Recent Beauty Buys

Unfortunately for me, my boyfriend happened to turn up whilst I was preparing this post and while I was balancing everything in this nice posed picture ready for the cover photo.. uh oh bad timing! I got a mini lecture about 'why have you been buying so much?' but honestly, it just looks a lot when you've put it all together in one place! I swear.. 

Plus some bits were freebies (read on to find out why), and there have been lots of great deals on, including the amazing Boots 3 for 2 offers and their £5 No7 vouchers - Yay! Also in my defense, what you may or may not know is that I successfully completely a February Spending Ban without one single tiny slip up! I was so proud of myself for managing to do this, and needless to say my first purchase for this haul was made on March 1st! This is 5 weeks of collective shopping all bundled into one place to share with you all and to make things a bit more manageable I've broken it down into sections: hair, nails, make up, skin care, bath & body and just one miscellaneous piece at the end that didn't belong anywhere else!

Hair

Batiste Dry Shampoo (Tropical)
Directions Semi-Permanent Hair Dye - Atlantic Blue
Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Mask

Dry shampoo is an essential purchase and in my next empties post I'll do you will see that there is at least 3 empty cans of dry shampoo in there so it was worth getting the jumbo size. If you follow me on Instagram you will be able to see from photo's here, here and here that I dyed the blonde ends of my hair blue with a semi-permanent dye from Directions. Anddd, finally a hair mask because.. I don't have enough already (haha such a joker), but I've been wanting to try this since it came out so I snapped it up while it was on a half price offer for £2-3 and I really love it, it works so well at giving my hair a nourishment boost and making it soft and smooth - it's a new favourite product. 

Nails

Bourjois '1 Second' Nail Varnish Remover

Rimmel Pro Nail Varnishes - Matte Finish and Super Wear Top Coat

Barry M 'Gelly Hi-Shine' Nail Varnishes - Lychee, Dragon and Pomegranate

Essie Nail Varnish - 'Fiji'
Topshop Nail Varnish - 'Marine Scene'

Woah, woah, woah.. nail varnish overload! I absolutely love the Bourjois '1 Second' Remover and I featured it in my March Favourites post, here. It has come in really handy at removing my nail varnish easily so that I can experiment with all of these new shades! I've been loving the matte nails trend at the moment so got myself one of Rimmel's matte top coats which is great quality and works really well. I think they only cost about £4 so it's well worth getting a bottle to have a play around with, and they had a '2 for £6' offer on all Rimmel Pro nail varnishes so I treated myself to an ultra shine top coat too. The new Barry M Gelly nails that everybody is loving: on a '2 for £6' deal in Superdrug I opted for a nude called 'Lychee' and a bright 'Barbie pink' called 'Dragon'. It turns out I should have tried them earlier after all because I am a woman in love so a few weeks later I returned and purchased 'Pomegranate'; a lovely berry red. My first ever Essie nail varnish was 'Fiji', a favourite of many bloggers and nude nail lovers. I like it, but I wasn't too crazy about the £8 pricetag, sorry Essie but I won't be rushing back for more of you! Last but not least, another Topshop nail varnish (my favourites) in the shade 'Marine Scene' which is a dark greeny blue shade and coincidentally matches my hair!

Make Up

Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick 'Shade #17'
Topshop Lipstick 'Firecracker'

Topshop Blush 'Prime Time'
Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Khol Kajal '001 Black'

I'm not too make up crazy really, I'd rather splash my cash on some nice new nail varnishes (evident in the section above), or something to treat my hair too.. with the only exception being that I like a new lipstick every now and again. I got myself one of the new lipsticks from Bourjois in their 'Rouge Edition' line and I aaabsolutely love it, I featured it in my March Favourites because I cannot stop wearing it. I also got a lipstick from Topshop in the shade 'Firecracker' which is an amazing bold red/orange that I did a full post on here. I also thought I'd test the waters with a cream blush from Toppers in the shade 'Prime Time' - these are a 'cream to powder' formulation and I've not actually had chance to try this out yet. I also got one of the Scandaleyes eyeliners from Rimmel because I love my nude one and thought that a black would come in handy if I ever fancied a more dramatic eye make up look. Again, I've not tried this one out yet. 

Skincare

No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser
Origins 'Modern Friction' Exfoliator
REN Pore Minimising Detox Mask

I've been trying to have a skincare overhaul recently in an attempt to make dramatic improvements to the condition of my skin; I want to be able to feel comfortable wearing no make up in the summer and on holiday! My skin also likes to make things hard for me being being a mixture of two extremes: really dry and really oily. With a £5.00 No7 voucher I got myself the No7 Melting Gel cleanser in an attempt to subdue my lust for the Clarins Melting Gel Cleanser. I've used this a couple of times and I just think that it's okay, I'm not blown away by it. I also received a mini facial from Origins at the beginning of March and was given some really good advice for my skin and what would work well for me. She told me that using my St Ives exfoliater every so often isn't enough for my skin and to prevent further blemishes I need to use a good quality exfoliater twice a week. Her amazing sales techniques left me walking away £31 lighter and with a tube of 'Modern Friction' in my bag. I do love it so a full review will follow soon. Also from my facial I bagged myself samples of: 'Clear Improvements' mask, 'Out of Trouble' mask, 'Perfect World' serum, and 'Gin Zing' eye cream - unfortunately I love them all and want them all. Sorry bank balance! Over the past month I've been trialing the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal mask and love it to pieces. I've heard equally amazing things about the Pore Minimising mask too so ordered myself one whilst Look Fantastic had 20% off REN. This only arrived yesterday so I've not had chance to use it yet - I will do a review if I like it though.

Bath and Body

Soap and Glory 'Sugar Crush' Body Wash
The Body Shop Body Butter - Raspberry

Okay, okay we're nearly finished. I reviewed the Sugar Crush in full here, and I also featured it in my 'March Favourites' post here, and my Weekend Pamper post here too so it is definitely a no regrets purchase and is well loved. However, I am sick of the sight of it on my blog now after it being in so many posts! Getting a body butter from The Body Shop for £4.50 instead of £13.00 is a crazy bargain! Nobody can turn that down. There was a special offer on a little while ago (I think it's still on now) for certain 'scents' of the body butters to be knocked down to just £5.00, and then with a Love Your Body card a further 10% discounted too. I love the body butters from The Body Shop and I'm building up quite a stash on them. They all smell super yummy, the raspberry one is no exception, and they do an amazing job at moisturising the skin. There's nothing better to complete a perfect pamper than with a layer of one of these!

Lush:

A little trip to Lush happened last week for some bath time treats. (It wasn't last week at all, you can see from the stickers I bought these on the 13th March!). Impressively, even with Lush's prices creeping up and up, all of these only came to £8.50 because the 'Catastrophe Cosmetic' Fresh Face Mask was a freebie after trading in 5 empty black pots. You can see my post on the recycling scheme here. While I was there I also got a 'You've Been Mangoed' Bath Melt and a 'Butter Ball' Bath Ballistic, both of which I haven't had chance to try yet. I have used the 'Fluffy Egg' Bath Ballistic from the Easter stock but I wasn't too impressed with it. Almost £3 and all it did was dye my water pink? It didn't create much of a fragrance (it is supposed to smell like candyfloss/bubblegum/Snow Fairy) but whatever mild fragrance it did create didn't linger for long; just a little bit of a let down!

Miscellaneous

Glamour Magazine | Freebie: Percy and Reed 'No Oil, Oil'

I didn't know where else to put this one, but I bought a Glamour magazine for a measly £2 at the train station the other week, giving myself some quality entertainment to pass the journey (I also feel like an empowered female as Glamour is extremely pro girl power) and I'm a sucker for a little freebie so enjoyed the added bonus of a Percy & Reed hair oil too. It's got a funny smell but it does make my hair lovely and soft, not bad for a freebie!

Phew, I'm definitely all shopped out now!

Have you been taking advantage of the '3 for 2' offers throughout Boots at the moment?

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Review: Soap and Glory 'Glad Hair Day' Range

I've mentioned these products before in passing and just said that I really like them, but I thought they deserved a little more praise now that I am formally obsessed with them. The 'Glad Hair Day' range from Soap and Glory consists of three products: shampoo, conditioner (regular), and intense conditioner. These 250ml tubes costs £5.50 a piece, and I bought mine on a '3 for 2' deal (Soap and Glory are great like that), meaning that I got the full set for £11 - not bad, not bad.

Oops, I made such a cock-up with the picture above: "Give your moody hair the heave-ho.." - It should say 'mane' Hannah, not 'hair'! Can't you read? Silly moose. Anyway, onto the Glad Hair Day shampoo. Since this has a 'no build up' formula it's supposed to give the hair amazing shine and be suitable to wash your hair with everyday. I don't wash my hair daily, but I have found this to be the perfect shampoo for what I can call 'everyday use', i.e. in my eyes this is for the washes where you don't want anything special; you don't want it super clarified and squeaking clean right down to the core, you don't want it super strengthened, smoothed or frizz free with an intense formulation, you just want it freshened up. Ideal for those times when I'm not going anywhere special and my hair doesn't need to look amazing; it's probably going to be thrown into a messy bun until the next time I wash it so I just want any excess oil shifting from my head (tehe, yummy). You might wonder why I love it then if it's nothing special? But it's the whole packaging with it's vintage style images and quirky slogans that easily please me, and then the amaazing fruity fragrance (heavily raspberry based) that fills the room and lingers on the hair makes it super yummy. A little blob goes a long way because it lathers up well and can keep my hair clean for around 4 days.

Now, I don't think much to the regular conditioner and don't think it's that great at all but that's probably because it's targeted towards finer hair types and I've got a big, thick frizzy mane that could never be described as fine. But if I use the intensive conditioner (aimed at those with thicker hair) with every wash then that becomes a bit too much and my hair can be overloaded. That's why it works ideal to have both of them and use them alternatively on each wash to create the right balance, and another way that I sometimes use them is a blob of the regular, a blob of the intensive and mix them both together in my hands before applying to my hair and that ends up working out perfectly! Soap and Glory needs to come up with a middle of the road formula.

The times when I use the intensive conditioner, though, is when my hair feels at its best and this is one that I know I will 100% use again and use as a weekly treatment for my hair as it leaves it in the smoothest and softest conditioner ever; not bad for a high street conditioner!

So, I may not have made this set sound all that special but the intensive conditioner is the absolutely star of the show with this range and the one that I would hands down recommend. If your hair is thicker or more damaged than mine then it may be suitable to use as a regular shampoo, but if your hair is like mine (or finer) then it makes a great occasional treatment to really work at smoothing and strengthening the hair!

Another win for Soap and Glory!

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♥

Review: Soap and Glory 'Sugar Crush' Body Wash

Hi girls. Friday at last! Today's post is heavily related to the one that I wrote yesterday as it is about another product from the 'Sugar Crush' line by Soap and Glory. [Yesterday's post: link]. The line is fairly new and is a little different from their standard 'pink' range with the girly and floral smells, as this one is more citrusy and fresh. The Sugar Crush only contains 3 products at the moment: the body scrub, the body wash, and the body butter. If they bring out a 'lotion' as opposed to a 'butter' in the form of this smell then I'm going to be dropping everything and running straight to Boots for it. **(I wrote that sentence and then saw that it says on the bottle to 'follow with a similarly scented lotion or butter' - does the lotion already exist?!)

I was so happy when I bought this a few weeks ago and it was certainly 650 Boots points well spent! I popped it in my shower as soon as I got home and the humongous fluroescent pink and yellow bottle certainly brightened things up in there. As I just said, the bottle is absolutely massive, and I like that it has a pump dispenser so there's no hassle, no mess and no waste when using this in the shower And no slippy hands dropping bottles on toes..

The formula is rich and creamy and foams up to create a really lovely lather than cleans the skin well without stripping it of moisture and it leaves the skin conditioned and nourished after use. It is a similar scent to the scrub that I was talking about yesterday; it's really fresh and 'zesty', it's got a real 'wake me up' feel to it. Absolutely perfect to use first thing in the morning to perk you up out of your zombie state and every so often throughout the day I catch a little hint of the scent from my body.



I don't know if it makes me sound like a little bit of a loon that I have gone so ga-ga over a body scrub and a shower gel, but there's just something about Soap and Glory that they just keep getting right! They keep on bringing out these fabulous products that I just cannot get enough of.

Have you tried the Sugar Crush range yet?

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♥

Review: Soap and Glory 'Sugar Crush' Body Scrub

Hi girls, hope you're all having a good week!

I'm going to talk to you all today about a recent new favourite product of mine that I am absolutely obsessed with! I'm literally using it every single day because I can't have a shower without it.. and nobody needs to exfoliate that much do they, really?

This body scrub from Soap and Glory was a part of the 'Best of All' gift set that I bought for myself as a little Christmas treat (you can see it in this haul post), but I'd been lusting after anything from the new 'Sugar Crush' range for months and months. I know that it's a little bit of a love it/hate it kind of smell with this range, and it really is unique, but I personally absolutely love it! Can I admit that sometimes when I'm in the bathroom I open the tub just to stand there and sniff it? Don't judge me. The scent is sweet and sour mixed together in a way that my nostrils don't really know how to handle it. The zingy, zesty lime fragrance hits first and is the most powerful, but there is a sweet and smooth undertone of brown sugar that balances it out to make it super yummy. (I never thought that I'd be spending my Thursday afternoon talking about a balance of scents!). If I've not sold you on how brilliant the scent is then run down to Boots and stick your nose in a tub of this ASAP.

Onto the scrub itself; it's a gooey consistency that melts to a little bit of an oil base (it does contain almond oil to soften the skin), and it has large but not overly abrasive grains of macadamia to scrub the surface of skin. Rubbed into the body it gives just the right amount of cleanliness, fresh exfoliation, softness and moisturisation, and sweet smelling skin!

I've never really been much of an exfoliation fan just because I've not seen the need to do it; I'm not a big fake tan wearer and the skin on my body isn't dry and flakey, it's just 'normal'. This was one of those products that I used 'because it was there' and now I've fallen in love and don't want to be without it. I'm converted to the world of scrubbing up! It costs £8.00 for 300ml which I think is reasonably priced because the tub lasts a long time (although not at the rate I'm going through it) so I expect that I'll be getting myself some more once I have eventually run out.

Since using and falling head over heels in love with this scrub, I have since gone out and bought the matching Sugar Crush body wash to get all the yummy Sugar Crush-ness that I can get!

Have you tried the Sugar Crush range yet?

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♥

Review: Soap and Glory 'Hand Food'

 

 

This hand cream was the very first product from Soap and Glory that I ever tried, and since dipping my toe into those pink and girlie waters I have never looked back. 'Hand Food' (love the name) is a staple product in my life and one that I somehow have a sizeable back-up stash of, but it is one that I will repurchase for years to come. Available in a larger pump bottle, a standard 125ml tube and also a miniature travel size tube too this really is a perfect little hand cream that you should have in your life - I need more of the mini ones! I want one for every bag!

 

The price is spot on (£5 for regular 125ml tubes) and there are frequent deals on this (I have so many because I stocked up during a S&G '3 for 2' offer) so it isn't going to break the bank, but all the great qualities of a decent moisturising hand cream are still there. It is thin in consistency so feels light on the skin and doesn't leave hands feeling greasy or sticky afterwards, but it still feels luxurious and the skin feels nourished. It also smells super girlie with hints of shea butter and marshmallow - Mmm! Cheap and cheerful, in pretty packaging, with a lovely scent, silly soft hands without grease or stickiness. Is there much more you could ask for?

 

 Soap & Glory 'Hand Food' £5/125ml via Boots - link



Review: Soap and Glory 'Peaches and Clean' 4-in-1 Cleanser

 

Today's post is about more from Soap&Glory! Gotta love the brand. I think their skin care is really great and I did a post the other day about my favourite facial exfoliator/mask from them too (link). This cleanser had been on my wishlist for a really long time so seeing that it was in the Best Of All set at Christmas time made it even more tempting to buy the gift set and get my hands on it. Alone, this bottle costs £7.00 for 200ml and it is available from Boots in store and online (link).

 

As the name would suggest, this cleanser smells quite heavily of peaches which might not be to everybody's preference in something that you rub all over your face for fear of break outs, but I love it as it smells so sweet and fruity but really refreshing too and I think that the 'I want to eat you' smell of it is one of my favourite things about this. Now onto the technical stuff.. Soap&Glory's formula includes: skin softening fruit acids (peach), quillaja bark as a natural soap, jojoba oil as an emmolient skin softener [definition of emollient: 'having the quality of softening or soothing the skin'], Detoxyboost™ technology that helps to purify and deep clean, as well as Poreshrink R2™ for a clearer, fresher, brighter complexion. Nowhere at all can I find out exactly and specifically what these 4-in-1 qualities claim to be, but I assuming that it is to: clean, soften, purify and brighten.

 

I find one pump enough to be enough for my whole face and it comes out as a creamy milk that feels really moisturising and soothing. I'm normally one for foaming cleansers but this one makes a nice change because it's really gentle on the skin as it doesn't aggriavate or irrate at all, it simply melts away any make-up or dirt on the face when massaged onto damp skin and leaves you with a little boost of radiance after rinsing away. It is advised not to get this in your eyes, and although it doesn't sting or irritate it definitely isn't that great at removing mascara etc, it just made a mess on my face! It's fantastic for every day use as it's really light on the skin and leaves it feeling baby soft but there's no residue left behind at all once it has been rinsed away. This feels like it gives the skin a really deep clean really quickly and easily, and although it might not be the best at unclogging pores, it does clean, brighten and soften the skin.

 

As if this needs any more praise at all, I feel like I need to add that for me a product comes as a whole and good packaging makes a difference (as superficial as that is) so I love how cute and girly this is, with an appropriate yet quirky name, and of course the pump dispenser is a winner because it avoids all mess and wastage too.

 

Have you tried this S&G cleanser before? Or any of their other skincare?





 

Review: Soap and Glory 'Scrub Your Nose In It'

Hello lovely ladies. I've been barely blogging at all this month, definitely just not been 'feeling it' and I don't know what's wrong with me? Where's the passion gone?! Even though I have a list on my phone of at least 40 things that I want to talk about I've just struggled to find the motivation to get my camera out, take snaps of a product, upload them and then string a sentence together to rave about it - serious case of writers block! And also, Twitter's been bitchy on the whole #bbloggers front recently and I've just been put off so have taken a back seat with tweeting and 'promoting' myself on there - get rid of the negativity girls it's not good for anyone! 

After spotting today that somebody else I know has started up their own blog (her blog is x-rachaels-way-x.blogspot.co.uk - take a look and go follow it, I'm sure she's going to be absolutely amazing!), it gave me a little kick up the bum to get back into it so I'm coming to you today with a review of Soap and Glory's 'Scrub Your Nose In It'.

Scrub Your Nose It In is the first of Soap and Glory's skincare that I had tried and I love it. It is available in one size only; 125ml and costs £7.50 and can be found in Boots in store and online (link). This is a multi-use product and can be used as an exfoliating scrub and also as a deep pore cleansing mask too. I use this once a week and make use of both of it's functions when I use it - first I use it as an exfoliator predominately around my nose, a little bit across my cheeks and then my chin too, I give it a good scrub and then rise it away with warm water. Then, straight afterwards I apply a fresh dollop all over my face in quite a thin layer and leave this on for a couple of minutes for the clay mask action to take place and then rinse away, scrubbing gently as I rinse to reveal fresher and glowing looking skin.

This gives the skin a mild tingle and a cooling sensation when applied and smells very minty but does not irritate at all. The exfoliating grains within this scrub as so teeny tiny they are hardly visible and are so gentle on the skin, not rough or scratchy at all but can definitely be felt and give the skin a really good scrub, clearing out your clogged up pores. I love using this as my skin always looks just that little bit brighter and smoother after use as the dead skin cells have been buffed away (nice) and all that dirt deep down in your pores has been shifted away. It's a really simple and easy product to use with only a teeny tiny amount being needed each time as just a thin layer on the skin is necessary and £7.50 is a great price for a 2-in-1 product.

One last thing, I've had my blog completely redesigned over the past few days by Becky from Beauty Becky and I love it. I just wanted a change as I was bored of looking at the same set up for the past 6 months and wanted a new colour scheme and just a bit of a freshen up really. She was so helpful and so accommodating to all of my requests; she listened to exactly what I was after and made all of the tiny adjustments that I asked for without any hassle at all!

I recommend that you all follow the link above to Becky's blog, have a read, follow her too and if you're interested in a spruce up for your design then she's one to go for!

♥

Quick Reviews: Soap and Glory Minis

Hiya girls, I hope your first full working week of 2013 isn't going too bad, and if it is well then maybe this will help to give you a little bit of inspiration to have a pamper evening later on today and make everything better again!

 

Recently, Soap and Glory products have absolutely dominated my bedroom and bathroom - they are everywhere I look! Out of curiousity, I gathered them together and counted them all up and found that I had 22 S&G products(!), although 4 of them are 'Hand Food' (handy little back up stash!). I thought that this little collection of minis would be a good place to start with talking about them all, as these three fit together so well as a scrub, a wash and a moisturiser.

Most of Soap and Glory's minis or travel size versions of their products cost just £2.50 and are available from Boots instore and online (link). The minis are great for so many reasons: 1) they are cheap and cheerful in the same cute and quirky packaging as the original sizes, but they're double as cute just because they're small, 2) if you're new to Soap and Glory it's a good way to try something out for the first time if you're not sure whether you'll be keen on it, 3) if you like to chop and change products so often you'd never get through a larger bottle (this is me all over), 4) they're perfect for stocking fillers and gifts, and 5) they're handy for travel, holidays, etc.

'Flake Away' Body Scrub (£2.50 / 50ml)

This is a gentle body polish with shea butter, almond oil, peach, sea salt, and sugar that can be scooped out and massaged into the skin to exfoliate anyway dryness and leaves it feeling nourished and smooth, and smelling absolutely amazing. It smells girly and floral, but at the same time like a buttered peach. I'll warn you the tub is a slippery little one though - twice I've dropped the entire pot in the bath while trying to use it!

'Clean, Girls' Creamy Body Wash (£2.50 / 75ml)

I absolutely adore this creamy body wash, and I don't think I'd ever go back to a normal shower gel ever again. With a built-in moisturising matrix, this skin softening cream makes it feel like you're washing yourself with a moisturiser. Releasing a thick and luxurious lather, with a scent to match 'Mist You Madly', this body wash leaves the skin clean and fresh, super soft but with no residue and smelling like a dream.

 

'The Daily Smooth' Body Butter (£2.50 / 50ml)

This is a 'dry skin formula' body butter with rosehip seed oil and cocoa butter for extra soft, smooth and nourished skin. It is intensely moisturising and is a fairly thick and creamy consistency, but sinks quickly into the skin and doesn't leave any greasiness behind. With typical comical quotes on the packaging such as "do or dry" and again, a scent to match 'Mist You Madly' this body butter is an all around winner.

♥

* 'Flake Away' was given to me as a birthday present, and 'Clean, Girls' and 'The Daily Smooth' were gifted to me as giveaway prizes from Chloe's Way blog.

Pre-Christmas Collective Haul

Post-Birthday & Pre-Christmas Collective Haul | Featuring. Lush, The Body Shop, Soap & Glory, Clarins, Clinique, Avon, Superdrug, Primark, New Look, ASDA, and a couple of gifts. 

 

..That is what I wanted to call this post, but that's just crazy long, so I decided to shorten it down to just Pre-Christmas Collective Haul. Mannn, I have done a lot of shopping in these past 2-3 weeks. I can just hear my poor bank account crying out for me to leave it alone now!




I've had multiple shopping bags sitting in the corner of my room for the past two and a half weeks which was ideally supposed to be full of Christmas presents but when it came to sorting through it all and wrapping up presents last night I discovered that 'gifts for others' vs 'gifts for myself' was quite disproportionate: 22 things for friends, family and boyfriend ..57 for myself. Season for giving?! Slap on the wrist for me this month!

I didn't realise that it had gotten that extreme, but I do love a good shop! It's so difficult to resist things when there's so many good offers on at this time of year and going out shopping for others is something that cannot be avoided. I'll hold my hand up and say that I don't at all enjoy the experience of Christmas shopping; I find it stressful and unpleasant as I hate shopping in busy and crowded environments with cheesy Christmas songs blasting down my ears with chavvy mums ramming their prams into me trying to get past down aisles that are too small, with the added pressure of wanting to find something really special that will truely spoil someone that you care about and will put a big smile on their face Christmas morning! So, to soften the hard task that is shopping for others I pick little treats up for myself along the way :) Everything here obviously wasn't bought all in one go.. I wouldn't have the biceps capable of carrying it all back home again! It was a gradual and accumulative process.

I also had my birthday at the end of November so received lots of birthday spends that were to be used to treat myself, and treat myself I have done!! I'm sure I'll be finding a way to justify everything that I picked up for myself.. read on to find out what I've spoilt myself with and what my excuses are!

Lush
I've already done a whole separate post dedicated to this box of goodies that I ordered online a couple of weeks ago using some of my birthday money. I went all out and ordered 9 little treats and received 1 free sample of 'Fun'. My box includes 4 Christmas limited edition items including Snow Fairy shower gel, Bubblebeard bubble bar, Christmas Eve bubble bar and The Melting Snowman bath melt. I also ordered a hair mask (H'suan Wen Hua), a fresh face mask (Love Lettuce), a massage bar (Soft Coeur), a spot treatment (Grease Lightning), and a solid shampoo bar (New). Safe to say this box smells amaaazing and you can read a little bit more about it here: LINK.


 

The Body Shop
If you didn't already know, this month's issue of Glamour magazine includes a Joy Card inside it which entitles the reader to either a £3, £10, or £100 voucher for The Body Shop but you won't know how much is on it until you take it instore. This months Glamour mag was a special price of £1.50 so I knew that even if I got a £3 voucher it would still be a saving and I'd put it to good use - I looove The Body Shop! Yes, I got a £3.00 voucher and it can only be used on full price items and not in conjunction with any other promotions so I spent it on something that has been on my 'lust list' for a while and even featured on my 'Christmas Wish List' (link) and it was the Almond Hand and Nail Cream (RRP £5.00 for 30ml), so that ended up being a little £2 treat to slip in my bag.

Soap & Glory
I'm quite new to the Soap & Glory fan club and have only tried a couple of bits, but Scrub Your Nose In It is now a staple in my skin care routine and Hand Food has a firm place on my bedside table, along with Mist You Madly being my perfect on-the-go refresher. I wanted to branch out a little bit more and try the Glad Hair Day Shampoo after hearing Corrie (Dizzybrunette3 - link) talk about this in her hair care routine video and she has amazing hair so it can't be bad! Soap & Glory is almost permanently on a 3 for 2 offer in Boots so I thought I may as well throw in the Glad Hair Day Conditioner and Intensive Conditioner too and try out the whole range together.

 

The day that I had nipped to town for a few more Christmas presents happened to be the same day that Boots reduced their price of the Soap and Glory BEST OF ALL Giftset to better than half price. The previous day, lots of bloggers had been hyping this offer up on Twitter, saying how they couldn't wait to get down to Boots early and snap one up before they all sold out, and I wasn't really that fazed or tempted by this hype.. until I was actually in Boots and saw that there was tower piled high with these giftsets and thought, 'oh it's right here infront of me, everyone keeps banging on about it, might as well get one while I can!'. So I did. Happy Christmas Hannah! The set cost £27.00, originally costing £60.00 and contains 9 full size products which individually total over £70.00 - Talk about a bargain! The set includes: The Righteous Butter body butter, Hand Food hand cream, Sugar Crush body scrub, Clean On Me shower gel, Smoothie Star body milk, Heel Genius foot mask, Peaches and Clean cleanser (been on my wishlist for ages!), Sexy Mother Pucker lip plumper, Thick and Fast mascara, plus the great big pink bag that they come in too!

 

Clarins and Clinique
It's pretty rare for me to ever buy myself high end products; I can't ever seem to justify such a large amount of money for just one product, so these two items were a real indulgence for me that I splurged on whilst Debenhams had a 15% sale on beauty and fragrance. I got the Clarins Beauty Flash Balm and the Clinique Chubby Stick Intense in 05 Plushest Punch, a vibrant hot pink. I am cherishing these two very dearly and would easily say they're my favourite things in this entire haul, they just feel so luxurious and I wish that everything I own could be from Clarins and Clinique!

 

Avon
I ordered more than this from my Avon representative but returned most of them and was left with just these three products, which were part of a '3 for £10' deal which is a pretty great bargain. All I really wanted was the Supershock Mascara (this one has limited edition Christmas packaging), and the incredibly vibrant blue Nailwear Pro+ Nail Varnish in 'Cosmic Blue', but when the mascara costs £8 and the nail varnish is £6 is seemed crazy not to get a third product and only pay £10 for all three! I wasn't sure what to get and just gambled with a mineral powder foundation as I've never tried one before.

Superdrug and Body Care
MUA clear mascara - £1. Technic highlighter - 99p. Who's a bargain shopper? Me, but only sometimes. I've been wanting a little something to fix my eyebrows in place better and have been lusting after a Mac Brow Set but I didn't want to part with £12.50 for something that is a reported 'love/hate' product so played it safe with a £1 clear mascara that I actually paid for using my Superdrug points! I've heard fantastic things about this super cheap highlighter from Body Care and it is an apparent dupe for Benefit's ..Highbeam? (I think?) so I wanted to give it a little try out for myself.



Primark
Just a few cheap and simple bits from Primark; it's been too busy to have a decent rummage recently. I am absolutely loving their bargainous mega cheap but on trend jewellery that can be found in other high street shops for up to five times the price!! My friend got these Primark earrings for her birthday and when I saw that they were only £1 I just said 'Sorry, I'm going to have to copy and get some for myself'! Then I found this shirt reduced from £12 to £5 but I don't know why it's reduced? It isn't damaged and there was a whole rail full of them reduced too, in all sizes from 6-20 (or whatever it goes up to), so perhaps it's 'past season' or something? But anyway, it's pretty and thought it would be something nice to wear out to an evening meal somewhere. And then I got some tights, because who doesn't need super cosy warm thick tights in December??

New Look
My excuse for this one is that I had a credit note from last December when I returned something after Christmas but didn't have the receipt, and these credit notes expire after 12 months so I desperately didn't want almost £40.00 to go to waste by it expiring! I'm not so much a huge fan of New Look clothes, there's the odd good thing but I never have the energy to search through the tacky stuff but I was very happy with this quilted jacket that I found for £34.99. It's pretty casual, easy to wear, fitted style, light but really warm too - better than a wasted credit note anyway!

 
 

ASDA
These are what you could regard as 'essentials', except Glamour.. but it was cheaper than usual and I wanted the Joy Card for The Body Shop! I was shopping for presents in ASDA as it's great for stocking fillers and the likes of alcohol, chocolate, DVDs etc so I couldn't resist stocking up on some everyday bits while I was there; cleanser, mini deodrant, face wipes and lip balm!

 

Gifts

These were all gifts that I was extremely lucky to receive these past few weeks! Firstly is my 'International Beauty Bloggers Secret Santa' gift that was organised by the lovely Sandra at The Puzzle of Sandra's Life (link) and my gift was from the host herself - Thank you Sandra! All the way from Slovenia I was sent a Christmas hand cream from the brand Essence as well as three nail varnishes, a L'Oreal Caresse Lipstick and some chocolate - yummy! Secondly, I've been a moody/hormonal little bitch the last week and in an attempt to put a smile back on my grumpy little face my boyfriend bought me a present.. Topshop Green Room! It definitely made me smile; the boy knows the way to my heart that's for sure. And then, as if I didn't already have enough nail varnish my Nanna rolled up with a little bag and said that she'd cleared out her collection and was donating some nail varnishes to me that she no longer wants. None of the colours struck me as too exciting, but when someone is offering to give you the likes of OPI and Leighton Denny it isn't something you turn your nose up at!

 

Aaaand that's it! Finally! Well done if you made it to the end - haha!

 

I'm not sure why some of the picture quality is really clear on some pictures and a bit crummy and fuzzy on others but I'm still trying to learn my way around the settings on my new camera; one day I'll learn when the 'close up' option is appropriate and when it isn't. I would love some kind of photography training course one day, just to get me up to speed with the basics, I feel a little useless with my snaps.

 

But anyway, thank you for reading, hope you've enjoyed!

♥