Essence Haul Enabling

I've not been feeling make up hugely over the past month or two, but recently Essence reignited my love for it again. I was pottering around Penneys when I noticed the lovely Liquid Nail Effects Polish in Lady Mermaid. It comes out just like it looks in the bottle, although you need to put on a good few layers. This brought me back to an Essence stand in the hop[es of getting a white base coat so the nail varnish would go on better. Unfortunately I was away with the fairies and instead picked up The Gel Nail Polish in Give Me Nude, Babe! which is a clear varnish that has glitter through it. Its actually a lovely nail varnish and I would recommend it to anyone that wanted something subtle and nothing to bright. So really a happy accident as I love to use it now!

When your at a budget band stand you can't help but pick up a few lip products. I have almost every lip liner shade that Essence has to offer, but I picked up this peachy pink one in Wish Me A Rose. Its lovely and works a treat for the price, but I do find some of my slightly more pricey lip liners last longer. Also the name of this one is misleading as its not at all 'Rose' or red!

The newish Sheer & Shine Lipsticks caught my eye and I picked up Sparkling Miracle. This has a very sweet scent, so do be warned for those who are sensitive to smells. This is a surprisingly pigmented lipstick and stays really moist on the lips - I've been using a lot of matte lipsticks so its nice to get something a little more comfortable. This is a really lovely your-lips-but-better shade and its buildable too, so you can whack on one quick layer or if your like me, draw it around your lips a billion times. This isn't one you'll need a mirror for either, its great!

Its come to my attention recently on a big make up clean that I was severally lacking in mascaras, only having a handful to my name. (And half of those are almost finished ones too). I picked up Multi-Action Volume Mascara in black. This claims to give volume, length and perfect separation. And do you know, it didn't blow me over, but it isn't a bad mascara either if your not looking to fork out for something expensive. I'm going to keep it in the bottom of my hand bag for those days where I need a little something on my eyeballs, but wont cry if it goes missing. Also, when compared to other budget brand Wet'n'Wild mascaras, Essence ones will always win. 

Bur saying that, any other brand Liquid Eyeliner will win, I bought this Extra LongLasting one and its really dreadful. Not a proper black, fades quickly and goes on streaky, this isn't a good buy. The one good thing about it is that the nib of the pen is narrow so you do get precise application. This is one I would recommend for those that want to start practicing winged eyeliner, but don't want to spend a fortune for an eyeliner that they'll be rubbing off and redoing a bit to begin with. 

Next is a palette that I've seen doing the rounds on the interwebs. There are several different kinds to choose from and I picked up the All About Roses Eyeshadow. I really like the shimmer in these and 8 shadows for only a few quid is a bargain. I love that you can do a great smoky eye with this and I've been a bit obsessed with doing it daily since getting the palette. I particularly like the top right hand dark purple brown shade. Its really something. The lighter shadows wont give you the most amazing pigment, but the darker ones do the job perfectly, with hardly any fall out if your careful and take the time to pat it on. 

Lastly my two favourite buys from this haul, the blushes. I saw the 'new' Matt Touch Blush in Berry Me Up! and it was love. This goes on like a dream and I can't say a bad word about it. Utter love. Not satisfied with one, I found Blush Up! in Heat Wave that was half price and had to have it as well. This is a little bright on my skin tone, but I'm still playing around with it and will do my best to make it work!

Thats all of my haul, I've posted several photos to Instagram of my nails and all of this make up in action, so do have a look over here!

Ziaja's Bioderma Dupe

The sister fluttered off to France a few months ago and came home laden with things from the famous City-Pharma. Holy jesus it was like Christmas when she text me and sent Whatsapp photos of the shelves, discussing what we had seen talked about on blogs and what we would love to try out. One of the things she picked up for herself was the Bioderma moisturising cleansing milk with 250ml, but ended up giving it to me after she decided it wasn't for her. Thankfully I fell straight in love with it.

Come forward a few months later and I'm almost at the end of my now can't-live-without Bioderma. But after I try and find it online, I realise its about €20 to buy without shipping. It wasn't that price in France! So I do what only a dedicated crazy beauty addict can do, I go buying all and every cleaning milk I can get my hands on. One of the many many bottles had to do the job, or so I was hoping. Clearly there is a skincare god as I happened to be in a chemist picking up some repurchases of Ziaja when I chanced my arm and bought this aloe cleansing milk that was under €5 - bargain. 

This is a 200ml bottle of aloe scented cream, with a toner and a moisturiser in the same scent. It is meant to 'sooth, balance skin moisture and control oily secretions' while also being really gentle to my skin that can act up a lot. Its so gentle in fact, that I can use it to remove my eye make up - oh yeah I'm that lazy. It does just what the Bioderma does and feels the same, but with more then half the price tag. This was the only cleansing milk that I could find stocked in the chemist, but from the site here you can see that there are many more scents and creams for different skin issues available.  

One slight difference I've noticed between the two is that the Ziaja sinks into my skin quicker and better then the Bioderma. Not to say that my beloved Bioderma isn't great, but it tends to sit on my skin and I feel like after I use it. I always need to use a toner to get rid of the excess cream and oil like feel, whereas I could use the Ziaja cleansing milk as a stand alone product. So, with all that in mind will I be picking up the Bioderma soon? No, are you mad? Theres an amazing cleansing milk for less then €5 from a brand that I am finding I'm using more and more. When I found how good this was, I actually got on the phone to friends to rave - and give out about the price of that feckin lovely but very dear Bioderma.

So, you don't need a credit card or a plane ticket to get amazing skincare. Just head to your local chemist and see if they stock Ziaja. Read my review on Ziaja cocoa body scrub here.