Rants, Raves, Lemmings & Reveals

**Disclaimer, I'm in a chatty mood, so this post is going to reflect that and be a bit long winded***

I'm one of those people that has to write everything down! Not just once on paper, but then as an alert on my iphone.  I am going mad this morning looking for my notebook.  This is where I write down all my telephone conversations for my business, and I can not find it.  I am just floored, it literally grew legs and walked out of my room..not cool lol. Anyways......

* Behold, Chanel Blue Boy.  This nail polish took over 4 months to get here from the states.  She was held up in customs since the end of January, and I finally got her in my hands and I'm never letting her go! I'll get some proper notd posts up again.

* Next, I wanted to talk about the Ciate caviar manicure that is just out of this world.  I don't know about you, but this one is killing me. My ban lasts all year, and I am so tempted by this...I need to focus and NOT buy this, but I urge you all to buy it as it's just hot hot hot!  It's a 2 step manicure nail art kit where you apply micro beads over the base colour coat.  I absolutely love the 3D effect to this.  My favourite is the black beads (shocker lol).

 

Priced at £18 a set, it's a bit of a splurge, but extravagant things usually come with a hefty price tag.

I wonder if you can purchase these micro beads from a craft shop and do it yourself...hmmmm...

* Also, did you all know that TK Maxx online has a Gold Label department?  We are talking about Stella McCartney, Alexander Mcqueen and more. It's very affordable too! 

http://www.tkmaxx.com/women/gold-label-clothing/icat/3092

* Just to catch you all up, my downsizing of nail polish is going successfully.  I am now down to 127 polishes.  I'm trying to think "quality over quantity" as space is an issue since moving here.

* Rant - Don't you hate it when you email someone and they can't email you back, even when you know that they are online lol

* Another topic that I wanted to talk about is charities and donating to charities.  I recently learned how imperative donations are for the operations of charities. I know this sounds really obvious, but did you know...

a. We need loads and loads of carrier bags? So if you are inundated, please drop it off at your local charity shop

b.  We even take clothes that is unsellable.  Just because it can't be sold, it doesn't mean we can't sell it as a "rag" and make money off of it.  Most charities sell the unsellable clothes in large bags to a 3rd party who pays for it.  This company basically buys and distributes to third world countries.

c.  Donating office supplies is a great help for us.  We use it, and it's less money we have to spend out of our daily sales, so donating office supplies is always appreciated

d. and last but not least - donating your time is the greatest help to us.  

*  I'm really excited about trying this product.  If it actually works, then this will be my new favourite drugstore product :)  We'll see how you hold up against my layers and layers of glitter! lol.

 

* Here is my awesome reveal from my secret easter swap.  This forum swap is awesome, because we had to stash "shop".  The purpose of the thread is to actually use what we have instead of hoarding, and it's really great, because we get to swap out items that are sitting there.  I was very happy as L'occitane is one of my favourite brands. The shea butter hand cream travel size is not pictured, because I used it all in one day :)

So I think I should close this post, as it took me 2 days to finish it. Clearly, I can not come up with a congruent post, so this is what you guys get. Sorry :) Off I go to enjoy the sun.

Until next time, take care lovelies.

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TUNE OF THE DAY

Clearance Grab Bag at Debenhams

Of all places, there is a clearance cart next to the cash register at my local Debenhams.  They put items in there that either has a damaged box or a customer rudely tested.  Whatever the reason, Debenhams is great at marking these items down.  Today I was on a hunt for cheap face cream, so after my haul from Boots, I was pleased to find this as well.

 

For £6.50, I get to try an array of deluxe size samples from Benefit, Burt's Bees, Elemis (super excited about this one), Dead Sea Spa Magik, L'occitane, and Natio.

I'm a sucker for miniatures, and also for sales.

So after this purchase and my No 7 essential moisture day fluid that I bought for £5, I should be set for the next couple of months :)

Have you tried any of these?

Latest in Beauty Perfume Sample Box Reveal

My sample perfume box arrived today! and I love it.  For only £4.95 posted, I think that this was quite a bargain.  It's not a monthly subscription, it's just a one off that I knew I had to have.

I know that samples are free, but one of the items in the box is actually an item that is sold at SpaceNK for £18.  Plus I never tried any of their perfumes, so this is was the cheapest way for me to try it.

So onto the reveal....

 

The box contents were:

SpaceNk Laughter

L'Occitane Pivoine Flora

Liz Earle Botanical Essence No 1

Elie Saab

Yardley Royal English Daisy

The two that interested me the most was obviously SpaceNK and L'occitane

 

The generous sample size was alluring.

Laughter is just a bit too citrusy/house lemon cleaner smell.  I love citrus fragrances, but there is just something about this that seems one dimensional and flat. I swear I had an air freshener once that smelled like this.

But the L'occitane fragrance is so lovely. It's light and floral, and I may even buy the full size bottle one day.  It's really delicate, soft, and clean floral scent.

Now out of these small spray samples, I thought I wouldn't like any of them.

They just don't seem to fit the demographics for me; however, the Yardley is actually quite nice.  If you want a simple fresh and floral scent, this is a cheap alternative.

The Elie Saab perfume was a big shocker too.  I actually hated the top note, but after 5 minutes on my skin, I really liked how the sweetness arose.  This is actually a good perfume that shifts very fast once you spray it on you.

The Liz Earle perfume is just a little too "green" scented for me.  Once again, I feel like I've had an air freshener that smelled like this too.

 

Perfume taste is so subjective, so I don't want to go on and on about it, since perfumes smell different to everyone, but this post is to show you just what a wonderful deal that I got from Latest in Beauty.

Be sure to check them out at

http://www.latestinbeauty.com/

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my US crew xx

Hope you're eating tons of turkey and enjoying quality time with family :)

Quick trip to London - Lush, Boots and L'occitane Haul

DH and I had to run into the city really quick today in order to exchange dollars to pounds. OUCH! It really really hurt exchanging all my hard earned money and to get about half of what I had, in fact...I cried a little (inside) lol

So the shopping trip was a bit dampened by my mood after that, so I just ran into L'occitane to get my mother her mother's day present. Luckily she doesn't read my blog, so I can post it up for you all.

Home oils for the diffusers in Lavender and White Flower. I personally liked the light sweet floral scent of White flower so I got it for her. She loves Lavender (I know this, because her house smells like a Lavender field) so that was an obvious choice.

Each are 10 pounds and that roughly makes it out to about or a little cheaper than what it costs in the states...so I grabbed two.

Oh the third bottle is Marks & Spencer's Royal Jelly hand cream. Apparently another favorite of hers, so I grabbed that for 2 pounds.

(The background is actually a vintage scarf that I got from Lush)

Then I ran into Lush at Liverpool Street station and had a good time looking around. The staff was quite pleasant too. Loved the girl's tattoos as well!

So while I was there, I did make out like a bandit LOL I don't know if it was cheaper than the states like many have said, but I didn't care because I can't resist Lush.

I got this sugar scrub. I have used this before and loved the exfoliating scrub. It is great for my arms, elbows, feet, and just anywhere that needs extra attention and care.

Next up, Love lettuce fresh face mask. I've tried almost all of their face mask. I think they are cheap and last a long time. They also feel so freaking amazing when you pull them out of the fridge and put them on your face. Talk about refreshing...ahhhh....
Oh, this also have little almond shell pieces for exfoliating and it really really works!

I couldn't leave Lush without my bubble bars. A little crumble makes so many bubbles and I think you get more bang for your buck with these than any of the other bath products from Lush.
My bubble bar was called the comforter and it smells of blackberries. I am going to really enjoy using this tonight.

This next product is new to me. Jumping Juniper shampoo bar is suppose to be good for greasy hair, which is what I suffer from badly, so hopefully it will do some magic.
Plus, I like the whole solid bar concept and lack of preservatives that are in other liquid shampoos to keep it from going bad, so I hope this works.

And last but not least, you can't walk out of Lush without a bath bomb. I grabbed avobath, because I want the smoothing effects of the avocados in this bath bomb to moisturize my tired winter skin.
I really can't wait to try this one either. It also smells so fresh!

Ok, so onto some free stuff. I got this lotion with a Marie Claire magazine. This is so awesome! We never had this in the states, free gifts that come with the magazine. So I have no idea what lotion this is, but I laughed because it's called "Cowshed" knackered cow relaxing body lotion. LOL at cow. I guess that's what I am lol

and I get to look at what a Marie Claire UK magazine is like.

And speaking of lotions...I really need some, so I grabbed this body butter from fcuk (french connection) and it was cheap and on sale and it's a body butter. Not sure if it will be great, but I got to give these brands a try, or else I won't know.
So for 4 pounds, I picked this up while I was at Boots.

So after I came home from spending all this money (bad Sue! bad Sue!), I was so pleasantly surprised that the sales agent from Saks in NJ sent me these free Bond no 9 perfume samples -

I'm super happy about the Madison Square Park sample. This is going to be my next perfume once I finish all the perfumes that I currently have. It is a burst of freshness and youth. Only if it wasn't $260 :(

So I hope you guys enjoyed my little purchases.

I am soooo exhausted, so I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I go into town to find a 50th wedding anniversary gift for my in laws - wish me luck!

until next time, take it EZ !! :)