Beauty, Bargains and Beyond

Here are a few of my favourite things in January. TV - The Goldbergs  I highly recommend binge watching this series about the 80's. It's like reliving your childhood if you were a teenager back then.  If you remember the big hair and bad fashion as well as the New Kids on the Block, Christian Slater and the Goonies this is for you.  The best thing is that this is based on the life of the producer and at the end of the show you are treated to an actual home video that relates to the episode you have just watched.  If you think the show isn't realistic then this will show you that some of this actually happened to him and his family in real life.  You really couldn't make this stuff up. Charity Shops -  why didn't I find out about these gems sooner. I have found some cracking bargains including a Fossil bag for £6, a Diesel bag for £3, some Gap ballet flats for 50p, a Bench jacket for £1 and a Weird Fish winter jacket for a mere £7, to name but a...

I have just received my Beautylish lucky box 2019 and I couldn't wait to open it.  I've watched a few videos on YouTube over the last couple of years of people unboxing their lucky boxes and I must admit I've always been tempted to get one. Beautylish is a US based company so as well as the cost of the box there are also customs charges and postage to take into account which has put me off, but this year I decided to pull the trigger and order one. I think the total cost came to about £89 which included postage and the customs charge.  Luckily they work the customs charge out for you so you don't have to worry when it gets posted to the UK that there will be extra charges on top to pay.  So anyway on with the unboxing. These Lucky Bags are based on a Japanese New Year custom  and there is a cute little tag that comes with your box that explains this.   The tag also says that the sumo wrestlers or rikishi on this year's lucky bags are said to bring goo...

I recently visited the Kitty Cafe in Leeds for a family birthday.  This was our 3rd visit over the last year and a half and we have always had a great experience.  The Kitty Cafe is situated in Leeds city centre and is an easy walk from the train and bus stations.  If you come by car then I would recommend the park and rides at Elland Road or Temple Green which are very reasonably priced (and much cheaper than parking in the city centre) and only take 10 - 15 minutes by bus once you have parked up. First of all, if you are not fond of cats then obviously this place is not for you.  If you are a cat person like me then I would definitely recommend this experience to put on your to do list next time you visit Leeds.  Be aware that it's a good idea to book in advance, to make sure that you are not disappointed and also that there is a £6 welfare charge per person (£4 for kids) before you even sit down to eat.  I am happy to pay the welfare charge as it ...

I must admit I started my Money Savings Tips posts last year but didn't get around to writing all of them, so I decided to start again this year and post about my own Money Saving Journey. My goal is the same as last year which is to try and save as much money as possible and to share how I'm doing it as I go along.  I have had car insurance for a number of years (too many to mention) and every year it seems to increase regardless of the fact  that I haven't made any claims.  For most insurance I have such as home and travel I always shop around for the best deal and while I have moved my car insurance to another company previously I haven’t done it in a couple of years.    This year,  after I received my renewal quote I went on a few comparison websites and completed a quote to see which companies came out cheaper.  Now I must admit that I’m a bit reluctant to move my insurance to companies that I’ve never heard of, so the ones that were cheap...

Here's a belated post of my January Sales haul this year.  It's fairly small as I am trying to cut back a bit this year but it's hard to resist buying a few things especially when most of them are half price or less. First up I bought the 9 Fragranced Bath Teas from the Next online sale, they were £4 and I think might have been £12 originally (not 100% sure on this though).  I bought these mainly because I had never seen anything like this before as a bath product so I just wanted to check them out.  They are basically fragranced tea bags that you dunk into your bath water and the essential ingredients will gently infuse the water.  Next I bought Skinny Dip Body Mist Trio for £5 and Bath Syrup Trio for £6.25.  I originally saw these in the Boots online sale but they were sold out so I popped into the local store and picked them up.  Both packs have matching fragrances which are Tropical, Sweet Raspberry and Honey. Next up were a few things from...

It's been a while since I last did a post comparing beauty boxes.  You can read my first one here .  I wasn't overly impressed with the previous beauty boxes I received, so I decided not to subscribe to any and just to wait for offers to come up, or just see what took my fancy along the way.  This time I am comparing beauty boxes from Look Fantastic and Birchbox.  The reason I chose these companies was because Birchbox had some great offers and Look Fantastic was a box that I hadn't tried out before. The first box that I want to review was the Birchbox x Etsy.  This box was from August 2018 and I got the November 2018 Nutcracker box and this Etsy box for £5 plus £2.95 delivery which was too good a deal to pass up. The Etsy box contained: Rituals Happy Buddha Foaming Shower Gel - 50ml worth approx £2.12.  I'm happy with this as I know I will use it and I like the brand. CLE Cosmetics Melting Lip Powder in Red Cherry - 0.9g worth approx £6.75....

I thought I would start 2019 by reviewing some of the Charlotte Tilbury products that I own and letting you know what I think about the brand as a whole.  Charlotte Tilbury products are pretty pricey, so I try to pick them up when there is a discount or a gift with purchase offer.  I think the packaging is some of the best in the beauty business (rose gold and old Hollywood, what's not to love) and I do love that Charlotte herself posts makeup tutorials on her website, to show you how to get the best out of her products.  I seem to have accumulated quite a few products from her range, but I would say overall that I own more lip products than anything else.  I favour nudes and pinks with the odd dull red colour thrown in for good measure.  Here are some of my favourites. From left to right: American Sweetheart, Secret Salma, Very Victoria, English Beauty & Stoned Rose American Sweetheart is from the K.I.S.S.I.N.G range and is described as a natural...