Products Other Bloggers Have Influenced Me To Try

 
I've seen a few of these posts popping up here and there, and for a long time, I used to think that I would never be able to write one myself, mainly because of all of the things I wanted were way out of my budget or really difficult to obtain locally, let alone online (L.A. Girl comes to mind). However, almost a year after starting my blog, I've come to realise that I've actually gotten a few of the items that I so coveted, and these are the products that other bloggers have convinced me to add to my wishlist. I'm still budgeting for the other items on my wishlist, but I'm getting there eventually.

The first product that I was inspired to buy was theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer. I first saw it on Instagram and fell in love with the super cute packaging. I have a thing for pin-up and retro styles, so this was something that caught my attention from the get-go. As soon as I found out just how amazing the highlighter within was, I put it right at the top of my wishlist. My friend Cathy was kind enough to send it to me in her care package at my request, and I've used it almost obsessively each time I put my face on.

I actually found out about the Milani Rose Blushes when I was stalking a few lolita blogs a couple of years ago, because even though I haven't dressed lolita since my high school days, I still love looking at the fashion. I didn't know what brand they were, let alone where I could get them, so I forgot about them. Until one day last year I saw them again on Pinterest and went "ooooh, I must have these!" A quick search later and I found out that they were by Milani Cosmetics, which turned out to be cruelty-free and mostly vegan. I didn't resist picking up the two vegan shades (even without looking at swatches) and use the Romantic Rose the most out of the two as it's such a gentle shade that I feel comfortable with.

Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly Eye Shadow Palette was one of the few items that other bloggers have inspired me to buy. Technically it was the Chocolate Bar at first, but then Too Faced announced a new Limited Edition palette with a PB&J theme. After reading reviews and looking at many, many swatches I kept trying to convince myself not to get it. The dark side won me over and I ordered it online from Mecca. Frankly, I don't get to use this one as often as I would like because I'm always strapped for time in the mornings, and eye shadow always takes me the longest to apply since I'm such a noob at it. Nonetheless, it swatches beautifully and has a buttery texture and blends so nicely. I plan on buying myself the Chocolate Bar as a to-me, from-me gift for my birthday and Christmas.

I was exposed to the wonders of L.A. Girl HD Pro Conceal Concealers in Instagram, and for so long I really wanted to try them out as I had a feeling that I would find my colour in their range. Technically I didn't, but I actually really love their colour correcting green and yellow ones. The green is perfect for my ruddy cheeks, spots and other redness, and when applied with a light hand, doesn't look ashy, textured, or cakey. The yellow one, on the other hand, goes under my eyes where I have purple/grey bags, and I put my "wrong colour" concealer on top of it as it has a peach undertone that effectively blends everything together with my natural skin tone.

I got some Real Techniques brushes after reading so many reviews and photos of them. I chose the blush brush as well as the setting brush for my first ones, as they were what I had been most interested in. I seriously love the blush brush because it's such a nice, unique shape to ordinary blush brushes, and it makes easy work at picking up and applying pigment. The setting brush is used for many things, including setting powder (duh) and highlight. I want to get more of these two brushes, and maybe buy the eBay dupes to do a comparison post (I've never done dupe posts before!)

Lastly, we have the Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection. I initially fell in love with them because of the luxe design of the handles, I am such a sucker for metallics. When I read reviews for them, they sounded amazing and seemed to be worth the money. My friend bought these for me in a set from iHerb as a Christmas gift, and at first, I really liked them because they were super soft and pretty. However, I found the powder brush too big for precise powdering on my face, and the blush brush was too small and dense for its purpose. It tended to pick up a lot of colour and was a bit difficult to blend with, so I only used this for highlight. The eyeshadow brush was the best out of the lot and is pretty much the only one I use regularly because it applies shadow nicely. It doesn't blend as well as I'd like but it still works.

I'd like to take this moment to apologise for my irregular updates to the blog, things continue to be hectic here as I've been helping my housemate pack up his stuff. He's making the move next weekend, so this week will be much like the previous two. I've got a one week window after Greg's move to have this place sorted, because I'm going to Adelaide for my friend David's birthday. In fact, instead of popping open the champagne for my blog's first birthday next week, I'm spending the day moving the rest of my furniture from mum's house. Speaking of furniture, my brand spanking new fridge arrived today, and I've spent quite a bit of time mooning over its newness.

My partner wants to go Pokemon hunting as soon as I upload this post, so I must bid thee all adieu. Till next time, friends!

Have other bloggers influenced you into trying these products out? What have I influenced you into trying?