Summer Haul

I didn’t really expect to be writing a haul post anytime soon; since we decided to go travelling Russell and I have been leading a very budget conscious lifestyle, but I decided that everyone needs a bit of a splurge every once in a while and here is mine!

The haul mentally started when I got home from work to find that Russell had ordered me this gorgeous dress from River Island.

As soon as I saw it, I started putting an outfit together and it seemed to conveniently consist of items I didn’t already own. I had also almost run out of moisturiser and I had had my eye on a few new skincare products for a while so what better excuse!

 

River Island Navy Floral Jacquard Bodycon Dress £28

This is such a flattering bodycon dress and it has a gorgeous low back (that's not low enough to show your bra, yay!).

River Island Amelie Superskinny Jeans £40

I usually really struggle to find jeans that fit perfectly but these are an amazing fit. They are from the '4 Way Stretch Fabric' range which I think makes such a difference to the fit and makes them so easy to move in despite being superskinny!

New Look Double Zip Padded Sleeve Biker Jacket £39.99

I wanted a biker jacket to go with the yellow floral dress and I love how this one has a slightly feminine twist with not having a collar. I also think it was an amazing price.

JuJu Jellies Seven £16

I do like the idea of jelly shoes but I don't feel quite ready to dive into the fully jelly shoe trend so I think these are a great compromise of the jelly shoe comfort and a more subtle style.

Invisibobble Traceless Hair Ring Brown £3.75
I have quite long and thick hair and having it up usually means that it needs to stay up until it's washed thanks to the massive kink that won't budge. I was a bit dubious about whether the Invisibobble would hold my hair but I’ve read some great reviews. I’m hoping I lose the kink as well as pony-tail induced headaches.

Soap & Glory PuffyEye Attack £12.50
I was attracted to the Soap and Glory Puffy Eye Attack thanks to its amazing claims (anti-dark circle and anti-puff), as I’m more concerned about puffy eyes than wrinkles. I also really like that this is a gel formula, I’m just hoping it lives up to the claims!

La Roche-Posay EffaclarMat £14
I loved Effaclar Duo so I’m looking forward to trying this moisturiser. I don’t have particularly sensitive skin but I do like the idea of using gentle products so I find myself drawn to La Roche-Posay, Vichy and the likes. I don’t have as oily skin as I used to but I still find that my nose gets shiny throughout the day so I hope that this will moisturise and mattify without being too harsh.

  

Nip + Fab GlycolicFix Serum £14.95
I’ve been eyeing this up for a while so when I saw Megan (at Megan Roisinn) mention this in a post when I was scrolling through her blog, it gave me the final push to give it a go. Effaclar Duo was a Godsend when I was going through a particularly spotty stage but the spots have now calmed and I am looking forward to trying something different. The range aims to fight fine wrinkles as well as enlarged pores which is perfect for me since I’ve suddenly started worrying about getting wrinkles!

Lush Cupcake Face Mask £6.25

I had five black pots to return to Lush so I picked this face mask to have free. I was also given a sample of the Love Lettuce fask mask as I couldn't decide which would be best for my oily skin.

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser 50ml Pump Starter Kit £9.25

This was another freebie thanks to the John Lewis 150th Anniversary voucher. I was surprised to get such a good size product to trial and I was really impressed at how helpful the lady at the Liz Earle counter was without trying to sell me anything. I am so excited to try this, as both my sister and step-mum are devout users.

What do you think of these products?

Jade Rebecca
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My Fragrance Direct Parcel

The postman delivered my Fragrance Direct parcel today - happy Jade! I was really surprised that I received it so soon, I chose standard delivery (£1.99) for my order to arrive 5-7 days after dispatch. I placed my order on Friday the 9th, it was dispatched on Monday the 12th and delivery was originally attempted on Wednesday the 14th - great prices and great delivery, this could be my new favourite site!

The products were packed well and everything arrived in great condition and not a ridiuclously oversized box - environmental points for Fragrance Direct!

If you read my original Fragrance Direct post, you may notice that I snuck in an extra product before I finalised the order. The 7 Way Nail Buffer was £0.99 and I've never used a buffer before so I thought I'd give it a go.

From my experiences so far I'd definitely recommend Fragrance Direct, I'm just waiting for them to have some exciting Essie Nail Polishes now.

Have you used any of these products?
What do you want to see a review of?

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London Haul

As promised, here's my London Haul post! I didn't actually manage to shop anywhere unique to London (sobsob), my friend and I got far too distracted looking at the cute puppies in Harrods and maxing out her bank card in Oxford Street Primark. I'm definitely going to have to go back to London before the summer is over, there's so much more shopping to be done! But for now here's my recent haul.

 

Topshop Turquoise Scallop Hem Lace Dress - £30

I found this in the sale racks of Topshop, as soon as I saw the lace detail and the colour I fell in love. It's great to wear with sandles in the summer and I'm hoping to style it with black opaque tights, black heels and a blazer so I can wear it in the winter too.

Topshop Petite Double Elastic Treggings - £20

I was looking for the leggings I posted in my London Wishlist post, unfortunately it turns out they have been discontinued, determined to get my hands on a pair of black Topshop leggings, (they seem to be the only brand of leggings that haven't got so thin that my underwear can be seen through them!) I tried these on. The leggings are great, I was initially put off by the high waist but it's really not a problem, if anything it feels like it acts as a tummy tucking feature!

Barry M Nail Paint Blue Moon (NP317) - £2.99

After my first experience with Barry M Nail Paints a couple of weeks ago I was excited to pick up some summery pastel colours. 

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint Prickly Pear (GNP6) - £3.99

I'm excited to try the Gelly range and see how 'hi-shine' it really is.

 

Benefit Boi-ing Concealer - £17.50

I visited the Benefit counter to repurchase Erase Paste to cover the circles under my eyes, my last pot had finally almost run out and I'd had it almost two years (yucky yuck!). The first assistant showed me the Erase Paste and Fakeup and the assistant who helped me with Brow Zings introduced me to Boi-ing - dilemma! I chose boi-ing as I felt that it had better coverage than Fakeup and was told that it is less likely to crease than Erase Paste.

Brow Zings - £23.50

I noticed this on the Benefit counter in my local boots the other day so I asked the Benefit assistant if I could try it, she did an amazing job and my brows looked great after. Hopefully I can do a job as good as the Benefit assistant!

Boots Metal Free Hair Bands

Probably my least exciting purchase!

Primark Anti-Bacterial Hand Wipes - £1

I love having these in my hand bag and the car.

I hope you enjoyed the haul post - have you tried any of these products?

Reviews will come soon!

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My First Haul!

I've been wanting to revamp my skincare everything routine for a while, I decided that I deserved a mini shopping spree as I've been doing loads of overtime and not much spending!

Bodycare

Soap and Glory -The Daily Smooth - £2.50 - I saw this in the clearance when I was working yesterday, at £2.50 I knew I had to get one! I've tried a few Soap and Glory products but never a lotion/moisturiser, I always had the opinion that they were a 'gimmicky/gifty' brand but from the great reviews I've seen I'm starting to leave that opinion behind!

I probably won't do a full review on this as it's being discontinued, fingers crossed for them rebranding and bringing out some new products like they did with their facial skincare!

Vaseline - Spray and Go - When this was first launched I was convinced it was a 'look what we can do different' products, after all how can a 'spray' be that moisturising?! Apparently I was wrong, I've heard and read great things so I thought I'd give it a go, after all I am quite lazy in the body moisturising area!

Carex - Cola Bottles - My mum brought me Strawberry Laces Carex when she last came to visit, I loved the smell and how cute it looked in the kitchen, when I saw Cola Bottle 'flavour' I couldn't resist giving it a try (half price in Boots too!). There's not too much to say about this apart from it smells amazing!

Haircare

Umberto Giannini - Frizzi Extreme Taming Spray - £5.99 - I love my hair, but hate it's frizziness, I thought I'd found the perfect solution when I bought Moroccan Oil from my hairdresser but my sister soon discovered it and it subsequently 'disappeared'. Reluctant to spend a lot on a replacement I thought I'd give something cheaper a go, I haven't read any reviews so I'll see how it goes!

Umberto Giannini - Plump Up Volumising Mask - £5.61 - My hair is long, wavy/curly but incredibly flat so I'm hoping this will at least help me out a little (and Umberto Giannini was 2 for £8!).

Cosmetics

Barry M - Nail Paint Spring Green - £2.99 - This wasn't particularly my choice, we've got to wear green to work tomorrow so this is my contribution in the nail department. But... I haven't actually ever owned a Barry M Nail Paint (I know right!) so I'm excited to see what it's like.

Models Own - 5 Piece Brush Set - £10.00 - Theses are meant to be travel brushes but I desperately needed a lip brush and there was very minimal choice unless I wanted to spend a fortune. I needed to get a blusher brush too so I treated myself, I'll do a review when I've had a go at using them.

Facial Skincare

Boots Botanics - All Bright Refreshing Eye Roll On - £8.99 - I've suffered from dark circles under my eyes for as long as I can remember, for as long as I can remember I've also used Benefit Erase Paste. I really wanted to try something to actually get rid of the problem, not just hide it!

Eucerin - DermoPurifier Concentrate - £9.50 & Eucerin - DermoPurifier Cleanser - £9.18 - I intended to buy La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo but ended up chatting to the Eucerin Consultant. Usually I'm not swayed by people promoting a product but she really did seem to know what she was talking about and with a money-back guarantee and a two for £15 promotion I decided to try these two products out. I was also given two testers from the same range, a review will follow when I've had chance to test the range out.]


I hope you enjoyed my first haul, I tried to make it as easy to read as possible.

Have you tried any of these products?

Jade Rebecca
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