Florida Haul: Part 1 - The Florida Mall

While I was on holiday in Orlando, I made the most of blowing my spending money on make up that either isn't available in the UK, or works out cheaper than in the UK. I didn't really bother with clothes as most of the things in the shops were summery, and I thought there little point in buying summery items, then returning to autumnal NI.

This is going to be a rather picture heavy post, so I think I will have to break it down in to several posts! So this will be Part 1... what I bought at the Florida Mall. What a glorious place that Mall is... we spent all day there, basically. I wished we had the time (and money!) to go again another day. 

The only thing I don't like about shopping in America? The way they slap the bloody tax on when you get to the till! Usually 6.5%. So nothing is exactly the price you expect!

Bath & Body Works:

Candles: 3 for $5 (Spiced Madeleine, Marshmallow Fireside & S'mores)
Hand Gel: 5 for $5 (Cranapple Crisp, Fresh Market Apple, Twilight Woods, Midnight Pomegranate, Pistachio Vanilla)

We need Bath & Body Works in the UK/Ireland! It was fantastic. There was so much I just didn't know where to begin, and barely looked at a tenth of the gorgeous stock they had. I thought these candles were a total bargain and a nice size for taking home (45g each - just under half the size of a small jar Yankee candle) and they also do huge ones too. The candles smell amazing, it was so hard to choose just three. The hand sanitizers smell delicious, some have glitter in and others have little beads. All fantastic value.

Total: $10 plus 6.5% tax = $10.62 (approx. £6.80)

Sephora:

Sephora Daily Makeup Brush Cleaner - $6
NARS Eye Shadow Duo 'Portobello' - $33
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eye Liner '23L' - $18

Again, we need Sephora in the UK/Ireland!! It's like Debenhams beauty floor without the separate tills. You just dander about, browse each brand, put your items in a basket and pay for it all at one till, at the one time. Easy peasy. Does that not make much more sense?! I didn't encounter any pushy sales assistants either, bonus. Only downside was I found that very few of the items had tester products, so if you don't know exactly what you want (I did know) you could have a hard time browsing and swatching, and may need the help of a pushy sales assistant!

Total: $57 plus 6.5% tax = $60.71 (approx. £39)

MAC:

Face & Body Foundation 'C1' - $32.50
Eye Shadow Quad - $7
Pan Eye Shadows - $11.50 each
217 Brush - $22.50

I had a rather large shopping list for MAC, and was extremely restrained with what I did pick up! I thought I would buy some things from MAC that I really wanted to try, and that would also make a nice saving compared to buying them at home. I think I saved around £20 altogether which is quite good. (approximately £5.30 saving on foundation, £2.60 each on eye shadows, £2.70 on quad, £2 on brush). I had a sales assistant help me pick out the eye shadows, and I felt a bit awkward while doing so. As a result, Handwritten was a rushed choice, which I kind of regret now, as it's a matte among the shimmers, but oh well.

Total: $108 plus 6.5% tax = $115.02 (approx. £74)

So, that's a few things that I picked up at the Florida Mall in Orlando! I would definitely go back for the shopping, it is such good value compared to here. The gorgeous weather and fun things to do also help!

Let me know your thoughts :)

Remember Me?!

HI!

I am back on home ground after a lovely week in the Florida sunshine! Apologies for the total lack of au revoir but things were slightly mental before I left and I just didn't have time to post before I left or schedule any posts as I had hoped.

I have lots of new goodies to show you over the next few days, but for now I just thought I would show you what I got in this month's Glossy Box.

The September box seems to have divided opinions, and I can fully understand why. I am very pleased with the items in mine, however after seeing other people's posts about their boxes, I think I was fortunate to receive the items I did.

One problem however, occurred with my box. I had recently received a new bank card, and totally forgot that this would affect my payment to Glossy Box. I received an email from the company informing me that my payment had failed. I quickly realised the new bank card was the reason, but you cannot simply change your bank details on your Glossy Box account; you have to cancel your subscription, then resubscribe with the new bank details. What a palaver that was, for a start.

After I had done this, I emailed them to explain why my payment had failed, and said that I had now cancelled and resubbed with the new details, and I wanted to clarify that I had done so as I was going on holiday and did not need two boxes arriving in my absence. I got a reply confirming that my first subscription had been cancelled...

Well, I tempted fate didn't I?! One evening while eating dinner in Florida, I received my text from my mum saying that two Glossy Boxes had arrived for me. Jesus wept. I checked my bank account online, to discover that I had been charged twice. I was not a happy bunny. I emailed Glossy Box and asked for a refund as soon as possible, as I had received two boxes despite my email explaining the failed payment, unsubbing and resubbing! I offered to return the extra box if necessary. I got a response quite quickly, apologising for the mistake, confirming that I would be refunded £12.95 and saying that I could keep the extra box that I got due to the mix up.

SO... one for me, and one for mum, containing the exact same items!

(L-R) L'Oréal Professional Mythic Oil, StriVectin SD Eye Concentrate, Plum by Mary Greenwell EDP, HD Brows Kit, Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

I think I will get use out of most of the items, perhaps some more than others but I will definitely give them all a try.  I hope next month's boxes are an all round crowd pleaser as it seems unfair that the boxes are allocated completely at random and some people get larger products than others (even if the monetary value is the same).

Let me know what you thought of this month's Glossy Box!

Holiday Shorts

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I am planning on bringing very little to Florida with me, as I want to buy lots when I get there. I am thinking I will just bring very basic clothes; 3 pairs of shorts, 2 skirts, 2 dresses and a few vest tops.

On Friday my boyfriend drove all the way to Belfast and met me after work, as he wanted to buy some holiday clothes. I didn't plan on buying anything, but I was keeping my eye out for a small bag with a long across-the-body strap; something that could fit in my purse and camera, but still be small enough for carrying about all day (especially when at Universal Studios, etc). I found this little number in Primark for £4 and figured it would do nicely...

I would have preferred it in black but they didn't have any. However I still like the tan colour, and it should be ok for its purpose.

Then as my boyfriend was trying on some things in H&M, I spied a pair of shorts that I NEEDED. These were hanging, on their own, at the end of a rail, and I couldn't find any other pairs, but miraculously these were in my size. They were in the 'Divided' section, and I am not sure what that means... is it just a collection within H&M? But anyways, here they are:

Admittedly, they don't look like much in the photo, but I adore them. They sit quite high on me, and so are more along the lines of hot pants, but ah well, They can be dressed up or down and were only £12.99. I even wore these out last night with a simple black vest top and black heels, and loved them. So comfy, if slightly breezy. I also couldn't bend over or the entire bar would have got an eyeful, my boyfriend even said I shouldn't be leaving the house with so much leg on display! He was horrified but I still wore them hehe.

I will try and do a few posts about what I am bringing on holidays but to be honest, it will depend if I have time!

EOTD: Ominous Half-Truth

I admit, the title of this post is a ridiculously pathetic play on the names of the eye shadows I used. I'm sorry! My brain is too tired to function at full capacity at the moment.

UD 15th Anniversary Palette - Vanilla, Omen & Half-Truth
NYC High Definition Mascara

This was a look I did a few weeks ago and quite liked. The photo actually does no justice to how bright the colours were in reality.

As usual, I have been having my 6am starts and am constantly lacking sleep because I am awful at going to bed early! I am so tired every evening and have little time to do anything, hence the awful lack of blogging I've managed recently. I hope to try and sort this out soon, but sometimes real life just takes priority and there isn't much I can do!

In other news, I go on holidays next Thursday! A whole week in Orlando, Florida, whoopeee. I plan on bringing very little with me, and buying a mountain of stuff when there. I will also not get any form of tan because I don't tan at the best of times, and I'll be out doing things every day, not lying by the pool so no doubt I'll return to Ireland the same colour as I left! Ah well, I'll just crack the St. Moriz out sure!

Sleek Rose Gold Blush ♥

After my mum accidentally dropped my Miners Sunblushed Duo (since repaired - see this post) I went out a bought myself a new blush in the form of Sleek's Rose Gold.  I have seen lots of positive reviews about it on blogs and when I was in Superdrug it was definitely the shade that caught my eye first.  Another thing I noticed... it looked smaller in real life than it seemed in blog posts! There is a pattern forming here; I obviously have terrible perception skills!

The packaging is simple but stylish; black with the brand logo, a nice compact size for taking in a make up bag, and with a sizeable mirror in the lid.

The shade in the pan is a beautiful, deep, pink/peach shade with fine golden shimmer.It is finely milled, soft and highly pigmented. A tiny amount on my brush gives surprising colour pay off.

While the colour is gorgeous, and I truly love it, I do wish it were slightly less gold and a bit more rose toned. It leaves a very gold sheen on the cheeks, which is sometimes a bit much for everyday work make up. Although, having said that, I am still wearing it every day... it's just so pretty.

Two photos of the same swatch, to show you the gold sheen when light hits it.

This blush is basically what I had expected from ELF's Peachy Keen when I had first ordered it.  When I then compared them side by side... well, quite frankly ELF was not very impressive. It is still a pretty colour but is seriously lacking in pigmentation compared to the Sleek blush. I can't remember the last time I used Peachy Keen as Rose Gold is definitely my new go-to blusher. Plus the ELF one has not aged well (I've only owned it about a month!!)

I believe I paid around £4.50 for this Sleek blush. Considering that a little goes a long way, I think this works out at great value for a good quality item.  I shall definitely invest in more in the future!

Do you have any Sleek blushes that you love?