Mini Mac Haul;

The nearest Mac store to me is an hour and a half away. Although I am forever lusting over the website I like to see my makeup before I buy it. Luckily a few towns away The Cosmetics Company Store has just open, they offer higher end brands of makeup  for a discount price. Of course they don't offer a full selection of products and they often use discontinued and less popular shades. But I am very excited to show you what I purchased and share my savings with you.

 I had to pick up the Pro Longwear Foundation especially as it was £17.50 in store. The helpful assistant stood with me for 20 minutes helping me find the right shade so a big thank you must go out to her. I bought it in the shade NW 13, I'm told the NW means pink toned and this was such a good match that you couldn't notice I was wearing it on my neck when I left. This foundation is meant to be medium coverage and natural so I'm looking forward to see how it works with my skin.

I don't usually get on with cream eyeshadows/ bases, (I don't even get on with the Maybelline Colour Tattoos) but I've heard such good things about Mac Paint Pots. I picked up mine in Groundwork, which is a medium warm-toned brown (even though Mac's website describes it as taupe??). I got this for £10 which is a £5.50 saving, I'm just keeping all fingers crossed that this converts me to a cream eyeshadow wearer.

This is by far my favourite purchase, Mac eyeshadows are iconic in the beauty world but even at the discounted price a single pan was £8 and I managed to pick this quad up for £21. Introducing: Showstopper, it is a cool toned quad that I don't think is available anymore. It contains the shades; 'Oh My Darling' which is a light nude with a little shimmer, 'Jest' which is a pink-peach shade with shimmer, 'Mineralism' which is a brown taupey colour which is full blown sparkle and 'Showstopper' which is a matte dark brown with purple undertones. I think this is gonna make some great looks and fit right in with the rest of my eyeshadows. I literally can't wait to try this, like as soon as I finish typing. Ooh and the packing is magnetic... so satisfying.

If you see The Cosmetics Company Store open near you, definitely go take a look it might take a bit of rummaging through sparkly purple lipstick and orange eyeliner, but there are some real gems. The also offer Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder and Smashbox among others and I will definitely be going back for more (when my bankcard has recuperated). What are your favourite Mac products?

My First Mac Lipstick;

This is not just my first Mac lipstick but my first high-end lipstick in general. I only started looking at high-end products last year and I was also just started my love for matte lipsticks. So my first Mac had to be matte formula, this is in the shade Pink Plaid which is too adorable, it is also known as my baby. The moment I tested this I was in love with everything including Mac's famous matte black packaging with a hint of glitter. It doesn't get dirty easily and it is the perfect mixture of simple and grand.

Although this is matte the formula feels creamy on the lips and doesn't dry them out. It lasts almost all day, I know matte lipsticks last longer but still...

This shade lovely neutral pink which makes it wearable, but the subtle blue undertones make it something special and I haven't seen anything like it from other brands. The only reason I don't have a wardrobe full of Mac lipsticks (yet) is because I'm living on a student budget and my nearest Mac store is an hour and a half away, thank god.