What I bought in New York: Beauty Buys feat. MAC, Laura Mercier, Urban Decay, Sephora

This blog post is about all of my pretty bits I picked up while in New York for Christmas with my family.

Clockwise from left

1. Pro concealer palette in medium, this cost me $40 which is €28, cheap as chips for six pro concealers.

2. Urban Decay eyeshadow primer potion came in at $12/€9.40.

3. Mac Match Master foundation in shade 1.5 cost me $34/ €24.70

4. Cremesheen lipstick in Crème Cup $15/€11

5. Skinfinish Natural in Medium $33/€24

6. Sephora brush cleaner $7/€5

7. Mac Skinfinish Soft & Gentle $33/€24

8. Laura Mercier hydrating primer $32/€23

All in all, I saved a ton of money by buying makeup in the States! I'll do a quick review of the products below.

1. Concealer palette, great range of shades, from NC30-45 and NW30-45 and also a mid yellow and a mid peach, I probably should have gone for the light palette but I can mix and match shades to suit my complexion. I bought it more so for my kit. I put the yellow concealer over any redness in my skin to cancel it out, and the peach one is great for any blue undertones around the eyes after all those late nights! ;)

2. I had been eager to try the Urban Decay primer potion as it is one of the holy grail products of beauty bloggers, and it did not disappoint!! The eyeshadow just does not budge with this on.

3. Now I was matched up with the second lightest shade of Match master and told it was great for normal to dry complexions and would give me great coverage and a demi matte finish...I think this is a decent foundation but I wish I had held out until I could buy a foundation which would give me dewy glowy skin. Match master is new to MAC, and the shades start at 1, and increase in .5, eg, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5. The shades go from the lightest of all MAC foundations to the darkest they carry in their range.

4. Crème cup is your standard pinky nude lippy, I like it, but don't love it, and to be honest there is better staying power in my £1 MUA lipstick. You literally have to reapply MAC Crème cup every 15 minutes, which is pointless in a lipstick. It is very moisturising however.

5. Skinfinish Natural in Medium is a mineral foundation powder and I use it to set my foundation and provide extra coverage its pretty decent.

6. Haven't noticed any miracles with the brush cleaner but its a quick way to clean your brushes without having to worry about drying time.

7. My favourite product is MAC's Soft and Gentle Skinfinish, I'm new to this as well and I absolutely adore it as a highlighter! It really adds another dimension to your face and flat skin is just not acceptable when you have wondrous products like MAC's skinfinish.

8. I was stuck between Laura Mercier's primer and Benefits Porefessional. I love the velvety feel and the slightly tinted colour of Benefits primer, but Laura Mercier's primer is touted as the best, and since I have slightly dry skin I plumped for the hydrating primer. Haven't noticed much of a difference yet to be honest although foundation does go on smoother.

So there you have it beauty bloggers, my first post of January 2014, I hope this year is every bit as fabulous and beautiful as you hope!