Zara, Asos and French Connection Haul

So for my first haul, I've picked up mixed group of items, clothing and makeup, and I hope you enjoy!

ZARA
I've recently been watching a new group of Youtubers and noticed how great their style is! (Particularly Barbara from Persianbabe) So I went off to Zara, which I haven't had the greatest luck in before (the Sydney store at least, I don't know why but the stock overseas is always so much better!) First I found this black and cream speckly cardigan which instantly reminded me of something Barbara would wear (on the right track).

Then I searched for a linen T-shirt that I'd seen a few weeks ago. I got the white because it was the only one in my size, but there was a beautiful greyish-lilac colour that I might go back for if they get in more stock.

French Connection
I normally only buy tights from French Connection (they're really great and seam free), but a few months ago I saw a pair of shorts that were so up my alley, but seeing the $80 price tag I didn't even want to try them on. They were now in the sale section, with an extra 20% off and only 1 left in my size! It was fate!

Asos

 I've really been getting into buying beauty items from asos because of the constant promos that they have. This time it was 20% so I picked up the Korres Wildrose Exfoliating Cleanser and the Lord & Berry Eye Silk Kajal Kohl Eyeliner in cream.

My neutral palettes!

So, like many of you I'm sure, I am a creature of comfort when it comes to eyeshadows and instead of finally purchasing the Naked or Naked 2 palettes one of the many times I've had it in my cart, I've simply collected various other neutral palettes. Here they are:

Revlon Colorstay Quad in Moonlit

This quad I really like for the muted golden beige colour as an all over lid colour and the dark greenish black brown for the upper lash line. It annoys me a bit that the largest colour in the quad is a white, and a powdery one at that (just look at the swatch!), but I can deal.

Soap and Glory quad in What's Nude

From L to R: Vanilla, Pink T, Aubersheen, Mudhoney

I lusted over this quad for so long after Fleur de Force mentioned it in a favourites video a while back and compared the shadows to MAC shadows. I like the fact that they did a palette with 3 matte shades, because I tend to exclusively buy shimmery shadows, so the variety is nice. I did here someone mention that the shimmery colour Aubersheen is dupable with MAC's Satin Taupe, however not owning Satin Taupe I couldn't tell you.

My MAC Palette

From L to R: Shroom, Vex, Concrete, Shale 

This is a palette I made myself at MAC, and honestly it's my favourite. It's much more cool toned than the other palettes I have, so maybe that's why I'm drawn to it more. It's a fairly neutral palette barring Vex, however I like to have it in there because it is such a unique and beautiful colour (grey base with a pink/green duochrome) and I do like to wear it on an everyday basis.

NYX Runway 10 colour eyeshadow palette in Champagne and Caviar

This was my first palette purchase when I started getting into makeup and, as you can see, it's well loved. I used to mix a few matte colours for my brows and change up the lid colour with the paler shimmery shades. I will say that, as with many drugstore palettes that have over 4 shades, a lot of the shades look exactly the same.

Revlon Custom Eyes Palette in Naturally Glamorous

I loved the bronze shade in this palette for the longest time, especially during summer! As with a lot of my makeup, when I bought new products this palette kind of got buried in my collection.

Sportsgirl Shady Lady Eyeshadow Palette

Again this was one of my first eyeshadow purchases. Not the best quality, but the pinky bronze colour definitely got a major dent! But I still don't really understand of including a white shade, especially when they're pretty chalky.


For anyone that has the Naked or Naked 2 palettes, is it worth getting even with all these other neutrals?

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow

I recently bought one of the Benefit cream shadows in the colour Birthday Suit which Benefit describes as a muted chrome. Personally I would describe it as a my lids but better colour, if you'll excuse that saying. The texture is more hard than soft and very similar to a MAC paint pot. I find that these shadows don't crease as much as the MAC paint pots, although only slightly (if that's a problem you've had with the paint pots before). The colour selection from Benefit is very beautiful and more to my taste as they are more shimmery, lighter and cooler colours.

The eyeshadow applies to the lid really nicely and gives a great shimmer to the eye; generally looking natural but enhancing the eyes. I like to do my eye make up with this shadow, letting it dry a bit, then applying more into the crease to darken the colour and create a contour. Then I like to apply a dark liner and a butt-load of mascara to create an easy natural look.

The Benefit creaseless cream shadows are 4.5g and $35 compared to MAC paint pots which are 5g and $35. Both will not run out anytime soon, so for a difference of 0.5g I don't see the price difference as an issue. (For anyone from overseas, yes cosmetics in Australia is pricey, yes it sucks).

May Lust Have It!

The May Lust Have it! box/pack is the second that I've received since subscribing in April. Firstly I love the pretty beauty bags that the packs have been arriving in, especially this month's pink! I feel pretty lucky that the Lust Have it! team decided to switch to this form of packaging the same month that I joined.

 These little samples were some of the most exciting for me. I've heard really great things about the Bioderma Crealine H20 Makeup Remover and how it performs on sensitive eyes. The Evo the Therapist Calming haircare are perfect for travelling, which I'll be doing in July. How convenient!

 These were some of the more disappointing products for me. I think the Caron Laboratories Bump eRaiser Medi Paste is a good idea, and sure, handy to have, but I don't personally think I'll get as much use out of it as I would with other skincare. Secondly the Dirty soap from Lush, as much as I love their products (I was really wanting the Lust soap) just smells like those weird spearmint lollies that were around when I was a kid and I hated them then and I hate them now.

 The two makeup products in this pack are really really cute! 

 The Nicole by OPI mini nail polish is so cute and I don't have that many glitter polishes so this one is great to add to my collection.

 The ModelCo lipgloss that I received is a nice sparkly nude peach colour and I really like it. I'm not that much of a gloss girl though, so I think going into Autumn I would've preferred the dark red lippie that's on the information card.

Overall super impressed with the Lust Have it! pack for May! I'm glad that I'm subscribed now with so many changes happening within the company.

Edit: I forgot to include the Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty perfume sample. I love it! If I didn't already have so many perfumes that I'm trying to use up I would purchase a full size. Luckily my mum owns a bottle of the big sister to Sheer Beauty, Beauty, so when I need a hit I can get similar results from Beauty.