Boxing Day Sale Haul 2018

I wasn’t actually going to do this post yet as I thought I might buy more in the sales, but alas I think I might be careful with money and actually stop spending. 😛

We are now in that confusing and dull lull between Christmas New Year and quite honestly, as much as I love the break from work, I want to be out of holiday mode now and be back to normal! I just want time for myself again, as since breaking up for Christmas I’ve only had Boxing Day for myself.

Just before Christmas, as well as after I ordered some goodies in the Boxing Day sales, because it would have been rude not to!

I didn’t buy loads in all fairness, but what I’ve picked up I’m chuffed with, especially the first items I plan on talking about. 😛

The first items I picked up in the sale were from Killstar and I was so excited for their sale to start as I’ve been eyeing up some of the items on my wish list for quite some time. I really love Killstar but they aren’t the cheapest in the world, but I get that. So whenever there’s a sale I’ll always try and pick something up for myself! At first they had 20% off of everything, but then after Christmas they had their well known buy one get one half price. So I decided to take up the 20% offer and bought myself a couple of dresses. FYI I am aware the pictures of the dresses aren’t the best… 😦

The first one I added to my basket is the Coven Cutie Skater Dress, which I’ve wanted since it came out around September time. There’s an Instagram account I follow and she wears this dress for work often and it looks lovely! I’ve never been 100% sure what my size is with Killstar so I ordered an L to be on the safe side and it’s perfect! It’s not too big, or too small, it’s just perfect and super comfortable. This dress is a black skater dress with a zip on the chest that has a crescent moon on it, as well as a pleather collar, which I really like. It really does add something more to a plain and boring black skater dress. This will be perfect for both work and in general! I plan to wear this for my birthday on Sunday. 😛 I plan to wear this with tights, flats, my Docs, rainbow cardigans and eventually I’ll be getting some new brothel creepers to wear this with too. 😛

The second dress I picked up is the Widows Skater Dress which is another skater dress I’ve had my eye on for a while now. This isn’t anything special BUT I love how this dress still has a smidgen of alternative in there, without it being in your face. So it’s a black skater dress, but on the back it’s open with a spiderweb pattern, which I really like! It’s in the perfect position on the back too so it won’t show off your bra straps or band of your bra. PERFECT! This again will be great for both work and in general and like the Coven Cutie dress I’ll wear this with all sorts of shoes and bright rainbow cardigans! It’ll also be perfect for the summer too as it’s not too thick.

Although I love everything I picked up, my Killstar buys are definitely my favourites as I’ve been craving some lovely new dresses for some time now. I already want to pick up some more, but I’m going to wait until the next sale me thinks.

Next item I picked up is this AMAZING AND SUPER CUTE plushie from Firebox.

This is a Stuffed Water Bear and it’s meant to be a cuddly and cute version of a tardigrade, which is a water dwelling micro animal. Wow, what a mouthful! 😛 This is just adorable and I have wanted it for some time now. I know it’s nothing special and a little silly thing, but it’s so damn adorable and considering it was in the sale, I knew I had to get it. 😛 I also had a £5.00 voucher to use on Firebox, so I put it towards the Stuffed Water Bear. It’s so damn snuggly and cute and actually reminds me of like a puppy or a guinea pig. 😛

If you like anything in the Firebox sale, or even in their normal range you can get a fiver to spend on the store FOR FREE if you use my code! 😀 https://www.firebox.com/r/natalee-e9e09e

The final items I picked up in the sales was from The Body Shop. I actually had more items in my basket originally but I removed loads as it came to a really silly amount of money, which in reality I didn’t need to spend. I opted for grabbed a couple of items I wanted to try and restock in my bathroom.

First of all I ordered the HUGE 750ml bottle of Strawberry Shower Gel. Dane loves this shower gel, as do I. It reminds me of when I was little as my mom would always buy me a bottle of this as a kid, so whenever I use this it just makes me think of weekday mornings getting ready for school. 🙂 Dane uses this shower gel more than I do, but I still love using it in the shower. 🙂

The next items I ordered are from the Christmas collection! I fell in love with the peppermint candy cane scent and knew I had to have it in my life. Apart from the bath bomb (which I reviewed and you can check out here) I didn’t pick up any of this collection, until the sales. I just didn’t want to I guess, I wanted to wait and see what I was gifted at Christmas and alas I was gifted some of this for Christmas (you can read what I got for Christmas here)!

The two items I picked up were the Peppermint Candy Cane Shower Gel and the Peppermint Candy Cane Body Butter. I’d received these in the sack I was gifted for Christmas, which was lovely as it meant I got to give them a go before the sales started. The shower gel is AMAZING! I love minty shower gels but I always find they leave you feeling tingly and cold, OH and don’t even get me started on what they do to your bits! 😛 This shower gel is nothing like the others out there however. It does give you a slight tingle, but nothing major.

I’m really odd with the body butters and prefer to use them as hand butters. They really help my eczema and as I always carry a little pot in my handbag, if my body DOES feel dry at any point I can quickly use some of this. I love the scent of this body butter and as it isn’t too thick, it’d probably be rather nice to use on my body. That’s my only issue with the body butters from The Body Shop, they can be quite heavy and greasy which is something I really dislike.

I was hoping to have a few more items to add onto this list, but I’m trying so badly to be good with money! I was going to go and pick up some new Vans as I have some vouchers I need to use. I’ll probably end up getting this over the weekend around my birthday. I’m FINALLY going to replace my old black and red checker board Vans. I want the original black and white pair now. I do love wearing my Darth Vader and 101 Dalmatians Vans but I just fancy something new and that I can try and make work with everything.

Image taken from Depop

Although it isn’t a sale item, I did pick up something I’ve wanted for the longest time at a STEAL of a price, which I’m rather chuffed with. After months, YEARS of waiting I’ve FINALLY got my hands on a decent and brand new Lazy Oaf Rainbow Cardigan. It’s not 100% brand new, but it’s only been tried on by the previous owner and still has the tags on it. I’ve paid £55 for it including P&P which I think is pretty decent considering it sells for £75.00 on the Lazy Oaf website!

I don’t have it yet (it’s being posted the start of this week) I cannot wait to show it to you guys! I’ll be teaming this up with my new Killstar dresses for work, as well as in general.

So, what items did you pick up in the Boxing Day sales? 😀 I want to know!

Of course as we all know, it’s New Year’s Eve and I cannot believe how quickly the past week and a bit have flown by since I broke up from work. Not just that, but also with how fast the year has flown too! It’s bloody crazy. 😛

What plans do you have for New Year’s Eve too? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

So have a Happy New Year and I’ll see you in 2019! 😀

My Boxing Day Sales Buys

Christmas and New Year have both now come and gone and with that shops everywhere held their Boxing Day sales and now their January sales! I am now officially skint until next pay day and this isn’t just due to sales shopping, it’s due to bills AKA adulting. 😛

On Christmas Day and Boxing Day however, I did pick up a few little bits as I’d been after them for ages! I also picked up some goodies on my birthday when me and Dane went to town for the day. Like my what I got for Christmas post (which you can read here) I thought I’d show off what I managed to pick up in the sales too!

I hope you enjoy this post, I love nosing at what bargains people pick up!

The first things I picked up in the sales and these were both WELL BEFORE Christmas was two games!

The first one being Sims 4 Cats & Dogs on the PC. Me and Dane love playing Sims 4 and like in reality, we were craving a puppy/dog for our family to play with! So we decided to get one and although I haven’t had chance to play loads with the game, we have our puppy and we love it! The editing system for the game with the pets is amazing and I cannot wait to play more of it. The game should have cost £34.00 but I picked it up for £24.49. Not cheap, no but it’ll bring hours of game play for us both!

The second game I bought was one I actually asked for for Christmas and have been eagerly waiting for to see in the sales for quite some time, that being Persona 4: Dancing All Night on my PS Vita. It originally costs £34.99 but I snapped it up for just £6.49!!! I’m so chuffed I got it so cheap and was playing it Christmas Eve. My only issue with it so far is that the story mode has more story than actual game play, which is sort of annoying… I want to get my dance on! As well, not long after I bought this Atlus announced a dance game for both Persona 3 and Persona 5!!! AHHHH!!!! I cannot wait, I already apologise in advance for all the Persona spam I will be throwing around my blog this year.

The first thing I ordered in the sale was this oversized Kurt Cobain sweatshirt, which I’ve been lusting after since I first saw it in Fuerteventura back in September/October. Time and time again I’ve gone to order it, but always changed my mind last minute. Well, I’m glad I waited as I really did get this for a bargain! Originally £29.99, I got it for £12.99 and now it’s sold out! 😀 As readers of my blog will know, I’m a massive Nirvana fan so this is a must have item for me. It’s more of a casual dress so I’ll wear this with thick tights or leggings. Maybe even some mermaid print leggings. 😛 I think the one I was sent is a bit of a dodgy piece though, as I’ve shown in the pictures the print hasn’t been put on the front properly. My only concern is there isn’t any care instruction tag inside and I’m sure by law they’re supposed to have one? To be honest  I don’t care though considering how much I paid, but I would be pissed of I’d have paid the full price for it!

The second thing I picked up is another dress and again, one I’d been lusting after a while both for work and for casual weekend wear! This is another thing I’d wondered whether to order or not as the price dropped but then stayed that way for ages. It still hasn’t changed to be honest at the time of writing this, but when I got a special Boxing Day voucher, it saved me £6.60! Originally the dress was £41.99, went down to £32.99 and I picked it up for £26.39! BARGAIN! I worried about the sizing and went for the size which I thought would be for the best and it does fit really nice… BUT 1. It’s rather short which I think will be a worry when wearing it around the office and 2. With a normal bra on it doesn’t look quite right due to the fishnet showing everything off. With a bra it’s so comfortable to wear but I can’t go braless! I’d feel naked without wearing one! We shall see how it works out. 😛

This is actually something Dane ordered for me as part of my birthday present, but considering it was in the sale, I thought I’d give it a mention. It’s a Yankee Candle and it’s a Christmas one, Macaron Treats. My friend Sophie bought me a little jar of this last year for Christmas/my birthday and we only recently finished it. This was a bit of a surprise to me and it’s nice that he ordered it for me. On Boxing Day I did actually pop into my local Boots to have a nose at what I could pick up and they had a couple of these left. I didn’t buy one though as we have enough Yankee Candles to last us years! Alas, if Dane wants to buy me a Yankee Candle though, I wouldn’t say no. 😛 This was originally £23.99 and Dane snagged it for £11.99! Boots did good with their Yankee Candle prices this year, considering Yankee Candle are charging the same price for a medium jar, this one he bought is a large jar!

Finally we have my last Boxing Day sale purchases and I’m surprised I managed to get them really. As many people will know Lush didn’t have an online sale this Boxing Day and I for one was gutted and pissed off (if you would like me to do a massive rant on my thoughts on Lush lately, let me know!!!) about that. When Dane asked if I wanted to go sales shopping the day after Boxing Day, I jumped at the chance! It wasn’t the first shop we ventured into but Lush was definitely a shop I wanted to look in. They hardly had any Christmas stock left apart from some naked body lotions, naked lip products and finally Santa’s Christmas shower creams, which is what I picked up. This was one of the items I was really hoping they’d have left as it was the number one thing I wanted to try this Christmas! I’d smelt it in stores weeks prior and fell in love, but resisted the urge to buy it due to the upcoming sales. I’m glad I waited now as I picked up 2 for the price of one! These weren’t cheap either at £17.95 a bottle so I’m glad I got them half price instead.

It’s been 2 weeks since I actually drafted this post and since then I have picked up a couple more sales items, which isn’t anything special but I felt like it deserved to be added here!

I was after some new bras and on my birthday me and Dane popped into town for the day for a look around the shops and for some food. One of the first shops we went into was Victoria’s Secret and I’m so glad I did as I managed to pick up not 1, not 2 but 3 bras and all for £14.00 each! I tried them all on too to make sure they fit okay and they were perfect. I can’t wait to wear them now to be honest, I’ve missed wearing a good fitting bra. 😛

Overall I am really happy with my sales goodies and I’m also glad I was good and only bought a handful of items. I looked loads online and found shit loads of stuff I wanted to buy, but left it as I either wasn’t sure, had stuff similar or the main factor, I wanted to save my money.

If there is anything I regret not getting it’s a Pandora ring I saw in the sale, but it sold out so fast I never stood a chance.

What did you guys pick up in the sales? Make sure to let me know in the comments and link me to blog posts!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having an awesome New Year so far! 😀

Boxing Day Sale Haul

I can’t believe how fast the past couple of weeks have flown by! It only felt like yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas, than New Year, and yesterday it was my birthday. I have so many posts I need to write-up, but I’ve just been so busy with the celebrations, as well as work, and spending time with loved ones. So in hindsight I’m only just able to write about what I picked up in the Boxing Day sales! I have so many posts to get sorted, so please be patient with me over the rest of the week as I’m busy with work all weekend.

I mentioned in a post on Christmas Eve about what goodies I was contemplating or had even already bought in the Boxing Day sales. One of the main things I bought caused me so much hassle I nearly rang customer service and had a massive bitch out at them… But I was calm and collected (surprising for me in situations like this!) and I got the problem sorted. That item I shall talk about first, to get it out-of-the-way.

• Topshop Two-in-One Velvet Cord Playsuit – £60.00 (link)

It took a while to get this playsuit to my home, and safely in my wardrobe but it was definitely worth it! As I mentioned on my post-Christmas Eve, I had my eye on this playsuit during my holiday, as I saw it being advertised in a magazine. When I got home I got onto the Topshop website as soon as I could, and was sad to see it was sold out. So I had a look in some stores, and they had sold out too. I scanned Depop and eBay, but everyone was charging a fortune. So on Christmas Eve I had a look on the Topshop website again and there it was, back in stock! So with my student discount, and a £20 gift voucher, I ordered it. It cost me £34 instead of £60, which I was really happy about.

However, I soon encountered a few issues when it arrived… 1. It was too small, which was pretty upsetting to be honest, for obvious reasons. No one likes feeling like a fatty! 2. The playsuit arrived damaged. Something had ripped the bag it was packaged in, which had gone through to the playsuit itself and caused it to rip and be covered in mud. 3. It hadn’t even been packaged properly and was clearly one that had been sent back and re-sold to me. I’m not a snob by all means, but damn at least make it look presentable! These were all annoying, and frustrating issues, so as soon as I could I emailed AND tweeted Topshop about it with complaints. The complaints department fobbed me off with the email I received by saying, “Sorry you better take it back to a Topshop store to be looked at, and exchanged.” which made the situation even more annoying than it already was. I was going to make a complaint about it, but it’s past now and I have my new playsuit. However, the people who I spoke to via the Twitter page were amazing! They offered me some compensation by saying I could have free express delivery, AND 10% off. I asked if I could still use my student discount on the playsuit, and they said yes! It was incredibly generous of them, especially considering I only paid £28 for the playsuit in the end, including my £20 voucher and 20% off.

So I am now the proud owner of this playsuit and I cannot wait to wear it out soon. I intend to dress it up with some knee-high socks, and some flats for a cute Japanese school girl look. I might just throw my fedora on for good measure.

• New Look Back Ribbed Cold Shoulder Long Sleeve Top – £8.99 (link)

Sorry I don’t have a picture of this… 😦 I originally ordered two t-shirts from New Look, but I ended up returning the one as it didn’t fit properly. It was extremely annoying to be honest, as on the picture online on the model it looked like a normal length. But when I got it and tried it on, it was more like a crop top. This is due to me having boobs… Big ones at that. The t-shirt was rolling up whenever I lifted my arms in the air. Once again, like the Topshop playsuit it left me feeling less confident about my weight and body, and more like a potato.

However the t-shirt I kept fit beautifully and I’m wearing it right now to be honest. I’ve been after a cold shoulder top for years! Since I first saw my friend Faye (HI FAYE!) wearing one back when I first met her nearly three years ago (wow time flies!). So I’m glad to finally have one of my own. I expect a fashion addiction to start-up soon, especially as I now have my eye on other cold shoulder items from New Look… This wasn’t in the sale, but it was still a bargain at £8.99 and they come in four different colours too! May have to pick up that burgundy one soon.

• The Body Shop Frosted Plum Shower Gel – £2.00 down from £4.00 (link)

I wanted to try this shower gel all over the Christmas period that it was out in store, but I never got around to it… I was trying to save money, and use up products I already had accumulated in my cupboard. As Christmas loomed I found most of my shower gels had gone, and I needed more. So I thought, “sod it for £2.00 it won’t break the bank!” so I ordered it. It’s a lovely shower gel, that with a little it goes a hell of a long way! It has a fruity, yet floral scent to it which I really enjoy, but my boyfriend doesn’t like. I wish I had picked up the Frosted Apple scent now, but hey ho. Can’t have them all (well I could… It’s still available to buy…)!

• The Body Shop Africa Ximenia & Salt Scrub – £7.5o down from £15.00 (link)

I have used this body scrub since buying it, and wow it is amazing! I don’t think there will be any body scrub to top this and that is just after one use. This is a very thick scrub, which is more like a wax consistency (it isn’t wax!) and a little bit of it really does go a long way. I’ve hardly touched mine. I already know I will be repurchasing this scrub as it has really helped my skin already, and it smells amazing too! I can’t wait to review this in the future. Even at £15.00 this is definitely worth the money.

• Boots Soap & Glory Get A Smooth On – £17.50 down from £30.00 (link)

I popped into Boots to get some essentials for myself, but I ended up picking up this gift set after having my eye on it for a while. I was close to ordering this online when I ordered my Christmas Eve Yankee Candle but I wanted to be good and not order too much. I eventually decided to pick this up for various reasons, the main one being that I needed a new weekend bag desperately! It’s a gorgeous silver holographic bag, which is pretty roomy to be honest. I used it for New Years when me and my boyfriend went to our friends for the evening, and everything fit in there perfect. I also love the Sugar Crush collection by Soap & Glory, and so does my boyfriend who has been using the shower gel loads since I bought this set. I’ve used the shower gel, and the body scrub before but never the body spray, and buttercream until now. I love the spray, and have been using it for work.

• Boots Yankee Candle Large Jar in Christmas Eve – £10.99 down from £21.99 (link)

I’ve been after this candle for years, probably 6 or 7 years now… Boy has that flown by! It was a complete steal at £10.99, and I was tempted to buy another Yankee Candle too as they had Christmas Cookie and Snowflake Cookie for the same prices, but I left the last two as my boyfriend admitted he had bought one of them for my birthday (you’ll find out soon which!) so I just bought Christmas Eve. I can’t wait to burn it soon.

So that’s everything I picked up in the sales! I don’t think I did too bad in hindsight. I did buy some goodies from Lush, but that’s for a separate post coming up soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

What did you manage to pick up in the sales? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all.

Christmas Eve Shopping!

As many of you will know (or might not if you are hiding under a tinsel covered rock) Christmas sales start early now, instead of starting Boxing day they now start Christmas Eve. Soon they will start in October! It’s my day off work, so whilst lying in bed watching a movie I decided to order myself a few goodies from the sales. I tell a teeny lie there as I have one item here that wasn’t sale, but I saved £26.00 on it. I’ll go into more detail on that.

As well as what I have managed to pick up so far (which isn’t much but my bank account is crying) I’ll also be sharing some things I hope to pick up in the next couple of days.

The top row is items I have bought, and the bottom items I hope to pick up. Enjoy!

• Topshop Two-in-One Cord Playsuit – £60.00 (link)

I’ve been after this playsuit since my holiday, as I saw it being advertised in a magazine. I just fell in love with it, and knew I had to have it. When I got back to the UK I searched for it online and had zero luck, it sold out pretty quickly due to it being worn by a singer (can’t remember her name, nor the band she sings in) as well as by a model (again don’t know her name). So when I was out doing some last Christmas shopping last weekend I asked in Topshop if they had any in stock, to which I was told no, and there wasn’t any left in Birmingham either. Gutted! I was just browsing this morning online and I found it! In my size! Sadly this isn’t in the sale, but I do have my student discount which saved me £6.00, as well as a £20.00 gift voucher from a customer at my old job gave me as a leaving present, so I snapped this beauty up for just £34.00! I’m so glad I have managed to pick this up! This being said, there are a lot of negative reviews about this, mostly to do with the zip being faulty… I’m hoping I’ll be lucky and be sent a decent one. If not this will either need to go back, or I’ll have to fix it myself. Either way a very pissed off Nat will be down to Topshop! I really want 2016 to be the start of me dressing up again, as lately I haven’t given much of a damn, just throwing on a pair of baggy jeans, a baggy t-shirt, baggy hoodie, and my Vans. Which isn’t necessarily a bad look, and I feel lovely wearing this… But I always gain loads of compliments when I dress nice. So why the hell not? I hope to have my first 2016 lookbook featuring this dress, for my birthday.

• Boots Yankee Candle Large Jar in Christmas Eve – £10.99 down from £21.99 (link) (Yankee Candle link)

I’m just going to quickly vent some mild frustrations at this purchase… Yankee Candle’s UK website actually have this down at £8.80 in the sale… It isn’t much money no, but still it is annoying. However, this isn’t annoying if you want to pick up this deal, as Boots have sold out! Yankee Candle still have some of these left which is good. It was a choice between Christmas Eve, Christmas Cookie, or Snowflake Cookie. I know I have one of the last two for Christmas as I got my boyfriend to choose which one I was going to buy. I cannot wait to burn this now, I’ve been after it for years!

• The Body Shop Africa Ximenia & Salt Scrub – £7.50 down from £15.00 (link)

I quickly went past this whilst browsing what The Body Shop had on offer in their half price sale. I need a new body scrub so I thought I’d have a look over it. I recently bought a peach and lemon body scrub from The Body Shop and it is safe to say, they were rubbish! The lemon one somehow got into my hair and ruined it for about a week! Leaving it feeling like it was constantly full of hair gel. Not impressed! So I checked out the reviews for this one, and they were all positive, so I added it to my basket! It comes in a really lovely resealable jar too, which I’ll be using to make my own coffee body scrub in future.

• The Body Shop Frosted Plum Shower Gel – £2.00 down from £4.00 (link)

I really like The Body Shop shower gels, they’re a real treat for me so whenever they have their shower gels on sale I always pick one up. Frosted Plum is a scent that has appeared back for Christmas after a long time of being M.I.A. and I cannot wait to try it. I don’t think I’ve given it a sniff in store either, which is a surprise to me, especially seeing as I’ve been into The Body Shop loads recently. This will be nice to use for winter before work.

These are some of the things I’m hoping to pick up when they go into the sale, or what I’m still contemplating picking up.

• Lush Sweet Christmas Gift Set – £35.50 – not yet in the sale (link)

This was on my Christmas wish list so I’m keeping fingers crossed that I’ll get it, but even if I do I’m hoping I’ll manage to grab one (or maybe two) in the Christmas sales at Lush, alongside some other bits and pieces. I pretty much want everything in this box. It contains: Magic Wand Reuseable Bubble Bar, Rose Jam Bubble Bar, Yog Nog Bath Bomb, Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bomb, Tooth Fairy Tooth Powder, The Comforter Shower Cream, and Snow Fairy Shower Gel. Alas if I don’t pick this up, I’ll be buying some other goodies instead: Snow Fairy Shower Gel (the BIGGEST bottle!), Salt and Peppermint Bark Shower Scrub, Yog Nog Bath Bomb (at least 5!), Star Dust Bath Bomb, Bar Humbug Bubble Bar, Christingle Body Conditioner, So White Bath Bomb (at least 5 again!), and Father Christmas (again, at least 5!). Realistically I don’t want to be buying THAT much, or spending that much either really. I’ll be picking up what I can, and whatever I think will last me until next year.

• eBay Baggy Cargo Pants – £29.99 (link)

When I was a teenager and starting to really come out of my shell and discover who I was, my fashion tastes developed quickly too, and I always wanted a pair of baggy cargo jeans. The rocker and alternative girls at school wore them, and I wanted to as well. My parents reused to buy me such jeans, but my brother bought me a pair, Levi’s too! I wore them for years, but as I got older I lost a lot of weight and they didn’t fit me anymore. Not just that they were battered from wearing them so much. I would love to own another pair for lazy days to pair with a tight fitted t-shirt. The next two I’ll be talking about would go perfect with this pair of pants. Also, I know these aren’t a sale item, but meh… It’s my blog! 😛

• New Look White Stripe Contrast Trim T-Shirt – £5.00 down from £9.99 (link)

This t-shirt reminds me of something from the nineties. It also reminds me of Ernie from Sesame Street, and I don’t know why! This would look great dressed up and down! For £5.00 I can see me picking it up, as I could do with some new t-shirts. I find myself gravitating to the same ones and I wish to change that.

• New Look Black Ribbed Cold Shoulder Long Sleeve Top – £8.99 (link)

I have been after a t-shirt like this for YEARS! Only now have I managed to find one exactly how I pictured it in my mind. The only problem I have with cold shoulder tops is if you don’t have an awesome top arm tattoo to show off it renders it pointless… But alas I still want one and even though it isn’t sale, I can see me buying this too. £8.99 is a pretty good price for what it is to be fair.

So that was my choices and purchases for the Christmas sales! I also cannot believe it’s Christmas Eve. This Christmas has passed us by really quickly and soon enough it’ll be the New Year!

Have you picked anything up in the sales? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Boxing Day Sales and What I Picked up!

Oh sales, we all love them, don’t we? However over the years I have found sales shopping has become more of a chore than a joy and after the chaos that I faced last year, I was put off going out shopping in them this year.

I waited a week before I ventured out and whilst it was still a little busy, it wasn’t too crazy. I also shopped online, which was good as I got to sit on my lazy arse, in my nice soft bed and not worry about any queuing or cold winter breezes.

So before I go away for two weeks I thought I would show you what I picked up.

This first thing I picked up was this beautiful clutch bag. Although this is a sales haul, I didn’t actually pick this up in the sales. I bought it Christmas Day as a little Christmas gift to myself. I’d had my eye on it for ages, ever since Lily Melrose wrote a blog post about it back in December. The stock of the back was running low so I decided to pick one up whilst I could, and with being a student I got £3.00 knocked off of it! Can’t complain at that, eh? I have to add how this isn’t the cheapest clutch bag in the world at £30.00… But I wanted it and I only really paid £27.00 so it isn’t that bad… Is it?  This bag is lovely though, it’s described as mermaid which I thought was amazing as it really does resemble a mermaid’s tail. This is also real leather, which is probably one of the reasons why this clutch bag is a little on the expensive side. I used this on New Years Eve and I loved it! It’s really roomy inside and feels a nice size to carry around. I’m taking it on holiday with me so I can use it in the evenings, I can’t wait!

These items are going to turn into a little bit of a rant… On Boxing Day I ordered some goodies from Lush and have I received them yet? NO! This is the first and last time I’ll be ordering from Lush online again as quite frankly their online service is rubbish. Rant over, onto what I bought. I picked up So White, Golden Wonder and Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bombs in their sale. These were all going at less than £2.00 each, so I picked up 5 So White’s, 2 Golden Wonder’s and 1 or 2 Luxury Lush Puds. Considering there were probably over £3.00 each, I think I got some pretty good deals! When they finally arrive I’ll be so excited to give these a go! Going to use So White on my birthday tomorrow, so will smell of yummy apples all day.

For the past four or five years I’ve had a Simon’s Cat diary and this year was no different. When I went to Cheltenham this weekend me and my boyfriend had a look in the Calendar Club shop to see what we could pick up nice. This was meant to be £8.99 but I picked it up for just over £4.00 or £5.00, which is a bargain in my eyes! So glad I have this again. I know I received an amazing organiser for Christmas, but I want that to take out and about with me, this diary will stay at home.

Alongside that whilst I didn’t buy it, my boyfriend picked it up in the sales for me. I’ve been lusting after Yoshi’s Island for months and when he saw it for £30 in the sale, he picked it up for me, which was really nice. I think this game has always been around that price anyway but either way it was lovely of him to pick this up for me as he knew how much I wanted it. I’ve been playing it quite a bit, but I know I’ll play it loads whilst I’m on holiday!

This was an absolute bargain! I had actually popped this OPI set on my Christmas wish list and no one bought it for me! So on a quick shopping trip out I had a look at what was on sale in my local Sally, as they always have some good sale items on offer! Of course this set wasn’t cheap when it was full price at an astonishing £12.00, so when they told me it only cost £4.50 in the sale I was gobsmacked. So glad I picked this up in the sale though as it’s such a pretty polish and one I know I’ll be reviewing when I’m back from my holiday. I might even wear this whilst I’m on holiday!

This was another item my boyfriend bought for me, but I was going to buy it myself! The reason for his offering to buy this for me is that he really liked it, obviously so much that he was willing to buy it. Can’t moan at that can I? This is an Iron Fist dress and one I had been contemplating buying for a while now. Originally £44.99 and in the sale for £26.99. However when this was put into our basket the price was dropped an extra £10.00 so it only came to £16.99! Bargain or what!? I wore this dress out for New Years Eve and I really did love wearing it. I was really worried that this would be too short for me as it looks really short on the model, but alas this was the perfect length on me. I will definitely be wearing this in the evenings when going out for drinks and for the odd meal. I really love this dress and I can’t wait to wear it again.

This is the last sale item I picked up, and whilst I’m sure I’ll buy more before I go away I just wanted to save one of my favourite bargains until last. I wanted to get myself some new shoes for holiday and whilst I was after a pair of grunge style sandals or some flat shoes I ended up getting these. Whilst in Cheltenham I had a nose in Schuh at what they might have on in the sale and I spotted these Star Wars Vans slip on trainers in the sale. I had my eye on these a few months back but forgot about them until I ventured back into the shop. These were originally £50, down to £29.99! I left it to get some lunch and came back to try them on. Due to my feet being a size 7 and Vans not going over a size 6 in women’s shoes, there was an issue… Although these shoes are for both men and women the men’s ones weren’t in the sale. The women in the store were lovely though and sympathised with my problem so offered to knock the men’s size 7 down to £29.99, which I thought was really nice of them. So after more thinking about it I picked these up! My aunt gave me £20.00 for Christmas so I decided to use that on these shoes, so all I had to pay was £9.99! I can see these being worn a lot over the summer season this year as they’re my new summer trainers. I’m taking them on holiday with me to wear in the day if it isn’t too warm and during the evenings. I wouldn’t say I’m the largest Star Wars fan, but I do really like it! When episode one came out my brother tried to get me into Star Wars as much as possible and he succeeded pretty well. My favourite character is R2D2 and I’m so gutted they didn’t make a pair of Vans with him on them… There is still hope for the future!

So that was my Boxing Day sales haul!

Did you go sales shopping? If so, what did you pick up? Let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend.

Sales Haul!

As most of us have probably done, I went sales shopping after Christmas! I wasn’t at all tempted to try and hit the sales on Boxing Day and I wouldn’t have been able to anyway, as I went to my boyfriends Gran’s with his family for a party. Either way we hit the shops last Saturday and bloody hell it was frustrating! Not the shops may I add, the parking!

We went to Merry Hill as we wanted to go to Nando’s for dinner after shopping and I knew all too well how bad The Bullring can be for sales shopping, so I suggested Merry Hill. As my boyfriend is from Coventry he didn’t knew what to expect as he had never been to Merry Hill before and for what he seen of it for the first time, parking wise, I felt somewhat sorry for him.

It only took us 20 minutes to drive there, but to park it took an extra and therefore necessary 20 minutes! I was about to give up and drive us back home when all of a sudden we found a space in one of the tower car parks and I quickly zoomed into it before anyone else has the nerve to steal MY spot. We parked, got ourselves ready and ventured to the shops!

I have to add I was extremely disappointed with what shops are offering in sales for the majority this year and the only thing I actually managed to pick up in the sale that was on my list was one of the diaries I picked up.

We visited two Calendar Club stands in Merry Hill, the first one I wasn’t able to find the Simon’s Cat diary and instead I bought this cute fox one instead, because everyone knows how much I love foxes! It’s an organiser that has loads of various sections inside of it. This is going to be kept in my handbag for my hours of work, my photography business that you’ll be reading about soon, as well as any other dates I need to know and such. Originally it was £7.99 but I snapped it up for £4.79, total bargain!

When I ventured to the other Calendar Club stand I found that they had one Simon’s Cat diary left and I quickly snapped it up with both hands before someone else came to take it away! It was £8.99 but I snapped it up for the bargain price of £5.39! I nearly bought this on eBay for over £9.00, so I’m really glad I didn’t! This diary I’ll keep in the house but my bed, like I have done with all my previous Simon’s Cat diaries! This is probably my third or fourth Simon’s Cat diary now. I’m not obsessed!

Sorry to show these off to my lovely readers but I bought myself some gorgeous knickers from Ann Summers to match the bra that I bought in November. These were originally £14.00 but I got them in the sale for £8.00. As my boyfriend and I walked around Ann Summers I began to wonder if they were too much but he persuaded me to buy them (I wonder why!). But either way these are gorgeous and everyone woman loves a gorgeous lingerie set. I did have a look at the other items in Ann Summers sale and whilst some were nice, I wasn’t overly impressed, although my boyfriend and I did both see something we liked the look of, but sadly they didn’t have my size left and by the looks of things have sold out online too. Sad times.

I’ve always loved Element clothing since a young age, but I’ve only ever owned one t-shirt by them and that was a huge large t-shirt with one of Bam Margera’s designs on the front. I only wear this for bed! Either way since meeting my boyfriend he has introduced me to shops that sell Element clothing for women and one of these is Two Seasons. We had a look on Merry Hill’s website to delightfully discover that they had a Two Seasons shop there and as we walked around we spotted it and went in for a look. The women’s section was TINY but when I asked one of the shop assistants why this was, she told me that it was a massive section, at least half of the store but due to the sale they’d sold most of the women’s clothing and had to make it smaller so that the shop didn’t look bare. Seems like a logical reason! I found two Element t-shirts to try on and upon doing so I ended up buying this t-shirt! It’s a gorgeous crimson red and is a size large, which is too big for me but it was the only size left and at the moment I like that baggy look and this tucked into a skirt or with some skinny fit jeans will look great any time of the year! I’m probably going to wear this on New Years Day with some skinny fit jeans and a boyfriend cardigan. This was originally £20, but was reduced to £10 which I thought was a bargain! On Two Seasons website this is still for sale at its original price. Two Seasons have some amazing stuff in their sale for both women and men, so go and check it out if you like this sort of clothing.

BTW as well as seeing this t-shirt in the store, I saw a gorgeous Solomon snowboarding helmet that I may buy in the near future! I just hope the next time I pop into Two Seasons that I can find this helmet again as it was a steal at just £55! I tried on the one on show and it fit me perfectly. I just wish I had more money or I would have bought it there and then.

I knew I wanted to pop into Topshop whilst we were at Merry Hill as their sale is usually great and I always find something good in store as well as online. I was in search of some new jeans and maybe a jacket but when I had no luck with either I was tempted to leave the store, but I hadn’t had a good look through the clothing so I sifted through each item and low and behold, I found this gorgeous black skater skirt! There were a couple there one in the size I bought and one a size up from this. The one I bought said on the label that it was £15.00, but the one a size up said £10.00. So I asked one of the customer service assistants if she could check how much it was and to my delight she came back over and told me it was coming up as £10.00 on the till! I didn’t want to worry that the skirt may not fit me if I didn’t try it on, so I went over to the changing rooms and tried i on. It’s a very thick skirt which will make it perfect for autumn and winter and was originally £28.00! I knew I had to have it and took it straight to the check out. This was probably my favourite purchase of the day as it was just a great find and for an even greater price! I know I’ll wear this loads during the rest of winter, maybe even during spring and I know I’ll wear it with all sorts too, so that £10.00 will go a long way!

After this we ventured to Nando’s for some dinner. My boyfriend received a £20.00 voucher for Christmas so he decided to use it on us. We bought a whole chicken to share with large peri salt fries and two drinks. We enjoyed our food and after this wandered off to HMV to grab some DVD’s to watch for the night, which were both Studio Ghibli films as we both fancied watching some anime.

As we were walking out of Merry Hill we walked past Build A Bear and I’ve never seen my boyfriend so excited! He’s never made a Build A Bear before and I think it’s one of his goals now to go and make one. Upon going inside for a look we joyfully discovered that you can make a Red Panda! We both love Red Panda’s and it’s what my boyfriend reminds me of as he’s ginger and when we first got together I dyed half his hair black, with his permission of course!

So we have both said that soon we shall be going into Build A Bear to make one of those together. I’m excited!

This wasn’t a sale buy but I wanted to show it! This was one of the things I was after in the sales, as online Game have this in their sale but not in store… What the hell is with that!? On the way home we ventured to Tesco to buy some food to have for lunch the next day and as I went to the toilet my boyfriend popped this into the basket and offered to buy it for me. It cost £25 and it was lovely that he bought it for me as he said he knew how much I’d wanted it and he wanted to play it too.

My boyfriend has really spoilt me since we got together and I just wish I had more money so that I could spoil him back.

On the Sunday we played this all day and when he went home I finished off the level I was on and I won’t continue to play it until he’s back here for New Year’s Day as I want him to see what happens in the story. If he had a PS3 I would lend it him, but alas, he’s a 360 owner…

So that’s all I picked up in the sales! I have ordered a few pieces in the sales, one is a dress and one are some new skate shoes as my Mom said it was about time I get some new ones. My Vans that I wear pretty much most of the time alongside my Chelsea boots are nearly 10 years old and when it rains my feet tend to get wet. Although I have ordered these, my Mom is giving me the money for them as she’s offered to buy them me for my birthday, bless her!

Those will be shown off in a birthday present post mind.

So, what did you pick up in the sales? Let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all!