BIG Haul and first MAC purchase!

Hello ma'lovelys, it is now August! (and I really mean this..) WOW July went by so quick. 

Now this is not a collective haul, this was all solely brought on my shopping trip to Cardiff on Saturday. Disclaimer, before some of you go moaning: I thought I'd treat myself and spend some of my wages on shopping, before I start saving up. 

The shopping trip consisted of my mum, my sister and I going in to nearly every single shop, eating delicious food and spending lots of money.

The funny thing was: I WAS PREPARED!

Woah, me.. prepared?! (im never prepared)

But yes, I had made a list, a huge list I might add! A list of all the things I wanted to buy and look at.

So first on the agenda was to go to Primark.

I had a lovely nose around, picking out loads of clothes to try on. However in the end I didn't buy that much.

The first thing I brought was not a clothes item, it is a beauty product. I have never brought anything beauty related from Primark before, so this is a first.

I picked up the Cocoa Brown 1 Hour tan. I had heard a lot about this tan, especially from my Irish (It's an Irish brand!) blogging friend  Emma! She had recommended this tan to me so many times, stating it was her favourite, that I had to pick it up when I heard Primark were stocking it. 

I am yet to try this tan, but will be doing a full review when I have tried it.

The first clothing item I brought was this denim jacket. I had been wanting to get a denim jacket for absolutely ages, so I was really pleased when I saw one I liked. 

Secondly I brought this gorgeous dress. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was a must. Its a plain black dress, but it has a cut out detail of tiny flowers around the waist.

We then popped into lush, as I had a couple of items on my list from there. A lovely member of staff helped me test the products and decide on which products to get. 

I brought the Lush Tea Tree Toning Water and the No Drought shampoo. I will let you know what I think of them in a review post coming soon!

After stopping for numerous coffee breaks (in my case frappes), a few other shops and lunch, we headed to boots.

Again with my list clutched in one hand, I headed for the makeup section. I had a good browse around all the makeup counters and stands, searching for the best products and deals.

The first product I picked up was the Smashbox 'It's your prime' set. I had heard great reviews about the primers from Smashbox, so I thought I would give them a go. The set includes: a face primer, eyelid primer and a concealer primer.

I then brought the Maxfactor False Lash Effect - Fusion Mascara.

I had tried my sisters Maxfactor Clump Defy Mascara and really liked it, so thought I would give it a go. While I was there, the lovely lady at the counter showed me a range of different mascaras, and told me what each one was supposed to do.

I did not realize how many mascaras Maxfactor had! The lady explained that mascaras are what Maxfactor are known for. 

We decided that I was going to get the Fusion Mascara because it is supposed to Lengthen and Volumize.

My next purchase is a really hyped up product, that I had been wanting for ages. It's the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat concealer. I originally picked it up in the shade 1.5, however I then spoke to the girl at the counter and she recommended me the shade 2 Luminous Ivory.

My last purchase from boots was from the brand Barry M. I accidentally and unintentionally ended up buying 3 nail polishes. I went in, knowing that I wanted to buy the Barry M Hi Shine Gel Effect Nail Polish in the shade Mango. However when I got there I saw it in the shade Blue Moon and fell in love. I really couldn't decide what colour to pick, im so indecisive. My mum then saw that Barry M had a deal on. "Free summer limited edition nail polish when you spend £6 or more on selected Barry M" - BARGAIN!

So I decided to buy both nail polishes and pick up a Summer limited edition nail polish in the shade Pink.

I will have reviews of all of those products on my blog soon.

Last but not least we popped into Debenhams and headed for the MAC counter. Ever since I first started wearing makeup, I had heard so many good things about MAC and it's always been that high-end brand I've wanted to try.  

I said in the title of this post that I would show you my first MAC purchase, however I may have made more than just one purchase, hehe!

Firstly I brought the MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation.

The lovely lady who served me called Kathryn matched up my skin colour to the foundation. We decided on a shade darker than my natural skin tone because I like to tan. So the shade that I got was NW20. 

I also brought a pump to go with the foundation, because I find it easier to get the foundation out without having to tip it out onto my hand and probably end up having too much. 

Kathryn explained that two full pumps should be enough to cover your whole face, however you can build it up if you want to. 

The next product I brought was the MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Pressed Powder. I needed a new setting powder, and this does a really good job without it making the foundation looking too cakey.

I then brought the MAC GraphBlack Technakohl Eye Liner. While Kathryn was helping me I had noticed her eyes looked amazing, the liner looked so black. She explained that she was wearing this one and had been since 8 O'clock that morning and it was now around Quarter past 4. Kathryn applied this to my waterline and when I saw how great it look I just had to get it. So into my basket it went.

 Finally, I got the one thing I had wanted to buy most. MAC eyeshadows! I explained I had been looking at the colours online but obviously they weren't going to look exactly the same in real life. So while I read out the list of colours I wanted to look at she got them out on the counter for me. I was able to help pick a few out when she couldn't see them and she was impressed that I knew the products. We picked out an array of eyeshadows to have a look at. The colours we picked out were: Nylon, Naked Lunch, Wedge, Vanilla, Cork, Brule, Woodwinked, Charcoal Brown, All that glitters, Omega, Grain and Shroom.

After looking through them all and lots of swatching, we decided on 5 colours. All that glitters, Woodwinked, Wedge, Brule and Nylon. However Nylon and Woodwinked were out of stock so I was only able to get the other 3 colours. I also brought a 15 pan MAC palette for the eyeshadows to go in. I did not buy the tray for the pallet as I've heard that you can get a few extra eyeshadows in without it.

The shade brule is almost a skin toned shadow and is great for an all over colour. All that glitters is a browny pink glittery shade, which looks great on the center of the lid. Finally Wedge, is a red toned brown which looks lovely in the crease to really define the eye.

I am so pleased with all my purchases, and I'm especially excited to try some make up looks with my mac eye shadows!

I hope you all enjoyed looking at the products and clothes in my haul, let me know what you think :)

Love Charlotte xxx