A couple of days ago I landed back in Kuala Lumpur after a week of touring the United Kingdom. I would’ve stayed there slightly longer than a week but because of work commitment, I spent a good seven nights there – which isn’t bad at all!
This isn’t my first time in the UK – but this one’s a trip I’d never forget. We were supposed to go to Paris, France as well but because of the recent bombings, at the end of the day all of us decided against it. So Wales became our second destination next to England.
The trip was well – shopping, halal food hunting….you know the usual. But as a hardcore makeup lover, I allocated a certain amount of money to dedicate to the thing that I love the most – makeup!
I did however, make up a rule where the things that I will get will strictly be drugstore products only. Hence, every Boots and each Superdrug available were made my second home.
Remember back when I reviewed my Topshop lipsticks, how I talked about wanting so desperately to try the famous Topshop Glow highlighters? Well, lucky for me I actually managed to snag a few. It wasn’t easy, mind you. But it was totally worth it!
The highlighter, in Gleam especially, would be my all time favorite highlighter for now. It is the best. The top of the tops. Polished isn’t bad too, but Gleam? My Gosh, those British Youtubers weren’t kidding when they said these are their HG. The problem is though, it is sold out everywhere.
Top: Polished. Bottom: Gleam
And I mean, literally everywhere.
I bought one in Gleam at Oxford Street but silly me decided to buy just one. The next day after I’ve tested it out and decided how much I love it, I felt like I needed to stock up so when I went to nearly every other Topshop in London, the salesgirls would always respond “we’re out of stock I’m afraid”.
Total bummer. Mind you, when I was at Topshop in Oxford Street, only a few were left. They’re really selling like hot cakes.
I did find a few left when I was visiting Swansea. Gleam wasn’t available so I bought Polished instead. It isn’t bad…as a matter of fact, it is amazing. But my heart has already been stolen by Gleam so my Topshop makeup standard at this point of time had already been marked up.
You’re probably wondering, what is it that makes these highlighters so amazing?
L: Polished. R: Gleam
First of all they’re really creamy. Very soft and buttery, it almost melts when you touch it with your fingers. You know how some creams are really not that comfortable to scoop out with your finger due to it being hard and dry? That isn’t the case with this one. When looking at it, you’d expect it to be tough and non-malleable, like a cream eyeshadow, where you’d have to swirl your finger around to get good payoff, but that’s not how it is at all. I’d say it’s almost liquidy, so you have to watch yourself when you’re dipping your finger in. Be gentle or you’ll end up with more than you could ever possibly highlight your face with!
The pigment, in case you’re asking, is really really great, you don’t need to pile on too much on the high points of your face to look glowy. It is sort of metallic too, but not in a metallic way. Do you get what I mean? A lot but not too much. Flashy but not blinding. It just gives you that beautiful highlight that so many other brands fail to achieve and that is the number one reason why I love it so much.
The only thing questionable about this product would be how clean it actually is. Maybe if I scooped it out with a little spatula instead of my fingers, it would bother me less. For now, I’ve only used it a handful of times but as time passes by, I’m pretty sure it will gross me out.
Of course, as wonderful as these highlighters are they were absolutely not my only purchases during this trip! As you can see from the picture above, I did get some stuff from Lush— I wouldn’t say I’m a huge Lush fangirl but I thought I might as well since we don’t have it in Malaysia. Anyway, so far they’re okay. I’m very concerned with how long lasting they are. And then of course I had to get my hands on the Rimmel Natural Bronzer— Lisa Eldridge-approved and unfortunately unavailable in Malaysia! (actually now that I think about it– do we still even have Rimmel locally? I heard rumours many years back that it was pulling out, but the Rimmel stuff that we got were so lame that I never paid much attention to them. Bring in the Kate Moss lipsticks, for God’s sake!)
I have TONS more stuff that are not pictured in this post. There are way too many to fit into a single post, without it being hundreds of thousands of words long. So I’ll definitely be revisiting my UK haul in future posts. I know that Makeup Revolution has been gaining popularity amongst Malaysian makeup addicts… if you’re one of them, then tune in because I’ve got a treat for you!
MY LIPSTICK STAIN 