August Gifts And Buys - Maybelline, Barry M, Avon, Benefit, MUA And More x

Well it's the last day of the month and what does that mean - haul time :) I've had quite a few opportunities to shop this month so I "may" have took advantage

We'll start off with a bit of drugstore buying. Like pretty much every blogger in the blogesphere I succumbed.

Yes Maybelline Baby Lips, the first one I picked up was Pink Punch

This is a really, pink colour which looks very pretty and tastes and smells amazing!

I wasn't intending to pick up another one but I did

This time I got Peach Kiss

This is a very neutral nude shade but it doesn't have anywhere near the level pigmentation of Pink Punch, again though it smells and tastes yummy :)

I haven't done any lip shots because the pigmentation just isn't that strong on me. I have pretty pigmented lips and they provide just a hint of colour, and a bit of gloss. I was pretty cynical about these at first and yes they are just lip balms but I'm really enjoying using the ones that I have. They are really moisturising and they taste gorgeous but I don't think I'll be buying any more. These are £2.99 each x

My next purchase was this Boots exclusive

Yes, the Vaseline Spray And Go Body Moisturisers. Again these have been everywhere and again with good reason. I picked up the Aloe Fresh one, and it is lovely. I'm actually using body moisturiser on a daily basis thanks to this, it leaves the skin feeling really smooth, and it smells really clean and fresh x

Next up something else that I've seen on quite a few blogs, the Collection Work The Colour Eyeshadow Pencils.

The shade I picked up was Vanilla Sky, gorgeous shimmery ivory. First impressions? well I'm really impressed I'm definitely going to pick up a few more of these, and I'll definitely review them properly for you x

I also picked up a couple of the Barry M Confetti Polishes, the shades I went for were Dolly Mixture and Bubblegum.

This month I also ordered quite a bit of stuff from H&M, 90% of it went back again grrr, but I did keep a few accessory bits first up this neon earring set.

I was hoping that the lime / yellow ones might match a dress I have but they didn't never mind, I'll still use them :). I also got some more neon bracelets for layering, I'm obsessed with bracelet layering at the minute.

I also got another new phone case

It remind me of my Tallulah bella, this was also from H&M, and was in the children's section :). My final two purchases came from their make up line including this pretty duo chrome nail polish - Moonlight.

This is such a pretty colour, I made a bit of a mistake on the order form though and ended up ordering two, so I will be giving one away in the weeks to come.

My final H&M purchase was one of their Chubby Stick alikes a Lip Pencil in the shade Beige.

This such a pretty nude pink shade, Unfortunately my lip shot seems to have corrupted, so I hope you can get an idea from these full face shots, the first picture was taken without the flash and the second one was taken with. I'm really loving this at the moment it doesn't seem to last as long as some of them I own but the colour is very glossy and it feels very moisturising x

Now ebay, pretty much every month I seem to buy something from ebay and August was no different. I kept with my neon theme and but this neon friendship bracelet from ebay x

This was a bit over overpriced at £1.89 from this seller but it's nice quality and I love the colours and it goes with a lot of my other neon purchases

I also got this rose scented cuticle oil

I love cuticle oil pens for holidays and travel, and this one was just 99p including postage from this seller. There was lots of scents to choose from and I went for rose. The packaging says it's OPI but the listing didn't so who knows, it's nice and well worth £1.

The final thing that I bought myself was a magazine - I bought Elle which came with a free Bumble and Bumble Thickening Spray.

Boots Haul - £16.46
H&M Haul - £16.95
Cuticle Oil -ebay - 99p
Friendship Bracelet - ebay - £1.98
Maybelline Baby Lips - Pink Punch - £2.99
ELLE - £4.00
Total - £40.38
38p Over

Well to be honest that's not too bad I acquired a lot of bits and only went just 99p over, thanks cuticle oil :) I will be continuing to try and stick to my limit next month, in order to raise a few more holiday funds, but next months spends will only be accounted till the 29th September when I go on holiday - cue excitement lol, I'll pop a scheduled post up when I'm away so you can see next months buys and gifts.

Like every month, week and day Mummy Lou has also been amazing and has bought me quite a few bits and pieces. First up some bits from Superdrug, including one of the Bourjois Color Boots Glossy Finish Lipsticks...

 the shade she got me was 04 Peach On The Beach. This is such a pretty peach / pale coral shade.

It isn't as bright as appears to be in the bullet form. On my pigmented lips it doesn't look as peach more a sort of peachy pink. It's still very pretty though.

The next two things she got me came from the MUA 1D range, I've already showed you the Kiss You Lipstick in Moments, but I also got the Niall, Little Things Nail Polish in Gold And Gorgeous, a pretty sparkly gold.

She also got me another nail polish this time from Asda, the George Denim Effect Nails in Blue,  I can't wait to try this out. I wanted the Nails Inc version but I'm hoping this can create the same effect x

About half way through the month me and my mum had a little road trip to a town about 30 miles away. The town has a Boyes store, this is I think a North East based bargain store, and as I've mentioned previously they've recently acquired an LA Colors stand where everything is just £1. I've only ever used their nail polishes before so I fancied trying a make up item, so she got me this Eyeshadow Palette in EP107 Desert Dune. I'm going to do a full review of this soon, but all I'll say at the moment is that for just £1 it's amazing value.

In the same shop she also got me this black lace, shrug, cardigan which was just £6.99.

My lovely momma also paid for my Avon order this month. I got a bubble bath in Violet which based on the scratch and sniff in the catalogue I expected to smell like Parma Violets, instead it smelled like a soft floral, nice and I'll use it but unfortunately it wasn't what I expected.

She also got my two nail colours, the Opal Top Coat, and Jalapeno Fashion Show. The opal top coat is amazing and gives a gorgeous iridescent, holo flakey finish. I have quite a few of these and I love how different that they can make a polish look. The oddly named Jalapeno Fashion Show is one of those gorgeous murky, khaki greens, that love, strange name but fab polish.

The final thing that Mummy Lou got me was courtesy of QVC and a 4 easy pay code, it's the Benefit Stay Flawless 15 Hour Primer.

This is unlike any primer that I've ever used, and I'm definitely going to do a full review of it x

Starting this month I've also been making You Tube haul videos, my haul equalled two videos, which you can see here x





If you can't see them then please check out my You Tube channel x
So that was it everything that I purchased myself and that I was bought in August. As per usual if you have any questions or comments please let me know, and I'd love to know what you bought in August so please leave me a comment xx

Foodie Friday - What I Ate In August x

It's the last Friday of the month so it time for a foodie review of August. What yummy things did I eat and drink in August? keep reading to find out more x

Like last month, August was all about home grown and home harvested produce. I mentioned in last months post that my mum had been making strawberry jam, well she baked some gluten free scones, and as a healthy alternative to cream, we use strained Easi Yo Sweet Greek yogurt to make a cream tea of sorts.

This looks to be very much a Devon cream tea, as they put their "cream" on the scone first, bit shocking really considering at least 4 generations of my dads family come from Cornwall, I must remember to put the jam on first which is the Cornish way :) This month my mum has also made raspberry and redcurrant jam, and gooseberry and apple jam, all thanks to relatives with large gardens and loads of excess soft fruit.

This month also saw our potato harvest, you wouldn't think it from the size of our garden that we'd be able to grow vegetables but everything my mum touches grows, so she flung in some seed potatoes last year and this was just some of what she dug up.

Believe me they tasted amazing, nothing better than eating something that you've seen grow and you know exactly what's gone in to it. It goes without saying that yet again this month I've made several helpings of my homemade salsa, yes we've had it with tortilla chips but I also added it to a veggie, bean chilli I made.

The original plan was to make tacos but the gluten free ones I got are so fragile I just ended up serving them alongside the chilli, with salad, cheese and Mexican rice.

I also used my salsa to make a Quorn Chilli And Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie, OMG I love sweet potato and it just worked perfectly with a bit of melted cheese and the spicy chilli. I served it with some broccoli roasted with lemon juice, oilve oil, garlic and chilli.

Speaking of beans and spicy things I also made my Spicy Falafel Burger (see the recipe here)

This month I also had one of my favourite ever things Crispy Fried Tofu (click here for the recipe) - yum this is so good and works equally as well served with chips and beans or how I served it, with sweet and sour vegetables, and tofu spaghetti.

Because I'm not supposed to eat wheat and gluten I do have to experiment a bit, and that's how I found the tofu spaghetti, I basically spaghetti made with soya I can't find it in the UK any more but it was by a German brand I believe called Vegafit. Normally I just buy supermarkets own gluten free pasta, which is usually made of corn or rice, it's not the same but I'm used to it now. I used gluten free pasta to make my Creamy Sweet Chilli And Quorn Pasta

Yummy super quick - exactly like something else that I made - a tomato, broccoli, onion, mushroom and cheese frittata :)

and August was the month that I tried Overnight Oats for the first time, I had a mixture of oats, yogurt, skimmed milk, chia seeds, fresh fruit and tiny bit of salt, and it was yummy, and really filling.

What about drinks? well the usual really lots of squash, tea and water, with a couple of Juice Master Homemade Sherbet Lemonades thrown in

a couple of Easi Yo Yogurt Smoothies,

and some Twinnings teas x

and of course the cake that we made using one of the teas x

I've also had a could of naughty eating out experiences, including Meet Up At Mal, and these beauties from Costa.

Apologies for the phone picture but Costa do the best gluten free chocolate brownies, and their Raspberry And White Chocolate Creamy Cooler is AMAZING!!

and no trip to IKEA is complete without a piece of Krokant Cake I believe that this is gluten free, well that's what it says on the box anyways - it's yum and well worth it, even if the shop was trying to mimic daddy day care.

The final item is one that it's took me almost 2 months to find and now it gone again :( As far as I'm aware Cadbury's Strawberries And Creme bar was only produced from May through to August as a summer limited edition. Could I hell find it, I looked everywhere, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, B&M, you name it. I eventually got the last remaining bar from a local market stall, of course I shared it with Mummy Lou, but that half a bar was well worth the wait and I shall mourn the fact that I probably won't be able to find any more.

I guess looking at that little lot, it's no great surprise that I haven't lost that much weight this month, but I think I've ate pretty well overall I've definitely snacked less, and I've made sure that I've plenty of fruit and veg, everything in moderation I say :) Have you had a good food month? What's been the best thing that you've eaten in August? please leave me a comment and let me know cx