Shoplog | London Haul – Part II
As promised, the second part of my London haul is here! One thing on my to-do list for London was to get more brushes from Real Techniques. When I started with makeup in my teens I started off with some very cheap makeup brushes from Dutch drugstore chain Hema. Now that I’m a little more advanced in my skills and my interest has grown a lot, I decided it was about time to upgrade my old set to something a little more sophisticated. I had already purchased 2 kits and the Expert Face brush online, so I just added a couple more must-haves for my kit. I got the setting brush, the powder brush (twice, accidentally *oops*), the blush brush and the miracle complexion sponge.
One thing I had on my wish list for a while is the Babyliss Boutique Soft Waves curling wand. The Boutique range is not available in Belgium, which is a shame. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it really makes the most gorgeous waves, and only for £20. I had to buy a special plug for this so I could use it at home though. Luckily, Boots offers these as well. I also got the Denham hair brush, which is supposed to be a dupe for the prestigious Mason Pearson brush. There’s no way in hell I’d pay as much for a brush, but for £10 I was eager to give this one a try. Another must-have is the famous Tangle Teezer, which I got in the flashy pink version. This does miracles for detangling my hair when I’m fresh out of the shower. The fake chevron nails were pretty much an impulse buy because they were so cheap and I kind of got them in the heat of the moment when filling my bag at Primark. I don’t even know if they’re long enough to fit my nails, but we’ll see. I thought the pattern was pretty awesome. Last two items on the photo are made for travel; first up there’s the kitty lens case from Bastille at the Pylones gadget shop (not sure, but I believe they have this in Antwerp too?) and a super soft Relaxing Sleep Mask from Ecotools (I can’t sleep one bit if the room isn’t entirely dark).
Next up: more Boots/Superdrug splurges! These are pretty much all recommendations from Dutch/British beauty bloggers. I got some Batiste dry shampoos (the Cherry version) during my first trip to London last year and ever since I’ve been hooked! I brought 4 more home to try some different ones. I got 2 backups of my beloved Cherry scented one, the Blush one and the one with colour pigments (a hint of colour medium & brunette). Now you can get most versions in Belgium too, but they’re much cheaper in the UK, especially with all of the 3 for 2 promotions going on. You can expect a hands-on review of them soon. I also want to learn how to experiment with my hair a little bit (just wearing it down or in a pony tail all the time is so boring) and that is where the V05 Plump It Up Backcombing Spray comes in. It’s supposed to give your hair a little more volume, so we’ll see. Then there’s the Vaseline Spray and Go Body Moisturizer. I got pretty much sucked in the spray kind after trying the one from Yves Rocher. Again, this is now also available in Kruidvat (at a slightly more expensive price).
Last, but not least are 2 skin care treasures that were marked as high priority on my list: the Hydraluron moisture booster and Fade To Bright Intense Brightening Treatment from Indeed Labs. A little expensive, but much raved about, so I’m very curious on how these will work out. I’ve been suffering from dehydrated skin lately because of the constant mix of cold temperatures versus indoor heating, so my skin could use a boost. I also seem to get more and more pigmentation in my skin, so I’ll need to get Fade To Bright help me even out my skin tone again and give me a brighter complexion. Really looking forward to trying these after I finish my current ones!
Another item I picked up for travel is this cute beauty bag from Cath Kidston. Why I love this so much besides the fact that its cute? It has the perfect size to store just enough products for a routine and I’m hoping it will keep me from bringing too much stuff I won’t use anyway. It has 2 separate compartments that are see-trough, so it’s easy to use for both skincare and makeup while having a decent overview of everything that’s in there.
I also went to the Bicester Village, which is an outlet center located 40min out of London. I was surprised to see they had an Estée Lauder Company Store (that was accessible to anyone hoorah!), so of course I had to pick some things up. Most of the collections were from the year before and still pretty expensive. I kept it small by purchasing only the Marilyn Monroe beauty powder from MAC Cosmetics, an mono eyeshadow in the famous shade Naked Lunch (was so glad to find this on sale) for my palette and the Origins Super Spot Remover.
You didn’t actually think I’d leave London without getting some high-end stuff now did you? London is pure heaven when it comes to high-end skin care and makeup (that is unavailable in Belgium), so I couldn’t leave without getting to try at least some. I went to Selfridges, Liberty, John Lewis and Marks&Spencer for these fine lemmings. First up there’s the Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask which was recommended to my by Lisha. In the same category I also got the Aesop Parsley Seed Mask. For hair, I got the Philip Kingsley hair elasticizer, which received a couple of beauty prizes so it seemed interesting to try. I really don’t need any more hair products, but oh well.. might as well give this a try. I could always use more volume and less frizz.
After buying and absolutely loving the Origins Drink Up Intensive night mask, I was dying to try more of their products. During Christmastime Origins offered a lot of sets, so I got to take the Mask Marvels home with me (includes the Clear Improvements mask, Drink Up day mask and the Drink up intensive night mask). You could say I did my best to stock up on masks. What can I say? I love mask-pampering. To exfoliate I decided to try The REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask. I’m a little scared of how my skin will react to this, so fingers crossed it doesn’t fall off.. Last up is one of those things I wanted to get ever since Hanne talked about them on her blog: the Konjac sponge with green clay, which is supposed to cleanse medium-to-oily skin. And whoops, almost forgot; the Hourglass Immaculate Foundation in the shade Shell, which is again great for combination/oily skin types. The saleslady at Liberty put this on me and wow, this looked incredibly natural and matte. I was sold on the spot. It’s a bit warm to use now, but it’ll definitely come in handy when Spring/Summer arrives!
Last items for today and probably the most exciting purchases of the entire trip: the Nars x Guy Bourdin ‘One Night Stand’ blush palette and the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder set ft the Mineral Veil Primer. This is makeup porn right here. These two were sold out EVERYWHERE and I just managed to get the last bit at Space NK. I felt like the happiest girl on earth. I won’t spill much details right now, but you can expect to hear more soon!
What are your favourites from this haul? Have you tried any of the products yourself? Is there anything you’d be interested in to read more about? Do share!
Check out part 1 of my haul here. The 3rd (and final) part is on the way!
