Manchester Haul | ft. Primark, Topshop & Lush

Helloo. At the weekend I went on a shopping trip to Manchester with my boyfriend so that he could pick up a few bits and pieces for his summer holiday to Zante and I thought that I might as well show you what I picked up while we were there too. I didn't have a massive spend or go OTT, but I did buy quite a few things and for a change I am actually happy with everything that I bought and don't want to take any of it back like I usually do!

Primark
First stop: Primark. Primark is one of those that I have a huge love/hate relationship with, I love it's on trend clothes at bargain prices and super cheap accessories, PJs and underwear... but I strongly dislike the actual experience of shopping in the store. Unless you hit it at a quiet period like at 10am on a random Tuesday morning like I sometimes could while I was at university, it is a nightmare place to be. So, so, so, SO many people are in there, all trying to cram their huge baskets down the same tiny gaps, barging you out of the way and putting their smelly armpits in your face when they reach up to higher rails (I actually have had these experiences!). Not to mention the ridiculously hot, sweaty and claustrophobic atmosphere along with sometimes having to rummage through piles of clothes (jumble sale style) just to try and find your size.

We arrived in Manchester just after 10:30am and after we'd found somewhere to park the car we headed towards the Arndale Centre. As Primark is probably my boyfriends least favourite place to be in the whole world he said we should definitely go there first before the rush hits and it gets too busy, plus he said I had 1/2 an hour maximum in there so that we could go grab a coffee and a cake from Starbucks as a mid-morning snack (this was actually a reasonable request because I have been known to spend multiple hours scouring Primark if left to my own devices). As soon as we walked through the doors I instantly thought 'eugh we're too late' as it was already heaving! What do you expect from a Saturday morning in a city center though really? The heat and the thick, sticky air hit me like a tonne of bricks and I knew there was no way I was going to get to have an indepth look at any of the rails, so I just have a quick scan over and if anything at all caught my eye from a distance then it was worth while having a closer look. I was quite happy when my 30 minutes allowance was up as I couldn't wait to get out of there. I didn't get much at all but here is what I did manage to pick up:

- Red Zip Up Jacket (XS from the men's section) £12.00.

- Pyjamas. Bottoms £5.00, Top £3.00.

- Snood £4.00.

- Sunglasses £1.00.

Topshop

Topshop is actually not a dissimilar experience from Primark; over heated, over crowded and loud music blasting so you can't even have a conversation with the person you're with. Not to mention they had a sale on which just added to the mania in there, people just seemed to be grabbing at everything and anything. I would definitely much prefer to shop in a calmer and quieter atmosphere. Nonetheless, here is what I popped in my basket in Topshop:

- Nail Varnish - 'War Paint' £5.00.

- Jumper £26.00

- Vest top £6.00 (2 x £6 basic tops for £10)

- Cropped vest top £6.00 (2 x £6 basic tops for £10)

- Underwear £4.00

I also got 10% student discount off everything.

River Island

I only picked up one thing whilst we were in River Island as it's not a shop that I tend to like very much. I had a quick scan through their sale as I've often picked up some amazing bargains from there in past but couldn't find anything so I spent more time helping my boyfriend go in and out of the changing rooms trying to choose from about 6 pairs of shorts that he'd picked up. I did spot this one top by the door in the 'New In' section, I thought it was something I'd wear often and was reasonably priced so I got it.

- Print tee £16.00.

Superdrug

After lunch at Nandos we went into Superdrug because I am STILL on the hunt for the Sleek Contour Kit in 'Light' and can never find it in stock anywhere (still had no luck :(.) As my boyfriend had been kind enough to pay for lunch I thought I would repay the kindness and buy him all of his toiletries that he needed for his holiday. I think I actually got the bad end of the deal here and ended up spending quite a bit more than he did on lunch! When you add together the cost of sun cream, after sun, deodorant, shower gel and whatever else he popped into my basket it really does add up to a hefty total, especially when just one bottle of suncream costs £10 and he needed a 10-day supply. But he's worth it and here's what I got for myself:

I CANNOT get this picture to rotate - apologies!

- 200ml Batiste Dry Shampoo in Brown £1.95 (on offer!)

- Barry M Liquid Eyeliner in Black £4.79

- 80ml Montagne Jeunesse Peel Off Face Mask £3.49

- 10ml Tea Tree Peel Off Face Mask £0.89

- 10ml Superdrug Peek Off Face Mask £0.99

- 10ml Superdrug Purifying Clay Mask £0.99

Okay, so you may think that I went a little bit face mask crazy, especially when you read on to see what I got from Lush, but face masks are one of my favourite things to treat myself to on a lazy Sunday or just a general pamper day before night out or special day. I prefer the peel off ones as they are generally less mess than trying to wash off the clay ones. In the future I plan on doing a review of my 'Best & Worst Face Masks' on all of the ones that I have tried and tested. 

Lush

I won't ramble on much because this post is already really long. But I picked up two masks from Lush, neither of which I have tried before. One is a cleanser and the other is a fresh face mask that needs to be kept in the fridge and used up within 3 weeks. I'm going to do a more indepth review of both of these soon once I've used them up to include things like how long they lasted me/how many uses I got out of the tubs, if I think they're value for money, and any noticeable improvements to my skin after continued use, which one I prefer, if I'd repurchase - that sorta thing.

- Cup Cake (75g) £5.95

- Mask Of Magnaminty (125g) £4.95

That's it for my 'Manchester Haul' and if you've seen my recent 'Payday Treats' and 'Asos Haul' posts then you'll know that I've bought myself quite a lot of stuff in the past few weeks. Maybe I should be imposing a spending ban on myself!

xxx.

Instagram Diary of Marbella ♥

These pictures are from quite a few months ago (I went on holiday at the end of May), but at that point I hadn't started blogging yet and seeing as though I just figured out how to make an 'instagram diary' today I thought I would back-track a little bit and share with you all some of my favourite pictures from my holiday to Marbella that I had uploaded to Instagram. *Warning: there is a lot of pictures.

♥ Setting off to the airport ♥ First night ♥ Out for tea on the first night

♥ Walking along the beach ♥ Boyfriend on the outdoor gym ♥ Me being silly on the outdoor gym

♥ Milkshake to cool down ♥ Boyfriend posing in his sunnies ♥ Big tree, little girl

♥ Posing on the beach ♥ Marbella life - Ferrari and Lamborghini ♥ Evening cocktails

♥ Boyfriend sipping his Daquiri ♥ Fancy meal out ♥ Just posing

♥ My #1 picture ♥ Tapas ♥ Inappropriately reading Harry Potter.. naked!

♥ Meal out ♥ At the water park 'Aqua Land' ♥ Me in my favourite maxi skirt

♥ Huge elephant style shower on the beach ♥ Sunset ♥ Boyfriend on the beach

♥ My super tanned legs ♥ A palm tree ♥ Sad to be going home

♥ Locking the apartment for the last time ♥ Palm tree silhouette ♥ Beautiful Marbella harbour 

♥ Follow me on Instagram: Hannahripley1

xxx.

Wedding | OOTN

I don't know about you but the weather for us on Friday was aaabsolutely gorgeous. It was one of the hottest days that we've had for weeks months and there was not a cloud in the sky - An absolutely perfect day for a wedding.

Me and my friends had been invited to the night do of the wedding of one of our friends mums. Is that a mouthful of a sentence or what? I couldn't figure out how to word that better! Basically my friends mum was getting married. It was a lovely evening, the bride (and of course her bridesmaid daughter) looked beautiful and her huge smile never left her face. I absolutely love weddings and can't wait until a few years from now when my own friends start tying the knot! Happiness just seems to fill the room, everyone gets dressed up to the nines, drinks are in full flow and then the 'dad dancing' comes out, something that we saw our fair share of last night. Even ended up with two dads having a 'Top Gun' style dance off in the middle of the dance floor!

We'd known about it for months and months and that's also how long I'd had my outfit planned for. I'd had this maxi dress sitting in my wardrobe for a long, long time with no occasion at all to wear it for as I'd bought it because it was pretty, not because I needed it. Even though the weather was super hot and a shorter, lighter coloured dress could have been more appropriate I really needed to get a wear out of this dress; even if it was just for a couple of hours in one night then it would mean it wasn't a waste of time and wardrobe space buying it!

I do absolutely love the dress and the illusion of a slimmer body shape that it gives because of the black paneling. Wait for the good part: I bought it from...... ASDA. For just £18! Everyone seemed so shocked when I revealed where my dress was from but honestly George has got some pretty trendy clothes in recently. (Did I just say 'trendy'? Yeah.) It's a very flattering style and a lovely soft jersey material, doesn't feel cheap at all. Because of the bright and bold design down the front panel I decided to keep accessories to a minimum and teamed the dress with just a simple gold bow bracelet from Miss Selfridge, a clutch bag from ASOS, and white sandals from New Look. Also, my nails are 'War Paint' from Topshop - a recent purchase that will feature in a haul and a NOTD coming soon.

 xxx.

Beauty Shop in ASDA | Haul

I quite often find that the larger supermarket chains and stores are an excellent place to find well known brands at slightly cheaper prices, and I'm not just talking about food! This also includes skin care, hair care and make-up. Depending on how large the store is will depend on how extensive their range of brands is, for example, my local ASDA is pretty big but only stocks its own range: George, and also Maybelline and MaxFactor in terms of make-up, and that's as far as it goes. Whereas if I visited an ASDA in a city, such as Manchester, it is likely that its range of brands would be much wider.

I popped into my local ASDA yesterday to pick up some bits and bobs to make a special tea with (duck breast and crème brûlée anyone?!) and took a little wander into their cosmetics aisles as I knew I needed some hair dye, and typically I threw a few extra things into my basket that were more than just hair dye.

Hair Dye

Clairol Perfect 10 Nice'n Easy - This is the hair dye that I picked up and it's one that I have never used before because in the past I've always been dying my hair either red or purple and for that I've used the Live XXL range. But now my hair is ombré and needs re-doing slightly (the brown was dyed over blonde so has faded quite a bit) and I was looking for a nice and rich chocolate brown and this one works in just 10 minutes. This was £5.00 and is a permanent dye in the shade 'Medium Golden Brown'.

Shampoo & Conditioner

Dove Volume Boost Shampoo - This shampoo claims to 'help repair the surface of fine hair to improve volume'. I don't have fine hair by any means, my hair is actually ridiculously thick, but I really like the Dove range and have tried their intensive conditioning treatments which work a treat so thought I would give this one a go. It also promises to nourish dry and flat hair which is just what I need really.

Dove Pro-Age Conditioner - When I stayed at my boyfriend's house a few nights ago I told him that needed to wash my hair, but being a male he doesn't actually own any conditioner and I don't like washing without conditioning so I asked him if there would be any I could borrow from his mum or sister. He wandered off and returned from his venture with this conditioner in hand but said 'I think it's only for old people because it says 'pro age' on it so I don't know if you can use it'. Cutie! This conditioner claims it will revive fullness and strength with its lightweight formula and restore strength and volume without weighing it down. And boyyy did this conditioner live up to its promises! With just one use my hair was noticeably more volumised (is that a word?) and silky soft to the touch. I let it dry naturally and it brought out my natural waves with an extra added bounce. I was so, so impressed with this conditioner after just one use that I couldn't resist throwing it into my basket in ASDA. I nearly even bought two! 

These cost £2.38 each for a 250ml (shampoo) and 200ml (conditioner) bottle.

Cotton Wool Pads

SkinSystem Cotton Wool Pads - Okay, how much can really be said about these? They're cotton wool pads, every one has them, every one needs them, they're cheap as chips and have a multitude of uses. These ones cost £1.00 for 100 pads.

Face Mask

Garnier Pure Self-Heating Sauna Mask - I'm a little bit face mask crazy at the moment (keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming Manchester haul where I stocked up on lots and lots of face masks!) and this was just £1.06 for two sachets (2x6ml) of face mask. I've used products from Garnier's skin care range before and was impressed so I'm looking forward to trying out this mask as it claims to keep skin feeling purified for up to 7 days, and even better is that it's a self-heating mask which I love - I think it's such a weird sensation when it warms and tingles on your face as you put it on.

Dry Shampoo

TRESemme Instant Refresh Waterless Foam Shampoo - One of the weirdest concepts I've ever tried out on my hair. It pumps out as a mouse and you have to rub it into the roots of your hair but doing this always makes me think of when I was in school and my way to get volume was to scrunch mouse across the top of my head and let it dry all hard and crispy - yuck! I was scared the first time that I used this incase it did actually dry hard and crispy, but thank fully it didn't. Tresemme suggests two ways of using this, one is to blast your hair off with a hairdryer after applying, one the other to let your hair dry naturally as it does leave your hair a bit wet after you put it on. I tried out both ways and both times my hair dried without a trace of product, no trace of oiliness or greasiness and also felt quite moisturised. A strange, but impressive product. This costs £4.79 in Boots but I paid £2.19 for it in ASDA - amazing. 

Have you ever picked up any fantastic beauty finds in a supermarket?



Not from ASDA:

Photo Frame

Rectangle Collage Photo Frame - This isn't a beauty buy and neither is it from ASDA, but I wanted to share it with you all and it wasn't worth a post on it's own, but it's just a photoframe that I picked up from Next when I was with my mum. My mum was looking for a wedding present for somebody that she used to go to university with and she picked out a similar photoframe but in the shape of a heart, not a rectangle. When I saw the rectangle one next to it I wanted it for myself to go above my bed and I plan on filling it with all of my favourite pictures of me and the girls, and me and my boyfriend. This will be my plan for the next time I'm off work on a rainy day! The frame holds 22 2x3 sized photographs, which is smaller than the standard size photo but I would rather have lots of mini sized photos than half as many but in the larger 4x6 size. This frame cost £16.00 and the heart shaped one costs £14.00. 

xxx.

Payday Treats! | Haul

Hurray for payday!! I feel I've worked very hard this month and deserved my shiny pay cheque. Although I'm saving the vast majority of it for university funds in September, I couldn't go without self-rewarding myself with a few little bits and pieces. So these are some of the things that I have treated myself to through the week, most of them being online orders.

Mac Lipsticks

I did a longer post/review on these two beauties a few days ago which you can check out HERE. I got the shades 'Lustering' and 'Vegas Volt', and I am absolutely loving Vegas Volt right now and wish it was a shade that I could pull off for day-to-day wear, but it is a very bright and bold shade and I'm just not that brave.

Please note: This is a picture I uploaded to Instagram and a filter has been used on it so does not show the true shades. For better pictures and swatches please view the post linked above. :)

ASOS Clothes

I have also done quite a lengthy haul post on the orders that I made from ASOS recently, definitely not helped by their amazing and overly tempting sale that they have on at the moment! I got: 1 necklace, 2 skirts, 2 playsuits, and 4 dresses. If you would like to take a closer look at what I ordered then take a look at my haul post HERE.

Accessory Stand Necklace

This was a purchase that was inspired by an OOTD post done by Steph over at Bonjour Belle (LINK). Steph writes a fabulous fashion and beauty blog and also does reasonably priced web designs. (She designed and installed my new layout so if you like it and fancy your own here is the link to her design shop: link). Her blog is definitely one of my favourites so I would recommend that you check it out. If you would like to see the exact OOTD post that I am referring to then I have linked it HERE and when I saw it I absolutely fell in love with the necklace that she was wearing and just had to have it for myself. The 'Ora Necklace' is available from a site called The Accessory Stand in both silver and gold and is just £7.99 with £1.50 for delivery and you can pay through PayPal. The Accessory Stand is a lovely little site with a range of adorable and reasonably priced jewellery and accessories. My order arrived super quick even came with a complimentary cross ring which I thought was very nice of them! Will definitely be ordering from them again.

 

Pandora Charms

I picked myself up two Pandora charms from the JohnGreed website to add to the collection on my bracelet. I used to think that charms would never be something that I would buy for myself and they are only the sort of thing you would receive as a present to give them some kind of sentimental value. But the alpha 'M' charm that I got does have sentimental value as it is a reminder of my recent holiday to Marbella with my boyfriend. We took a day trip out to Torremolinos to visit the water park and we wandered past a jewellery store that sold Pandora. We just windowed shopped and I noticed the alpha charms and just teased 'Ooo you should get me that 'M' to remind me of this holiday forever' and he said that if we'd brought more money with us out on our day trip then he would've got me it, how sweet. But since then it was completely forgotten about and I just thought 'oh well I'll buy it myself and pretend it was from him' ;). I threw in the heart spacer too because I thought it was pretty and was only £15.00. The 'M' charm was £30.00.

Primark Blazer

I've been wanting a blazer for ages and ages because they can really transform an outfit and are an item that should be in every wardrobe - I can't believe I have gone for so long without one! But I've searched in Topshop, River Island, H&M etc etc and just never fallen in love with one where the style suited and I felt that the price was appropriate. So one day when I visited Preston for the day to hand back in my keys to my university halls we walked past Primark and I spotted various blazers on the mannequins in the window and I felt silly for never checking there in the past! They had various colours, ranging from pastels such as mint green, baby pink and lilac, to the standard black, grey and cream. I opted for the black and it cost me just £15.00. I really like the fit and the style, it has no buttons and no pockets (I would've preferred a pocket or two), and also has a cream lining so that if you choose to turn up the sleeves then there is a colour contract on the cuffs. All in all, a fantastic bargain jacket for just £15!

This is me very awkwardly attempting to take a picture of the cuff to show the colour contrast when it's upturned!

Aaaaand that's it for my treats this week!

Do you love to treat yourself on pay day? Or do you treat yourself all the time? ;) 

xxx.

ASOS | Haul

Hi lovelies. I hope you're all having a nice Friday! I have a day off work so thought I'd take the chance to share with you some Asos purchases I made recently, and maybe get some feedback on the items I'm unsure of and whether or not to return them. I don't quite know what came over me but last week I placed no less than FOUR separate orders with Asos! I'm pretty sure it's the combination of their amazing sale, 10% discount for students, their free super saver delivery and also their no hassle free returns policy that makes the temptation to click that 'Pay Now' button so over powering.

I love ordering with Asos, a lot of the products are absolute bargains and in the past I've purchased some gorgeous dresses for less than £15. But, the main downfall to ordering anything online is not being able to try something on before you purchase, and often I've found with Asos that something can look absolutely amazing on the model... but on me it looks far, far less than amazing. This was the case with a playsuit that arrived as part of order #1. It was the first thing that came up in the 'playsuit' tab of the sale section and I thought 'Oooo £13.50 what a steal!', and when I saw they had it in a size 8 I threw it in my basket straight away. I don't have any pictures of me wearing this because as soon as I tried it on I instantly made the decision to send it back as it didn't fit me anything like the model in the site picture which was disappointing. You can see in the picture of the back that the bottom half fits like shorts on the model, well on me it seemed to fit more like a very skimpy pair of knickers! (..and I don't have a particularly large bottom either). When I had it on it actually revealed more of my bottom than it covered, and that was not a style that I was willing to sport, so back in the post it went.

Source: asos website

Source: asos website

Asos Peplum Playsuit £45.00 £13.50 (link)

I also picked up two mini skirts, both in the same style, but in the two different colours that they had to offer. One black with a baby pink belt, and the other hot pink with a black belt. These are a nicely fitting style and very wearable pieces that can be dressed up or dressed down.

Source: asos website

Asos Jersey Mini Skirt with Contrast Belt (Black) £12.00 £6.00 (link)

Source: asos website

Asos Jersey Mini Skirt with Contrast Belt (Pink) £12.00 £6.00 (link)

I normally manage to find a lot of items that I like in the jewellery and accessories section of Asos, but this time I found just the one necklace that caught my eye. It's a long, pendant necklace with a feather on the end of a gold chain. Each section of the feather actually moves instead of it just being one steady and solid style which I really like. I think it adds an extra dimension to the piece and the way it flexes means that different gems catch the light at different times.

Source: asos website

Someone iron my dress for me please?!

Pieces Herdis Necklace (Gold) £12.00 £5.00 (link)

Not a great deal to say about the next few five dresses that I popped into my basket. I thought they were all reasonably priced and I had them in mind to be versatile pieces that could be used for work, daytime and also for night time depending on how they're styled and what other pieces they're paired with. Let me know what you think of them. 
The only reason I'm not so sure on the Polka dress (below) is the colour and I don't really know if it suits my skin tone? It's a bit of a funny shade and I'm just not so sure - Hmmm!

Source: asos website

Club L Polka Dress with Belt £29.00 £18.00 (link)

I think this looks much, much better with a belt on. And, again, iron please?!
Club L Shirt Dress with Pearl Collar £39.00 £22.00 (link)

For some reason and completely by accident I order this strappy playsuit below in a size 10 instead of a size 8, so it is quite a bit too big for me, but I do like the style so I'm just going to send it back and exchange it for the smaller size.

Source: asos website

Asos Playsuit with Strappy Back £30.00 £15.00 (link)

This swing dress didn't float my boat at all and is going to be sent back. I know that it's the style they're supposed to be etc, but this just hung off my like a potato sack and was one of the least flattering things I've ever had on. It just feels too big and completely swamps me; the first picture is showing how much extra room there was under my arms ha! 

Source: asos website

Asos Swing Dress with Collar £16.00 (link)

Source: asos website
(I didn't buy this dress in purple - I got it in black, I just preferred the picture of the purple one) 

Source: asos website

Asos Mini Swing Dress with Dipped Hem £18.00 (link)

So, are you like me and order more from Asos than you usually would because you know how easy it is to send it back?
Which of these purchases is your favourite? - Mine's the pearl detail dress!

xxx.