Oh Boots, how I love thee! - Another mini haul

So remember when I started this blog and I was all like 'oh I'm going to blog at least once every week', well, it appears I lied. I have no real excuse other than when I get home from work and the gym (when I make it there), I tend to completely veg out and usually just watch a film with my boyfriend. And the past couple of weekends I have been pretty busy. But still, they're both pretty lame reasons, I guess this blog isn't yet a solid enough fixture in my life for me to remember to post!

Anyway, here I am, with another small haul type affair.

Today, I was meant to go shopping with my friend (we were destined for Primark) but I have hurt my toe quite badly and had to cancel because I can't walk more than two meters without being in pain :( so to appease my inner shopaholic, I nipped up to the local Boots (convinced myself I NEEDED tissues, but alas, I had some spare ones in my drawer all along) and accidentally bought these bad boys.

(L-R, B-F: Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in 100 Ivory £8.99, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation in 52 Vanilla £10.99, Bourjois Liner Feutre Ultra Black £6.99, Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer £6.99, Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer in Light £10, Soap and Glory Trick and Treatment £9, Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Stick in Bashful£8)

The Rimmel foundation is an absolute staple of mine and this is a repurchase. I recently bought the Dream Matte Mouse by Maybelline as I thought that with it being winter, the shimmer the WMU foundation gives sometimes looks a bit over the top. However, I wish I hadn't bothered as there is really only one way to describe the Dream Matte Mouse - major disappointment. It sounded so promising and I was uber excited but no, it is rubbish and clings to all the dry skin I have, and more. And is actually really hard to apply, maybe that's just me but every morning when I go to put it on I am faced with the same confusion as to whether to dap my brush in the pot, use my fingers or think of another intuitive way to apply foundation. It's all far too much to think about on a morning! So I really wish I'd had spent my hard earned dollar on another bottle of this beauty instead. The Rimmel primer came free when you spend over X amount (can't remember how much) on anything else Rimmel so I haven't got much to say on that, as I said in my last post, I am relatively new to the world of primer ( - but have used my Maybelline Baby Skin primer now, so far so good).

Now, I wouldn't normally buy another foundation as I am a bit tight and don't really wear much foundation as my skin is quite good (touch wood) but I had heard so many good things about the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum (mainly from Estée), my feeling sorry for myself gene kicked in and I picked it up and chucked it in the basket. I am excited to try it and see if it really is as good as the hype. I went for the gel based formula purely because it was £1 more and if you spent over £10 you got a free eyeliner (easily swayed), and I needed a new black liner. I have tried a few of the "felt tip" style liners and have never been overly impressed but it was free so it doesn't matter too much if it ends up at the back of my make up drawer.

So after picking up the above, my eyes turned towards the Soap and Glory stand. I have recently rediscovered the Sexy Mother Pucker lip gloss I got free with the massively amazing gift set they always do at Christmas and I'm loving it! This coupled with the fact that I know the Kick Ass Concealer is pretty similar to a Virgin Vie product that I used to looooove, and also is a well known dupe for a Laura Mercier product, drew me in. All S&G make up was on 3 for 2 so I thought it would be rude not to (again I blame the feeling sorry for myself gene) and I picked up the Kick Ass Concealer, which I've seen get good reviews from beauty blogging world. I also got the Trick and Treatment concealer for under the eyes as I'm seriously always on the look out for a good under eye concealer to hide my hideous dark circles. I've not heard/seen much about this before but hopefully it'll be good'un. Finally, I got a pink Gloss Stick. I love these Chubby Stick dupes and have some from Bourjois and Revlon which I use all the time. I'm still loving the whole English Rose look so thought a nice baby pink colour would be a good addition to my collection.

My next post won't be a haul (or even a 'mini-haul'), I promise... although I have just placed a BooHoo order.

Until next time :)

Mini-Haul : Boots and The Body Shop

One thing you should probably know about me is that I am a bonafide shopaholic, so I practically always have enough new purchases in my possession to do a "haul".

I have tried, in vein, over the years to get my boyfriend to show an interest in my shopping, but, sadly it rarely works and I have to internalise the need to share my brand spanking new clothes/home accessories/beauty products. Sadly it is a burden I have to bare.

I must admit, I do harbour an intense love for hauls. I think the attraction is a mixture of living vicariously through other people who have money to spend (or not), and getting fashion ideas (read: copying) from people who are probably 100% more fashionable/cooler than me. I do enjoy fashion hauls way more than beauty ones like this, but alas, you can't win them all.

So, now I have this snazzy new blog, I am taking my first, tiny steps into the world of the "haul". History is being made!

I realise this is a long introduction to a relatively small collection of purchases but I am new to this and am still finding my feet. (Also, I am aware I need to learn how to use my camera properly...)

So on my lunch on Monday - after being insanely good with my money all month - I caved into my urge to buy pretty new things. I ran around my town like a mad woman. I had a Cath Kidston voucher, which is why I left the office in the first place - and I was hoping to find some clothing in the sale (the only time I can ever remotely consider buying CK clothes) and on the way I accidentally went to The Body Shop and Boots.

(L-R: Dreams Eau du Parfam £5, Passion Fruit Shower Gel £3, Papaya Shower Gel £3 and Vitamin E Face Mist £8)

The Body Shop had an insane sale on, and since I am a card holder, I got an extra few offers (I'm not 100% sure what the offers were but I loved them nonetheless!)

I always like to buy The Body Shop perfumes in the sale because they are always a real bargain and I enjoy the scents (I have a couple of others and highly recommend them). I find they're a good every day perfume for when you don't want to go out smelling like your either a. on a date or b. going on a night out with the girls. I know there are more subtle day time perfumes around but to be honest, I really resent paying £30+ for perfume to wear in the office around people that probably don't know or care about what perfume I'm wearing, so I like to save my more expensive perfumes for evenings out and use ones like this for every day wear.

I generally use cheap and cheerful shower gel (I'm aware there's a money saving theme here - what can I say, I'm Northern) but I do like to have a few nicer bottles as well so these ones are right up my street. I've just run out of Soap and Glory's 'A Foam Call' so I decided to pick these two up. They were both a bargain at £3 and they smell absolutely divine.

Finally, I got a Vitamin E Face Mist. Now this was on a total whim. I got to the till and gave my Body Shop card and the lady told me that as it was my fourth purchase I got a free £5 voucher. So in a bit of a mad discount loving panic, I picked this (which was £8, but I paid £3). I always use their Vitamin E Intense Moisturising Cream and love it, so I thought I'd give this one a go. Not sure how I'll get on with it, but I'll let you know.

(L-R : Maybelline Baby Skin Primer, £7.99 and Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch, £2.99)

Aaah Maybelline, aaah Baby Lips. Need I say more?!

There isn't too much I can say about these two as the general blogging world is head over heels for both. But here are my two cents.

I don't normally use primer but the I love the Baby Lips/Skin branding so much I thought I'd give it a whirl. I've dabbled with Benefits Porefessional before, and found it ok but nothing special. I didn't get a noticeably better look after using it so it fell to the wayside. I don't know if the same will happen here (maybe Primer just isn't for me) but I am looking forward to using it anyway. 

The Baby Lips are a sort of repurchase. I have the 'Cherry Me' and 'Peach Kiss' varieties already, and I very much enjoy them. I wanted to get 'Pink Punch' because currently I'm into the whole 'English Rose' look and I frequently go for a porcelain skin, rosy pink cheeks and baby pink lips look. However, sometimes it isn't always appropriate (nor can I be bothered) to put a full on lipstick on, so this will be absolutely perfect for those days. 

I did buy a couple of other things but they are not very interesting (a body puff and some face wipes...) I also did find something in the Cath Kidston sale and it is AMAZING but I think that may feature in an OOTD when I am brave enough to snap a picture of myself.

Until next time :)