USA Beauty Haul

 

Being a girl who is obsessed with all things beauty I couldn’t help but get ridiculously excited at the thought of being able to beauty shop whilst in Miami. Going into a CVS or Walgreens to discover the drugstore makeup is what I was most giddy about as a lot of it looks amazing at a fantastic price. The gorgeous and girly gold and somewhat luxe packaging of Milani seduced me when I did my beauty swap with Kai back in January so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on more of this brand. Also, being able to enter a Sephora was something I couldn’t wait to do as I had high hopes on getting my hands on a few brands which are nowhere to be found in the UK. It is funny what makes people happy and makeup seems to be one of the things that makes me smile. No, I know I don’t need anymore makeup (Mum & Mike I’m talking to you!) but when it seems like gold dust because the products aren’t available in your country then this makes the products more beautiful, like a collectors item. That is my excuse from now on; I collect makeup so can never have enough!

 

 

The Drugstore Delights

My first stop was to a small Walgreens which we went to, to pick up a few bits to eat on our first morning. I didn’t have much time but picked up a gorgeous baked bronzer. It will look fab in the Summer to add a beautiful golden goddess glow to the face. After just one purchase I had the bug and couldn’t wait to go to our local CVS. Throughout the trip I would pop to CVS virtually everyday but I did resist on more than one occasion to buy more makeup. Unfortunately (but probably a blessing in disguise) it didn’t have a massive makeup section. However, I obviously picked up quite a bit. I finally got my mitts on the Milani Baked Blush in ‘Luminoso’ which I was so pleased about. Other Milani beauties I picked up were; Baked Blush in ‘Berry Amore’, a powder foundation to have in my makeup bag for makeup emergencies, lipsticks in the shades ‘Flamingo Pose’ and ‘Raspberry Rush’, Lip Intense Liquid Color in ‘Fiery Coral’, and Shadow Eyez eyeshadow stick in the shade ‘Golden Bronze’. While in CVS I also picked up what I thought was Loreal’s True Match foundation in the shade ‘W4 Golden Natural’ but turns out the W4 in the US is different which is really odd in my opinion. I then checked out NYC and picked up an ‘IndivdualEyes’ smokey eye palette for blue eyes and a City Proof Intense Lip Color in the shade ‘Park Slope Peach’. I then headed to a larger Walgreens and bought mainly Jordana. I’m a massive fan of the Best Lash Extreme mascara so stocked up and bought all four that were left, they’re only around $4 so I couldn’t resist. I also picked up their Best Volume Extreme mascara to give that a try when the others run out, a massive white eyeliner, a navy eyeliner, a 12hr Made To Last eyeshadow pencil in the shade ‘Continuos Almond’ and a Twist & Shine Moisterising Balm Stain in ‘Candied Coral’. I then saw an eyeshadow palette from Wet ‘N’ Wild which caught my eye in ‘Blue Had Me At Hello 737’ mainly for the lovely looking navy shades but I’ve since used it and the vibrant exotic blue impressed me a lot – I’ll review it asap! Finally from Walgreens I picked up some Ardell lashes in ‘101’.  Last but not least I popped to Ulta and looked at some of the NYX products but unfortunately I didn’t see too much that I wanted so just picked up a Ultra Pearl Mania, which is a loose powder for the eyes and face, in the shade ‘Oro’. All in all I’m pretty happy with my drugstore finds.

My High End Haul

Although I had a successful shop at the drugstores I knew I wanted to treat myself to some higher end makeup whilst in Miami and here are the babies I picked up. Where we stayed was super close to the fancy Bal Harbour shops so when I went into Saks Fifth Avenue I stocked up on some of my MAC staples which are Studio Fix Fluid foundation in NC25, ‘Lingering’ eyebrow pencil and ‘Snob’ lippy. I also bought NARS ‘Laguna’ bronzer because its my favourite bronzer and I’m in need of a new one. The guy at NARS kindly gave me some lovely samples in a cute little bag too – bonus! Mike treated me to a Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream lipstick in ‘Bon Bon’ and following a bonbon theme he also got me Victor and Rolf’s new perfume which smells incredible. A couple of days before our flight home I finally found a Sephora (Hallelujah!) and managed to pick up Makeup Forever Invisible Cover HD foundation in the shade ‘123’ and their HD Microfinish powder. I was going to buy the Kat Von D foundation but I couldn’t find a shade which looked right for me and it did look too heavy duty for me. I also picked up Benefit’s ‘That Gal’ primer because I think it was cheaper in the US and I was in desperate need of a primer as I had ran out a while ago. I was searching around the stroe for Anastasia Beverly Hills when voila it appeared in front of me. Rushing over to pick up some of the highly talked about products I came away a little disappointed at the fact that the Dipbrow Pomade was out of stock in my shade (blonde). However, I did leave with a Brow Wiz but since I’ve been home I’ve tried it and the ‘Ash Blond’ shade I picked up seems a little too light *sobs*. I couldn’t leave Sephora without picking up Too Faced’s Chocolate Bar palette which literally smells like a bar of chocolate, a girls dream. Its amazing if you look in magazines you will see that makeup is always marketed like its food which makes you desire it that much more. Finally I went to Victoria’s Secrets and picked up a lovely coral makeup bag which had ‘Amber Romance’ body spritz, shower gel and moisturiser inside which all smell delicious with a capital D.

I hope you enjoyed my USA beauty haul to watch this video click here.