#11 - Vintage, cheap as chips.

Alot of people know I'm a vintage lover. I love a good bargain, and when there's so many vintage emporium's and charity shops around the UK, why should we not pop in and take a peek and see if we find anything that we could compare to something on the high street from somewhere like Topshop or Zara? Having previously working in Topshop for 3 years, I know that some of the items in there can be way above some people's price ranges, let alone NOT worth that amount of money.

So, I decided one day whilst I was in town to go and take a peek in The Salvation Army, a charity shop in my local town centre in Luton. All I could say was "I'm never shopping anywhere else!" - for a good few years I've been grabbing vintage bargains on good ol' Ebay, as well as the occasional item from Topshop and other high street stores. You will probably find that some of the things you lust for in some of the more expensive retail stores out there, you can find what may aswell be a replica of that exact item, but in a charity shop for £'s less than what you'd pay originally.

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This beautiful nude/stone long lined blouse with a pussy bow tie, I found hidden in amongst loads of cute little peter-pan collared blouses in the charity shop. With spare buttons still attached, this beauty cost me only £3.99. The material is so soft, it feels like suede. Perfect for casual day wear, even a night out. That's the beauty of charity shop buys, they're cheap as chips and you can dress them to fit any occasion you like!

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Aaah. The tweed blazer. Believe me, I lusted over a tweed blazer I saw in Zara about a year ago when I was walking past the store in Oxford Circus and I promised myself I'd get it when I had enough money. As you can probably guess, I broke this promise. However, I found this lovely think blazer in the same charity shop. Costing me £4.99, in a high street store such as Topshop, you're likely to pay no less than £60 - I'm currently in the process of customizing this, I've got various cuts and colours of leather to sew onto the elbows to make elbow patches (with some help from my lovely Granddad)

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This cute little cream embroidered thick aran cardigan has been a lovely little addition to my wardrobe. In fact, it's now a favourite of mine. You may recognise it from one of my previous posts as I wore it on my 18th birthday. They had quite a few of these in the charity shop, I must admit when I found this as well as the tweed blazer and the pussy-bow long lined blouse, I was really impressed! We all know that in Topshop you would pay around £50 for a cardigan this thick, and with this much detail. As I previously have purchased one of the aran cardigans from there for £55. This little one cost me £4.99.

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When I worked in Topshop, I remember when it was time for me to get my uniform. I was so desperate a cape EXACTLY like this but it was £95, and I wouldn't ever spend that much money on an item of clothing unless I had more £'s to back it up with. As they say "if you've got the money, why not?". However, this beauty caught my eye on one of the racks in the same charity shop, it's SO thick (even though it's a Size 20) it gives a beautiful baggy, oversized vintage look to any outfit. It looks so cute with black tights and a chunky pair of heels with a little vintage dress underneath. So pretty. And guess what? At £4.99 I have to say once again, SO IMPRESSED.

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Along with all of the clothes they have in there. They also have a little cabinet under the till meaning you can browse cute little items like jewellery, powder mirrors, household accessories as you're paying. And this happened to catch my eye just as I was buying my items. How cute it is? I'm a sucker for anything floral, shabby chic and vintage. This was just the cherry on top. It's an adorable little powder mirror made by 'Stratton' (made in England) - now me being me, I told my Nan and Granddad about this amazing buy and my Granddad happened to mention how his Mum had one but with a blue floral pattern on the front, except it was boxed and was given to my Nan when my Great Grandmother passed away. He couldn't find it in the end which was a shame. But we did spend time researching the brand name 'Stratton' and found that they still sell now, and the price they sell at is between £25 to £35. And I purchased this one for *drum roll please?* £3. Bargain right? It was the perfect little addition to my shopping trip!

The Salvation Army is now my new favourite place to find lots of vintage goodies and fashionable clothes at a perfect price. In fact, I'm popping in there after work tomorrow for a quick browse (that could be fatal, I'll probably end up leaving with bags full!) - however, if I pick up anything tomorrow that catches my eye, I'll be sure to let you all know and blog away!

Are you guys second hand shoppers?

What's been your BEST charity shop buy?

♥

#6 - GlossyBox ♥

Okay so I found out about GlossyBox today after looking on a blog I follow. So I decided to check it out! Went on to their website and it looks and sounds so amazing! £10.00 (+ £2.95 for p&p) a month for a beautifully packaged monthly box of beauty products and samples to try out from really high end brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Leighton Denny (amazing!) and O.P.I, there are so many more!

The box they package it all up in is stunning, it's so beautifully done and it's such an amazing idea for those who are interested in beauty products! I think for what you get, it is most definitely worth the money. So I've decided to sign up at the end of February after my 18th birthday. And the amazing thing, you can actually buy these boxes, and send them as gifts! AND they do a GlossyBox for men! Pretty cool huh..

If you haven't heard of GlossyBox, head over to the website:

www.glossybox.co.uk

#5 - Beauty tips.

Like most girls, I’ve gone months and months trying to find the ‘perfect’ make up to use that doesn’t dry my skin out, irritate it etc. I’d walk aimlessly around shops wondering whether or not I should use different types of foundation depending on the seasons of the year, like mineral for Spring/Summer and liquid for Autumn/Winter so it doesn’t dry out my skin? After spending WAY too much money trying to find what I feel most comfortable and happy using, I finally found what I needed which meant I didn’t have to keep buying new foundations to stop my skin from drying out. So I’ve decided to share my beauty tips with you all, that you can also use all year round without worrying about dry and irritated skin!

I’ve been using L’Oréal Paris’ True Match Minerals Foundation for years, and always found that when it came to the Winter, it would irritate my skin (this is NOT due to the foundation, I have a skin condition that effects my eyelids around Winter) – and I needed something to add to the foundation to prevent my skin from drying out, so here’s my solution.

1. Apply Clarins Beauty Flash Balm BEFORE applying any Foundation to your face (preferably Mineral) – don’t rub it in like you’d rub in moisturiser, smooth it across your skin lightly and evenly. On the back of the bottle it says “apply make-up immediately”, I suggest you don’t because it seems to make mineral look darker if you don’t let it soak into your skin for 10-15 seconds.

2. After waiting, apply your make up, don’t apply heavy/large amounts all at once over this Beauty Balm. After applying your Foundation you should notice that you have a healthy looking glow to your cheeks, and that your make-up doesn’t make you look like you’ve “caked it on”.

(The colour I use is Golden Ivory, it’s the lightest colour as my skin is quite pale)

Once I started using the Beauty Flash Balm I noticed a massive difference in what my skin looked like when I had make-up on. It acts like a second layer of skin that stays moisturised and cleansed even when you’ve applied your Foundation. It really does help to keep your skin soft and moisturised, especially in this cold weather! I’ve suffered with a skin disorder around my eyes for about 4 years, it started to happen after my Dad passed away, and was due to stress/crying and I went to the doctors about it because it was getting way too much. I’d been researching on Google, Yahoo, Skin blogs etc to find out if anybody else had been suffering and it turns out that I wasn’t the only one with it. What happens is, the layers of skin around the eye begin to flake off, become red, itchy and really quite painful and swollen, I was given 10-15 different steroid creams to see if it helped, these only made the condition worse and at this point the doctors were telling me not to wear make-up, or any mascara (which you can imagine, for a girl my age it’s a kick in the stomach self-esteem wise). So, if any of you have been through the same as me I have a solution now. After several doctors appointments, 10-15 different steroid creams, moisturising every half an hour, and wearing no make-up, I decided to leave the mascara behind and wear false eyelashes. Alot of people would ask me “Doesn’t the glue irritate your skin?” - the answer is no, it’s only a really thin layer of glue, and it also depends on the type of eyelashes you decide to use.

Eylure – 140, 145 and 205.

I’ve been using Eylure for about a year now and haven’t had the problem with my eyes since I started using them. The conclusion I came up with, is that when you wear normal mascara on your eyes, when it comes to taking it off, you have to be quiet rough to make sure you’re getting it all off your eyes, and if you have sensitive skin like mine, it’s not exactly a great thing to be doing as it can effect you when you least expect it to. Your eyelids are so thin, any vigorous motion to take make-up off can really damage them and it’s important that we take care of our skin! “Do you not apply mascara over the eyelashes, or on your bottom eyelashes?” - Yes, I do, I still apply small amounts on my lower lashes, but I know my limits so that it’s not too hard to remove, and I also apply it lightly to my top lashes after putting the eyelashes on so it blends in.

Max Factor’s False Lash Effect is a really good product to use. I wouldn’t ever use anything else. With the condition I have it’s crucial to not apply alot of mascara. You can use the smallest amount of this on your lower/upper last and not have to dip the brush back into the bottle for more.

After getting used to wearing false eyelashes, and also getting used to not having the condition with the skin around my eyes. I started using this eyeshadow trio by Clinique. It’s really light, and the colours are gorgeous and make your eyes stand out especially if you don’t really like using eyeliner. I don’t tend to use the Definer (number 3) but if you apply the Base colour, then mix it with the Contour the colour is really lovely, it ends up looking like a fudge colour. The colours in this Clinique Colour Surge Eyeshadow Trio are Daybreak, Strawberry Fudge, and Chocolate Chip.

Laura Mercier’s Bronze/Blush – I’ve used this for quite a while. On top of a mineral Foundation the colour looks really lovely. But applied on top of a liquid Foundation, I find looks very dark and a bit over the top. I love this product, the colours mix really well together and give a sunkissed glow to the cheeks, and really

helps to define your cheekbones too.

As much as I love Laura Mercier’s Bronze/Blush. I recently started using this Glam Bronze by L’Oréal (in the exact colour of the picture) – it really isn’t heavy on the cheeks at all. It’s more like a shimmer to the skin that also adds a sunkissed glow which provides colour to the cheeks. It’s really gorgeous. You don’t need alot and again, the colours blend really well on the skin.

An addition to any girls cosmetics would have to be a really good moisturiser right? Well I’ve searched high and low for the perfect moisturiser, and went through so many before finding this life saver. It’s amazing! It is quite expensive but it’s well worth it, especially if you have skin like mine that really needs to be moisturised an awful lot to prevent dryness and damage. Elemis also do a Maximum Moisture Night Cream, but I just tend to use this one for day and night. It’s really light, again you don’t need alot of it as one tiny pea sized amount goes a long way.

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm – £27.50 (50ml) or £55.00 (100ml) from Boots.
L’Oréal Paris’ True Match Minerals Foundation – £12.99 from Boots/Superdrug.
Eylure False Eyelashes, 140, 145 and 205 – £6 to £8 each from Boots/Superdrug.
Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara – £9 from Boots/Superdrug.
Clinique Colour Surge Eyeshadow Trio – Not available as a Trio anymore, can get the colours as a duo or individually from any Clinique Counter in Debenhams etc, probably ranged in price between £9 to £20.
Laura Mercier Bronze/Blush Duo – £20.50
L’Oréal Paris’ Glam Bronze ‘Sun Radiance’ Trio – £5 from Boots/Superdrug.
Elemis Maximum Moister Day Cream – £35.80 (50ml) WELL worth the price from www.timetospa.co.uk