Last Week's Beauty Haul

Hey guys,

Last Wednesday, I popped in to town with my older sister for a spot of beauty shopping. She wanted to go shopping for make up and beauty products, spurred on by her new found addiction to beauty vlogs, and a (then upcoming) choir appearance that she wanted to look her best for.

I wasn't really intending to do any shopping myself; I just wanted to get out for some fresh air and a change of scenery, but with a shopping trip solely to The Body Shop, Lush, Boots and Debenhams' beauty department, I was never going to come home empty-handed. I forgot I have no restraint!

I'm still totally blaming the sister for the fact I treated myself to a few things! She's a very bad influence!

If you'd like to see what goodies came home with me and why, then read on!

This is everything I treated myself to on the shopping trip, (apart from the tray; that's old). As you can see, I completely succeeded at not shopping... ahem. Way to go, Louise!

Would you like a closer look at everything?

Debenhams

Let's start with what is without a doubt the best purchase of the trip; The Urban Decay Electric eyeshadow palette! It is quite simply the thing dreams are made of, or at least in this colour-loving junkie's head! You probably know by now that I'm just a little obsessed with colour and bold colourful eye make up, so you might be able to imagine how over-excited I got when I laid eyes on the palette for the first time. (Clue: very!) The colours! Oh, the colours! My eyes practically popped out of my head when I spotted the rainbow of neon colours from across the room. I'd been underwhelmed by it through my laptop screen, but in real life, this palette is to die for.

I told myself at £38 I couldn't afford it, but in the end I just couldn't leave without it. Nobody could've pried my fingers off the box I had clutched to my chest. My precious! I felt guilty for splurging but I reasoned that it was okay because I'd sold a few dresses on eBay recently and had to return the sunflower jumpsuit, which more than covered the price. 

Here's a sneak peek of the amazing neon-bright colours! It includes ten eyeshadow and a double-ended brush. I'm not going to say too much about it now as I'm going to review it properly really soon, but it's fantastic and the photos don't do the colours justice. It's well worth the money if you're a fan of colourful eye make up like I am.

The sister got herself the Naked 3 palette, which is also on my wish list, but the Electric palette is definitely more 'me'. I don't know why, but I've always felt more confident in colourful eye make up than in more natural, subdued colours. Yeah, it makes no sense to me either; I think I'm just backwards girl! 

When my sister was getting her eyebrows done at the Benefit bar, I noticed a sign saying there was a free Porefessional in the June issue of Elle magazine. (Out now, keep your eyes peeled, ladies!) I mentioned it to my sister and made a mental note to pick up a copy, but I didn't have to. The lady doing her brows kindly handed us both a sample for free so we wouldn't have to buy the magazine! Day made! I love me a bit of Benefit, and the Porefessional is one of my favourites.

The Body Shop

Our second stop was The Body Shop, which is a real weakness of mine. I love their make up, skin care and bath and body products- and their long-standing policy against animal testing.  

There was a buy one get one half price offer on the bath and body products, so I picked up a couple of their fabulous shower gels. I chose my favourite Satsuma, (I love citrus scents and this one smells like summer) and bought one in Early Harvest Raspberry to try. I've not tried any of the new raspberry range yet, but it smells seriously divine. I also treated myself to my favourite Banana Conditioner because it gives me the softest, shiniest hair and I've not had a bottle of it for so long.

I paid for those three products, and that was all I intended to buy... then I continued browsing while the sister paid for her shopping. I discovered that they do a leave in conditioner spray which I hadn't seen before, the bilberry scented Rainforest Radiance Detangling Spray (for coloured hair). I was curious to how well it would fair up against my old faithful Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance conditioner which I use after every shower, so it came home with me. I couldn't live without a leave in conditioner; in fact, it would probably be my desert island must-have.

I also picked up a small pot of the Satsuma Body Butter. I adore their body butters and have used them for years, but I don't think I've ever used the satsuma one before, even though it's one of my favourite scents. When I treat myself to a Body Shop body butter, I usually go for the coconut one because the scent reminds me of past holidays. I'm looking forward to trying the satsuma one for a change and giving my skin some TLC.

The consultant also gave us both a sample pot of the Blueberry Body Butter to try, which is not a scent I'd usually think to try, but is actually really nice.

Lush

I quickly headed in to Lush especially to get myself a Mask of Magnaminty. It's my favourite face mask but it's literally been three or four years since I last had one. Unacceptable! I used to pop in to Lush monthly but that kind of went out the window when I injured myself. (My nearest Lush is about 20 miles away). It was such a treat to buy a fresh pot, and the awesome lady who served me gave me a sample pot of the new formula! The recipe has been improved, but the small size pot I wanted was only available in the old recipe, so she popped a sample in for free!

The mask is made from peppermint oil and the scent of it is just heavenly; I'd quite happily sit and inhale the minty aroma all day long but that's probably not a very good idea. It's designed to clean, calm, and clear the skin; so it's ideal if you suffer from acne or pimples and it can be used on other areas of the body, too. I'm not prone to break outs, but my skin always feels revitalised after I use it and I couldn't recommend it more.

I also treated myself to a You've Been Mangoed bath melt on impulse. You pop it in to the bath like you would a bath bomb, and it always leaves me with the silkiest soft skin after a soak. The only issue is I can't get in and out of the tub right now (I use our walk-in shower instead), but I thought I'd cut it up and pop little slithers in to my foot spa and give my feet a treat ready for sandal season.

Boots

And as soon as walked in to Boots we were handed a fourth sample! A sachet of Lancome Visionnaire advanced multi-correcting cream! 

Never have I been shopping and handed so many beauty samples for free in one day! We were actually given a free sample in each of the four shops we visited, and it definitely put a smile on our faces. It's the little things in life! The staff in each store were all so friendly, happy and helpful, which I have to say is unusual to see in every shop you visit on the high street, and it made for a pleasant shopping experience.

I enjoyed our little shopping excursion, mostly because it was great to be out of bed doing something normal for a while. I've only made it in to town three times in almost as many years, but I used to pop in every month at least once. I definitely took that for granted. Although I realised there's a reason why I don't make it in very often these days.

From the start I was struggling with the pain, especially from the sciatica which has been worsening recently. It's spread to both legs over the last few weeks, (it had only been in the left before), and the burning, tender pain was sure making itself known. It did make walking and standing painful, but I was grateful for a rest when the sister got her eyebrows done and when we stopped for lunch. We weren't shopping for more than an hour, but I was sore and exhausted by the time we got back to the car. By the time I got home an hour later, after driving home with the windows down singing along to the Mamma Mia soundtrack in the sunshine, (yes we're losers), I could barely put one foot in front of the other and crawled right back in to bed.

I haven't quite recovered yet and I couldn't move for a few days, but it was worth it for an afternoon of normality. I try to push myself to get out and about as often as I can, but there are always consequences. At least on this occasion I have pretty new make up to play with, and in my opinion, it was one hundred percent worth it!