Boxing Day Sale Haul 2018

by theremightbecoffee

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! 😀

30Aug2018

Coventry Bloggers – The Body Shop Event*

by theremightbecoffee

Oh man I have been M.I.A. this past week and I am so sorry! I’ve been a mixture of poorly and too busy with personal life to do any blog work.

FINALLY THOUGH I am here and I am talking about an amazing blogger event I attended last Friday, which the gorgeous Emily over at Drained Beauty organised.

As the title reads, this was for the Coventry Bloggers community, which I’m proud to be a part of! I know, I’m not from Coventry BUT Dane is so we both visit the area regularly.

I was so excited for the event and made sure to leave work early so I could get to the event in good time. This is my first (and hopefully not last!) blogger event of 2018, so I couldn’t wait for 4pm to hit so I could leave work and make my way to Coventry.

Can I just say, the weather was so shit as I got off of the train in Coventry, it was chucking it down so I legged it from the station to the town centre. Thankfully it wasn’t raining on my way home, even though I’d bought an umbrella as soon as I got to Primark. MEH!

Anyway! I got to the event with about 15-20 minutes to spare and got to meet the lovely ladies who would be attending the event. I just want to say, the Coventry blogger babes who were at the event are by far some of the nicest I have ever met! I’ve been to many events in the past and whilst I’ve met some absolute beauts, they weren’t as friendly and chatty as the girls were last week.

Not only were the bloggers at the event lovely, but the two members of staff were also amazing. They were approachable throughout the event about all sorts and were thorough whenever they were talking about certain products. So thank you so much girls for holding an amazing event!

Right, onto the event itself now! I’ll be talking about all the new products we heard about, as well as what I got in my cute little goodie bag and what I bought.

The event itself worked out that we would have a nose around the shop, talk amongst ourselves, to one another and the staff all whilst trying certain products.

The first new product we were shown and told about is the limited edition banana range! I’ve already spoken about this on my blog and even reviewed the body yogurt (which you can read here).

Although The Body Shop has banana hair care in their permanent range, the body care is sadly only limited edition and I assume will be around until the Christmas stock is out. I’ll be sad when it goes, especially the body butter and body yogurt.

In the range there’s three items shower cream, body butter and body yogurt. The girls were telling us how banana is great for dry skin due to how rich in potassium they are. This helps to repair and hydrate dry and damaged skin. After hearing about the banana range and how amazing it is, we were offered demonstrations with both the body butter and body yogurt. I would have had a go, but I already own the whole range so I already know how amazing it is!

Before the next demonstration and talk went ahead on another new product, we were left to take ALL THE SELFIES with the banana range! I did a couple myself with two of my favourite products from the range. I cannot tell you how amazing the banana range is and I swear we all need to get a petition started for The Body Shop to keep it forever!

The next products we heard about were new face products that The Body Shop have in stock, as well as some old favourites that not many people know about. The first item we heard about is their liquid peels and they showed us the Vitamin C Glow Revealing Liquid Peel, Drops of Youth Youth Liquid Peel and Drops of Light Liquid Peel. I had a go with the latter and it is pretty cool and yet gross all at the same time!

Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of the demonstration I had on the back of my hand, but I’ve used liquid peels in the past by Korean brands. It’s a gel consistency and the more you rub onto your skin the more it works on the skin to gently peel away any dead skin. It’s gross and satisfying seeing all the gunk that rubs off of your skin! I love using my Korean one once to twice a week and I honestly plan to buy The Body Shop one in the future! This leaves your skin looking and feeling fresh, as well as brighter. I love how there’s the two different liquid peels to choose from. I tried the Drops of Light, but I’m 30 soon so I need the Drops of Youth one me thinks.

Alongside the liquid peels, the girls were also telling us about the new face mask to join The Body Shop’s growing collection! We heard about a couple of the face masks, but the newest member of the family is Mediterranean Almond Milk With Oats Instant Soothing Face Mask.

This face mask is designed for people with sensitive skin and is 100% vegan! This face mask also acts as an exfoliating face mask and reminded me of porridge when I looked at it inside the jar. It helps dry and sensitive skin from feeling tight and itchy, all whilst gently exfoliating your skin to leave you with smooth hydrated skin! I don’t know about you guys, but this is very much needed throughout the winter months, so this will be great to dig out whilst having a hot bath as the weather gets cooler.

I gave this a go in store on the back of my hand and it felt so gentle and the sort of product you would use in a spa. I know one of my friends definitely wants to give it a go after I showed it her, due to the sensitive skin idea! There is nothing worse than having sensitive skin and not being able to use face masks due to that.

The other face mask that the girls were talking about is the Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask. I’ve wanted to try this since it came out and I had a little look at this face mask on the back of my hand, which felt amazing! I definitely need to give this a go in the future, especially as autumn and winter will be here before we know it.

After we gave the face products a go that the girls spoke about, they were showing us this box with loads of things inside of jars that you can look at. Each jar explains what the item is inside and where it has come from in the world. They also have the cards which explain where EVERYTHING comes from that goes into our products, which I think is amazing! If you visit the Coventry store the girls told me you can ask to see this box and honestly have a look when looking at certain products! It’s really interesting to see where they come from.

BUT an awesome fact one of the girls told me has really stuck with me since then and I’ve been sharing it with everyone I know! Basically Hartley’s sell seedless strawberry jam. Someone at The Body Shop knew this face and asked Hartley’s what they do with the seeds. I can’t remember what Hartley’s said but now they give the seeds to The Body Shop, which goes into their Strawberry Softening Body Polish. How cool is that fact though?!

After that we again got to have a little look around the shop, give the face products a test and take lots of pictures! I went around the bath products and had a nose at what The Body Shop has to offer. I’ve bought some of the bath bombs and bubble bars to try and so far I’ve tried the strawberry one, which I’ll also be reviewing VERY soon!

The last products that the girls told us about were make up related and sadly I didn’t get any pictures of the girls talking about these. I can of course fill you in on what new products we were told about.

The girls were talking about the new Matte Clay Powers that have recently launched, which come in six different shades. Sadly I don’t wear make up like this so these didn’t interest me in the slightest! They look pretty good for the price though and I’m sure they give good coverage too.

Then we were told about the new lipsticks that have recently come into store. I feel bad that I can’t remember for the life of me what they’re called and I can’t seem to find them on their website! They’re matte style lipsticks but with shine and comfort that a matte lipstick doesn’t bring with it. They came in a lovely variety of colours, with mostly nudes, pinks and reds! I sadly didn’t give them a go as I didn’t want to end up buying loads of lipsticks. 😛

However, I did give their Shine Lip Liquid’s a go as the holographic style packing was bringing out the magpie in me!

One of the exciting things we learnt about from The Body Shop girls is that The Body Shop is rolling out 3 for 2 in some stores right now, including the Coventry store as a trial run. This 3 for 2 applies to pretty much everything in the store and will enable people to try all sorts of different products! The 3 for 2 works like most offers of the same name, you pick up 3 products and you get the cheapest free!

Sadly I didn’t make the most of this promotion as I’m trying to be good, but I did end up buying one of the Shine Lip Liquid’s, which I have fallen madly in love with and worn ever since buying. I’ll definitely be reviewing this in the future! I picked up Blueberry Chew, which is a gorgeous pink with blue tones and shimmer. It’s definitely a lip gloss. These come in nine different shades, some shimmery and some normal. I would love to pick up more of these in the future!

Then it was time to grab my goodie bag and make my way back to Birmingham. I ended the evening buying 20 chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and going around the local area playing Pokemon GO. Oh how the other half live. 😛

I thought I’d show you guys what I got in my goodie bag as it’s so lovely and perfect for myself. I did want to give some of the products in here a go before writing this post, but sadly I just haven’t had time to. Hopefully in the future I can give them a go and give a proper review!

First of all I’ll show you guys the gorgeous cosmetic bag* I got in my goodie bag! It’s a black bag covered in pink bunnies, writing which says, “Forever Against Animal Testing” and The Body Shop logo.

Inside the pouch are three products, a full size bottle of Strawberry Shower Gel*, a full size tube of Almond Milk & Honey Calming & Protecting Hand Cream* and a travel size bottle of Banana Truly Nourishing Shampoo*.

I’ve used the Strawberry shower gel for about 20 years now and it’s always a fond favourite to have in my shower. Dane loves it so much that he bought 2 massive pump bottles in the sale! So this will go down a treat in my bathroom.

I’ve grown to love the Almond Milk & Honey range SO MUCH recently and I especially love the hand cream. Sadly however it doesn’t do as much for my hands as it could and should. This being said I still use it and use it daily at work.

Finally the banana shampoo has been a love/hate product of mine and Dane’s since we started dating. One minute I love it and what it does for my hair and the next I feel a bit meh about it. Mostly because you pay quite a lot for the product and I don’t feel the price is worth what it does. Sorry The Body Shop! Dane loves it though and these little travel bottles are handy for have for weekends away.

The other goodies I got in my bag came in this cute little pink and white polka dot paper bag. Inside there are loads of little samples, including the Japanese Matcha tea Pollution Clearing Mask*, Mediterranean Almond Milk With Oats Instant Soothing Mask* Vitamin C Glow Revealing Liquid Peel*, Banana Shower Cream* and finally the Banana Body Yogurt*.

I honestly cannot wait to give the liquid peel and the matcha face mask a go over the weekend! I plan to have a proper pamper day on Sunday and these two will be used in that regime. 😛

As I mentioned I bought the Shine Lip Liquid in the shade Blueberry Chew and thanks to my £5 discount voucher, I managed to bag it for £2! Bargain!!! I honestly can’t wait to review this on my blog.

Overall I LOVED this The Body Shop event and I cannot wait to attend more Coventry Bloggers events in the future. Again I want to say a massive thank you to Emily for hosting the event, as well as allowing my brummy self to attend. 😛