Collective Beauty Haul | March 2013

 

Hi girls, so I don't know about you but I'm the kind of girl that one week/month I'm more obsessed with fashion and the next I'm back to being more obsessed with beauty. This past month has definitely been a 'beauty month'. I ALWAYS have a beauty wishlist on my laptop and tend to work through it as and when I can afford it throughout the month.
This month I've bought some lovely beauty goodies so I thought I would share them with you.

Garnier Summer Body Moisturising Lotion Sun-Kissed Look

This product is a body moisuriser and a gradual self-tanning lotion. I am not a lover of fake tan, I must admit. My friends often laugh about my constantly pale skin, the nickname 'Casper' has been thrown around. It really doesn't bother me though as I can't stand that biscuity smell that comes with fake tan and I always worry that I wouldn't apply it properly and would end up looking like a streaky mess. However, I do really like having a tan. So I picked up this product with the hopes that it would give me an even, natural-looking tan, without the strong smell of most fake tans. I applied this last night and was really impressed with the smell! It contains apricot extract and it really does smell lovely when you're applying it. BUT, within an hour, I started to smell that familiar scent of biscuits. And it was coming from my skin. So yes, this product smells delightful at first, but it isn't completely free of the nasty fake tan smell. I am going to keep using this over the next week though to see if it does give me the 'light sun-kissed look' that the bottle promises.

 

Garnier Ultimate Beauty Oil

I have seen so many bloggers talking about the magic of oils recently. I can't remember where I saw this product but I really wanted to try it. This product contains four oils - argan, macadmia, almond and rose and claims to illuminate, nourish and perfect skin. I have tested this on my arm and I have to say it really does all of these things. As soon as I applied it my skin had a glowy, radiant, almost satin-like look. I am really impressed with this product so far and can't wait to use it all over tonight before I go out to make my skin look lovely. I can definitely see myself using this up and re-purchasing it.

 

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub
Wow. That is the first thing that came to mind when I opened this product yesterday. This stuff smells unbelievable. It contains crushed brown sugar and lime and this combination results in the most sweet, refreshing scent I've ever come across. Aside from the smell, it is also a fantastic exfoliator! I used this all over and my skin felt so smooth afterwards. I actually suffer quite badly from dry skin on the top of my right arm, and after I used this body scrub on the area, the skin felt 100% smoother. I'm so impressed with this product, I cannot recommend it enough.

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Wash
I haven't used this product yet but it is the accompanying body wash to the body scrub above so I know it is going to smell amazing too. I've been using the Soap & Glory Clean On Me Body Wash which has the same colour and consistency as this one and I've been really impressed with that so I know I'm going to love this product even more.

Soap & Glory Butter Yourself Body Cream
Boots currently have an offer on their Soap & Glory range where if you spend over £10, you get this Butter Yourself body cream free! This product actually costs £10.50 on its own so that is a fantastic deal, in my opinion. It's a full size 300ml tub and as with most Soap & Glory products, it smells delicious, very citrusy and fresh, so I'm looking forward to trying this out too.
 

Nars Blush in 'Orgasm'
Onto makeup, I am sure you have seen so many beauty bloggers raving about Nars products, particularly their blushes and bronzers. So when Asos were offering 25% off for students last week I just had to pick up one of each to see what all the fuss is about. Orgasm is one of the most-raved about blush shades in the range so I thought that was a good place to start my Nars collection. This blush is a lovely peachy-pink with a subtle golden shimmer running through it. I really like it, it's very pigmented so you only need a light application to add a natural flush of colour to the cheeks. I'm really enjoying this blush so far.

Nars Bronzer in 'Laguna'
Again, Laguna is the must-have bronzer according to all my favourite beauty bloggers, so I knew this was the shade I wanted from the Nars range. I love the colour of this bronzer, it's a pale brown with a light golden shimmer. It's not in the least bit orange which is always my concern with bronzers. Now this product is seriously pigmented so you only need a tiny bit of product on your brush when applying it and it does need to be blended properly to avoid looking patchy, but it is perfect for contouring the cheekbones or adding an all-over warmth to the face. Loving this bronzer and I think it will be a staple in my makeup bag from now on.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in '52 Vanilla'
Like most girls, I love a bargain. In the North East where I live there are various makeup stalls in shopping centres like the Metro Centre or Eldon Square that sell some of the top 'drugstore' cosmetics for a cheaper price. I always scour these stalls before paying full price in Boots or Superdrug. So I was over the moon when I spotted the much-raved about healthy mix serum, in my shade - and it was the last one left on the stall! I haven't tried it yet but I hope it lives up to my expectations and I am sure it will feature in a post soon.

L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara
This used to be my favourite mascara a while back but I lost it/my little sister stole it, I don't remember ha. Since then I've been religiously using my YSL false lash effect mascara (full review here), so I hadn't re-purchased it, but when I saw it on the stall in the metro centre for only £5.99 (it's usually £10.99 I think), I thought it would be a good time to pick it up again. This mascara is amazing for lengthening your lashes. It's not great for volume but the length and separation of the lashes that you get from this mascara is fantastic. Can't wait to use this again.

Rimmel Apocalips in 'Nude Eclipse'
Ok, so again these have been majorly hyped up in the blogging world recently so naturally, I just had to have one. I chose the nude colour, which I think was a mistake. I really like the formula of these but this colour just does nothing for me. I think I will buy another one of these soon but in one of the pink shades, maybe 'celestial' or 'apocaliptic'.

So I hope you enjoyed my first haul post, I'm sure there will be more of these soon as I am constantly picking up the beauty products on my wishlist. Have a lovely bank holiday weekend girls!

Have you tried any of these products? Which beauty products have you bought recently?
Holly xo