Finished! The April edition

Despite thinking I might not have many empties this month, I still managed to finish 7 products, so that's pretty good. My first one is Avon Clarifying Toner Pads which are basically pads soaked through with toner that's supposed to help keep your skin blemish free. They were okay, but I always forgot to use them, it took me probably more than a year to use up 45 pads, and I don't think I'll bother with buying them again. I don't normally use toner and these pads didn't seem to make much difference to my skin.

See what other products I used up in April after the jump!

My holiday make up bag

Since I really enjoy reading about what make up people take on holiday with them, I decided to write my own post about it. As you know (or don't, but will now), I was away in Florida for 2 weeks last month. I always struggle with packing, usually end up taking far too much, clothes, shoes and make up alike, and while I will not go into details about the clothes and shoes, I can assure you, I did the same again - both for me and my 3 children (my husband packs his stuff). I swear we could have left at least one suitcase behind and not be without anything. I mean who would've thought you don't need long trousers, sweaters and raincoats in Florida at Easter? I always pack warm clothes just in case, but honestly, I didn't even wear a light summer cardigan, it was always over 25 degrees even at 10 o'clock in the evening. Anyway, moving swiftly on, here's what I took with me make up-wise:

My 88 Shimmer and Metal Mania palettes

All other make up products I took with me

As you can see, all of the products are fairly cheap, drugstore or similar products. I'm always really afraid to take expensive high end and limited edition products with me in case they get damaged or lost in transit. I find the 88 eyeshadows palettes (especially the Shimmer palette) very useful as they contain all the colours (including some really good highlighters) you ever need. Although the quality of the eyeshadows isn't that good, with a decent primer they lasted through most of the day, and it was usually over 30 degrees, so I guess that's not too bad.

So what else did I take? I managed to photograph it upside down, but you can see my Maybelline Dream Creamy Foundation (reviewed here) which I actually managed to finish on the last day of the holiday, talk about great timing eh? I took my Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer (reviewed here) as well as my  Mac MSFN & Shimmer in Medium, great for setting foundation and highlighting. Not sure why I needed an extra highlighter, but I took a Ruby & Millie one, not sure what it's called though, it's from a set. I took 4 blushes: First Kiss and China Pink by 17, Sleek Rose Gold (see review here) and Laura Geller Tropic Hues (a handy travel sized one, full sized one reviewed here).

I took numerous eyeliners, all Urban Decay 24/7 ones, as I love their eyepencils and I like the variety of colours. I also took 3 mascaras: L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara (reviewed here), Max Factor More Lashes waterproof mascara and a Rimmel waterproof mascara (its name escapes me completely, sorry). For my brows I took my trusty Mac Brow Set in Show Off. And of course my favourite eyeshadow base: Barbara Daly for Tesco (I've reviewed it here).

I took 2 lipliners and 8 lipsticks, plus 4 double ended lipglosses as well as several of my GOSH eyeshadow brushes, 2 blush brushes and a cheepo noname face brush. Oh and a double pencil sharpener.

Now, do you want to see how many of these products I actually used over the 2 weeks? See after the jump!

NOTD: Zoya Apple nailpolish - swatches and review

Today I'm wearing Zoya's new nailpolish called Apple from the Sunshine Collection which is a gorgeous apple green colour (hence the name) with gold sparkle. It is absolutely gorgeous, a very nice summer colour, bright and cheerful. I'm not a green person as in I don't often wear green clothes, make up or nail polish (I do recycle and try to do my best for the environment though!), but this kind of green I find very wearable. The formula is pretty good, quite runny, but the colour opaque enough to only require two coats. Dries fairly quickly too, but unfortunately as any other nail polish it didn't last for longer than 24 hours on me without chipping (my nails are very soft and bendy).

I'm not too sure where Zoya nail polishes are available to buy in the UK, I ordered mine (the whole set) from eBay. If you do know where they can be purchased in the UK, please let me know in the comments. They cost $8 each in the USA by the way which is a very good price for such a big bottle (I think it's 15 ml).

Finally I leave you with some more pictures after the jump!

My amazing US haul

Hello! I'm back! In case you didn't guess from my post a week or so ago, I was in Orlando with my family. We did loads of fun stuff, Disney's Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, Aquatica... and some shopping! There are some amazing outlets in Orlando as well as the massive Florida mall, so I ended up buying a LOT of stuff. I was also interested in checking out some drugstore brands we don't get in the UK like Physicians Formula, and finally managed to buy myself the lovely Revlon lipgloss I'd been eyeing up for weeks - for much less as well! I know I went a bit crazy. I haven't actually added up how much I've spent, but you can tell it was a lot.

My entire beauty haul

However, I did find some amazing buys, including 3 Mac Volcanic Ash Exfoliators (there were actually a lot more in one of the CCOs, but I couldn't really pick up more), the Tom Ford Black Orchid set, and there was an excellent freebie offer at Lancome with 6 free samples and a gorgeous make up bag, so I couldn't resist.

Details will follow shortly. For now, here are some more pictures of my haul. Let me know if there are any particular brands or products you'd like me to show you in details.

Swatching My Stash Part 3: Foundations

As you know I am trying to shop my stash more since I realised how much make up I really own, although to be honest, I have just bought a ton while on holiday, so much for that. But in any case I thought I'd show you my foundation stash which is actually rather small compared to my whole stash of make up. I have 7 foundations, plus one I own in a darker shade which I'm hoping will suit me more in the summer as it's too dark at the moment.


First up is a foundation that isn't actually a foundation, although it is called foundation. I would actually call it "what was I thinking?" because in all honesty, I have no idea why I bought it in the first place. It is Max Factor Sheer Radiane Sheer Shimmer Foundation in 110 Shimmering Natural. It is basically a very shimmery highlighter that noone in their right mind should use on their whole face. Annoyingly though the pump dispenses way too much in one go, so you either put it all on your face (don't!) or wash it off your hands which is basically very wasteful. To my surprise the bottle is nearly half empty, although I have no idea when I actually used up half of this as it really is hideous. It's an okay highlighter, but there are much better ones. Mark out of 10: 1. Would I repurchase it? Not on your nelly!

See what other foundations I own and which one's my favourite after the jump!

Guess where I am?!

Sorry, I know it's been a slow month here on Pleasureflush and the reason for it is that I'm currently on holiday, and the week(s) before our holiday was taken up with preparing for it. Posting should return to normal in May (including a few make up related holiday posts), but for now, I'll leave you with a picture and a game: guess where I am! (Okay okay, I know it's not that difficult, but take a guess anyway!)

Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette Review and Swatches

Every so often I see a product that catches my eye, usually because of its pretty packaging (or a pretty product itself like the new Mac Quite Cute mineralize blushes) and I have to have it. That's what happened when I first saw images of Too Faced's newest palette: Romantic Eye. I like Too Faced eyeshadows as they are usually good quality and they often come in pretty and/or cute packaging (remember last winter's Enchanted Glamourland palette?).

And here it is. I just love the packaging with the flowers. I was of course also keen to see what was inside the palette. It contains 9 eyeshadows in 3 groups, 3 of them are larger (1.9 g or 2 g each depending on whether you look on the back of the outer box or the palette - weird) and 6 are smaller (0.9 g or 1 g again depending on where you look). In total you get 11.4 g or 11.7 g of eyeshadows for £26. The eyeshadows are grouped in 3 groups, based on the type of looks you can create with them: Day, Classic or Fashion.


The Day look includes neutrals/browns, the Classic look includes pinks and purples and the Fashion look (my favourite) includes metallic greenish gold, metallic brown and satin light cream highlighter. You also get 3 cards that show you how to apply the shadows for each look. Of course you can wear whichever shadows you want in whatever combination and with other Too Faced or non Too Faced eyeshadows, but I guess it's a nice touch and it certainly helps with finding coordinating colours.

All in all I think it's a nice little palette especially if you like more neutral looks, although there is colour in there too, but for more subtle, softer looks.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!