What's On My Bedside Table

I've been meaning to write this a while.  It's kind of my beauty favourites but it's what I use every day skincare wise.

Since moving I've been a lot more organised.  I keep everything in these Skubbs from ikea. 

For £6 you get 6 boxes 3 of each size.  They come in black, white and purple.  They are great for organising.

On my bedside table. I always keep a glass of water.  I get thirsty in the night a lot. I also have a soft cushioned brush. I'm trying to brush my hair more often as I figure it's better for it.  I try to spend a minute a night brushing it. 

During the week I straighten my hair so I used to be lazy and just brush my fingers through it in the morning.  Also I have deodorant.  I use whatever is on offer and pillow mist.  Not convinced it works.

Things I use morning and night in my box are: My lush lip scrub. These are amazing.  I wouldn't be without mine it makes such a difference and they are a bargain too. Lush whipstick lip balm. This is one of my favourites.  It tastes and smells amazing.  Lastly is my origins super spot remover. I do like this but I probably wouldn't repurchase.  I thought it was brilliant at first but I'm going off it now.

For day cream I use Origins balanced diet.  You can see a full review of this in my save, spend, splurge series and for eye cream I use Origins Ginzing.  I really love this.  It's light and great for mornings and brightening.

For the evening I use a lot of things. I'll use either the Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus corrector or the Bioeffect EGF serum. I love both of these. Unfortunately the bioeffect serum is out of my budget for repurchase but I will be picking up the Clinique.  I really love this. It's light on the skin and feels great.  

For night cream I'm currently using Origins starting over. To be honest I don't like it. It feels like it sits on the skin rather than sinks in. It was a freebie so I'm trying to use it up. 

My evening eye cream is Origins perfect world for eyes. I love this. It's thick and sinks in well. It's perfect for night time.  As I'm oily skinned I don't like it for days. I really love origins eye creams. I think Clinique wins on face moisturiser for me. 

Lastly at night I apply vaseline to my eyelids after my eye cream focusing on my eyelashes.  I've heard it's good to make them grow plus someone I work with said she always does it and she's over 60 and has amazing eyes so it's worth a try.

Lastly I keep my inhalers and other medicine stuff I use regularly in there. It's so handy having everything to reach. I really need to find my cuticle oil and put that in.

What's your skincare must haves?  Do you use anything like vaseline on your eyelids?  

Love M

Xxx

Spending Ban Update 3

This week has been my OH birthday so it's been an expensive one with eating out and his presents.

Even though the spending ban is on we have had 3 meals to celebrate his birthday. 

Otherwise I have been pretty good. I'm trying my hardest to avoid town at the moment.

Uni and working are making me tired and lazy with my cooking which doesn't help spending.

My mum also asked me to pop to ikea for her. I was good and bought light bulbs and food for me there. The only naughty thing I got was a champagne flute as I love sparkling wine and it doesn't taste the same in a normal glass. Plus it was 70p so ok in my mind.

This weekend coming I'm going home. Not spending will be hard but I do have my money box at home so I may be naughty and tuck into that as my grandad still gives us money weekly bless him (no matter if we tell him he still does) it's a nice saver for me.

My Wishlist:

Mac Brick-o-la lipstick

Urban Decay Setting Spray

MUA Eyelid Primer

Illamasqua Pigment base

Origins Cheeks and Balance

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Daniel Sandler water colour blush

This week I'm adding:

RT brush set I don't have I can't find it in boots :-(

Elf brush cleaner

Elf brush and bronze duo.

How are your bans going?

Love M

Xxc

Spending Ban Update (3)

My spending ban hasn't been too bad this week.

I did cave and buy myself a new sonic toothbrush, but I feel that's not really a bad thing to buy.

In fact I'll be doing a post on it soon as I think an electric toothbrush is really important and there are currently some great offers on in Boots.

I picked up the Philips Sonicare Whitening toothbrush which currently has £63 off so is an obvious bargain.

It makes me think that because I'm not buying unnecessary things like clothes and make up i am actually buying things that are worth the money.

Unfortunately for me, my DVD player has broken. And although I don't really 'need' a new one, I reeeeeeeeeeally miss watching my films and I'm a little lost without it!

I am tempted to buy one when I get paid tomorrow and I've found one for £50 that has everything I need, but even so. Will have to see how much money I have left!

In other thoughts, here is my first wish list of items I am currently lusting over and cannot buy:

1) Macadamia oil hair mask. Having used a sample of this it is quite honestly one of the best and I need to get my hands on it and make my hair feel like silk again!

2) An Origins serum. I feel as my 25th birthday looms ever nearer that I need to take better care of my skin, as mentioned in lots of previous posts. I would like to invest in a serum to prevent further wrinkles and damage to my skin so hopefully I can pick up one of these soon.

3) Benefit boxed blushes. I clearly missed out on a few years of new products and now feel like my blush collection needs updating and revitalising with additional Benefit products.

4) A number of DVDs. I really want to update my DVD collection having not bought many in the past 5 years, I'm thinking Game of Thrones TV box sets along with others as well as ones like Magic Mike for some eye candy!

5) A new dress to go out in. I have my birthday coming up so I will be needing a new dress! No idea what type as op yet.....but I'm sure something slinky and figure hugging will be just the ticket!

How are you getting on with your spending bans? Link me to your wishlists if you have one!

L xxx

Boux Avenue

So today I am sat here feeling pretty sorry for myself after fighting a cold all week and trekking into work in the snow I have finally had to give in.

I'm in my onesie in bed feeling pretty crappy but I took these photos yesterday and looking at them makes me feel better!

I feel I need to share something with you: I'm a massive lover of underwear.

You just have to look into my wardrobe to find 2 massive drawers full of it, beautiful colours in lace, tshirt style bras, plunge balconette etc etc.

Having larger than average boobs it can be a little tricky to get yourself the right fit, in a colour and style to your liking at a price that is acceptable.
However as underwear is a wardrobe essential as a curvy girl I absolutely love shopping for it when I've found the right shop.

Cue Boux Avenue, who opened up their black boudoir style doors in the new shopping centre and enticed me in with pretty window displays and beautiful drawer type storage (which La Senza seem to have something very similar of now!)

For Christmas my nan got me a voucher to spend at Boux Avenue and I was so excited. Because of the spending ban I waited for the sales to be over so I could pick up some new items without the sale rush and also at a time when I really needed to spend some cash and didn't want to break the ban.
Their email telling me of the 'buy the bra and get the knickers free' deal swiftly threw that out of the window and 2 weeks later I'd already spent them!

This however was perfect timing for me, as even though I am a single girl, Valentine's Day is coming up and I full intend on treating myself and being as girly as possible all day!

I browsed the website for a whole evening before I finally made the decision to pick up the Tori style bra in baby pink, coral, and black, all with matching knickers in the briefs style:

The Tori style is a tshirt bra covered in lace, where the lace comes up further than the cup so you can see some skin through the lace where the cup joins the strap.

I love lace bras but for my own personal comfort prefer tshirt bras, and this is the best of both worlds!

The colours are absolutely beautiful!

Because of Christmas being only a few weeks previous to my order the gift wrapping was sadly not available but I'm all for saving the environment and so got over it pretty quickly.

These bras are the perfect fit and although are lacy I have worn them underneath my uniform (a fitted t-shirt top) and had no bumps or patterns showing through.

At £24 these may be a little pricey compared to other brands but the bras I bought when their shop first opened up in Cardiff still look new and have kept their shape perfectly.

I love the little details on the knickers, like the little bows, metal tags and also the lace panels across the back.

These knickers should have been £10 so were an absolute bargain for free!

If you buy in store, you can also get student discount.
When I checked last this deal was still on, so get yourself down there and treat yourself ready for Valentine's day!

One thing I will say, do not forget to sign up for their VIP card also! If you become as much of an addict as me then you'll soon be able to redeem them against future purchases :)

I may be single and not planning anything romantic but that sure as hell doesn't mean I can't treat myself and dress up for myself in the mean time!

Have you shopped at Boux Avenue before? What will you be planning for Valentine's day?

L xxx