Black Friday Week Haul

I've done a lot of my Christmas shopping in the past week although a lot of it was toys and tech.
I have been bombarded with emails from retailers who have had week-long sales for 'Black Friday'.

I bought this cute Joules body care tin in Boots. I think the tin and all of the packaging is gorgeous. This was £10.00.

I was specifically looking for a set of soaps and I spotted this Joules soap set which I absolutely love and ended up buying twice. These were £8.00.

I also bought Vera Wang Lovestruck Floral Rush which, in case you hadn't guessed, is a favourite of mine. I always gift perfumes. I know not everyone thinks fragrance is a good present as people's tastes differ but I love receiving perfume as a gift and I know a lot of my family and friends do too.
I think Vera Wang fragrances make great gifts as they usually have fun packaging which is always a bonus. My bottle of the original Lovestruck was a gift and I was delighted with it. 

I was hunting for gifts when I came across Panache Mademoiselle parfum de toilette online. I was intrigued as I am a huge fan of the original Panache fragrance and I'd never heard of this one before so I ended up ordering it as a gift, but I had to order one for myself of course to try it out!
I looked up some reviews and it is supposed to be completely different to the original Panache. It is more of a floral fruity scent. I'm excited to try this one.

On the subject of gifts to myself I also bought Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, which has been on my list for a while.

I also bought myself this boohoo Lara sweetheart neck skater dress in ivory on sale for just £6.00. I have this dress in so many different colours now. I mentioned it in a blog post a few months ago. It is a great fit and very flattering.

I also ended up buying another pair of black corduroy trousers from Matalan identical to the pair I already have which I mentioned in a post a few months ago. I have worn them so much adnd they are so comfortable. I wanted another pair so I have two pairs to take on a trip abroad with me so I can avoid wearing my less comfortable jeans!

Autumn Perfumes!

Since the bank holiday on 31st August it has felt like autumn. We have had rain, central heating and most exciting of all candles!

Although it's not officially autumn until 23rd September 2015 I have decided to start autumn early and I have picked out a few (15 to be precise) of my favourite fragrances for the cooler months.

Diesel's Loverdose is a lovely deep, liquorice based scent. I suppose it is a little bit harsh so it won't be for everyone, but I love it.

Dior Addict is a dark, spicy fragrance with florals and a creaminess that balances the fragrance out perfectly.

Lolita Lempicka's Elle L'aime (not to be confused with L L'aime which was released in a similar bottle!) is a very unique scent. It is not as heavy as my other autumn fragrance picks. It opens quite citrusy and then the base is thick and creamy. It always reminds me of caramel although that is not one of the fragrance notes.

Vivienne Westwoof Let It Rock is another dark, spicy, cosy scent, but it is a little bit harsh so it is not one that everyone is going to like.

Roberto Cavalli Serpentine is a fragrance I got for Christmas a few years ago. It reminds me of autumn/winter. It is described as a floral-oriental. I love this one.

Tom Ford Velvet Orchid was my Christmas present from my partner last year. I think it is really well composed. It is quite masculine and spicy, but it is not too harsh and not as overpowering as some of Tom Ford's other fragrances.

Ghost Deep Night is a lovely, creamy, musky scent. I was obsessed with this fragrance about a year ago. It is lovely.

Roberto Cavalli by Roberto Cavalli was released in 2012, much later than Serpentine, which came out in 2005! This is a deep amber scent with some softer floral notes. It is mature and sensual; one of my favourites for autumn.

Guerlain Mitsouko is a classic. It opens very citrusy and develops into a deep woody scent with a hint of spice; very warming.

Illamasqua Freak is an absolutely amazing scent. It is so unique. It is a unisex fragrance and I often find unisex fragrances a bit too masculine, but this is perfect. It has a masculine edge, but it is a thrilling composition of the most exotic and poisonous flowers. I urge you to give this a go.

Yves Saint Laurent Opium is  a smoky, spicy fragrance. Its notes include incense, cedar and amber.

Jimmy Choo Stars was another gift from my significant other. He bought it for me in September last year so it was a favourite of mine during the months that followed. It is similar to the original Jimmy Choo fragrance with a stronger toffee note. It is sweet, but also quite heavy. It has been re-released this year in a bottle with different colouring.

Chanel Coco is another fantastic composition. It is warming and spicy with notes of cloves, amber and sandalwood.

Lolita Lempicka Minuit Sonne was released last year. Every year Lolita Lempicka comes out with a different bottle and a slightly different name for this 'midnight' fragrance and I have a few of them becasue this is one of my favourite scents! It is like the original Lolita Lempicka fragrance, but more intense. It has notes of liquorice flower and iris. It is sweet and powdery. The fragrance is always released in autumn, but I wear this one all year round.

Diesel Fuel For Life Unlimited was one of the few times my partner picked out my Christmas present and surprised me. I didn't like it at first. I remember wearing it on one occasion and I kept noticing it on myself and thinking, 'urgh'! It wasn't until a few years later when I really started getting into fragrance that my tastes changed and I would say developed and now I love it and find it completely inoffensive. It has citrusy notes in it along with liquorice, star anise and white flowers.


I'd recommend trying before you buy as most of these scents you will either love or hate. My favourites are Lolita Lempicka Minuit Sonne and Illamasqua Freak. Some of the heavier, spicy scents can be a bit too much sometimes and I have to be in the mood to wear them, but you can wear any fragrance any time of year. I often wear lighter, fruity-floral scents in the autumn and winter as well as these fragrances and I will occasionally choose a heavier scent in the summer, but I love autumn and these fragrances get me excited for it!

More Sales Purchases 2015

Happy New Year! I have broken one of my New Year's resolutions already! I was going to try to make planned purchases instead of impulse buying, but I've been off work today, having a lazy day, browsing the internet and I have ended up making a few purchases.


Since Boxing Day I have found myself shopping online in the sales and have ended up spending a fortune on things that I didn't necessarily need, but would have cost a fortune more!

I wanted to buy some new boots because at the end of November I bought these amazing boots from New Look for just £14.00 reduced from £27.99 and I haven't stopped wearing them since.

They look even better in real life and they go with everything and they are unbelievably comfortable. I was going to buy them again so that when they wear out I have a spare pair, but they sold out quite quickly and there are loads of New Look boots I've had my eye on so I decided to buy a few more pairs of boots a few days ago:

I ordered this pair for just £15.00 reduced from £34.99.

I'm hoping these flat boots will be really comfortable. I love the look of them. They cost £15.00 reduced from £29.99. 

I bought these 'dark red' boots with the contrast sole for £18.00 reduced from £59.99.

These tan boots also have a lighter coloured sole and I thought they'd look really nice with a good pair of jeans and again I'm hoping they'll be comfortable. These cost £18.00 reduced from £59.99.

Finally I bought these black boots for £20.00 reduced from £44.99.

They haven't arrived yet, but I'm hoping they'll all be ok. I never know whether or not to go a size up for boots. I'm usually a size 4 in heels  and a size 5 in flats and I thought I'd bought my lovely brown New Look boots in a size 4, but when I looked they are actually a size 5 and I've ordered all of the heeled boots in a size 4 this time so hopefully they will still fit ok and I won't have to take them back to attempt to change them as I'll be lucky if the shops will have any left in size 5.

Yesterday I found another fabulous offer from Boots. I bought Yves Saint Laurent's Dare To Be gift set, which has a 30ml bottle of Opium eau de toilette, a lipstick and a nail polish, both in very wearable colours. The gift set was an amazing £25.00 reduced from £50.00. The lipstick on its own costs £25.00 so it's as if you're getting the fragrance and nail polish for free!
I was really chuffed with that purchase, but they have now sold out and I'm worried that they will send an email saying it was out of stock. I always think that is going to happen, but to be fair sometimes it does. Look at my first blog post from December when my Elizabeth Arden lipstick gift set was unavailable at Debenhams. I was really disappointed, but managed to get the same set at House Of Fraser.

This morning I remembered that when I'd tried to buy the Elizabeth Arden gift set from Debenhams I found that I had £15.00 of beauty points to spend there, but they were refunded when they couldn't fulfil the order so I had a look at their website to see if there was anything nice I could spend them on.

I decided on Marc Jacobs Dot gift set containing the eau de parfum, a 75ml shower gel and a 75ml body lotion.

The website suggests that this is a 125ml fragrance, but I'm pretty sure the largest bottle of Dot is only 100ml so yet another screw up by Debenhams.
It was only £35.35 reduced from £53.00, but I got it for £20.35 as I had £15 of beauty points.

This afternoon I found myself on Topshop's website where I ordered this pretty, pink, lace collar top, which was £8.00 reduced from £16.00.

I also bought 2 plain black vest tops both the same. I like Topshop's vest tops. They were £6 each or 2 for £10 so I bought 2.

I then put in another order with New Look.
I bought a pair of light blue canvas shoes, which will be great for spring and summer. I think these shoes will be quite easy to wear as well; they will go with a lot of outfits. These were only £4.00 and they were only £7.99 before they were reduced.

I also bought these burgundy patent heels. I feel bad for buying these as I have so many pairs of heels and I have loads of pairs I have never worn, but they were only £7.00 down from £14.99.
They are a sensible height so I should get plenty of wear out of them.

I also bought some jeans. I have been thinking of getting a new pair of jeans for a while. I really don't think I've bought a normal pair of every day jeans since 2010!
I have bought a few coloured pairs of jeans and one or two pairs of skinny jeans, but I have hardly worn them.
I used to be in skirts and dresses all of the time, but the last year I have found myself wearing more and more smart trousers and occasionally old pairs of jeans.
I was planning to buy an expensive pair, but thought I'd start out with these ones from New Look. I had heard about New Look doing a great range of jeans at a good price and these were just £12.99 and that is there full price so I'll have to see how I find them.

So that concludes my sales spending for now. Hopefully the rest of the year won't be quite so expensive!