Hauls

Hauls

January Sales Haul

January 9, 2015

You know when you probably shouldn’t go shopping but you do anyway? Well Pants and I decided that a touch of retail therapy would be the perfect pick-me-up when we went into the city to send my lovely boyfriend back to university in Holland after the winter holidays, in fact the proximity of Debenhams to the coach station means it was all sort of meant to be.

I knew right away that Christmas money would almost certainly be sent to the Urban Decay stand, but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. Luckily Pants is the best friend in the world and already bestowed the gift of the Electric Palette on me for Christmas (as well as Naked 3 for my birthday last year – spoiled I know!) so it was a toss-up between 1 and 2. The extremely lovely and helpful lady at the UD stand swatched practically every colour in both palettes, despite the fact we must have poured over swatch posts for hours, and eventually we both left with a shiny new Naked 2 palette [£37.00] on the premise that we simply couldn’t live without the matte black shade. I also picked up this adorable Beauticology set [£2.50] at the counter which smells delicious and I want to eat it all right now.

I remembered I had some money left on a Boots card, so we went to take a peek there where I snatched up this Soap & Glory minis set for £5 [sold out online]. I already know I love all the products, and they will be stashed safely away for my next jaunt to the mainland saving me lots of precious bag space!

I’m a true bargain lover at heart, so no trip to town would be complete without a a perusal of Poundland where we found a nice stash of Rimmel Apocalips! I already owned the other shades on the shelf so I thought I’d give Nude Eclipse [£6.49] a try . I’ve also been really impressed by the new Make-Up Gallery range, and have really loved a few of the nail products so I went for this cuticle oil as mine are an absolute state after a Christmas full of construction work (more on that ambiguous statement in another post soon I’m sure!)

Finally the lure of Primark called out to us, where I composed myself like a proper grown up and definitely didn’t squee with delight at finding a My Little Pony T-shirt for only £3.00. I followed that with a little strop because I saw the The Beatles shirt for the same price, yet only in a size six…so I did what any experienced band t-shirt wearer did and bought it anyway with plans to alter it into a halter shirt.

Opperation: Shopping-trip-to-fill-the-space-my-boyfriend-leaves-with-pretty-stuff was a resounding sucess and hardly damaged my post-festive-season bank balance at all. From this point on thought there’s going to be a serious cosmetics/clothing spending ban whilst I try to recover from going a little overboard with spoiling my friends and family this year!

Did you find any amazing bargains in the sale, or treat yourself to anything particularly nice with Christmas money?

Totally hellbent for shopping with my bestie always and forever

Gem

Hauls, Lifestyle, Vegan, Vegetarian

West Midlands Vegan Festival

November 3, 2014

A week on Saturday we pried ourselves away from the internet and our home offices to go to Vegan Fest 2014 in Wolverhampton. We took our trusty carnivorous band mates Adam and Matt along so they could sample some delights. This event had been in our calendar for a few months since we couldn’t get down to London (next year maybe!) but having such an event almost on our door steps really couldn’t be missed. We met many lovely people including the brains and beauty behind The Vegan Kind Box and discovered many delicious treats and shinies to take home as treasured spoils.

Here are some of the delights we brought home:

Round Up Hand Crafted Gourmet Wagon Wheel Cake

I definitely miss marshmallows as a non meat eater. Unfortunately they are in a lot of nice foods – wagon wheels, rocky road cake, luxurious hot chocolates from the German Market. When we saw these, we’d almost convinced ourselves that we didn’t need them. Unfortunately second time round the stalls, we didn’t get away and ended up buying one each. Since I knew I was going for an hour long power walk that evening, I had mine immediately after taking a few snaps and it was absolutely divine! Much better than the “real thing” and something I’ll be on the look out for again.

£2.50 from Ananda Foods

Vege Bears – Slightly Sour

Another thing I miss is sour sweets – Haribo Tangfastic Cherry’s and fizzy cola bottles if I had to pinpoint them specifically. These were found on the way in and were the first purchase of the day. Surprisingly, they’ve lasted me all week and although they aren’t quite Haribo they come a close second.

£12.39 for 8 packs from Amazon

Harper’s Bizarres Soya Candle in Cinnamon Dreams

I’m a huge candle lover, so finding Vegan scented candles that are animal friendly was like a dream come true. If the array of deliciously scented candles wasn’t enough to fuel our need to buy things, the lady behind it all was an absolute pleasure to talk to and made the whole experience of sniffing candles a thousand times more exciting. This candle was an experimental one and I really hope they decide to make more because it is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve already got a list of the other candles I’m going to pick up from her online store next payday as well.

£5.00 from Harper’s Bizarres

Dairy-Free Bellissimo Parmesan

As a child we would always have grated Parmesan in the cupboard reserved strictly for “Spag Bol” nights, after discussing this at the Harper’s Bizarres stand, we were kindly pointed into the direction of Ananda foods where they had an ample supply of Vegan Parmesan. I’ve tried it since on a few pasta dishes and it’s absolutely perfect as well as reunited me with a few childhood memories.

£3.49 from Ananda Foods

Lush Snow Fairy

I wish they had pop up Lush stands everywhere! I can maybe manage to stand in a store for about 10 seconds before I’m hit in the face with a massive migraine, so being able to browse a few bits without this was amazing. Gem spotted the snow fairy first and after I’d given it a sniff I was hooked. I bought this and ended up with a free sample of beard wax and a badge too.

£3.75 from Lush

Banana Choc Drizzle Marshmallows

As I mentioned above, I miss marshmallows so much and recently thrived off having a taste of “Freedom Mallows” in a recent Vegan Kind box. When I saw these I just had to try them. I’m a bit of a sucker for Banana flavored things, so I was pretty excited about munching my way through these, even if my inner self was frowning at the potential calorie count. Despite my excitement though, they weren’t that nice which was a little disappointing. Having been spoiled with Freedom Mallows I think I ruined the future of Vegan mallows for myself. Still they won’t go to waste as my other half will be sinking his teeth into them.

£3.75 from Ananda Foods

Vegan Kind #TVK12 Box

Amie has been a subscriber to the amazing Vegan Kind box for nearly a year now, but I’ve never quite talked myself into it on the basis that I’m a really fussy eater (and anytime there is something I would enjoy inside Amie shares hers with me anyway!) but after meeting the lovely masterminds behind the box I just had to pick on up from their stand. You can see the full contents and read Amie’s thoughts on TVK12 here.

£7.00 (full price £10 + P&P) from The Vegan Kind

Harper’s Bizarres Soya Candle in Waffles

I really had to talk myself out of buying one of everything from the Harper’s Bizarres stand, but finally settled on “Waffles” a one-off experiment fragrance that completely satisfied all my sugary cravings! All the candles are handmade from vegan-friendly soy wax and are completely animal friendly, and with so many gorgeous scents on offer I’m sure to be placing another order online soon!

£5.00 from Harper’s Bizarres

Dairy-Free Bellissimo Parmesan

I am one of those terrible vegetarians who tries to go vegan every other week but ultimately fails because of cheese. This however might just be my savoir! It’s not too heavy on the calories and does have a lovely nutty cheesy flavour.

£3.49 from Ananda Foods

Round Up Hand Crafted Gourmet Wagon Wheel Cake

The thing I miss most from my omnivore days is probably a toss-up between jelly sweets and marshmallows, so seeing a whole stand full of fluffy white nommy-ness, I knew I had to have something. I settled for a vegan wagon wheel and oh my god – it’s the best thing ever! Way nicer than I remember it being even!

£2.50 from Ananda Foods

Lush Snow Fairy

I’ve always wanted to try Snow Fairy, but much like Amie I find that going into the Lush stores gives me a headache. Seeing it on the Lush stand meant I had to have a quick sniff and it was purchased mere moments later! The lovely Lush ladies also gave me a free beard wax that has been put aside for Roode, and a badge.

£3.75 from Lush

Miso On The Go Soup

I’m not actually a fan of miso soup as I find it far too fishy, but my other half adores all things that taste of the ocean so he will be receiving the many many free samples I picked up along the trip!

£0.90 from Clearspring

We had an amazing time and already can’t wait for our next Vegan adventures. It definitely makes us feel more comfortable knowing that we can still eat all the (naughty) nice things whilst keeping up our cruelty free lifestyle. Have you been to any Vegan/Veggie related events recently? If so, let us know which ones and what spoils you picked up!

Totally hellbent for not having to check labels when we shop

Gem & Pants

Hauls

Essential repurchases from The Body Shop

September 29, 2014

With the near constant special offers available at The Body Shop I never have to wait too long to grab my essentials at way below the high street price! I was pretty sensible this time and managed to get an absolute bargain on four of my all time favourite products.

Vanilla Body Mist (£7.50)

This is my absolute favourite body mist in the world – I think I’m onto my sixth or seventh bottle by now. I like to take this along to gigs to freshen up after an hour on a sweaty stage, and despite the glass bottle I’ve luckily never had any accidents! I always get a lot of compliments on this scent and find that it easily lasts as long as a good EDP. There are a few other fragrances I’d like to try from The Body Shop (especially the Raspberry EDT that Pants reviewed here), but I find that I come back to this one time and time again.

Early-Harvest Raspberry Shower Gel (£4.00)

My favourite of all the fruity shower gels on offer (With the new Argon Oil range there are now 10 different delicious scents!). I really think you can’t beat The Body Shop for shower products in this price range and I’m super-eager to finish off the bottle of scrumptious Honeymania I’m half way through at the moment so I can delve into this berry heaven.

Strawberry Soap (£2.00)

I’ve never been a fan of using soap on my skin, this is actually what I use for washing my make-up brushes. Unorthodox I know, but it’s the fastest way I’ve found yet and The Body Shop soaps are vegan friendly unlike some of the dedicated brush cleaners out there.

Vitamin E Moisture Cream (£11.00)

This was one of the first products I ever tried from The Body Shop and remains a firm favourite years later. Pants is the undisputed queen of the Vitamin E range (as demonstrated in her posts here and here!) but I always find myself dipping in and out of this simple but reliable face cream between other favourites. This is also the perfect moisturiser for mixing in with foundation on those days when you want a lighter finish.

So there you have it, one very restrained mini Body Shop haul that should have cost £24.50 but swung it’s way to me for a bargainous £11.09!

The offers change all the time but currently you can get 30% off when you buy three items or 40% off when you buy five items both in store and on-line with the code RADIANCE, so if you’re planning on restocking or trying something new head over to The Body Shop now where you can also bag free delivery on orders over £25!

Totally hellbent for reliable favourites

– Gem

Hauls, Lifestyle

Charity Shop Treasures

June 11, 2014

Sometimes Gemma and I like to turn our addiction to shopping into a charitable affair and a few days ago, we popped into our local charity shops to see what they had on offer. It was partly my fault, because Id mentioned I’d seen a candle stick that I really wanted for some weeks, and with Gemma bringing her “let’s buy all the magazines” attitude, there was absolutely no stopping us. (If you want to see what buying all those magazines got us, you can check out the Ciaté collection here.)

Anyway, Gemma spotted a cute sewing box, the kind that I had been after for a very long time, but had never found the right one. The problem being, that each time I found a sewing box, the price tag would put me off, since I’m a bit of a craft-o-holic I always thought “I’ll just make one”. Anyway, I picked this up for just “2.95 from Sue Ryder with the intention of recovering it. As you can see above, it was covered in a pretty garish rose print, and although flowers are quite -in- at the moment (or so I’m led to believe) they really aren’t me. A few hours in my craft room with some red polka dot off cuts and a glue gun transformed it into the most perfect box for all my sewing attire. (Okay, not -all- my sewing attire, but most of it)

Moving on into the next charity shop, where I’d seen a lovely candle stick. I couldn’t find it anywhere, so after reassuring myself that it was Okay because I ended up with a sewing box instead, we almost left. It wasn’t until Gem was paying for her things that we spotted it on a shelf, behind some glassware. A beautiful pentacle candle stick for an even more beautiful price of £2.69. This too underwent a bit of a transformation as it has now been sprayed black.

Both of my lovely cheap and cheerful treasures have now found a home in my craft room, and I take great comfort in some of my hard earned pennies (albeit less than £6) have now gone to a good cause.

Have you found any treasures in your local charity shops? As always, post us some links or tell us about your lovely things!

Totally hellbent for guilt free shopping that gives a little back

-Pants

Hauls, Make-up, Nails

Elf Clearance Haul Part 2

June 7, 2014

It happened again – well actually no, this happened pre “accidental shopping haul” which is why I felt so guilty about going shopping, knowing that I had already ordered a box of goodies from elf. For those that didn’t know, one of their latest deals was a free “Mystery Collection” (worth £15) when you spent £20 in the clearance section, as well as free p&p. What actually happened, is Gemma asked me whether or not she should go ahead with her elf order (you can check out her haul here), I asked her what she had put in her basket and instead of being the good friend and telling her she didn’t need any more blusher, before I could begin typing my supportive message to her over Skype, I had already filled my elf basket and purchased my order.

Bad Pants … very bad Pants. So what exactly did I order? How many of these did I need? (Absolutely none of them … at all!!!!)

Mysterious Nail Polish Set – £2.25

Beach Party Nail Polish Set – £2.25

Studio Cream Blush in “Flirt” – £3.25

Studio Cream Blush in “Tease” – £3.25

Primer Eyeshadow in “Sexy Silver” – £2.50

Tinted Moisturiser in “Porcelain” – £2.25

Mineral Lipstick in “Ripe Rose” – £2.00

Mineral Lipstick in “Cool Coral” – £2.00

Mineral Lipstick in “Cheerful Cherry” – £2.00

Mystery Collection in “Movie Star” – £15.00

Because I spent £20 in the clearance section, I could choose a “Mystery Collection” for free, worth £15. There were three to choose from; Movie Star, Diva and Night Owl, but after seeing a glimmer of red in the preview, I hoped for the best and bet on Movie Star. Boy am I pleased with my decision, these products all look absolutely perfect and luckily are all things that I usually wear.

Included in the “Movie Star Mystery Collection” were:

Flirty Lash Collection – This includes 2 eyelash sets, an adhesive glue and a pair of tweezers for easy application.

Waterproof Eyeliner Crayon in “Gunmetal”

Mineral Eye Brightener – ( I think in layman’s terms, this is pretty much just a highlight/eye-shadow base)

Studio Lip Gloss Stick in “Movie Star”

Look out for some full reviews of some of these products very soon. Despite me not needing anything I bought, I’m pretty excited at being able to play with some of these, especially in time for festival season. If you fancy a little elf streak, check out their website at www.eyeslipsface.co.uk and see what offers they have to lure you into a purchase!

Totally hellbent for free gifts that come in my colour

-Pants

Hauls

Elf Clearance Haul & Swatches

June 6, 2014

Yes I went shopping again, but as I did it in my pyjamas does it really count? My bank balance says so. However thankfully this massive haul came at a very purse friendly price of £20ish, ELF prices are low even at the full whack, but with a huge clearance sale and a free gift I definitely got more than my moneys worth!

Here are my swatches and first impressions of the haul, as well as the contents of the free gift.

Baked Blush in Peachy Cheeky, Pinktastic, Passion Pink & Rich Rose [£1.98]

A girl can never have too many blushers, right? I hope not because this is a very blush heavy haul! These four are all absolutely lovely, though they have a fair bit of shimmer which I know some people like to avoid for cheek products. Rich Rose is looking like my favourite at the moment but I’m looking forwards to giving them all a good try out!

Baked Bronzer in Saint Lucia – [£1.98]

As a happily pale lady I never use bronzer all over, but I’m always on the look out for great subtle contour products and I think this is one would be a perfect shade for me if it wasn’t quite so shimmery. I’ll probably use this as a light blush when I get a bit of colour to my skin over summer, but if you are pale but still like to bronze up I’d wager this is well worth trying out.

Tinted Moisturiser SPF 20 – Porcelain [£2.25]

I don’t like wearing too much base in the hotter months, but I do like to layer up the SPF. This is very thin coverage, but feels very light on the skin, perfect for those no-make-up-make-up days.

Studio Cream Blush in Vixen – [£3.25]

I remember everyone going crazy for these when they first came out, and I somehow managed to overlook them at the time. I was surprised at how huge the pot it, definitely something to leave on the dressing table rather than squeeze into a make-up bag. The pigmentation is very bold but it does blend out very easily, just use cautiously if you are in a hurry!

E.L.F Essential 3-Piece Nail Polish Set in Mysterious – [£2.25]

I have a love/hate relationship with ELF polishes, and picked this up as I own the middle shade (Metal Madness) but find the consistency too gunky, I was hoping it was just a problem with that bottle but unfortunately it seems the formula must be to blame. The purple and Navy shades are lovely though and I do like the adorable mini-bottles.

Primer Eyeshadow in Sexy Silver [£1.25]

I adore my Elf Eye Primer and use it almost every day, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to try a darker shade that doubles up as a colour it it’s own right. It’s very metallic and shimmery but could only really be used with similar or darker shades.

Baked Eyeshadow in Dusk [£1.98]

I love wearing smoky silver eye looks on stage and seem to have built quite a collection of silver shades (Three alone in this haul! Eek!) Dusk is very pigmented and works well over the top of the Sexy Silver primer. The pan is huge, the same size as the blushers so I imagine it will go off long before I can manage to use it all!

Diva Mystery Collection – Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in Pink Umbrellas [£2.95], HD Blush in Diva [£4.50], Waterproof Eyeliner Crayon in Pitch Black [£3.95] & Long Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in Celebration [£3.95]

I was pleasantly surprised by the “Diva collection” free gift, and all four are things I will definitely get wear out of. I already have a few of the Jumbo Gloss Sticks and they’re great for throwing on a quick wash of colour. The Waterproof Eyeliner Crayon is going right in my festival make-up bag as the thought of rain resistant black eye-liner that can be blended into waterproof black eye-shadow excites me quite a lot. The HD Blush in Diva is going to take some getting used to, I managed to get it all over my hands whilst trying to do a swatch and it is extremely bright, pigmented and easy to get absolutely everywhere! Finally last but not least another silver eye-shadow to add to the collection!

Did you pick any bargains up in the Elf clearance sale?

Totally hellbent for thinking three silver eye-shadows and seven blushers in one haul is completely acceptable.

– Gem