A New Fragrance

When Burberry Body was released a few years ago, I only wore fruity body mists. It's only in the last few months that I've started wearing perfume on a daily basis, actually. So, when I received a sample of this, I was surprised by how much I liked it. It's not light and floral like my Marc Jacobs or Nina Ricci fragrances. It's more sophisticated and has top notes of green absinthe, peach, and freesia, heart notes of natural rose absolute, iris, and sandalwood, and base notes of woody cashmeran, creamy vanilla, sensual amber, and musk. It's warm, slightly sweet, and lasts for hours on the skin. I love it the most when the softer base notes come through because it's quite strong at first. Some have labelled it as an 'old' scent, but I don't think it is, and have read many comments from twenty-somethings sharing my opinion. Although I love my other fragrances, they don't last that long, so I'm definitely going to be looking at eau de parfums over eau de toilettes in the future.

I wanted to buy this perfume when it was first released, but it was a lot of money, and then I forgot about it. Then, about a week ago, I was browsing allbeauty.com when I came across it again. They have the eau de toilettes, eau de parfums, body milk, body spray, limited edition packaging, Intense, and Tender versions. I went for the original eau de parfum 85ml for £36.95 instead of £75 (they've now increased the price to £39.95). It's also available in rose gold packaging, but the bottle is opaque metal rather than glass, and I don't like it as much. I'm happy with the original packaging because it's simply beautiful!

I've bought a couple fragrances and makeup products from All Beauty now (formerly known as Cheap Smells), and I'd definitely recommend them. They've been cheaper than Fragrance Direct for the perfumes I've wanted, so it's worth comparing both sites before purchasing from one!

Have you bought anything from All Beauty before?

Bargain Beauty Haul

I've bagged some great bargains recently, especially in the last few days, so thought I'd gather them together and have a little ramble!

The first product is the Nina Ricci Nina perfume. I was going to buy this from Boots, but found it on allbeauty.com for £31.80 instead of £54. Although it's still not the cheapest perfume out there, I thought it was a great discount.

On top sits a set of three Revlon ColourBurst Lip Butters in Berry Smoothie, Strawberry Shortcake, and Peach Parfait (all shades I've considered buying in the past). I found this little gem in TK Maxx for £7.99, instead of £7.99 each. It's the first decent beauty item I've found in there! 

I bought the Maybelline Elixir in Mandarin Rapture in Boots yesterday. This retails for £6.99, but I used a couple of vouchers towards it. There's also a 3 for 2 on all Maybelline products at the moment, if you're interested. Apart from the slight shimmer (and it's only slight), I like this so far. It reminds me of the NYX Butter Glosses, in the sense that it's balmy, glossy, and still packs a punch of colour. Unfortunately, we don't have a huge shade selection over here in the UK, but there's still a couple of others I have my eye on.

The EOS Sweet Mint Lip Balm wasn't a huge bargain, but thought I'd include it here anyway. I bought it from Amazon for £3.91 including P&P, but they've now changed the price, so I'd suggest looking around yourself. I wanted to know if these hyped little balls were any good before buying a big value pack for presents. So far, so good. I'll keep you posted!

The Witch primers were on clearance in Superdrug for £1.75, and they were buy one get one free. Two primers for £1.75? Yes, please! The Superdrug Colour Effects Conditioning Colours (£1.49) were also buy one get one free, so I picked up a couple more.

I definitely didn't need any more wipes, but had a £5 No7 voucher to use, so thought I'd pick up the No7 Beautiful Skin Quick Thinking Wipes (£7). My staff discount on top made these just 42p. It would have been rude not to! I then bought the Beautiful Skin Cleansing Balm (£9.50) with another voucher I had, and ended up paying just £2.36 for this. Lastly, on the No7 front, I bought the BB Lips Beauty Balms in Geranium and Blush Coral (£9 each). I had a £3 off voucher, and because I bought two makeup products, I received a free gift box. It contains a mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and eyeshadow brush. The shades are ones my mum will love, so I'm going to give it to her as a present.

There's currently a 3 for 2 across all hair products in Boots, so I picked up the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor (£4.99), the Naked Rescue Intensive Care Shampoo (£4.39), and the Naked Rescue Intensive Care Conditioner (£4.39). I also had 25% off and double points vouchers, making these even cheaper.

After I bought these (and annoyingly used my 25% off voucher), I noticed that the Organix Hydrating Macadamia Oil Shampoo and Conditioner bottles were on clearance for £1.75 each (down from £6.99). They also qualified for the 3 for 2 offer and discount, so I paid just £1.02 each. I think it was meant to be because there were just three bottles left, and two of them were shampoo (I go through more shampoo than I do conditioner).

Have you picked up any bargains recently?