NYX | Mini Haul & Must Haves

I recently went to Olympia Beauty 2016 where I treated myself to some NYX bits and bobs. Last year at Olympia Beauty 2015 was the first time I had actually heard of and bought NYX products, so I guess it’s sort of poetic that the second time around I re-bought some of the freebies I got in 2015!

Matte Finish Setting Spray (Show Price £6.30 / Boots RRP £7) – Essentially what is says on the tin. A setting spray to lightly mist over your face after applying makeup, to help keep it in place, and leave you with a matte finish (they also do another that has a dewy finish). I’ve actually never owned one of these before, but after using a friends fancy version once in the past and it seemingly working quite well, I thought I would buy an affordable cruelty-free one! I’ve used it several times since, before nights out/long days, and although I can’t say for sure whether this keeps my makeup looking flawless better than other more high end brands of setting spray, it has certainly worked  better than not using any setting spray at all.

Above & Beyond – Full Cover Concealer (Show Price £4.95 / Boots RRP £5.50) – A yellow tinted concealer to try and hide those pesky purple/blue toned eye bags. It’s well known amongst my friends that I love sleeping, but no matter how long I sleep for I always have some remnants of under eye bags. Although I’ve found this to be a little dry, it hides that purple tint relatively well and is a good replacement for a non CF brand I had been using previously – just gotta make sure my skin is nicely moisturised before hand!

Wonder Stick (Show Price £9.00 / Boots RRP £10) – Since someone recommended trying this last year as an easy daytime contouring tool that you can blend with your fingers, I have loved using it. It’s a soft, crayon like product, with two sides: one for contouring and one for highlighting. It’s so quick, easy and simple to use. The only downside I’ve found is that the contouring side ran out quite quickly for me, in comparison with the highlighting side + I didn’t find the highlight end to be light/shimmery enough for me!

Pro Crease Brush (Show Price £7.65 / Boots RRP £8.50) – I’m quite the newbie when it comes to brushes, I only have a few – some I know what to do with, others I don’t. I bought this with the purpose to use it as an eyeshadow blending brush when attempting to do a smokey eye. I’ve never been great at doing my eyeshadow, but I’m actively trying to be a lot better now (especially since there are so many beautiful CF brands and colours out there at the moment)! Having used this brush a few times since buying it and loving how blended the eye shadow on my lids look, I think I’m going to need a loads more brushes! I’ve put a few on my Christmas list, so fingers crossed for me!

Jumbo Eye Pencil, Milk (Show Price £4.50 / Boots RRP £5) – This is another item I bought last years and was a big fan of, before losing it (typical!). The pencil comes in a range of colours from pastels to bright and shiny, but I decided to grab something I was familiar with for 2 reasons: I wanted to use it in my waterline to brighten my eyes, and to use as a base for my eye shadow – apparently it’s great to use underneath colourful shadows to make them more vivid! I’ve not had a chance to properly experiment with this, but when I do, I’ll update this post with pics/write a new one and link it here.

If you’ve been on the fence about any of the above products, I hope this blog has helped! Let me know if there are any other NYX products you’ve loved, that I should try out!