Recent Purchases: Boots and Superdrug

Bought a few beauty items recently at Boots and Superdrug so thought I would share them with you.
I had been good the entire time of the Boots 3 for 2, but I buckled at the last minute and purchased 3 items.

I had read so much about the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream on various blogs that I couldn't resist buying it. I want it for my "no make up" days. I have no idea if it will suit my skin because most reviews have been for much younger skin than mine so I shall report back soon on how it fairs on my less than perfect 40+ skin. I bought it in shade Ivory for £9.99.

I am still on the search for my Holy Grail concealer as I have suffered from dark circles since my teens so thought I would give the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Eye Cream in Ivory a try. I don't think this will be full coverage but may be ideal for my "make up free" days. I picked this up for £7.99. 

Now for my third item I really wanted the Sleek concealer palette but I couldn't find this brand anywhere in my Boots so I had to choose something else for my 3 for 2. I knew time was of the essence because hubby was due to meet me and I didn't want him to catch me buying more make up so I had to choose something and fast! I decided on the L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick by Color Riche in shade 500 Molto Mauve at £8.99. A girl (woman!) can't have too many lippies, eh?

As I am sure you are aware, the Boots 3 for 2 is no longer running but there is currently an offer on Bourjois. If you spend £12 or more on selected Bourjois cosmetics you receive a free pot of blush in Rose D'or worth £7.99.

I also decided to do a small online Superdrug order.

Now I have had my eye on the MUA Luxe Pretty Edgy Palette for a little while. At £8 it is a tad more expensive than their Professional range but I do think their palettes are great quality for the price so popped this in my basket because I want to see how it compares. Superdrug were doing free delivery on orders over £10 so I also popped a MUA Professional High Intensity lip gloss in shade "Lips Are Sealed" for £2 into my basket. When it was delivered Superdrug had also sent me 2 free fragrance samples which was a nice touch because they've not done that before. I received Jean-Paul Gaultier Madame and David Beckham Classic but I've not tried them yet.

Anyway, that's just a little taster of my recent purchases and I shall report back with swatches and first impressions once I have had a play with them.

Have you bought anything new lately or tried the new MUA Luxe range? I would love to hear from you so please comment below.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care,

CJ xx

*all items purchased with my own money. None of the links in this blog post are affiliated so I do NOT get paid if you click on them.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today it is Mothering Sunday here in the UK, or Mother's Day as it is now more commonly known. I decided to dedicate this blog post to my lovely Mum, Joyce. It is only since I have got older that I have come to realise what a wonderful woman she is. She always puts others before herself, even though she is going through a particularly hard time herself at the moment. I think I have finally convinced her that she can say "no" to people because she can't do it all. The photo above was taken almost 44 years ago and I think she looks really pretty in it and happy. The very chubby baby in her arms is me! 

This year I have not been able to see her today so I sent her a little gift in the post. I chose it because it was light to post and she will get her proper present when I next see her. It will be beauty related I think!
Here is the little gift I sent her.

It is a little fabric shopper bag that has been personalised especially for her. 

There are 9 words for you to chose to personalise it, plus the larger word in the centre of the bag. I wanted to post about this earlier in the week, but the company were no longer guaranteeing delivery in time for Mother's Day so I decided against it because I didn't want anyone to be disappointed if it didn't arrive in time. I purchased it from a company called Your Design. I ordered on the Saturday evening and it arrived on Tuesday morning so I was very impressed with the fast delivery considering how busy they must be at this time of year. I had not seen this site before but they have lots of different things for personalisation so I am certain I will be back. I managed to get this at a great price with a code (sadly no longer valid) but if I hadn't had the code, I would probably have paid just £1 more and bought the jute bag instead because I think that would be harder wearing.

To all the mums out there, have a wonderful Mother's Day. 

To all those who no longer have their Mums, I hope today isn't too hard for you and to all those who are trying to become mums themselves, I hope your greatest wish comes true.

Thanks for reading.

Take care,

CJ xx

*I bought this bag with my own money and I have no affiliation with the website.

The Fragrance Shop Discovery Club: Perfume Beauty Box - Spring 2014

I have only recently discovered The Fragrance Shop Discovery Club (please pardon the pun!).  It is a beauty box but just for fragrance.
Each quarter you get sent a box containing 5 fragrance samples to try, along with a voucher for £5 off each fragrance if you choose to purchase the full size bottle from them.

The Spring 2014 contains 5 ladies perfume samples and 2 men's samples.

This quarters box contains:

Alien Eau Extraordinaire (Thierry Mugler)
Very Irrésistible L'Eau en rose (Givenchy)
La Petite Robe Noire (Guerlain)
Eau de Lacoste Sensuelle (Lacoste)
L'Eau Couture (Elie Saab)
Uomo (Valentino)
Solo Sport (Loewe)

They all contain approximately 1ml of fragrance. I know you can probably get some samples free if you ask at perfume counters or shops, but by the time I have driven to town and paid parking, it will probably cost me more than the £5 this little box cost, plus you get the bonus of money off vouchers as well.

I've not tried them out yet, but in am looking forward to trying them and it is so much easier to do this at leisure rather than a little spritz in a shop and having to make a quick decision if you like it or not.

You can sign up for The Fragrance Shop Discovery Club here and you can cancel at any time. If you are a member of Quidco, I believe at the time of writing, that you can get £1.50 cash back for a new subscription if you go through their link (although mine hasn't tracked yet!).

I purchased this box with my own money and have no affiliation with the company.
Do you subscribe to any beauty boxes? Which are your favourites?

Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

Review & Swatches: YSL Mother's Day Eye Shadow Quad £5

Well, I've finally had a chance to have a little play with my YSL Mother's Day (number 7) eye shadow palette. Now, they are not colours I would usually choose, but as it was just £5 with a £50 purchase, I couldn't resist. 

The four colours are all,shimmers, pale pink, white, gold and a plum colour.
Here they are swatched dry.

I must admit I expected much more pigment from such a high end brand. The pink and white are very glittery and I found there was considerable fall out. The gold and plum colours had much more pigment, less glitter so,less fall out.

The beauty of these shades is that you can also wear them wet.
Here they are swatched wet.

As you can see, the colour pay off is much better when used wet and there is much less glitter fall out.
Here they are on my eyes. I used them dry, the pink over my eye lid, the plum in the outer corner (used wet just to line), washed the white over entire area and under brow bone to highlight, then a light wash of the gold in the centre of the eyelid.

I have not tried them all wet on my eyes yet, because I think that would be more of an evening look. I actually liked them better on my eyes than in the palette. What do you think?

This is after 10 hours wear. I purposely did NOT use a primer because I wanted to see how they worked on their own. I think they held up quite well.

Next time I use them I think I will put on my concealer and foundation AFTER the eye shadows because there was considerable glitter fall out from the paler colours which is not a good look for me! Would I pay the full price of £39 for this quad? Probably not. I expected the pigment to be better for a higher end price point. I would happily pay around £20 - £25 for this quad, mainly because it is lovely packaging, but there are better shadows out there for much less money. That said, for £5 it is a no brainer. 

My original post about it is here. I hope to do a review about my other YSL purchases soon.
Do you have any YSL recommendations?
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

*purchased with my own money.

Recent Purchases: YSL Eye Shadow Quad for just £5!! Plus other YSL purchases

I have lusted after YSL make up for a long time, and last weekend I finally succumbed!

My best friend told me to choose a lipstick from the YSL range for my birthday because they knew I really wanted one, so last Saturday I took a trip to town to the larger Boots to choose a colour. I told the YSL assistant that I wanted a lipstick from the Rouge Volupte Shine range because I loved the packaging and I also told her that I wanted a pinky shade not dissimilar to my natural lip colour. I wanted a shade that I would be able to wear lots. I also told her that I didn't have much time because my hubby was waiting. She picked out quite a pale pink shade but I thought perhaps it looked darker on the lip than in the bullet. She applied it to my lips (and also on my chin?!) with a lip brush and she made a right mess of it. It was way too light for me. She then chose a deeper red shade, but this time I chose to apply it myself. This time it was too dark. Then another customer came and she started serving her! To be honest I felt this was quite rude, especially because I had already stated I had limited time. Do you think this was rude, or was I overreacting? Anyway, I continued to look at the lipsticks on my own because she seemed totally uninterested. In the end I walked away feeling totally deflated and disappointed by my experience.

That said, I still lusted after the YSL lipstick, so that evening I looked on the YSL Website. I feel that the colour swatches on their website are incredibly poor so I decided to choose a colour with the help of swatches on beauty blogs and You Tube! I eventually settled on Pourpre Intouchable (number 2) which is a plum colour, slighter darker than I wanted initially but lovely nonetheless.  

Whilst browsing their website, I saw that they had a Mother's Day offer of an eyeshadow quad (worth £39) for just £5 when you spent £50. I didn't need much persuading! After perusing some more beauty blogs and You Tube videos I decided on a lip stain gloss, Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres, in Rouge Vintage (number 5). Just the colour I wanted, perfect!

For me, the eye shadow quad (number 7), has 3 wearable shades, the gold shade I'm not too sure about, but I may change my mind once I've experimented with it.

I shall do a full review, including swatches, of all 3 products soon, but I wanted to get this blog post written in case anyone is interested in purchasing the quad for just £5. I'm not sure when this offer ends, but Mother's Day is March 30th in the UK, so I am guessing it is prior to that.

Delivery is free at the moment in the UK and I ordered on Saturday night and it was delivered by DHL on Thursday (signed for). I also received 2 free samples - a vial of L'Homme Eau de toilette, which I shall give to my other half, and a 7ml sample of YSL Forever Youth Liberator serum.

I was so unhappy with the YSL sales assistant, but in the end she did me a favour because I now have 3 lovely new products for £50.

Once I've had a play with my new things, I shall report back.
I bought all these products with my own money, except for the lipstick which was a birthday present from my wonderful best friend. Love you lots!

Have you bought any YSL products? Do you have any recommendations?

I'd love to read your thoughts.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care,

CJ xx

Hula Hooping!

If you've read any of my previous blog posts, you will be aware that I am currently embarking on a weight loss plan and have lost 23 lbs this year. So far, this weight loss is through dieting alone, The Harcombe Diet, and I have done no exercise. I have never really been into exercise and sport. I was always chosen last for the team in PE at school, so cruel, please tell me they don't still do that?!  About ten years ago I did sign up to the local gym and I was so dedicated to becoming fit that I went 3 or 4 times a week, doing both cardio and weights. It wasn't something I enjoyed but I endured it because I wanted results. However, after a year, I gave up because my body did not change at all and I became disillusioned. Since then, exercise has been sporadic - walking mainly, Wii Fit and I tried the 30 Day Shred (although it was a 3 day shred before I gave up on that!!). As you can see, I'm never going to be a gym bunny.

Now I am losing weight, I do need and want to tone up. I decided to give hula hooping a try. I have very fond memories as a little girl playing with my little hula hoop. Anyway, these days it's not a green plastic hoop but a big weighted hoop. I purchased the Pro Fitness Hula Hoop from Argos for £14.99.

It comes in a small box, unassembled. It is very easy to put together, slotting each piece into each other. Once assembled I was surprised how large it was and it was heavier than I expected. It weighs 1.36kg. One disadvantage is that, once assembled, it appears it will be quite a hassle to take to pieces again for storage so you will need somewhere to store it complete.

Well I am way out of practice and on my first attempt I managed 5 hoops before it fell to the ground. I think it will take me quite a while to manage any more in one go! At the moment I am doing 50 hoops which doesn't take too long, but still in sets of 5 hoops before it drops.  I am hoping I can build it up to more and whittle down my waist. Although the hoop is covered in a foam type covering I do still have quite a few bruises, mainly on my hip bone but I am hoping it will get easier. 

When I was in my late teens, early twenties, pre children, my waist measured 22.5 - 23 inches. It is currently 28.5 inches. I know I will never get it back to my pre children size, but if I can whittle off a couple more inches then I shall be happy. Watch this space...

Have you ever tried hula hooping with a weighted hoop? How did you get on? Did you bruise too?

Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

Recent Purchases: Real Techniques & Beauty Storage

Just a few small purchases for me this week, all beauty related.

Well, my obsession with Real Techniques brushes continues, and this week I bought the Travel Essentials Kit from Amazon. To be honest, I really only wanted the pink Multiple Task brush, but I believe you cannot buy this separately so had to buy the full set. I bought it from Amazon for £13.99 but, at the time of writing, it is now £13.07 so even cheaper!

I also bought the Real Techniques Lash & Brow Groomer from Amazon for £5.75. Did I need it? No, I already have a brow brush, but the obsessive in me wanted it to match so I popped it in my basket! *blushes* I think I am just about covered with my RT brushes now, although I do have my eye on the retractable lip brush...

Now with all these new brushes. I needed somewhere to store them, so this acrylic Cosmetic Cup caught my eye. Also from Amazon, at just £4.99 I thought I would give it a try.

I chose this design because I liked the 3 sections inside it. I thought I could use one section for powder brushes (pink), one for the face brushes (gold) and the third for eye brushes (purple). I know it's not a huge problem having them altogether in the same pot, but in the morning rush if I can save a few precious seconds searching for a brush, then all is good!

When it arrived I was very pleased with it, and I liked the dimpled effect on the outside, so much so, I ordered another one! I was keeping my eye liners, lip liners and eye primers all in separate pots so why have 3 when one can do the job?! Simple but effective storage.

Well, that is all of my purchases this week. What have you been buying? I would love to hear about your purchases.

I do have some make up on order from Superdrug, Boots and YSL so, fingers crossed, that will come this week.

Hope you all are having a great day.

Take care,

CJ xx