Haul - York

I went on a trip to York on Monday with my mum and our friend and I bought a few bits so thought I'd share them with you.

Zest - a discount make up store

I've seen and heard about this Sally Hansen nail polish remover finger dip thing from a few different blogs and had never seen it in the pound shop were other bloggers had bought it from but found it here and snapped it up! It was £1.99 but it's a huge pot. I also got a pot of Wet n Wild Ultimate Minerals powder foundation. This is an American brand which was sold in the UK in larger Boots stores but they don't do it anymore. This is in medium which I thought might be too dark for my skin but it actually makes me look like I have a slight tan and it gives a nice finish. This was £2.99, and even though it does contain parabens (naughty naughty) I would purchase it again if I found it in a shop.

Pound World

Ok I admit we went to the pound shops in York, but mainly because I was after these sparkly pipe cleaners but we ended up spending a fortune! Haven't photographed everything as that's abit boring but as well as the pipe cleaners I found packs of 10 cards which are great quality and nice and thick. These were in tall, square and mini card sizes.

Poundland

Yes another pound shop! This plastic tableware was a great buy. A pack of 2 bowls and a pack of 3 plates for £1 a pack! They did other plates, bowls and serving platters and with santa and snowmen on. These always come in handy at christmas time.

Boots

So I had £30 on my Boots points so I thought why not spend it! York Boots isn't as big as you'd imagine and their christmas range is pretty poor when you think about other stores of the same size. But I did buy some Soap and Glory products which I'd wanted to buy: Clear Here moisturiser, Clarity Face Soap, Glad Hair shampoo and Glad Hair conditioner, and they were on 3 for 2. I also got a Burts Bees pomegranate lip balm as I love the Acai Berry one which I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Cath Kidston

I love Cath Kidston products but have never bought anything as it's a little pricey for me but I got a Blackberry a couple of months ago and hadn't got round to buying a case for it so when I saw this I had to have it! It was £12 and comes in 3 different designs but I got the red rose one. I had photographed mine but the light just wasn't playing ball so borrowed an image from the Cath Kidstone website.

Have you tried any of these products, what do you think? Or are you a secret pound shop fan like me?!?! Heehee!

Christmas gift ideas from QVC

The tv shopping channel QVC stocks some great beauty brands and often they're prices are much cheaper than the high street and on certain products the offer an 'Easy Pay' option where you pay for your purchase over 2, 3 or 4 months. And you get a 30 day money back guarantee so if you don't like a product just send it back for a refund (this is extended for christmas but can't remember when till).

I've looked on the website and chose some products which would make great prezzies this christmas.

Philosophy

Item number: 222108

Price: Currently £19.98 (should be £24)

Description: 1x creme brulee 3 in 1 shampoo, body wash & bubble bath (480ml) & 1x cinnamon hot dots 3 in 1 shampoo, body wash & bubble bath

Item number: 229506

Price: £24

Description: 1x homebaked apple pie 3 in 1 shampoo, body wash & bubble bath (480ml) & 1x sugary cinnamon icing 3 in 1 shampoo, body wash & bubble bath

Item number: 229016

Price: £37

Description: 1x hot salt scrub (652g), 1x shower gel (480ml) & 1x body soufflé (213g) all in Gingerbread Man fragrance

Liz Earle

Item number: 222805

Price: £35

Description: 2x 150ml bottles of cleanse and polish in limited edition christmas canisters

Leighton Denny

Item number: 221331 (item currently on wait list)

Price: £36

Description: 4x 12ml suede effect nail polishes in: graphite high (smokey grey), bronze ambition (bronze), my magenta (purplish red) and honey pot (gold).

Elemis

Item number: 216772

Price: £49

Description: 1x 400ml cleanser, 1x 400ml toner & 1x 15ml pro collagen marine cream. Available for the following skin types: sensitive, dry and normal/combination.

L'Occitane

Item number: 223695

Price: £20.25

Description: 3x 10g perfumes: 1x cherry blossom, 1x rose & 1x fleur cherie.

Have any of these caught your eye? Do you buy beauty products from QVC?

Boots No7 Protect and Perfect offer of the week

This week (starting 26th November) at Boots their OOTW is a No7 Protect and Perfect Intense gift set. This is reduced to £45, which is less than the RRP.

This contains (sorry no photo as it isn't yet released):

• day cream
• night cream
• eye cream
• serum
• body moisturiser

All full sizes! This would make a great gift for mums, grandmas, aunties etc. will you be buying one for a christmas prezzie?

Extreme spa treatments

With the recent trend and interest in vajazzling (sticking gems on the bikini area), thanks to The Only Way Is Essex, I thought I would do a quick bit of research into other extreme spa treatments.

Fish pedicures.

Yes that's right you stick your feet into a bowl/tank of water which has specially bred Garra Rufa fish in which nibble off the dead skin!

This costs around £25 - £35 for a treatment and is available around the country.

Snow Paradise.

This makes me feel chilly just writing this! Snow Paradise is a treatment where you sit in a snow covered cave in your bikini with the aim of tightening pores, stimulating circulation and boosting your energy levels.

This is available at Lions Quay Waterside Resort in Shropshire for around £45 for an all-day pass.

Kriotherapy.

This is another chilly treatment where you dress in clogs, socks, fleecy shorts, fleecy bra tops and a fleecy headband before going into a room which is -135˚c (no that isn't a typo it really is that cold) where you are then blasted with liquid nitrogen for 3 minutes before being put on a power plate machine for 25 minutes.

This is currently only available at Champneys and starts at £50 a session.

Lava shell colonic massage.

This is like the 'normal' colonic irrigation except nothing goes inside the body. Tiger clam shells are used during this deep stomach massage to cleanse the colon and to help promote a healthy digestive system, radiant skin and a flatter stomach.

This costs around £80 and is available around the country.

Has anyone tried any of these? What do you think of these treatments? Do you fancy having your feet nibbles at by fish or having liquid nitrogen blasted at you? I might stick to the conventional pedicure and massage!

The week that was....

This week has been a long one but it's gone so quick!

I've been ill, very ill this week. If I was a man I would call it man flu! Monday I had to go home form work after 3 hours because I was deaf as my cold has congested my ears! Luckily I had tuesday off anyway so I had time to get better.

As I was off on tuesday I went to try on my bridesmaid dress and I'm pleased to say it was uber big! I don't know how much weight I've lost as I don't know how much I weigh, scales scare me so I don't own any and the tightness of the jeans is a good indicator of one too many cakes! But I'm determined to try to keep it off (the exercise bike is coming out this week again!)

When I have been at work it's been so fun! Everyone's been in a great mood so we've had a laugh and I also never thought that I'd spend part of my day sewing up my colleagues trousers after she ripped them open on a drawer. Best sewing I've ever done though and considering she was still wearing them I never pricked her with the needle!

I've had a nice long weekend off work as well which is a change. I finished work at 3.30pm on friday and had saturday, sunday and monday off! Tomorrow I'm going on a trip to York with the WI!! Me, my mum and our friend are going but I just can't decide what to wear, decisions, decisions. And I'm not going for a shopping spree, I just need to buy Chris's mum a christmas present but I'm mainly going for a day out (I sound very old saying that!)

So that's a round up of my week and I Hope you've all had a good one too!

Celebrity fragrances

Celebrity fragrances seem to be a recent trend and it seems that anyone who is anyone can have one but in reality the celeb fragrance trend started many years ago, in 1912 Grace Kelly even released one.

The first celebrity who made publicists dreams come true was the actress Elizabeth Taylor. She created several fragrances one of which being White Diamonds which was released in 1991.

Since Elizabeth Taylor almost every celebrity who has released a fragrance has done more than one.

Jennifer Lopez has created one of the most easily recognised and successful fragrance empires in recent times. In 2002 was the launch of Glow by J.Lo and this has been followed by numerous other fragrances, 15 in total, including one for men, which is an astonishing amount in 8 years. These include Live, Live Luxe, Deseo, Still, Miami Glow and the newest release which was Blue Glow.

Britney Spears also has one of the most successful and lucrative fragrance empires. In 2004 Curious was released and since then 8 other fragrances, that's averaging at over 1 a year (slightly less than Jennifer Lopez), have been launched. These include Fantasy, Circus Fantasy, Midnight Fantasy, Believe and most recently Radiance.

Even Katie Price who shot to fame as a glamour model launched her first fragrance, Stunning, in 2007. Since then 2 others have joined the family.

Other fragrances.

Sean John (Puff Daddy/P.Diddy) - 8 fragrances including Unforgiveable, launched 2006.

Jade Goody - Shh... launched 2005.

Kate Moss - Kate launched 2007. Followed by 7 others.

Recent celebs jumping on the bandwagon

Avril Lavigne - Black Star launched in 2009 followed by Forbidden Rose which was launched a year later in 2010.

Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas launched her debut fragrance, Outspoken, in conjunction with Avon in 2010.

Hollywood Actress Jennifer Aniston also launched her first fragrance, Lolavie, in 2010.

Peter Andre launched Unconditional in 2009 and has since launched Conditional and Mysterious Girl in 2010.

Most recently the Sugababes released a set of three fragrances, Tempt, Touch and Tease. Each fragrance has different notes so at least one should appeal to fragrance buyers (clever marketing here).

So the burning question is are you a fan of celebrity fragrances?

Personally I'm not overly fussed by them. I don't jump to try the latest arrival on the fragrance counter by some well known public figure but at the same time if I was looking for a new fragrance and I liked one which had a celeb name attached to it I wouldn't discount it which leads to....

Would you buy a celeb fragrance?

Like I said if I liked it I wouldn't immediately say no. I have to admit the only celeb fragrances I've bought are Live by Jennifer Lopez and a couple of the Harajuku Lovers collection by Gwen Stefani. I do have to admit though that I refuse point blank to buy something associated to Britney Spears, I don't know why but I just would.

So the million dollar question is who will be next?

If I'd try to write an answer I would be here all day!

Boots Fearne offer of the week

This weeks OOTW at Boots is the Fearnes Favourite hat box which is reduced from £40 to £19.

This contains:

• 5 eyeshadows
• 2 eye shimmers
• 2 eye crayons
• 1 mini eyeliner
• 1 mascara
• 4 lipglosses
• 1 lipstick
• And an animal print powder puff

Will you be buying one or do you know the person who this would be the perfect gift for?