Boots Christmas Haul

I've been working on these photos for some time and I'm sorry it's taken so long, but it can be very time consuming labelling and resizing everything. This little cosmetics haul was from the first Boots Christmas night I went to...back in October or the beginning of November! I also got some Lancome stuff, but I'm saving that for a separate post.

First up we have the L'Oreal Super Liner, liquid liners which were on 3 for 2. Everybody asks the secret to my perfect liner flicks and I have to give credit to this eyeliner, it's simply amazing and definitely my must-have beauty product. I first started my retro flicks in my teens with a Lancome ArtLiner I'd been given (I worked on the perfume/cosmetics counter of a local chemist after school and got loads of freebies), little did I know it's actually quite difficult to apply liquid liner-it was always so easy with this one! There are very few differences between the Lancome and L'Oreal ones (if any) and I love that you get more flexibility than a felt pen style liner but more stability than those teensy brush liners. It's the one product I simply couldn't live without, so of course I snapped up more when I was getting one free.
This one is called Black Crystal and has tiny little silver flecks of glitter throughout.
Carbon Gloss (below) is super black, more black than the regular liner and I'm now on my 4th bottle!
Finally the new Luminizer range with products specially created to optimize your eye colour. I have green eyes and it turns out so does everybody in the UK (I think not) because the green is sold out everywhere. I've looked in three different stores and online and can't get one. I settled for the hazel eyes one instead which has a metallic purple sheen. I want the green though and those people who've bought it and don't have green eyes should hand them over to the real emerald eyed peeps!
Now for some swatches of all three. Gorgeous aren't they?
Now Soap & Glory was on 3 for 2 as well and I'd mentioned before on the blog the items I was interested in. I was going to get their liquid liner too, but it seemed a waste to get something much cheaper than my other two items, so I didn't bother. First up is the Show Good Face foundation and primer in The Fairest Of Them All. I'd like to say it isn't the fairest of them all, not by any means. It's too yellow and too dark for me, but I still bought it probably because I wanted it really badly and thought I could make it work anyway (it's very difficult to tell under shop lights). I've worn it a couple of times and although I do like the formula and feel of it-it gives a lovely dewy finish, lasts well and feels light on the skin, at the end of the day it is too dark, sadly. Had it looked like the swatch on the box or the bottle, it would've been great.
Now I've heard wonderful reviews for the 'Kick Ass Concealer', so I snapped that up too, in Light.
The left side (step 1) is for concealing under eyes, the right side (step 2) is for blemishes.
Step 3 is housed above the concealer and contains a very dinky powder with a mirror underneath. I find it quite tricky to get into the powder, it's best to lean the lid back from the compact as far as you can, then the extra compartment reveals itself and can be pulled down.
The powder is super light/translucent which is brilliant for me. The concealers as you can see though (from the hand image below) are not such a good colour match for my pale skin. It'll be a good match for the foundation though. I find the concealer easy to blend, so it doesn't look too obvious, although I've only used it once so far.
My third item was the 'Glow All Out' luminizing radiance face powder in Shimmer Switch. I haven't had the chance to use this yet.
It comes in a sturdy cardboard compact which may bother some people, but for me it does it's job. There's a mirror inside too.
Now for another item that proved pretty hard to find. 17 launched their range of magnetic nail polishes a few months back in a very select few stores. None near me. My sister managed to get to Glasgow and was going to buy me some when they were on offer, but the gift that was supposed to be given out with them had sold out, so she didn't bother. They've now launched these in many more stores now though, so I picked up three of the four (they were 3 for 2 too).
17 Magnetized Nail Polish
Blue-this is the only one I've tried so far and I would say with mixed results. The lid that holds the magnet comes off and you hover it over your nail whilst the polish is still wet to create the design. Too close and you hit your nail, too far and it doesn't work. My nails are very curved and I kept hitting the damn magnet or the polish would dry before the magnet did it's thing. I ended up with 5 coats on some nails and one on others. Some nails looked great and others I just couldn't get to work.
Teal
Lilac

Now for some of the Christmas stuff I bought. The majority of gifts are 3 for 2 and at this points event for every £50 you get £12 of points on your card. I spent a staggering £200, then £100 at the next one, so I'm rolling in points!! I think I bought this palette last year too because it was so pretty (butterflies I think), this year it has a lovely birdy on it, so I couldn't resist. Chilli Pepper 'Cool' Powder Eye Shadow Kit.

Last year I purchased the Fearne Cotton big hat box thingy when it was on offer, this year I just got the Day Compact eyeshadow palette because the subtle colours are stunning. I've used this quite a bit already.

Umberto Giannini not only have hair products this year, but some lovely little makeup items too. I fell in love with this Painted Lady palette, which contains eye and lip colours, although the illustration on the palette is what sold it to me.

Now I think that was it. I had some baby things I bought and presents for friends and my Mum which are all wrapped, so I can't photograph them. Sorry I don't have swatches for these items-I hadn't taken them at the time, but if you're interested I could do some later when God starts giving me 50 hour days, haha!