Bargain Alert! Nuxe summer sale

This is just a quick post to let you know about a bargain I spotted online recently. As you may know I recently went to a Nuxe event to discover more about the brand and since I have been lusting over the products, filling up my online basket and hovering over the ‘place order’ button.

SoukSouk — a green and clean beauty box

I mentioned in my previous post that one of the most exciting things I saw at the Vitality Show was the launch of a new beauty box called SoukSouk. I have a little bit of a love hate relationship with beauty boxes, I love the idea but the samples are never very generous or there is so much variation in the boxes that you can be left feeling short changed.

SoukSouk works like many other beauty boxes, you can subscribe on a monthly basis or take advantage of subscription packages and each month you receive a beauty box filled with 4 to 5 samples.

The unique thing about SoukSouk is that it offers ‘green and clean’ beauty products, including brands that are certified organic and natural, are free from certain chemicals and are not tested on animals. The box also includes a magazine, SoukSouk: little green magazine, which contains information on the products as well as beauty news, tips and features.

I spoke to the founder Victoria, who told me that the box aims to support brands that are trying to do the right thing in terms of reducing environmental damage and using the best ingredients, as well as brands that are not necessarily well known. For this reason they also pay for the samples that are in the boxes and can offer good sample sizes (I didn’t actually realise that other beauty boxes might not pay for the samples!)

Victoria also told me that at the moment everyone will receive the same boxes but that she hopes in the future to be able to offer products catered to individual needs.

The April box

My sister has more sensitive skin than I do and with only a gentle nudge from me signed up for a 3-month subscription. The boxes are usually priced at £12 + £2.95 P&P, but at the show a 3-month subscription for £30 + P&P was on offer.

I am hoping that my sister will share her thoughts on the contents of the SoukSouk boxes since I doubt that she will be very happy if start to highjack them every month, so please encourage her in the comments below!

Also, Victoria very kindly allowed me to offer the show price on my blog, so if you are interested in taking advantage click here! You will need to be quick though because the offer is only available until Tuesday 2 April 2013.

What do you think about this new addition to the UK beauty box selection, is it something you would subscribe to? If you would like to find out more you can see the Souk Souk website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

TK Maxx Bella Pierre haul!

On one hand I feel guilty about this recent haul but on the other it was just too much of a bargain to miss out on.

I know I have mentioned a thousand times that Bella Pierre is my favourite brand, I use their mineral foundation daily and almost exclusively (with the exception of dabbling with BB creams) for over 2 years.

So imagine my delight when my sister walked in with a Bella Pierre skin care set she found in TK Maxx for a bargain price of £35! I had been prepared to myself to spend over £100 for these, which I included in my 2012 wish list, so the 60% discount was a nice surprise.

After this, the mission was on to seek out more Bella Pierre bargains, which included the complete face kits, 9-eyeshadow shimmer stack and a lip kit. They also had some other eyeshadow trio kits, which I decided to pass on. 

I was lucky that the medium complete face kit contains my exact shade, however even if I did have to pass the foundation on to someone else the brushes, blusher, bronzer and more in the kit still make it excellent value for money.

I will of course be blogging about the individual items as I get a chance to test them out but in the mean time if you are a fan or want to give the brand a try I recommend checking out your local TK Maxx.

Bargain Alert - June Magazine Freebies

I’m not going to lie, I only buy magazines when there is a good freebie involved. I just never make the time to go through them properly and I always feel a little bad when I see the amount of paper that gets thrown into the recycling.

Anyhow, this seems to be the month of the magazine freebies, I have never brought so many in one go, but at least my reading material on the train for the next week or so is sorted! 

Glamour are giving away sample size Benefit goodies again, I was surprised to find the whole selection on the shelf of my local newsagent, since the last time Benefit goods were involved the shelves were bare everywhere! I chose ‘highbeam' since I have always wanted to try it. I love highlighters so this was an easy choice.

Marie Claire are offering either a mineral eyeshadow or eyeliner by Inika. I opted for the eyeshadow, which is the shade gunmetal, over the grey liner. This is a beautiful colour, a pretty shimmery dark silver. Also by opting for the eyeshadow, by using a wet brush you can also use the eyeshadow as a liner. The feel of the minerals is so smooth, having not heard of Inika before, I definitely want to find out more.

Red magazine are giving away Jemma Kidd Makeup School, Hi-shine silk touch lipgloss. I chose the shade “petal", a peach-pink nude. The gloss is a really nice consistency which applies smoothly and is not too sticky, but disappointingly I think this shade may be a little light for my skin tone.

Finally, Harpers Bazaar is giving away a full sized Leighton Denny nail polish. I was very keen to try it out and at this point this has now also become my nails of the week post. I chose the shade supermodel, which is a greige colour. Although I have a few of these I am yet to find my perfect one, and this comes close to being just that. The consistency is quite thick, and potentially you could get away with the one coat if you were in a hurry. I found that it began to dry very quickly, and I needed to coat the whole nail at once or there was a risk of streaking it as you tried to cover any other areas. It dried completely quickly, and I love the colour as a work-friendly neutral shade. The formulation is not ideal in my opinion, and that is the only down side. I love the design of the bottle, very slick, I find it odd that from the design you can tell that this is a more expensive polish.

All these are available now for the next month, as long you can find magazines without the freebies missing! If you have already taken advantage, what shades did you pick up?

Bargain of the week!! #2

So I ended up making my trip to the ideal home show today, and I have to admit I am quite proud of myself for being extremely good with my spending. My one and only purchase was a complete bargain in my eyes having seen others around the show retailing for a lot more. They are handbag hooks, I first saw these ages ago on YouTube and thought they are a very clever idea. They basically allow you to hang your bag off a table/ledge at restaurants, bars or where you wouldn’t want to hang it behind you or place it on the floor.

I got 2 for £5 which is excellent value. These really are ingenious accessories which I imagine once you start using you won’t want to go without. There are plenty of different styles and designs available which you can find reasonably priced on eBay if you are interested.

the dangers of beauty blogging

Currently being unemployed I have to consider each of my purchases carefully, even lots of items at a few pounds each eventually add up. Although I have always read blogs, with the whole process of starting my own and posting regularly, I catch more of others blogs that I was already following, as well as finding more great bloggers. Of course with this comes a bigger wish list of products I want to try and buy!!

I won’t start to list them since I will only upset myself (yes I am being overdramatic) but my main reason for saving at this time, is that at some point in the next 2 weeks I plan on heading to the Ideal Home Show as well as the Vitality Show. For any of you which have not heard of these they are both consumer shows essentially, with various companies pitching up stalls and showcasing their products along with tempting special offers, overall they are just really fun days out with the opportunity to see and try new things and sometimes be a bit pampered. The Vitality Show is predominantly aimed at women with health and beauty being the overall theme, whereas the Ideal Home Show (as implied in the name) covers the home overall, furniture, carpets etc as well as (kitchen/electrical) gadgets and more recently beauty and fashion. I have managed to get some very unique pieces in the past at great prices, for example, pashminas from an Indian seller who came especially for the show, and other scarves which I haven’t seen anything similar since.

I also purchased my Miche bag last year at a great price and hope to see them again this year to add some covers to my collection. I have also picked up other very unique handbags.

At the vitality show I also picked up what has become my favourite night out purse as well as loads of beauty products from both big named and smaller London based sellers. The bargain for me at the vitality show last year was 4 Bourgeois products for £12!!

I feel this post has been a little like a Simpsons episode, starting with one point and ended on another completely. Of course I always planned on storing the pennies for these two events but the temptation to pick up other things is that much more having seen so much I want!!

Let me know if you have ever been to either of these shows and your thoughts, or if you have already been what to look out for!

Soap and Glory Enormous Beauty Bundle First Thoughts

So if you do read my posts regularly you will know I ordered the Soap and Glory bundle from Boots at the weekend. For £40 this is excellent value for money and I was very excited to come home yesterday and find it waiting for me.

These are my first impressions.

First off, Boots, why the enormous box? After getting through that the products were all packaged in a smaller box. The packaging itself is beautiful. All pink and white based, with witty instructions and descriptions for each item. Although some of it is a little cheesy it is nice to see that effort and detail has been put into this. There were 10 products in total, 2 body, 2 cleansing, 3 face and 3

lip products.

The two products I am most excited about ‘No clogs allowed’ super self heated deep pore detox mask and ‘the fab pore’ 15 minute facial peel. I love anything related to unclogging/cleaning pores. I really liked heated masks and what appeals to me about this product is that it only recommends leaving it on for 3-5 minutes which is great for days when you need that deep clean and pick me up but don’t have time for a longer pampering session. ‘The fab pore’ is exactly for that longer pampering time. It contains my two favourite ingredients, koalin and salicylic acid, so helps to draw out impurities with the clay element and the salicylic acid helps the cells of the epidermis to shed more readily, opening clogged pores and also helping with preventing the pores to clog again by constricting them and of course allowing new cell growth.

I’m not going to talk about all the products in the bundle since I would like a chance to try and review them. I was however pleasantly surprised with the lip products. I am undecided as to whether or not I will use the lipgloss since I don’t have an issue with ‘skinny lips’ and I have read reviews and heard from friends that this actually works! The ‘mighty mouth’ lips kit, is what has sparked my interest the most. inside comes a conditioning lip gloss as well as a double-ended lip balm. One end is a standard lip balm, whilst the other contains, smoothing balm (pictured below) which they recommend is used at night ready for smooth lips in the morning. I am really looking forward to trying this out and think it may act as a contender for my blistex intensive lip moisturiser. Unfortunately I have no idea how to use the ‘marvelips’ (also pictured below) and the instructions do not make much sense to me. Equally, online reviews are mixed, so any one with any insight please let me know!)

I can’t wait to try all these goodies out, look out for plenty of reviews in the future.

If you are interested in purchasing a bundle yourself you will need to be quick since they are limited and one selection is already off the website.

Bargain Alert! Glamour Freebies

I’m sure plenty of you are aware to get yourselves to a supermarket or newsagents for this months issue of Glamour. I only wanted to try the makeup remover so expect a review since I am close to finishing my Bourgeois one. Otherwise there are 10 freebies to choose from with a mix of skin care and makeup. At £2 each it’s definitely worth picking up a copy!

Soap and Glory Bundle - The Order

I caved! I told myself that I would use up what I have before I make any more beauty purchases for the sake of trying new products I was even going to start a project 10 pan and save to try out the ‘All good things’ skin care range I had seen in Boots. However, when this offer appeared in my inbox I had to go for it. I have never tried Soap and Glory before but I have always wanted to and missed out on the Christmas bundles. There are 3 different bundles on offer and I chose this one since there are 2 products targeting pores! Essentially for the cost of 4, I get an additional 6 to try.

Soap & Glory Enormous Beauty Bundle (only £40!)
• Wash Almighty Body Cleansing Gel 500 ml
• Clean Mary Cleansing Milk 180 ml
• Return to Slender Body Contouring Gel 200 ml (The Firminator)
• Slimwear Peptide Balm 190 ml
• No Clogs Allowed 50 ml
• The Fab Pore Facial Peel 50ml
• Mighty Mouth Gorgeous Lips Kit 2 x 4g, 9 ml
• Marvelips Colour, Shine & Shaping Crayon 4.5g
• Wizard of Flaws Line Filling Luminizer & Concealer 7 ml
• Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Plumping Gloss in Plum 7 ml

I should receive the bundle by the middle of next week so expect a post and of course reviews of the products once I have had a chance to test them out. If you were interested in purchasing I would order online or get to a large Boots store sooner rather than later since these are only while stocks last.

Bargain of the week!!

I mentioned in another post that I think amazon is a great place to pick up some beauty buys, in particular hair styling tools. I previously managed to nab the herstyler big curling wand for £20, now retailing at about 3x the price. It is a bit random how the prices go up and down, but this week having had it in may basket from way before christmas, the Babyliss waving wand was down from £27 to £21 when retailing in boots and eBay for £30plus. For me it was just what I needed to push me to buy and finally get my hands on this.

No pictures I’m afraid (yet) as I only want to feature my own, but basically the reason this appealed to me far more than other wands claiming to create waves was that the shape is more oval and angular than a traditional wand, which I think will give me the wave I desire!

I will of course review and post pictures of the results when it does arrive, in the mean time if like me you had been thinking about this its definitely the time to buy.

‘Till next time xx