with a highlighting/ fan brush.

I really like the fact that ColourPop display the pigments on a variety of skin tones.

 Although limited to 3, they are far ahead of most companies that don't display on models of different ethnicities or solely showcase the product on a Caucasian model. 

At least you can see how the product changes tonality and work from there on how it will look on you.

Shipping

Shipping was very easy and quick, it was 9 days from ordering to delivery at my house.

A simple breakdown of ordering to delivery:

Ordered from ColourPop website - 1st Feb (midnight)

ColourPop dispatched to Borderlinx - 2nd Feb

Borderlinx hub received and  processed the shipment - 5th Feb

After a clarification email to ensure postage was correct and releasing my order, shipment was then released on the 5th feb (evening) .

Final Arrival - 9th Feb (Morning)

*please remember that Americans add their VAT at checkout.

It isn't inclusive like here so budget for that.

Although ColourPop is inclusive of VAT, Borderlinx was not and VAT was added at checkout.*

My Borderlinx experience was very easy.

From signing up, to the explanation on how the service worked and receiving my individual overseas address.

I found out about this courier service myself and saw a first hand review from The blushing giraffe.  

There wasn't a sign up fee and my sign up was done in seconds.
I also picked up a few presents for friends that will not be shown on here, that put my delivery price up a little.

My postage etc came to $40. Making each individual item (shown) about $7 (approx £4.87) including postage each.

I wasn't charged customs fees luckily, as I would have been fuming.

Thankfully I have never been charged. Fingers crossed. 

You will also find that Borderlinx has many discounts for shipping once you sign up too.

For an alternative shipping company checkout Jasmine talks beauty post, who always gives thorough info and reviews.

Colourpop is also available from individual sellers on Amazon and eBay, if this whole process sounds like a palava and you are absolutely desperate to try something. 

However I am not willing to be swindled, shegged and scammed by opportunists who target beauty lovers and tack on astronomical mark ups. 

So just be prepared to be absolutely ripped off. 
In my most deepest desperation I won't pay silly prices like those being bandied about. 
Not paying £35 for a $5 product!
So it worked out cheaper for me per product to order from the USA and also allowed me to choose from the full selection of products on the website.  

So that was my ColourPop haul!
My starter kit that caters to POC, especially darkskinned people such as myself.
Products that I know will suit me and that have surprised me with their versatility too.
I have been so excited to really test out these products and am really loving the their liquid lipsticks and highlighters.

Have your got any ColourPop products?

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays

TonyMoly haul

Hi all,

 I ordered these adorable lip gloss bars from TonyMoly a while back, after seeing them on a few blogs and deciding to try something new.

L-R Tony Moly petite bunny gloss bars number 3 juicy apple  and 7 neon orange

I have been aware of TonyMoly for a while and they were on my list of things to try. 

I have been wanting to try more

Asian products specifically Korean and Japanese but I just hadn't got around to it.

So I am diving in.

It can be a bit tricky to find these in the UK so after checking a few Korean sites carrying them, I headed over to my trusty friend eBay and found some great deals.

I picked up these two (3 and 7) for £5.77 including p+p, which arrived very fast.

Number 3 is a really nice pinky berry colour and number 7 is part of their neon collection and a lovely orange. They aren't deep solid colours but they do provide a lovely moisturising sheer wash of colour. I have received a fair few comments on the colours as well as the cute lil faces on the packaging.

They have a nice scent and last a good while.

To be honest I am not the "girliest" of girls but I was drawn to their packaging and have amused myself at work with the cap faces for minutes at a time. So for me I wanted to try these for the cute packaging as much as for the product.

I don't think I would buy any more from the 9 gloss collection as some of the colours look very similar from the swatches I have seen.

So far so good!

Free samples

I also got some free samples YAY! I am yet to try them but I am so looking forward to it. I won't however be trying the bb cream from Etude house as it won't be my skin colour and it has whitening properties written on the package which is so not up my street 0.o. I am aware on some Asian cosmetics packaging whitening and brightening are used interchangeable but this isn't one of those times.

Until next time ......

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays  

Mua & FashionistA makeup haul!

Hey dolls,

It has been a little while since I did a makeup haul, mainly because I am trying to use what I have and I am trying to spend less mwahahhhaaa....... anyway I resisted for a while but then the E.L.F and Mua/ FashionistA sale double wammied me. So shopping I went!

I was really good and decided to go for FashionistA and Mua as they are one of my fav companies and  I have so much e.l.f anyway. The sales prices are really excellent and I came away with 22 items costing £30- bargain!

Entire haul combined

I didn't really own any FashionistA before this haul. I have used one of their lippies and found it really good although I ended up giving it away.

L-R Fashionista double take lipstick in Aubergine, Mua lip trio Temptress, Fashionista double take lipstick in Red carpet, MUA lip trio Siren, Fashionista maxi-moisture lipstick in Style transformation

 These lippies will be a great addition to my autumnal berry collection. At £1.50 for the lipsticks and £1.25 for the trios they were such a bargain and I cant wait to use them. They are incredibly nourishing and creamy. They have staying power and are not the most intense but are lovely none the less.

L-R Blushing sd 9, Cinnamon sd12, Butterscotch sd 10, Juicy apricot sd 6, Blushing coral sd 5, PPQ a/w12 limited addition palette

  I am such a fan of blushers. They just lift and add dimension to the face. I don't wear a full face off makeup every day so it is always good to have a wide variety of blushes to play with. I adore the range of colours which I can wear all year round and will take me from day to night with good colour pay off. I had to limit myself to five even though they were only £1.65 each and the pretty palette was only £2!!!!

L-R  Berry brown, Nude glimmer, Earth star, Tokyo bronzer, FashionistA pallete

I decided to go with a natural look with this palette. I am not the biggest fan of sparkle and these have a slight shimmer but are very subtle. I stuck to the palette number this time and I am very pleased with the outcome. Although I adore colour on my lids, it has always been muted or richer tones. I am now finding myself reaching for nude colours and wanted a palette that reflected that. The eyeshadows were £1.65 and this sleek palette was also £2.

The bronzer has been tested a few times already by friends with great reviews.I actually dust this over my collar bone and shins in summer  for an extra glow.

  

I Love, Love, LOVE these lip balms. They smell lovely and moisturise my lips really well.

They are rarely in stock in my local Superdrugs, so I always stock up when I see them. £1 each was a lovely bonus.

L-R - Fashion secret mattifying primer, Fahionista the double collection ultra black mascara, Fashion secret gel eyeliner in dress up chic, Mua matt eyeshadow sd 19

 I tend to always go for mattifying primers as I have found some normal primers make my face feel greasy. I have seen some rave reviews on this product and thought I would give it a go. At £3.50 I don't have anything to lose. I am an absolute mascara junkie and other than Maybelline I am not 100% loyal to any brand. I am forever trying new ones and adding to my collection.This was a great buy at £1.50 down from £8!

The coloured gel eyeliner is a fairly new concept for me. I find black eyeliner to be so chic and timeless why change?  I have been given coloured eyeliners over the years but always shied away as the outcome on other people wasn't to my liking shall we say. I really liked the colour of this one and thought it would make a great accent colour when I don't want to wear eyeshadow.

Lastly my boring brown matt eyeshadow lol. I don't actually use this as eyeshadow. I use it for contouring. As with many dark skinned girls, I found that some contouring powder doesn't give great definition but this does! I tried it after I misplaced my Sleek contour kit and was rather impressed. I love that it is £1 but is very pigmented and versatile.

That's me and my haul. Until next time......

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays  

E.L.F HD Blush review

E.L.F HD blush £3.75 each

So I had been gazing lustily and some what enviously at all the American beauty bloggers who were raving about the Make up forever blush dupes by E.L.F last year. I was far too lazy to order some from America so I waited for them to come out in the UK. There are 5 different shades in the studio line HD blush range. Usually I would have bought one for a test run but as they had a 3 for 2 offer I treated myself.
At less than £4 each it hardly breaks the bank.
 I went for the darker end of the spectrum as a fail safe.
I also got some as gifts for my birthday yay so now I have doubles.

The Blushes double up as a lip tint and look really great on.
The packaging can be a little fiddly, don't be nervous give it a shake and I would definitely suggest using a very small amount and pumping the product out sllllloooooowly. I found blending with a stippling brush a lot more manageable than my fingers but I do tend to be a bit impatient with cream/ liquid blushes as they are so pigmented. As I said they do appear to be a straight up dupe of the MUFE HD High Definition Blush but I won't go into a detailed comparison as I have only used MUFE a handful of times but with a price range of $26 E.LF seems to be better value for money.

E.L.F has always given me good quality products but I am still incredibly picky with what I get from them. haven't tried their blushers before as I have heard they can be a bit  hit and miss. I have used these for a month or two and I can highly recommend this range of blushes. Especially in these prolonged cold months they really add dewiness to my skin and is incredibly long lasting!.

Check them out.

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays  

MUA (make up) haul

Hey dolls! I know, I know its been a minute since I did a proper make up haul and I have been a bit hodge podge when it comes to posting lately- sooorweee . Anyhoo I am back and I have a haul for you guys. I tried a few of these MUA cosmetics over the summer and I really like them. The smooth eye shadows are just pearly enough without making me look like a 13 year old roller disco girl and the lip glosses are really nourishing with a gorgeous sheeny wash of colour. Not bad for £1 from Superdrug eh!

Looking at my haul it seems a fair bit summery but I am looking at these items as more transitional late Summer /Autumn hues, if you don't want to go dark and vampy straight away. What with the Olympics and Paralympics celebrations, royal and denim blues seem to be having a second round after being the spring it colour and the tawny rose blush will add a natural glow to most skin tones. I absolutely LOVE Mua nail varnishes. They work really well for me and last a long time without chipping. They give a really intense colour pop and don't stain my nail beds as some brands do.

I always mix and match my make up brands and I am doing so more as I learn to be less snobby once a brands quality has been proven to me. At £1 per item these are a steal which means that you can experiment with trends and update your collections and not break the bank. I will definitely be going back to grab a few more eye shadows, lipsticks and nail varnishes.

Until next time ......

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays  

Vivo Cosmetics: Curve effect mascara

I have raved about their eyeshadows and now I introduce you to their curve mascara. I could go without all makeup but not my mascara and at £3 this one is a steal! It is alot cheaper than my usual tried and test mascara but it is always good to experiment. The packaging is sleek and the curved wand has the traditional bristles to get down right to you lash roots. The wand is really flexible so it can be bent to your own requirements. The mascara thickens my lashes nicely but doesn't lengthen them as much as other brands.  I do this weird thing where I use 2 mascaras to make my lashes and has done for years so maybe my standards of perfection are up there. There is absolutely no flaking and it stays on for hours without clumping but is somewhat dry going on. I got mine in black waterproof and the colour is extremely pigmented. I would suggest this mascara for a low maintenance, natural day time look.

Until next time dolls.

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays  

Just in the NYX of time: NYX Cream Blushes haul

Woooh super excited about my NYX cream blushes. I originally set out to buy my friends little sister a few bits and bobs for her birthday as she is always asking what stuff I use.  Along with her gifts I ended up buying the 6 gorgeous blushes you see below. *swoons* I have a few NYX products knocking about but haven't used them for a while so it was good to return and find them as excellent as ever.

They don't look like cream blushes in the pic but they are super creamy and glide on your face easily giving you a nice dewy  finish. A little goes a long way people!! I don't often like too much overt sparkle in my makeup but Tickled and Diva have just a glimmer and aren't over powering. I have gone for really striking yet subtle and natural blushes in what I am calling my Au naturel dewy girl bopping about town collection. Sometimes just having that hint of flushed colour is more alluring and striking to the overall look than the whole hog.

I got my haul on eBay from a store called Joys cosmetics, who are based in America.  They have great prices and a varied selection. Plus they give you a free gift when you spend over $30 yay for my apricot lipgloss (read my mind). Awesome news for people in the UK as everything is pretty cheap for us over there. It is really easy to get carried away so just ensure you know your rates before you splurge but once you add p&p it works out cheaper than the UK most times if you buy in bulk.

I must also add that their delivery was incredibly quick for international postage. I have ordered things in this very country, practically down the road that have taken longer to arrive -_-. I have already placed my next order! A definite must have is the orange blush which i will treat myself to at a later date. I don't know what I was thinking not ordering it this time. A slight slip of the hand had me ordering golden instead but c'est la vie eh!

Air kisses 

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays  

Viva Vivo! - Tesco make up review



Mini Vivo haul

 Launched exclusively at Tesco in September 2011, Vivo is a very new cosmetics brand which has already gathered a cult following. Vivo certainly live up to their tag line "Alive with colour".

Ladies and a few gentlemen , if you are not already acquainted let me introduce you to Vivo Cosmetics.

Right to left: Pearlised Mink shade 6 and  Expresso shade 11.
£1.50 each

 Well it has definitely been a while since Tesco has done something to really thrill me. Not since tasting their deep dish chocolate pie have I swooned with such abandon.

Whilst in Tesco I happened to wonder into the cosmetics department and one section just seemed to be beckoning me closer. The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that everything ranged from between £1.50 - £6 and boy do they have a lot of stuff! Of course my mind immediately leapt to ahhh nasty drug store make up, (we all remember that random gloop in shops as kids) why the hell would tesco make make up?! I now know and I LOVE it

Curiosity got the better of me and I reached out to test a few eyeshadows, which to my amazement looked great and were really pigmented.  The matte colours were not chalky or flaky and the pearlised ones had a lovely shimmer but not enough to make you look like a Essex Christmas tree and I don't even like shimmer!. Blendable tones? Tick. Smooth texture? Hells yeah. By jove I must have these- straight into the shopping trolley they went. I then moved on to lipsticks and snapped up 2 of those as well.



Pearlised Pale gold shade 14  and matte Rich chocolate shade 4
£1.50 each



Just as my eyes  alighted on their baked blushes and bronzers and found them not wanting. I thought it best to try out what I had and go back if they worked out well.  I had enough for research. At these prices I can definitely say I am going back.

As many know I am a MAC girl through and through. Their products are used as a base for everything else. Vivo complements my MAC products well. Although it has been benchmarked as the "MAC of super market make up brand" I wouldn't compare the two brands. Vivo holds up well to a select few of the drugstore brands I use. In times of economic crisis we all have to cut back and tighten our boot straps. Having to cut back is by no means an invitation to scrimp on quality or sacrifice luscious pigmented quality for generic swill. I didn't head towards the foundations as I am well aware they won't have my shade so didn't even bother.



Sugar plum trio eyeshadow £2.50, Barely there shade 8 lipstick,
Very berry shade 6 lipstick £1.99 each .

Vivo passes the test on some levels but not all. As a woman of colour it is extremely important that if I decided to wear makeup it is of high quality so I don't go out looking like a ashy faced, caked up clown- bo bo the clown is not in residence here! 

As with many brands they have a way to go before they can fully cater to our needs, pigments and various skin tones. In regards to the products I have used they are great and for the price it is a steal.

I would absolutely recommend Vivo to anyone. One down side is that it is not available in all Tescos, so if you don't have a big store near you your in for a hunt.

 I will definitely be doing another review when I have more items in my repertoire. For More information check out  the Miss Vivo Blog for updates and product information. They will soon have their own online shop for international folks and those who can find the brand in store.

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays