£5 AND UNDER HAUL

zebra dress - £5 primark sale

grey dress - £3 primark sale

essence all about nude palette - £3.50

essence quattro palette - £3

essence eyebrow stylist set - £2.50

essence long lasting eye-liner pen - £2.50

MUA undress your skin highlighter - £3

MUA velvet matte lip lacquer - £3

make up revolution iconic 3 palette - £4

make up revolution primer - £5

Hi lovelies! I'll be honest, I love a bargain in the clothing department, but when it comes to make up, I can be a bit of a snob, and tend not to trust cheaper brands, however, I set myself a little challenge this weekend, as I was in a serious shopping mood but have been a bit naughty with money this month, so I decided to buy nothing above £5. It was actually kind of fun hunting around for bargains and setting myself a little challenge to find quality items at a low price. I think this is a fab idea for anyone, particularly if you just want to treat yourself, but don't want to spend too much money! Anyway, I've had a little play with everything and I just had to share everything I got with you guys! So I'm just going to give a few first impressions and will hopefully feature some (or all!) of these in future posts, so let me know if you'd like to see anything reviewed in full.

This time of year, as the seasons are changing, lots of stores have some pretty good sales and absolutely nothing beats a good old Primark sale. They had loads of pretty dresses, but very few size 6's left, so I ended up going for this super adorable black zebra print cut out sleeve dress for only £5 and a cute, casual grey dropped waist dress for just £3! I thought these would be fab for more casual looks throughout the A/W and for those prices, how could I say no?

Moving on to the biggest and most exciting part of this haul, make up! I picked up a few items from three different brands, Essence, MUA and Make up Revolution, all brands that are very competitively priced and all brands that, despite the low cost I've heard great things about. First up, Essence. I think this brand is fairly new to the UK and my local Wilkos has recently got a huge stand full of Essence make up, so I thought I'd pick up a few things to try. I got the 'All About Nude' eyeshadow palette, 'Quattro' eyeshadow palette, 'Eyebrow Stylist' set and 'Longlasting Eyeliner Pen', I'll probably review most of these in full anyway, but I've had a little go and so far I'm seriously impressed! Eyeshadow is actually something I'll usually spend a fair bit of money on my favourites being MAC and Urban Decay, however I thought I'd give some of these a go as a cheaper alternative.

All I can say, is I was definitely wrong to write off cheaper branded shadows, as these are amazing! The 'All About Nude' palette, is made up of 6 cool toned nudes and the 'Quattro' palette is a 4 pan palette made up of slightly warmer toned shades, so I thought I'd give both a go, just so I'd have options depending on how I wanted to do my make up that day! These are both fairly slim and travel friendly, so I'll definitely be keeping both of these in my make up bag! I'll definitely be doing a full review once I've used these a little more, but all I can say now is the pigmentation looks fab and the texture and colours are gorgeous - all for less than £4 a go! I needed a new eye-liner pen anyway and for just £2.50, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I picked up the 'long lasting' one. At that price, I'll probably be repurchasing this over and over if this lives up to it's claims! Lastly, as I've been a bit brow crazy lately, I decided to give the 'Brow Stylist' set a go, I got this in the shade 'blonde style' and the colours look great. For only £2.50, I think this is amazing, as it comes with brow stencils as well as a little instruction booklet along with the two gorgeous shades. Again, if you'd like a review of this, definitely let me know and I'll get on it!

As for MUA, a few things caught my eye, but I have tried a couple of things in the past and have found it to be a bit hit and miss, some things they do seriously well and others, not so much. However, this gorgeous highlighter caught my eye right away and after swatching it in store, I knew it had to come home with me. The design is absolutely gorgeous and the soft pink colour is a nice change from my usual Topshop 'Sunbeam' powder highlight. The texture and consistency seems lovely, perfect for adding a subtle glow to any make up look. I also decided to try a 'Velvet Lip Laquer', I've tested this a little and the texture and pigmentation are lovely, however I can't comment on how long lasting this is, so I'll have to update you all on that. I chose the colour 'Tranquility', which is a nude, but it's darker than it looks as the bottle is frosted and they had no testers, so that's something to bear in mind. However the quality is lovely so I'll probably try more colours anyway!

The final brand I shopped was one I've heard lots about lately and luckily, one my local Superdrug has recently started stocking. That brand, is Makeup Revolution. There was so much to choose from, but as I've not tried anything before I decided to just pick up a couple of bits and see what I think before going mad on too many items that will end up just sitting in a drawer! So, I picked up the Redemption palette in 'Iconic 3', which is full of both warm and cool toned shadows in shimmer, satin and matte finishes. This is a supposed dupe for the Naked 3 palette. I have to say, the shades do look very similar, so we'll have to see if the quality matches up too! I had a quick play and the pigmentation looks fab, so I have high hopes! Finally, I needed a new primer, so I figured for only £5, I decided it was worth a shot. I tried this on the back of my hand only, but it seems quite nice for the price, it's is a clear liquid that seems to blur the look of pores and smooth out skin texture. It has that typical silicone feel, which I do quite like in a primer, so so far, I'm impressed. Once I've given this a proper go, I'll let you guys know my thoughts.

Do you like going bargain hunting every now and then? What's the best bargain you picked up lately?

Let me know your thoughts!