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!

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.