The first batch of things that I got didn't actually cost me any money :) I still had some Boots vouchers left over from Christmas burning a hole in my purse, so I decided to spend them. First of all I got some of my favourite cotton wool pads - these seem to be permanently on a buy one get one half price offer, so I got two packets. I also at the third attempt managed to get my little paws on the gorgeous L'Oreal Colour Riche Top Coat in 918 Confettis. I'd seen this on quite a few blogs and it was something that I was desperate to own :).
With that transaction I got one of the £5 No7 skincare vouchers, I was initially going to get the eye make up remover, but the reviews that I read weren't that positive, so I used the voucher and £3 worth of gift vouchers to get the No7 Soft and Soothed Gentle Toner.
This seems to be the only toner in the No7 line at the moment, and the reviews were pretty good so I thought I'd give it a go.
On a separate Boots trip I used the last of my vouchers to pick up one of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipsticks - I went for the shade 04 - Rose Tweed.
Do you know what though? I loved it so much I went back and used some Advantage Card Point to buy another one :) This time I went for 02 - Beige Trench.
I really, really like these, they are so smooth and moisturising. I can definitely see myself picking up some more shades.
During my Metro Centre trip I had a little look in Primark :) My mum bought me few bits which I'll show you later in this post, but I actually sneaked back in and bought something for mum's mother's day pressie and this t-shirt for me :)
Yeah, it's the Smurfs again, I'm a bit of Smurf freak at the moment, and I love this Brainy t-shirt which embraces the Geek trend without being as obvious. It was £6.00.
Whilst I was in the Metro Centre I had a little look at the cheap make up stall. You really can pick up some gems here so if your North East reader definitely check it out. This time they had loads of products from the Dainty Doll line, but I was more interested in the range of Smooch cosmetics that they had. My mum bought me a blush a little while ago and I loved so I was really pleased to find a range of their NARS a like eyeshadow duos.
I bought two and got Gold Rush.
and Dirty Martini.
I'm really loving these shadows, the quality is really impressive and better still they were only £1.99 each!!!
I've had a few appointment in my nearest town over the last month, and whilst I tried to remain strong, I did make a few sneaky purchases in one of my favourite shops - The Original Factory Shop including this gorgeous nail polish.
Full of sparkly, duo chrome loveliness this is Sally Hansen HD Nail Colour in DVD which was £2.00
Next something with a bit of a strange name - 50 Shades By Miss Daisy 100ml Eau De Parfum.
Yes, it's one of those odd copy fragrances that always seem to appear around Mothers Day and Christmas. I think the same company must produce the cheap Sex In The City perfumes as the bottle is the same. So why did I buy this? well I was standing in the queue and the bottle was on the counter so I had a squirt and I couldn't believe my nose - this is a pretty decent dupe of Marc Jacobs - Lola which I love. The girl on the till told me that they also do a Daisy copy so I really need to try that one out too. I love my Marc Jacobs fragrances and the bottles are stunning but this oddly named fragrance was just £5 for 100ml - It isn't quite as strong and it doesn't last as long but for the price, I can definitely afford to use this one all the time and save my Lola for special occasions.
I also did a little bit of online shopping this month - guilty as charged :) First up thanks to a discount code some H&M, whilst I really think they've upped their game lately I still ended up sending 3/4 of my order back - still too much scratchy fabric and erratic sizing :( Anyway I ended up keeping this baseball style t-shirt with the 78 logo :)
I'm a little bit obsessed with things with the year of my birth and this top is a real basic everyday piece - with the discount it was £7.19. My bow obsession continued this month with the acquisition of these fab hair bobbles.
I got both sets for £5.38 which I do think is a bit steep but I loved them and they match the clips I picked up recently from Primark. Next up a nail polish - to the best of my knowledge I've never owned an H&M nil polish so I thought I'd take the plunge - This shade is the oddly named "Jo Is In The House". It's described as a silver glitter, but the sparkles are actually a combination of silver and multi coloured. I got it for £2.69 and I think it will make a great top coat.
My final H&M purchase was a tealight holder - I've picked up the odd thing from their home section but I really liked - it looks gorgeous when the light shines through it and reflects the patterns on the wall. I got it for £1.79.
Next up Top Shop, again most of my order went back, I really think a lot of their items are overpriced for what they are so back they went and when has a supposedly tall vest finished above the hip - grrr! Anyways the only items I kept were beauty related - first up two gorgeous holographic nail polishes - on the left Moondance and on the right Wistful - these were £6 each but I love holo polishes so much I knew I needed them in my lives.
I've seen a few blog posts over the last few months on the Top Shop Lip Crayons and since I'd never tried them I decided to pick one up - The one I got for doesn't appear to be on the website anymore but the shade was Wave Goodbye x a lovely pink colour x
I have to say after using this a few times I'm not a huge fan, the texture seems quite sticky and more like a gloss than a lipstick, and it faded quickly and really unevenly and it clung to every dry patch on my lips :( I also didn't like the fact that these need sharpening - the texture is very soft and you seemed to waste a lot of product - ho hum you win some you lose some I guess.
Yet again I've bought a few bits from ebay - the first thing I bought was something that quite a few bloggers seem to have bought lately - an acrylic lipstick holder.
You can fit 24 lipsticks in these, the majority of mine seem to fit I only have a few that are too chunky and don't seem to. Mine was just £2.66 including postage from this seller.
My next purchase was this cute cat design scarf - it came in a few colour but I went for the black
I bought a similar one in beige from Dorothy Perkins a little while ago and this one was cheaper and better quality. It was just £2.78 including postage from this seller x
My final ebay purchases of the month were all about the hands - I got some more nail wheels and paid just £1.47 including postage for 10 wheels from this seller x
Keeping in with my bow theme I also got this cute bow ring for just 99p including postage from this seller.
Finally I got this cute lapis and silver tone bracelet which was just £1.69 including postage from this seller x
Whilst I was on one of my many outings this month I also picked up a couple of magazines - I'm really trying to cut down on the number of magazines that I purchase - I've passed bagfuls on to my godmother lately and it's really made me realise how much money I actually spend on magazines. Anyways the two magazines that I purchased this month contained free gifts - first up Glamour which contained a travel sized Percy and Reed product. The one I chose was the 30ml Volumising No Oil Oil which I have to say I'm really liking.
I also picked up Cosmopolitan this month - I'm not a regular Cosmo reader but this months issue contained a free Elemis Freshskin product. I'm a huge Elemis fan but I'd never tried anything from this line. I think the other options were moisturisers but I went for the rather catchily named Skin Loving Lips Quenching Lip Balm 10ml. This seems like a pretty decent lip balm with a nice minty flavour.
As you can probably guess I've gone over my monthly limit eek - you can see the damage here!
Top Shop Haul - £19.00
Magazines - £5.80
Nail Wheels - ebay - £1.47
The Original Factory Shop Haul - £7.00
Cat Scarf - ebay - £2.78
Bow Ring - ebay - 99p
Acrylic Lipstick Holder - ebay - £2.66
H&M Haul - £17.05
Smurfs T-Shirt - Primark - £6.00
2 x Smooch Eyeshadow Duos - £3.98
Tibeten Silver and Lapis Bracelet - ebay - £1.69
Total - £68.48
£28.48 Over !!
I'm a bit disappointed in myself this month - I did so well last month and now I've cocked it up again. I'm determined to do better in April, and prove to myself that this month was just a blip.
The amazing Mummy Lou has also bought me a few bits this month including another magazine - this time Marie Claire which contained a 50ml tube of the Neal's Yard Bee Lovely To Your Hands Handcream.
Containing honey and orange, this is a fundraising product which is sold to raise money for Bee and insect conservation project - you can read more about it here x I am not a huge fan of honey scented things but this actually smells of fresh oranges - yummy and a really nice hand cream to boot.
The super generous Mummy Lou also bought me a few things in Primark including this cute wooden Love sign which was just a £1
and she also bought me this super cute teal / airforce blue cardigan, with bronze star shaped studs, this had been £14 and was reduced to £5 :)
She also paid for some kindle downloads from Amazon and for this nail polish also from Amazon
It is China Glaze Holographic Strap On Your Moonboots :) So pretty and I can't wait to try it out x
She paid for my Avon order - I got two of the new Color Trend Lip Stix in Gone Pink and Think Fast Pink. I haven't had a chance to try these out yet so I'll try and put a review / swatch post up next week.
Finally she bought me one these babies - the beauty junkie staple so it seems - the IKEA Helmer. I'm using mine for nail polish storage :) I'm going to do video / post all about my nail polish storage soon, so you can see this in more detail then x
So that was my pretty substantial March haul - If you like hauls check back tomorrow for my Easter gift haul of clothes, chocolate and more xx