My January Sales Purchases & Other Bits

I've made quite a few purchases over the past few weeks, most of the bits I picked up were on offer which was a definite plus for me. Instead of doing one small haul post I decided to do a collective one, I by no means picked these up all at once that's for certain. My bank account always runs low around this time of year and the end of January can't come quick enough for me. Once Christmas has come and gone, the Sales is the next big event that the majority of people, myself included have great interest in. My Christmas seemed to be so short this year as I was back into work on Stephen's Day so I wasn't up at the crack of dawn to join the end of a monster queue to get my first Sales bits.. I saw the giant line outside Next at 8am and it wasn't pretty let me tell you. I'm glad I wasn't a part of it, I know I probably would of preferred to be at home in bed at that time. I've never went into the Sales really early, fighting over a discounted dress or heavily reduced bag wouldn't be something I'd call fun and isn't something I'd ever want to do. If there's nothing there when I finally get down to the Centre after a good lie in then it wasn't meant to be. I headed into Boots and House of Fraser after I finished work at 1pm and I was surprised at the amount of stock that was left. It certainly shows that online shopping is taking over, who in there right mind would go to a shop the day after Christmas when they can do it in the comfort of their own home. Spending wise I was good this year and bought stuff I really wanted and that I knew I would use in the long run. To be honest I'd buy stuff regardless of if it's in the Sale.

The majority of goodies I bought are of the Beauty variety,  I found most of my purchases in Boots and House of Fraser, a few bits were picked up in other shops which will be mentioned below. I found this year that alot of my Sales finds were put on the shelves in early January, I could be wrong but that's when I spotted them. I did pick up some new bits from Soap & Glory that were full price but I heard such amazing things about all three products so I couldn't leave them behind. They all smell amazing so if your anywhere near a Boots I'd definitely recommend you go give them a sniff. It wouldn't be the Sales without going into the Lush and picking up a couple of shower gels. I got three, Twilight, Snow Fairy and Ponche. They all smell amazing and I know this lot will last me ages. I also sneakily purchased the much talked about MAC Stereo Rose Mineralize Skinfinish. I tried this at my local MAC counter in BT2 Dundrum and I did think it was nice at the time, what I didn't like is the hefty price tag of €28.50. Rip off, I think so and I know alot of people will agree with me too. It's disappointing as I really love MAC as a brand but the prices are awful. I'm not going to rant and rave too much about it as I'm still going to remain a loyal customer but I do think they should look into this.

Here are some of my big bargain of the Sales, first up is one of YSL's Rouge Volupte lipsticks. These retail for around the €32 mark and I got this for €18, which was a bargain that I couldn't let slip by. The shade is Frivolous Pink which is a fun pink shade, I thought it would be a bit too bright for my liking but I'll make it work. I've decided for 2013 that I should be a bit more daring when it comes to lipstick choices, until I'm brave enough I'll be patting this down with some tissue. I picked up this Bliss Fabulips set, it was more than half price at €25.50. I wanted to try this for a while but I'd never fork out the whole €57.50 for it. Bliss products and I have a love/hate relationship, some of their stuff I've tried have been a real disappointment and just plain rubbish. One of their products I absolutely hated was their Lid & Lash Wash, you can see a review I did on that here. I bought this thinking it was going to be an amazing eye makeup remover, turns out it was pretty awful. I have to hand it to them their body butters are gorgeous, my favourite product of theres. In this lip product set you get a cleanser, scrub, plumper and balm, so far I've only tried the balm which I was very impressed with. I'll definitely put up a full review post on this when I've tried the other three products. I also was surprised to see these two fragrance sets still on the shelf when I popped into the store. Both were half price which was such a steal as they are gorgeous fragrance that come in decent sized bottles. There scents that I could happily use all year round so they'll be used for sure. In the Ralph Lauren set you get a body lotion while in the Marc Jacobs Daisy 50ml set you get a shower gel and body lotion. I've always wanted the latter fragrance for a long time but I could never justify the price, I'm glad I could finally pick one up for myself. At €30 each, these two sets were definitely worth every penny. Here are two other bits I picked up in the Sale which I fell in love with. The vintage inspired floral mirror in between the two fragrance is from Boots, It was half price which I couldn't say no to. I think this will look really nice in my room when I have it all nice and tidy. The little pink Minnie Mouse makeup bag is from Boots aswell and it's so pretty. It's a great size too, so I'll definitely be carting this around with me.

A New year couldn't go buy without me picking up a 2013 diary. I always wait and buy mine after Christmas as they are always heavily discounted by then. I got this pretty diary in the Calendar Club and it was 40% of the marked price. Purple is my favourite colour so when I saw this I had to buy it. I also picked up this two puzzle books that were on special aswell. They are called Posh Puzzles, I thought they'd be good to have for travelling and the like. It has to be said I am a bot of a nerd and I love doing wordsearches and kriss krosses, but a a crossword in a front of me and I would probably throw it back at you. I couldn't do one to save my life. I probably wouldn't of bought them if they weren't reduced as they were €9 originally which I felt was a bit overpriced for a small puzzle book. After I bought these I picked up this gorgeous Paperchase lined notebook. It has a nice soft cover and again the design had me with this one, it was also €4 in the Sale need I say more. I thought this would be great for writing down some of my blog ideas which I have a few of so far. If you guys have anything you'd like to see covered on my blog definitely let me know as I would love hear your ideas. Last year I had a numerous different notebooks for blogging but this year I just want to stick to the one, I definitely need to add this to my goals. I always see pretty jotters and I end up buying them which results in me never filling up just the one. I know it is indeed a complete and utter waste so I'm hopefully going to stick with this one for most of the year. Until I fill it up anyway that's for sure.

Today is going to spent finishing off my assignment for college. I can't wait to get this done and dusted. Saying that I have another due at the end of February which I'm going to be even more stressed out about. Yesterday I went to see Les Miserables with Paddy in town. Wow I really enjoyed this movie, I'm going to put up a post tomorrow with all my thoughts on it.

Did you pick up any good bargains in the Sales this year?

Laura<3

Smashbox Exclusive To Arnotts + Haul

After work during the week I sauntered into House of Fraser, I past the Smashbox counter and it was like heaven, lots of products (including palettes) were half price. I was informed that the brand going forward is going to be exclusive to Arnotts. I'm not 100% certain if the counter in House of Fraser is the only one having a sale on products. It's worth having a look in Debenhams and Clerys as there was so much amazing product reductions in Dundrum. In my opinion, Smashbox has always been quite an expensive brand, so I haven't tried too many of their products. I did buy one of their makeup sets when I first started blogging and I loved it.

Of course I couldn't pass up such a good offer so I picked up a few bits.

The first item I spotted was the Smashbox Eye Illusion Quad, basically you can use this alone or on top of eyeshadows to create a different effect. I don't think I'd use these alone but I'll be certainly using them along with a eyeshadow. A few other companies have different versions of this product but I've just never gotten around to trying one. Marked down from €30 to €15, I decided to give this a go, hopefully I like it.

Next up I bought two of their eyeshadows in Cinnamon Toast (love that name) and Envy. Cinnamon Toast is a gorgeous copper brown shade, while the latter is an amazing black shade full of glitter. I don't own many black eyeshadows bar the two in the Naked palettes so I'm glad I bought this. I know this eyeshadow may not be for everybody but I love it. They were such good value at €9 a pop. If you want to see swatches of both these eyeshadow let me know.

I'm a fool for mascaras, so it was no surprise here. Previously I never saw much talk about the Bionic Mascara (€10) online but the reviews I've managed to find seem quite mixed. Some people love it while others dislike it. I'm looking forward to trying it for myself.

Last but not least is Smashbox's Anti Shine (€13) which is actually the first product I spotted. This is a oil absorber which is said to reduce shine. I'm hoping this makes a good base for my foundation.

Have you tried any of these products? Are they good choices?

Laura<3

More Sale Bits and My Online Purchases!

After finally making it into the Lush Sale on Saturday, I was surprised to see how much of their sale gift sets were left. All there Christmas stock was half price which was really good. When one of the sales assistants told me it was the last day of the Sale, of course I went a tiny bit mad, who wouldn't. I bought two gift sets that I thought were amazing value.

For the price this set contains so many great products. I've never tried Candy Cane and Vanilla Dee-Lite. I've heard so many nice things about the latter so I'm looking forward to using it. After smelling it only once I'm already in love with the scent, very yummy! The tin box everything comes in is super cute, I'll definitely find something to store in this. The Lush staff were so helpful as all of the Christmas Delights Tins on the sale floor were damaged. When they seen this they got me one from the stockroom which was so nice.

Wow!! Twelve products in total in Northern Lights. The reason I went for the two above gift sets is because they both contain shower products which is hard to find. I've tried most of the products in Northern Lights previously bar a few. I like how it contains more Snow Fairy Shower Gel, my favourite! I've enough to last me well into this year. Again I love the box all the products come in, going to use it to store all my Lush goodies. Glows in the dark too which is something you don't see often.

My Mom got me the Buche De Noel Cleanser. Let's be honest this product doesn't look very appealing. Is it even supposed to look like this? I can't say I liked the smell either but it has grown on me a little. I've read so many great reviews on Buche De Noel so I'll  let you know what I think!

While I was in town I also popped into Muji as I wanted to get some makeup storage. After getting new shelves put into my room last year, I wanted to get some storage drawers to organise my makeup into.

I got this set of acrylic drawers. As you can see alot fits into them, just what I needed. I previously purchased a two drawer unit with a flip top lid from Muji so this sits under it perfectly.

This open box came with a divider which leaves me with twelve sections for my lip products and other miscellaneous products. I really like this as it's way easier to find what I'm looking for. If you would like to see a full makeup storage post leave a comment below!

My Asos and Beauty Bay orders arrived! I placed both orders before New Years, but with the holiday post I only received them now.

 

From Asos, I got three Nars products. Unfortunately when I received my order, they had sent me the incorrect eyeshadow duo. The Asos Customer Service team couldn't of been more helpful. Within four days I received the correct eyeshadow duo, Silk Road and I couldn't of been happier. I haven't got a chance to play around with these yet but when I have I'll do a review.

From Beautybay.com, I bought the Original Sin Eyeshadow Primer Potion Duo set. You all know how much I love this product it's been included in so many of my past favourites. My current Urban Decay Primer Potion is almost empty, when I seen this on Beautybay.com a few weeks back I thought it was great value. One tube instore would set me back €20, while this set with two cost me €26.50. Bargain!


Congrats if you made it down this far, I wasn't expecting the post to be so long.

Laura <3

A Shopaholic's Journey #10 - Christmas Sales and Bits

This post has been a long time coming. I wanted to put it up before New Years but I was pretty busy so it got a bit delayed. Being sick over Christmas ment I couldn't go into the sales on Stephen's Day. I was mildly disappointed that I couldn't but there was nothing I could do so there was no point moaning. Last Thursday, I went to Boots to have a look around. To be honest I wasn't really blown away with much stuff I seen on sale. All the Christmas Gift sets were half price so after browsing for a bit, I left with these!

 

Soap & Glory Yum At Heart set 

I had seen this set before Christmas and needless to say I fell in love with it. Yum At Heart contains a full sized Hand Food and The Breakfast Scrub (my favourite). It also comes with a cute Soap & Glory apron which I think my Mom will love, so I'm going to give it to her. This set was such good value, I paid €10.75 for everything. Each product is worth more than this price so I made quite a saving.

 

Lipsy London Perfect Pamper set

This set was €6.75 down from €13.50. I would of never paid full price for this set as I don't think it would of been worth the money. All the products are minitatures that I'll get a few uses out of. I think they'd be great for my handbag and for holidays. The scent is gorgeous, very floral.

Accessorize Eau De Toilette set

I've always loved the floral scent of the Accessorize Eau De Toilette. It was €10 for the set which I couldn't really go wrong with. The set also contains a 100 ml body wash and body lotion which makes for great value.

17 Peep Show Mascara in Black
This mascara wasn't on sale but I was really intrigued to see what it's like. Peep Show contains lengthening fibres which claim to lengthen lashes aswell as adding volume. I've only used this once and so far so good I like. I'm going to pop up a review really soon.

These purchases were made better with the fact that I used my Boots Advantage points. I saved up €35 euro worth of points so I thought what better time to use them then during the sales!

I popped back into Boots to look at the perfume sets on sale and left with Vera Wang Lovestruck. I already own a bottle of this but I'm almost all out. I included Lovestruck in my favourites back in July, I  like the scent alot. The set was half price down to €24.75 so it was such a bargain.

I was disappointed that I couldn't go into the Lush Sale as I was sick. I was so happy when my parents popped into Lush when they were in town and got me all these goodies! I love Snow Fairy it has such a yummy scent. My Mom only bought me a large bottle a few weeks ago, so I'm going to keep this one for a backup for when the other runs out. Glogg is a part of the Christmas range too, I've never owned one before so I'm looking forward to trying it. Creamed Almond & Coconut Smoothie is a shower soap with a lovely vanilla scent which I enjoy using. I'm nearly all out the mini tub I got in my Seasons Greetings set so of course I was delighted with this. Last but not least another Snow Globe soap, words cannot describe how much I adore this. It's alot like Sexy Peel, even more citrusy if you could imagine. Snow Globe is just so refreshing, I wish it was available all year round. All these products are sure to last me well into 2012.

 

 

Here is some more stuff I picked up in my local pharmacy that wasn't on sale. I've heard alot of good things about both of the above Loreal products, Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara and Superliner Carbon Gloss. I also bought the Essence Circus Circus Longlasting Eyeshadow in 01 It's Magic. I thought this would look nice as a pop of colour all over my eyelid. I'm not going to go into these products too much as I want to wait and try them first. I shall let you know my thoughts soon!

I also bought a few things online (beautybay.com and Asos) last week with my Christmas money. They haven't arrived as of yet so I'll try to pop up another post when they do.

Have you grabbed any bargains during the sales?


Laura<3