Weekend Payday Treats

So it all started when last weekend I was a little bit bored. After browsing online I placed an order with Space NK, the main reason being the Nars One Night Stand palette. Excited for its arrival, I realised I didn't actually have a good blusher brush ! Now, Real Techniques brushes being my favourite brushes, I knew there was only one thing fit for it - the Real Techniques Blusher brush ! Off I went to Boots that afternoon, just to pick this one thing up and go. That didn't quite happen. Of course one item turned into three and before I knew it I was walking out the store very happy with all my new purchases !

Una Brennan is a brand I keep hearing about and this namely this mask ! I've tried other clay masks before, Origins Clear Improvement being the better known of them all, but I just didn't really see the big deal. However I thought I'd give them another go and picked up the Una Brennan Deep Clean Pore Purifying Clay Mask. I've so far used this just the once and I was quite blown away with the results ! My skin just felt so soft after and seemed to have so much more clarity and radiance to its overall appearance.

I followed this up with Hydraluron and then my old favourite Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum - a classic I will never be without. My skin felt so plump and dewy, as though the combination of all these products had replenished my skin and just added so much needed moisture and hydration back into it which are two things my skin desperately needs what with the dropping colder winter temperatures and harsh winds, as well as spending so much time working inside aeroplane cabins - air conditioning central !

So far I'm so happy with the results I'm seeing in my skin, and its only the first week ! Full detailed reviews on all these new things will follow over the next few weeks once I've had the chance to try them out further. Later that night I placed another online order, as I then decided I pretty much wanted to go all out and have a Skincare Overhaul so look out for more on that soon !

Haul: Zara, Topshop and Moleskine!

I filmed this haul video as soon as I got back from  a day off shopping because I was just so excited about what I'd brought! I had wanted all of the items shown in this video for such a long time! Three out of the four I wrote about in my April Wishlist! So happy to finally have gotten them! I think it's always so satisfying buying things you really wanted because it shows you hard work does pay off! Let me know in the comments which items your after!

3 Highly Desired Purchases! Zara, Topshop, Moleskine (The Zara Office City Bag is finally mine!)

I do not think I have walked away from a shopping centre as happily as I recently did in long time. Report: I am now the happy owner of a Zara Office City Bag! It has been a mission and a half to track this beauty down. Endless daily calls had been made to my nearest Zara to try and reserve one of these highly sought after bags and two unsuccessful trips to the store each time to only find them to be out of stock, but not today! It was love at first sight! In the past few days since the day I brought this bag home I've had it out on display in my room, its too lovely to be put away just yet and each time I catch a glimpse of it I love this bag more and more! It is so well made, and feels very strong and sturdy, so hopefully it should be hardwearing in order to stand the test of time as I've read some reviews where people say they've had trouble with the zips. The bag just looks so compact and looks more expensive than it really is (£49.99), and to me it is worth every single penny!

I also picked up these beautiful Topshop boots! They are in the design 'MIGHTY', and after admiring them from afar for a very long time I finally gave in and took them to the till! Somehow, as ironic as it seems, the weather has been lovely and sunny since the purchase of these boots, however I'm sure with the way England weather works these are bound to get an outing soon!

Lastly I picked up this wonderful Moleskine notebook! I am so happy with it that somehow days later it is still in its plastic packaging as I can't bring myself to start writing in it as its so perfect! I had wanted a Moleskin for such a long time, they always look so sleek, and finally now I have one of my own!

I simply adore this bag!

I filmed a haul video as soon as I got home and I will upload that tomorrow on my Youtube channel LucysBeautyLife. The haul also includes another Zara bag that I purchased recently, and you'll see all the items featured in this post in much closer detail!

So that's 3 items crossed off of my April Wishlist, I wonder how many more I'll pick up before the months over? If I do I'll be sure to let you know! Let me know what luxuries your wishing for this April in the comments! Now I see Space NK has a certain discount code on the go lately which I'm sure if your beauty addicts like me you'll have heard of by now, and it may well be just the thing to lure me in! So lets see how much willpower I have when it comes to beauty... REN, Kevyn Aucoin, Hourglass, I'm looking at you ;)

The Test: Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum - How much of a difference does it actually make!?

I first tried Estée Lauders Advanced Night Repair last summer and in short I was won over from day one. At first I dabbled with the 30ml- it was expensive, I weren't sure if it'd be for me, so I figured to go with the smallest size was the safest bet. However I worked my way through that in about 3 months and then it was time for a repurchase. This time round I ordered the 50ml and due to buying it in a Debenhams sale, getting that slight discount made the price slightly more justifiable! When I'd finally got through this bottle, I tried to back away from it, see if i could do without it, see if I reallyyy needed it! And two weeks later the answer to this is I really, really do!

I'd forgotten my 50ml bottle had also come with a cute 7ml travel size version since it was Christmas stock, and this teensy bottle is what I have used for my testing here! ;) Simply put- once I'd used my final drop of 50ml ANR, I waited a week or so to see whether the lack of ANR in my routine changed my skin in any way. Then, after seeing a big change, I incorporated my 7ml bottle back into the nightly mix to see what happened! So here are the results...

The difference in my skin after cutting out this Estee Lauder favourite is shocking! Since using ANR, I now see how much spots had been kept at bay, oiliness greatly reduced, the general appearance had just been better! But I now see it's kind of one of those products where it's easier to see a difference without it, than with it! You get used to this great skin, and it's only when it's no longer part of your nightly skin regime that you see the difference it really made! 

So off I will go, and hand over the cash for my 3rd bottle of the stuff! Yes it is a hefty price tag but really it's a small price to pay when you see the wonders it truly does for your skin! I remember seeing all the beauty bloggers having this product feature regularly in posts and videos, and I guess I am now one of ANR's cult followers aswell! When my future ANR's run out I wont try to fight it next time, I will just know it is an essential, that must be repurchased again and again and again. I really tried to see if I could go without it and figure out whether it was simply a part of my routine that was just there and didn't really do anything, but I can confirm it is an absolute must-have item that everyone needs to have in their lives!

ANR is the ultimate in creating luxe, dewy, glowy, fresh and radiant skin! Immediately after I apply this in the evenings, my face appears plumped up and rejuvenated! I used to use this as the final step in my routine, as I felt if I applied something else on top it may water down the serum, and become diluted. But lately I've been laying Elemis FreshSkin Softly Softly Moisturiser over ANR and I'm starting to feel as though this is a wonder combination! In the space of just four nights of reintroducing ANR, paired with Elemis' Softly Softly, my skin has done a complete 360! I'm so happy with the results! So much so that on my first free day after payday, I'm heading to the shops and the Estee Lauder counter will be the very first stop!

Beauty Wishlist: April 2013

In my spare time I watch beauty videos and read beauty blogs constantly and in my head I'm always compiling and adding to some sort of mental wish list. When I'm not at my laptop I spend my time dreaming of beauty halls, thinking about Space Nk, remembering back to when I visited a Sephora- just imaging what it would be like to save up then go to London to buy everything! Most days when I'm at work, I find myself daydreaming of all this! So today I finally wrote out this wish list...

Elemis FreshSkin Softly Softly Daily Moisturiser- Nice and light, not too heavy!

Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick - pretty much all, I mean any of the colours!

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair - this will be my 3rd repurchase!

Nars Laguna Bronzer- 2nd repurchase!

Alpha H Liquid Gold - I've heard about this for so long, I just want to try it already!!

REN Glycolatic Radiance Renewal mask- you are probably starting to notice a trend here.. anything for glowy skin!

Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder- The idea would be to use this product to contour, and then the Nars Laguna Bronzer to add colour to my face!

Kevyn Aucoin Celestial Powder- It seems as though everyone is recommended this right now, so I have to give it a go!

Oribe Dry Texturing Spray- On a daily basis if I leave my hair to air dry it has lots of volume, but also lots of frizz... this is not the best as I'm sure you can imagine. So instead I straighten or curl my hair, but that does mean compromising on natural volume, so this product would be great to get some height back into the roots!

Laura Mercier Blusher in Lush Nectarine- This looks like the prettiest colour for Spring/Summer!

Sachajuan Ocean Mist- After watching Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup talk about this product in her latest Cult Beauty Haul, its left me wanting to try out a salt spray, especially since I'm away for two weeks in May so this would be perfect to take with me!

Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm- Again, similar to the Kevyn Aucoin powders, and practically this entire Wishlist- there is so much hype surrounding these products, that it just makes you want to try them!

And a few things on my Wishlist that aren't quite beauty ;) ...

Zara Office City Bag- Need. To. Get. This. Bag.

Canon EOS 6OOD - I really want to get into blogging, and this takes the most amazing photos!

A classic Moleskin notebook - they just look so sleek!

Topshop 'FLISS' Embellished Sandals

Miss Selfridge Coral Textured Skater Skirt- this would look so pretty on a warm summer day! I can already think of so many ways I'd where this skirt!

Topshop 'MIGHTY' Black Leather Zip Boots- I've loved the Ambush ones I've seen lots of bloggers wearing, but never really knew if they'd suit me, but these are so reasonable (£45) I feel compared to the price of the Ambush's that I really want to give them a go!

This list is really long but hopefully I'll be able to start ticking them off one by one, ones I haven't brought in April then definitely over the summer! This kind of post will become a regular feature on my blog- at the start of each month I'll tell you everything I'm lusting after, and then at the end of that month I'll let you know what I managed to get hold of! Wishlist's are definitely one of my all time favourite blog posts to read! Let me know in the comment's what your coveting this April!

A speedy estimation of these items works out roughly, somewhere around... extremely expensive, so I highly doubt how many of these I will have in my possession by the end of April! But any I do pick up I will gladly report! ;)