I’ve heard of Cult Beauty over the years but I’ve never really been one for online shopping….in fact I think this was actually my FIRST EVER ONLINE BEAUTY purchase…..ever. That’s pretty crazy. I think it’s just the fact that I like to go in and have the entire shopping experience/day out with playing/swatching with makeup and feeling textures and how products are on my skin. I’m the same with clothes….I rarely shop online with clothes either. I was kind of *forced* to shop online as Liberty’s (fancy department store, London) had sold out and were contiunously sold out (I checked like 3 times over 3 weeks when I was in town) of the May Lindstrom Problem Solver Mask which I really wanted after trying my friend’s.
One thing led to the other when I was buying this mask and I ended up getting a few add-ons and extra bits. First up, they have some REALLY good brands…..from May Lindstrom to Tata Harper, Sigma, Sunday Riley, Kevyn Aucoin, Becca, Jouer (NEED to try!) and Huda Beauty. It’s all quite high end, niche, cult (it’s in the name) brands and it’s almost like a Space NK / Sephora hibrid. LIKE. It was easy to shop, they had everything I needed in stock, were very helpful with any questions I had online via Twitter and the products arrived quickly and I think a day before they were due. It’s also free shipping over £50, which is pretty easy to do. Happy Customer.
Now the fun part ; the products. As I have said, my main priority was the May Lindstrom Problem Solver mask which is like nothing I have ever used. It comes in this ceramic black jar which looks more like an ornament than a beauty treatment and the actual mask comes in powder form, a murky moss-green fine powder, that you mix with water to activate it. This wonder mask is deeply purifying and cleansing, key ingredients include raw cacao, bamboo charcoal & circulatory-boosting spices. It stimulates the elimination of toxins and cleans the pores like never before! I tried this once before and it felt quite tingly (you leave it on for like 20 mins, I think I had it on for 1 hour) but my skin was so SO soft and smooth when I had rinsed it off ; baby-skin, glowing, radiant, pore-less and just amazing. A proper red carpet, special occasion mask. It costs £72 which initially sounds super pricey but that’s for 250ml worth of product, that you are gonna mix with water…this will basically last you throughout your entire lifetime. JUSTIFIED.
I also got a Surratt palette. I had seen and played with this makeup in Liberty’s and the powders are like nothing I have ever felt ; literally like silk. I wanted this exact palette with x 3 shades in….but Liberty’s didn’t have one of the colours OR the large palette, so I decided to get it all together @ Cult Beauty instead. I don’t think I would ever buy shadows/colours online without trying them out in a store first. I have gone for a highlighter (Aureole) , contour (Grisaille) and blusher (poppy) and this may go into my pro kit, depending on how I feel about it ; currently I am being precious about it as I picked the shades for myself personally and it’s pretty expensive coming in @ £88 for the whole thing. As you can see the packaging is very sleek and elegant, all black and the palette is quite weighty and feels very luxe. This brand is quite a small one I think and hails from NYC……Surratt is named after Troy Surratt , a makeup artist who trained under the legendary Kevyn Aucoin. I think it’s going to do very well, a lot of makeup artists are raving about his products. There was SO much more I wanted and the foundation is friggin’ INSANE but I just couldn’t drop £50 for it this time ; think of the By Terry brush foundation…..on steroids and better. It will be mine. All the palettes are all customisable and interchangeable (similar to Shu Uemura) , so this large palette can also fit in 1 x blusher + 4 eyeshadows, 6 eyeshadows, 2 blushers + 2 eyeshadows etc etc. The only thing I don’t like about this palette is that you have to stick the pans in (they have a peely sticker on the back) so probably messy getting them out and interchanging the palettes maybe? I think it would be better to have them magnetic.
Next up a couple of pairs of Huda Beauty Lashes. I have heard a lot about them and all the babes of Instagram seem to wear these so I am intrigued to try them. I went for the #1 Giselle which I think is the bestseller and #7 Samantha which are a bit more dramatic and dense. The lashes come nice and long in regards to the band so will need a trim down and fitting to your eye, but this is good as they will fit all eye shapes and sizes. They look really nice and I have a eye makeup look coming really soon using the Samantha lashes. They are quite pricey, similar to Shu Uemura but I really think they are as good in quality so I am happy from my first impressions.
Are you an online shopper or like myself, a bit adverse to the whole thing? Where are your favourite online beauty shopping destinations?
