My Sales Haul | Winter 2014

Hi everyone !

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts these days (or rather these weeks, huh). I've been so busy with university and work that I couldn't find the time to sit down and write a proper thing. But I'm back today with a haul !

I know it's a bit late but I've decided to do a sales haul. I don't post hauls every time I go shopping, but I'm so happy with what I got this year (in terms of clothing) that I cannot keep that to myself !

I've picked up a few nice pieces for very good prices, which always makes you happy, right ? I'll start with the clothes because that's the main thing I bought, then I'll show you the two tiny makeup items I bought also.

First from New Look, I got two cute dresses, which look like this :

As you can see, it is a black dress with pink and purple flowers all over. Isn't it cute ? I've taken a better picture for you to see the print :

 

The shape is also very flattering, and this is the main reason why I finally bought the dress. It really fits me and makes a pretty silhouette :)

It was 12.00€ reduced from 29.99€, so quite a bargain !

The second dress from New Look is this one :

And the detailing on the top part looks like this :

It is a simple black dress, with a floaty skirt (I love it !), and the only touch of colour is the detailing on the top, embroidered with light pink flowers (you can't really see the colours on the pics though). I thought it was very feminine, and it looks waaay prettier in real life ! I know it's going to become one of my favourite dresses.

Again, it was 12.00€ reduced from 29.99€ !

I bought another dress, from Pull and Bear this time. It is a light beige dress with lace on the sides and on the top part. It will be perfect for spring and summer !

 

I looove the detailing around the edges at the top, it is so pretty and makes it looks more "finished" and delicate. It was 25.99€ reduced from 39.99€, which is a good price compared to what I would have paid for it if I had bought it a few weeks earlier !

Next I went to H&M, where I bought two amazing shirts/blouses.

The first one is this beige blousy top with lace at the front :

 

It is very sheer so you have to wear something underneath it. The sleeves are in a different material than the rest, very flowy and nice. You can't really see it but the collar goes up on the neck, which gives the blouse a very vintage style. I looove it ! It was 15.00€ instead of 29.95€.

The second one is a pale pink shirt :

The colour doesn't really show in the pictureS but it is pink. The thing that got me to buy it was the collar, I think it is the cutest thing ever. It is a very simple shirt, but then it can be worn with anything so it's a staple to have in your wardrobe. This one was also 15.00€, instead of 24.95€.

I'm done with the clothes ! Here are the few beauty things that I got :

 I got two lip products from Sephora :

 - An ultra vinyl lip pencil, in this pretty pink shade, perfect for spring. The pencil reminds me of the Chubby sticks, although the quality is not as good obviously.

 - A long-lasting vinyl lip lacquer. I bought it because of the colour, which is dark, almost burgundy, but with fushia pink sparkles on it. When you put it on the lips, it is darker than what it is in the packaging. The texture is very sticky, which bugs me a little. It is quite difficult to apply also, you struggle to have an even colour everywhere on your lips and you have to take your time to apply it properly. I'm very disappointed in it, if I knew that I wouldn't have bought it even if it was really cheap !

They were both 2.00€, so I got them for 4.00€ instead of 16.80€.

Lastly, I went to a Make Up Forever shop, because I heard they were making sales on a selection of products (unfortunately it wasn't in the whole shop) and some were very interesting. And indeed, you have some little palettes which were reduced by 70%. Amazing ! There were also liners, and the other things I don't remember.

The only thing I bought was this small-sized HD Powder, which was also with 70% off. It contains 5g of powder, so I think it will last for a while ! And for 4.26€, it was totally worth it !

***

So that's it for my sales haul ! I thought I would get more beauty products than clothes, but I'm actually happy that I came across such bargains to add to my wardrobe !

Julia xx

What I got for Christmas + my Christmas cupcakes !

First of all, I want to wish you a happy new year ! May 2014 bring you joy, health and happiness :)

And I know it's a bit late, but I thought it would be nice to show you the things I got for Christmas. And at the end of this post, I'll feature some pictures of the Christmas cupcakes I made for my family gathering on Christmas Eve - everybody liked them and I'm quite proud so I wanted to share that too.

Let's start with the presents ! I really love them all, as I chose them myself - yep there was no surprise of any kind with those, but I was asked to choose and so I did. I'm so excited about all this, I always feel like a

child when I open my Christmas presents !

The first one I want to talk about is the one I coveted the most and for the longest time. My own Deathly Hallows necklace ! All Harry Potter fans will know what this is, and understand why I am so excited about it. This symbol represents the three objects that, when you possess them all, make you the Master of Death : the Cloak of Invisibility (the triangle), the Resurrection Stone (the circle), and the Elder Wand (the line in the middle).

I won't go in details about the whole story, but to me this symbol is one of the strongest signs we have in the Harry Potter fandom and universe, and I'm so so happy I now have this amazing necklace. 

I'm a little afraid to wear it honestly, I don't want to damage it - but I'll definitely do it anyway, it looks so cool !

Next is a perfume. I'm almost running out of the Flower by Kenzo I've been using for months (this is my signature scent I guess, one of my favourite perfumes ever), and my mother kindly suggested to buy me a new one for Christmas. I wanted to change and not buy the Kenzo again, and I went for the Dalhia Noir by Givenchy.

I remember smelling it when it first came on stores, and I immediately loved it. It is very different from the scents I go for usually. I couldn't describe it, but I feel like it is a more "mature" feminine scent, a bit stronger too than what I'm used to. So I decided to go for it ! It came in a little set with a nice box to keep it in.

To stay in the beauty theme, I got the Sugarlicious kit by Benefit. I've always wanted to try Benefit products, since everybody likes them and says the quality is really good. This kit is composed of the Sugarbomb blush, the High Beam highlighter, the Benetint for lips and cheeks and the Ultra Plush Sugarbomb gloss, all in sample size. I'm not going to talk too much about this since I want to do a complete review, but I can safely say that this kit is amazing and that I love every product in it !

That's all for the actual presents ! I mainly got money from my family, which is greatly appreciated because sales are starting tomorrow in France :P

And now, my Christmas cupcakes !

I really wanted to cook something for my family this year, because I always eat a lot but I don't really help to cook at all, which is a bit unfair to my nice aunties who spend their afternoon in the kitchen.

I found this wonderful cupcakes decoration kit in New Look, it is sooo cute ! 

It is composed of 24 little cases with cute Christmas patterns on it (I looove the reindeer !), and 24 toppers of four different styles : Santas, glittery stars, penguins and reindeer.

So I made vanilla-coconut cupcakes and used these items to make them look Christmassy. 

And here is what they looked like in the end :

And here is a close-up look :

I'm really glad with how they turned out, especially on the top. I wanted the topping to look like snow, and I just added the little gold sugar because it was nice haha. I don't think I need to write the recipe here, I basically just took one from the Internet and changed it a bit eventually. 

This part of my post doesn't have any relevance at all haha, but I just wanted to show this to you :)

And as this post is long enough already, I'm just gonna wish you a happy new year again, and I'll see you next time !

Lots of love,

Julia xx

Lush birthday haul

Hey there !

Since it was my birthday on the 25th of October, I received some Lush products (all of my friends know that I'm a huge Lush fan !). I thought I would share them with you, and give my thoughts on the items that I've already tested. Let's go !

I'll start by my favourite items, the bath products !

I've got the Sunnyside bubble bar, which I can't wait to use - I looove glitter ! And it smells really good, a bit like lemon and orange and fresh citrus fruits like that. 

Also I have the Shoot for the stars ballistic. First, the name is really cute ! and the smell is amazing, it actually smells like the "Honey I washed the kids" soap, a.k.a. my favourite Lush scent ever. And it is a big ballistic, you could use it in two or three baths if you cut it.

I have two more more bath products, from the Hello Gorgeous present box.

The huge white and pink thing is the Comforter bubble bar. Again if you buy this you'll get a good use out of it, it is so big that you would probably have it for quite a while ! and it smells delicious.

The pretty pink ballistic with flowers on it is called Think Pink. Although I'm repeating myself a lot there, it smells very good and can be divided in two for more use. A thing that may be a bit annoying is that the flowers keep falling and I lose it everywhere, but it won't matter anymore when it's melting in the bath !

Then, as you can see from the picture above, I've got the Vanilla Dee-lite body lotion. It is a very light product and actually doesn't smell of vanilla, it is more flowery and somehow reminds me a bit of lilac (which is my favourite flower, yay !). It is not very moisturising though, so for autumn-winter I would not use it all the time as a real moisturiser.

Speaking of moisturiser, a sample of the Gorgeous face cream came in the box. It is a very good moisturiser and does a great job. The smell this time is not really my cup of tea, it smells of orange blossom so it is quite strong - but other people may like it. It is nonetheless a good product and I'll still use it at night to moisturise my skin before bed !

Last but not least, a shower product : the Rub rub rub shower scrub. 

 

First of all, can we talk about the colour of this ? I love it ! It is so fun to use. One more time, the smell is quite strong and reminds me of lemon and citrus fruits. It has sea salt in it to exfoliate the skin, and it is very good - not too gentle but not too strong either. You can also use it as a simple shower gel, that's what I've been doing since I got it.

So that's all for my Lush birthday haul ! I really enjoy these products and I'm kind of using them all at the same time haha. 

And now that the Christmas collection is out, I think I'm gonna buy some new stuff soon... I can't fight against Lush, unfortunately !

Julia xx

Collective haul #2 : beauty

This is the second part of my haul, all the beauty bits that I got.
Here is an overview of it :

The first thing (and the biggest) is the Kenzo bag. It came with the "Flower" perfume in it (50ml), and a bottle of body milk of the perfume (50ml too).

I love the smell of this perfume, it is my "spring" scent and I was almost running out of it so I'm glad I got this. Plus the bag is really pretty and I'll use it to store makeup.

The set was 73.00 € (I'm still shocked by the prices of perfumes sometimes !), but there was a discount on it (all the sets were reduced at the time I think).

Then I got the Nuxe "Rêve de Miel" lipbalm again, I missed it too much ! I took the jar version, because the texture is thicker and protects the lips better. As I've got dry lips all the time, I want the best moisturiser possible and this is the best I've tried.

It was 6.95, much cheaper than it normally is (the pharmacy were I bought it made cheaper prices for almost everything I think).

In the Glamour magazine (June edition), I got a sample of the Clarins body crub (30ml). It smells very good and I can't wait to use it !

Then my mother ordered a few things from the brand Agnes B. It's a French brand of cometics (although it is also a clothes brand), so I don't know if you can have it in other countries. 

The best thing about this brand is that they often make very good deals and reduce their prices. This time, we got three products for 20.00 € only. 

The first one I got is a blush/bronzer (kind of). I wanted it for so long, it's so beautiful ! It looks like this :

I'll wear this when the sun is around more. The blush was 27.90€ without any discount, so even more expensive that what my mother actually paid... 'Tis cool.

Along with that I got a lip product called "Cinémat". It is a sort of lip lacquer, with a mat finish once you've applied it. I chose the colour "Fushia Audrey" (Audrey for Audrey Hepburn I guess). It was 18.90€ without discount.

And I got an orange lipgloss... for free ! It is a present they give you when you buy from them. And I'm glad they gave me that because I've been thinking about trying orange on my lips lately, to see if it suits me. Now I'll be able to try without buying anything new haha !
So here are the two products :

And here are the swatches :

The last thing that was for me in the order was a sample of mascara (along with the little pocket of foundation/lipstick/eyeshadow samples), again a present from the brand... It looks like this :

I tried it on once to see what it looked like and... it's not overwhelming, it does the job but the eyelashes don't look long enough for me, it's a very natural and discrete effect. So I'm not gonna use it regularly for now, I'll keep it for when I don't have any other mascara left !

***

This is the end of my haul ! I'm really excited about everything that I got, and can't wait to try all these products. Yay !

Julia xx

Collective haul #2 : clothing

Hello everybody !

I went shopping these past two weeks, and I bought a few pieces from different shops that I thought I would show you.
I decided to make two separate articles for the clothing and the makeup, so that it's not too big and boring to read it all at once.
Let's start !

First I got this beautiful dress from Pull and Bear :

 

It is a bodycon dress with an amaaazing flower pattern on it. I literally fell in love with the colours, with the flowers... and also the shape of the dress and the fact that it's very structured because of the black panels on the sides. It will be a perfect dress for summer parties !

It was 25.99, and you can find it on the website. 

Pull and Bear has very good stuff at the moment, especially in terms of white/cream lacy dresses... they have a few different ones and they are all stunning !

The next item is from New Look :

It is a creamy white lacy cropped top. The sleeves are made of lace only, just like the back of the top, but of course you have some material at the front so that it's not see-through.

The lace looks like this :

You could wear it with anything : high-waisted shorts or jeans, a skirt, or even a dress where you would show the bottom part only. It is a very simple piece but that's good.

It was 14.99€ and again you can find it on the website.

Then I went to Forever 21 a few days ago and I bought a couple of items.

First I got this dress. The moment I saw it I knew it was made to be mine. But I'll have to wait until the sun comes again to wear it... 

It is a kind of dip dyed dress, with blue, green and purple colour designs. When you see it from afar, it looks like clouds. Sort of a remix of galaxy prints, you know. 

It is sleeveless and floaty, very summery. Perfect ! It was 23.95€.

Then, again in the "weird but cool" prints, I got this sleeveless top... with loads of cat heads on it. Yes.

It is a love or hate item, but I like it a lot. It is so easy to throw it on top of a pair of black leggings or tuck it in a skirt. And it was only 13.95 !

The last clothing item I got from Forever 21 is this little top. It is light blue and looks like denim, with white dots all over. It is made to be tied at the front. I've been wanting a top like this for a while, it will be awesome for summer, with shorts or with a skirt. This was 15.75€.

Then I got a necklace : it is a very simple gold necklace with an elephant pendant on it. I love necklaces with animals on it so this is amazing and sooo cute. It was 2.90€, what a bargain !

On the same trip, I went to Bershka. I wanted to buy so many things there ! but it was quite pricey so I went for one item only. It is a sort of cropped top, white with "tropical" designs on it : leaves, flowers, parrots, etc.

It will be perfect during summer, to throw over a pair of shorts ! It was 12.99€.

The very last item of this haul is from Claire's. It is a chunky gold necklace. I wanted one for so long but I couldn't find anything that I liked, until I saw this one. There were also chunkier ones but I chose the "medium" one. It was 6.95€ I think.

(And sorry for the weird picture, I didn't know how to show it well haha.)

***

So that's all for my clothing/accessories haul, the next one will be my beauty haul.

Julia xx

Collective Haul

Hello there !

So I was supposed to do a haul last week, but I had issues with my camera so I couldn't take pictures... but everything is solved and my haul is here !

Unfortunately I don't have the price tags anymore, as it's been quite a few weeks since I've done my shopping, sorry for that !

It is quite a big haul because I bought these things during several shopping trips, from the beginning of January until last week.

First I went to New Look, where I bought a few items :

I found this little high-waisted blue skirt, perfect for every day and that you can wear with absolutely everything. It is in a very soft material and the colour looks like light denim, even though it's not. It is very flowy and nice, it will be perfect when the spring comes.

I also got this very pretty shirt. I had been looking for one of these (aka animal-printed) for months ! and when I saw this one there were only two left... and luckily one in my size ! I was so happy. 

It is a very sheer shirt (you definitely have to wear something under it) with little purple owls all over it... how cute ! I'm not a massive fan of the gold buttons but I won't complain, perfection is hard to find, uh ?

 

And here are the little owls :

 

And finally from New Look I got two necklaces, both very simple. The first one is a cross necklace, and the best thing about it is that it is cut in the middle, and the two sides of the cross are in different colours : one is silver and the other is a sort of old bronze gold. 

The other necklace is very very cute ! it is a little rocking horse. It is white and has gold details on it.

Then I went to a French shop called C&A - I don't know if there are shops of this brand in other countries. From there I just got two things. The first is a peach jumper. It has three-quarter length sleeves, and it is very thick - but not warm. I wear it with something underneath, just so that my skin isn't showing through the wholes of the knitting. I love this peach colour, and this item will be great for spring - it's not warm as a winter jumper, but thick enough for when the weather is still a little cold.

And I bought a pair of earrings. I think they are very classy ; light pink with little gems around it. 

The colour isn't really showing on this picture, sorry for that ! 

Next shop : Forever 21 !

You have to know that in France, we only have two F21 shops. That sucks. So last week was the first time that I shopped in there ! It was almost as exciting as going to Disneyland for the first time, haha. But hopefully some shops will be opening soon, and maybe in Paris so that it's easier for me to go... Let's pray !

One of my first items is this little shirt/blouse top. It is sleeveless, white and has amazing lace detail on it. When I saw it, I immediately fell in love. This is exactly my style !

I love everything that looks like old clothing from the early decades - and early centuries too, but clothes from the 19th century aren't much available anymore, are they ?

This shirt has a very vintage look. I'll be wearing it all the time, for sure !

Look closely at the collar... A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Then, in a totally different style, I got a top that I thought would be perfect for this summer (yes we're not even close to spring yet but...) with a pair of denim shorts and little sandals.

Usually, this is not my type of clothes ("American" looking stuff like this one with the eagle, you know what I'm talking about) but I really liked that one... so I got it. 

Just before going to pay, I saw wonderful Disney sweaters... As a huge Disney fan, I had to get one. There were Aladdin sweaters, Snow White sweaters... And Lion King sweaters. Yeah. I took the Lion King one, because it was the best - but I'm still disappointed that they didn't make a Little Mermaid design !

The picture with Simba is great, and again I'll be wearing it with everything - shorts and tights, a skirt and tights, leggings... 

The last top I bought is this grey sleeveless one, with leopards on it - wild, isn't it ?

Animal printed things are my favourite.

And in the jewellery section I only took a set of earrings. They are really cute and related to sailing. 

My next shop is Pull and Bear, where I got only one thing. It is a beige lacy dress, not wearable everyday but that I will wear on evening outs and parties. Again it looks quite "old" and antique (even though the picture does not really show that very well) so it is very me.

Close up picture :

And finally, my last items ! they are beauty products.

The first one is a Mac lipstick - my first Mac lipstick ! it is Dark Side.

I've been wanting a dark lipstick for so long, but couldn't find the right colour. And I saw this one in FayeWonderland's channel (she is an amazing Youtuber, check out her videos !) and it suited her well so I thought I should buy it myself !

And I'm glad I did. The colour is stunning and it stays on the lips for hours and hours.

My last item... or items, because they are the Naked nail polishes by Urban Decay. I have the Naked Palette 1, and love neutral colours like that, on the eyes as much as on the nails. I was so happy to get it ! I'll post an article with swatches when I try all the colours so that you can see them better.

***

So that is my haul done ! As I said it is a big one and I usually don't buy so many things, but it stands for almost two months of shopping so I guess it makes me an excuse, ha !

Thank you for passing by !

Julia xx