Shopping Haul #2

 For everyone who follows me on Twitter (@LaceyNicola) will know that today I put down my dissertation book and went out shopping with my friend, Meg. I thought I would give you a little picture show of what I have brought (or what I wasted my money on... as my mum would say). Though in my favour, I did actually need all the hair products that I splurged on, due to a drama with my barnet at the moment. Over the next coming weeks I will review all of my Boots Haul.


My first haul was from Boots, I swear it is my favourite shop!! :)


Top picture is a summary of everything from Boots (& a sneaky Primark item)
 * 30x Blonde Blending Hair Grips @ £1.49
 * A Blonde Hair Doughnut (Primark) @ £1
 * Soap & Glory "Trick & Treatment" Under Eye Dark Circle Concealer @ £9
 * Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Soft Beige @ £5.99 (Norm. £8.99)
 * Barry M Intense Black Mascara 3 in 1 @ £6.19
 * Limited Edition Barry M Lip Gloss in Valentine @ £0 (free when you spend £6 or more on Barry M. Norm £4.49)
 * John Frieda Sheer Blonde Highlight Activating Conditioning Treatment 25ml @ £1.89
 * VO5 Hot Oil  Moisture Soak Elixir @ £4.07
 * Tres Semme Split Remedy Leave in Treatment @ £5.50
 * John Frieda Frizz Ease Daily Miracle Treatment @ £5.59 (3for2)
 * Umberto Giannini Catwalk Beauty Hairspray @ £5.61 (3for2)
 * Umberto Giannini Spa Rituals Overnight Magic Hair Repair @ £5.61 (3for2) 


My second haul was from Select http://www.selectfashion.co.uk/
 * Grey Lace Back Shirt @ £6 (was £16)
 * Black Sequined Jumper @ £5 (was £16)
 * 2x Black Long Length Leggings @ £8 (or £5 each)


My last haul was from Primark
 * Skull vs Flower Black Scarf @ £4
 * Nude Matt Ballet Pumps @ £4
 * Leopard Quilted with Black Patent Trim Ballet Pumps @ £6
 * Daisy Hair Band @ £1.50

How anyone hit the high street recently?? 

F*ck Monday #4

Today was meant to be the happiest Monday of the year.... due to payday blah. It wasn't amazing for myself, as I woke up this morning poor and hungover.


*** Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to Sea Life in London, which was such a lovely day. I really enjoyed everything about it. We went to Cafe Rouge near Charing Cross and that was when it all began. Just with one delicious bottle of wine... then next we were in a cocktail bar, then a pub and then running for the train to get back home to meet some friends for some more friends. Great night for me, but just not for my bank balance or my body.


*** This week I have been having the "I need to start to becoming an adult" thought. Like stop (excuse my expression) "spunking" my money, sorting out a career for when I hopefully (fingers crossed) graduate. I need to work out if I can actually afford to live whilst interning for at least 3 months for free. Interning seems to be the only way I'll get my foot in the door.


*** I "lost" my ipod this week for a couple of days. (It was under a seat in my car) but I was so devastated about it. I LOVE my ipod it is probably my joint favourite possession with my phone. I have the 160gb classic ipod and it is filled with so many different and great songs. I spend a lot of my spare time, dancing around my room thinking I am Beyonce mixed with Kelly Clarkson. And wanting to die everyday some catches you singing or dancing like a goon. I make myself laugh. :-)


*** On a mission to spend the next 4 weeks not buying any new clothes... Eeeek!!! It will be harder than dieting. Haha

Clean and Clear Morning Energy Moisturiser

There is  not much to say about this product as it does what is on the tin so to speak. I picked it up in Boots for £3.99. I love the smell of it, I love the texture (it isn't too thick) and I love the way it picks up my skin. In January, I find that my skin lacks any boost, when I saw this (and now I'm not going to lie) I was immediately attracted to the yellow packaging. It sounds silly but I am a packaging girl... that and yellow is my favourite colour. Win Win. 


It says "Skin brightening moisturiser is a non-greasy moisturiser that has been uniquely formulated with lemon and papaya extracts. The formula makes your skin feel soft and smooth and visibly brightens your skin. Refreshing citrus fragrance that awakens your senses." I love seeing if the product meet the criteria that it sets for itself. 


Okay so it is non-greasy but I would say it is a matte moisturiser, it definitely smells lemony (big love for that), It makes you skin feel soft and smooth BUT only on time of application. A couple of hours later skin is normally back to usual state. Unsure if it brightens my skin, but the smell brightens my mood. So I guess that kind of counts. 


I do like this product and a key thing for me is that I always keep the price in mind too. In that case it is worth £4 but it isn't a miracle product. For me it looks good and smells nice (two things that I fall for).


Has anyone got any purchase pitfuls like me?

Boots Eye Gel

I am in need of massive help. I want to find an eye gel/cream which de-puffs, and helps with the bags under my eyes. This product is probably one of the cheapest in the range and I know many of you may think why waste money on a product that doesn't work just because it is cheap. But I don't like paying out a lot of money on items and then I get disappointed in them thus I regret wasting masses. 

Now this product is OK, it cools my eyes if they are really puff. I normally apply it morning and night. It's OK. It has cucumber in it so it doesn't irritate my skin and it smells nice.

I don't have much to say on this product. 

But if anyone can recommend an eye cream or gel that would be great!

No.7 Make Up Brush Haul

For any of you that live in the UK will know of Boots and they frequently do a £5 off No.7 vouchers. Between my mum and I, we seem to accumulate a lot of these. I have quite a lot of No.7 products from last time they did this promotion. This time I look at their make up brushes because it is the only thing that my make up collection seem to lack. I brought the Concealer Brush; Smokey Eyeliner Brush; Eye Colour Brush and Eyeshadow Blend and Contour Brush. My favourite one out of the lot was the Smokey Eyeliner Brush - it is great and blending. They all cost my £2-3 each once my £5 voucher was deducted. For me it was well worth the money. 


Just remember everyone, that these vouchers are only valid until Sunday... So get down to Boots :)

Shopping Haul #1

1. Swan Jumper - Miss Selfridge £37

2. Cami & Knicker set - Accessorize £10 (sale)

3. A Beanie Hat (for the boyf) - Primark £1

4. Velvet Clutch Bag - Primark £8

A mini shopping trip. I've had a few this week so keep an eye out for all my little haul post - i'll try not to bore you with them. I don't really have much to comment on today. I've had a tiring day as I've spent most of they day doing my dissertation. Counting down 3 months then it'll all be over. :) Wooop. 


I've got a challenge that I have set for myself which is to go the whole of February without buying any clothes or accessories... Eek that is a full 29days... seems long.


Let see how I go :)

Mark Hill Hairdryer & Wave Wand

Okay this week I have been a very lucky girl and my parents treated me to a new hairdryer because my current one sadly passed away. As it was half price they said they would also pay for the curling wand that I wanted as well. So i got both of them for only £55 (Mark Hill Hair Dryer £24.99 & Mark Hill Rock Chick Wave Wand £29.99) Bargain! I love Mark Hill hair products so i presumed that I would love his electronics range. 

My hair dryer recently died, after my grandparents brought it for me for my sixteenth birthday - It became my favourite and I was disappointed to see it go. Not realising the age of the poor old dryer and never notice it's lack in power until i tried out my new Mark Hill one. I have pretty thick hair and it normally takes about 20minutes to blow dry my hair but with the Mark Hill one it only took 5minutes. I was amazed and that wasn't even on full heat, just full power. Having this product has definitely made me think that drying my hair isn't actually a chore. 

The curling wand attracted me as it was quite thick and all previous one that I had seen were thin and I didn't want that spiral effect on my curls. I never really get on with curling wands as I normally buy them, use them once and then never use them again. I tend to use my straighteners for adding curls to my hair. When I rough dry my hair or let it dry naturally I have a slight wave in my hair, but this product helps it create definitive curls that look natural. The Mark Hill Rock Chick Wave Wand is a mouthful to say but is worth the money, it doesn't take long to heat up and you can adjust the heat from 120degrees up to 200degrees.  As there is not clamp grip to hold your hair, they supply you with this odd finger mitten - to protect yourself for burning your fingers. I used this first time but found it incredibly hard to work with, just because that was on my fingers. Odd. Despite that, I LOVE this. 


Thanks Parents :) 

Marks & Spencers Bargain HAUL

Ah look at all my amazing bargains, would you believe that all of this cost me just £19 all from Marks & Spencers in their final clearance sale. For less than £20 I brought; spotty tights, star print tights, stocking print tights, stomach holding in knickers, mittens and five bras. Impressed? Because I am, I was so glad that I went in there with my Mum. I usually moan as she spends hours in there but for once I found some amazing products at amazing prices. Happy Lacey. 

F*ck Monday #3

Blah okay so today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year; the weather is grim, payday looms 5 whole days away and my diet has flopped and currently laying in the gutter with all the drizzly rain. So I think my rant today feels amazingly appropriate.


*** I’m done already with this horrible grim and gloomy weather; please summers please come soon. I’m craving some vitamin D and it doesn’t help that Meg and I have been looking at holidays – something I NEED! However, this poses even more shittiness for me.


*** Ho ho ho, yep my Christmas calories are still glued to my belly, hips, legs, arms, face, tits even my feet (might be a slight exaggeration). But you get what I mean, all my waffle and talk about getting fitter for the new year etc etc etc has gone already and we are only 3 weeks in. Boo.


*** And because I have been feeling pretty shitty I have therefore gone and blown a lot of my money well in fact nearly all of it. Don’t get me wrong I got some lovely bits but probably bits that I really don’t need. That and on my massive shopping spree at Bluewater, I was waddling around with all my bags in my glory and then bang. I fell arse over tit flat on the floor. This was amusing for a lot of people rather than myself. 


*** I feel like today I could rant on about everything but I feel this would be very unfair on some people even though they maybe deserving of it. Haha. I need to get my butt in gear and bash out my dissertation and other uni work. Then I can be all like ‘Hello Summer’, ‘Hello Sexy Body’, ‘Hello Bank Balance finally in the black’ and ‘Hello Graduate’.

We’ll see.

17 Photo Flawless Eye Pencil

I purchased this 17 Photo Flawless eye pencil in Green/Black for £2.99 in Boots and got my 17 Hide & Chic eye brightening concealer free. (see post). Now I was really happy with my concealer however I was disappointed with the eye pencil, as you can see from the bottom picture when I drew a sample of the pencil on my hand, I immediately was 'wowed' by the colour. I knew this would be great with my green eyes and because it was a mix of green/black which basically, for me it separated itself from the other plain green eyeliners that I already have.

On application it glided straight over my lash line, I doubled up to make the line thicker to great a more of a cat eye effect. When I pencil in a lower lash line it came out more black rather than green. Afterwards I put mascara on and by this time, the line had smudge and it had blended together and made me look like I had a black eye. 

All in all, I was really annoyed with this product as after I tested it in the shop, the colour hyped me up for an amazing application. As I loved the colour so much, I will be trying to use it again but this time maybe adding a base eye shadow first to see if that stops it blending. 

Has anyone else tried this? Or have any tips on how I can stop it smudging?