MELBOURNE HAUL | February 2016

Recently I went to Melbourne for two days. The second day was filled with prior commitments, but the first day I went shopping with two of my gorgeous friends I’ve made through blogging (more on that soon!) and had the best day!

Whilst I am on a spending ban, I did spend a little bit of money whilst I was away. My spending ban stops me from purchasing unnecessary clothing/beauty items – but not spending vouchers! I had some money to spend at Sephora and Mecca. I barely put a dent in what I had, which I’m really proud of!

I didn’t have a huge list from Sephora. As you’ll know from my Current Beauty Wishlist post I had my eye on a bunch of items, which I happily swatched and have decided on from there. Fortunately/unfortunately (depending on which way you look at it!) a lot of what I had on my wishlist wasn’t in stock, so I’ll be purchasing that online at another time!

The first thing I picked up was the 232 Luxe Classic Shader Brush from Zoeva. I really wanted one of their Rose Gold Eye Sets which weren’t in stock so I thought I’d get this one to test out the quality before I eventually invest in a set! The Tarte Park Avenue Princess Bronzer is a present I picked up for my friend Sophie (happy birthday babe!). I got two foundation samples, one of the Cover FX Custom Cover Drops and one of the Kat Von D Lock It Tattoo Foundation which I’m really excited to try for more coverage! They gave me a sample of the Crème Simon Micellar Water which is really effective at removing makeup – I used it the first night I had it. I also picked up one of the Sephora Collection Green Tea Sheet Masks as I’ve tried their sheet masks before and really like them! The final thing I picked up was a miniature of the Make Up For Ever Step 1 Hydrating Primer – they were out of the full size and I really wanted to try it – it’s a lot more expensive ($30 for 15ml versus $55 for 50ml) but as it was from a voucher I didn’t feel too bad!

I only picked up two things from Mecca Maxima. The first was my free birthday Beauty Loop gift, which is their Hands On Transforming Hand Cream which I’ve used before and like. The second is a backup of the Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer in Fair Neutral. I use this consistently and am almost out, and to see it in stock (a rarity) I jumped for it! It’s one of the only concealers that highlights my pale skin – a subtle highlight, but that works for me!

The two girls I spent time with were Ash from The Beauty Collection and Liv from Beautifully Unnecesary. These girls have become two of my closest friends, and it was great to hang out in person rather than on our Facebook group chat! Ash gave me the L’Oreal True Match Illuminator in Ice that she was going to sell/that I really wanted to try, and Liv passed along one of the new Rimmel The Only One Lipsticks in a shade that I wanted to try/she had two of! I love both products –and both girls!

Of course, a trip to the mainland for me is not complete without a trip to Daiso for more brush cleaner! I use their Detergent for Puff and Sponge every day to clean eye brushes and my Beauty Blender and for $2.80 you can’t go wrong! I grabbed another 6 bottles but passed one along to a friend – the 5 alone will last me for months, a little goes a long way!

I told you guys I didn’t spend too much! I’m actually really happy with the little selection of products I picked up! I can’t wait to test out the foundations – whilst I think the shades I got might be slightly off, I’ll wear them when I’m home all day and can at least test out the formula!

What have you purchased recently, specifically from Mecca and Sephora? I definitely need to make an online order soon to spend the rest of my vouchers!