A Late But Epic August Haul Featuring Primark, Yankee, Make Up Revolution, Maybelline And More - Picture And Word Heavy

I want to start off this post by saying a huge thank you to everyone that's entered my giveaway, and I want to say a huge hi there, and thank you to everyone that's followed and commented as a result. Although I haven't had much of a chance to reply to your comments I've really enjoyed reading them and it's been very interesting finding out what kind of posts you like reading. One of the most popular types of posts by far is. unsurprisingly the haul post! I have to say I love writing them too, mainly because they give me an excuse to go shopping lol. They do take a bit of time and effort to write though especially when you buy as much stuff as I do :) so yet again I find myself apologising for a late monthly haul post, but better late then never, here is my August haul :)

I didn't buy too many clothes in August partly because I'm trying desperately to cling onto the last breaths of summer, but I did pay a couple of visits to Primark but I just stuck to jewellery and accessories, starting with some socks.

Despite being in my 30's I'm still a sock girl at heart and I couldn't resist these cute Minion ones. I introduced my mum to Despicable Me last month and she loves it as much as I do. It never fails to make me smile and I am hoping these socks will have the same effect.

As well as my Minions, I also picked up some ankle socks with some frill detailing. I bought them to wear with my Clarks brogues but I'm not sure that the cute girly approach works for me. Never mind they were only £1.50. As well as the socks I also got a bargain double duvet (not pictured it's just a duvet!) and this necklace which I've wanted for ages.

This was £6, which I don't think it particularly cheap for Primark but imagine what you would pay in Accessorize or Top Shop! I love the iridescent pastel colours of the stones.

Despite buying quite a bit of stuff throughout August the bargain hunter in me definitely lives on, and throughout the month I spent quite a bit of time both in Poundland and Poundworld. As well as numerous fruit snacks I made just one other Poundland purchase, and it was another jewellery item from their Purple Ivy range.

If your a new reader, you should now that I'm a little bit obsessed with bows, I'm not sure where it comes from but I love them be it on clothing, accessories or on jewellery. This gold tone necklace features lots of tiny little golden bows. Love it and it was a real bargain for £1

I've said it before I definitely don't have the same affection for Poundworld as I do for Poundland but last month I managed to pick up a few things. I'm a bit of an instagram and twitter aholic and whilst checking out my feeds I started to see lots of pictures of the Revlon Parfumerie Scented Nail Polishes. Now I'd wanted to try these for quite a while but the £6.99 price tag put me off a bit, but after a little bit of investigation work I found out that they were being stocked in branches of Poundworld.

They had lots and lots of colour to choose from but I had to limit myself a bit I just bought 3 for me and one for a pressie. The shades I went for were Spun Sugar, African Tea Rose and Moonlit Woods. I haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but I'll be sure to show you when I do.

You've already seen my other Poundworld purchase in my giveaway post but I'm mentioning it again because I think it such a fabulous idea. I bought one of these on ebay quite a while ago now and I think there great. I paid about £4 or so then which I thought was a bargain as I'd seen them for as much as £16 + before but for a £1 I think they're fab. I'm going to alter mine up and maybe use one for hair things and maybe one for bracelets and chunky necklace I haven't decided properly yet but I will show you when they're sorted.

To be honest I need more jewellery storage I have so, so much of it, I'm a bit obsessed actually and after a few months break I've quite a few jewellery purchases from ebay both for me and for Mummy Lou. The first item is something else that you've already seen a fab bright statement necklace.

Annoyingly I only paid 99p for it including postage from this seller, but when I decided to buy another one, it had gone up to £1.89 and now it's gone up to £2.25. Very annoying but the quality is nice and I would easily have paid more for it.

I also bought a couple of turquoise and silver items - they always claim to be real but from the price I'm never convinced - first up I got this lovely elasticated bracelet. I love my bracelets but I'm such an old lady lately I'm finding them impossible to fasten, so I love the fact that I can just slip this on and off. It was just 99p with postage from this seller x

I also bought this necklace which works really nicely with it x Again it was just 99p from this seller x

I'm all about a bargain at the minute and last month I had a little day out with my bestie. Due to her job and my health we don't see as much of each other as we would like but it's always a sign of good friendship that you can pick up where you left off. The main purpose of the day out was to see her new house but we also went for coffee at Chester Grove Garden Centre, To be honest I've seen better garden centres but the cafe is nice and I had some lovely gluten free crumble cake. We had a little look round afterwards and I found a whole load of reduced Yankee Candle Melts / Tarts. These normally retail at around £1.49 but they were on sale at just £1 each. I got four, two Bahama Breeze, one White Gardenia and one Vanilla Lime. I love the melts you get a real hit of fragrance even after just a few minutes.

It wouldn't be a Lou Lou haul without a bit of Superdrug shopping and my goodness I did quite a bit of that last month- first I got the Make Up Revolution Ultra Eyeshadow Palette in Flawless. You can see a full, first impressions review of the palette here and of course you can win one in my giveaway here x

August saw the launch of a Make Up Revolution stand in my local Superdrug and of course it would have been wrong not to pick up a few bits. First of all something I'd wanted to try for a long time - their nail polishes - I went for two shades, Adore a lovely creamy, lilac and Cupid In Disguise, fabulous iridescent, oil on water taupey shade. Due to some nail snappage and a fight with a drawer I haven't tried these yet, but I'll definitely stick a nails of the day post up when I do.

Next up another single eyeshadow - I'm a bit obsessed with these and I'm planning a blog post so you can see my collection swatched side by side , I have a lot of the nudes and browns and both shimmers and mattes and as you would expect they're pretty fabulous. The latest addition to my collection is Good Life, a shimmery, taupe, brown.

Now I only have a couple of Make Up Revolution lip products in my collection and to be honest this is the one area that I'm a bit mehh about when it comes to the brand. Again I'll review everything in due course but one product I love, and one I well don't. Never the less having an opportunity to play with some products in the flesh I fell in love with one of their matte lipsticks, Beloved

Again swatches to come, but this looks to be a lovely, bright pink with just a hint of warmth. It looks quite scary in the bullet, almost like a bright coral here but irl it's a lot more wearable.

My final Make Up Revolution product for August was something basic, and not that interesting but I have oily / combination skin and despite the fact that they aren't as popular as they once were I need a pressed powder in my make up bag at all times The Make Up Revolutions Pressed Powder retails at a pretty bargainous £2. There are four shades to choose from and I went for one of the lightest Porcelain.

I've got enough Make Up Revolution products to do a full base product post now, so keeping checking back to see a full review of this and some of their other face products.

I admit it I am a bit obsessed with Make Up Revolution at the moment, but the opportunity to have a little look around Superdrug I did buy some bits from other brands including Rimmel.

I know, I know another lip tint, balm thing! but what can I say I obsessed with these as well at. I also went through a phase of being a bit obsessed with whole Keep Calm thing so these Keep Calm balms definitely appealed. There are 5 to choose from and I went for Keep Calm And Play - 040 Rose Blush.

It looks an absolutely terrifying coral colour in the bullet but like all of these balm tints, you just get a mere hint of colour (not even enough to justify a swatch in this case!) which enhances your natural lip colour. It has a pleasant slightly, sweet rose aroma but unlike a lot of similar products I don't think this feels that moisturising.

It's confession time - I'm totally lazy and useless at eyeliner - I just don't have the patience for it, and I barely ever wear it now - something that I'm sure several brands and PR's waiting for reviews will testify to. Recently though I became intrigued by the new Benefit They're Real Push Up Liner. It seems to be one of those products that you either love or hate though so I wasn't really that keen on shelling on £18.50. Whilst reading my usual array of blogs and tweets though I happened to read that the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner Pen was very, very similar and actually slightly better for a much more affordable but still slightly spendy £8.99. Hmm I thought about it for a while and decided to raise the issue on a recent #bbloggers twitter chat. A couple of lovely ladies replied and said they liked it so I took the plunge.

In the flesh it looks pretty, damn close to the Benefit offering, the silicone tip is very similar and it has the same twist up action. I'll be honest and say I haven't had the chance to try it on my eyes yet but I'll definitely add it to my list of upcoming eyeliner reviews and let you know how I feel about it soon.

The final item in my Superdrug haul was something else that you've seen in my giveaway post. I definitely went shopping with a one for me, one for you philosophy. Despite my age I'm still a bit of a Hello Kitty fan and I found these super cute tweezers on a clearance rack for just 49p x It would have been wrong not to buy them :)

I only made only other real beauty purchase in August and that was from Avon. I get so mad about brush marks with metallic nail polishes, that you think I would stop buying them but I don't. I decided to try a colour from Avon's new Metallic Effects range and the shade I went for was Jade Reflection.

It's sort of a metallic taupey, khaki, quite hard to describe and photograph but I can't wait to give it a proper try out on my nails, brush strokes and all!

Although the magazine freebies appear to have slowed down on the last month or so there are still a few out there and in August I picked up a couple of magazines with free gifts in them. InStyle came with a mini set of Ren skincare items. I've had the same set from them before so I guess they must have had some spare and Marie Claire came with a mini Ghost Eclipse fragrance roller ball.

Whilst it's not a fragrance I would have bought I actually quite like it's depth and complexity, and I'm a huge fan of the roller ball style applicator. Slim pickings for August but the October issue of InStyle actually came out on the 30th August so whilst it's still in store I can just about include it in my August haul :)

It was actually a pretty decent freebie too, you get a a 50ml bottle of the L'Occitane essential oil shampoo and a 50ml bottle of the matching conditioner, together worth about £10. I haven't tried their haircare before but I'm a huge fan of the brand so I can't wait to give them ago.

The final bits that I acquired in August came courtesy of a lovely, fellow North East blogger, Becca from Polkadot Notebook. For my birthday so kindly gave me a few bit including a mini FCUK Signature Body Spray, which as you know I love. Being the lovely person that she is she sent me some other FCUK signature minis x Thanks Becca x You're a star x

So that was my very late, and very long and in depth August haul x I haven't managed to film a haul video to accompanying post so I hope that you will forgive me x  Hopefully I will be resuming normal video uploads soon x Thanks for reading and of course if you have any questions on any of my purchases please leave me a comment xx

A Very, Very Late April And May Haul Featuring Make Up Revolution, L'Oreal, Boohoo, H&M And More x

I can hardly believe that we're in the middle of June already! Alas I'm in the middle of another illness nightmare so the blog posts have tailed off again :( I'm sorry but please, please bear with me - I can't guarantee posts every day at the moment but I'm going to do my best to get at least a few up a week xx Thankfully I've had a couple of day of lucidity so I thought I'd put up a very, long overdue, April and May haul post.

I honestly didn't think I'd bought as much as I had - obviously I bought a few magazines with free gifts but it wasn't until I started sorting my bits out to photographed that I realised just how much I'd actually bought. A lot of this stuff was actually bought with birthday money which makes this haul considerably less scary - First up clothes, jewellery and accessories 

My weight loss has trailed off dramatically over the last month or so and I'm still struggling to lose the weight that I gained in May, but despite this little blip I've still picked up a few clothing items, including these trousers from H&M.

I'm slowly but surely starting to embrace the patterned trouser trend, and these ones are exactly the same in size and style to the animal print ones that you can see here. 

I'm having a serious think on what exactly to wear these with, a the moment definitely white and navy, but I'm thinking of picking up maybe a vest or top in a similar green tone too. These are so, so comfortable, you honestly think that your wearing PJ's. My mum has kindly ordered me another colourway which I'll hopefully show you next month.

Next up a couple of things from boohoo that I picked up thanks to my birthday discount code - first this floral patterned scuba skirt.

I love this skirt, I love the colour and the pattern, and the almost wetsuit esq fabric.It's so summer and I can't wait to wear it, when we get some sunshine!

I also got this floral patterned t-shirt - It's a little more sheer than I would have liked but I'm loving floral patterns at the moment.

It wouldn't be me if there was no jewellery, and not wanting to disappoint  I picked up a few things this month including my Gold Stone bracelet from DYO Fabulous that you can see here, and also this bracelet set from Avon.

I have to be honest and say I was a tiny bit disappointed in this, the friendship bracelet with the word LOVE on it,it is a little bit cheaper looking and thinner than I expected. It also comes with a black faceted bead bracelet which again will be great for layering x 

As well as the bracelets I also got this ring set from H&M. It contains 3 rose gold effect, rings that can either be worn individually or layered together.

You get a little bow, a star and a slightly smaller star and a crystal.

Before I move onto the beauty products I picked up I just want to show you this Poundland bargain x 

For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive an iPad Mini. It came with a sturdy case and cover but sometimes you want something a bit lighter and this simple sleeve does the trick perfectly x This size also fit my kindle and they also do a larger version for bigger iPads and tablets all for £1.

Speaking of Poundland I also got a few nail related beauty items including some more of the Nail Rock Frou Frou Nail Charms.

The last ones I got were all about ice creams and desserts, but these ones are fruity themed. There are little strawberries, orange and apple slices. They had few other Nail Rock bits in when I was there including some nail wraps and a couple of their nail caviar kits. I decided to get a caviar kit and the one I got was Neptune which came with a polish in Neptune Green, and a tub of pink and blue micro beads. I know this trend isn't to everyones taste but if you fancy giving it a go, Poundland is the the place to pick up the bits on the cheap.

Another Poundland nail bargain came from Revlon x I've looked at the fabulous polishes in their Chroma Chameleon a few times but I never made a purchase, but low and behold I spotted this beauty in Poundland.

The polishes in this range are all about the duo chrome, metallic and Pink Quartz, is a sort of pink, green, yellow, bronze hybrid.

I keep saying I'm going to stop buying nail polish but the lure is just too strong, especially when it comes to Avon -  this is one of their Speed Dry + polishes in Trance, a gorgeous turquoise shot through with sparkle x 

3 for 2's are always dangerous, and throughout April and May I picked up a few things from Superdrug including a few Make Up Revolution Items - First up Iconic 3

I think everything has pretty much already been said about this palette, the price, pigmentation and quality is first class - if your thinking of buying Naked 3, like I was, buy this and it will be all you'll need x

Next up I picked up two of their Baked Highlighters - on the left is Golden Lights and on the right is Peach Lights.

I have a real thing for highlighters and these ones are gorgeous for the price, Golden Lights is sort of an iridescent white, gold and Peach Lights is a lovely iridescent pale peachy, pink.

If you want to win your own Make Up Revolution Iconic 3 Eyeshadow Palette and your own Golden Lights Baked Highlighter, click here and quick because my giveaway ends in a few hours time xx

As if it wasn't excessive enough to buy two highlighters in two months, I actually bought 3! I'd seen this one a couple times on various blogs and instagram pages , and since all the make was on 3 for 2 I thought why not.

The L'Oreal Lumi Magique Pearl Powder in 02 Rose Radieux, admittedly has quite a bit of over spray on it but the underneath shade is a gorgeous shimmery, peachy pink. You can use this powder as an all over face colour but I think I will just be using it as a blush and highlighter.

Despite the lack of sunshine up north at the moment, it is definitely warmer than it has been, and that means that make up wise I'm moving away from heavier foundations and instead I'm embracing lighter formulations, mineral foundations, tinted moisturisers and BB creams. Although Make Up Revolution are the budget brand of the moment, one of my budget brand loves is still MUA Make Up Academy. I wasn't sure what to else to pick up in one of my 3 for 2's so I went for their BB All In One Beauty Balm in 1 Light - I haven't heard too much about this to be honest so I'll definitely stick a review up once I've had a chance to try it.

One of my favourite lip colours over the last few months has been the Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush Long Lasting Intense Colour Balm in 110 Make Me Blush. I love the colour, and it's super creamy and moisturising. I loved it so much I decided to pick up another shade.

This time I went for 700 Not An Illusion, which is more of a nude / neutral shade, with a bit of warmth to it x

Apologies for the dry cracked lips, and the wild hair xx

I'm still obsessed with these lip balm, pen stain things, and whilst surveying the racks I saw Barry M's interpretation of the trend - their Gelly Hi Shine Lips

There are 5 shades to choose from and I went for GSL5 - Capella =, a gorgeous bright pink.

As you can see from the picture these are very, very creamy, they aren't as moisturising as the Rimmel oes, but they are prone to melting and smooshing, so keep them in a cool place if you can , I think mine got a tiny bit warm x Apologies again for the slightly yucky lips and the bad lighting, its actually a little brighter irl than it's showing in the lip shots  x This is also the shade that I'm wearing in the video below xx

So that was the make up but I also got a few more bits in Superdrug including a new eyebrow brush and lash comb.

..some of their own brand Lemon and Tea Tree Shower Gel which is just as nice as Original Source and usually a bit cheaper..

and finally some Dove Summer Glow Nourishing Body Lotion. This is my favourite gradual tanner and I'll be starting this bottle in the next week or so, to save the world from my pasty limbs.

My final purchase of April and May was from Boots, I'm nearly out of my both of my regular toners and I don't have too much of my Clarins Exfoliating Toner left so I decided to try this cheaper alternative. The Boots Botanics All Bright Cleansing Toner.

This toner contains AHA's and Hibiscus to brighten and freshen the skin. I'm really hoping that this will do a similar job to my Clarins one x I'll let you know x

So that was my very, very belated April / May haul as per usual, you can also watch the accompanying video here or below



and if you have any questions on anything in this post then please leave me a comment and I'll do my best to respond xx