A cheeky skincare and body haul...

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen the photo I posted yesterday of my bags of goodies from the Harvey Nichols Beauty Bazaar. I made a list at the start of the month of beauty products I desperately wanted to get my mitts on and since Friday was pay day, I could finally justify taking a little trip to town (braving the horrendous snow, I might add) to go and spend some moneys.

Now as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm something of a Youtube beauty channel addict and I'd say that the majority of things purchased yesterday were down to one blogger in particular. Step forward Anna. I pretty much want to buy every product she's ever spoken about ever, and since she frequently sings the praises of Origins Drink Up Intensive overnight mask, that was top of my list of things to buy once pay day came around. I think my skin has been suffering from the weather recently and going from the freezing cold outside to the central heated inside hasn't been doing it any favours, so I figured a really intensive hydrating mask could be a big help. When I got to the Origins counter however, the very helpful lady told me that they were giving away a free gift if you purchased two products. Perfect - just the excuse I needed to convince myself that I should probably definitely have a nosey through the exciting Origins shelves and buy more stuff.

I stumbled across the lovely Brightening Musts set which contains a full size tube of VitaZing, a 30ml tube of Modern Friction and a little pot of GinZing all for just £26 and just knew that I had to have it! Since the VitaZing on it's own normally costs £27, I thought that it was pretty flippin' bargainous! I'm not sure about other Origins counters, but if you're in Liverpool, get down to the Beauty Bazaar pronto and snap up one of these sets!

Of course, because I'd purchased two items (well, technically four), I got my free gift, which consisted of the Plantscription serum (15ml) a super pretty headband with Swarovski crystals on it (so unnecessary but so cute) AND a full size Starting Over moisturizer which normally costs £38! All for free! Origins, I think we're going to be good friends...

I think I might actually give the moisturizer to my Mum, because I'm THAT nice and also because I'd already purchased the This Works Perfect Skin Super Moisturizer (another Anna recommendation...) before I went to Origins. I feel like I'm constantly on a search for the perfect moisturizer - so I'm hoping that this, which seems like a good all rounder (it's actually a moisturiser and a serum in one) could be the one for me.

Finally, I left the Beauty Bazaar and headed over to Boots to grab a couple of slightly more budget beauty buys. Firstly the Botanics Rejuvenating Bath Elixir (which, yes Anna has also spoken about before... this is starting to get a bit embarassing...) plus a pair of oh so glamourous exfoliating gloves. Even though I use a body scrub regularly (currently it's Soap & Glory's Breakfast Scrub, which I have to stop myself from trying to eat every time I use it because it smells that AMAZING), I think a good rub with a pair of these gloves can be a big help when trying to slough away all of that nasty dead skin, as well getting the blood flowing (not really sure why that's important, but it definitely is). I think they cost about £3 so they're very purse-friendly.

So that's everything. I'm ridiculously excited about trying everything out, and maybe even doing a couple of reviews once I've had a bit of time to use it all properly! Ooooh don't you just love new things!!!

Have you tried any of the products above? What did you think? Got any other Origins recommendations for me? I fear this may become a bit of an addiction...

I just love buying stuff.

Oh... hello!

Yes, I know it's been a while, over a month to be exact, which is never an acceptable amount of time to be away from blogging for, but I'm back now so you can stop panicking.

I've been in my new job for about six weeks now; it's crazy how quickly the time goes - I feel like one minute I'm waking up, sleepy and bleary eyed on a Monday morning thinking "and another week begins..." and the next minute it's 5pm on a Friday afternoon and everyone's going "bye, have a nice weekend!" Madness. It's knackering though, which is one of the reasons why I've not posted anything in a while; by the time I get all the way back home from Chester, I can just about manage to string sentences together, never mind start writing a blog post. Fortunately, I'm starting to get used to it now, so hopefully blogging will start to be a bit more frequent again. I've already get a Youtube video filmed, I just need to upload it, which I'll try and do this weekend too.

Anyway, last Saturday was the first time in about three weeks where I had absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to be, so I took a little trip into town to buy my Mum her Mother's Day present and while I was there I got a bit overexcited and bought myself a few treats...

Topshop Blush in Neon Rose, Topshop Lips in Brighton Rock, Benefit Tan About Town, Oilatum Natural Repair Face Cream*, Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman Core Collection

Proof that I'm still a bit amateur when it comes to this beauty blogging/photographing products malarkey; by the time I'd realised that I should take some photos for a haul post, I'd already taken everythig out of the boxes and tried them all out. Proper beauty bloggers wouldn't dream of doing something so gauche - your products have to be pristine and untouched when you photograph them! Sadly, I don't have that kind of self-restraint - I didn't even wait until I got home from town, I'd already started playing with them on the bus!

I think by now it's safe to say that I have something of an obsession for Topshop makeup. I may even like it more than the clothes, which are obviously lovely but just so frikkin' overpriced I could cry. The makeup, on the other hand, is beautious and very reasonably priced. I was so pleased to see that the Liverpool Topshop was stocking the cream blushes again; for a while I thought they'd been discontinued, and I'd never be able to get my hands on my beloved Flush ever again. They're back now though and since I've still got a tiny bit of Flush left (saved for special occasions only), I thought I'd give Neon Rose a try. I've been wearing it all week and I do like it, but still think I prefer Flush, which has a little less red in it. I also bought a lipstick in Brighton Rock, which is a lovely bright, slightly blue-toned pink. I'm slowly developing a bit of an obsession for the Topshop lipsticks - the colour range is always really on-trend, they're super pigmented, and not at all drying on the lips. I. Love. Them.

This was something of an impulse buy as it was cheekily placed right next to the queue for the tills in Boots. I never, ever buy Benefit makeup because, although I think the products are really gorgeous, I can never justify the price tag. This set, however, was just £9. NINE POUNDS! Obviously they're all minis, but still, three really good products for £9 is pretty bargainous I'd say. I knew I'd use the Hoola bronzer and the Bad Gal Lash mascara (which is one of the best mascaras I've used in ages, it has to be said) but I wasn't too bothered about Some Kind-a Gorgeous, which is a foundation, because I only use foundation quite rarely anyway and I didn't think the colour would match my skin tone. I've actually been really impressed by it though and have worn it every day this week. It gives my skin a nice dewy look and blends really well, especially when applied with...

My new Real Techniques brushes!!! (Again, you can see by the slightly stained bristles that I'd already had a play with them before taking the photo) As soon as I found out that these were being stocked in Boots I was ridiculously excited. I've been wanting the Core Collection ever since it was first released, but with the brushes only being available online, I just never got around to buying them. Now though, I've got no excuse as the entire range is available in Boots and I've got a feeling it won't be long before I've added the eye brushes to my collection. I only really wanted the Buffing Brush (the biggest one), but it's not available to buy on its own, so I obviously had to get the whole set instead. The other brushes are lovely too and really do make such a difference to the way I apply my makeup. I'm sure these will be making an appearance in my next Products of the Month video so I'll talk about them more in depth then.

So that's my little haul done and dusted. I doubt I'll be doing another one for a while because, along with a few other bits and pieces I picked up that day, I ended up spending a stupid amount of money. Joe and I will be moving into a new house in the next few months and, obviously, have quite a lot to buy, so no more frivolous spending on makeup for me, no no no!

Have you used any of the products above? What did you think? Go on, tell me!

*I didn't bother mentioning the Oilatum as I've talked about it tonnes of times before and it's not as interested as pretty makeup and brushes!

I am 24 going on 30

So, last month (31st August, to be precise) it was my 24th birthday. Yep, I'm properly in my mid-twenties now - I can't pretend to be on the cusp anymore, let's face it, it's all downhill from here. Anyway, I finally got around to making a haul video of all the lovely goodies I got. (Not that I'm materialistic or anything...)

I realised, after I'd finished filming, that I didn't mention the present my boyfriend got me. This is not because his present was rubbish or weird or anything, it's because I am foolish and forgetful at times. You see, everything I talked about in the video was a physical thing I had in front of me, whereas his present wasn't. He took me to see The Sound of Music in Manchester and because I am foolish I didn't think to keep the tickets or buy a program as proof. Anyway, it was marvellous, I'd really recommend it to any musical fans out there. Verity Rushworth (who used to play Donna Windsor in Emmerdale) was absolutely brilliant as Maria and Jason Donovan was supposed to be playing Captain Von Trapp, but we saw the undertsudy because he was ill. Fab show though... "the hills are ALIIIIIIIIIIVE with the sound of music!" Thanks Joe!