MAC Haul & Review: The Disney Cruella Collection

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I was really excited to see The Disney Cruella Collection by MAC launch. As I've previously mentioned on the blog, the 2010 MAC Venomous Villains included 4 Disney villains, one being Cruella De Vil from the animated 101 Dalmatians. However, Disney's Cruella is back for 2021 in a collection of her own, to coincide with the new live action film of the same name, starring Emma Stone (out 28th May). The range was quite small, but I picked up a few pieces. I was really tempted with the concept of the eyeshadow palette (magnetic sections that break apart to create smaller palettes), but I wasn't sure I needed it (other than the stunning khaki shimmer shade).

MAC Bronzing: Haul & Swatches (Summer 2020)

Post does not contain gifted items and contains some affiliate links.
I took a bit of a chance ordering the MAC Bronzing collection earlier this month. It's not launched in the US yet, I believe it came out here (UK) first and for me anyway, it was out of the blue as I hadn't seen any teasers and for some reason MAC don't email me newsletters of new releases (yep, I've ticked the box to allow it). I used to buy (direct from them) regularly and I think at some point the emails just stopped and my interest waned as I didn't stay on top of new launches like I used to. Marketing, take note!  As I've been saying on the blog, I'm really enjoying the MAC limited releases again. The second I saw this, I was intrigued with the packaging. It reminded me slightly of the water droplet (aka the best packaging ever) Alluring Aquatic range from summer 2014, so I ordered some bits. There were no social media photos or swatches anywhere. MAC describe their shades, but I don't find their arm swatches helpful...they're just a bit uninspiring and rarely accurate. Anyway, I was overall happy with everything I got and guessed my colours correctly! So settle down for lots of pics and swatches...

Boots Star Gift: Soap & Glory Bubble Act

Boots Star Gift this week is one of the most anticipated each year, Soap & Glory. The set this year is called Bubble Act and comes specially packaged for the promotion in a beautiful tin designed by illustrator, Zuki Turner. The tin is quite different to previous boxes or bags, though still in keeping with that retro feel S&G products have.

Estee Lauder: GWP & Pure Color Love Lipstick Swatches

I was shopping the other week and there was a really nice Estee Lauder GWP in Debenhams. I had my eye on their Pure Color Love lipsticks, but my first choice, then second choice were both out of stock. I was really taken in by the sparkly ones, so got a white one instead (intended to be a topper over liner or another lipstick), but really had my heart set on the other two. The girl told me to take a photograph of the other ones I liked so I'd remember their names if I saw them elsewhere. I thought I had nothing better to do than go home and buy them online, but they were sold out everywhere I could think of. I kept torturing myself with that photo of the testers, but fast forward a couple of weeks and an email popped up about another GWP and lo and behold, they had the lipsticks I was after! I must admit to double and triple checking, because I thought it was too good to be true and I'd got the shade names muddled! However they arrived last week and are the ones I wanted. You'll be surprised because they are quite different for me (not nudes), but lately I've been veering away from lighter neutrals and opting for darker statement lips.

Makeup Revolution & MUA: £1 Lip Swatches

I recently had to order replacement toothbrush heads, exciting I know (!) and while doing so, I thought I'd check out the makeup. As you know, I'm a big beauty buff, but rarely manage to wear makeup these days, though I have maintained my usual skin and body care routines. For the past year, I've been aiming to wear makeup on the rare occasions I do leave the house and am starting to buy makeup again. It seemed so wasteful when I was very ill, to buy stuff I'd never get the chance to use at the time. It's an area I'm still hugely interested in though, so I've been keeping an eye on new releases (GWP's are still my ultimate weakness), but I'd say I've been spending more on skincare and less on makeup, when it used to be the other way around. I'm also keen to get back into blogging regularly about beauty and hope this is something you'll be interested in seeing here. So back to the toothbrush head order and I saw it was 3 for 2 on makeup with these lipsticks priced at £1 each. It was such a bargain, I was able to order guilt-free! I partly ordered these as an inexpensive treat and partly out of curiosity for blogging purposes! Naturally I gravitated towards the nude colours and for the third item, I picked up a lip liner, as it was also £1. Both Makeup Revolution and Makeup Academy, have really made names for themselves with trendy, quality but affordable items and I was genuinely interested to see how they fared.

Soap & Glory: The Whole Glam Lot

It's here, I got it! My Mum had an early hair appointment, so popped into our local Boots on the way and got me their Star Gift, the Soap & Glory The Whole Glam Lot. As I mentioned last night, it's half price for this week only, at £30 and comes in special packaging. I have details of everything inside...

Lancome: The O Beauty Set 2016

Hello gang! Oh my goodness last week just wasn't going my way. I had a scare a week past Saturday, we ended up having to phone for an ambulance for me (we've never phoned 999 before). I was in tremendous pain, it didn't feel normal for me and when it got unbearable, there were no arguments from me about phoning for help, which is a pretty good indication of how bad it was! Anyway I'm fine now, a little spooked by the whole thing, but decided upon a stress free week to recover. The universe had other ideas. On Tuesday I settled down to blog about my new shoes for Shoesday Tuesday and the editor I use online was down. I could've tried something else, but it takes so long when it's a system you're unfamiliar with and I figured it would be back up soon. It was working on Wednesday, so then it was the turn of the photo hosting site I use to stop working. It's still not letting me upload anything, so I'm furious as I pay a yearly subscription for this "service" purely for blogging purposes and that comes out my own pocket as I don't get paid for blogging. I sent off an extremely cross email to them, after getting no reply to my Facebook DM. No reply to that either funnily enough. I have zero confidence in them, there's been several MAJOR issues these past few months (where all my blog images appear as broken links, when their site is down) and they have just become wholly unreliable and I want to cut ties with them altogether.
I've never claimed to be a whizz when it comes to technical things.  I got into blogging through my love of fashion, beauty and writing and have had to learn photography, editing, HTML and dozens of other things along the way. You can't blog without all of that unfortunately, so you just have to adapt!  My generation didn't really have computers at school and most of my life existed without mobile phones or the internet, so I'm pretty much self-taught in that respect.  This isn't the type of stuff I want to be losing sleep over, but my blog can't function without those technical bits.  Obviously I'm completely overwhelmed when it comes to reading up on things like bandwidth limits or third party hosting and anything new takes time to learn, so last week was an unwanted hiatus, though I've been busy "behind the scenes" as it were. For years I've wanted to leave, I'm just going to say their name because they are so useless they deserve the bad press, Photobucket, but they have me over a barrel. They really do. From what I know, (I think) I'd have to delete every blog image from my 8 years of blogging, find where it's located (erm, I've had several PC's/hard-drives since then, so a lot are lost), upload to a new host site then individually upload them back into the blog posts in the correct order, as when I leave Photobucket for good, my images will appear here as broken links instead. Please shout out if this isn't the case, because I believe this is the unenviable task I'm going to be forced to do. If there's a bigger word than "dread" then that's what goes through my head when thinking of that, but it's going to have to be done. If I do a little bit each day (where I'll find the time, I honestly don't know), I'll be hard-pushed to complete it in a year (but IIRC my subscription runs out in August, so it'll have to be finished by then). I just checked and apparently I have 23,000+ photos stored on Photobucket (not all blog photos I hasten to add, but probably 98% are) and I have two blogs too, urgh, why is life never simple? Santa, send someone to do it for me please!

Soap & Glory It's The Whole She Bang

I thought you might be interested in seeing my Soap & Glory It's The Whole She-Bang set I got yesterday, rather than stock photos. I wrote about the contents in this post the other day so shan't repeat all the details here, but it's the Star Gift of the week at Boots until Thursday.

Lancome The O Beauty Set Christmas 2015

For years now, I've bought the Lancome beauty box that comes out at this time of year. With me not being well last year, not getting out, not wearing makeup and the box not being overly exciting (!) I didn't get it. I was itching to see if it had improved this year and am pleased to say, it's brilliant! So I ordered it the second it came online, but it's going to be from Santa, though he agreed I could take photos for my blog and then he'd take it away again until the big day! Thanks Santa!

Swatches: MUA Matte Lipstick

Remember the MUA lipsticks I swatched a couple of weeks ago? Well another two I bought at the time, were these matte lipsticks. Again they cost £1 and they are currently on 3 for 2 and you get a free tote bag, which is even sweeter.

Swatches: MUA Lipstick

I know, I know, what is this? A beauty post? Surely not! It's definitely been a long time since we've had one, mostly down to me not wearing makeup. I feel kinda sad when I see all my pretty palettes and lipsticks, sitting unused, but writing about them and not having the energy to use them is worse. Avoidance, I'm good at that apparently. Well I took these photos in the summer after a little makeup haul. Obviously I'm rarely buying makeup these days, because it seems silly to, but these were mega cheap and I saw them online and thought I'd give them a try. I was getting a free palette or something at the time...there's no offer on them currently, but they are £1 each. As my Mum would say "you cannae go wrong with that"!

Escentual Discount Haul

Beauty purchases have been few and far between this year with me not wearing makeup and trying to work my way through some of the ridiculous sized stash I own. I've actually managed to start and finish 3 full-sized lip products (lip balm crayons from Clinique, Dior and Clarins) which I was thoroughly impressed by! I had a mild panic after Christmas though, when I realised I only had a trickle left of my Clarins Lotus Face Oil. It quickly became integrated into my routine and I'd miss not having it, so I placed an Escentual order for more.

Haul & Swatches: Lancome GWP

This post has been neglected for so long! I ordered the stuff back in May and each week it's been 'carried over' into another week because I've not had time.  My health woes this year have been well documented, but this past week I've been struggling with motivation and fighting extreme tiredness on top of hospital appointments and having my nephews here 3 days a week.  Blogging has just been a no-go unfortunately.  I'm still completely shattered today, but have given myself a wee pep talk and the first thing to tackle was this post. There's so much editing and writing required, that's why I'm unable to post them as regularly as I used to.  Anyway enough blethering, on with the Debenhams/Lancome haul. My main only reason for buying was because they had a rather spiffy GWP, but I dithered for so long on what to get (actually I was holding out waiting for the summer collection that never happened), that the couple of things I'd wanted went out of stock. So it was back to the drawing board, as I can't leave a pretty GWP hanging!

Bought & Thought

The first of my new 'Bought & Thought' posts featuring something I've purchased recently alongside an inspiring or encouraging quote to perk us up.

Haul & Swatches: MAC Alluring Aquatic

I've been a little out of the loop in regards to MAC collections lately. Nothing has caught my eye online (I have no physical counter near here) and for some reason they no longer bother to email me (even if I sign up for their limited releases), so I've dissed them a bit! However my eye was definitely transfixed when I spied this gorgeous turquoise metallic packaging last week. Sadly, it had already been out for a couple of days and with me not being able for the computer much just now, some had already sold-out. I started googling some of the shades to see if any were decent and then I discovered the really cool thing about the packaging and started making a list of must-haves!

Escentual Spring Haul (Dior, Clarins, Guerlain)

Guten tag liebe menschen, long time, no speak! Still no improvement health-wise, it's a struggle to stay awake all day and blogging (i.e. using a computer and my brain) has been virtually impossible, hence the lack of activity. It's been and will continue to be tough, but thanks for your messages they are much appreciated.  I've been eager to show you this amazing haul, which I'd been saving up to buy.  I've only been out shopping once this year and when I saw all the lovely new items on the beauty counters, I managed to build up quite the list of 'wants'! Although Escentual already have discounted prices on their products (so I wanted to buy from there), money has been really tight (and my wishlist was rather long), so I waited until a '25% off everything' code in February and managed to save over £50. Brilliant! Typical that when I got it, I was too ill to play with it all! I'll be saving some for Too Pretty To Swatch anyway, because they are very pretty!
So as you can see, the majority is Dior and Clarins with a little Guerlain thrown in. I think I'm developing this problem where I buy almost the entire 'limited edition' Dior range each season. A good problem to have I think (although I'm sure my bank would disagree)! They just keep bringing out ridiculously pretty things, although I did surprise myself by buying no lip products. At all! The Spring 'Trianon' look at Dior is all pretty pastels.  Think sickly, sweet, sugary Marie-Antoinette style.
I really liked the look of the eyeshadow quad in 234 Pastel Fontanges. I kinda don't like being extravagant when it comes to eyeshadow though, because I literally own thousands and probably stick to using the same 15 or so on rotation. After seeing the swatches of this one on Escentuals blog, I decided it wasn't really that special or unique (the colours are just too pale and shimmery) to justify the spend. I did love the darkest shade, if they'd sold that alone, I'd have bought it. However, when I saw the other shade in the collection, 954 Pink Pompadour swatched, I fell in love with it. It's mainly pink, which isn't really a colour I wear a lot of on my eyes and not a shade I'm drawn to, but the swatches just looked lovely.
Firstly the embossed floral and bow print on the powders in this range are just delightful. I know that's really bad that I want it more if it's patterned (hello star print quad last autumn), but it just shows how your opinion can be swayed by something visual like that. As always the palette comes with a full sized mirror inside and a velvet pouch, along with two double ended sponge applicators. I feel all fancy every time I pull out my Dior items to use!
So you have two pink eyeshadow colours on opposite corners of the palette. A pale, frosted shade and a mid-pink, that looks really rich and pigmented. Then there's the darkest shade of the palette, an intense purple and a colour I really like the look of, is the greenish toned silver. I think it's good to bring in something a little different to stop the palette being completely Barbie pink. In the centre you have a highlighter which has less colour than the others and is slightly lilac toned. It reminds me a little of the centre shade in 970 Stylish Move (bottom), which I've had and loved for so long that you can no longer see the shimmer overlay (unless you look really closely at the corners)!
It's definitely quite unique within my vast collection, so I'm keen to see how I get on with it and if there will be a stand-out shade for me, like I found with the star palette. Like I say I will be saving this to swatch in TPTS, but definitely check out the Escentual swatches. Both colourways appear to be sold out almost everywhere actually now that I look, but Feel Unique have both colours here. There are individual eyeshadow colours which also have the embossed design on them (170 Angelique-purple and 427 Opaline-green) along with two new powder blushes (946 Pink Reverie and 763 Corail Bagatelle) in this collection. I really wanted the blush, but after looking at swatches online, I think the coral one looked too similar to this Guerlain one I already have. The pink one that I was initially attracted to, actually wasn't as pigmented as the coral when swatched, so I already scored that off my list. I really debated getting the coral one, but instead opted for this rather magnificent looking palette.
It's the Trianon Palette in 001 Favorite (there's only one colourway in Europe). This design of palette has been seen before (Cherie Bow), but instead of stripes of products with a sectioned off lip colour, this palette includes a powder blush and the products are arranged differently. I know a lot will be swayed by the fact it's all powder products now as many dislike powder and cream together. Surrounding that centre blush are four eye colours. Firstly let's take a look at the packaging. I was verbally 'cooing' over this instore when I saw it. It's like a giant bow, metal clutch. It feels really weighty and opens to reveal a mirror and several applicators along with it's own little pouch (there's even an outer pocket for the blush brush). The silly little details like the bow on the blush brush, just make me giddy!
Isn't it stunning? I know I've just said I wouldn't splurge on eyeshadow and here I am with two brand new palettes! I can't even think up a decent excuse or justification for that I'm afraid!  It isn't really too pretty to touch, yet I'm struggling to swatch it. I just don't want to ruin it's perfect/pristine-ness!
I don't think these powders are the same standard as the eyeshadow quads (I've heard the green is a little disappointing), but this is by no means a 'watered down' palette or quantity over quality. It's just a different product to the 5 Couleur palette. The products seem of a decent size for a palette and I'd use every shade. The blush is a lovely fresh looking peachy pink (I was thinking it would maybe swatch quite similarly to the pink blush in the range) then you have three eyeshadows and a soft, matte black for use as a liner. The eyeshadows are a pale, champagne pink, a bronzey brown and a light grass green. The eyeshadows look to have a frost or metallic finish-I can definitely see some lovely shimmer.
The eyeshadows can be applied dry or wet and hopefully I'll pluck up the courage to use them for TPTS! Ignoring the lip products in the range, I moved onto nail polish. Along with my addiction to buying lots of Dior, I've bought maybe 6 or 7 Dior polishes in less than a year. Here's another two, oops! First up is 204 Porcelaine, a pastel blue (again, sold out in most places, but Boots have some). It's just a lovely colour for Spring/Summer and when I saw it combined with something else, I just had to have it.
That 'something else' is Dior Vernis Trianon Edition in 187 Perle. It's a product that can be used on it's own (a shimmering, frosty shade with a pinky lilac flash), but really comes alive over other colours. Again the Escentual swatches were pivotal in my decision to buy this. They tried it over the other colours in this range (including Porcelaine) and I was sold. Not only does it add that frosty, pink flash, but it seems to change the tone of the colour underneath. I believe it dries matte (but still frosty), so I'm thinking it's a somewhat similar finish to this Lancome one I got at Christmas. I'm really sorry I don't have swatches for you yet, for the first time in 20 years my nails have been bare for months : (
If you check out those Escentual swatches, you'll see that Perle turns Porcelaine into a frosty, icy blue, much paler than it applies on it's own. The hot coral becomes a frosty Barbie pink and again the fuschia shade takes on a totally different form of pink when Perle is applied over the top. I'm not joking when I say I've been desperate to play with this! What would it look like over navy or black? Would it turn green into mermaid-nails? I just want to see it over everything!
Loving a more simple approach to creating new nail effects, I decided to buy the Guerlain Colour Lacquer in 862 Star Dust too. It's the only nail 'colour' in the Meteorites Blossom collection for Spring. Much like the Dior one, it's a shimmer finish (don't think this one turns matte) and it can be worn alone or over a colour to completely transform it.
In the bottle it certainly looks different enough from Perle to justify buying both, as it's got a green/blue flash to it rather than pink.
It's another one I'm really looking forward to playing around with. Unicorn or fairy nails perhaps?!  Coming to the end of my haul and I bought a couple of Clarins items. The full-size of the Lotus Face Treatment Oil, which I already mentioned, after I loved the free sample I had. After using this every night for months now, I don't know where I'd be without it. It's completely fallen in as part of my routine and although it would seem like a bit of a fiddle to use, it's totally not. I warm a few drops in my palms and apply to a slightly dampened face (after toning) in a patting action. It feels so relaxing and there's no mess or wastage with the dropper.
Finally, Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base (what a mouthful), in 01 Rose. A brand new product from Clarins, this comes in a squeezy tube with a pump applicator. It's essentially a primer which can be worn alone, mixed with foundation (for a dewy finish) or under foundation and it's got heaps of skincare benefits along with adding radiance and luminosity and correcting high-colour in the skin.
I'd bought it to wear under/mix with makeup, but I've actually worn it alone on the two days I've left the house last month, as I was too ill to apply other makeup. I honestly look terrible right now and I'm not saying it turned me into a goddess, but it definitely pepped up my skin and toned down redness and my Mum even commented that my complexion was looking really clear (the doctor on the other hand was reaching for a syringe for blood tests because he was so concerned with how pale I was)! It was on the tip of my tongue to explain to him how difficult it is to match foundation to my blue tone!
It comes in three shades which are supposed to be universally flattering, but you could pick the shade most suited to your complexion. Rose is the fairest and brightens with an opalescent sheen. Champagne corrects redness in fair to medium skintones, while Peach restores lustre to matte and medium to dark skin. All three protect against pollution while hydrating and moisturising. It's a 'cheat' to healthy skin and with benefits beyond just masking or giving the illusion of great skin.  So there you have it, another fabulous haul, I'm just sorry I couldn't swatch anything for you.  However when I'm feeling up to it, I'll be dipping into them all and taking lots of photos.  Although I had a discount code at the time for this lot, remember Escentual always have discounted prices on their products, currently around 12% off Clarins, 10% off Guerlain and 15% off Dior.

I also have some current discounts codes for some other beauty sites and I've linked in this post to other sites where the products are in stock, to save you searching.
Boots:  Save £5 when you spend £40 on skincare, code SKIN540, valid until 15th April.
HQHair:  From 12th April, free Luxurious Beauty Box containing the hottest products hand-selected by the HQHair beauty team when you spend £45 or more.  Click here.  Free next day delivery (until 8pm weekdays and 2pm Sunday) when you spend £50 with the code FREEUK (valid throughout April).  The following codes are valid until 15th April-a mystery discount (up to 26% off), discount amount will change regularly, code HURRY26 or 10% off with code HQTEN.
LookFantastic:  Free next day delivery when you spend £50 (valid until 8pm weekdays and 2pm Sunday), code NEXT50.  10% off with code TENAPR or 15% off when you spend £45, code APRIL, both offers valid until 15th April.

This post contains links that can earn this blog a small commission when purchases are made after clicking them.  All products were purchased by myself and I was not paid for this review.