eBay make up

Hello! I thought I would write a blog about where I get my make up from as I love expensive make up but do not have the wonga to buy it all at full price.

I buy a lot of my make up from eBay. Now I know that you have to be careful when doing this as there are a lot of fakes out there especially with Mac and Benefit make up. For that reason I avoid buying Mac and Benefit from eBay altogether as it is so difficult to tell if you are getting a genuine product. I have been stung in the past by eBay and fake Benefit make up so I do not intend on making the same mistake twice.

What I tend to do is type 'make up' into the search box on the home page on eBay. eBay will then bring up a list of all make up being sold. I then change the Sort By drop down box to 'ending soonest'. This then brings up all of the auctions that are ending soonest.

Now you have to act quite quickly as quite a few of the items will be ending in less than a minute so you need to get in quick if you want to bid. I tend to scan through quickly and if something catches my eye and the price hasn't gotten too high I will make a bid really quickly. This took me a bit of practice though as you need to be quick and make snap decisions about whether or not you really want something and what you are willing to pay. You don't want to end up with a load of make up which you don't really like or that isn't your shade as no matter how cheap it was it is a waste of money if you don't use it. Likewise you don't want to end up paying more than you want to or can afford to. It can be tempting to keep bidding if someone outbids you but this can be an expensive little game to play ha ha.

It is worth refreshing the page every now and then as the end time does not not update on the results page so you could be looking at something on the results page where the auction has already ended which can be a bit of a disappointment when you go to click on it.

To check shades (particularly important for foundation, concealer and powder) the best thing to do is to use Google images to search for the shade given in the description of the product. This usually brings up quite a few images of the shade. It is quite difficult to judge the exact shade from a computer screen so it is important to make a judgement on whether you can afford to lose the money if the shade doesn't suit your skin tone.

As I said above I would avoid buying Benefit and Mac products on eBay altogether as there are so many fakes but where other make up is concerned I have not heard of any other brands being faked. That's not to say there aren;t thogh so just try to use your judgement and look at the sellers feedback score.

I will now share some of my bargains with you.

This Clinique foundation was £1.24 + £2 postage.

The cheapest I can find this online anywhere else is for £21 with free delivery.

That means that I saved a whopping £17.76.

I needed a foundation so it is money that I would have been spending anyway but as a bonus I get a fantastic quality item at a lower price than I would have paid for a lesser quality item.

This Calvin Klein translucent loose powder was £5.61 + £2.65 postage.

The cheapest I can find this online anywhere else is for £18 with free delivery.

That means that I saved £9.74.

Again, I needed a powder although I probably wouldn't have spent £8.26 if I had bought one from Boots or somewhere like that I thought that it was worth it for a better quality product and so far it has not let me down and I do have oily skin.

This is a sample size eye shadow quad from Estee Lauder which I paid £1.04 + £1.49 for.

Now while I am aware that this was probably a free gift or something along those lines and because of this I am unable to get a comparitive price from the internet, a full size eye shadow quad from Estee Lauder is around £30!

That makes this smaller size one a huge bargain in my books regardless of whether the person selling it got it for free.

I have bought other make up from eBay but these are my best buys to date. It is also worth noting that I don't buy all of my make up from eBay. I do buy stuff from Avon as I really rate the quality of their make up and my mum is also a rep which helps me get some nice bargains sometimes he he. I buy the occasional Benefit product from Debenhams but that is usually as a birthday or Christmas treat from my lovely man. I pick up Lacura stuff from Aldi sometimes as despite the ridiculously low prices some of their products are really lovely. And if I run out of something I will just go to Boots or Superdrug and buy it there.

Hope this helps you bag some bargains. I'm off fishing with Liam this afternoon as Livvy is with Nanny Jane and Grandad.

Lota of love,

Kerry xx

The Magic of Make Up

Well we are back from the bbq which was lovely. I love seeing my family. Stefan seemed really pleased and had a great time and we played man hunt which I haven't played for about fifteen years! He he. Helped my cousins choose their outfits as they are off into town for a night out as are Stefan and all of his friends but I had to get my tired little Pookie home to bed. As I write she is asleep on the sofa next to me as she has a horrible cough which has caused her to be sick twice since I put her to bed so I wanted her near me and she has gone straight to sleep.

While I was getting ready to go to the bbq earlier I thought it would be interesting to take step-by-step pictures of my transformation using make up. I just find it astounding how on days such as today when I have had an outbreak of spots and have an icky cold I can feel so ugly but then when I have my 'face' on I feel so much better about myself.


So what I did was after my shower I took a picture of my face 'au naturel'. I then took pictures of the transformation step-by-step as I put different products on. I also took pictures of the products that I used just in case anybody thought 'Woah look what that did! I want some!' he he.


I am going to show you a before and after shot first and then do the whole step-bystep process.


Please note: I am not professing to be a make up guru or expert in anyway I just thought it might be interesting. Also please be kind to me as my before shot is particularly bad today as I said above I have a cold and have had a spot outbreak.

 

Before

After

Now for the Step-By-Step ...

Ok so this is before, I have had a shower (hence the wet hair). I used an exfoliating scrub in the shower and then moisturised.

I then used That Gal brightening face primer from Benefit. Mine is in a small tube as it came with my Confessions of a Concealaholic kit. I don't use this everyday but as I am having a bad face day I used it as a treat.

Next I used Stay Matte Dual Action Concealer in 020 Soft Ivory by Rimmel London. I know you shouldn't really use concealer before foundation but this concealer has an ingredient that helps to treat the spots so I like to put this as a base over the spot before I add any other products.

And what a difference a foundation makes!! I used Continuous Coverage in 08 Creamy Glow by Clinique.

Bye bye dark circles. I used Erase Paste in No. 2 Medium by Benefit under the eyes, on the eyelids, around the nose and on blemishes.

Then I set it all in place and got rid of shinyness (of which I have a lot!) with Subliminal Purity Mineral Based Loose Powder in 204 Translucent by Calvin Klein

Next I put some highlighter above my cheek bones along the top of my nose and on my brow bone. I used a blush/higlighter combo that I got in a Colourworks kit from Superdrug.

Ha ha look at how my hair is drying throughout the pictures! I next used a combination of eyeshadows. I used: Estee Lauder Pure Colour Eye Shadow in 10 Ivory Slipper and 47 Nude Fresco, two colours from an eyeshadow trio from the Body Shop which doesn't have a colour number or shade on it, Stay Perfect Eyeshadow in 35 Comet from No. 7 and In a Blink in Steel Smoke by Avon.

Eye liner makes such a difference! I used Liner Express in Black by Maybelline which is a liquid liner on the top lash line and a black kohl eye pencil from Avon that I have had for so long that I have sharpened it past all of the information ha ha on the water lines.

Next, two coats of Super Curlacious Mascara in Black from Avon.

Some contouring with Revlon Matte Powder Blush in 004 Barely Buff and a tiny splash of colour from the blusher in the blusher/highlighter combo. You can't really see from the photo but this did make a difference.

And a rather blurred picture downstairs this time (as my lipstick was downstairs) and with dry hair (as my hair dryer is upstairs) of the finished look. I used Lacura (available at Aldi) lipstick in 108. Yay for the lovely picture of the lipstick on my boyfriends turntable he he.

Magic!

Me all ready to go with straightened hair and in case anyone is interested I am wearing jeans from Red Herring at Debenhams and a top from Pepe Jeans.

I hope you have found this interesting. It was fun to make.

Lots of Love,

Kerry xx