Bargains of the Month! March '12

Hey loves!

I hope you're enjoying this stunning Sunday, wherever you are! :-) Typically, we had a BBQ yesterday - the only day in the week that was chilly! Oh well, it was yummy nonetheless!

So I try to include my bargains of the week every week! However I've accumulated quite a few bargains this month, and it seemed only right to do a Bargains of the Month post instead!

Most of the products above cost just £1! I've been a bit skint this month (no change there then) so you won't see a lot of high-end stuff, but these are just the things that I wanted to share with you because they are super bargains!

Schwarzkopf Gliss Colour Protect Shampoo and Conditioner - £1 each - Poundland

I always buy my shampoo and conditioner from Poundland! I prefer to just buy the cheap stuff, and then use a more expensive intensive conditioner afterwards, such as Aussie or TRESemme. I thought I would give this range a try as I recently dyed my hair and I wanted to keep the colour locked in. I have to say it's definitely kept my colour in - but it doesn't leave my hair feeling that glossy. It's OK though, because I use my TRESemme hair mask, and then the Moroccanoil Treatment afterwards, so it's still lovely and glossy! You can't go wrong for £1 either really, it usually retails for £2 in pharmacies etc!

Pearl Drops Toothpolish - £1 - Poundland

Now this stuff I swear by. I brush my teeth twice a day using your standard Colgate/Aquafresh, and then I use this afterwards (or when I've got a special occasion). I certainly notice a change after I've used this, compared to when I just use normal toothpaste. For those that don't know, I also REALLY hate the taste of spearmint, but luckily this is freshmint which is a really mild mint taste. In fact, this is so good I might stock up on some of the other varieties in Poundland - such as the Hollywood smile one. Pearldrops normally retail for £2-5 in Boots/Superdrug. What do you use for teeth whitening?

Chocolate Brownie Dry Shampoo for Brunettes - £1 - Superdrug

This is normally £1.99 but I bought it when it was on a half price offer! I went to buy the Batiste Brunette Dry Shampoo that I normally get, but I couldn't resist the price tag of this one instead. Honestly there's no difference between them at all - Superdrug have come up trumps with this! I'm SO glad they've brought out a brunette dry shampoo - being a dark-haired lady, the normal dry shampoos just show up in my hair too much, whereas the ones specifically for brunettes blend in much better. It doesn't work well enough for me to confidently wear my hair down - I never do unless my hair is just washed anyway! - but it definitely soaks up some of the oil in the roots etc. Will be buying again :-) oh and btw, it doesn't smell like chocolate brownie! :-(

FREEDOM at TOPSHOP Torque Necklace - £1.50 - TOPSHOP

I bought one of these necklaces after seeing Leanne Marie blog about it! I knew I had to have one as it's such a versatile item and it could dress up any outfit. When I first saw this necklace in TOPSHOP, I wasn't sure, but I went back to it and snapped it up! I spotted the original price tag (£8.50!!!) and knew it was too good to miss! I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of this, whether it's to jazz up a simple jumper or a bodycon dress!

Lavender Duvet Set - £4.99 - Argos

I've been looking for a new duvet cover for a while now, and when spring approaches I'm always on the hunt for springtime items! This lavender bedspread fitted the bill perfectly - I ALWAYS wear lavender (my lavender jeans are getting a lot of wear at the mo!) and it's a colour that just gets me in the spring mood :-D Best of all, it was reduced from £9.99 to a bargain £4.99! YAY!

Clear Stackable Pots - £1 - The Works

I've been looking for clear plastic pots so that I can de-pot some of my make-up, such as my Soleil Tan de Chanel (a la Bubblegarm!) I also use them for hand cream - I cut open the hand cream when I can't get any more out, and scoop it out into a little pot instead! I hate waste, me! Unfortunately I didn't realise that these pots HAD to be stacked on top of each other - eg they wouldn't have a lid if you removed it! So hopefully I'll find a good use for them! Any ideas? LOL

So that's my bargains of the month - I hope you enjoyed it guys! Sorry it wasn't more glamorous! Hopefully soon I will be buying lots more make-up, believe me I've got my eye on SOO much! You just need to have a little nosey at my Make-up Wishlist down the right side and you'll see... At the moment I'm lusting after the Revlon Lip Butters... a new Benefit primer... the Bourjois Healthy Mix serum, aah, the list is endless!

Have you tried any of these products? What are your bargains of the week/month?

Let me know!

Love,

Sophia

xo

Updated make-up storage post... (MUJI drawers!)

Hey you guys!

I hope you've all had a lovely day today :-)

Now, you may recall a blog I wrote about 2 years ago on my make-up storage. Well, as you can probably imagine, my make-up collection has extended considerably since then & so an updated make-up storage solution was imminently required!

I took a trip to MUJI on Oxford Street (also available online) and purchased some more storage; I bought 2 x 2 Drawers Wide and 1 x 1 Flip-Top Lid Wide, and so now my make-up collection looks like this...

:-)

I've stacked four of the drawers on top of each other, and stacked the flip top drawer on top! I'm VERY happy with my updated/extended make-up storage! If you'd like to read a step-by-step guide about how I achieved this, read on...

So here's how my make-up looked before:

I've always used the MUJI drawers but, as you can see, my make-up was overgrowing the limited storage. The drawers were organised by product, but I found that as I was buying more products, they were having to go on the top or on the side i.e unorganised.

So here's what I did...

Step one

I took out ALL my make-up, laid it all onto my bed and separated it into product groups, eg bronzers, blushers, primers, concealers etc. At this point I also cleaned all my make-up (using baby wipes) and gave my old plastic MUJI drawers a good ol' soak in warm, soapy water :-)

Step two

I then allocated drawers for separate product groups. The products that had their own drawers (eg blushers, bronzers) I did first, and the product groups that were quite small (eg concealers, powder foundations) I combined into 1 drawer.

In the end, here are the ten drawers that I formed:

LEFT SIDE (top to bottom):

1) Eyeshadow palettes & powder eyeshadows

2) Mascaras, eyeliners & cream eyeshadows

3) Highlighters

4) Bronzers &

5) Blushers

RIGHT SIDE (top to bottom):

1) Cream foundations

2) Powder foundations & concealers

3) Nude lipsticks & other shades

4) Pink lipsticks

5) Red lipsticks

Step three

I then sorted out all the excess make-up into pots, that I popped on top of the drawers. These are: lipglosses, lip balms & primers. I cleaned my brushes and put them back in the same glass they were in that I blogged about here.

Step four

I then took out some of the pieces I use daily and popped them into a little wicker basket, so that they're easily accessible when I'm in a rush! I'm sure the contents of this basket will change, but for the time being they are...

• Bourjois 10 hour sleep effect foundation (blogged about here)
• Bourjois Delice de Poudre bronzer (Shade 51) (blogged about here)
• Avon Color Trend double-ended kajal stick (Brown & Black)
• No7 Exceptional Definition mascara (Brown/Black) (blogged about here)
• Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer (02 Sand)
• Carmex Original lip balm :-)

Et voila!

Here's how my make-up looked after:

Everything is neatly organised into categories, my favourites are out on display and, most importantly, there's room to expand! ;-)

How do you store your make-up? Do you find it's ever-changing?!

Let me know!

Love,

Sophia

xo

Nail varnish storage!

Hey guys!

I thought you might be interested to know how I store my abundance of nail polishes! You may remember they were stored in a Muji box on top of my make-up storage but they outgrew that box!

I've since split my nail varnies into summer shades and winter shades (they were all in the first box, hence the split as I ran out of space!)

Here are the summer shades...

Currently stored in an old The Body Shop storage box (from my cranberry collection I got for Christmas) in rainbow colour order! I dipped a cotton bud in the colours and dotted the lids to make it easier to spot which colour I want :) You can tell I'm a coral/peach/reds lover!

The winter shades...

Same as really, found this box randomly and filled them with winter colours in colour order! There's less shades because the dark reds etc that I would normally wear in winter are blended in with the reds in the summer box, they're kind of all season shades really!

So that's it really, just a couple of boxes :)

How do you store your nail varnishes?

Love,

Sophia

xo

My new make-up brush storage!

Hey guys!

How cute is my new make-up brush holder?

It's a plastic tumbler I came across in my cups cupboard! It was right at the back and I thought... I could make use of that :) My brushes were in a clear plastic pot, but I've moved my lipglosses to that one now (they look lovely on show!)

I've been eyeing up a load of storage options in places like TK Maxx, Paperchase & Muji recently. I'd definitely recommend having a nosey if you're looking to sex up your storage :)

I'm still using my MUJU acrylic drawers for my make-up, but I've increased it to 5 drawers and one flip-top (it used to be 3!) I swear the more storage I buy, the more make-up I buy! Oh well, it makes me happy! :)

What do you use to store your make-up?

Love,

Sophia

xo