London Haul – Fenty Beauty, 3INA, Urban Decay & The Ordinary

Prior (and after) the bloggers ball myself and Lora, decided to hit the shops for a little retail therapy (one of us *cough* me, did more so than the other). We decided to go and have a look at the Fenty Beauty counter in Harvey Nichols, I thought I’d talk you through our experience of that as well as showing you what I caved and bought!

Fenty Beauty
Stocked only in Harvey Nichols stores in the UK, meaning counters for Fenty Beauty are quite few and far between – the closest store to me is the London store and I was keen to see products in person before caving to buy anything. I’ll start by saying briefly – I’m not a Rhianna fan,  however just about every review I’ve seen has been positive, and after hearing the foundation was great for oily skin, as a beauty fan I wanted to check it out, and for the first time I always like to do that in person.

We arrived at the store at around 10.30ish on a Saturday morning, and saw a queue outside, undecided what this queue was for we asked the doorman who simply said “they’re selling something special today”, we presumed he meant a new handbag was coming out, but on walking up to the counter we were told by the counter-staff the queue was outside.

In all honesty the queue length didn’t seem that bad, and I thought we would be within the door within half an hour – just over an hour and a half later we were eventually through the door. The queue time became even more staggering when we discovered there was a second counter at the back of the beauty haul where we went to and the room was packed out. I wasn’t too impressed with most of the staff we came int contact with – many of which were rude, and the cleanliness of how they were cleaning brushes for colour matching foundation was a little grim – but after 90 minutes of queuing I was ready to grab my stuff and go.

I’ll do a full review of the products, packaging etc in the next few weeks – but here’s the two things I bought.

First off the foundation, The Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation, is something that I’d seen lots of positive reviews on, and it was one particular review that I stumbled on for someone who really struggles with foundation holding up on their oily skin that declared it as their new favourite that really turned me onto something that I needed to try. With Medium-Full, but buildable coverage it’s exactly where I like to be and priced at £26, I think the line is quite reasonably priced, on par with MAC in that low-high end middle of the road pricepoint.

I actually had no plans to get anything other than the foundation, but when we was waiting to see how the foundation settled on the skin and oxidises, I took at the primer, which I thought wouldn’t be good for oily skin – despite what the sales assistant tried to tell me (dewy, glowy primer is the opposite of where I want to start!). But the highlighters stood out, looking over Trophy Wife, probably the product that’s had the most conversation around it – the duo Killawatt Highlighters were lovely. I picked I think the most subtle of the bunch and opted for the more neutral rather than the golden toned version. I loved both the shades of this, they swatched beautifully and on the morning of going to London I finished up Mary Loumanizer, so naturally rewarded myself with another highlight immediately… great for decluttering.

3INA

When Ben and myself went to London in July for the Cursed Child Play, we visited the 3INA Store, I was on my no-buy and decided to behave and didn’t buy the cream shadows that caught my eye, although I did mention them as a temptation at the end of the month roundup. I’ve tried to buy them online since but really struggled to work out which was the shade I fell in love with so picked it up as we were back near the store. At £8.95 these seem to be extremely budge proof and I thought these would be a nice and easy option for work, I picked up the shade 312, which is a taupe-pink shade with a sparkly finish.

The Ordinary

Lora requested we visited the Ordinary Store and I had no plans to get anything, I saw this, got curious as I’d not remembered seeing anything about it and decided it was worth a try. This is the AHA 30% and BHA 2% Peeling Solution which I thought would aid in me trying to clear up the bite scars from summer on my cheek. Described as a 10 minute facial, I’m looking forward to trying this out. At £6.30, it’s on par with the Ordinary’s usual affordable price point.

Urban Decay

I’ve been on the hunt for the Velvetizer from Urban Decay everywhere, it was another product that I’d been tempted in July. This is a power which can be used for setting, baking and as a mixing medium to change the texture, and coverage of foundations. This is primarily wanted it as it helps with oil control and I thought it would help me use up foundations I don’t like for the coverage, finish or help their longevity. It turns out in the UK at least, that this is only stocked at Urban Decay stores, not counters or online retailers which explains why I’ve found it difficult to find. This is silkier than I could have ever imagined, and priced at £24 for 8g it’s not too badly priced it’s so finely milled you get a lot of powder.

Last up was the Troublemaker mascara, which I’m not gonna lie I want to love because I love the packaging. I decided to try the mini because it’s not traditionally the type of brush I normally love – but I want to try it cause the packaging makes me happy. At £9, it wasn’t too badly priced either I didn’t think.

Wilkos

I didn’t pick this up in London, but I had done in the week prior. I’d heard that these were really good and spotted it in Wilkos for half price, down from £9.95 to £4.95 so decided to grab one of their Super Stay Matte Ink’s. I picked up the shade, I picked up the shade Escapist, a dark brown berry red. Sadly they had no samples so I was expecting this to be a bit lighter and brighter, but I’m sure it will be a good shade for A/W none the less.


So that’s what I got! I can’t wait to put these to start properly testing these out, I’ve got almost a full face of new Makeup here to try and play with. I’m thinking another no buy in October might be a good idea though! Let me know if there’s anything here you’ve tried, and what you’ve been buying recently!

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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22 Comments

  1. September 26, 2017 / 6:09 am

    I got a sample of the Fenty Beauty foundation at Sephora a couple weeks ago.I thought it was just ok, nothing overly special. For being a matte foundation, it actually made me look and feel oily/greasy much sooner than any of my usual foundations and I had to blot and repowder sooner as a result, which was not impressive. But if it works better for others, that’s great. It’s just not for me.

    • September 26, 2017 / 7:21 am

      So funny you say that I wore it yesterday for the first time and I didn’t get oily at all yesterday, not even a little bit of shine on the forehead!

  2. September 26, 2017 / 6:55 am

    Great haul Rachael – so much lovely stuff! I’m intrigued to see how you find the Fenty Foundation as an oily skinned gal myself, and also the Ordinary Peel, love their products! x

  3. September 26, 2017 / 10:39 am

    All of these goodies sound wonderful! Fleur De Force raved about that Kilowatt highlighter duo and did a first impressions of quite a few of the Fenty Beauty products 🙂 The 3INA shadow looks gorgeous, can only imagine how nice it will be to use. Escapist looks like a great berry lip colour x

    • September 26, 2017 / 10:40 am

      I watched her video the day before we went! Thought it looked nice, but loved it in person! Been wearing the 3ina shadow the past few days and the formula is lovely and really long lasting!
      x

  4. Aimee
    September 26, 2017 / 11:29 am

    I really want to try the Fenty Foundation, I’ve seen the shade range and the diversity in it makes me so happy!

  5. September 26, 2017 / 12:30 pm

    All your picks look intriguing! I am so curious about that Ordinary product… Let us know how you like it?

  6. September 26, 2017 / 2:03 pm

    Fab haul! I recently picked up the Fenty rose gold lipgloss—can’t wait to see your reviews of the foundation, etc.

    OMG that Ordinary product is so BERRY!!! :O It looks delicious, hehehe.

      • September 27, 2017 / 8:26 pm

        Skincare never tastes good. What’s up with that?

  7. September 26, 2017 / 3:00 pm

    Great haul — both of the Fenty Beauty products look gorgeous! I haven’t been into Sephora yet to check them out, because I know I’ll purchase them! LOL!

  8. September 26, 2017 / 9:44 pm

    Can’t wait for your Fenty review, I’m so on the fence because I’ve read a lot of mixed ones on the foundation… I’m going to London in November and I really hope the queuing dies down by then. No time for rude staff either! I don’t know what to believe! ill be interested to see what you think of the UD mascara too! 🙂

  9. September 27, 2017 / 8:49 pm

    Ou Super Stay Matte Ink looks good!! Hows the staying power? xx

    • September 27, 2017 / 9:15 pm

      Yet to be worn! Had a full blown cold since Sunday and haven’t been wearing much makeup all week! I will report back!

      • September 27, 2017 / 10:15 pm

        Oh poor thing!! Hope you feel better!! At least your getting it over and done with now…. Your only allowed one cold a winter right??!?! 🙂
        Please do love the idea of this!! If its as good as i hope it is may have to get a few!! xx

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