A Debenhams Haul. ~ Gemma Louise

We all love a good old makeup haul don’t we? Especially when it’s a well loved drugstore brand…

NYX Professional Makeup has just launched at Debenhams and I couldn’t be more excited! My local Boots doesn’t actually stock this brand so I’m hoping that my local Debenhams will get a counter as I love browsing and picking up new drugstore bits, especially from brands as good as this one. I have been generously gifted a few of their favourite and best selling products and I can’t wait to share them with you all. This post is quite a long one as I ended up with 10 photographs including swatches so be prepared for it to be photo heavy!

Strobe of Genius Illuminating Palette // £16.00
Can we all just appreciate the swatches for a minute please? How GORGEOUS is this palette?! I’ve had my eye on this for a while now and I always walk past it whenever I’m near a counter but I’m so glad I can now finally say that I own it. This is one of the best drugstore highlight palettes that I have ever seen. It swatches like an absolute dream, every single shade is so pigmented. I’ve used this a few times now and my highlighter is completely on point. I’ll hopefully create some makeup looks soon just to show you guys how pigmented this is (that’s if you don’t own it already!)

Contour Intuitive Palette in Warm Zone // £18.00
I fell in love with this palette when I first received it. I’ve never seen this before but wow, those swatches right? I must say that this is the ultimate Autumnal palette for me, the eyeshadows are just perfect. I used this the other day on my eyes and I couldn’t have looked more Autumnal if I tried. It got me feeling so inspired to create more A/W looks. I used the berry toned red, the deep warm brown and the bright shimmery orange and those three together created such a beautiful eye look. I will definitely have to repeat it and post it here on the blog!

Ultimate Cool Neutrals Palette // £16.00
This palette is a gorgeous one without a doubt. I love how the shades are perfect for A/W, however as much as I like it, the cool tones just don’t work for me. I’ve always preferred warm toned eyeshadows over cool tones but they also just look far better on my green eyes and yellow undertone skin. I did swatch the palette and I can tell you that the lower half of it with the darker mattes were a bit chalky and powdery, but the upper half with all the beautiful light pastel shades swatch beautifully and are incredibly pigmented. I definitely think this palette is worth picking up if you like cool toned shadows, I think the darker shades will just need a light hand and a good eyeshadow primer.

Shine Killer // £11.00
I was really excited to try this primer as I suffer with oiliness in my T-Zone and I’m always applying primer to that area to avoid getting shiny. This primer is a lot different to most mattifying primers that I’ve tried as they are usually cream based and this one is a silicone formula. I really like that as it’s just like the pore filler and leaves my skin feeling so silky and smooth afterwards. It mattified my face instantly after application but unfortunately didn’t hold up well throughout the day. I got shinier with this than I have done using no primer at all. I did use a foundation that I usually get oily with so that I could test out the full capability of the primer, but I was quite disappointed with the results so I probably won’t use it again. I may try this out with a few other foundations to see if it works the same so I’ll get back to you on it if it gives better results next time.

Pore Filler // £11.00
I already owned the pore filler primer and I have reviewed it before so I don’t really need to say too much about this one. I love how this leaves my skin, it gives me the silkiest base to apply makeup to and I absolutely love it. For someone with quite dehydrated skin, this is perfect to stop my makeup applying cakey. I highly recommend this if you love a primer that gives you flawless looking skin!

Butter Gloss in Strawberry Parfait // £5.50
I have a couple of the butter glosses that I haven’t worn in absolutely ages, and getting a new one reminded me why I love them so much. They’re ideal for something that’s really easy to wear and can be applied within seconds. I like wearing these alone for a subtle look or on top of a lipstick. Strawberry Parfait is such a beautiful shade, it looked a bit too bright for me in the tube but swatched and applied, it’s actually quite sheer and is gorgeous. I wish I had picked this up sooner as it would have been perfect to wear during Summer!

Liquid Suede in Downtown Beauty // £7.00
I’ve been really tempted to try out the liquid suede’s for ages now, but unfortunately this one isn’t really my shade. I love brown toned nudes, but this shade is like a chocolate brown and I don’t think it suits me at all. I might try and mix this with another pink lipstick to create my own brown toned nude!

Lip Lingerie in Exotic // £7.00
This has got to be the most Autumnal lipstick shade ever right?! I’m obsessed. I don’t reach for liquid lipsticks often as I suffer with really dry lips and most of them are too drying. I did find this one quite drying unfortunately, but it wore okay with the help of a bit of lip balm. It did get quite dry when I had food so I had to wipe it off and reapply, but for someone who struggles with liquid lipsticks this isn’t really unusual for me. I love the shade so much that I will definitely be reaching for this again.

Soft Matte Lip Cream in Budapest // £6.00
Another shade that’s absolutely perfect for Autumn is the soft matte lip cream in Budapest, just looooook at that swatch! I adore the stay matte lip creams because they are exactly what I like in a lipstick; matte but not drying and easy to apply. I’m hooked on this shade and you will probably see me wearing it A LOT during A/W.