Huge Collective September Haul

Ooops. My spending ban failed. 

Here are the many, many items that slipped through the net....

Haul posts are actually my favourite posts to read, along with mini reviews such as monthly favourites and empties, but I know that they may not be to everybody's preference. So, instead of boring my readers and overloading everybody's dashboards with first an Avon haul, then a Superdrug haul, then a Topshop one, then an Asos one, then an eBay and miscellaneous one, etc etc, I thought I would combine them all into one quite lengthy collective haul.

Avon
Yesterday's haul post was all about the bits and bobs that I ordered from my new Avon representative a few weeks ago. They were an absolute bargain and I got 8 products for less than £15! If you want to see in more detail which bits I picked up then you can see the full post here: link.

Superdrug
When I arrived back at uni at the start of this month ready for a fortnight of 'freshers' antics, I realised that one of the things I had forgotten to pack up in my make-up etc was false eyelashes! For me, these are a must have for a night out to complete the glamorous look. I'd heard that Superdrug were having a 3 for £10 deal on Eyelure lashes but when I got there this offer was nowhere to be seen and must have finished. What I did find instead was this packet of 116's with a free extra pair inside. These cost £5.25 and I got 10% student discount too.

Topshop

A few weeks ago Topshop had free delivery on all orders to celebrate London Fashion Week and being a student who gets 10% off too, it was too hard to resist putting in an order. I was very well restrained with my order and all I wanted was a top that I'd had my eye on for a while and wanted to wear to a 21st party at the weekend paired with a maxi skirt. I got this black, printed cross cropped top* which costs £12.00 and by Topshop's prices that's pretty reasonable. The quality is very good and it's a flattering fit too. I like it because it's pretty basic so can be worn on a casual day, e.g. to lectures with a pair of jeans or can be glammed up and worn on a night out. I actually ended up being too ill to attend the 21st party at the weekend so instead I am planning on wearing this top on an upcoming night out in Manchester - stay tuned for an OOTN! I also got a pair of skeleton socks* for £3.50 because they're different, a bit quirky and I thought they'd be fun for Halloween. Topshop also threw me in some freebies of their magazine and a tote bag - thanks guys. 

ASOS

I'm such a sucker for an ASOS order on a rainy day. I can always rely on their reliable service, speedy free delivery, hassle free returns, reasonable prices and not to mention the student discount. It's the student discount that gets me everrrry time! For a limited time (48hours I think it was) ASOS were holding 25% student discount on everything on their site. I managed to ignore the temptation for this 48 hours but then fell into the trap when the discount was extended for an extra day and I placed an order. Only a little one though so that makes it okay. I only got 3 things and they had all been in my 'save for later' list for quite a long time. I got a holdall bag* to use when travelling between university and home and for any long weekend trips that I might take in the future. It's plenty big enough to hold everything that I need; good sturdy quality; nice and basic with plenty of pockets and compartments; and best of all it's pink and girly. This costs £17.50 in the sale reduced from £35 (link). I got two basic clothing items that can be worn again and again in different ways: a coral strapless skater dress* reduced to £8 from £14 in their sale (link) and a grey long sleeved crop jumper* that cost £15. 

TK Maxx

You can see my post from a few days ago here (link) of a couple of hair and nails bits and pieces that I found amongst the mess of TK Maxx. I've already talked quite a bit about them in the post that I did on them so won't talk about them again here!

eBay

I ordered three things from eBay this month, one of them (my favourite) I am still waiting to arrive and was warned that it can take up to 25 working days(!) to arrive as it is coming all the way from China. The other two are both related to nail art and will feature in upcoming nail posts when I have experimented with them. I've seen sets of nail art dotting tools on a few blogs before and can be used to create multiple effects on the nails - I ordered mine from this seller here (link) for just £1.18. I also just got a little pack of nail stickers to try out, nothing mind-blowing though - I ordered mine from this seller here (link) for 99p.

Miscellaneous 

Wilkinsons - Again, something that I have already done a post on this month was some cheap and cheerful 'home decor' bits that I got from Wilkinsons to perk up my uni bedroom and wrote a post called 'Make A House A Home'. What I didn't mention in this post though was a pair of concealers that I got myself from their beauty section. I got the coveted Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer as I have never tried it before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've thrown away the receipt now but I think this cost £4.19 and I definitely understand the hype now that I've tried it! Super easy application and extremely high coverage that lasts nearly all day for a bargain price - love it. I also got the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer as my beloved YSL Touche Eclat is coming to a finish and I need to find myself a cheaper dupe so thought I'd start with this. I've been using this for a few days as an under-eye brightening concealer and so far so good. This cost £6.98.

Nouveau Beauty - As I have a huge girl crush on Millie Mackintosh I decided I would try out some of her false eyelashes that she has recently released. I got the thickest and fullest of the 8 pairs and they're called Shoreditch. You can order them yourself here (link) for £8.95 each with free delivery, or you can see my full post on them here (link).

Pure Naturals - I saw this Healing Scars Face Scrub* on somebody's else blog after they had been sent it and reviewed it. I wrote down the blog that I saw it on to give some credit for influencing my life but when I went searching for it again to link the post it was no where to be seen! Not sure what happened there. But anyway, I read a glowing review on how this all natural face scrub helps to fade away scarring and also speed up the healing process of damaged skin. I like the sound of it containing all natural ingredients and I have scarring on my face so I was up for giving this a try. Pure Naturals has all sorts of natural products on their site to help with body, hair and face problems such as acne, eczema and psoriasis as well as scarring, so if you're troubled with any of these then maybe it's a site worth checking out. My scrub cost £6.95 and you can find it here: (link).

 

I think that's everything!

There might be something that I have forgotten to include but I think that this post is long enough.

Nobody let me buy anything else now!!

♥

*I know that some people are against bloggers using stock photos instead of their own, but I've lost my lead to connect to my laptop so could not upload my own pictures, sorry. I've marked items with stock photos used with (*) and they are all pictures taken from the website that I ordered from.

TK Maxx Hair & Nails

TK Maxx (or TJ Maxx if you're American) is full to brim with amazing discounts and absolute bargains. In the past the reasons for the hugely discounted price tags was because the stock was past season designer items, but recently it has been advertised that it is also current season but still with the same huge discounts. With some items and brands I wouldn't have the faintest idea whether something was from their previous or current season, and for some things I don't think that it even matters.

One thing that I always end up ogling at is the huge array of bags that they stock. One time I picked up a gorgeous tan leather bag that had been reduced from around £320 down to £55! Bargain! At some point in the future I do want to invest in a durable and timeless bag and when that time comes I know that the first place I will head is TK Maxx.

I also love the gift sets and cosmetics that they do too and think that it is the perfect place to start when shopping for presents. When I was in store the other day I did pick up a Bayliss & Harding hand soap and lotion duo set for my mum's birthday which is next month and got it for 50% off the recommended retail price.

For myself I spotted these two incredibly brightly packaged hair care products:

The first one is a basically a clarifying shampoo; 'De-Gunk Deep Clean Shampoo' by Urban Fudge that claims to dissolve away styling build up, and the other is a leave-in conditioner by TIGI. I have never tried products from either of these brands before, and I have never actually heard of Urban Fudge before. I thought I would be keen on the pump dispenser bottle but I found it quite tricky and felt like I needed three hands; one to hold the bottle steady, one to push the pump, and a third to actually catch the dispensed product! Anyone else struggle with these? I know a lot of people like them. The scent is citrus mint which is a very fresh and clean fragrance and just 2 pumps of this gave my hair the clean of it's life. It says on the bottle that it is gentle enough for daily use, but it contains alcohol and that is not an ingredient that I wish to use regularly on my hair as I feel it would be quite stripping if used too often. Instead, I will use this on average on a fortnightly basis for a deep clean or when my hair feels too built up with product from leave-in conditioners, hairspray, dry shampoo, etc. This 350ml bottle cost £4.99.

The TIGI leave-in conditioner is a super environmentally friendly product with 88% organic content, no parabens, no artificial colors or synthetic fragrances and the bottle is 50% post consumer recycled material with an encouraging message on the side to rinse and recycle the bottle again once finished. I like to use leave in conditioners on the dry ends of my hair every now and again when I feel like taking a break from using argon oil every day and what sold me on this product 100% was the smell. Mmm cherry almond! The sweetest and most gorgeous scent that has ever entered my nose. I felt it was a shame that the smell didn't really transfer to my hair that well, I was hoping to have beautiful smelling hair still when I woke up then next day but unfortunately I didn't. This 250ml bottle cost £3.99, is quite a runny consistency but a little goes a long way and is very nourishing.

I also picked up 6 bottles of China Glaze nail polish not actually realising that they were 'crackle' effect as it did not say this anywhere on the box, but they still look lovely on and were good value for money. They came in two boxes of 3 bottles, both for £5.99 and I purchased these with my 200 follower give away in mind. I'm only 8 followers away from 200 now and need to think of a suitable prize to offer up, but I don't think anybody would really be interested in 6 bottles of crackle polish! Instead I'm going to have a selection of different products and just one of these polishes will be in the goody bag with the shade being the winners choice.

Shades:

Platinum Pieces, Haute Metal, Latticed Lilac, Oxidised Aqua, Tarnished Gold, Crackled Medallion.

I definitely think that TK Maxx is a store that gets over looked for its amazing products at brilliant bargain prices! I'll be looking in there more often now.

Have you found any TK Maxx bargains recently?

♥