Swansea Benefit Boutique

Last week I was Lucky enough to be invited to the opening of the Benefit Boutique in Swansea. Swansea Debenhams is the counter that sells the most products beating even Oxford Street so the opening of the Boutique came.

I was so excited to go. I've been lucky enough to meet some of the Benefit ladies before so couldn't wait to head down. The Boutique is situated within the Swansea Debenhams. On arrival we were greeted by Alyson and Joanne. We went through to the last room in the boutique. Everything is decorated all girly and pink. It's so cute all the way through and the attention to detail is great.

When we entered the make up room all the attention to detail was clear. The chairs had the Benefit ladies heads printed on, the walls had information about the founders (Jean and Jane) and the back wall had a great selection of Benefit Make up. There were even pink glittery welsh cakes!! YUM

The room can be hired out for 10pp for things like hen dos, birthday's or even girly catch ups. You then get the £10 redeemable against purchases so it's technically free and one of the great Swansea Benebabes will come and demonstrate the products and make up.

While there we got a tour of the waxing room and tanning room. The boutique offers two different types of waxing, the hot wax and the strip wax. Hot wax (the amazing blue coloured one, being demonstrated on Jenny from The Pulse Of Fashion, I'm in love with her trousers!!!) is used on the bikini and the strip wax everywhere else. Hot wax is more expensive but it's better for the bikini area. I loved the waxing area and was so impressed with Julie (expert waxer!!) that I've booked to go down in a few weeks.

They also offer spray tans using fake bake! This is in my top 3 fake tans. I love a good spray tan especially for nights out.

We  were also shown the new colour collection and allowed to play with it. There are some great colour lip glosses, hello an amazing coral one and new creaseless creams and eye shadows. The eyeshadows are £15.50 and are absolutely huge and the lip glosses are £14.50 and not sticky! The packaging for these are so cute!!

The colour range is so stunning with neutral colours and a few pastels thrown in. I'm loving always a bridesmaid ( a stunning lilac creaseless cream) and kiss me I'm tipsy (a beautiful brown longwear powder shadow). I will definitely be hinting for some of these for my birthday. 

We were also hinted at some of the new sets coming out. I will definitely be purchasing some of these I'm sure. I'm absolutely loving Benefit make up lately.

As we left we were lucky enough to be given Porefessional, BrowZings and They're Real. Thanks so much to the ladies, as L couldn't join me at the event and I know she is lusting after BrowZings and They're Real and I have both I donated those to her. I personally now love Porefessional but only find it works with certain foundations and due to how thick it is I try not to wear it too much.

Thanks so much for showing us round Alyson and Joanne. Hopefully see you soon.

Also Temptation Telephone ends tomorrow. Who else is dying to know what it is the ladies were sworn to secrecy and couldn't tell us anything.

And a quick FOTD from the Event. I'm wearing Mac Prolong Wear NW20 (review), Benefit Porefessional, Benefit Erase Paste (review), Naked 2 (foxy and tease), Benefit BrowZings (review), Collection Liqid Liner, Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes, Benefit Dandelion Blush (review), Liz Earle Healthy Glow (review) and Avon Perfect Kiss Lipstick Racy Red (review).

Love M

xxx

New Challenge: Project 10 Pan

After the success of the spending ban and finally starting to see my stash reduce every so slightly (more skin care products as you'll see in my empties post coming up soon) I've decided to something that will help reduce my make up collection more.

I tend to love a product use it loads then save the last of it for 'special' occasions, this leaves me with loads of half used products.

Project 10 Pan is an idea I saw on YouTube sometime last year. Sorry if it was your video I can't remember who's it was. I'm sure lots of bloggers have done it previously.

Basically the rules are simple. Use up 10 products completely before you can buy more!!

For me there will be no excuses. I have plenty of stuff and if I run out of something I have enough other stuff in my collection that I can find an alternative for it.

I will do a mid point update when I've used up 5 things and a hopefully a post to say I've completed it.

With this for me there will be no cheating. No buying make up because I have points or vouchers, no Avon (my mum is a rep and gets me lots that way, she spoils me). No nothing. I'm really hoping I complete it by my Birthday. 

I'll be starting this on May 1st. Let me know if you fancy joining me and I'll add you're blog links to the bottom of this post :).

Hopefully this will be successful and I'll actually get through some of my products.

Maybe I'll end up with all different everyday products in here!

Love M

xxx

Credit Card Chaos

Morning Ladies!

How are you all liking my title up there??

It was my sneaky attempt at trying to do a spending ban without saying the words as they set my alarm bells ringing...

My last attempt at a ban ended with me whacking the credit card out in Cosmetics Company Outlet and purchasing a range of Origins, Ojon, Smashbox and Mac products in a beauty product frenzy.

I have since not stopped for breath and have bought a vast array of products including Urban Decay palettes, Laura Mercier products, Nail varnishes, Clothes, brushes, Mac palettes and let's not forget shoes and bags.

In truth, I need to stop my spending and start trying to pay off my credit card bill (with this month's pay!) and save to pay off my overdraft.

I know some of you will probably be a little horrified that at 25 I'm still in my overdraft, living at home, using a credit card etc etc.

Bear with me here. I recently finished a Masters (in December) and have only just started having monthly pay cheques again so the first few were a bit of a novelty and helped pay for Christmas.....basically I blew them.

But that's ok. Now I need to get my ass into gear and pay off the overdraft that helped me live for 2 years of my course which will probably take me some time. I've paid a quarter off so far but I can do better than this.

Primarily I will need to stop using my credit card. This has already gone to my mum for fear of another frenzy working its way into my life.

I officially stopped spending last Monday (15th) but am trying not to think about it and so haven't mentioned it yet.

My plan was to go cold turkey for a month without any spending and then allow myself to buy things after that on a necessary basis.

This will not include any form of beauty products however, they are blanket banned for the immediate future due to the severe lack of space in my bedroom.

I might take pictures for an update of the Beauty Rehab posts but lets just put it this way, 4 drawers, a cupboard, half a wardrobe and 2 suitcases of products later and there ain't much room to spare let me tell you!

So the rules of the ban:

1) No spending for a month

2) After the month is up I can buy clothing and similar items but absolutely no products

3) No beauty products AT ALL

4) Outings including food and drink do not count as otherwise I'd be quite a sad little hermit (I rarely go out so this will not be an issue for overspending)

5) If there comes a time when my resolves is low, it's ok for me to spend my hard earned Debenhams and Boots points, but no more than the amount on each card. This will also incur some sort of penalty, another month maybe? Eeeeek.

With that in mind I also bring you my first wishlist:

1) Mac eyeshadows to bulk out my new palette (post soon!) including Cranberry and some nudes

2) Antipodes Manuka Face Mask - so many rave reviews, so annoyed I didn't get this before the ban

3) Some other form of trainer - Converse or Supras or Nikes, I want you, I need you.

We will see how this grows and changes over the next few weeks.

How did your spenidng bans go? Do you have any tips or hints for helping me not spend for a month?

I think I can do it....it's just bargains that I can't resist!

L xxx

NOTD: OPI James Bond Tomorrow Never Dies

Following on from my previous post last week, here is one of the most beautiful purples I have ever seen.

This is OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies from their James Bond 007 Collection:

I did take rather a lot of photos of this colour as in every light it seemed to come out a different shade of a beautiful metallic shimmery purple.



In a flash picture it looks a more blue toned purple but above without a flash it looks more like a Cadbury purple, and we all love a Cadbury purple colour!
The reality is somewhat between the two as it does show up differently in different lights.
It's absolutely gorgeous and has been great whilst the evenings were longer and darker and I wanted something more varied than the winter berry colours.



This colour would also look great matt which I tried out but stupidly forgot to take a photo of, silly me!
And I cannot wait to try out some glitter on top, galaxy style nails anyone??



Tomorrow Never Dies is also one of my most memorable Bond movies from my childhood as I remember my dad watching it.



This colour applies opaque in two coats which is what we have come to expect from a brand like OPI.
It's a pretty flawless application - though my photos tell a more revealing story as these were actually taken 3 days after the initial painting.
I'd been to work for 3 days before these photos and still the polish is barely chipped which is nothing short of a miracle working in a lab and my fingers and nails are definitely put through their paces.



What do you think of Tomorrow Never Dies?
Too much of a Cadbury purple for you or does it make you feel warm and fuzzy inside like it does for me??


L xxx