A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

If you’re interested, they’ve got the Milani Holographic polishes on sale at $3.99 each, the Milani Jewel FX (Lippmann dupes) on sale at $3.99 each and bunch of lovely NYX Rouge Cream blushes on sale at $4.75 each.

Me?  Well… I’ve just done a shopping basket drive-by.  Filled her up, hit ‘checkout’ and balked at the shipping price (it’s not extortionate but still, $17) and now I’m umm-ing and ahh-ing.  I normally wouldn’t hesitate but I bought 4 Zoya polishes yesterday, I’m currently “watching” a fragrance on eBay and I’m going on holiday next week.  What to do, what to do….

If you’re fancying a splurge, tell me what you’re wanting!  We can either talk one another away from the edge or flex our enabling muscles!

It’s backkkkkkkkkkkkkkk….

Get 20% off your Cherry Culture orders until Tuesday night with the code: B2S20

Let me know what you’re planning to pick up!

Naughty Cherry Culture, just as I was on my way to bed went and announced a site-wide 20% off sale!

Yep… 20% off your NYX and Milani ladies!

Go forth and shop!

Can’t. stop. buying. these. lipsticks.

Seriously, at under £2 a pop you can afford to experiment, and although the Cherry Culture swatches are pretty naff… Google is your friend.

I bought 3 more with my last haul.  Actually, I think I bought 5… but 2 were Ronald McDonald reds so I gave them to someone who would look less like a serial killer in them.

These are the 3 I kept:

And here’s what they look like swatched “ON MAH FACE!”:

NYX Paris is my favourite, it’s a perfect pink for me… not too warm, not too cool.  Love it!  It’s glossy and smooth and doesn’t highlight my sore bits.

NYX B52 is a touch warm for me, but it’s not too bad.  Doesn’t look much like I expected it to, it’s a little darker on my skintone than I thought it would be.  Texture is great though.

I don’t understand this pout… is it even a pout?  What AM I doing?  Anyway… ignoring the stupid expression, NYX Power is akin to Revlon’s Pink Pout but without the dryness.  It’s not a total dupe, but it’s the nearest I’ve found for my skintone (yes, I know MAC Angel is a well-known dupe, but not on me).

A few weeks ago, Cherry Culture tempted me with another 20% off sale (I think it was 20%, I can’t remember exactly)… anyway, my goodies arrived at the end of last week, packaged impeccably (as always).

Here’s what I got this time:

~ NYX Round Lip Glosses in: Ballerina Pink, Doll Pink and Whipped
~ NYX Round Lipsticks in: Electra, B52, Power, Paris and Snow White
~ Milani Blush in Luminous (supposed Orgasm dupe)
~ NYX Single Eyeshadow in: Dune, Herb, Sparkle Cedar and Golden Bronze
~ NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Cottage Cheese

Reviews, swatches etc coming up shortly but this little lot set me back £26 inc. postage (not bad huh?)

Have you been partaking in any hauls in the run up to Christmas or are you being good and spending your money on presents for other people?

You’ve already seen the lipsticks from my Cherry Culture NYX haul…

Now it’s time for the eye shadows!

I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I’d heard such good things that I didn’t think I’d be disappointed but I wasn’t prepared to be quite so delighted either!

I stuck to what I consider to be great Autumn/Winter shades for me… Purples, Plums, Golds and Greys.  I was tempted by some brighter more Spring-like shades… but I’ll save them for my next haul 😉

Here’s the swatches (applied dry over UDPP):

My favourites are Eggplant, Golden, Champage and Charcoal…

Rust is an amazingly pigmented shade… it’s a touch too red for my taste but I’ve got it coming up in my next FOTD so you’ll get a clearer idea of how it looks on the eye.

I read up on a few forums about Champagne, and it was often suggested as a nice highlight.  Damn my paleness ‘cos it’s too dark to use as a highlight for me… it will be a gorgeous shade for a quick wash of colour though – still pleased I bought it.

Red Bean Pie looked fantastic on the site and doesn’t disappoint in real life.  It’s basically Eggplant but with more plummy/red tones to it.

Eggplant is gorgeously metallic, it’s simillar to Red Bean Pie, but a little more purpley.

I never use black in the crease, it’s just too harsh for my skintone so I’m always on the lookout for nice greys and Charcoal is the loveliest crease colour for me.  I’m very happy I chose it.

Last but by no means least is Golden – stunning… proper metallic, highly pigmented.. just beautiful!

I’m not disappointed by a single shadow.

I also bought this little beauty…

The much talked about Jumbo Pencil in Milk which is the creamiest, brightest white ever!  I know that it’s most often used as a base… but with my creasey creasey eyelids I’m actually gonna attempt to put it to work as an under the brow highlighter!  I’ll let you know how it fares…

Can I get a little feedback on my swatches?  I’m not particularly confident with swatching… I think they’re pretty colour accurate…  Let me know if you ever want a particular shade of anything I swatch incorporated into a FOTD, sometimes things just look different in a swatch than when put into context on the face – or maybe that’s just me?

Well, the general consensus from the bods paid to know about these things is that lightning really does strike twice.

With this in mind, after my previous experiences trying to get my hands on some NYX products from across the pond you can imagine my slight hesitation when I heard about a Cherry Culture 20% off code a few weeks ago.

I was obviously mainlining a dose of bravado when, with VISA in hand I started gaily adding items to my virtual basket until I was reminded of a). the import tax threshold and b). my overflowing makeup storage in the spare room.

Reluctantly, I pared down my overenthusiastic initial selection to items that (by this time) I’d decided I couldn’t physically live without.

The NYX prices on Cherry Culture aren’t the cheapest out there – but the 20% code sweetened the deal and I was happy that their stock list appeared to be current and up to date.

Fast forward 2 weeks later and my parcel landed on the doormat with a satisfying heavyweight thud, immediately reassuring me of a job haul well done.

Pulling apart the jiffy bag, I was pleased to see that all my items I’d ordered had been wrapped securely for the long journey across the Atlantic.  No casualties this time.

I ordered:

6 NYX Eyeshadows

1 NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil

4 NYX Round Lipsticks

1 NYX Round Lipgloss

See! I told you I was restrained!  It actually barely qualifies for ‘haul’ status!

I’m happy to recommend Cherry Culture as a distributor of NYX products to the UK.  I haven’t had need to make use of their CS team yet, and for me, this is what makes or breaks a company – but I’m pleased with the service so far!