Lush Sale 2017

This year my mum and I decided to go to a nearby city for some retail therapy on Boxing Day. Overall the sales were quite disappointing; most years we spend Christmas money and vouchers we received as gifts, but this year I only came away with a few things from Lush.

I spotted a queue outside lush at 9.55 and naively hoped the store would be opening at 10, but unfortunately it wasn't open until 10.30 so I waited in the cold for half an hour, trying to decide what I wanted to look for. I mostly buy bath products from lush but I still have enough bubble bars for now, so I decided to look for a few bath bombs and bath melts. 

When the store eventually opened the whole queue, which was by now snaked around the block, was let into the store and although I had reached the bath section, so many people were in the tiny store that it was impossible to move. I had picked up a couple of bath bombs and found the Christmas tree bath melts I wanted to buy and decided to just pay and leave the overcrowded store as the atmosphere was quite unpleasant.

In the end I only spent around £11, but I was pleased as although the Christmas items were all half price, I still think they are a luxury which will be used up in just one bath so I didn't want to get caught up in the hype and spend a lot, I prefer to use them as a treat.

I purchased a Christmas sweater bath bomb, a thundersnow bath bomb and three tree-D bath melts. For Christmas I also received another thundersnow bath bomb, a shoot for the stars bath bomb and a bath melt, so I am looking forward to trying them out.

Boots 70% sale haul

Last Wednesday marked the annual boots 70% sale. I was determined not to buy too much this year as I'm on a mission to use up my stash of toiletries and I think I succeeded. Unfortunately the atmosphere was not very nice this year, a lot of pushing and shoving so we didn't hang about and were done in twenty minutes. Here's what I got:

Sanctuary hat box - £13.50 from £45

Sanctuary little bag of joy - £3.00 from £10

Glass vase - £3.60 from £12

Glass candle - £2.40 from £8

Champneys bear - £4.50 from £15

No7 glamour cracker - £2.40 from £8

Sanctuary facial box - £6 from £20

Mary Berry cake forks - £4.20 from £14

Cadbury snow bites £0.30 from £1 (these didn't last long enough to feature in the photo!)

Mulberry sale treats

I had been waiting for the mulberry Boxing Day sale since I saw a preview of all the lovely goodies on offer on their American site, where the sale starts a couple of weeks before Christmas.

In my haste to get up and go out to the Next and Boots sale, I completely forgot that the Mulberry sale started early on Boxing Day and by the time I got home mid-morning, the three items I wanted I had sold out online.

However, the Mulberry customer service have a great stock tracker system and if you ring them up and tell them the item you are looking for, they can check the stores to see which ones still have the item in stock. The customer service assistant was very helpful and quickly tracked down the items I wanted - a purse, cardholder and keyring in the Manchester and Glasgow stores. 

I telephoned the Manchester store first and unfortunately they had sold out of purse I was after earlier that morning but the key ring was still in stock, so I purchased that and the cardholder from the Glasgow store over the phone. 

The parcels arrived four days later and upon opening them I was presented with a gorgeous grey mulberry bag sealed shut with a beautiful big blue bow, it looked luxurious! 

This is an 8 slot card wallet and it is super soft. It was half price reduced to £62 from £124 and I was really pleased with this as I have been looking for a card wallet for ages to house all of my loyalty cards!

I had my eye on this cute little keyring for quite a while. It came in it's own little dustbag pouch which is handy too. It was reduced from £70 to £49 and it was an indulgent purchase, but I am hoping to get a new car this year so I will be saving this to go on my keys.

I am pleased with my little haul but I think I'm addicted now, I keep checking the website and umming and ahhing over the make up bags and all the pretty things in the rose petal pink colour, but so far I have resisted further temptation! 

 

NEXT summer sale goodies

Last Saturday marked the biannual 5am feeding frenzy that is the NEXT sale. I have to admit to quite enjoying the early morning trawl around next - but don't get me wrong you won't find me queuing the night before, even I won't prioritise securing a front of the queue spot over at least a few hours of sleep beforehand!

I had arranged to meet my boyfriend just before 5am at the store (it was his first experience of the madness and I had already shown him the things I wanted to pick up!) unfortunately I forgot to set my alarm that night and didn't wake up until 6.30 am when I noticed I'd missed two phonecalls from him - I had inadvertently stood him up, oops! (I felt awful but luckily he had seen the funny side of it and had even picked up everything I had pointed out to him a few days earlier, I was very impressed!) by the time I got to the store it was nearly 7am and the crowds had left so I had a leisurely browse without being nudged or getting in someone's way which i preferred (I just need to convince the bf to do the early shift next time too haha). I haven't actually got round to photographing the clothes I bought, but here are some of the other things I picked up:

The printed bed sheet is so pretty, it's a pale lilac colour with a rose print and comes with a matching pillow case. I think it will look fresh with a white quilt cover on top and makes a change from boring plain sheets. This was reduced to £5 from £10.

I also bought two candles, one was fragranced in 'just pink' which is NEXT's signature scent which is floral and feminine and was just £2 down from £5. I can't remember the name of the second candle but it was white and again smelt lovely. That one was reduced to £3 from £9.  

The l'eau Rose gift set seemed like a bargain at £4 from £10. It contains a 30ml edp spray, a roller ball and a solid fragrance. The scent is floral but also quite fruity which I didn't expect. The lightness of the fragrance makes it a great scent for summer. I also bought a 30ml boxed edp for £3 which will make a nice gift. My only complaint is that the scent seems to fade quickly but. At. That price you can afford to reapply it throughout the day.

I needed some new black heels for work and these were only £16 from £32. I had tried them on before the sale and they looked nice on so I was pretty pleased to spot them in my size on sale.

I also wanted some new navy loafers as I wore my last pair out. These are so comfy. They were £20 from £40. 

I also bought a bird feeder for just £3 but I've already put this I'm the garden.

I didn't buy a lot from the clothes department but did get a nice navy suit for work and a t-shirt. I did pick up some other things but unfortunately had to return them as they didn't fit...too many sweet treats at work I think! Nonetheless I was pleased with my little haul and look forward to seeing the new autumn collection filter in (and not just so I can start planning what I went to get in the next sale haha).

George @ Asda Summer Sale!

George @ Asda has just launched its end of summer sale and there are some great bargains to be had! (Don't forget you can also get cashback on your purchases from Top Cashback).

Clockwise: Grey Skater dress £6 - Floral Playsuit £9 - Pink T-shirt £3 - Gladiatory Heels £10  -  Blue Crochet Vest £5

(Another) Primark Haul ♥

Primark is finally getting it's new season stuff in and I had a quick look on Friday to see what I could spot. It might seem a little ironic that yesterdays post was about my self-imposed savings challenge, but the important thing to remember is that these purchases were made before the start of my challenge...

Anyway, here's what I picked up:

This cute skater dress is my favourite purchase and was a bargain at just £8! I think it's really versatile too, the short sleeves and lightweight fabric mean that this dress will be perfect for sunny days (if we get any more of those), but the rich plum and deep navy colours will take it through to autumn. The print also features black in the pattern so I think it could even be worn with black tights in winter and a cardi for a casual shopping trip or lunch out.

 

This jumper was also £8 and has sheer sleeves and pretty pearl detailing around the neck line. The jumper is really soft too which is a plus, as I often find them too itchy to wear. I think this could easily be dressed up or down, and would be good for evenings or layered up in winter. 

I picked up these cute teacup pyjamas for just £4 reduced from £8. There were lots of reductions on pyjamas, jewellery,scarves and home ware, and the assistants were still marking the new sale prices when I was there so it might be worth a look if you're passing.

These Ice Cream pyjamas were another sale bargain at just £2 down from £5! The print reminded me of our holiday and I thought they'd be great for the next one so snapped them up.

The tea-towels were on sale too, reduced from £3 to £1. They're the really soft type, so I think they might be better as hand towels instead. They also had a red floral pattern set on sale too.

And finally, this pack of hair bands was £1. I can't seem to find good quality hairbands often these days. I bought a pretty pack of 6 from Accessorize last month and 2 broke within a day of wearing them, and the third is already wearing out after 3 wears. So I thought I'd get a couple of thicker bands to try instead, hopefully these will be stronger than the thin ones, and the bows add a nice detail too.

Boots No 7, Sanctuary and Champneys Bargain Beauty Haul!

I called in to Boots yesterday and as I was passing through I noticed lots of big reductions on their luxury brands including Sanctuary, Soap & Glory, Champneys, Burts Bees and National Trust, some with 75% off. I am quite keen on Sanctuary (their products are paraben free too which is a plus) so I was pleased to spot a few items on sale (two of which I had already had my eye on, but didn't buy as my beauty box is already quite full following a successful visit to the Boots Christmas sale in January!) And it is the perfect chance to try new Sanctuary products that I otherwise wouldn't have; whilst I don't mind paying a premium for products that I know work and are reliable, with limited money in my account for non-essential purchases I'm not keen to spend over £10 on one product without knowing it won't be tried once and then stuck in the back of the cupboard.
So, on to the small haul I picked up!

The first thing I picked up was the Sanctuary "Dream time sleep in-a-box" which contains everything you need to send you off to a relaxing sleep. I can't wait to try this out later, it has a soothing bath float, 4 in 1 body elixir, smoothing silk scrub and comforting night butter. This had 1/3 off and was reduced to £8.38. I also spotted a box of skin conditioning oils, (which I'd also wanted to try before), and you can either use these as an intensive moisturiser on your skin or add to a bath to leave your skin soft and smooth. I'm a big fan of hair oil treatments so I'm hoping that these will work just as well! These were down to £2.30-ish from about £10. The third product I bought was a micro-dermabrasion body renewal scrub. I hadn't actually seen this before but I'm really keen to give it a go as I have an uneven skin tone and according to the scrub 9 out of 10 women noticed a visible difference to the appearance of their skin...so this has high expectations to live up to! This was also about £2.40-ish from about £10. Boots is also running a promotion where if you spend £10 on sanctuary you get a free creme souffle worth £11, so obviously I added this to my basket too! I've tried this out already and I really wasn't expecting much as I have quite a lot of moisturiser that I need to use up and didn't think it would be particularly different, but I soon changed my opinion. It is so rich it absorbs very well and quickly unlike some body lotions which seem to take ages to absorb, and it leaves skin feeling soft, supple and smooth and with a lovely fragrance.

Just when I thought I was done with my sanctuary haul I spotted the Champneys hand scrubs (far left in the picture) which were down to £1.50 and buy-one-get-one half price. I picked up two as I used to have a Sanctuary hand scrub which was lovely so I thought I'd give this a go. And even better I had enough points on my Boots card to pay, so effectively my bag full of goodies didn't cost me anything! There were also plenty of bargains to be had on the Soap & Glory shelves, Burt's Bees and National Trust aisles (including gift sets which would be good for birthdays or Christmas if you want to prepare early!), so if you're passing by it might be worth calling in and seeing what bargains you can spot!

As you can see in the picture I also picked up a couple of bargain No7 products. I'll keep it brief but currently boots are giving out vouchers at their self-service tills for £8 off a purchase of both No7 skin care and make up, and I already had a £5 off skin-care and £3 off make-up voucher from a till from my last trip to Boots, so I purchased a No7 BB cream (which is £13) and No7 eye illuminator pen (also £13) and was able to use all of my vouchers which gave £16 off, and as make up is on buy one get one half price this just left a few pounds to pay. I also used my mums vouchers to get her a BB cream and top coat nail varnish. I think that the reason all of the vouchers work and you still get the buy one get one half price promotion at the till is because BB cream is classed as both skincare and make-up, so if you want to purchase a few items yourself you'd need something in both categories like the BB cream or Bronzing pearls/palettes.

Now I just have to fit it all in my beauty box....!

Dunelm Sale Bargains

I was in Dunelm this morning and they've started their Summer Sale, with up to 75% off home furnishings. I'm currently redecorating at the moment and picked up some lovely items at great prices.

This lovely canvas was reduced by 75% down from £14.99 to just £3.74! I've been looking for a Parisian-themed canvas for a while and this is the nicest one I've found so I was pretty pleased with the bargain price!

This clock was a bit of an impulse buy, but the vintage roses on the clock face are so pretty and at £3.74 down from £14.99 again it was another bargain not to be missed!

And this trinket jar was £2.39, it's perfect for storing bracelets as my jewellery holder is now overflowing!

I also picked up some gorgeous half-price curtains and duvet covers which had up to 75% off. You can browse the sale on the Dunelm website and reserve things online for instore collection - but these aren't picked off the shelf straight away so if there's something you're after its best to get to the store if you can.