Haul: Christmas sale bargain buys

I'm determined to try to stop my excessive spending on beauty and skincare items in 2013 and as a result, I've tried to stay away from the sales following the mantra 'I don't really need stuff, I just want stuff'.

Well, I managed until today, but with some vouchers burning a hole in my pocket, I just had to go shopping! Armed with a £50 Debenhams card, £15 on my Beauty Club Card, 2 x £3 vouchers for The Body Shop (thanks to Company magazine), a £15 Monsoon reward voucher and a few ££££s in my purse, my aim was to spend as little cash as possible and try to get items I'd actually use and not hoard away.

So, here's my rather conservative haul.....

First stop - The Body Shop:

As the vouchers could only be used against full priced items only, I opted for a Coconut Shower Cream (£4) which smells yummy, and the Big Nail Filer and Nail Buffer (£2 each).  I had to make seperate purchases and noticed on my receipts there are coupons for £10 off a £30 spend between 8th-31st Jan - worth keeping hold of - just in case (I tell myself this as a means to justify a potential spend again in a few weeks time!)

So, £2 well spent so far.

Next, I decided to pop into Lush to see if anything remained of the christmas range as I've heard so many people rave about the Snow Fairy and Ponche Shower Gels. There was little in the window display and no sale signage up around the store - bad sign. Thank goodness I walked in though as they had just put out the last of the two products and I was able to snap up two of each:

Cost - £10.48 for the four. They smell lovely so I can't wait to start using these. They also had a few of the seasonal bath bombs but my new found conservative head took over and I decided to leave it at just the gels.

Ok, so next stop - Debenhams. It's always worth a nose around the store during sale periods as I managed to get some great bargains here which were either out of stock online or not advertised. I picked up a Lancome Ombre Absolue Eyeshadow in G60 - Strass Black for £8.50 and an Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Highlighter for £11.50 (both half price):

A Moisture Must-Haves Trio of Clarins Hydraquench Intensive Serum Bi-Phase (15ml each) for £20 (RRP £60 based on price per ml), and Eyebrow Pencil for £16. This meant I could take advantage of an in-store promotion where you could select 3 products with any two purchases. My choices - Extra Firming Night Cream 30ml, Multi-Active Day Cream 30ml and Gentle Foaming Cleanser 75ml.

I also managed to snag a bargain on the Yankee Candle section. The whole christmas range was selling at 50% off! I got the last of the jars and a selection of the wax melts in Sparkling Cinnamon, Happy Christmas, Christmas Cookie, Christmas Cupcake and Sparkling Snow. (I wish I'd bought more now I'm home but again, that conservative head said - stop there!!) Cost = £13.54

At Monsoon the majority of stock on display was 'sale' merchandise, so seeing as my £15 voucher was due to expire on 31.12, I picked up this cute little bird trinket holder for free:

It'll look great on my shelf and help me to keep track of my studs which are forever going missing!

Last stop - Boots. I had a good look around at the sale stock and whilst I was tempted with a few items, I walked away with just wrapping paper for next year costing me £6.75 and giving me a voucher for money off No.7 skincare and make-up.

So, overall, a conservative haul. Having used my vouchers and loyalty card I've spent just over £20 and am happy that I'll use all of these items without that dreaded guilty feeling I normally have after a shopping trip!

Success!!

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02.01.13

Confession time! I popped back on New Year's Eve to see what else I could grab (and to pick up some more Yankee Candles for a fellow Beauty Box Swapper who just loves them and needs to replenish her supplies, so really I had to go, right?!)

I popped back to Lush but the sale stock was practically non existant - I ended up with another Ponche, a Bubblebeard Bubble Bar and a fresh face mask in Cosmetic Warrior.

I popped into Boots as Debenhams no longer had any of the Lancome bargains. I really  wasn't expecting to see anything along the same lines there but managed to find these two varnishes at half price.

Le Vernis Matt 012 Pure Gold and the one I'm most excited about - Flirty Red from the 2012 holiday collection. (I already own the Ginger Swing and love that but the Red had been out of stock when I tried to order pre-christmas.)

Of course, I went in to Debenhams again and came out with over £24 worth of Yankee Tarts, the bulk of these are being sent on tho as I got enough to last me a while on my first trip.

I also popped to TKMaxx which usually has some great skincare/cosmetic items to be had. This time however, I left with empty hands.... probably a good thing really as in hindsight, and with me now purging my stash of products, I'd never have gotten around to using anything this side of 2014!