Collective Haul: James Brown, Sleek, MUA & No7

Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend - things have been pretty hectic! I start back at University on Thursday, have been churning out loads of extra hours at work, and I'm going to flat viewings with my lovely boyfriend. We have our eyes on a gorgeous one that we will see this week. Lovely big rooms and lots of natural light so I hope to improve my photography skills somewhat.
In the meantime, I had some vouchers lying around and a little spare birthday money so I went on a teeny tiny spree in town. I also picked up some books from Waterstones but I'll show you those when they arrive (they had to be ordered).

So - I went and picked up some more bottles of my absolute favourite shampoo/conditioner combo in Boots. I had been using Herbal Essences for ages but my hair was feeling too soft and lank, so I switched to James Brown Photo Fabulous Moisturising Shampoo and Photo Fabulous Volumising Conditioner (£6.99 each, click the links). As a fake redhead I have tried several colour-locking shampoos and found that nothing really helps keep red dye in, so normal shampoos are just fine. These make my hair full and bouncy yet smooth, so it's not too soft and over-conditioned, but not frizzy either. On a day I want particularly smooth hair I'll use these in conjunction with other styling products, but I'll save that for a haircare post. I also thought about doing a full review of these with before/after pictures. Any thoughts?

Then, since I had a due-to-expire £5 off No7 Voucher, I ventured into the makeup department and picked up two things. The first was the new No7 LashAdapt Mascara in Black (£12.50, or £7.50 with voucher), which No7 say is made to be buildable, so you can supposedly apply 8 coats without your eyelashes becoming brittle or clumpy. Stay tuned for a review of whether or not this is true! First thoughts are that I'm neither here nor there about the packaging and that the product seems a little thin, but perhaps this a good thing for building up the effect?

And, since I was buying the new mascara, I got a free No7 Eyeshadow Quad with it. Seems like pretty good value for £7.50.

I have to say that I really love the packaging of this Smoky Rose Quad. I can't find it online so it is most likely a limited edition free gift. For free, it seems like a lot of thought went into making the packaging sleek and sophisticated looking. The colours are gorgeous muted purple with a highlighter in there too. I swatched them but have yet to wear them on the eyes:

The colours on my arm are not named on the box, but from left to right: highlighter colour (seen bottom-left in quad) shimmery rose champagne colour (seen top-left in quad), shimmery purple rose colour (seen bottom-right in quad) and dark purple with light gold shimmer (seen top-right in quad) The colour payoff (two swipes each) is ok, not anything special, but the colours are pretty and will probably make a nice autumnal smoky eye, with its rosey-purpley tones.

Then, because I'd been in Boots, I obviously had to go to Superdrug too. There I picked up a cheap cheap pair of eyelash curlers (because I don't have £20 for the Shu Uemura ones) from a company called Beauty Grooves whose website is just a flash animation and whose products are hard to find on the Superdrug website. I picked them because they were the cheapest there and also the pink is kind of cute. So far I've tried them once and they were just fine - throwaway, obviously, and the curl didn't last all day, but they gave a lift for a couple of hours. I'm kind of of the belief that all eyelash curlers are the same anyway, but if anyone would care to prove me wrong...?

I also stopped at MUA and picked up my first ever product from them: the MUA Professional Extreme Felt Eyeliner in Black (£2.00). I was looking through my collection the other day and realised I don't own a single liquid eyeliner! Probably because I threw them out after my Goth Years (more on which, with accompanying photos at some embarrassing later date). And since I'm out of practice I thought a pen would be the easiest way to get back into it. Anyway, the nib is really fine and the pen is easy to use, although while it is pigmented and black it's not as full on as some others I have used in the past. I'm not sure about drying or flakiness, so when I use it in an FOTD I'll let you know.

Finally, I also picked up the entire Sleek Nude Collection. It was just too tempting! Plus, Superdrug were offering a points bonus on the Beauty Card if you bought all three pieces from the collection and who was I to turn it down?
I'm sure you've seen these all over the blogging world already and you're tired of hearing the reviews but honestly I love everything about this collection. It's neutral, extremely wearable, and the colours are gorgeous.
First up is the Pout Polish in Bare Minimum. ( £4.50), a little pot of lovely tinted lipbalm almost. It's not glossy or tacky to the touch like a full on lipgloss would be - it's more sheer hint of colour on your lips with a hint of shine. It also moisturises your lips, I found - I wore it all day at work and my lips didn't dry out at all. I think this would be a good moisturising base for me, to put on before lipstick.

The next thing is the Blush in Suede (£4.30). This colour scared me initially because it's a lot browner than the blushes I usually wear (see the swatch which is pretty packed on for reference) - but I was proven wrong. This is a lovely fawn colour, perfect for autumn, and can be used as both a blush swirled lightly on, or a contour. It's also very matte, in keeping with the neutral, natural theme of the whole collection.

The last thing, and the best thing, about the whole collection, the Au Natural i-Divine (£6.40), a palette of darker matte colours and lighter shimmers and pearls. As other bloggers have noted, I took issue with the lack of pigmentation in the 'top row' light colours, but it was more than made up for in the pigmentation of the 'bottom row' mattes. That said, the whole palette works as a whole and can be used for so many of my autumn looks - I haven't got a NAKED Palette, but I feel like perhaps I don't need one now. Here are my terrible swatches - excuse the fact that the darker shades are swatched in a particularly hairy area of my arm. Gross, I know, but apologies had to be made.

TOP ROW: L-R; Nougat; Nubuck; Cappuccino; Honeycomb, Toast; Taupe
BOTTOM ROW: L-R; Conker, Moss; Bark; Mineral Earth; Regal; Noir

TOP TO BOTTOM: Taupe; Toast; Honeycomb; Cappucino; Nubuck; Nougat

L-R: Conker; Moss; Bark; Mineral Earth; Regal; Noir

I think my favourite colours are Taupe, Moss and Mineral Earth. What are yours?

Also - would people prefer these hauls and so on to be in video form as well? I know these posts can be picture AND word heavy, and if it was easier I could keep review sections confined to video and just post swatches and so on here. Thoughts?

Finally - I want your opinion: I'm thinking of going from red to brunette because red is SO MUCH UPKEEP. Any opinions? Maybe an ombre look would be better?

S x