When I was younger, like so many of peers I wouldn't have been seen dead in a so called discount stores, whether it was down to naivety, delusions of grandeur, just trying to fit in or just plain stupidity, I look back on the Louise of the 1990's and I cringe, I was such an idiot, discount and bargain stores rock and they probably always did.
It's simple really, why pay more for something when you don't need to, I am a huge fan of the so called discounter supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl, I love a good market stall, and of course I love bargain retailers like B&M and Home Bargains. My real love though is Poundland, you do sometimes need to watch their prices, as you can occasionally get things cheaper elsewhere but it's one of the few shops that I can never leave empty handed.
What do I buy in Poundland? well anything and everything, you name it and I've probably bought it in Poundland, nail varnish - check, CD's - check, cleaning products - check, yeah, you get the idea. I'm lucky enough to live quite close to one of their larger stores so I can't resist popping in every week or so, to see their latest arrivals.
Like so many stores now, Poundland is a buy it when you see it shop, if you don't get it when you see it there is no guarantee that it will be there the next time, I think that fear of missing out is probably one of the reasons that I buy so much on every trip.
Now I don't post as many hauls on the blog as I used to instead I tend to upload pictures to Instagram, and save them to highlights but I thought that today I'd share some of my most recent Poundland buys with you, and they all have a bit of a theme.
If you are still lucky enough to have either your own mum in your life or if you're a mum yourself then you'll already know that it's now less than two weeks till Mothers Day. I think I'm just about sorted now but if you aren't and you either want some little things to add to a main present or you just want some cheaper or token items, or even if you fancy treating yourself on a budget, than Poundland really should be your first port of call.
On my last couple of trips I've noticed more and more items appearing in the their Mothers Day collection. With 90% of the range priced at just £1, this years offerings are perfect if you're are a fan of pinks and marble prints. With items ranging from these fabulous tea light holders, to travel mugs, coupon books, coasters, and trinket boxes, there really is something for every type of mum
Now my mam, is a bit of a puzzle book fan so I've picked up a cute set of pens that are shaped like cooking utensils for her (not pictured), and you know how it goes, I couldn't resist picking up a few stationery bits for me. The pack of marble print washi tape wasn't in the Mothers Day range but everything else in this picture was. I love anything in gold, pink and marble, and I do love a notebook, so for just a £1 this one was a must, and I love the quotes like "Write Your Own Future" on the pencils.
As well as stationery Poundland's Mothers Day range also contains quite a few beauty items, I'd already picked up one of the marble Blending Sponges when they first appeared with the Valentines / Galentines range, and after a few uses I decided to get a back up. It works just as well as my Beauty Blender and I love the grey and white marble print. As well as the blending sponges, there are perfume dupes, nail polish and nail files sets, bath bombs and some pretty decent make up products.
For Mothers Day 2019, Poundland have released 3 cheek different products inspired by Revolution / Make Up Revolution's, popular Blushing Hearts line which retail at around £4.99 and were themselves inspired by Too Faced's £24 Sweethearts. I don't own any of the Too Faced originals but I'm pretty happy with the Revolution dupes that I do own, and £4.99 is a lot easier to spend then £24. What about a pound though, can make up that cheap really be any good? well I decided to find out and I managed to get my hands on two of Poundland's "heart" make up items.
The first item I picked up was the Bronzing Powder Triple Baked Bronzer. Sticking with the the pink, Mother's Day theme, it comes packaged in pink and white cardboard box. The box itself comes wrapped in a plastic seal so you can't actually see what you're buying, slightly risky but it was only a pound and there is nothing worse than getting a product home and finding someone else's fingerprints in it, so at least you've escaped that!
Open the box and you're greeted with your product adhered to a plastic insert, and boy does it look the part. The domed, chunky, heart shaped bronzer contains 3 shades, a deep warm gold, a deep brown bronze, and a slightly lighter nude bronze.
With the baked texture that you we've come to expect from this type of product, the payoff and pigmentation is superb, all of the shades are strong, and smooth, and I didn't have to do any of that scraping that your sometimes have to do with baked products to get to the colour - just warmth and shimmer in just one light swipe.
Unfortunately I haven't managed to take any pictures of these actually on my face yet, but I have used this bronzer for an all over look, swirling the colours together to warm my cheeks up, and then individually as eye colours. The shades aren't quite as dark as they appear in the pan but I definitely think that this will be more of a summer palette for me, it definitely adds a real glow and a bit of shimmer, which I think will work better on me when I'm not quite as pasty.
Now the other item I got is something that I can definitely wear all year round, it's the Triple Baked Highlighter. Yes, yes I have a ridiculous amount of highlighters but they make me happy, I mean look at it, it's so pretty!
Obviously it comes in the same packaging as the bronzer, only this time you're getting an altogether lighter, cooler toned glow. Again you get three shades in your chunky, domed heart, a true champagne, a more golden champagne tone and a bronze nude. Again I can't fault the colour payoff, or the texture, the pigmentation is there and it's definitely a case of shimmer rather than glitter.
Whilst the bronzer palette worked best for me on the eyes, this is more of a put it everywhere type palette, you can use each shade individually or swirl them together and use them on your cheek bones, brow bones, and again you could even create a full eye look with just this one heart.
I wasn't expecting a lot from these two palettes but I'm so, so impressed for the price. They feel nice, the colour payoff is superb and they were really easy to apply and blend, oh and did I mention that they aren't tested on animals? Yes you get a little bit of fallout, and they create a bit of dust, and I can imagine that the packaging will get a bit grubby after a while but hey I can live with that, they are a £1 each what's not to love! I can't really justify buying any more cheek products at the moment but I'm so tempted to go on a hunt for the as yet elusive, Blushing Hearts Blusher to complete my trio, if that is even half as good as these then for just £1 it will still be well worth picking up. If you've tried it though let me know your thoughts As I say when you see things in Poundland you should buy them, everything that I've seen and read seems to suggest that there were made specifically for Mothers Day so if you fancy a real make up bargain or anything else that I've mentioned then I'd get yourself down to Poundland sooner rather than later x Are you like me and a fan of bargain and discount stores? Share you best finds with me in the comments x
