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Glow Steady

Vegan Recipes, Beauty & Lifestyle

Beauty, Makeup, Skin -

Birthday Beauty Haul 2020

a few items from my birthday beauty haul against a white background

It’s become somewhat of a tradition now that I share my birthday beauty haul with you each year. The first one was huge, the second one was tiny. This one falls somewhere in between, but there’s a mix of repurchases and new items, makeup and skincare, high end and affordable.  

I mentioned when I posted the first one of these that I usually don’t buy any beauty bits (unless it’s an essential) for a couple of months before birthday so I have a decent sized wishlist by the time those ‘hey it’s your birthday! Here’s 20% off’ emails come in. If you saw the review, you’ll know that I bought the new XX Revolution foundation and concealer about a month before my birthday, so I cheated a little bit.  

My current beauty shopping habits 

This feels like a good time for an update/. I’ve spoken before about how I’m not fully CF with my beauty products, but I’ve recently made some changes to how I shop. Still not fully CF, but leaning more that way.  

The old system: buy whatever I want, if I’m choosing between two, pick the CF one.  

The new system: so that same rule still applies, that if I have my eye on two things, I’ll opt for the CF option if one is and one isn’t. But there’s a couple of new rules. Now, if I finish a cruelty free product, I need to replace it with a cruelty free product. And I’m aiming to make all new items CF. The one thing I’m sticking to for now is that if I have a non-cruelty free product that I truly love, I’m willing to repurchase that product. But if I’m looking to replace it with a new product, that product would be CF.  

I’m also drifting away from the idea of featuring products that aren’t CF here on my blog. If I’m doing an empties or favourites, I’ll still include it but you probably won’t be seeing any dedicated reviews on products that aren’t CF.

So, as you’ll see below, I have one repurchased item that isn’t CF, but the rest of it is either CF or vegan.  

I hope that makes sense, but now it’s time to look at what I’ve bought. 

Birthday Beauty Haul 2020 

The repurchases  

Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder / £36 (Not CF) 

I’m getting the only not cruelty free product out of the way first. This foundation powder is one of the only ones I’ve found that doesn’t look too matte or dry on my dry skin. It just looks like smooth skin, and I find powder foundations so easy to use for those light makeup days where you just want to look fresher. Or to throw in your bag for touch ups.  

Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm / £59 per 50ml (Ve) 

I’ve spoken about how much I love this product a million times now. At £59 for 50ml, it’s something I only buy when it’s on offer because no one needs to spend that much money on a cleanser. But it is the best cleanser in the world so I keep going back. Thankfully, this was on Look Fantastic for £40 a few weeks ago so this was my first early birthday present to myself.  

Kinda new, kinda not  

Beauty Blender Set / £15 (Ve) 

I’ve obviously used a BeautyBlender before, but I’ve only ever used the black ones and I’ve never used the solid cleanser or the little cleansing mats. I had every intention of picking up a new black one, but saw this sit with the pink sponge, mini cleanser and mat for £15 on Beauty Bay. Original Beauty Blenders are £17. So it seemed dumb to not try the set. It all comes in a little case, perfect for that word beginning with T that I can’t see myself doing for a while but…when the time comes, it looks like a good set for that.  

New  

Glow Recipe Sleeping Mask / £20.50 per 30ml (Ve) 

glow recipe watermelon sleeping ask on a white wooden board

I’ve been wanting to try something from Glow Recipe for a long time now and I’ve finally got my hands on something. As I’ve mentioned before, I was looking for a replacement for the Clinique Moisture Surge and you may notice that this pink gloopy gel looks an awful lot like that. The second ingredient in this formula is hyaluronic acid, so it’s definitely hydrating. But it also contains glycolic and lactic acid to exfoliate too. I’m very sensitive to glycolic, which is why I only got the small one for now. I’ve only used this twice, so it’s too soon to tell, but so far so good and no irritation.  

Beauty Bay Fiery 16 Colour Palette / £10 (Ve) 

beauty bay fiery 16 palette showing the shades

I bought this for one really simple reason, I don’t own a single warm palette. Not one. I’ve mentioned before that I typically opt for cooler toned neutrals and those palettes make up the bulk of my collection. But every now and then, particularly in autumn, I like something warmer. The traditional autumnal warm golden eye with the berry lip is a look I like to play around with when the leaves change. But every time I scramble around in my collection pulling out about 5 palettes that have one or two warm shades in them to make it work. So, I thought it was time to get a warm palette. I’ve heard amazing things about the Beauty Bay palettes and they’re really affordable so I’m not wasting my money on something that isn’t going to be reached for that often – it seemed like a good choice.  

I’ve played with this a few times now and I really love the formula. They blend well and I can get 8 hours of wear without creasing even without primer and I’ve washed my face after 17 hours with a base and my eyeshadow still looked great by the time I was taking it off. I’m really impressed so far, so much that I might see if they have another palette that contains shades similar to my go-to colours.  

Have you tried any of these items? What’s on your beauty wishlist right now? 

Until next time,

Sophie

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Comments

  1. Happy birthday! I hope you had a wonderful day. I loved reading this post and it seems like you picked up some great bits. I’m yet to try anything from Omorovicza but I really want to because I’ve heard great things. I’ve tried the Pineapple Serum from Glow Recipe and really enjoyed it, so I’d love to try some more products from the brand. I definitely support your CF choices, it’s a really good path to choose x

    Reply

  4. I have so many things on my wishlists but nothing I actually need! I bought a ton of things the other month for my birthday too so ideally I shouldn’t buy anything else until black friday when all the crazy discounts start x

    Emily | emiliamarlowe.co.uk

    Reply

  5. I’ve been interested in trying a beauty bay eyeshadow palette but wasn’t sure on the quality. It sounds good though, so I’m definitely going to give one a go! Hope you enjoy using your new products!

    Reply

  8. I’ve seen a few reviews of the watermelon glow mask and I really want to try it! 🙂 It sounds wonderful! 🙂 Happy belated birthday!

    Hope that you are having a nice week and have a lovely weekend ahead of you 🙂

    Reply

  10. Happy belated birthday! It’s my birthday next month and it’s going to end up being an excuse to buy so much…

    Reply

  11. These sound like some great products. That Glow Recipe one definitely looks like an alternative to Clinique’s moisture surge. I’d love to know what you think of it.

    Reply

  17. Hope you had a lovely birthday! The Glow Recipe Mask sounds and looks lovely! I love the system you’ve got going where you’re trying to make CF swaps where possible. It’s my birthday next week and I’ve got a few beauty bits on my list. I’m at the ‘figuring out what products work for me’ stage of my beauty routine so I’ve got a cleanser, oil and spf on my list. Looking forward to testing them out! X

    https://www.femaleoriginal.com

    Reply

  18. Happy birthday! I hope you had a great day. The items in this haul look amazing – I’ve had my eyes on so many of these products! The beauty blender’s cleanser is excellent and once you’ve tried it you’ll never look back!!

    Reply

  21. Happy birthday! Great haul. That palette is beautiful! I’m trying to become more fully cruelty free with my make up and skincare too. I have skincare pretty much down as I love the Superdrug own ranges but my next task is to revamp my make up ☺️

    Reply

  24. Can you believe I’ve only started using Beauty Blenders this year?! I’m absolutely obsessed though and now I’m off to check out Beauty Bay xx

    Reply

  27. Oooh the watermelon sleeping mask sounds amazing! I’m on the hunt for a new one, but this one if a bit out of my price range! 🙁 On my wishlist right now I’ve got the Refreshing Chamomile Toner by Cowshed. I first got a sample in a LookFantastic box and I’ve been hooked ever since!

    Reply

  29. Happy belated birthday! You got a really cute range of things. I have heard nothing but good things about the sleeping mask, and I really want to try it! I might actually put it on my own birthday list this year… Also that palette is beautiful. I’m like you, don’t usually wear warm colours but they’re so nice in autumn and the price is so good that it’s worth a punt!

    Reply

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