Primark beauty haul

Recently I went on a shopping trip to Birmingham and of course had to pop into Primark. My nearest Primark is the Bristol one, which alongside the London ones is probably one of the biggest in the country I believe, however I found more in the Birmingham one than I ever do in the Bristol one, mainly beauty tools/nail polishes.

I was seeking out the PS Pro range from Primark in particular and was really impressed with the amount on offer. I got myself a new bargainous eyeshadow brush and some rose gold/copper eyelash curlers, which are not only necessary tools but they make nice blog photo props too! I was in the market for some new tweezers too and for £1 I picked up a pair of pretty Aztec print ones.




Primark has always been great for make-up bags too. I have loads in my collection but I spotted another with my initial on it and just had to pick it up. It was only a couple of pounds and is really roomy so can fit lots in. Again another product that can also be used as a blog photo prop - don't you just love it?!




What really impressed me most about Primark's beauty offerings were its nail polishes. There was a HUGE selection of pretty colors but I chose to pick up two really cute, bright polishes, which were only 60p each. I also picked up a pack of three bronze/glitter polishes. These are definitely my favourite, the colours are just gorgeous and I can't wait to feature them in a Manicure Monday post.

Have you picked up anything from Primark recently? Let me know in the comments.

Before you go - voting in the Bloggers Blog Awards is now open and it would be great if you could vote for me for Best Beauty Blog! You can VOTE HERE

A mini Boots haul: NYX Cosmetics Prismatic Eye Shadows

There had been rumblings about NYX Cosmetics coming to Boots for quite a while but I never thought in a million years that my local Boots would get its own stand. If one did come to Weston-super-Mare I thought it would probably mean it would be in the store in the town centre, not the one that's near me but low and behold I saw a sign on the front doors saying it was near!

The new counter was finally 'launched' at my local store on May 3 and when I popped in it was absolutely swarming with girls checking out the latest offerings. Now I know NYX isn't a new brand but now it's much more accessible and because of this, I've finally been able to give it a try. I ummed and aahed over what to buy but finally ended up picking up two of the Prismatic eyeshadows.

What really caught my eye about these was the fab range of colours available and the cute silver pots with bow shaped catch. I picked up a gorgeously pigmented bright copper colour, called Bedroom Eyes and I also opted for something a bit different for me in the super metallic green Jaded shade.




Just looking at the shades in the pot I could see they were super pigmented and at £5 each, these are great fun to mix and match. When I first plonked my brush into the pan I was really surprised at how soft the shades felt under the bristles, almost velvety. They apply like a dream too, the pigments cling onto the eyelid and stay super bright and sparkly all day long.

As you can tell I'm really impressed and these are two cute little additions to my make-up collection. The silver pots are just adorable and look much more expensive for £5. They are bargainous eyeshadows with great colour pay off and staying power, proving you don't need to spend the big bucks on a high-end name.




Have you tried anything from NYX cosmetics? Are you excited about NYX coming to your local Boots? Let me know in the comments.

Kiko haul

I don't often do haul posts, mainly because I literally only have a Boots and a Superdrug in my local town so it's not often I can go to 'proper' make-up counters and shops. You might have read here that recently I went on a shopping trip to Bath where there is a very lovely little Kiko store. As soon as I saw it I marched straight over, it was absolutely packed but it's a beauty blogger's dream!

I am a big fan of Kiko and in the past have been sent quite a few products to try for the old blog. I wanted to pick up a few new bits but found out that you have to make a minium of £25 order on the website, which in this day and age I find very odd. Especially as at the time I only wanted a couple of nail polishes.

Anyway, the main display in the store was packed full of the absolutely gorgeous 'Trend' limited edition collection and while it was extremely tempting to pick everything up, I was very well restrained and only picked up something I would actually use, which was the eyeshadow and kajal pencil in 05 Anthracite and Metallic Rose, which has a shimmery pinky peach colour on one end and a smokey grey on the other. I can't wait to try it out. The peach shade is definitely something different for me but it works pretty well with the grey. I kind of wish I'd picked up a couple of other colours too!



I was also in the market for a nail file as I find myself needing one more often but weirdly never having one. It's one of those products that you just expect to have knocking around somewhere. I know I get sent free nail files in random parcels so I don't know where they have got to so I picked up the purple glass nail file, which was only £2.50! I need to make sure I don't loose it!

I also wanted to get my hands on a couple of polishes from the Candy Nails range, which I've been seeing absolutely everywhere recently, and I knew I had to snap it up quick as it's another limited edition range. After much deliberation I opted for one of the gorgeous pastel Frozen Smoothies polishes in 013 Glossy Doughnut (brilliant name!) and the super sparkly Sugar Sparkles polish in 31 Berry Delight, which is absolutely gorgeous. I think they both look absolutely lovely together, very kitsch.

At the checkout I also fell for the till operators upselling skills and picked up a Pump It Up Volume & Curl mascara as they were £5 off. The brush has a hollowed middle between the two bobbles, apparently for better distribution of the mascara. I'm not too sure it's going to be my kind of thing but thought I'd give it a try!

I'll try and report back soon on how I found most of these products. The nail polishes will definitely be featuring in an upcoming Manicure Monday post so keep an eye out for those!

Have you picked anything up for Kiko recently? Let me know in the comments.

Boots January sale haul

When pay day rolled around on January 1 I knew this would happen...as soon as I stepped into the Christmas gift aisle in Boots a few weeks before Christmas I knew I'd find myself right back there again in the January sales. The aisles were absolutely packed full even after the Christmas rush, but everything was half price and everyone was getting in on the action...one couple had bags and bags of products, obviously buying up their pressies for the following Christmas.

I practically had to squeeze myself down the aisles but I managed to pick up quite a few good bargains, I must say I was really impressed.

I curled my hair on Christmas Day and within half an hour it fell out so I was on the hunt for some curling products to help hold the style. I was really pleased when I came across the Umberto Giannini A Curl Story set, which was £8 down from £16, can you believe it? I'm really keen to try the bendy rollers and to see if the products actually hold a curl in place! I will report back.

I also picked up the Umberto Giannini Glambox which is a really cute set of miniature products including gold and silver glitter sprays and nail polishes. I did attempt glitter roots but I wasn't able to get a good photograph unfortunately so the idea was promptly scrapped. I'll leave it to the pros! The set is really cute and has everything you need for styling including mousse, dry shampoo, backcomb in a bottle and hairspray. It was a bargain at £9 down from £18!

Lastly I picked up a Matthew Williamson for Toni & Guy wash bag set and I have to admit I did buy this just for the bag alone as it makes such a nice little bag for travelling or to use as a makeup bag. I've been eyeing this up for months and months! It contains a full size dry shampoo, which I'm looking forward to trying out, a heat protector spray and a hair oil, which I also can't wait to try out and the best thing is, it was only £6 down from £12. You would probably spend close to £6 for the dry shampoo alone.

Overall I'm super happy with the bargains I picked up, did you pick up any good bargains in the sales this year? Let me know in the comments.

The Clothes Show Live Haul

This year I won tickets to The Clothes Show Live. I've been to the show before but it was quite a few years ago so I was looking forward to going again and doing lots of shopping!

Now I didn't take any photos while I was there so this post just includes pics of what goodies I picked up on the day as well as a bit of a review of the day. I didn't arrive at the show until lunch time so it was already pretty busy and when I say busy I really mean it. It gets really ridiculous, people are literally falling over each other and bashing each other with the stupid big bags that all the beauty stands hand out that actually only contain teeny tiny goody bags. The bags are simply for advertising purposes. You can see how big they are above and you can see what I mean by the tiny Barry M cosmetic bag that was inside one of mine.

The beauty section of the show has got to be my absolute favourite. There's lots of familiar brands with stands at the show as well as some not so familiar ones. It's good to have a browse and find out more about those you don't know much about but it's also good to visit the likes of Models Own and Barry M to purchase the goody bags, which are £10 each. The goody bags are really worth the money as you get four or five full size polishes as well as lots of other little bits including lip balms, eye pencils, mirrors etc. If you were to spend £10 on Barry M or Models Own polishes in the shop you'd only get two or three.

I was thrilled to spot a Ciate nail polish stand selling the popular advent calendars. The calendars retail for £42 but they were being sold for £10 at the show. I picked one up for myself and my sister as they're such a bargain and it meant I was able to open nine days worth of doors in one go! I'll be dedicating an entire post to the calendar in the New Year once all of the doors are opened and I've tested all the polishes!

I wasn't as keen on the clothing section of the show. It's sort of set out like market stalls and the clothes all look really tacky and offputting from the outsides. They're definitely not your typical highstreet brands, more like the sorts of things you'd see in Camden market really and a lot of them were quite expensive too. You would have to spend a really, really long time rummaging around to find something you liked.

The actual 'fashion show' itself was particularly awful. I would barely even call it a fashion show to be honest, it's one of those ones where all of the 'models' dance, which is something I absolutely hate. I find it so cringeworthy. Some of the outfits were wearable but most of them were ridiculous.

The models were obviously encouraged to interact with the ground, which was pretty embarrasing because the theatre was half empty so there was very little response from the crowd. It was all just so tacky and cringeworthy that I was laughing pretty much throughout.

I'm glad I went to the Clothes Show because I managed to pick up some great goodies and I had a fun day out with my friend but I don't think I would pay for a ticket. The clothes available are just not to my tastes and I would not voluntarily sit through another fashion show, if you can even call it that. I think there should be some kind of beauty show instead as that would suit me much better! It's a shame I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought!

Mini haul & Home time!

I really need to stop doing this. 'This' being, shopping in my lunch breaks. It's such a temptation seeing as the town centre is just across the park from the University I work at. It's not like it was even pay day today either!

I originally went into the town to post some items I sold on eBay, which of course lead me to just 'popping' in to Boots and Topshop for 'essentials' that I don't really need :P I ended up with a Collection 2000 Blusher, a Topshop Blusher Duo, necklace and a new T-shirt!

I have, however, given myself a stern talking to and I will now be putting away half of my wages each week. In the corner of wage slips, they always tell you how much you have earnt since starting your job at the company and the number in that box genuinely shocked me today because if I had saved it all up, I'd have more than enough for a deposit on a flat. So, from now on, the flat deposit saving starts HERE!

So please let me revel in my new goodies, as they may be some of the last nice things I buy! *cry* (Who am I kidding? I'm sure there will be plenty more haul posts for you, hah!)

Topshop Blush Duo

Collection 2000 Blush

This weekend Vince and I have decided to take a trip home again. We're planning on taking quite a bit of stuff with us in order to make moving day a bit lighter. I've had a good clear out of my wardrobe but it still seems pretty full. Isn't that always the way? I'm pretty much going to be spending the weekend sorting out my shoe-box of a room ready for when I move back at the end of June. I can't bare to part with most of the stuff, such as my childhood books and magazines that I've collected so I guess they'll be stored in the attic for the time being. To be honest, the more books I have the better as each one is a step closer to my dream 'wall of books.'

Sorry for boring the pants off you all with my equally boring weekend that lies ahead! On another note, I have been reading all of your Giveaway entries and a lot of you have been saying that you'd like to know me, the person behind the blog, a little bit better.

I am definitely going to be taking all of your comments on board and to start with I have created a Formspring account where you can ask me anything and try to get to know me better!