Retail Therapy

As a break from all the clearing I have been doing (yep it's still ongoing and I have bags of recycling stuff waiting for the right week to go out) I decided to have a trip to Bluewater on Saturday after I finished work. Predominently it was to go to Holland & Barrett, but I thought it would be nice to have a mooch, maybe look at some clothes, get a mini makeover etc. and something different from the usual weekend routine of working then going home to housework

I had a lovely makeover at the Benefit counter in House of Fraser and ended up buying their new foundation, 'Some Kind-a Gorgeous' which gives lovely light sheer coverage, evening out the skin tones without looking heavily made up. It's a lighter shade than 'You Rebel' so fits my skin tone better. I was also tempted by the '10' bronzer/highlighter, but managed to resist buying that, although I am now looking on e-bay. I do love their new packaging.

I also bought another new mascara. I have been on the quest for the perfect mascara for as long as I've been wearing make up. I don't want much, just a mascara that is easy to apply, that makes my pale, stubby lashes look long, dark & sumptuous, but doesn't clump leaving all my eyelashes nicely separated and preferably beautifully curled. Now over the years I have found mascaras to give me extra long lashes (Bourgois Coup de Theatre), ones with a good curl (Mister Mascara's Japanese Curling Formula) and OK everyday coverage (Mister Mascara's Classic Lash and Benefit's rose scented mascara). However, I still find that they all go clumpy and make my lashes stick together rather than beautifully separated, with the exception of the Mister Mascara Classic Lash and that is no longer available or I wouldn't still be trying to get the last out of my 4 year old tube (yes I kow you're supposed to change it every 3 months but in reality who does?) Of course the best ones for everyday do nothing to make my lashes look longer. Enter the latest contender - L'Oreal's Telescopic Clean Definition mascara. According to the blurb (and the fantastic picture of Penelope Cruz with the most amazing lashes) the special new brush coats each lash individually and spreads them out giving amazing definition and good length, and luckily it was on special offer at Boots. Obviously as soon as I got home I just had to try it out. The verdict? Not entirely impressed on first application. It did make them seem a bit longer but that may just have been because they were dark enough to be seen. The outside lashes stuck together (although this may be the way I applied it rather than the mascara). Also the coverage wasn't clumpy but not as even as it could be - not the worst mascara I've ever had, but certainly my eyes looked nothing like Penelope's. They looked even worse when 30 minutes later I chopped an onion and ended up with big panda eyes!

Clothes wise the range was just as disappointing as the last time I went shopping and I was horrified to see that a basic black jersey mock wrap top (the only thing I could find that I'd even consider looking at) was £35 in Evans. Instead I've done some bidding on e-bay and managed to get half a dozen tops from there at about the same price as the one top would have cost me. If they fit, great, I have some nice new cheap clothes for a while (until they get too big), if they don't I'll stick them back on e-bay and get something else instead.

Oh I also bought a new handbag. I wasn't going to buy any more, but as soon as I saw this on QVC I fell completely in love with it and knew I just had to have it. Unfortunately I got outbid on e-bay for one, but then someone else offered me theirs. I ended up getting it for over 25% less than I would have paid for it in the shop or on QVC, so that officially counts as a bargain.

All I need to do now is get my act together with sorting out my books and cds and actually get some stuff onto ebay myself!