Saturday 31 December 2011

Product use up - end of year

This month I used up these products:



2x deodorants
2x shampoo
1x conditioner
1x bubble bath
1x fake tan
1x face mask
1x face cream
1x exfoliator
1x shower gel

I started off the year by wanting to use up all my hoarded products which I did start to do, my collection went down but slowly it built it's way back up. Now though I don't work in a health and beauty retailer and rarely go into town so slowly it is being reduced and I am now not going to buy products unless I only have one left. Hmmm we'll see how this goes I suppose.

Oh and some of you might already know but this post is now going to be posted every 3 months rather than every month.

So that is it. My last empties of 2011. Now on to a successful product use up 2012!

The year that was...2011

2011. This has been a year where my life has completely changed. In January I was happy with my boyfriend, living on our own and working two days a week in my job in retail. By the time it was July I was single, had a full time job in the NHS and by the time October came I was living back with my mum and dad. This was a massive change after 5 years. I wouldn't have thought now, a year on, this is how my life would be. But I'm happy and thats the main thing! Oh and have more money ;-)

At the beginning of 2011 I set myself a number of goals to try to achieve, so how well did I do:

  • Get a decent job - yes I got a full time job in the NHS which is what I wanted. It's a shame I just hate my job!
  • Pay my mum and dad off - my dad said that as far as he was concerned I owed them nothing and not to worry about it! Can't complain at that!
  • Learn how to sew - nope this didn't happen. I think this may have been a phase!
  • Make soaps and bath bombs - I would still love to do this but due to having next to no spare time I haven't made any
  • Read more often - again, due to a lack of spare time I haven't managed to work my way through my book collection
  • Start saving again - yes! I have saved about £1800 but spent half of it on a new car but I keep on putting money in my savings account
  • Loose weight - I'm not doing the whole diet thing but I am slowly loosing weight
  • Start actively crafting again - I try to do bits and bobs of crafting but again due to a lack of spare time I don't do as much as I'd like

So I managed to complete 4 out of my 8 goals which isn't that bad and I did start a Day Zero list which I'm doing well on. If you haven't heard of Day Zero it's where you basically write a list of 101 things you want to achieve in 1001 days and here's my list (completed tasks are crossed through):

Buy a new car
Give blood
Pay my mum and dad back
Save £2,000 (£900 saved so far)
Eat vegetarian for a week
Watch the sunrise on a beach
Watch a sunset on a beach
Write a list of 50 things I like about myself
Take one photo everyday for a month
Find a job that I love
Try 20 new recipes (1/20)
Write a letter to myself to be opened when 1001 days is over
Pay off my debts
Write another list of 101 things to do in the next 1001 days
Drink 5 cocktails I've never tried (1/5)
Stop drinking fizzy pop for a month
Don't drink alcohol for a month
See a psychic and get my fortune told
Travel to another country
Identify 101 things that make me happy
Put away £25 for every goal I complete (£150 saved)
Get in the best shape of my life
Have a romantic weekend away
Write a journal everyday for a month
Read at least 10 books (1/10)
Stay up all night
Go to a gig/concert/show
Visit somewhere in England I've never been before
Go on a non-essential spending ban one month every year
Make a playlist of my 101 favourite songs
Get a facial
Make a new friend
See a movie in 3D
Visit another continent
See a comedian live
Eat 3 things I've never tried before
Make ice cream from scratch
Grow my hair past my shoulders
Build a snowman
Get a job closer to home
Visit Ireland
Treat my family to a meal twice yearly
Take a full length photo of me everyday for a year
Spend a rainy day watching movies in my PJ's
Try sushi
Keep a 'my day in 6 words' journal for 6 months

Ok so I only have a list of 46 goals so far but I have completed 6 of them and I have until the 23rd February 2014 to complete them! You can track my progress by clicking on the link under my blog header or by clicking here.

2012 is going to be a complete fresh start and I'm looking forward to it! So here we go.....


Friday 30 December 2011

Review - Lush Sweetie Pie shower jelly


Fist things first - Snow Fairy is amazing! Next year I strongly recommend you buy it!

Right on to the review of the shower jelly! I bought the Sweetie Pie shower jelly as a bit of an impulse buy to be honest. I was working my way to the till and it caught my eye. I read what was in it: cherry, coconut and cassis, I thought I have to buy it! Oh it also has glitter in it which in my eyes is amazing!

I had high hopes for this and couldn't wait to try it so off I popped to the shower and scooped a little out of the tub, then I thought how do I use it? It's solid and wobbly and I'll be honest with you, it was a challenge. I rubbed it into my skin and it fell off, I managed to pick it up and it fell off again. I tried mixing it with water to try to make it into a liquid but nope, it wasn't having any of it.

I envisaged that it would melt into my skin and the smell of delicious fruits would fill my bathroom but no I was left bitterly disappointed.  Maybe I wasn't using it right?!? I'm not sure. Maybe you need to use the whole piece of jelly rather than using little bits. Might try that method next time!

This is available from Lush and is £2.95 for 100g or £5.95 for 240g.

End of year review

Wow this year has gone so fast! I can't believe it's time for my end of year review already! Once again my end of year review is going to feature my favourite products, favourite bloggers, product wishlist and more! So here we go.....


Products I loved in 2011
  • Avon smooth mineral foundation
  • Maybelline lasting drama gel eyeliner
  • Witch pressed powder
  • Witch skin clearing primer
  • Bourjois smoky eyes eyeshadow
  • Revlon eyeshadow quads
  • Lip Smacker cherry coke lipbalm
  • 17 mirror shine lipsticks
  • St Moriz tanning mousse






Favourite bloggers of 2011
This year there have been so many blogs I've loved reading and picking a few of my my favourites was hard as there's so many. Buuuut I have managed to narrow it down and here are my top five blogs of the year:

2012 product wishlist
My wishlist started quite small but after doing a spot of sale shopping I discovered a lot of products which I loved and they ended up on here, so here it is:
  • Benefit Hervana blush (due out in the Spring)
  • GHD Scarlet straightening irons
  • MUA glitter ball palette
  • benefit Ring my Bella perfume
  • Caroline Herrera 212 VIP perfume
  • D&G 3 perfume
  • Kim Kardashian EDP
  • Kim Kardashian Gold EDP





Most read blog posts of 2011
This year I've had an amazing amount of traffic on my blog and I've had an amazing amount of hits on certain posts, so thank you all for reading! Here are my top 5 posts from 2011:



A few changes
There are going to be a few changes to my blog over this next year. My monthly 'Product use up' posts are now going quarterly (every 3 months) and my 'Week that was' posts are going to be monthly rather than weekly. These changes are mainly because I have a limited time to blog and often don't have enough content to fill one post and I don't want my blog to be 'samey' and 'predictable' buuuut this doesn't mean that I'll keep it like this! I am going to try my hardest to blog more often but I have discovered that it's quality not quantity!


And finally....



Wednesday 28 December 2011

Lily Lolo goodies!

Last week Lily Lolo offered a discount of 10% with any order and as I was coming to the end of my current pot of foundation I thought why not try Lily Lolo again! 



I ordered 'In the Buff' foundation and 'Caramel' concealer.



I've had sample pots of both of these products so I know they'll be the perfect shade for me. The foundation is priced at £12.49 and the concealer is £7.29 and they are available direct from Lily Lolo.

Sale hauling!

I went sale shopping yesterday and had a lis of things I wanted to get my hands of if I could. I wanted the Benefit Powda Wowza set and the Crescent Row perfume set but like online, Boots had sold out. If you know a website that has either in stock please let me know! As well as these I wanted to see if I could find some baby clothes for my friend and cousin who are having babies next year and here is what I came back with.

Primark



Baby short sleeved bodysuits (blue) - £3.50
Baby set of 7 short sleeved bodysuits - £6.50 
Hangers - £4
Faux fur coat - £30


Boots




 Baby whale romper - £2
Baby t-shirt and trousers - £3
Gok drawer set and goodies - £15
Cute or What notebook - £4
Pens - £3
Hello Kitty address book - £6.50


Debenhams

Julian Macdonald purse - £11
Ben de Lisi London bus cushion - £14
Ben de Lisi London skyline cushion - £15.40


StoreTwentyOne
Furry boxes - £3.49


Poundland
Revlon Star glitter topcoat - £1


So that's part one of my sale haul, my second will be up as soon as they are delivered as they're online purchases. Don't forget to link me to your sale posts!

Tuesday 27 December 2011

My christmas presents

Ok so some people like these posts others don't, personally I like to read other people's so I'm posting my own! This christmas was quite a small one like always and here are my presents that I received:


Slippers (Next)
Chocolates
Nica handbag
Re-usual bag


Sparkly shower cap
Ted Baker cosmetic bag
Owl pocket watch necklace (from Dainty Roses)
Bracelet
No7 illuminating mirror (below)


I also got quite a few bargains in the sales, one post will be up in the next couple of days and when my parcels arrive I'll post the rest in maybe a week or so.

Link me to your christmas present posts and your sale ones too!

Monday 26 December 2011

Christmas round up!

Just a quick post to say that I hope you all had a fab christmas and got loads of nice presents!

I had a quiet one like usual and the day flew by. I'm going to do a quick christmas present post in a couple of days or so just to show you what I got. Some people don't like these posts but I always like reading other peoples!

Today is being spent lounging about watching Harry Potter and then Shrek 2 later, whilst eating a mountain of party food, yummy!

Tomorrow me and my mum are going sale shopping in Lincoln so hopefully I'll find what I want. I want the Benefit Cresecnt Row giftset and the Powda Wowza box which are both sold out everywhere online, please link me to sites if they're not. I also need to take back a skirt my mum got me as it's too big.

Link me to any good online sales and to your christmas present and sale goody posts!


Saturday 24 December 2011

Haul - Avon

As you probably know I love mineral foundation and Avon do a great one which I keep rebuying (review here) and it was time for another purchase so here is what I got:


Mineral foundation x2 (shell and nude)
Nail polish (Mercury Metal)
Enchanted mascara (free gift)


Swatches:
Top: Shell
Bottom: Nude


I normally buy the foundation in Shell but recently I've found it's a little too dark for me so I decided to buy one in Nude too. The main difference is that Shell is pinker and Nude is more yellow but I think it'll suite me quite well.

The mascara was also a nice surprise to receive and I'll certainly try it out very soon!