Beauty, Bargains and Beyond

I was in LA in October last year and I am still finding things in my stash that I bought when I was over there. Here's my final haul from US Drug stores including Walgreens and CVS. Marc Anthony Strictly Curls Stretch - This product loosens and lengthens tight curls and cost $7.99 for 200ml.  I do think that this actually works as my curls are quite tight and after using this product they were a lot looser and frizz free. These sparkly beauties are Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstinis in Seared Bronze and Pyro Pink.  I think they were part of a Hunger Games Catching Fire Collection. These were on offer buy one get one half price, so cost $3.99 & $1.99. Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hr eyeshadow in Bad to the Bronze. This is a great bronze colour that is perfect to sweep over your lids with no additional shading required. Easy peasy. This cost $3.90 as it was on offer. I picked up Pink Armour Nail Gel in Ross Dress for Less for $6.99 - Its a quick an...

I recently received Optrex Eye Revive Moisture Mist* free from BzzAgent to try out and review. Here's what I thought: I wear both contact lenses and glasses (although not at the same time obviously!) and after a long day at work glued to my computer my eyes can get so tired and dry. When my eyes start to feel tired and strained I have been spraying  Optrex Eye Revive Moisture Mist on my eyelids and I have found that they instantly feel refreshed and cooled.  It also helps to keep the skin around my eyes moisturised. I have found the Optrex Eye Revive Moisture Mist so easy to use, just close your eyes and spray over your eyelids.  Simple.  It doesn't smudge makeup and can be used with contact lenses. Optrex Eye Revive Moisture Mist costs £15.99 for 10ml and lasts for 100 sprays.  This is definitely a product I will keep in my handbag to revive my tired eyes on the go. Leighlee * I received this product free from Bzzagent to review

I have just come home from a week in Paris (blog post to follow shortly) and I stayed a couple of days in London, so have a few haul posts to do.  The first one is Forever 21.  This is one of my favourite shops in America, so I am very happy that it has come to London.  I love their jewellery and the prices are really good, so I picked up a few pieces last week for the grand total of £13.05.  Here's what a bought: The gold leaf earrings cost £2.00 The cross and stud earrings were £3.15  The glass cube earrings cost £2.00   The flower earrings cost £2.00   The rose gold cross bracelet cost £3.90 I wish they had a store closer to home. Leighlee I bought these with my own money

I really love this product and it is now one of my Holy Grail products.  I have to admit to having rubbish brows.  I'm not sure when it happened as I've never over plucked them, but one day I remember looking in the mirror and wondering where my eyebrows were. They have gaps and you can barely see them, they just aren't good I'm afraid. I was worried about using brow products as I didn't want them to be too obvious so I put off trying to find one, but I had £20 worth of Birchbox points to use up and decided to get Benefit Gimme Brow.  I had looked at Gimme Brow when I was in LA but they didn't have the colour I wanted, so I thought why not try it when I didn't have to part with cold hard cash.   Gimme Brow comes in a small bottle and has a small wand so its easy to apply to your brows.  I tend to be all fingers and thumbs when I'm applying things but after a couple of tries, I managed to get the hang of it and even though I do say so myself I thou...

I bought Max Factor X Lashfinity 3 Day Mascara from Boots when there was an offer to spend a certain amount and get some free products, which I posted about here .  It was the only way I could justify spending £18.99 on a mascara.  I thought it would be a really great product to try out as I don't wear mascara through the week when I'm at work.  I tend to rub my eyes, so a mascara is not the best product for me to wear all day as I'm worried about ending up with panda eyes.  I thought that a 3 day mascara would be great as it wouldn't smudge as much. I've tried it 3 times now and to be honest it's an epic fail for me.   The product is in a slightly larger than normal mascara packaging with the mascara at one end and remover at the other end.  The bit you twist off, which has the mascara product in it is quite small and the mascara wand is pretty short (the brush itself is normal size). The mascara is easy to apply, but you ha...

I have just received the May Birchbox and colour me impressed.  It's a collaboration with Harper's Bazaar and I am really happy with the contents. Here's what I received: This box suits me down to the ground and in all honesty there's only one product that I won't use. My box contained: Benefit They're Real Mascara (3g) - worth approx £6.88.  I haven't tried this mascara, so very happy to receive a travel size version which I will take with me when I travel. Soigne Nail Lacquer -  This is full size worth £11.  This is a lovely bright orange colour called Persimmon which will be perfect for summer.  I love the packaging that this comes in and its free of formaldehyde. Aromatherapy Associates Revive Morning Bath & Shower Oil - 3ml - worth approx £2.18 - I love putting these oils in my bath for a long soak and I already have a set from Christmas so happy to add to my collection. Philip Kingsley One More Day Dry Shampoo -...

I picked up a couple of things in TK Maxx recently which I thought that I would share with you.   The first is WESTLAB Himalayan Salt - 1kg for £3.99.  I really want to try Himalayan Salts in my bath as I sometimes suffer from dry skin on my body, so I am hoping that this will help. I have wanted to try a Konjac sponge for ages as they look really interesting, but never got round to picking one up.  When I saw one for £2.99 in TK Maxx I added it to my basket.  I will report back when I have tried it out. This was just a small haul, but I am really happy with my purchases. Leighlee I bought these with my own money

I have just received an email from Selfridges as they have created a limited edition beauty box, which is coming soon exclusively to selfridges.com. The box costs £30 (not including postage) and contains 14 beauty must-haves with a combined value of over £120. Each box contains: - EXCLUSIVE Selfridges Limited Edition Make-up Bag - Nars Mini Eyeshadow - Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant, 13G - Laura Mercier Foundation Primer, 30ml - Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser, 30ml - Percy and Reed Dry Shampoo, 150ml - Lancaster Silky Milk Tanning Lotion, 50ml - Tangle Teezer in Original Pink - Eyeko Mini Black Magic Mascara, 4ml - Paul and Joe Blotting Paper - EXCLUSIVE Carmex Limited Edition Lip Balm - EXCLUSIVE Phyto 7 Limited Edition Hair Cream, 50ml - EOS Berry Hand Cream, 44ml - Ole Henricksen Truth To Go Wipes There are only a limited number of boxes available, all sold exclusively at selfridges.com. There are so many tempting off...

I have just received an email about a great gift with purchase offer from SPACE.NK. On May 14th and 15th spend £150 or more to receive  The Ultimate Collection, a special selection of 25 beauty favourites. It's an in store event and tickets cost £15 which is fully redeemable against any purchases made on the day.  Its not clear if this offer will be available online from the email. See below for details on what's included in the Ultimate Collection.  It looks like a great selection: ALGENIST  GENIUS ULTIMATE  ANTI-AGING CREAM 7ml AROMATHERAPY  ASSOCIATE  RENEWING ROSE  BODY CREAM 40ml BECCA  BRONZING SKIN PERFECTOR 10ml BUMBLE & BUMBLE  THICKENING HAIRSPRAY 30ml CAUDALÍE POLYPHENOLS C15 ANTI-WRINKLE DEFENSE SERUM 10ML CHANTECAILLE  FAUX CILS MASCARA IN NOIR 4g DIPTYQUE FEUILLE DE LAVANDE SCENTED CANDLE 35G EVE LOM TLC CREAM 15ML GOLDFADEN MD  DOCTOR’S SCRUB 3.75g HOURGLASS VEIL MINERAL PRIMER SPF 15 5ML ...

The choices for You Beauty Discovery Box this month were so good that I had to get 2 boxes.  Here's what I received. I chose: dr.organic Moroccan Argan Oil Hair Treatment Serum - this is full size (100ml) and costs £14.99 GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment 10g x2 (worth approx £13 each) GlamGlowYouthmud Tinglexfoliate Treatment - 15g (worth £15) I also received the following in my boxes: Lizi's Granola - Treacle & Pecan 40g  & Original 50g Charles Worthington Moisture Seal Hair Healer Leave-in Conditioner Sachet 2x10ml (includes a £2 off coupon for Charles Worthington range in Boots) Divine Legs Tinted Body Lotion - 2x5ml The other choices were: Philip Kingsley - Elasticizer Percy and Reed - Eau My Goodness Shine & Fragrance Spray Batiste - XXL Plumping Powder Elemis - Pro-Collagen Marine Cream Manuka Doctor - Mini Hero Kit Burts Bees - Facial Cleansing Towelettes with White Tea Extract Fake Bake - 60 minutes Self Tan L...

I recently wrote about an offer in Instyle Magazine where you can get Free Murad beauty products worth £75 with any online purchase. The free gift is a radiance boosting skincare starter kit which includes the following: Essential- C Cleanser 200ml Advanced Active Radiance Serum 5ml Essential-C Day Moisture SPF 30 10ml Intensive-C Radiance Peel 10ml All you need to do is go to murad.co.uk and purchase something (there is no minimum spend) and enter the code MURADVITC at the checkout. Offer available while stocks last. Postage is also free on this offer. Well I just wanted to let you know that I have received my order and I got all this for the grand total of £9.95. I bought the clarifying wipes for £9.95.  They are still in stock, so if you hurry you can take advantage of this great deal. Let me know if you see any other great offers. Leighlee I bought these with my own money

A long while ago I blogged about my current perfume collection here .  I'm not sure if I'm posting this to shame myself into using them more as I have so many, or just to have a chance to go back and smell them and remember why I bought them in the first place.  I love buying them, mostly in sales or duty free, but I don't like to have loads open at the same time so just end up having them on my shelves but never using them.  Anyway I'll post about the remainder of my collection and then if I really want to admit to my problem I'll post a photo of the box sets that are either under my bed and on top of my wardrobe (yes it really is that bad). Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir Cologne 30ml - I had wanted to buy a Jo Malone Perfume for ages but whenever it came to parting with some cold hard cash I just couldn't do it.  Then I saw this one for sale on one of the swapping facebook pages and went for it and was really pleased that I did.  Its a strong ...