A Late December 2016 Primark Haul

As I've said before I'm not really a one of making new years resolutions, but every year I promise myself that this will be the year when I rein in my spending and try and save a bit of money, and this year is no different. in 2017 I'm definitely going to try and cut down on my spending  and I'm going to try and be a bit more selective about what I do buy and obviously I'm going to try and cut down on the haul posts. Will I achieve it ? Only time will tell I guess x

Anyways back on point and what have I got for you today? Well a haul post of course LOL, to be fair though this haul is from last year, or should I say last month, and it's my final Primark haul of 2016.

I managed a couple of Primark visits in December and whilst i was good and mainly bought pressies for my friends and family, I did pick a few bits and pieces for me :)

I'm going to be honest and say that this jacket, come long line kimono, come over shirt, has no hanger appeal at all, it needs a body to fill it out. It's basically a long line lightweight crepe jacket, with no fastenings, or buttons, and slightly flared kimono like sleeves, and side pockets. I love the floral pattern and the flowing feel. You can get some trousers in the same print, to give more of a suit look, but personally I'm going to be wearing this over a skinny trouser, a skinny jean or a pair of leggings. This jacket was £15.

I don't know why it is, but ever since Christmas I've been in the grip of a pretty major Fibro / CFS flare, and all I've wanted to do is sleep :( I've had an awful lot of duvet days over the last fortnight or so, and I've spent a lot of time in my PJ's. I love my PJ's and even though Santa bought me several pairs for Christmas, I can't resist buying cute pairs of PJ's when I see them.

These are just cream, legging style, drawstring waist, PJ pants, with a pale grey / beige and pink Pusheen the cat print. I love anything cat related and this Pusheen is super cute. These PJ pants were £8.

Although I have seen a Pusheen t-shirt in Primark's nightwear section before, I couldn't find a top that matched these pants so instead I decided to get a toning, vest top.

This creamy, ivory vest top was also from the nightwear / lounge wear section, and it's made of a super soft fabric, it contains an internal bra shelf, and it features adjustable shoulder straps, and a cute lace trim. It was only £2.50 and I think that it will coordinate not only with these Pusheen pants but also a lot of my other nightwear pieces.

Next up jewellery and I make no apologies that this haul is about 80% jewellery. I love fine jewellery as much as the next person but cheaper jewellery pieces are perfect for buying the on trend pieces, or for trying something new or even for expanding your own jewellery wardrobe. 

Primark is one of the best places for buying on trend and fashion pieces, their stock changes so regularly you can pretty much guarantee that you can pick up a least one of two pieces that are right on trend. One of the biggest trends, at the moment, jewellery wise has to be the disc or circle pendant. If you love the look that the likes of Links Of London, and Thomas Sabo, are all championing at the moment, but you don't have that kind of budget, then Primark should be your first port of call,

Unfortunately this photo doesn't do this piece justice. It's basically a silver tone chain, which comes, with a silver tone, crystal studded disc pendant. It's is super sparkly and it was just £1.50. My Godmother has a Thomas Sabo bracelet which features small almost identical diamond studded discs and this necklace matches it perfectly for about a 40th of the price! Okay it's not silver, or white gold or real diamonds but the look is definitely there.

This Y necklace that I also picked up has a similar smaller disc at the top of the Y, and at the base of the Y, is has a filigree disc, that is surrounded  by a crystal studded disc. This necklace has a real designer look and it was just £2 - Bargain!

The next necklace that I got is a double layer necklace, and this time it is in a rose gold tone.

The top strand features, an initial, I think they had all of the most common initials, but obviously I went for the letter L for Louise :). The second strand features an almost identical disc to the previous necklace only this time in the rose gold tone. It has a filigree centre, and it's surrounded by a crystal studded outer ring. This necklace was £2.

My final Primark jewellery purchase was a pair of birthstone earrings, which were just £1.50.

I can't remember what the correct name for these earrings is but I always call them back to front earrings. I can never describe this type of earring properly but these particular ones feature a gold ball stud (which you can wear separately) which is the part that goes through the ear, and they have a round green, crystal drop which is slightly set back. Useless description I know but I hope you know what I mean LOL. These particular earrings are birthstone themed, and being a May baby, these ones have a green faux emerald crystal stone. I also got my mum a pair of these for Christmas - her birthday is in September so hers have a deep blue, faux sapphire stone. These earrings were just £1.50 and I think that they would make a lovely birthday pressie for anyone with pierced ears.

The final two things that I picked up last month were both beauty related bits, first up a duo pack of my favourite face wipes for just £1

and I also picked up a tube of this GWA Girls With Attitude Brush On Eyelash Glue which was reduced to £2.

I really struggle with false lashes, and I particularly struggle with the glue. I always end up squeezing way too much out and making a mess, so I'm really hoping that this brush on adhesive will make it a little bit easier - I really want 2017 to be the year when I master false lashes!

I've made a little You Tube video to accompany this haul which you can see below or via this link x 

If you have any questions on anything that I've bought, then please leave me a comment below, and if you've written a Primark haul post, or uploaded a Primark haul video recently, then please leave me your links below so I have a nose and see what bargains you've picked up x 

My Love / Hate Relationship With Benefit They're Real Beyond Mascara

There are so many mascaras on the market these days, that it's almost impossible to choose which one to buy. There are so many different things to consider - Are your eyes sensitive? What colour do you want? Do you want length, or do you want curl or even volume? It's a tough choice, especially if you're a mascara whore like me, I love trying new mascaras and I very rarely show any brand or product loyalty.  I have a mascara drawer that's full to bursting point with new and unopened mascaras at all different price points and acquiring a new mascara always makes me happy.

Most of the mascaras in the drawer are one offs that have came in goodie bags, magazines, gifts with purchase or in beauty boxes, but suprisingly given my attitude to mascaras, I do have a few mascaras from one brand in particular - Benefit! As you know I love Benefit and in my collection I have a mini Roller Lash and a mini Bad Gal Lash, and I also have several full sized and mini They're Real Beyond Mascaras that I've received in beauty boxes, as pressies, in sets and that I've even bought myself.

Benefit They're Real Beyond Mascara was released in 2011, in a blaze of publicity and it's popularity has grown so much as of 2015 it's now the UK's No. 1 best selling mascara. I can see why and that's probably why it's something that I've repurchased, but I do have a bit of a love, hate relationship with it and today I'm going to tell you why x

Benefit They're Real Beyond Mascara is so named because it pretty much promises to give you that perfect false lash effect look in a tube and it also promises to do everything that you could ever want a mascara to do, It claims to lengthen, curl, volumise, lift and separate your lashes. It also claims to be long wearing and not to clump, smudge or dry out. Can a mascara really do everything for everyone? Well Benefits consumer tests certainly seem to suggest that this one can at least in part, in their research 94% saw dramatic length & volume, 94% saw a visible lift in their lashes and a massive 100% of participants saw long wearing results. Were my results the same? Let's see x

Unlike a lot of Benefit products, packaging wise They're Real seems to have a little less of the quirk factor. This mascara generally comes boxed and it comes in a pretty classy looking, gunmetal, plastic and metal tube.

Most mascaras these days are all about the wand and the spoolie and this one is no different. Long gone are the traditional bristles that you would find in Bad Gal, They're Real embraces the new generation of plastic and rubber spoolies, covered in row upon row of tiny vertical prongs, what makes this one special though is the tip of wand

It;s not easy to see it in this picture but the slightly domed tip is also also covered in tiny rubber bristles or prongs or whatever else you want to call them. This tip is specially designed to separate the lashes but you can also use it to flick out the corners of your lashes for that real fake lash look.

For me the formulation is good, it's not too wet and it's not dry or flaky. I've only tried the Black but it's a true rich matte black, some black mascaras can look ashy but not this one, it's a proper black mascara. which is designed for maximum impact.

At the risk of telling you something you already know, I'm assuming that you all know how to apply mascara, we all have our own ways of doing it, but Benefit provide you with some application instructions anyway, which actually do make the application a little bit easier. Holding the brush horizontally, they advise that you apply the mascara to your bottom lashes first and that you apply your mascara by wiggling the brush from side to side, rather than just brushing it on. Then if you've ever watched the amazing Benefit head make up artist, Lisa Potter Dixon on QVC UK you'll know that you need to twist the brush, and go VERTICAL, using the domed end of the brush to separate, curl and fan out your lashes. Then in theory you can then layer, and repeat till you achieve the look you want. The key words being in theory but more on that later. Here are a couple of before and afters so you can see the difference that just one coat makes.

Before

After

There is absolutely no doubt that just one coast of They're Real has made a significant difference to my lashes, they're thicker, they're definitely longer, they've got a definite curl to them and they're much darker! It also wears well, it doesn't flake, it doesn't feel drying on the lashes, and it doesn't irritate my eyes and it also doesn't come off until you take if off with a decent cleanser or eye make up remover. You could say that it does everything that Benefit says but for me the words, close but no cigar spring to mind.

I like this mascara but I do have a few issues with it, first of all the wand attracts way too much product and as a result you can end applying way too much at once, it just doesn't seem to have as good a wiper system as Roller Lash does.

Although  as you can see above one coat gives a dramatic enough result I do find that if you apply more than one coat in order to get a real full on false lash look, it has a real tendency to get a bit thick and clumpy, I know the whole point of the domed end of the wand it to lift and separate the lashes, but in my experience it's sometimes so clogged with mascara that you need to actually wipe it before you use it, and sometimes even then it just doesn't cut the mustard. It's not ideal and more often then not I still need to comb my lashes thoroughly with a lash comb to get that picture perfect false lash look. Okay it doesn't take any effort to pull out a lash comb but with a mascara and a wand that promised so much it is a bit frustrating

Thankfully for me, most of the time one coat is enough, and all I used to perfect the lashes you can see above was the mascara wand itself. There is no doubt in my experience that this mascara does achieve most of what it promises and I will probably repurchase it in the future but if you fancy giving it a go, take some tips from me - take care and time with your application to avoid blobs and clumps, and either have on hand a wipe to clean your wand or a lash comb to achieve that flawless lash look, oh and make sure you have a decent cleanser or eye make up remover at the ready, because this stuff stays on. Benefit They're Real Beyond Mascara in Black retails at around £19.50 for 8.5g of product and is available for various retailers including Debenhams, Boots, John Lewis, House Of Fraser and of course the Benefit Cosmetics UK website. Thanks for reading and don't forget to let me know if you have any questions about this review x

Primark Haul - April 2016 Edition - A Little Bit Of Everything

Hi Guys x I hope you've had a lovely week so far, in between computer problems and vet visits on Monday I managed a little trip to the Metro Centre x I didn't buy an awful lot but I did pick up a few odds and ends from Primark.

Apart from a couple of bits of underwear I only bought one clothing item. As I said in a previous post I'm not really planning on buying a lot of summer clothes this year, instead I'm trying to just buy odds and ends that I can wear no matter what the season.

That said though this ivory, sleeveless blouse that I picked up would be perfect for a warm, summer day. It's a touch sheer so I would probably wear a toning vest with it but I think it cute and it will look nice with leggings or skinny jeans. I picked up this blouse from a sale rack it was reduced from £8 to just £3 - bargain!

So that was it for clothing - I tried a few pairs of shoes on but even the size 7's were huge (I normally take an 8) so I gave up and headed to the jewellery section.

The first thing that I got was this stunning statement necklace. With a bronze tone base it's covered in purple, grey and blue faux crystals, shiny grey beads and faux turquoise triangles. I am a huge fan of statement necklaces and this one was only £3, it had been reduced from £8 but I swear if you went to another store, you'd pay a lot, lot more for it.

From a chunky, statement necklace to a necklace that's altogether smaller and more delicate.

Last time I was in Primark I bought the Disney Mickey head bracelet (read my post here) I initially thought it was a necklace,so at the first opportunity I had I went back and bought the necklace.

It's very similar to the bracelet, and on the same, fine gold tone chain but this time instead of being embossed with crystals the Mickey head is plain. I think this super cute and a must for any Disney fan. It was just £3 x

So that was it for jewellery, next up beauty. I know I moaned about the state of the beauty section last time but this time it was perfect, the odd thing had still been opened but at least it was clean and I managed to get what I wanted last time.

I'm a huge lover of pencil style lip products and after seeing it in the flesh, the PS Velvet Matte Lipstick Crayon in Nude went straight to the top of my wishlist and thankfully this time I managed to find one that hadn't been opened.

Apologies for the change in background colour but I really wanted to show the colour off as accurately as I could. It's not an out and out, beige, blank your lips out nude, it's probably more of a pink, coral nude. It's not that moisturising but at the same time it doesn't feel as though it's drying your lips out. The coverage is good, and being a matte it wears well, all and all not bad for £2. Thanks to the dull and miserable weather up north today I haven't managed a swatch photograph instead you've got a picture of me wearing it and showing you my best duck face, and I'm also wearing it in the video that you can see at the end of this post x

The next thing that I bought was a set of the PS Volume Full Look False Lashes. Those of you that know me well, probably know that I'm not really a false last wearer, however a lovely brand recently sent me a few sets of their lashes to try out. For that reason I've decided to have a little bit of a practise with some cheaper lashes before I try them out and review them. All of the sets in Primark are just a £1 but I particularly loved these big full ones.

The final two thing that I bought came from the home section. As I've said before the home section in the Primark Intu Metro Centre store doesn't have the largest home wear selection but they still had some nice things. I didn't desperately need anything though so I just got a stationery item and some fairy lights.

Seriously I could probably light my room up with just fairy lights as it is, but I could resist buying these wire lights when I spotted them next to the tills. It's just basically a strand of very on trend rose gold / copper wire with 20 tiny little butterfly lights on it. I have no idea where I'm going to put them yet but at just £2.50 I couldn't leave them behind.

My final buy was something a little bit silly but I love stationery and you can always find a use for a sticky note :) I love Grumpy Cat or Tardar Sauce to give her proper name, I love her so much and I just want to give her a huge cuddle. Alas that will never happen but I can feel closer to her and her less than cheerful expressions with these cute sticky notes. You get three different designs in the pack and whilst they weren't particularly cheap at £2, they were a must have.

If you want to find out more about some of the things that I bought and listen to me ramble for a bit they have a little watch of my latest You Tube video that you can find below or via this link x



If you haven't already subscribed to my You Tube channel I'd love if you did x I'm posting a lot more regularly than I used and I'm posting a lot of content that you won't find on my blog so please click this link to find out more x

So I hope you enjoyed this haul, if you did don't forget to follow my blog so you'll never miss any of my posts x Thanks for reading and hopefully watching and if you've bought anything nice from Primark recently, leave me a comment and tell me all about it xx

More Blog Sale Hauling

Well I said I had gone over on my spending diet this month but that's only because so many of you lovely girls have had ultra tempting blog sales this month - my final purchases for April came from the lovely Cosmetic Candy and her spectacular blog sale number 4 :)

I picked up a few lovely things including two MAC paints in Chartru and Bamboom and a gorgeous YSL Rouge Pur Lipstick in 142 Honey Beige - OMG waiting for the alcohol to dry off after sanitising it took for ever (well not really :)- I just wanted to put it on lol




Gorgeous - I am sooo pleased with this and the paints too - she was also kind enough to throw in a lovely set of false lashes and some sweeties (all gone I'm afraid it's been years since I had wham bars lol) - Thanks Rowena xx