Yesterday I went into Coventry shopping for the first time ever! Well I say the first time ever, when I was 17 I visited Coventry University with my college for a talk with John Snow, which lasted all day and to be honest, was extremely boring! It lasted from 7am-5pm so I was exhausted throughout the day. At one point we got a couple of hours to have a break to walk around the town and that’s just what I did. I had a walk around the shops and remember some parts of the town well, which I visited once again today. It was nice to remember the places I’d walked around when I was 17, those 6 years have really flown by!
Either way I was rather excited to be venturing around somewhere new and as I’m from Birmingham, The Bullring and the rest of Birmingham’s town centre are HUGE! So it was a nice change to be somewhere small!
I knew which places I wanted to go to and what items I wanted to look at so when my boyfriend and I arrived there, I was a woman on a mission, a shopping mission!
Some of the first places I went into were Topshop (where I saw a gorgeous green beanie), River Island (where I was on the lookout for a velvet playsuit and failed), Clinton’s (where I wanted to smell the Yankee Candles and nearly bought Salted Caramel, but left it) and finally we popped into Superdrug, where I was on the lookout for one of MUA’s new Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer (I’m after Reckless!) but they hadn’t had them in stock yet, gutted!
We headed to New Look where for a few weeks now I’ve been on the lookout for a certain dress. It’s a dark green floral lace skater dress and since seeing it in a New Look closer to home, I’ve wanted to try it and buy it! Finally my search came to a close and I found this in the New Look in Coventry to go and try on.
Please excuse the dressing room picture and pose, I actually sent this picture to my boyfriend to see what he thought of the dress, commenting how the image was too dark… Hopefully it isn’t too dark on here! It’s a gorgeous wine bottle green colour and it hangs lovely over my hips. Due to it being a skater dress it makes my boobs look great, my waist looks small and it hides my hips and thighs beautifully, as well as making my bum look good too. My only worry with this whilst I was trying it on was as there is no zip on this you have to pull it over you head and due to the material it does feel a little awkward and tight to put on but once it’s on, there’s no problem. However taking it off can be a bit fiddly and can take a while… This being said it’s definitely worth the fiddle as it looks gorgeous. I intend to wear this next weekend for a friend’s birthday with my navy coat, some tights and my Chelsea boots. I can see me wearing this dress quite a lot over the autumn and winter months this year!
As we left New Look we headed towards the escalators to go downstairs for a look around, but when I noticed that there was a Lush on the same floor as New Look I insisted that we must go in there for a look at the Christmas range. Since the Christmas range coming out in October I hadn’t yet gone to physically go and have a look, sniff and test out the products so I was super excited to go in and finally do that! Lush was packed, but this being said the staff were all lovely and helpful, which is always a pleasure when venturing to Lush.
I have never been so happy by a Lush Christmas collection since the first time I visited and smelled their Christmas products in 2009. That was a long time ago and a lot of the products they had out for Christmas then, aren’t available anymore and the ones that are have had a revamp!
I picked up two bath Bath Ballistics, a Bubble Bar, a bar of FUN and a Lip Tint and I already know I’m going to buying more of the three of these products!
I picked up Shoot for The Stars and So White Bath Ballistics. I remember when So White first came out in 2009 and it was a tiny little Bath Ballistic and now it’s huge! It has a secret pink centre so as this fizzles away in your bath it’ll leave a gorgeous rose colour behind. I can see me stocking up on these and as I type this all I can smell is the gorgeous crisp apple smell that So White is popular for. This is by far one of my favourite Lush products and I wish they would make this all year around, or at least a Shower Jelly or Shower Gel! Shoot for The Stars is a new addition to the Christmas range and made its first (and I hope not final!) appearance this year! It’s an amazing Bath Ballistic and I reckon it’ll do very well this year. It smells just like Honey I Washed The Kids Soap and is a beautiful blue colour with some pink and a yellow star. It also has some gorgeous silver lustre inside as well as various colours so that as this swirl around your bath it fizzes all sorts of shades from blue, pink, purple and yellow! I’m rather excited to try this one and can see me doing that tonight!
I also picked up Candy Mountain Bubble Bar which is a revamped version of Candy Cane and in my opinion a better version! It’s still the gorgeous pink and white shades that Candy Cane was but now it contains lustre and glitter, as well as some pink so when you look at the bubbles inside your bath, they’ll have some little pink sprinkles on. This smells of Rock Star Soap which is one of my favourite soaps from Lush, as it’s one of the few that I’m not allergic to! It smells of a gorgeous vanilla and is just so girly! This will be great to use before going out for the day or evening.
This was at the top of my Lush Wish List alongside Shoot for The Stars and it’s Gold FUN. This also smells like Honey I Washed The Kids Soap which I love so much and FUN is one of my favourite things from Lush since they brought them out and I know come the New Year I’ll possibly buy one of these once a month as I really want to try Red, Blue, Yellow and Green, as I currently have Pink which is gorgeous! The woman who served me in Lush informed me that FUN is great to use as a shaving foam, so I think I might try it next week before I come over to my boyfriends for the weekend. It smells gorgeous, just like Honey I Washed The Kids and I can see me writing a review on this during December!
Finally whilst I was paying at the till I ended up talking to the woman who served me about Santa Baby Lip Tint. Due to how busy Lush was, I didn’t get to have a look at this until I was at the till with my items. I had a look at the tester and put some on the back of my hand to see how pigmented it was. It’s extremely pigmented and although it was pretty steep at £5.50, I decided to go for it. It smells lightly of a cheap version of cherry coke but it smells really nice all the same. I tried this on my lips when I got home and damn is it pigmented and long-lasting! This is also kiss proof as I tested it on my boyfriends cheek and forehead and no red from the tint transferred from my lips onto the parts of his face I was kissing. DEFINITE WIN! I’m going to wear this mostly for work alongside my new MAC lipstick, which I’ll be reviewing in December.
After this we went to get some lunch and as most places were busy we weren’t really sure where to go. We had discussed the night before about going to a noodle bar that my boyfriend knew off, so we headed there and as we tucked into the dishes we ordered, we realised we’d made the right choice! We went to Chi Bar on the high street (this is their Facebook page) which is a Asian food place. The prices are very reasonable and there’s plenty of dishes to choose from, this being said we stood outside looking at the menu for a while as we tried to decide what we wanted. Finally we both settled on Chicken Katsu in Curry Sauce and Absolute Cheese with Mozzarella Sticks.
Sadly I didn’t get a picture of the Absolute Cheese but to explain it, it was a bowl of chips/fries covered in cheese with three green peppers covered in cheese and breadcrumbs. These were really nice but the main dish we both ordered was the best by far and I’ve never enjoyed an Asian meal so much in my life! The rice was beautiful and sticky, the curry sauce was to die for and the chicken… I have no words! I would love to make this myself at home… I might have to buy a rice cooker in the New Year! Plus as well as doing such amazing food, Chi Bar always serves bubble tea! I love bubble tea and I had the banana flavour with tapioca pearls whilst my boyfriend had strawberry with various different flavoured popping bubbles. We had them warm as it was pretty nippy in Coventry yesterday.
I keep saying to my boyfriend how as they deliver that we should start having take away food from there instead of anything else (pizza, Chinese, Indian, etc) as this place is amazing! If you live in Coventry, I suggest you to go there, especially if you’re a student as it’s right by the University.
After this we had more of a wander around where we popped into Ann Summers to look for some new lingerie, however as Ann Summers in Coventry didn’t have the bra I wanted, they kindly ordered it for me online in store which meant I gained free delivery! I have to say I prefer the Coventry store to the Birmingham Bullring store purely because everything is spaced out and it doesn’t feel cramped. I’ll definitely be visiting the store again, especially as the girl who served me was so lovely.
We wandered over to Forbidden Planet (I’m a true geek and every time I visit a new part of the country, I like to check out their Forbidden Planets) where I saw an amazing Lumpy Space Princess (she’s from Adventure Time) beanie! I tried it on and low and behold it fit me perfectly, but sad to say I’d spent quite a lot of money at that point and as much as I wanted it, I put it back on the hook and left it. I know it’ll be on my Christmas Wish List (look out for this in December) as it looked amazing on, plus I love LSP, she’s amazing!
Finally our last stop was to be at The Body Shop as we were rather tired. This was actually the first shop we went into but as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to use my free Glamour Gift Card on I decided to leave it until last, by then I knew I’d have decided what I wanted to purchase. This being said, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted as I was torn between a bottle of Strawberry Shower Gel or an Ultimate Cleansing Kit.
Over on Daisy’s blog she mentioned how she’d recently bought The Body Shop’s Ultimate Cleansing Kit in Tea Tree and after reading her post it made me think about getting the kit myself, so whilst I was having a look at it, I had a quick chat to one of the women in there about which kit would be the right one for me. I have combination skin, my T-Zone is oily whilst the rest of my face is dry and whilst I love my Clinique 3-Step I really can’t afford it right now and I’m running low so I thought I’d try this in the meantime until I have more cash on me. I picked up the Seaweed kit, which is for a matte complexion. This is definitely what I need as my nose is quite oily right now and I worry that customers at work may notice, as well as staff. Plus random people I talk to in shops or pass on the street. This kit contains the Pore-Cleansing Facial Scrub, Purifying Facial Cleanser, Clarifying Toner, Day Cream and the Night Treatment.
The woman in the store did me a pretty awesome deal and offered me the Love Your Body card, which is The Body Shop’s membership card. You pay £5 a year to use it BUT with that you get so many awesome things alongside it such as 10% off every time you shop at The Body Shop as well as £5 off products on your birthday! Due to me obtaining a LYB card I saved 10% off of my Cleansing Kit, which was £32.00, meaning I saved £3.20. As well as 10% off I also got to choose a free hand cream and as regular readers will know, I suffer with eczema pretty badly on my hands, so I asked which one was the best for dry hands and the woman suggested I have the Hemp Hand Protector. Since using this my hands have been soft and smooth, I can see me repurchasing this in the future to keep in my handbag! The cream was supposed to be £5.00, so in theory buying the LYB card paid for itself!
Also I can’t seem to find the Cleansing Kits online to link them to you on this post, so I guess they must just be an in store offer. Either way they seem to be worth the money so if you’re looking for a new skin care regime I suggest you popping into The Body Shop!
Plus, as I still haven’t used my The Body Shop Gift Card from Glamour Magazine, I can see me using this when I next pop in store to purchase something special like a face mask or even another Hemp Hand Protector.
After this me and my boyfriend headed back to the car to come home. We were both shattered and since arriving back we did nothing but play on the Xbox 360 and drink cups of tea.
I had an awesome time shopping in Coventry and I can see me shopping here again, as whilst it is a small shopping area, it’s not half as busy as Birmingham gets on a Saturday afternoon, which I was quite grateful of!
FYI today I was supposed to be posting my first YouTube video, The Boyfriend Tag but sadly due to both my boyfriend and I being busy we haven’t had a chance to finish editing the video on time, so we shall be trying to get it completed for December, if not it will definitely be up in the New Year.
I hope you enjoyed this haul post, I’ll be posting a HUGE November haul post at the start of December!
If you have any questions about any products or things I bought today, please feel free to drop me a questions down below in the comments.
I hope everyone had a good weekend and until next time, take care all!
There Might Be Coffee 