A Little Outlet Haul March 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I ventured out of the house for the third or fourth time this year, and popped over to Bicester Village with my older sister. She wanted to shop, I just tagged along for some fresh air.

I find it difficult to come home from Bicester Village, an outlet village located in Oxfordshire, without purchasing something. I always get tempted by something, no matter how small. (I blame my sister!) I can't afford to shop in the designer shops, but Cath Kidston and the cosmetics companies always get a visit. On this occasion, I came home with a few little things from Cath Kidston, and some make up.

I wasn't swayed by a lot in Cath Kidston this time, but I couldn't leave without the set of two bunny and toadstool print cosmetics bags. I'd been admiring them online before the winter sales and fell in love with the print. (The crazy bunny lady strikes again!) They were £10 for the pair down from £15, which was a good discount.

Just look at how lovely that print is!

I also had to have these red and turquoise polka dot hair grips, which were just £2.50 instead of £6.00. I also came home with a pretty writing set for just £2, and some canape flags that were dirt cheap that I'll probably use to decorate a cake at some point this year.

If you love Cath Kidston's bags, the Bicester Village branch was well stocked with them when I visited a fortnight ago and the discounts on them weren't bad.

While we were there, we also visited The Cosmetics Company Store, which for some reason I'd never noticed on previous visits, even though it was practically opposite CK. I think it's probably a good thing I hadn't! It's basically a beauty lover's paradise, with discounted products from luxury brands like Clinique, Mac, Bobbi Brown, and DKNY. We spend some time having a play with it all. 

I'd never seen most of Clinique's make up range before, so treated myself to a few pieces, and also my first Mac nail polish. My above purchases were the result of restraining myself. I could of quite easily gone far more over board than I did, but still spent far more than I'd planned to that day. Oops.

My older sister has recently got in to watching beauty vlogs, which has rekindled her love of make up, and came out with a few finds, too.

I got three Clinique powder eyeshadows, and a Clinique Chubby Stick lip crayon... I'll be revealing the shades I bought when I review them for you really soon. They're lovely!

And I got myself my first Mac nail polish, Formidable, which I'll also be reviewing for you very soon.

If you love your designers and a good bargain, I really do recommend Bicester Village for a little outlet shopping. The outlet village has a great atmosphere and I find it quite relaxing to dawdle around from shop to shop... apart from on the days when it's incredibly busy with bargain shoppers. Weekends can be mental! There are places to grab some food and drink, and it's got a good selection of stores. It's located close to Oxford and it's easily accessible from other parts of the country.

Have you snapped up any bargains lately?

L'Occitane Make Up Haul and Reviews

A couple of weeks ago, I tagged along to Bicester Village with my sister to escape the asylum for an hour or two, she's made it her mission to get me out of the house whenever I feel up to being out of bed for a little while.

Bicester Village is a well known outlet village situated in north Oxfordshire, and one of the best in the country with around 130 high-end and designer boutiques. Most of the brands are a little too expensive for my budget, but I always enjoy browsing, and taking in the atmosphere as it's so relaxed and pleasant. We're lucky to have it so close to home.

My Sister went to stock up on a few craft items from Cath Kidston, and I unexpectedly found myself coming home with some L'Occitane goodies.

I went in to L'Occitane, thinking perhaps I could treat myself to a hand lotion, or a shower gel, but the moment I stepped in the store my eyes were drawn to some beautiful make up. I didn't even know L'Occitane made make up- and I worked in a company who sold their products!

The make up was heavily discounted, and I caved and treated myself to the five make up items above; a mixture of eyeshadows, face powders, blushers, and/or highlighters. I spent less than £20 in total, for more than £65 worth of make up!

I'm going to quickly talk about each one, so my apologies for the very long post.

L'Occitane En Provence Pivoine Flora Duo Eyeshadow in Envolee Lilas- Teinte 4

First up is an Eyeshadow Duo in Envolee Lilas, which is just beautiful.

It comes packaged in a pretty box made from card obtained from sustainable forests. 

The product itself is displayed in a sturdy cardboard compact, which I personally think feels well made, and looks attractive and expensive. The design itself is very pretty.

I was pleased to find the duo came with a mirror, and a double-ended applicator brush, as it's convenient for applying it on the go.

This eyeshadow duo is just beautiful! One side is a rich purple, and the other a warm taupe; both are shimmery shadows that can be worn alone, together, or mixed to create a third shade. The taupe can be used to highlight, and the purple to define.

Both colours are lovely, and felt silky smooth on my skin, which the packaging says is because the eyeshadows have been enriched with softening peony extract. I haven't yet used these shadows on my face, so I can't say how good the staying power is, but I'm impressed with them so far and can't wait to use them properly.

This was £4.20, RRP £14.00. It can be bought online full price here.

L'Occitane Pivoine Flora Face Colour Cream Duo in Arabesque Apricot- Teinte 2

As with the eye shadow duo, the face colour duo comes in pretty card packaging, with guidelines about how to use the make up on the back.

The compact has also been made from sturdy cardboard, and has an elegant ballerina style design to the front.

This set has a decent sized mirror on the inside, but unfortunately it doesn't come with applicator brushes or sponges, which would have been helpful for using it out and about.

But don't let that discourage you from buying one of these for yourself!

The duo features two cream face colours, one a lovely warm apricot, and the other in a golden beige. They can be used as you desire to illuminate and warm the face. I bought this to use specifically on my cheeks, and I'm so very glad I did!

I use the apricot as blusher, which is perfect for my very fair skin tone. It really warms my complexion. And I find the golden beige compliments the apricot nicely as a highlighter. I'm impressed with how easily they glide on to the skin, and after using these a few times I can happily report that they last well all day. And if that wasn't enough, the make up carries a delicate peach (apricot?) scent. I can't fault this duo! I hope to go back and pick up a couple for presents.

This one cost £4.20, RRP £14.00. It can be bought for full price online here.

The following three products I'm going to show you all come in small rectangular card boxes obtained from sustainable forests. The outer packaging is white and silver, which give the products a clean, expensive, chic appearance; the kind of packaging you'd expect to see from an upmarket brand in a boutique. The make up themselves are packaged in small circular cardboard pots. They look attractive, but I can't say how they'd hold up in a make up bag over time.

L'Occitane En Provence Fleur Cherie Face Colour Powder in Rose Falbala

This is a face colour powder duo, and the first product I was drawn to on entering L'Occitane's shop. One side is a dark, dusky purple, and the other a light rose pink, and they can be used wet or dry to create different intensities. The purple can be used to add definition, and the pink to brighten and highlight. They're enriched with softening orange blossom extract and this duo really is as soft as it's marketed to be.

I've used this duo a couple of times so far, and loved the results it gave. The pink was hard to photograph, but it's a shimmery pale pink, and really does illuminate the eyes when used on the lids and inner socket. The purple is a stunning two-tone, and looked striking paired with the pink. It's a great alternative to black for creating a smoky eye, too. They're both long-lasting, and remain in place for many hours without fading. I've fallen in love with this duo, and have to say I'm very impressed with it so far.

I paid £3.75 for it, RRP £12.50. It can be bought online full price here.

L'Occitane En Provence Face Colour Powder in Rose Dentelle

Rose Dentelle is a face powder containing softening orange blossom extracts which can be used  as a blusher or eyeshadow wet or dry. L'Occitane suggest using your fingers to dab it on to cheekbones and eyelids to brighten the face. The texture is very delicate, and it glides on easily. It's a pretty rose pink, and I think it makes a lovely blusher, but I'm not sure if I'd wear this shade on my eyelids. I've only worn it for testing purposes, so I'm unable to say how well it wears over the course of the day/night. We shall see!

It cost £3.75, RRP £12.50. It can be bought online full price here.

L'Occitane En Provence Fleur Cherie Face Colour Powder in Mousseline d'Argent

Mousseline d'Argent is another face colour powder containing softening orange blossom extracts for a silky touch. This one is a beautiful shimmery white powder with silver sparkles, which is perfect to high light various areas of the face such as eyes, cheekbones, and brow bones. It can also be worn wet or dry to create different looks and intensities. I've used this powder a couple of times, and it glides on beautifully, and really makes the eyes pop. It also does a great job at making me look a little more 'alive' and fresh-faced. Every girl should have one of these powders in her make up bag!

It was £3.75, RRP £12.50. It can be bought online full price here.

The kind sales assistant also popped a few freebies in to my bag; five samples and a cosmetics bag!

I've not tried any of these things yet, but I was excited to receive a few free samples. Who doesn't love free cosmetics to try?

So, I'm so pleased I discovered this make up range, and I'm very impressed with all of them so far. Make sure you check the range out if you get the opportunity. They're available full price on their website, so get on down to Bicester Village to pick some bargains up if you can! I know I certainly intend to go back for more!

If you made it this far from start to end, thanks for sticking with me until the end! I promise my next post won't be so long!

This was no accident, this was a therapeutic chain of events

Morning lovelies,

Today I've got a little Instagram post for you. I know you're all probably sick to death of Instagram summary posts as every blogger and their parakeet shares their photos this way, but I don't. Not often. That's probably because I spend the majority of my time in bed and don't get the opportunity to take 'interesting' Instagram worthy photos. 

This last week I almost felt like I had a little bit of a life again. A reason to take photos on my iPod. My best friend visited from Edinburgh for a few days, we went to an amazing concert together, and I browsed around the outlet village 'Bicester Village' with my sister for an hour or so yesterday. I'm broken now, but I had a good week.

I saw these adorable hedgehog coin purses in Kate Spade. They remind me of the hedgehogs in the croquet match in Disney's Alice in Wonderland! I want the green one.

I then proceeded to fall in love with everything in the Lulu Guinness shop. I've wanted to own one of their lips clutch bags for years now, but for some reason it never occured to me to head to an outlet village for one. Some of them were priced as little as £125! I may have to save up and come back for one later in the year. The beautiful red one above was probably my favourite.

I love this book shaped clutch bag, too. It's so quirky.

I spent some time admiring these Lulu Guinness clutch bags. I love the classic style of them, and the clasps make me think of bunny ears.

I think this bag, which has a map of Manhattan as a design, was by Kate Spade. As a New York devotee, I couldn't help but love this print.

The Orla Kiely shop was quite small, but I still found plenty of beautiful things to admire. There were lots of lovely purses in brilliant pops of colour and patterns. I also checked out their wallpaper; one roll was £30... if that doesn't sound steep enough, the original price was £90! Eek!

I can never resist a good browse in any Cath Kidston shop I pass. They have so many amazing prints adorning almost anything you can imagine. I bought a few small items, and spent time contentedly admiring their kitchenware. The above photo shows some of their aprons.

We also had a quick look in the Emma Bridgewater shop as my sister wanted to see if any of their Christmas range was available. It wasn't. I think my favourite design was the blue stars. We sold some of their lines at work, but as I worked in the Children's department, I rarely got the opportunity to window shop in the kitchenware department.

While I was staying with my sister down south, we came across Patisserie Valerie, whose cakes looked like they came from a real French patisserie. We bought a couple of slices to share to celebrate my sister getting through to her third year of nursing. Would you believe the cakes on this plate are actually half slices? They were enormous. My sister and I shared so we could taste both, and they're probably some of the most delicious desserts I've ever eaten. I didn't manage both slices, though.

My best friend was staying for a few days last week, so we took a trip to the sweet shop which sells lots of American goodies and nostalgic sweets. We were like two kids in a.. oh, wait... I'm looking forward to trying the pineapple Fanta, and I couldn't believe they still made Chewits and Poppets! 

Anybody remember these? The skulls and white mice especially remind me of my childhood. My Mum would allow us 20 or 30 pence to spend on pick 'n' mix sweets once in a while when we were little, and I'd always buy some of these. I had to buy a little handful last weekend, and Angela and I ended up eating sweets in my bedroom whilst listening to some music... it was like we were twelve again. Haha.

And... my favourite part of this past week was when my best friend and I went to see Ronan Keating live on stage on Friday night. It was my first night out- my first proper outing out- in sixteen months, and I had a brilliant time, as I always do when I see this man live. It was painful on my back, but I wasn't going to miss it for the world, and I coped better than I was expecting to. I'm pleased I made it.

The concert was amazing. I've never heard Ronan sound as good as he did that night. His voice was stunning, and the show was very well put together with a great set list. He was also on top form, and looking rather hot, I must say. Those heavily tattooed arms get me every time!

My best friend and I have been going to see Boyzone and Ronan concerts together since we were eleven years old, and it's tradition for us to see at least one show together each tour... although ordinarily we'd go to a few as one show just isn't enough to calm those music cravings. Don't let the fact that we're twenty-seven now fool you; underneath we still revert back to hormonal teenagers when we go to their concerts! We feel no shame.

There are still several shows to go until the end of the tour, so try to go see him if you can! It's an amazing tour.

I hope you've enjoyed my random little Instagram post. Which photo did you like best?