Ever since I decided to post hauls as they happen it seems as though I've posted nothing but hauls, and believe it or not here's another one. This haul actually consists of a few clothing, accessory and jewellery buys that I've accumulated over the last month or so. I've also got a few beauty buys to show you but I'll show you those in a separate post.
I don't know about you but once you placed one order from a mail order catalogue you find that they are never off your back, and they continually offer you discount codes and free gifts until you give in and place another order. You know me I'm sucker for a bargain so when I was offered a free travel bag and a discount I couldn't resist placing an order with La Redoute.
There stuff can vary immensely in sizing and in quality so it's no surprise that I sent pretty much everything back. The only thing that I ended up keeping apart from the pretty useful pink and grey travel bag was this turn up sleeve, navy blue and white nautical t-shirt.
This t-shirt was originally £13 but I got it for £11.70. It also comes in an alternative colourway - navy blue with white stripes. It isn't the thickest t-shirt that I've ever bought but everyone needs at least one stripey t-shirt in their wardrobe, and believe me I have more than one!
Another recent catalogue buy was this super cute, jumper from the brand Adore at Studio. I know that Studio is predominantly a Christmas catalogue but their website is worth a look all year round.
In a sort of oatmeal, marl knit, it features a Fox head design in silky soft, eyelash type yarn. I paid a bit more for it but it's now on sale at just £9.99.
The rest of my buys are all accessories and they're all from ebay. First up this almost pashmina like, gorgeous green, toned tartan scarf.
It was just £2.99 with 99p postage from this seller. Coming from Hong Kong it took a little while to arrive but it was worth the wait. Something else that was worth the wait was this cute turquoise and silver tone stretch bracelet.
This cute bracelet is ideal for stacking, and features some round circular turquoise (faux?) beads, divided by circular, engraved silver tone beads and various silver tone charms including a sun, dolphins, fish, a key, a hand and a star. It was just 99p including postage from this seller x
The next thing that I got isn't really fashion but I guess it could count as an accessory - it's a key ring!
As I said in my recent Accessorize sale haul I love the whole concept of the lucky cat or Maneki Neko and of course I love Hello Kitty, so when I was looking for a new keyring for my house keys that was where I started searching. I thought this one was adorable and I love the fact that it actually contains little bells. Annoying as they are at times I hoping that it will help me keep an eye on my keys and maybe I won't lose them this time round! I actually paid less than it's currently being sold for but it's still not bad at £1.79 with 79p postage from this UK seller.
The final item is this post isn't really an accessory or a fashion item but I wanted to show you it and it probably fits in better here than it does in my up and coming beauty haul!
It's another Minion :) No it's not a toy or mini figure, it's an 8GB Memory Stick :) I'm currently in the process of transferring my data from my old laptop to my new one and typically I couldn't find my flash drive so I bought a new one, and then I found my old one ha ha. Typical really but this one is a lot more fun than my boring grey and black one, Made of a rubber material, just pull his head off and stick him in the USB lol I got him from this seller and he was just £2.99 including postage x
Not the biggest haul I admit, but I got a couple of nice things, and a couple of bargains. My beauty haul post should be live on Friday but in the meantime tomorrow is a bit of a special day on the blog so stay tuned for something exciting x
Apologies that I'm a little late with this one, but a couple of weeks ago I ventured into Newcastle city centre for a meeting and as I had an hour or so to kill I went shopping. I didn't buy that much but I did buy a few things in Primark. Since I'm more of a mall girl I don't actually go into Newcastle that often now, but when I do I always head to the cities huge, 4 floor Primark. It's so big that I actually find it a bit overwhelming so I never end up buying a lot and this visit was no different.
One of the biggest assets of the Newcastle's, Primark is it's home department, I'm a bit obsessed with home wear at the minute, and especially cushions (I have a cushion wishlist! Sad?) and I couldn't resist picking up this kitty cat cushion. It's made of a wool mix felt, and it was just £6.
They also had an owl version and some lovely duvet sets but I reined myself in and headed to the sales racks. As per usual there was a lot of tat but I saw this top and I couldn't quite decide if I loved it or hated it.
I picked up and put it down twice before I decided that I had to have it. I think it's a love / hate piece but I'm a big fan of gaudy, 70's type floral prints so eventually I put it in my basket. It's made of a scuba type fabric and it's covered in a slightly, blurred digital rose and floral print, in shades of green and cream. It was reduced from to £10 to £5.
Big Floral and 70's style prints are huge at the minute and I could easily have bought a few more and I definitely feel like a return trip, but on the day I was super good and bought only one other clothing item.
Minions! These strange yellow things always make me smile and I can't wait to see the Minion movie when it's released later this year. This was £6.
I had a good look through both the beauty and jewellery section but there was nothing that I really wanted, and since the shoes were also out due to my damaged toe, the final thing I bought was a pack of the £1 Opia hair bobbles in brown and cream tones. I've reviewed there hair bobbles here and I swear by them. They're cheap and they don't tug on your hair like metal bobbles. I've bought packs and packs of these over the years, and I'm sure I'll continue to buy them, I just wish my cat Tallulah didn't love them as much as I do!
Since I'm trying to get back into You Tube I've also filmed a little haul video for you x I'd really appreciate if you'd take look and I'll love you for ever if you subscribe to my channel x
I'm seriously planning another Primark trip in the next few weeks, so if you've seen anything fabulous or worth picking up I'd love to hear from you x Thanks for reading x
If you've been reading this blog for while now you'll know that I'm a bit of a QVC fan. I've been posting about my guilty pleasure since my blog first began in 2007 and I'm still talking about it nearly 8 years later. Yes I know it's a bit naff but as times progressed QVC has became one of the most trusted brands in the UK and one of the first places to go to for hard to find beauty brands.
I love their approach to beauty, not only do you find things that you can't get elsewhere, but due to their influence and buying power you can also pick up some great value products and sets. Quite a while ago now (I'm talking about 15 months or more!) I bought a bumper set of products from British brand New CID Cosmetics for less than £40. The trouble is though when you have as much make up as I do, you tend to forget about things and unfortunately that's what happened with this kit. Thanks to a recent blogger event with Paul Mitchell though and a Christmas gift from Mummy Lou , this brand is now firmly back on my agenda.
My current obsession is with blusher and the kit that I got came with an i-cheek Blusher Trio in Pink. Packaged in an almost pearlised, white rectangular compact with a mirrored insert, you get a full sized mirror, and 3, 2.5g powder blushers. The colours look a little bit washed out here but the first shade is a cool toned, bright almost Barbie Pink, the second shade is a very pale, white pink, highlighting shade, and the third shade is a softer, slightly warmer toned pink.
All of the blushers are soft to the touch, and the pigmentation is pretty good. Even though two of the shades are relatively matte they don't feel chalky or powdery in any way.
The two blush shades and the highlight shades blend nicely into the skin, and despite the brightness of the colours they all give quite a natural, flush to the skin. Thanks to the winter light you probably aren't going to see too much difference between these two sets of picture, but these ones show the first two shades in the compact
and these pictures show the second and third shades - the highlight and the warmer, more neutral pink.
This blusher compact contains 3 very wearable shades, with decent pigmentation and wear time, but whilst I'm happy to have it in my collection it's not something I would consider purchasing on it's own. Why? well unfortunately the price plays a big part - this palette currently retails at £24, which really puts the price of the kit that I ordered into perspective! Yes I know you can pay more than this for just the one blusher but in today's current climate, with such a wide variety of high quality, budget products on the market, the price seems to be just a bit high for what it is. It's a nice trio but it just doesn't seem that special or unusual enough to justify the price, and instead I'd rather put my money towards one of the brands fabulous i-glow powders. New CID Cosmetics i-cheek Blusher Trio comes in both Pink and Coral and retails at £24 from the New CID Cosmetics website. Have you ever tried anything from New CID Cosmetics? I'd love to hear your recommendations x
Hey Guys x Welcome to the return of Foodie Friday x I had a bit of a break after Christmas where I got well and truly foodied out but I'm back now with a yummy vegetarian recipe. I'm not that great at naming recipes and whilst I'm not convinced that this one is entirely accurate, the olives and the aniseed flavour of the fennel seeds do give it a Mediterranean holiday feel.
Quorn Fillets In A Chunky Mediterranean Vegetable Sauce
4 x Plain Quorn Fillets
A Few Squirts Of Fry Light
Or
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic - Crushed
2 Red Or White Onions
1 Red Or Yellow Pepper
150g Button Mushrooms
Handful Black Olives
1 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds
Or
A Dash Of Pernod / Ouzo Or Any Other Aniseed Liqueur
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes
Salt And Black Pepper To Taste
1. Remove Your Quorn Fillets From The Freezer.There isn't any need to defrost them as they do cook from frozen but this just makes it easy to separate them.
2. Add your oil or Fry Light into a large saute pan and add the crushed garlic. Chop your onions into half moons and add them to the pan and cook for a few minutes. I'm using red onions here which usually take a little bit longer to cook.
3. If your using fennel seeds crush them in a pestle and mortar, or you can always put them into a freezer bag and hit them with a hammer or a tin can ;) They don't have to be really fine you just want to break them up enough to release the flavours.
4. Chop your pepper into thin strips, and add the chopped pepper and the fennel seeds, or the aniseed liqueur to the pan, add a tiny little bit of water and cook for about 5 minutes.
5. Then slice the mushrooms and halve the olives and add them to the pan. I love black olives in this dish for the colour and the flavour but you can use whatever you like or whatever you have Here I'm using a combination of black and green olives. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes till the mushrooms start to soften.
6. Add a full can of chopped tomatoes to the pan, and about half a can full of water.
7. Stir it together and then add the Quorn fillets. As they cook they will take on all the fabulous vegetable and aniseed flavours.
Give the pan a bit of a stir to make sure the fillets are covered in sauce and cook for at least 30 minutes, till as much of the liquid is absorbed as possible.
8. I have to say mine took around an hour to get to this stage, The Quorn fillets are cooked through, the sauce and the vegetables have reduced down and darkened,
I'm serving mine here with roasted sweet potato but you could serve this with rice, pasta or even a baked potato.
For such a simple dish it has great flavour, the reduction of the vegetables almost intensifies their flavour, the fennel seeds give the dish an amazing flavour and aroma, and the Quorn fillets take on all of the flavours. I know olives and fennel seeds aren't to everyone's taste but I do think they make this dish. If you wanted to leave them out you could always replace them with a bit of chilli or even with some Italian herbs. If you don't want to use the Quorn fillets you could use, meat or vegetarian sausages and of course you could also use chicken breasts.
This recipe was initially a bit of an experiment for me using a few leftovers but it's rapidly became a real favourite, that uses simple ingredients and requires very little effort. I'd love to know if you try this so let me know if you do xx
It's hard to believe that we're already one month into 2015. It honestly doesn't seem two minutes since it was Christmas but here we are at the beginning of February, and hopefully one step closer to spring.
As much as I love the freshness of the air at the moment all I really to do at the moment is eat, sleep, have bubble baths and hibernate, and that's something that I think is reflected in my first Trimming My Stash post of 2015.
Tesco Pro Formula Radiance Toner - 200ml Avon Spiced Cranberry And Orange Bubble Bath - 1000ml The Body Shop Rich Plum Shimmering Bath Bubbles - 400ml Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel - 125ml Total - 4 Items
Okay 4 items isn't a particularly impressive start but it does pretty much represent my January. First up skincare - a new broom sweeps clean as they say and at the moment I'm trying to use up some those half finished bits before I start testing some new and exciting things, I only managed two skincare items in January but I'm sure I'll manage a few more in February. The only other items that I managed to finish were bubble baths. I love, love, love my bath but the cogs are turning and the re-development of our bathroom edges ever closer, and thankfully my bath product mountain is starting to look more like a large hill - fingers crosses I'll manage another bottle or so this month.So what did I think of the products that I finished...
1. Tesco Pro Formula Radiance Toner - 200ml
Nice toner, good price - you can read a full review here x 2. Avon Spiced Cranberry And Orange Bubble Bath - 1000ml
I've been using this bottle on and off since Christmas 2013! These litre sizes from Avon seem to go on forever and this one was no exception. This had a slightly zesty, slightly citrus aroma and produced lots and lots of bubbles. This product is no longer available but it did appear in November and December of this year in a smaller Snowman shaped bottle. If you want a lot of bubbles at a decent price I can't recommend these bubble baths highly enough. I have a few different fragrances to finish and if I wasn't losing my bath I'd definitely be trying out the new Pomegranate And Peony variety.
3. The Body Shop Rich Plum Shimmering Bath Bubbles - 400ml
This is one of my favourite ever festive fragrances from The Body Shop. Not only did I buy numerous back ups at the time, but I also scoured ebay, and outlet stores to stock up on one of my favourite scents. I have a couple of shower gels left, one more bubble bath and a body butter and then it's gone :( It was warm and fruity and mouthwatering - please The Body Shop bring it back.
4. Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel - 125ml
My final empty for January is another discontinued product - Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel, I actually really liked this orange scented cleanser and I'm pretty sad that it's been discontinued. You can read a full review of it here x
I'm really hoping that I can do a bit better in February. My aim is to finish some more skincare, some more bath products and maybe a bit of make up. Are you doing something similar in 2015? Let me know if you are x
One of my favourite fragrances when it comes to bathing and showering is lavender. I think lavender has had a pretty bad press over the years but to be honest I can see why. The majority of lavender scented products on the market have probably never seen a sprig of real lavender in their lives. Synthetic lavender products just aren't that nice and dare I say it they have a reputation of being a little bit old lady like. I think it's a real shame and products like this have probably put a generation of people off anything that smells of lavender.
Not me though, if you buy a good, product that contains real lavender essential oil then you're on to a winner and those traditional stereotypes go flying out of the window. My current beauty quest is to find a fabulous lavender shower gel or body wash so for one of January's My Pure reviews I went for the Le Savonnier Marseillais Extra Pure Olive Oil Body Soap With Lavender Essential Oil.
Based in the famous soap making area of France, Marseille, Le Savonnier Marseillais are a family based company that specialise in traditional soap making methods and produce a variety of natural olive oil based soap bars and a range of olive oil based liquid body soaps.
All of their liquid body soaps, are made of 100% natural ingredients and are fully biodegradable. They contain no added colours, animal ingredients, solvents or synthetic fragrance, just pure natural ingredients and pure essential oils.
First up the packaging, this body soap comes in a huge 500ml, pump action bottle. Yes it's plastic but the French writing and the lettering style does give it a bit more of a sophisticated edge. Pump action bottles are really easy to use especially if you have any dexterity issues, just push down the plunger and apply.
The soap itself is quite a viscous, light amber gel, a little goes a long way so you don't need a lot. The smell hits you almost as soon as the first drops of the soap start to appear. It's a fresh, revitalising zingy lavender, and about as far away from the traditional, powdery, air freshener lavender as you can get.
Adding water only appears to intensify the smell, a small amount of product on a shower scrunchie, or in your hand produces, a mass of small creamy bubbles, that when rinsed off leave the skin feeling squeaky clean, smooth and gently fragranced.
Although this product failed my bath test, and didn't produce enough bubbles to justify it's use as a bath product, you could also use it as a luxury hand wash. I've actually used it as a hand soap a couple of times and I definitely think that you can use this product both ways, on the body and on the hands.
This product was a winner for me, and a winner for another lavender fan, Mummy Lou. The bottle is huge and a small amount goes a long way, whether you're using it just on your hands or on your whole body. The lavender fragrance is intense but not overpowering and the product leaves the skin feeling clean and soft. Le Savonnier Marseillais Extra Pure Olive Oil Body Soap - Lavender Essential Oil - 500ml normally retails at £12.50 from My Pure but it's currently on special at just £11.25. Are you a lavender fan or is it still just too old fashioned for you? Leave me a comment and let me know x
*Press Sample *As Of August 2019 This Product Is Still Available From My Pure But It Seems To Be Out Of Stock But It Is Still Available Elsewhere
It's taken me over a month to get them all done but this is my final sale haul post. It's bizarre I honestly didn't think I'd bought that much - I was obviously wrong. This isn't just a sale haul though there are a couple of new season bits thrown in, it is nearly all about the clothes though with a couple of beauty and home bits thrown in.
First up Next, because I'm an account holder I always get a VIP invite to the online sale, so a few days before Christmas I logged in and checked out the sale listings. You can pretty much always guarantee a good discount in the Next sale but you have to wade through a lot of stuff. I actually ordered quite a few bits but I only ended keeping a few things.
I normally love Next home wear but there wasn't an awful lot in the sale that appealed but I did got for this cute double, sided cat sign. I'm not sure where it's going to live yet maybe in the conservatory, but I'm not sure yet.
Although it's now 11 months till Christmas I couldn't resist this festive purchase. This fabulous reindeer t-shirt was actually from the Men's line but who cares. I love Christmas jumpers but sometimes it's a little too warm indoors and this t-shirt fits the bill. It was £6 and it's still available on the Next websites clearance section.
Next up something that you will either love or hate - this bug scarf! The light grey, chiffon scarf is covered in images of beetles and insects. I honestly don't mind insects so it doesn't bother me at all in fact I find it really quirky and unusual, and it's completely different from any other scarf in my extensive collection.
As well as giving you the opportunity to buy quirky, and unusual items, sales also give you the opportunity to pick real basics, and wardrobe essentials. I'll let you into a secret, I'm a bit obsessed with nightwear, I love pyjamas, and night shirts so I always try to pick up a few things up every now and then. I don't buy a lot of nightwear in Next, not when you can pick up things for a 1/3 of the price in Primark, but I got did manage to get a few cute bits in the sale.
I love loose cotton based night shirts like this especially in the summer and I love the quote on the front "If You Believe In Dreams They Will Come True". I'm a firm believer in following your dreams and I hope that this shirt will help me to remember to follow mine.
As well as the night shirt I also got these cute, loud floral short pyjamas set. I fell in love when I saw it in the catalogue but I couldn't justify the £24 price tag - £12 on the other hand was easier to justify. Again this set is still available in selected sizes on the clearance section of the Next website. Alongside the PJ's I also got the matching slippers - I'm not a huge fan of slippers but after this weeks toe injury wearing shoes and slippers at all times is something I'm going to have to get used to.
So that was my Next sale order I did buy 3 things though from the Spring / Summer catalogue - long line vests! I'm a real vest fan I really feel the heat at times, so I tend to layer up and wear them with cardigans, kimonos, or under jumpers. So many vests on the market though are quite short, if you're a bit curvy around the hips and the tummy though short vests are no good. They finish at your worst point and show your flabby bits for all to see. The ones I got though from Next are very, very long and easily cover my stomach and the top of my hips and thighs. These vests are available in a wide variety of neutral shades. They're available on a buy more, save more deal, £6.50 for 1, £12 for 2, and £16.50 for 3. I went for 3, the navy which you can see here, and the cream and the nude which you can see in the video further on in this post.
The next part of this haul is courtesy of H&M. I can't do much with my local H&M stores but I am partial to a shopping session of their website. I still think their website has a lot of issues and their delivery times leave a lot to be desired but if your after the widest range of styles and sizes their website is the way to go. Again in the sale I went for basics and bought myself a couple of jumpers.
This first one is just a plain, long sleeved black, fine knit jumper from their Divided line. This jumper was just £5 and whilst it's very lightweight, it's really warm and ideal for layering. This is the jumper that I'm wearing in the accompanying haul video :) It's still available on the sale section of the H&M website in XS and S for £4
I love lightweight knits but sometimes just want something soft, warm and cozy and my next purchase fits the bill perfectly. In a lovely, neutral blush pink the long line jumper has a v neck and small side slits. I think it's in what they call an eyelash knit, it silky smooth and very strokeable. I already have a couple of cardigans in this fabric which I love, so this jumper is a welcome addition to my winter wardrobe. Unfortunately it's no longer available online but it was only £7.
This next H&M purchase was another one of those quirky buys that you'll not sure that you'll ever use or wear but you know you need it. I'd seen a similar faux fur scarf for £10 in Primark but I left it on the rail but as soon as I saw this one I added it to my basket. Again from the Divided line this black and white striped faux fur scarf has a satin lining and was £7.50. Annoyingly it's only £5 now but with sales you win some, you lose some, but at least I didn't pay Primark's £10 or the £14.99 that this one originally cost.
I've only got one other H&M sale item to show you and it's one of those things that I didn't really need but it's holographic loveliness called to me. This is the silver version of this make up bag but it also comes in a holographic pink shade, and you can still buy both for just £2 each.
The rest of my H&M purchases were all full price. First of all I got this set of silver tone, mesh, bracelets. I got the gold tone version a few months ago but for Christmas I got a necklace from my Godparents made of a similar silver tone mesh so I thought I'd get these silver tone ones to match. They come in several different tones and retail at £3.99 for 4 bracelets.
My next purchase came from the beauty section, and no it wasn't make up, it was some Make Up Brush Cleansing Spray. I'm a big fan of this type of product and whilst they don't give a brush a thorough wash and clean, they do freshen up and sanitise the brushes in between uses. This was £2.99 and I'll let you know how I get on with it.
My final H&M purchase was from H&M Home. I really wish this range was more widely available in stores in the UK, but it's not so we're almost forced to shop online. I made a bit of a boo boo with this purchase I didn't read the sizes on the website so I was actually expecting something a bit bigger.
This set of 3 strong, cardboard, floral storage boxes are really pretty and well made but they are tiny! The largest box is only about the size of my hand. They will be ideal for gifting or for storage of small things like jewellery but I'm not really sure what I'm going to use them for. These boxes are £6.99 which I think is a bit pricey for the size.
You haven't seen a video from me for some time but I'm back on You Tube as of today. I've recorded my first video with my new camera and it's a haul video showing all of the items that you can see in this post. It's a bit of a work in progress with settings and lighting but hopefully the quality is a bit better than what it has been in the past and I'll be able to upload a lot more videos.
Thanks for reading and watching and if you have any questions please leave me a comment and don't forget to subscribe to my You Tube channel xx
