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