Shopping Haul

My personal expenditures have been very minimal over the last couple of months, as I've been focusing on buying gifts to spoil family and friends with this Christmas. It's been a little tough as there are so many lovely things I want, but I have avoided temptation, except for a few little things that didn't break the bank.

This is what I've been buying...

I treated myself to these two headbands from River Island a couple of weeks ago, encouraged by the tempting offer of free delivery. I've been keeping my eyes open for some new hair scarves for a while, and I don't know whether I've just not been looking in the right places, but there seems to be a real lack of great hair scarves in the virtual retail world. So when I saw River Island's cute wire headbands for just £6 each last week, I knew I had to have the floral and camouflage designs straight away.

The hair bands are brilliant. The great thing about wire scarves is that they help to hold the shape of the scarf on your head, instead of slipping off or creasing and folding over. The bow or knot keeps it's shape instead of wilting like a parched plant. I imagined the wire to be a little uncomfortable on the head, but I don't find that at all. In fact, I don't even notice it's there. They look so retro, and I think they're the perfect finishing touch for many of my dresses.

Recently I've been enjoying wearing glitter nail polishes layered over different colours as well as on their own. I'm not sure where this new obsession has come from- maybe it's because it's almost Christmas? Anyway, I bought the Barry M Amethyst Glitter last week from Boots. It appears to be mainly black in the bottle, but it actually has a more silver finish when built up on it's own; it also has pink, teal, and black in the mix, too. I'm in love!

1- Shade 8
2- Shade 5 // 3- Shade 6
4- Frozen Yoghurt // 5- Deepest Purple // 6- Plum Noir // 7- Bright Plum // 8- Shade 8 // 9- Shade 13

I ordered some MUA nail polishes and eye shadows a few weeks ago when they were offering 35% off plus free delivery on their website. I spent £6.50 on ten products, which is a real bargain, although one nail polish was out of stock and refunded.

The main reason for ordering was because I want to make beauty Christmas crackers this year and their nail polishes are great; at just £1 each they don't break the bank. (I'm keeping the eyeshadows and two of the polishes for myself). However, it took sixteen days for this little parcel to make it to me which I was not impressed with at all. I mean, seriously, sixteen days to ship out an envelope of make up?? Their communication is also pretty poor; I didn't receive order confirmation or a dispatch email either. I was left wondering if they had received my order, and if I would actually receive it. Thankfully, I didn't leave the order until the last minute, so I still have time to use them for their intended purpose, but I don't think I'll be ordering from them online again in a hurry.

My little Boots haul got to me two or three days after I placed the order online. I was impressed with the speed of the delivery, especially for December. I ordered a few (mostly strawberry scented) products to add to my Sisters' Christmas gifts.

I bought a Samphire & Sea Minerals Hydrating Hair Mask, and two Wild Strawberry Face Masks. They'll make great little stocking fillers for any girlie girl.

And I also picked up the Natural Collection Wild Strawberry shower cream, body spray, and body scrub to bulk out a beauty box. The scents are very sweet; quite a typical strawberry bath and body scent, really.

Boots also sent two free silver snowflake gift bags with my order. I already bought gift bags for my Sisters' Christmas goodie bags, but these will definitely come in handy for my parents' presents.

And last but not least, while taking advantage of ASOS's promotions last weekend, I treated myself to these cream Pieces Ardel mittens which were just £5 instead of their RRP of £12! (They're now on offer for £8). They're a gorgeous chunky knit and lined with fleece, and they've kept my hands incredibly warm through this week's bitterly cold temperatures. They're a little on the large size, as mittens often are, but they were a great buy. They also come in black and mustard.

I've also bought quite a lot of Christmas presents over the last few weeks, but I'm going to share those in a separate post. I'm pleased to say I've almost finished my Christmas shopping, and I may have added a new bag in to my shopping basket yesterday, too... and perhaps some Paul and Joe blotting papers, as well...

Okay, I did.