October Hauling - Avon, Superdrug, Ebay, Magazines And New CID - Very Picture Heavy

Okay you've already seen one haul this month - my holiday haul (click to read it x), but I 'may' have picked up a few other things over the course of October.

As I mentioned in my holiday post, I didn't spend all of my holiday money so I spent the rest of it throughout October, starting with this.

Yes, New CID, famous for it's makeovers I hadn't really tried very much from the brand bar a couple of lip products so I decided to order a kit from QVC. The New CID 5 Piece Make Up Wardrobe, was on a Birthday Treat price and it came on 4 easy pays so I could pay for it over the course of 4 months (the price is back to normal now) -  hence I haven't included it in my monthly spends. I went for the nude option which contains an eyeshadow palette, with a kohl pencil, a trio of gel liners and a brush, 3 cheek colours, a face primer, and a 3 in 1 lip product. I'm going to review the products fully once I've had a chance to try them out properly.

Next a little Superdrug haul, I hadn't been to Superdrug for ooo 4 weeks, so a visit was well overdue :) The closest Superdrug to me has had a bit of a makeover, and now has a new MUA stand. I had a little look and the one thing that stood out to me was the MUA Smokin Palette.

This palette contains a nice mix of muted brights and nudes, shimmer and mattes, as well as a black kohl pencil. Again I'll do a full review in a future post.

I also went for a foundation - why? no idea. I have about a zillion foundations to use up but I couldn't help but be suckered in by a new one and a special offer - L'Oreal Eau De Teint Nude Magique Foundation which was only £6.99.

Instead of going for my current colour, ie darker than I probably ever have been, I went for a shade that will suit my normal skin tone - Warm Ivory. My skin is looking a lot better than it ever has so I fancied trying a lighter coverage foundation. I'll review this for you when my tan fades x

My final Superdrug purchase was this Model Own / Impulse package.

It contains an Impulse Very Very Pink body spray, a full sized Models Own nail polish in Utopia and a 4 way nail buffer. This was actually a pretty decent offer, it was advertised at £4.00 but it actually came up as £3.99 woohoo, no really the polishes are worth £5 on their own so this was really good value.

This month I also made a little H&M purchase - I noticed that they'd introduced a BB cream to their make up line and since I've been loving BB creams lately I thought I'd give it a go. I could only see the one shade - Light so I'm hoping that this will work for me.

As per usual I also made a few ebay purchases this month including this gorgeous neon statement necklace with was £2.98 from this seller x

and this on trend alphabet scarf which also features images associated with Paris. I got the black version which features a cream design. It was just £1.69 from this ebay seller

I also made a couple of beauty purchases including another feather nails polish, this time in #5, which feature pink and purple particles. This was £2.59 from this seller.

If you are as much of a beauty junkie you'll know that budget make up brand Essence have recently launched in the UK in selected Wilkinson stores. Thankfully there is one pretty close to me so I'm definitely going to check their stand out as soon as I can. I the meantime though I couldn't resist this super gorgeous green, silver, gold shimmer eyeshadow in Big In Japan from a previous limited edition collection Asia Glam.

This is such a pretty shade but I haven't got the heart to destroy the embossing yet - hence no swatches x I got mine for £2.39 from this seller. They don't appear to have this colour in stock unfortunately but there are a couple still floating around on ebay x

My next two purchases came from the same ebay seller keyzone. A few people had been talking about the Real Technique a like brushes on ebay and whether they were any good. I couldn't justify purchasing any of the RT brushes because I'm really not desperate for any more make up brushes so I thought I'd try a couple of this dupes - #3 is a slanted brush - I use these mainly for cheek colour and contour - this was £1.62 including postage

and I also got #5 which is a pretty multi purpose brush that could be used for foundation, powder or cheek colour - I got this one first and paid £1.60 for it but it's now £1.62 probably due to a change in the exchange rate.

Obviously I can't compare them to the RT brushes as I've never used them, but for the price these brushes seem to be be pretty decent, the synthetic hair is very soft and there are no problems picking up either powders or liquid. The true test will when I come to wash them but for less than £2 each so far so good.

My next mail order item was courtesy of the lovely Michelle over at Butterflies and Lillies. Like me Michelle had been lusting after the most have fashion accessory of the moment - the Primark tartan scarf. I couldn't find it to save my life thankfully though Michelle found one and she was kind enough to pick me one up too :) Thanks Michelle xx

Knock Knock Avon calling - Yeah an Avon item. I placed an order with my lovely next neighbour before I went on holiday and I came back to a lovely bag of goodies. I ordered just one thing the Avon Mega Effects Mascara  in Blackest Black which was £10.

I've good and bad things about this but I'm going to use with an open mind and I'll feed back once I've tried it. The mascara wasn't the only thing I got but it was the only thing that I paid for. When I placed the order there was an offer on where you got a free goodie bag when you bought the mascara. Mine didn't contain exactly what was advertised but that didn't bother me after all it was free!!! First of all I got an Avon branded double ended eye and smudger brush.

I also got a full sized Avon Conditioning Eye Make Up Remover Lotion worth £4,

a full sized Eyeshadow Primer worth £7,

a Glimmerstick Diamonds Eye Liner in Black Ice worth £6

and some mini lipstick samples x

I'm well chuffed with this little lot and it will give me the opportunity to try a couple of things that I probably wouldn't have considered buying x

My final bit this month were magazine freebies :) with November's Red I got a This Works Daily Boost Body Scrub.

and with the November issue of Instyle, there was a free Ren Skincare Set which contained minis of  the Ever Calm Gentle Cleansing Milk ,Vita Mineral Active 7 Eye Gel, and Ever Calm Global Protection Day Cream.

Just a heads up for the December issues, Elle contains a free mini Benefit lipgloss in either Coralista, Dandelion or Hoola. It's on sale already and I picked up two copies to get Coralista and Dandelion. Hoola is in one of the kits that I've asked for, for Christmas otherwise I would have got that one too :)

As you can probably guess from this little it's not surprise that I went over my monthly limit

Necklace - ebay - £2.98
Avon Mascara - £10.00
Essence Eyeshadow - ebay - £2.39
Scarf - ebay - £1.69
Nail Polish - ebay - £2.59
Red Magazine - £4.00
Instyle Magazine - £2.00
Superdrug Haul - £16.98
Make Up Brushes - ebay - £3.22
H&M BB Cream - Light Beige - £6.99
Primark Tartan Scarf - £5.00
Elle Magazine x 2 - £8.00
Total -  £65.84
£25.84 Over

Okay that's pretty bad isn't it? To be fair though I did use some of my left over holiday money but I still spent way more than I would have liked - I'm blaming the magazines! In November I really am going to try harder, Christmas is coming up and I really need to start spending money on other people rather than myself - eek.

In fact I probably need to be more selfless like my lovely Mummy. We've had a few ups and downs lately but she's still my rock, who does her level best to cheer me up when I'm feeling down, mainly by lots of mummy / daughter time and by buying me stuff. I was feeling a bit rubbish and full of cold when I got back from holiday so she cheered me up with a copy of Marie Claire. which came with a free L'Occitane Hand Cream in Subtle Violet.

This smells like a mixture of parma violets and Marc Jacobs Daisy - it's gorgeous and Mummy Lou had already used it a couple of times but I'll let her off ;)

The next things she bought for me were from Superdrug, first up something I'd wanted for ages

Yes the MUA Undress Your Skin Shimmer Highlighter - I'm a real highlighter junkie and I needed this in my collection. Based on the colour I thought that this would be a lot warmer than it is, but its quite pink based. It's very pretty though and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of it especially in the winter months x

As well as a highlighter obsessive I'm also a bit of a cream shadow junkie. Mummy Lou kindly got me one of the new Bourjois Color Edition 24 Hour Cream Shadows. I want so many of them but I went for 01 merveille d'argent.

Its a super gorgeous silver colour that will fab for parties and winter eyes. I'll try and show it on in a future post x

Next up Poundland - We're into November now and that means winter! I've got my lovely new scarf and I've been sorting my gloves out :) I've got lots of gloves already but since I've switched to a touch screen phone this year I fancied a pair of gloves that I could use with my phone. The prices quite frankly are ridiculous for some of them so my got me a pair in Poundland. I was sceptical I admit especially when the finger white sections don't feel any different but weirdly these gloves work where as the normal grey finger tips and normal just don't - result!

Winter means something else bar the cold, Christmas! I saw these cute Allura nail stickers and I knew that I needed them - I mean they're little Christmas trees, what's not to love? They also had little reindeer heads which were really cute too x

The final thing that she got me in Poundland was this Rimmel Wake Me Up Instant Radiance Shimmer Touch in 002 Radiance Rose.

I know a lot of people have issues with Poundland and cosmetics but this was absolutely fine. It's a gorgeous neutral rose pink cream blush with just a hint of shimmer. Here it is swatched quite heavily,

and here it is blended out and on my face :)

Love this and I'm definitely going to consider picking another one up and one in the alternative shade.

Finally my lovely momma paid for an Avon order - it was all about the nails in this order, and I got one of the new Diamond Sparkle Nailwear Pro + polishes in Stunning Cobalt. This looks absolutely amazing and the bottle deserves to be on display with it gorgeous faceted design.

I also got one of their Colour Attract Magnetic Nail Polishes in Rose Flash - a gorgeous copper rose gold, shot through with silver.

Alas you don't get any magnets with your polishes so you need to buy them separately. I use a chevron magnet and I have to say I love the wand style it makes it so much easier than having to hold the bottle top over the nail bed.

So that was everything that I hauled in October. As per usual I've made a couple of haul videos to accompany this post which you can see below or via my You Tube channel x





If you have any questions or comments please let me know and thanks for reading x

Collection Lasting Gel Colour Nails - 11 Stormy Grey

Based on a little bit of internet research this polish formulation seems to divide the nail polish loving population. Some people say that this gel based formulations chips within hours some people say it lasts for ages. Well quite a while ago now I decided to get a bottle of the Collection Lasting Gel Colour Nails in 11 Stormy Grey to try, and before my holidays I gave it a go.

Grey really? This polish isn't grey at all, it's one of those greige (more beige), nude shades not dissimilar to Nails Inc Porchester Square, Promoted as being long lasting, and with the finish of a gel polish, this is just a normal nail polish. I has a super wide brush which makes application a breeze and I barely needed two coats for a perfect finish.

Did it last? well I got 4 days wear out of it with no top coat, not amazing by some peoples standards but by mine that's pretty good. Normally I'm lucky if I can get a couple of days out of a polish without it chipping and peeling so this gets a thumbs up from me. The colour despite being misnamed in my opinion is so easy to wear for everyday or for any occasion and I can myself wearing it lots. The colour choice is a tiny bit boring but I quite fancy one of the pink shades that I picked up for my godmother - at only £2.99 each you can afford to experiment. Which camp do you fall in? do you love these polishes or hate them ? let me know x

Thinking Slimmer - Slim Pod - Week 23 - Part 2

Well it was another maintain this week. Again I'm not overtly surprised, I haven't been exactly good over the last 7 days. I'm pretty annoyed at myself to be honest I just can't seem to get back in the swing of things at the moment.

I don't think it helps that I keep falling asleep half way thorough listening to my Slimpod. They do say that it doesn't matter as your body still absorbs the messages but personally I like to hear the recordings so I can keep the messages and inspirational words at the forefront of my mind every time I'm tempted to eat something naughty. I'm going to try and alter my listening habits this weeks by trying to alter my sleeping habits a little bit.

Instead of waiting till I'm truly exhausted before I go to bed and  put my Slimpod on, I'm going to make a conscious effort to put the light off before I flake out, and have a bit of a pre sleep relaxation using my Slim and Chill pods before I go to sleep. In other words I'm going to  use the Thinking Slimmer system the way I did before my holidays :)

Other than that I'm going to try and watch what I eat and be a little bit stricter with myself when it comes to snacking. My one major hurdle will be tomorrow when I'm having tea at my Godmothers because it's her birthday :) I know for a fact she's bought some gluten free yummys from M&S but she always puts on plenty of salad so I'm going to try and fill up on that.

I've had a bad week and I'm feeling down about it but I'm still feeling positive over all and I'm going to keep at it x Any questions please leave me a comment x

(The Thinking Slimmer Slim Pod "Drop 2 Dress Sizes (Or More)" Was Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)

Dark Nights, Crafting And Clearing Out The Clutter*

Unlike a lot of people I have to say I quite like it when the clocks go back. I love the heat and the sunshine and of course as a blogger the extra light for photography but I think the dark nights are really underrated. There is really nothing better than being warm and cosy inside, when it cold and dark outside.

It's all too tempting to snuggle up in a blanket, with a hot drink, in front of a DVD, and just chill and believe me I do it, but I also use the cold, dark to actually get things done.

Like every year I've set myself a few tasks to complete before the clocks go forward again. As well as blogging and You Tubing my little heart out, I'm also going to start paper crafting again. I used to be a real craft bunny making greetings cards and scrapbooks and I really want to get back into it again. I'm thinking of making a holiday scrapbook chronicling mine and Mummy Lou's travels over the last few years, and I also fancy making myself a little bit of wall art for my room. Something else that I'm going to try and do is learn how to knit with an excellent teacher - Mummy Lou. She says I don't have the patience but I'm determined to prove her wrong!

I've got all the bits pretty much that I need to get started but there is just one thing stopping me - the spare room, and mountains and mountains of clutter! Perhaps my key tasks for Autumn / Winter is too sort out my stuff. Every room in the house contains things that belong to me and are any of them organised ? are they heck. The thing that I'm going to do first is to sort out the spare room, at the moment it contains a desk, an old computer, my printer, several very disorganised drawer units, some wardrobes, and lots and lots of bags and boxes full of stuff, basically for the last couple of years it's been a dumping ground.

Scary isn't it? but my plan is to sort it all out, pack up my old computer, get rid of some junk, do lots of shredding, and basically transform the rabble into a craft and blogging room.

The next task will be too attack my bedroom, and give it a good sort and clear out. I'm not a huge hoarder but I just seem to have an awful lot of stuff that I could probably do without. Clothes, shoes, make up, CD's, DVDs, computer games, books, and even cuddly toys, you name it, I'm going have to be tough and get rid of it, after all as the saying supposedly goes a tidy house equals a tidy mind.

Thankfully in this modern era, if you don't want something you can pretty much guarantee that somebody else will. I'm big on making donations to charity shops in my area and that's something that I will always do but sometimes we all need a little bit of extra cash, especially at this time of year Auction sites are the most obvious option and are something that I often utilise but there are no guarantees that your item will sell (my major problem!), and to be honest it takes quite a bit of time and effort, so this time round I'm going to try and sell some of the DVDs that I haven't watched for ages to Music Magpie.

You've probably all seen the TV adverts, the premise is simple you simple go on the site and enter the bar codes of you CD's, DVDs and your computer games to get an instant price of your items, then you send your items to them for free, and then they send you the cash. They don't just take CD's, and DVDs though, they also take electronics and technological items such as hair straighteners, iPods and games consoles, and even clothes. I'm definitely going to give them a go this winter to try and make myself a little bit of Christmas money whilst at the same time regaining some valuable space and getting myself organised.

I'll keep you guys posted as to how I got on with my crafty things, and of course how with my decluttering, and the creation of my new blogging and craft space x Do you make any plans for the dark nights like me? and do you have any plans to declutter this winter? let me know in the the comments x

(*This Post Was Written In Collaboration with Music Magpie)