LAGOS MAKEUP FAIR 3 - Haul

Hi Guys!

A couple of weeks ago the 3rd edition of the Lagos Makeup Fair (LMUF) was held in Ikeja, it was a 2-day event, Saturday and Sunday.

I remember my first ever LMUF, I had just started up this blog a few months prior and was so excited to attend. I remember not expecting much at all, and being blown away by all the beauty businesses and entrepreneurs we had here in Lagos, it was a real eye-opener for me. The only problem was these people had no physical location, just word-of-mouth and client-referrals. This was what spurred me on to establishing The BiL Directory years later. I want all these beauty-establishments to be found in one place so that customers can search and find whatever they are looking for in Nigeria. Because all these amazing products are available to buy out here and people just don't know they are. Unfortunately most of these businesses are 'comfortable' with their present customer-base and laid-back about expanding their reach so see no reason in being listed on a directory. Sorry to go on a tangent, but I wish I could explain the benefits of the Directory to every single potential vendor I meet, unfortunately not everyone's listening. But I have no doubt that with time, they will :)

Anyways, so this year I went along to see what new stock some staple vendors had, and also hoped to discover at least one new vendor, and I did!

I didn't really get that much stuff this time and I don't know why, I was particularly after some lash glue which I am happy I got, all the rest are kind of extras.


DEVA PETALS

First up, purchases from my beloved Deva Petals! I love this brand, all 100% natural products, and you know how I feel about those.

I usually purchase their All Over Body-Butter in 'Apple Sin' which I love! But this time I decided to try something new...

Smooth as a Baby's Bum Soap Mask - N4,500

First thing I asked, was if this soap was oil-based and the response was no. My face is still recovering from Hairfinity-Gate and I do not want anything that would aggravate it at this point. I have been using this for two weeks now and I have no complaints. It can be used as a mask or a soap, been using this as a soap and it gets my face squeaky clean and I mean 'squeaky' literally. When I rinse this off there's absolutely nothing left, some people may feel like this 'strips' their face, but I much prefer it this way. I detest any face cleanser/body wash that leaves behind a 'film' after rinsing, that's just my preference. One thing I don't like about this is the scent, it smells a lot like medicated soaps e.g. Tetmosol (remember those?). Initially, this was a bit of a problem for me, but after experiencing how it made my face feel I decided to just put up with it, and now I am so used to it I barely even notice it.

Dilke Scrub Spa Mix - N4,500

I also purchased this Dilke Scrub which I have used. The review of this needs its own post which will be up soon, so look out for that.

Now looking back, I should have purchased another jar of their All Over Body-Butter as I am now running low! But I discovered they're available to buy at Gifty's Daughter which is good for us Lagos residents!



HAUTE BEAUTY WORLD

This is a new beauty-vendor I discovered at the fair. I walked past their stand the first time and noticed they had the eyelash glue I was after, so made a note to circle back and I am glad I did. I can always sense if a vendor is worth their stuff from the products they sell. Haute BW had a selection of products that only a person that knows makeup could be behind it and their prices were the most reasonable I've seen in a while. For example their Real Techniques brushes go for N5000 per pack, everyone else's is about N6000.

I needed to re-stock my eyelash glue and this is the only brand I use. Your lashes stay on as long as you want. I've actually had a pair of lashes in all day from 12pm till about 4am the next day and my lashes were intact when I went to take them off.

Duo Striplash Adhesive 'Dark Tone' - N1.200

I usually purchase the blue-pack one which goes on white and dries clear, but the last one I had stopped drying completely clear for some reason, bare in mind I had that tube for well over 2years, so maybe it was at its 'end of life' stage, who knows. So I decided to go for this one, which goes on a dark grey and dries black so it blends perfectly with my eyeliner. I have used this twice and I don't know why I only just picked this up. Definitely a new found staple!

Duo Striplash Adhesive 'White/Clear' - N1.200

I still re-purchased this. Because it dries clear and has worked well for me over the years. Turned out I just needed to change my last one.. woops! Don't try that at home guys.

Another thing I noticed was these tubes are much smaller than my last. I didn't realize that I had the large tube and these were the more common sizes, no wonder mine lasted well over two years.

Wet n Wild Coloricon Bronzer SPF 15 'Bikini Contest' - N1000

I initially wanted to by the Cover Girl Queen Collection Ebony bronzer, but the shade they had was too dark, saw this and decided to pick it up instead

Haven't used it yet, but look how pretty it is. It's got some shimmer in it and I intend on using this to contour, not sure how that's going to happen but we'll see.

Details
Haute Beauty World
Website: www.hautebeautyworld.com.ng


TARIES WORLD

Taries Medium Eyeshadow Brush - N800

I needed a flat synthetic brush for my cream-based eye products so picked this up and it works perfectly

Details
Taries World
Website: www.tariesworld.com


So that's my little haul, I am not 100% sure about the prices as I have now lost my receipts, I am honestly the world's best beauty-blogger aren't I?

Did any of you guys attend the Fair, discover any new beauty-stores?

What did you get at the Fair?

Laters,

Ez xxX

FIRST LOOK | LILA'ALLI MAKEUP - Multifunctional Cosmetics

Hi Guys,

I am quite excited to introduce this brand on the blog today, and you will see why in a minute.

Lila'alli makeup is a Nigerian-owned British makeup brand. I stumbled across Amina's (lady behind the brand) instagram page early last year and I don't remember the specifics on how this happened, but it had something to do with her brand.

When I was contacted by the Lila'alli PR team months ago, informing me that Amina was visiting Lagos in a few weeks and wanted to take a meeting with me, I was very interested. I love to meet the people behind beauty brands, because as with anyone there is always a background story and that story is what I love to hear. I may be weird, but I love to see the connection between a Entrepreneur and their brand, right away I can tell if I am dealing with someone who knows what they're doing or just another person trying to get rich quick. With Amina it was definitely, the former! She went right into it getting all the makeup out and talking in-depth about it all. Amina is a trained cosmetologist, who primarily was interested in skincare and her philosophy is exactly like mine, look after your skin first as makeup will never compensate for bad skin. So one way or the other Amina found herself as a Production Manager at a very popular international makeup brand where she worked for about 4 years (I forget exactly how long she said), before she left to set up her own brand.

As a trained cosmetologist you know Amina didn't just go pick some of-the-shelf products from any manufacturer and stick her labels on them. No, she worked closely with the manufacturers, flew down to China and started creating her products. She even laughed about the fact her manufacturers were tired of her sending back samples saying "No it's  not quite right" and her penchant for quality paid off. Just have a look at the products and swatches below.

The Lila'lli theme colours are white, purple and gold and this runs through the product packaging.

There are a lot of things I love about these products, the packaging, the pigmentation, but I most especially love the concept behind the brand, every single product is multi-purpose. So the lipliners double-up as eyeliners, brow fillers, eyeshadow bases. Lipsticks double-up as blushers and Blushers can be eyeshadows, highlighters, contour powders or mixed with some clear-gloss can be used as lipglosses. As a makeup artist imagine the money you could save with these products.



Lip Collision

Like I mentioned above, all their products are multifunctional and they represent this in their product-naming convention. These lipstick/gloss combos are called 'Lip Collisions'.

 On one end is the lipstick and on the other a lipgloss

Both products are very pigmented as you can see from the swatches.

 The glosses can actually be worn alone, the pigmentation provides enough coverage.

Line. Define.Fill

These are essentially lipliners, but can also be used to fill in your brows and also as lipsticks!

Pigment Infusion

These are blushers but can also be mixed in with some clear lipgloss and applied to the lips.


False Lashes

Unfortunatley I haven't got the Nigerian prices for these items, but to get an idea you can have a look at the pricing on their website,  Lila'alli Makeup.

Apologies for the lengthy post, but I really wanted to share all the information I had on this brand, because I am sure for most of you this is the first time you've ever seen or heard of Lila'lli, and I like to share information the way I'd like to receive it. I have got lip swatches and will share these in a separate post, as this one is picture-heavy enough.

Where to Buy

My Makeup NG - Online and in-store
Beauty Kink 

Lilla'lli will be launched this weekend by My Makeup at the 3rd edition of the Lagos Makeup Fair (LMUF).

LMUF holds this weekend! Yes guys, it's a 2-day event this time, Saturday and Sunday! I will be there all day Sunday, hanging out at the My Makeup stand, so come say Hi!

So please tell me after all you've read and seen, who else loves Lila'lli?

Laters,

Ez xxX