Hauling My Way Into the New Year | 5MF

Happy New Year!! I hope you all enjoyed your NYE celebrations and are feeling positive towards the New Year – I know a lot of bloggers have written posts about their hopes and resolutions for the year, so link me up if you’ve done one!

A few days ago I visited my local town, gift cards in hand, preparing to shop until my hands ached and my gift cards had been tossed into every shop store bin, useless, for I had spent every last penny. However, my day didn’t really go like that since I was quite disappointed with all the Christmas sales – anyone else found this? I guess, long term, it’s a good thing that I saved some Christmas cash and gift cards because now I can go on another shopping spree in a few weeks time! I thought for today’s Five Minute Fix I would share with you the few pieces I picked up, including one incredible Benefit bargain.

To begin with, I visited H&M ready to slash my gift card and walk out having bought everything in store. Unfortunately, H&M disappointed me a little and I didn’t find all that much that I liked; hopefully, when they get new stock in I will have a field day! I picked up a navy blue, cropped, high-neck top for around £10 (I think – I can’t seem to find it on their website!) which is very unlike me since I’m not usually into the cropped, tight look. This one wasn’t too short and looked great with the high-waisted jeans I was wearing that day. I actually ended up wearing it on New Year’s Eve – although my partying was very limited to the hour before and after midnight! I paired it with this lovely, simple gold necklace (also from H&M) which added some class and colour to the previously dark look, for just £3.99. Finally, I chose another necklace – rose gold this time – that is a chunky chain, again quite a simple piece, though more pricey at £6.99, but I wanted something I could pair with a lot of my clothes for throughout the new year.

I then hurried onto Boots, determined to get a great deal – which I did! After much deliberation and moving between drugstore and high end brands, I decided I wanted to buy one luxury product with my voucher rather than on little bits of drugstore. Onwards to Chanel, Dior, Benefit and YSL I went. Having given up on Benefit, I continued forth to Chanel. Even though I’ve never actually owned a Benefit product, I’ve never been drawn to them and I’m not a huge fan of their packaging, unlike many others. I like it, just not wild about it – I prefer the sleekness of MAC and Nars. I scanned multiple other high end brand stands and then, on my return to the safe drugstore area, I caught sight of one of the Benefit Christmas Gift sets on the end of the beauty bar. Curious, I picked it up and looked it over. It included a full sized Hoola bronzer and High Beam, and then minis of the POREfessional primer, Hoola Ultra Plush lipgloss/balm and the They’re Real mascara. The price? £26.50. I was amazed, since the it originally cost £39.50 with a value of a whopping £64.53, based on price per ml/gram of product. I snapped this baby right up since it was the last one in the entire store! And not just the last Benefit Beauty Bonbons set, but the last of all their gift sets.

Thrilled, I headed to the check out to be served by a lovely woman who scanned the set, multiple times, before proceeding to compliment Benefit on their tin and say how ‘It’s even nicer when it’s priced lower than it’s labelled’. My heart skipped a beat. This beauty was not only much cheaper than its original, it was much cheaper than it’s sale price at an incredible £17.50. WHAT!? Considering the Hoola Bronzer itself is £23.50 and High Beam is £19.50, I got both of these (plus the minis) for cheaper than even just one of those products! I think Benefit might have made a mistake here – they would have made more selling the High Beam by itself! Absolutely chuffed, I strolled out of Boots with, not only the craziest bargain ever, but money left on my gift card. From that point on, I didn’t care if all the other sales were rubbish – I was happy with my Beauty Bonbons!

Next, I took a trip to Topshop where, again, I was a little disappointed by their sales. In my store, the sale space is very cramped and there isn’t enough room to get past people, so I find it very hard to face! However, I did purchase one top from the sale for £7, which was a simple, navy (again!) low cut vest top. It has a lovely shape and is fitted near the top and then skims over the chest to fall beautifully at the bottom. I actually picked this up in a size 16 which, being a 10-12, should have been far too big, but I actually preferred the style to the size 10 I tried on! I always recommend not worrying about the size of an item, and just choosing what you think looks best on you.

The final place I made a purchase was Superdrug. Firstly, I picked up a much needed sharpener for chunky eye crayons and smaller lipliners. A boring item, but a necessity nonetheless! And then, my final purchase of the day was some Tanya Burr Individual Lashes. I’ve never truly headed into the realms of fake lashes – I had one pair but was never brave enough to wear them. However, these lashes by our favourite beauty guru Tan, are really natural and allow me to choose how many I want to put on and how long I want them to give me the exact effect I’m looking for. After trying them out, they definitely will become part of my regular make up routine for going out days!

I hope you enjoyed reading my little haul and I will be putting up a post very soon reviewing the products inside the Benefit tin. Let me know in the comments if you’ve made any great purchases recently or had any success in the sales!

Mimi

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