H A U L : lunchtime mini-haul

Shoes: New Look - £22.50

Dresses: Select - £15 each

I'm a firm believer that sometimes a little bit of shopping does the soul wonders. We've all had those days where we've nipped into town in an attempt to brighten our moods and it's been a disaster from start to finish; nothing fits, everything is ridiculously priced & you come home empty handed. However, there are some occasions, few and far between, where you strike gold... and this is what happened today! ... I tried on two dresses, as I wanted something new for valentines day, and low and behold, I fell in love with both! In the next shop a gorgeous pair of boots jumped in my hand and bobs-your-uncle... my mood was transformed.

My favorite purchase without doubt are these boots. These gorgeous military style boots, from New Look, are a lovely matte burgundy color and are so comfy! At 5'9 I don't like wearing big heels every time I need to dress up, so for going for dinner or a couple of drinks these are perfect.  They're not big and baggy around the ankle, which is the most important thing for me when it comes to buying ankle boots. I think when they sit well at your ankle, your feet automatically look smaller, so these were a winner all round -- lovelovelovelove!!

The dresses (pictured above) were really difficult to photograph, but are from a shop I would never normally go in so thought they were worth mentioning! Select have some really lovely stuff in at the moment, especially pretty dresses and skirts that can be worn casually or dressed up. 

The first is a burnt orange colour, thick body-con style dress. At £14.99 I couldn't resist. I plan to wear it with black tights, black heels and a leather jacket. Although it's tight, the thick material means it is really flattering and hides any lumps and bumps (always a bonus).

The second dress I caught my eye as I have a wedding party to go to at the end of march and I thought this would do the trick. The sleeves are just over 3/4 length and it sits just above the knee. Again it was a total steal at £14.

Have you done any soul cleansing shopping lately?

Leave your links!

- jen <3

If you've not heard of SELECT before, click here!

They have 15% off for students & free standard delivery in the UK when you spend £15... happy shopping ;)

H A U L : Soap and Glory 'The Yule Monty'!!

It's that moment we all wait for every year... the soap and glory massive gift set being reduced in Boots. Without a moments hesitation (which is worrying considering how little money I have this month), I totted off to Boots to pick one up. There must have been 50 people rushing around with 2 in each hand, so it's safe to say, this one is a good'un!

£72 worth of products for just £27!!

You get 9 full size products.

For less than £30 it's a complete bargain.
If you're a soap and glory fan, don't miss out!!

The Scrub of Your Life (body scrub)

Hand Food (hand cream)

The Righteous Butter (body butter)

Sugar Crush (scrub body wash)

Butter Yourself (body lotion)

Heel Genius (foot cream)

Peaches and Clean (3-in-1 face wash)

Thick & Fast (mascara)

Sexy Mother Pucker (lipgloss)

<3

R E V I E W : Barry M 'Natural Glow' Palette.

My latest procrastination venture had me trawling through ASOS whilst they had their 25% off everything sale. Whilst looking through the beauty section I stumbled across this little palette. To be honest I didn't know Barry M even made pallets, so couldn't resist trying one!

So far, I'm pretty impressed! -- I'm not going to go in to a super long review, as you can pretty much see what this looks like without me writing paragraphs!

There's 5 shimmery shadows and 1 matte brown, which I love as I rarely wear matte colours and love doing a brown smokey eye for the day.  They're all super pigmented and really easy to blend; none of the shadows are chalky at all, which you might expect from such a cheap product.

It's perfect for the day time and it's now my go-to palette if I'm away for the weekend. The packaging is lightweight and smaller than any of my others, fitting perfectly into my handbag.

The blush is nice too -- note the word 'nice', not amazing or beautiful. It's a matte powder pink colour and adds a pretty flush to the skin, which is sometimes just what you need. There's nothing worse than heavy eye makeup and lots of shimmery, bright blush!

At £6.49, it's one of the best bargains I've had in a long time!

(Available at ASOS, Boots, Superdrug and Amazon)

<3

My Christmas Wishlist / (stocking filler ideas)

The tradition of writing Christmas wishlists has never really ended in my family. The only difference is they're now addressed to our mum and not Santa! My lists get shorter and shorter each year, but you can always guarantee a few luxury items finding their way on. 

Soap & Glory - As soon as winter rolls around and S&G release their gift sets and 3 for 2 offers & I immediatley start lusting after them. Whether it's minis of my favorite products or a full on set, you literally cannot go wrong with this as a gift.

MAC - A couple of things that have been on my general beauty wishlist all year, but I've never got round to trying. Christmas is the perfect time to indulge in trying things that aren't essential and I think the fixing spray and soft and gentle highlighter will do just the trick!

Yankee Candle - with one for every occasion, I always receive or buy Christmas candles! The best part is, after boxing day all the Christmas flavors get halved in price; 'Christmas cookie' is almost identical in smell to 'vanilla cupcake', so always worth stocking up on!

Fluffy Slippers - Whether they're from Next (like the ones pictured above), or Asda, I always love fluffy slippers & Christmas just isn't the same without a new pair!

LUSH Snow Fairy - I love love love the smell of this and love finding it under the tree. I only ask for a little one, as the price is again halved on boxing day, which is the real time to stock up!!

Real Techniques - Like most beauty bloggers, I've become obsessed with these brushes. The one I'm lusting after at the moment is the blush brush as it's so multi-purpose!

What have you asked for this Christmas?

- JEN xxx

R E V I E W : Loreal Micellar Soloution

There's been a lot of hype over the last year about 'micellar soloutions', and seeing as I have no idea how to pronounce 'micellar' I always wrote them off as something that would be too fancy for me! However, after bioderma seemed to possess everyone on youtube into spending a fortune on what looked like water in a plastic bottle, I began to think that maybe there was more to it. When I saw this Loreal version on offer for less than a fiver in Superdrug, I thought it was about time to educate myself, especially as I've read many posts claiming that this is a high-street alternative that produced the same results.

This specific formula claims to be a '3 in 1 purifying soloution', that dissolves make-up, unclogs pores and tones skin. As you can probably guess by the lack of skin care reviews on this blog, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to skin care, so something that combines 3 different products into one will always appeal to me!

More often than not, I use make-up wipes to take off my make-up, which supposedly spreads excess oil across the face... this product claims to do the opposite (i.e removing the bad oils and cleansing the skin). This would therefor help prevent spots, which is my biggest skin problem!

The texture is completely oil free and literally feels like water. I squirted a small amount onto a cotton pad and started using it to remove my foundation, which it seemed to do really well.  I was cautious to use it on my eyes, as they are extremely sensitive, but after having no reaction to it on my cheeks, I braved it and it worked a treat. Instead of rubbing though, I would recommend pressing the pad over your eye for a few seconds, which will soften your make-up and make it wipe straight off!

There is no smell either, which can often put me off products. Its a really cleaver and simple liquid that does does a great job and actually does what it claims!

It did a good job at removing my make-up and I did feel like it really toned my skin. My face felt lighter and tighter, something that I'm not used to when using a wipe or cleansing milk. So overall, I'm pretty impressed with this product and am going to try and start using it on a regular basis! -- so that's my simple, cut the riff raff review of something I would have never normally tried!

Have any of you tried this or something similar?