Primark and Dorothy Perkins haul

Guess who broke their spending ban last week?

*shuffles awkardly* That would be me. I went to Edinburgh last Saturday with my mum, and being surrounded by so many beautiful and well-stocked shops (many that we don't have in Kirkcaldy), my willpower and resolved weakened and I ended up buying myself new clothes. Some I needed and some I didn't, and my mum treated me to a few things as well. One of the items I bought I have already reviewed; the Clarins Blush Prodige, and now I shall show you the pretty clothes I splurged on...

PRIMARK

Metal bow bag - £8 - This was one of the items my mum treated me to. I love these kinds of accessories; classy, elegant and very lady-like.

Top: Quilted stud slippers - £3, reduced from £8. These were reduced in the sale, and I bought them to match a dress I will show you later (or as it turned out, two dresses!).
Bottom: Multicoloured studded slippers - £6, reduced from £12. This was the other item my mum treated me to. My eye caught these and I just couldn't resist, they're so shiny and sparkly! Plus, because they're multicoloured, they will match many outfits.
 

Dotty skater dress - £5. I can't believe this was only £5! It's the perfect 'throw-on-and-go' kinda dress: it's stretchy, comfy and effortlessly stylish.

Bow-front chiffon dress - £13. I love blue dresses, and I love bows too so this dress was a match made in heaven for me. This was the dress that made me buy the cream slipper shoes, and I think they will go perfectly with this dress. Can't wait to wear this!

Top: Slubby white/black jumper - £12
Bottom: Western-style studded cardigan - £14

I've been needing some more warm clothes for work (and in general), so I thought I'd invest in some more winter knits. I particularly love this cardigan, the stud patterns are so lovely, and it means the cardigan brightens up any outfit.

After my Primark splurge, I thought I was done. Alas, I still had some Dorothy Perkins vouchers to use from Christmas, so I thought I'd have a nosey on their website and look what I found...

DOROTHY PERKINS

Top: Uttam London bird-print dress - £25.
Middle: Little Dior quilted bag - £39 reduced to £18.70.
Bottom: Charcoal neppy tee - £9.

I loved this dress, plus it matched the Primark shoes and the Little Dior bag so I added this to my shopping basket. The bag was reduced in the sale, and since I don't have many neutral accessories (and I also have an obsession with Chanel 2.55 bags), I knew I wanted this. I'm not normally bothered by labels, but the fact this was also a Little Dior bag attracted me. The t-shirt isn't quite so exciting, I need more tops for work and I liked the plain, laid-back nature of this t-shirt.

So those were my purchases last week, and this was also my first fashion-based post. Let me know what you think: would you like to see more post more about fashion and my style/style in general?

Christina xo

Merry Christmas Everyone - Presenting the present haul...

(DISCLAIMER: This will be a picture-heavy post. So... enjoy the pics :P)

Ho ho ho! Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas with their families and friends, I know I certainly did (paying for it now though, my heaaaaad...). Sorry for the distinct absence of blogging from me, I was working pretty continuously in the run-up to Christmas, finishing at 4pm on Christmas Eve before doing a mad dash to Glasgow by bus. But once I arrived at Kris' mum's, drinks were poured,work was forgotten and I had a lovely 2/3 days at home with our families and friends!

The tree at Kris' mum's. Wow! And now the tree at my mum and dad's...

Niice! I love their fibre optic tree, it used to belong to my gran, so it's kinda like a family heirloom in some ways...  and yes that is a bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey peeping out from under the tree :P

Now for the fun part: the presents! I shall preface this by saying I was unbelievably spoiled by pretty much everyone this year. I received so many beautiful and thoughtful gifts I think I would crash this post by trying to include everything! So since I'm trying to be a good beauty blogger, I'll show you all the lovely beuaty related presents I received. First up, my boyfriend Kris wins major man points for getting me...

Two amazing Benefit sets: Passport to Posh eye kit, and Let There be Bright Face Kit and the fabled UD Smoked Palette! I must confess: I squeed opening these. Like the world's biggest child. But if you can't do that on Christmas Day then when can you? I can't wait to share all these goodies with you guys!

Next up, we have...

The Stila All is Bright Lip Glaze set! My friend and fellow blogger Claire gifted me these and they look awesome! So excited to try these on :)

My Auntie Margaret and Uncle Raymond gave me the most beautiful Rituals Shower set! I believe it is called Time Out and it contains a shower foam, body scrub, shampoo and body cream. I do love a good shower, so I will be trying these out soon methinks...

Another person who knows I love a good shower pamper is my little brother (having lived with me for nearly 20 years, he knows I take a day and an age in the bathroom.). He gave me the Soap and Glory Bubbletime set, which comes with the cutest retro alarm clock. I'm hoping Kris will let me use it instead of using our phone alarms...

Finally, from my parents... I wasn't too sure of this at first, because I thought it was going to be more hassle than it was worth, but my mum and dad gave me a gorgeous black quilted cosmetics case!

 The idea behind this was that my mum and dad know I always bring a ridiculous amount of make-up and skin-care with me whenever we stay with them in Glasgow. So they decided that if I had a case of make-up there, I wouldn't need to bring so much every time! At first I panicked and thought: "Oh no, I don't want to choose what stays and what goes!", but having gone through my make-up, I realised I was being an idiot (It's not like me that. Honest...), and that it was a brilliant idea.

This isn't even everything. I also received some lovely nail polishes and make-up bag from my friends Sara and Fraser, Kris' mum gave me an Avon eye-palette and blush, Kris' little brother gave me a Bev Ridge hand care set (which smells AMAZING and comes in the nicest tin, which I plan to re-use as a lunch box.). I got loads of awesome presents in general, so if people would be interested in seeing some of my non-beauty related gifts I received, feel free to tell me :)

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Christmas holidays, and have a fabulous New Year and 2013 when it arrives!

Christina xo

Hauling from home...

There seems to be a pattern forming... every time I go home to Glasgow for a weekend, I end up picking up loads of make-up and beauty items! Well, technically this time some of it was online shopping that happened to arrive while I was away, but still, I've accumulated loads more stuff in a short space of time!

First up, I had placed a Body Shop order recently. They were offering £20 off if you spent £40, plus free shipping over £30, so I stocked up on some skincare (with a few Christmas presents for others thrown in!)

 

From L-R we have: Seaweed Clarifying Toner (in both 30ml and 200ml sizes). I buy both sizes so that I can travel with one instead of lugging a bigger bottle around.
Seaweed Pore Cleansing Facial Exfoliator - I'm in need of a new facial scrub, so I thought I'd try this. It seems to have had many positive reviews, so fingers crossed!
Elderflower Cooling Eye-Gel - I'm always hunting for something to reduce the dark circles and bags underneath my eyes, so time will tell if this will work. I'm keeping it in the fridge too to see if this enhances the cooling properties!
Vitamin E Moisture Cream (15ml) - I needed a travel moisturiser, so thought I would try the much Vitamin E range.

Next up, I made an order from MUA whilst everything was on 3 for 2, so that I could pick up some gifts for my friends...and a few for myself too! (I'm so cheeky haha!)

From my online order, I picked up: Intense Kisses Lip Gloss in Stolen Kisses (a plummy deep pink/purple), Mystical Glitter Nails in Seahorse (A green/gold glitter, it's lasting very well on my nails at the moment), and the much-lauded Undressed palette is also now in my possession! Looking forward to trying it out :)

Lastly, whilst I was out with my friend Lisa, I visited Superdrug, and we all know what happens next...

Barry M had an offer where if you spent £6 you received a free nail polish, and can I resist? Can I fuck! I bought Dazzle Dust in Mushroom (The most beautiful shimmering taupe shade), Nail Paint in gold glitter and a free Nail Paint in... It doesn't appear to have a shade name, my bottle just says "Superdrug Xmas" so this might be a limited edition offer from Superdrug. However, this is a lovely turquoise shade, with gold and silver shimmer through it, a very fine glitter almost. It looks like a middle ground between Barry M's foil effect polishes and their Glitter polishes. It's gorgeous anyway!

Lastly, from MUA I bought an eyeshadow trio in Innocence, Lip Pencil in Brooding Plum (it pulls more red than plum, but still a lovely shade.) and Mega Volume Mascara in Brown/Black. Because I also spent £6 on MUA, I received a free Artiste Palette, which I gave to Lisa since I already own said palette.

So that's my haul! What have you been buying yourself lately? Are you prone to treating yourself at Christmas while you buy presents for others (like me)?!

Christina xo

I went to Glasgow and all I got was...

... a shit ton of stuff!

One thing I like to do whenever I return home to Glasgow is to check out some of the shops I wouldn't normally find in Kirkcaldy/Fife at large (where I live currently). One of these shops is Lush, so I decided that while we were down in Glasgow for some Halloween celebrations, I would go in and check out some of their products since I hadn't visited a store for a while.

Another thing Kris and I like to do when we can: catch up with his mum and her partner. Kris' mum works long hours as a Menswear manager in Debenhams (score) but... she used to be the Cosmetics Manager, and she is angling to get back there soon! (Double score!) As a result, she still gets beauty samples from colleagues instore, as well as having stuff sent to her by beauty PRs (TRIPLE score!). Kris' mum gets sent so much stuff that she shares it out with her sisters and (because Kris has a brother and no sisters) ME (Grand slam!) We got chatting about beauty and make-up, then she said "Come and I'll give you some goodies!". I squeed. Loudly.

So here is a collective haul picture of everything I came home with yesterday...

(N.B. I actually got a whole lot more from Kris' mum but I shared it with my own mum and my friend Vicky when she popped round for a visit after she finished work :))

From Lush we have:
Snow Fairy Shower Gel - This smells like pear-drops and candy-floss - love it!
Cupcake Face Mask - The kind salesman offered me this  face-mask after I told him about my oily face woes. Again, it smells amazing and I can't wait to give it a go!
Charity Pot hand lotion - Once I manage to actually open the tin I will tell you what this is like. At the moment I can't get the lid to unscrew :S
Popcorn Lip Scrub - (sweet tooth much, Christina?) I love this! I've had very chapped lips of late, and this has helped get rid of the dead skin, and helped my lips to feel smoother and  healthier. May have to stock up when I'm next near a Lush store...

And from Kris' mum's bag of goodie we have:

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair - I'm intrigued to see what effect this has on my skin, will use this once I've finished with my current facial oils and serums.
Lancome Genefique 5-Day Starter Kit - I died and went to heaven when I saw this! I had a sample of this back in July and my skin loved it - it looked radiant and I felt like my moisturiser worked better with this also. Looking forward to using this soooo much!
Floozie by Frost French lip balms in Plum Pudding and Cupcake - I tried Cupcake this morning and it tasted yummy. I now have enough lip balms to last me a lifetime, so it may be a while til I get around to using these!
Clinique All About Eyes - I've been in desperate need of an eye cream to help with my bags and dark circles (caused by an abundance of late/nightshifts at work), so this, so far, is an extremely welcome addition to my skin-care routine.
Marc Jacobs Dot Perfume - I already have Daisy and Lola from Marc Jacobs' perfume range, so I'm excited to give this a sniff!
Ojon Hair Restorative Mask - I'm really into my hair-masks at the moment, so again, glad to have this to try!

Also, the more eagle-eyed among you will have spotted a cheeky little Nails Inc Nail Polish hiding at the back there. There are four different shades free with this month's Glamour Magazine (UK), and I chose this lovely deep blue/black shade.

I'm really looking forward to trying everything? Is there anything you would like me to review specifically? Please let me know :)

And lastly, here's my boyfriend Kris and I dressed up as Poison Ivy and the Riddler for Halloween, along with our friend Scott who is Batman!

Christina xo

Haulosaurus Rex (i.e. When Christina got lots of lovely presents then went mental in Duty Free)

Recently it was my birthday (I had to work through most of it though, bleurgh), and to celebrate, I eventually went out with my nearest and dearest friends and family. And it was amazing! I had steak, wine and lots of catching up with my closest friends :) Birthdays, of course, also mean presents! And I was spoiled. I now have two new gins to try, a gorgeous new handbag, two stylish new canvas shopping bags and many other generous gifts. But the ones I'd most like to share with you are the beauty related ones (naturally.) And I will. In a minute. Because there's more...

I have also just returned from a week in Gran Canaria. Which means passing through the (Glasgow) airport duty free store! And it had just been refurbished with new counters *drools*. Plus once I arrived in Gran Canaria, I managed to grab a few cheeky bargains in a lovely little parfumeria. So would you like the run-down of my mental shopping spree/birthday haul?

 

Ta-Dah! I shall now break down each set of purchases for you:

DUTY FREE

Glasgow's duty free counters have always been pretty extensive (they have Dior, Chanel, OPI, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Ardin, Clarins... you name it really), but since its refurbishment they have added a MAC counter (I literally squeed when I saw this...ask my boyfriend.) So it would have naturally been foolish not to indulge, no? So I picked up Studio Fix Fluid in NW15 (£17.50) and a single eyeshadow in Trax (£10). Trax is described on the MAC site as "Burgundy Plum with Shimmer" - the most gorgeous gold shimmer to be precise. I've recently been pairing it with some gold shades from other palettes, and the result is v.pretty :) Hopefully I will be able to master photographing my face soon so I can show you. The Studio Fix Foundation is so far doing pretty well in my estimations. It keeps me matte for quite a long time (Longer than my Dior Forever foundation) and gives a really good finish. I'll need to compare it to my 17 Miracle Matte foundation though in terms of longevity, but so far, a win!

Next stop was the Chanel counter. As I mentioned in my Wish List post, I've been eyeing up their new matte lip colour, Rouge Allure Velvet. I thought the shade La Fascinante was my dream, but when I went to swatch, I was instantly drawn to another shade, L'Exuberante, which can only be described as a deep bright pink, not fuschia, but a kind-of deep, slightly reddish, pink! I will try and get a review up with pictures soon, but suffice to say, My God, it is beautiful, and well worth the £20.50 I paid for it.

After leaving the check-out at Duty Free, I thought I was content. But alas, I had not banked on Glasgow Airport adding a Rituals store to there arsenal. And having loved their Yogi Flow Shower Foam from my Christmas Glossybox, I popped in to purchase a replacement shower foam, and picked up the matching body spray too. Delicious, luxurious smelling skin, here I come! Also, after that last stop-off, it was off to Gran Canaria with me! And this leads me on to...

HOLIDAY BUYS

One day, my boyfriend Kris and I decided we would get one of the many boats up Gran Canaria's South Coast to take us to the big town of Puerto Rico for some shopping (would not recommend staying there unless you're a typical Bulldog Brit, but like I say, some good shops) and I stumbled across a little parfumeria, where one of the ever-so-slightly-pushy sales assistants kept offering me discounts and "special prices". But there were two items I literally would have been stupid not to pick up: a 30ml bottle of Valentino's Valentina Eau de Parfum (I've seen various prices, but average appears to be £40) for around 36 euros (£29). But my piece de resistance... Getting Guerlain's Sun in the City Illuminating Powder for...37 euros (£30)!!! Not too bad considering the RRP is around £43. I am loving this just as much as my MAC Trax, and they actually pair well together too. I'm looking forward to experimenting further with it too!

BIRTHDAY TREATS

There's a reason I've added this last. One of my other presents was a Boots gift card from Claire (you can read her fabulous blog here) and I have just gotten round to spending (read: splurging) it! Having bought the Guerlain Powder, I realised that I should probably buy some proper brushes to actually use it with (and to do it justice), so after asking around I settled on getting myself some Real Techniques brushes. I bought the Base/Flawless Core collection (£21.99) and the Base/Flawless Powder Brush (£12.99). At the moment, Real Techniques brushes and sets are all on a Buy-1-Get-1-Half-Price offer in Boots, so the powder brush was only £6.50). So a big thank you to Claire! (Brushes are pictured below.)

Next up, my friends Fraser and Sara treated me to a lovely Soap and Glory gift set, which includes: Clean on Me (Shower Gel), Girligo (Moisturising Body Mist), The Righteous Butter (Body Butter), Flake Away (Body Scrub), and Hand Food (Hand Cream. I always love Soap and Glory (I rely on my Flake Away Scrub and their Fab Pore Face Mask), so I'm excited to try these products. Thanks Fraser and thanks Sara!

Last, but by no means least, my lovely brother Andrew bought me a bottle of Paco Rabanne's Lady Million. I had samples of this years ago and loved it, so I was well chuffed to finally get a full-size bottle, so again, thank you so much to my brother!

*Phew* That really is a shit-ton of stuff. I'm not going to be on a very, very strict budget in the run-up to Christmas because 1. It's the run-up to Christmas and 2. Kris and I are saving every penny we can to fund moving back to Glasgow as soon as we humanly can. So no more mental spending for me!

Does anyone have any of the products I've mentioned? Would love to know your thoughts, feelings, tips etc. All feedback is welcomed!

Christina xo