Definitely one of the perks of living at home and having a mother and two sisters was that I didn’t really have to buy my own make up. There was always someone I could steal borrow from to make sure that I had a variety of expensive make up to play with. But now that I’m a big girl, out on my own in varsity, I have to do big girl things like buying products for myself.
That being said, my student budget doesn’t really permit me to be the MAC fanatic I thought I was before, so I had to take to Dischem and Clicks to find new brands that are good and within my own budget. Dischem in particular is where I found my newest obsession (courtesy of my sister who recommended their products to me), L.A. Girl Cosmetics (special shoutout to the beauty fair that just ended!).
They make eyeshadow and blush palettes, liquid foundation and press powders, concealers, eyeliners, lipsticks, liquid matte lipsticks (they were the first brand I saw that had it, to be honest!) – you name it, and they’re reasonably priced too. The eyeshadow palette set me back only R89.99, and the lipstick cost me about R60.00. The concealers are really cheap (R30.00) and are perfect for contouring, which I can finally do because I have a darker concealer!
I loved their eyeshadow palettes so much I bought another one the other day – but the only problem I found is that they weren’t very pigmented (especially for my skin tone) – even with a primer for my eyelids. I lowkey had to dig in the eyeshadow to get enough colour to stick and show on my eyelids, but I wasn’t too upset because it does the job and for R90.00, you get what you paid for. I usually wear a gold/bronze palette so this was me being a bit adventurous with colour and I don’t think it looks too bad.
I really love their matte lipstick! As you can see from my blog posts and Instagram, I sort of have a signature colour, mostly because I keep accidentally buying the same shade of lipstick from different brands (Diva from MAC, Cherry Bomb from Wet n Wild and now Runway from L.A. Girl – they’re basically identical) and I’ve found the L.A. Girl one to be my favourite. The MAC one I find a bit too dry on my lips and the Wet n Wild one is amazing because it retains its colour, but terrible because it literally never comes off, lol. The L.A. Girl is a goodie because it moisturises your lips while still keeping a strong pigment and not wearing off quickly.
In other non-L.A. Girl make up news, if you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen me rave about fake eyelashes and the brand Eylure. I love their Volume range because they’re subtle but still effective, and my dance/gymnastics background has made me a somewhat pro at putting them on for myself. They’re great quality for R55.00-R60.00 at Clicks and if you take them off carefully, you can reuse them about three (maybe even more!) times.
I thought I’d just give you a little before and after using those new products below (along with my regular make up products like my MAC liquid foundation in NW50 and concealer in NC50, Essence eyebrow pencil in dark brown, MAC blush in Fever, just a store-brand bronzer and Rimmel Wonder’full mascara). I really am starting to become obsessed with make up so its something you’ll see more of on the blog! Let me know if you like it or if there’s anything else you’d like to see, too.
Have a good week!✨
