Sunday 29 December 2013

Disappointing sales shopping and my few bargains!

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and were as spoilt as I was. As well as lots of lovely presents I got plenty of money to spend in the sales as well.
I haven't actually headed to the shops yet as I'm trying to be good, but I have done plenty of browsing on the web.

I haven't been impressed at all.
My current obsession, in case you haven't noticed, is perfume and all over the net perfume retailers are pretending their perfume is on sale, but the prices have not gone down.

On allbeauty.com they list the RRP and the current price rather than the price they were selling it for before and since the beginning of their 'sale'!

On theperfumeshop.co.uk there are just 20 items in their sale 'for her', 10 of them being gift sets, most of which have 30ml fragrances in, some of them have 50ml, but nothing larger than this.

Three of the individual fragrances are celebrity perfumes. J-Lo Glow and J-Lo Live, which now both cost £19.99 for the 100ml bottles are on sale reduced from the laughable recommended retail price of £48.00 each. There is also Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely 100ml, which they are selling at the sale price of £24.99. Its recommended retail price is £42.00.

I only have two celebrity fragrances although there are more that I want. I have J-Lo Glow, which was passed on from my sister and Beyonce Midnight Heat, which I received a sample of and liked it so my fiance kindly bought it for me.

I don't like J-Lo Glow to be honest - it is unbelievable how well advertised it was considering it doesn't smell very good.
I have never tried Live by Jennifer Lopez, but it seems to be quite popular.
One of her other fragrances, Deseo seems to be quite popular as well and I've heard people rave about it so I want to try that one. I also want Glowing despite having never tried it. I saw it on a youtube video in someone's perfume collection and the larger 50ml and 75ml bottles light up when you spray it so that's it pretty much sold to me. Haha! I know that's sad. It does sound nice from description as well. It is supposed to be a clean and earthy scent with a dark, woody element to it.




I have a rule never to pay more than £20.00 for 100ml of a celebrity fragrance as the price always comes down to less than £20.00 eventually even if it is a higher price when it first comes out.
I think paying £48.00 for 100ml of a Jennifer Lopez fragrance would be outrageous and I've never actually seen one selling for that price.

I did manage to find some bargains on Christmas Eve when all of the sales started online.
On tescodirect.com I managed to find a 100ml bottle of  Alexander McQueen My Queen for £17.50. I think it has now been discontinued and it is quite difficult to find, but the recommended retail price is around £60.00.
It occasionally comes up on allbeauty.com for around £30.00.

It is said to have four layers rather than three like most perfumes, but I think that is nonsense.
It opens with the sweet and powdery scent of violets, which is really uplifting and summery and it dries down to a lovely warming, woody scent with the subtle scent of violets still drifting through it. There is little in between. It is a lovely scent with contrasting top and base notes, but it doesn't smell expensive as the supposed four layers might suggest.
The supposed four layers are composed of violet and almond, which open up the fragrance. They then slowly turn into the pure scent of orange, white musk, heliotrope and white flowers. The third layer promises patchouli, cedar and vetiver and then the final layer has notes of iris and vanilla.

I also bought Nina Ricci's Love In Paris. It is a fragrance I've wanted for a while. Although I'd never tried it prior to purchasing it I had read some really good reviews. I also like the bottle and it is quite inexpensive.
It is available on allbeauty.com in a 30ml bottle for £16.65 (RRP £26.00) or a 50ml bottle for £24.85 (RRP £35.00).
I managed to get the 30ml bottle on tescodirect.com for just £11.10.
The bottle design is slightly different for the 30ml and 50ml bottles.
I prefer the 30ml bottle with the little heart after the words, 'Love in Paris' and 'Nina Ricci' in small lettering underneath rather than the word, 'Nina' in large letters across the bottom of the bottle. I also like the shape of the bottle and the lid.
The fragrance is really pleasant. It is quite a green scent. It is also quite mature. It has notes of bergamot, green violet, rose, star anise, jasmine, apricot, sensual woods and vanilla.

My final purchase from tescodirect.com was a gift set I spotted with a 100ml fragrance and a 75ml body spray for just £3.30! It was Revlon's Charlie Red. I haven't used the eau de toilette or the body spray since I was about 13 and I kept meaning to buy a Charlie Red body spray so that I could remember the scent.
When it came it was not exactly what it said it was. The website had said it was an Eau de Toilette, but it is actually the Eau Fraiche Natural Spray. I didn't notice this until after I'd opened it though, but I have emailed Tesco to tell them.
It is still the same scent. It isn't too bad, but it isn't as nice as what I'd remembered. It reminds me of sun screen and holidays.
The top notes are orange blossom, gardenia, plum, blackcurrant, violet and peach.
The middle notes are carnation, tuberose, orchid, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose.
The base notes are honey, sandalwood, amber, musk and cedar.
I wouldn't hurry to buy it again.
bergamot, green violet, rose, star anise, jasmine, apricot and leads on to seductive and subtle warmth of sensual woods and vanilla
Read more at http://www.tesco.com/direct/nina-ricci-love-in-paris-edt-spray-30ml/470-4867.prd#0mdxolhP3HMWqDof.99

You can see from the picture that the fragrance box says 'Eau Fraiche Natural Spray' rather than 'Eau de Toilette', but Tesco had listed it as an Eau de Toilette. I notice that they are selling Charlie Red Eau Fraiche 100ml for £3.70 so you can pay 40p more for no body spray or outer packaging, but they do seem to have ran out of these gift sets now.

That's all my bargains for the moment. I'll keep you updated with any more fantastic finds.

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