A Little Help from my Loyalty Cards

My purse is literally bursting with Reward cards for different stores. It's ridiculous as some of them I don't even use, if a store assistant asks me to sign up I always end up saying yes. I just don't think I'll ever find a purse big enough to fit them all in. On the plus side the ones I tend to use like Easons, Debenhams House of Fraser, Boots, and Arnotts, always give great rewards back. Like a lot of people I do tend to forget about using my card which can be a nuisance when they can't put the points back on in store, does this happen to anyone else? I think this problem will be solved if I clean out my purse and dump the cards I never use. My favourite loyalty scheme of the bunch is Boots, sometimes they have great offers on e.g. Double Points so I've gotten quite a few goodies in the past when I build up all the points. When I was in town last week I popped into Debenhams and Easons as I knew I had rewards to spend on both cards. In the latter I picked up the latest addition of Allure magazine. This is the third issue that I've purchased so far and I really love this magazine. It's full to the brim of new beauty news and must haves, essential for any blogger. This doesn't come cheap and rings in at €6.61, probably the most expensive magazine I've bought but there's a lot a reading plus it's not full of ads like some tend to be. The gorgeous Mila Kunis is on the front of this month's issue and WOW she looks absolutely stunning. In Debenhams I picked up Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray in the new handy travel size bottle. I've tried this setting spray before and I love it, it keeps my makeup looking fresh and also helps it stay in place. Debenhams had a instore promotional event last week were there was 10% of beauty/fragrances which is always a good time to pop into their store. Along with the 10% discount, I also had €5 on my BeautyClub so I ended up paying €5.80 for this product instead of €12. Looking back I do wish I had of bought the full sized bottle as I don't think I'll get too long out of this one but the funds wouldn't stretch that far. I think this will be good for travel purposes though, when I finish this bottle I can hang on to it and fill it up again.

All in all I was pretty delighted with these two purchases, I got both for a little under €9 which is great when you compare it with €19.61. I've been pretty much broke for the entire month with saving for New York so it was nice to be able to pick up these goodies. It may not of been possible without the help of my trusty loyalty cards.

Are you like me? Do you have a ridiculous amount of loyalty cards spilling out of your purse?

Laura<3

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

A Shopaholic's Journey #11 - Collective Haul

It been a while since I've done A Shopaholic's Journey post. Not that I haven't been buying anything at all in the past few weeks, the stuff I bought just didn't warrant a big blog post. I received alot of gift cards for my birthday back in mid February and I only got around to spending them now.

In Boots, I picked up one of the Stella McCartney Print Collection Eau de Parfum. I know they've been on the scene for quite a while now, but from what I remember they were quite expensive. When I saw they were on sale for €23 I snapped one up. Out of the three prints to choose from, this was my favourite. While in Boots, I also bought some makeup products. I bought three of the Loreal Caresse Sheer Lipsticks (01, 103, 501). These lipsticks have been mentioned on a few blogs already. I don't think I would of noticed them otherwise, there just pushed in with all the other lipsticks, you wouldn't think there new. As you would guess I got a few No7 Vouchers when I bought this stuff. I tend to only buy their makeup wipes with these, but I heard so much talk about the Vital Enlightening Highlighter powder. I'm glad I picked one up. Isn't it so pretty??

This is probably my biggest splurge, it came to around €75 with a gift card my grandparents gave me. I don't think my Nanna was too happy I bought it, she hates when I straighten my hair. After much thought, I decided on the Maxi Styler from the Gold Series. I have frizzy hair which takes forever too straighten, so I thought this would work best for me. I always straighten my hair before work using the Classic Styler and halfway through the day it's frizzy again so I thought it was time for a change. I shall let you know how I get on with it. While I was in Peter Marks, I saw that there was 20% off Redken promotion. I heard one of my favourite bloggers Essie (Essie Button) talk about their All Soft shampoo and conditioner in one of her videos, so I decided to give it a go. I've used it once so far and I really like it.

Last but not least, I went to House of Fraser and Brown Thomas. At the latter, I bought one of the tendertones from MAC's latest collection, Cook MAC, Tread Gently is the shade I picked up. Tendertones have the nicest fruity scent, I love it. Whilst wandering around House of Fraser, I spotted a Laura Mercier stand which I never saw before. On it was a selection of products from their body and bath range. Among them I spotted this Souffle Body Creme Sampler which was €30. I thought this was great value as you get four generous size tubes. I think there usually only available around Christmas time, as I remember thinking how luxurious they looked when I saw them. So far I've used Creme Brulee and Wow it smells heavenly.

This feels like quite a long post. I doubt I'll be buying any beauty products for a while now, so expect plenty of reviews soon!

Laura<3