Collective Cosmetics Haul

This is a somewhat of a collective cosmetics post with items that I have collected over the last few weeks and while this does contain not only group photos of what I purchased, I thought I'd take a series of photos to record the day for you! These haul posts that occur with Lucy seem to be a monthly occurrence now, in which way to much food is consumed and too much money is spent. Yesterday was no different and once again took place in Southampton. This time however, we found the Debenhams (who isn't keen to collect the points?) the staff there are soo much more friendlier than those at the John Lewis. I guess it's probably because they're not as busy and can spend the time chatting to you, but both ladies we spoke to (from Dior and Urban Decay) were lovely and I can not fault them! This is primarily where the damage was done to be honest. Dior were offering a free lipgloss (plus many serum samples) with any two purchases. From there we moved to Boots and then on to John Lewis and Next. I did buy some mugs in Next (cheating a little on cosmetics) but they were super cute and couldn't resist! I just hope you enjoy a lot of pictures.

OOTD (T-shirt = Topshop, Cardi = NW3 for Hobbs, Skirt = Primark, Trainers = Nike, Necklace = Stradavarius, Barry B nail polish in Blue Grape, Bracelts = all gifts)

Good ol' MAC lipsticks

Which results in the need of a make-up wipe

Gingerbread hot choc anyone?

Sneak peak into one of Lucy's purchases...

- Dior Addict Lip Glow
- Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick 08
- Dior lip pencil 663
- NYX blusher
- Barry M nail vanish Passion Fruit
- L'oreal Lumi Magique (a dupe for Touche eclat?)
- Mac Viva Glam Riri lipstick
- Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish set
- Next Mugs

Free gifts:
- Dior lip gloss (No name/ number)
- Clinique all about eyes sample

The Too Faces Chocolate bar palette. This calorie free chocolate bar is perfect and smells oh so gorgeous. If this interests you, I'll be doing a full review later this week!

Lastly I picked up the Real Techniques Blush, Stippling and Expert Face brushes at my local Asda (available here) as they are so cheap! I haven't taken photo's of these. Firstly, I forgot I'd bought them, and secondly  they've been photographed and reviewed to death. They're amazing. Enough said.  

Have you bought anything new recently? 

Haul time (again)

Oh dear, I've been naughty again. When I said to myself this morning "what do I actually need from today?" My answer was simply "cotton pads and a potato masher". Well I have come back with the cotton pads (I'm sure boots do a constant buy one get one half price on them) but no masher, and bag fulls of more stuff! I personally love reading haul posts, and as everyone says, yes I sort quite a lot of money today, but I am not trying to brag. I work and have worked since I was 15. Some people spend their money on nights out, being a student, but this is how I chose to spend my money. It makes me so happy!

So today, blogger Lucy and I went to Southampton again on a little beauty gander (soton has mac, need I say more?) and although I'm not going to photograph every item I'll show you a collection of everything, with reviews to follow on soon!

First off I started in Zara. Now I had said that I wasn't impressed my Christmas sales, and I still stand by that, but I couldn't resist these two items. Firstly is the massive tartan scarf, and the other, the maroon/ mustard/ black bag. I think it's beautiful! I'd eyed up the scarf on a blog I'd read a few months back (sorry I can't remember who's) but it was always out of stock back home. Luck was on my side with it being in the sale!

Next was John Lewis. Oh dear oh dear. This was where the damage happened. From Mac I purchased:

- cremesheen lipstick "hot gossip"

- a large pro eyeshadow palette

- eyeshadows "sable" and "tempting" 

- studio fix fluid foundation in NW20

Then it was on to Liz Earle where I purchased the skin repair light moisturiser for combination/ oily skin. And from Laura Mercier, a set of 5 mini long wear creme eyeliners in; sage, espresso, cobalt, noir and violet. They were reduced to £15!! 

Boots was slightly more restrained with many brands featuring a buy one get one half price offer. Again sorry for the list, but :

-Maybelline colour tattoo in "on and in bronze" (wanted this for ages but it's always out if stock) 

- Maybelline sculpting brow mascara in dark brown

- Max Factor lip liners in "pink petal" and "mauve moment" 

- Bumble and Bumble mini surf spray and their bb texture (I want to try them out before I purchase full sizes)

- Bourjois 1 second gel vanish in "rose cupcake" (so gorgeous, and raved about by Liana)

- Bourjois colour booster in "red sunrise"

- Sally Hansen instant cuticle remover

- cotton pads

Tkmaxx - shocker. Lucy wanted me to show her how I shopped in there to find bargains and, luckily, I did it again! I picked up a Nars eyeliner stylo in "nabucco" and a pink Kilner jar which I'm going to use to keep my cotton pads in! 

Lastly, Next. Now I wasn't expecting to pick anything up, but Lucy was interested in a few of their candles, and after smelling their New York scent, I couldn't resist their room diffuser from the same line. However, after closer inspection (do not know how I got this so mixed up) I picked up their eau de perfum instead, so I'll have to exchange that at some point.

Few, I'm exhausted just reading through all that. If you want more information on any of the products mentioned, or perhaps one review quicker than another, please just leave a comment!

Disappointing year for the Christmas sales?

Is it me or have Christmas sales this year been a bit, meh? First off, it annoys me that some sales started prior to christmas. I mean, can us girls have one day off a year without thinking of shopping? Then there's the items that are in the sale, I haven't been blown away yet. I went to Oxford yesterday with my mum, and whilst we both picked up a charm in Pandora, that's all that caught our eye. I picked up some jeans in Zara, but that's because I don't have one in Portsmouth and Zara is one of the very few company's  which sells jeans that actually fit me, but they're not exactly exciting. I was praying this year to find a bargin New Year's Eve dress, but whilst traipsing round a local shopping centre today with the girls, absolutely nothing caught our eyes. One of my friends described river island as a jumble sale, which while it may be true, it's the only place I brought anything in! I worked there for 6 months a few years back and the amount of nylon and rhinestones puts me off slightly. Having said that, we embraced the huge rales of clothes that can date back at least 5 years, and I eventually picked up a midi skirt. Id attatch a photo but the lighting in my room is awful! It's basically a sort of geometric black, royal blue and white skirt with a slight slit up the back. For £12 I couldn't leave it there, but it isn't exactly what I had in mind. I think for new year I'm just going to team it with some black wedges and black top, let the skirt do the talking!