Haul Posts | Vanity Claire

ClaireJuly 27, 2013

July Haul: Missguided, Primark, ASOS & More…

Forgive me father, for I have shopped.

As it was payday this week, and as I was left on my own today while Lauren swanned off on her holiday with her family (erm, did she miss the part of our housemate contract where it said she wasn’t allowed to go away without me in her suitcase?), I decided to pop into town for the ever mysterious ‘one or two bits’. Of course this always accidentally turns into six or seven bits – but I can’t help that I have ~~a heavy flow and a wide-set vagina~~ no willpower.

I’ve also had a few things delivered the last couple of days, oops…

ASOS Petite Pencil Skirt £15 (SALE) / Missguided Split Maxi Skirt £5.99

This ASOS skirt is my favourite thing that I’ve bought in quite a while. I’m going to Sheffield next weekend for my friend’s birthday and had originally ordered the white bardot dress from Missguided’s value range for that. However, when it turned up with the rest of my Missguided goodies, I wasn’t in love with it and so this skirt was swiftly ordered in its place. The colours, the print, the fit… it simply makes my soul happy. The maxi skirt from Missguided was thankfully not a disappointment like the dress was. I LOVE this skirt and am actually wearing it today (god help any neighbours who would have been walking by at the point where I whipped it off to take these photos). The slit comes to about halfway down the thigh so it’s just about daytime-acceptable.

Missguided Acid Green Skater Skirt £5.99 / Missguided Crop T-Shirt £3.50

Don’t worry, I will iron these before wearing them…

Primark Playsuit £8 / Playsuit Leopard Boyfriend Tee £5

When I went into town I popped into Primark to look at the shoes, and ended up coming away with these. This playsuit was one of those things that you almost don’t want to buy in Primark because it seemed as if literally everyone was snapping one up, but it was simply too pretty to leave without. I also picked up this t-shirt on a bit of a whim. I love leopard print but actually don’t tend to wear it very much (blonde extensions, fake tan and leopard print – it’s even too much for me, and that’s saying something); this print with the leopard faces really caught my eye though. It’s an oversized, boyfriend-fit tee which isn’t my usual thing but I thought it would be good for slouchy days. To be honest I have no real idea at the moment what I’ll wear it with, but I like clothes that also give you a good challenge, like you’re on the Crystal Maze.

Primark Floral Headband – £2.50

Excuse my MASSIVE SHNOZZ but – I’ve finally hopped on the floral crown bandwagon.

Naturally, I ended up picking up a few beauty bits too. My first stop was Poundland, where I found these bendy hair rollers. Next, I swung by Boots and picked up No. 7’s Exceptional Definition mascara to try, after reading some good reviews. Usually I’m loyal to Boots, but I headed to Superdrug too today to investigate the MUA range and instead discovered the Sleek stand. I’ve only seen Sleek online before (probably due to my afore-mentioned Boots loyalty) and so spent ages poring all over their different products before eventually deciding to try their BB cream. With my trip to Sheffield next week in mind, I picked up a new Barry M lipstick in ‘Palest Lavendar’ and of course some new false lashes. I went quite small compared to my usual drag queen-esque lashes, as the lipstick’s quite intense:

And so I came home quite a bit poorer of purse… but richer in mood? That’s a legit justification for spending, right? I’ll be trying and reviewing all of these bits soon and pestering you all with my thoughts on them, YOU LUCKY THINGS.

ClaireJune 29, 2013

June Haul: Primark, Topshop, Motel & eBay

ALOHA, SLUTS. This week, two big events coincided – one, payday; two, A Terrible Week. When these two things meet, a lot of shopping ends up happening, and that is why all of these new clothes are currently sitting in my room. I won’t depress you all with the details of A Terrible Week, but it goes without saying that cocktails and friends have made things significantly better.These new little purchases have helped too….

Printed trousers and midi dress – both Primark

Of course, I had to venture to Primark in my time of need. I’ve been after these trousers for a couple of months now, and finally got round to buying them. I do think that a pair of ridiculous trousers can really brighten not only your day, but the days of everyone around you. These are really comfy and the elasticated waist came in SUPER handy yesterday when I accidentally had a pie and chips for lunch instead of a salad (how does that sort of thing always happen? It’s a mystery).

I also finally picked up one of the Primark midi dresses. As I’ve no doubt whinged about before, being petite means that finding a midi is a challenge and most of the ones I’ve tried on in places like Primark have looked awful. To be honest, this one didn’t look great on in the changing room – despite getting a size 6, the slouchy fit still just looked TOO slouchy and shapeless, and I’m just not sure if they suit little people. So why did I buy it still? That’s a really good question, and I wish I knew the answer. I think I want to try it on with some wedges and a belt and see if it can be salvaged – if not, it is farewell, midi.

I picked up a few other bits from Primark, including a new purse, a belt, some socks and a makeup bag – unfortunately at the time we went to press (ie now) all of these items were strewn around various parts of my house and not available for photographing.

Jeggings – Topshop £22

This might be a really odd thing to say but these are actually my first pair of jeggings. Ever. I’ve never found any before that suited me or that I liked and, to be honest, I thought they were kind of gone now. But I saw these in Topshop and decided to try them on because I liked the pale denim. And IT WAS LOVE. They fit beautifully and are perfect for the summer. So please can nobody ruin my joy by telling me how sooo 2010 they are (even if they are).

Cropped blazer – eBay

I actually already have this blazer in black and in white. I’m usually not a fan of stocking up in this way, but I actually can’t resist with this item. I love blazers but really struggle to find ones that don’t swamp my small frame and make me look about seven feet wide due to unnecessary shoulder pads. These cropped waterfall blazers from a run-of-the-mill eBay shop are actually the perfect length, and come in at around a tenner including p&p – so of course I couldn’t resist adding this minty one to my collection.

Tube skirt: Motel £10

When I spied this bad boy in the sale, I couldn’t say no. It’s described on the website as being ‘a maxi or a midi depending on your height’; on me it is definitely a maxi, but quite an ankle-grazing one, which is quite nice. It’s actually a thick, knitted material which I wasn’t really expecting (because I don’t read descriptions, mainly), but I’m happy with it as I’ll get loads of wear out of it into the winter too.

Dip-dye dress – Topshop via eBay

This shouldn’t really be included in the haul seeing as it’s not a ‘new’ item as such – I actually swooped in and won this on eBay for a victorious £3. It was brand new without tags so quite the bargain.

What do you all think of this haul? Have you bought any of these items lately?

ClaireJune 26, 2013

Mini Haul: Primark, Simple and Collection!

Hey chicks!

As a lot of you will aware from our incessant celebrating, yesterday was pay day. I feel like you have never truly experienced happiness until you get that heady ‘I’M SO RICH, KANYE HAS NOTHING ON ME RIGHT NOW’ joy from getting paid. Getting paid means splashing out on those things that you lusted over last month but couldn’t afford because you spent all of your money on pay day (LOGICAL?). As soon as lunch time hit yesterday, Claire was all over eBay and investing in her current list of must-haves. I, on the other hand, was attempting to be sensible and not buy anything unnecessary. This went pretty well until I got into Birmingham after work and had half an hour to kill before going for dinner. I went to Boots, which is ALWAYS dangerous, and then couldn’t stop myself from strolling around everywhere looking for things to satisfy my deep, deep need for material possessions (nail varnish = happiness. It has been proved. By science).

This is just a mini haul post on what I bought yesterday – I’d say none of it is HUGELY exciting, but still, a haul is a haul. You have to excuse the awful photos, I had to resort to my iphone after I’d had a couple of glasses of wine and apparently this is what happens. WHAT KIND OF BLOGGER DO I THINK I AM?!

I have a little bit of explaining to do with regards to each item actually and they all come with wonderful stories that I know you are all dying to hear, so feel free to make yourself a cup of tea and snuggle down. I’m justifying this little shopping trip because most of the items were entirely necessary and I did vaguely try and be thrifty NO JUDGEMENT PLEASE, MONEY GOD.

This little bad boy I have been lusting over since I spotted it in Boots a few weeks ago. I was actually having a lovely chat with @StonesGotStyle on Twitter about it and we both were thinking it’d be a BRILLIANT product if it delivered on the makeup fixing front. For the price, I think it really could be a winner, particularly when compared to more expensive brands. I’ve got it on today and so far so good – although I would say it’s not really a fair trial as I manage to smear all of my makeup over my face when I’m at work no matter what I’ve got on. I’m going to try it out on Friday when I head out with Claire and the gals – expect a full review very soon. It also smells lovely, as a side note!

Why have you put a lip balm on a haul post, you ask? Well, it does seem a bit pointless BUT I think it’s good to know what lip balms work and smell good. There have been so many times I’ve just gone with Vaseline because I couldn’t make up my mind about other brands and to be honest, Vaseline is a pile of greasy nothing. For anyone else who struggles with chapped lips in the summer, this lip balm is perfect. It smells and tastes yummy and actually works – I’ve been using it for a while now and I can safely say I’ve not used a better everyday balm.

I CAN’T RAVE ABOUT THIS CONCEALER ENOUGH. Honestly, it is full on amazing. I’ve tried similar illuminating concealers and they have all been WUBBISH. I’ve also heard this is the best dupe for Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Éclat and for £5, it’s definitely worth giving it a go. I bought it in the ‘Glow’ shade as it’s the darkest one they do and use it under my eyes and down my nose for contouring purposes. Occasionally I’ll use it on spots too, although I try not to as it is a mixture of a highlighter and concealer (and who wants to highlight their spots?!). Saying that, it does work well as a simple concealer too. I could go on about this product for YEARS but will save you all the torture and just recommend you purchase and give it a whirl!

Claire and I had a moment the other day when we realised that big earrings were no longer cool. It was quite a heart wrenching moment; our standard jewellery ventures used to be a giant pair of chandelier earrings. But this just simply can’t be done anymore, sob. We’ve come to the conclusion that necklaces and rings are the big players in the jewellery world now, which is fantastic apart from the fact I have sausage fingers. ANYWAY, it turns out I haven’t been quite able to let go of my love of earrings and decided to buy a load of hoops from Primark. At £1, it was pretty rude not to. My theory is, because the 90’s are well and truly back, I can get away with a bit of Jennifer Anniston hoop. I’m planning a big topknot and hoops for Friday, so I will take a picture and see if this is achieved! I also got this set of rings because I love a bit of neon and they’re a great way of adding a bit of the trend into a boring outfit (note – Primark have some LOVELY neon jewellery in at the moment).

If you follow us on Twitter, you might have seen my #bbloggers beg the other day for some eye makeup remover recommendations. I have a new mascara, which I love, but it refuses to come off. It’s not actually waterproof but has a terrible habit of sticking to anything and everything. I had a lot of response and I really wanted to invest in a No7 oil based remover that one of you lovely people recommended. However, I left my voucher at home and in a bid to be sensible, decided to go with something a bit cheaper. I also looked for the Neutrogena wipes that were recommended but unfortunately the Boots I was in didn’t stock them, so I went for the next make up remover suggestion! So far, I’ve been really happy with this Simple one and it takes all of the naughty mascara off in a few wipes. I’m actually very happy with it and for the price, I think I will buy it again. So big thanks to all of you who gave me some suggestions!

Finally, this was my last purchase yesterday! There’s not much to say apart from the fact that my shoe situation is terrible and I needed some black pumps for work. They’re quite cute, so I’m happy! I have my eye on a pair of nude t-bar studded ones in Primark actually, and will probably buy them in the next few weeks.

WELL, that was my slightly mad pay day haul yesterday. I’ve told myself I’m on a spending ban now, but lets see how long that realistically lasts….

ClaireJune 20, 2013

E.L.F. Makeup Haul – Reviews to Come!

You know that feeling you get when you’re so overexcited about makeup and beauty products that you start to wonder whether you’re too superficial and your priorities are all wrong and that you might die sad and alone surrounded only by mascara? Yeah, well I was simply too busy to feel that today as I was SO EXCITED by the arrival of our delivery from E.L.F.

I’ve heard so many wonderful things about E.L.F (or e.l.f? Or am I allowed to just call it Elf? I’m so unaware of the etiquette) in the last couple of weeks that I just had to have a look at their website. I was initially looking for a contouring kit, but was so amazed by the cheapy-cheap prices that I had to throw a few other things into my online basket. I had around £15 worth of stuff, and then Lauren realised that if she spent about the same amount then we would be eligible for free deliver. Well, that’s just good economics isn’t it?

I was really impressed to have it turn up in the post today after only ordering on Monday – 3 days for free second class delivery is not bad at all. I immediately had to take a few photos to share what we’ve bought in our haul and am having to resist the urge to run into the work toilets to try out all the products. Needless to say though, they will all be tried very shortly and you can expect to see some reviews up.

Here’s a run down of what we decided to buy:

Claire

Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in ‘St Lucia’ – £3.75

All-Over Cover Stick in ‘Light Beige’ – £1.50

Nail Polish in ‘Desert Haze’ – £2.50

Mineral Lipstick in ‘Natural Nymph’ – £5

Lip Primer and Plumper – £3.75

All-Over Colour Stick in ‘Spotlight’ – £1.50

I ended up with quite a bit more than the contouring kit, as you can see. But with prices like £1.50, how can you resist? I love gimmicky products like the lip plumper so I’m looking forward to giving that a go, and I’m intrigued to try the ‘Spotlight’ Colour Stick as part of my contouring experiment. I also had to try the nude lipstick in the hope that it might be a cheap alternative to my Mac Crème D’Nude that I’m still using far too often for a £14 lipstick.

Lauren

Beauty Book in ‘Natural Look’ – £6

3-in-1 Mascara – £3.75

Lipstick in ‘Nostalgic’ – £1.50

Nail Polish in ‘Copper’ – £2.50

Lauren was really impressed with this Beauty Book which comes with an eyeshadow palette, primer, eyeliner, applicator and instructions on how to achieve different looks. I know, it’s extremely shocking that she ordered it in a natural shade – I think I got a new wrinkle from how quickly my eyebrows shot up in surprise. She also needed new mascara so decided to give this one a whirl – we’re excited to see how it matches up to Benefit ‘They’re Real’ seeing as it has the same brush shape, complete with the little ball at the end. She then decided to try out the £1.50 lipstick range, and settled on a new copper nail varnish.

This resulted in an incident that we will now refer to as Metallicgate, in which I made a casual comment that I wasn’t a fan of metallic polishes and Lauren argued with me that I SO WAS because I wore gold and I said that I SO WASN’T and I think I know what I like and then we didn’t speak for five minutes. It sometimes gets pretty tense here at Stylingo.

Anyway, we are SUPER excited to try out our new products and let you know what we think of them all. Have any of you tried E.L.F? What are your thoughts? And am I allowed to call it Elf?!

ClaireJune 8, 2013

Mini Haul: Primark, Barry M and Palmers

I popped into town today for ‘one or two bits’ and, of course, got a tad carried away. In my defence, I didn’t spend that much. The fact that it was still money I don’t have is neither here nor there (in fact I think it’s there, way way way over there…)

So I thought I’d share with you what I picked up.

This is one of the bog standard Primark skater dresses that they sell for a ridiculously good FIVE ENGLISH POUNDS. I have one of the t-shirt versions and it’s good enough quality – it shrunk in the wash, but this was most probably my fault because I shrink everything, and I don’t mind anyway because it made it a slightly nicer length for my dwarfish frame. I like the bright blue of this dress and, although it’s nothing too exciting, I’m sure I’ll be happyI bought it on a sunny day soon (not today; the strong winds meant that the shoppers in Coventry city centre have had quite enough of my butt cheeks for one weekend).

Baragainous little crop top for a mere £2. TWO ENGLISH POUNDS. Okay, I’ll stop doing that now. But still! I already have cropped vests from Primark in white and grey so thought this neon orange/coral one would be a good addition to the collection.

I think this is actually my favourite thing I’ve bought today. It’s a white crop top (no shit, Sherlock) but it’s got a beaut low back that makes it a lot more dressy. A word of advice, the sizes come up quite big on this if you’re a small-boobed girl like myself; the 8 was really baggy so I ended up getting a 6. I think I’m going to wear this on a night out next weekend with my new Topshop denim skater skirt and maybe some neon-esque accessories. Oh, and this too only cost a fiver. Suh-weet.

Multi-packs like this are so useful, and really good value for money too. The rings were £2.50 and the bracelets were £4. I love the turquoise and silver combo that I’m seeing around quite a bit at the moment, and I’m glad to see the grungey cross/skull trend still seems to be hanging about (mainly as I’ve got quite a few pieces like this so I’m not ready to give them all up and be an untrendy Wendy again).

Ah, black flats: one of those essential-but-boring items you need to replace now and then. Primark had so many really nice flats in, lots of cutaway detailing, peep toes, and lovely nude shades of tan and stone. But alas, I needed to replace my ruined black flats and so had to make the decision to get these instead. I suppose they’re not too boring, but… wah. I also got some frilly ankle socks; these aren’t something I’ve worn before, but I thought I’d give them a little go with my Converse and try not to feel like too much of a massive tit.

I eventually stepped away from Primark (after trying loads of other stuff on that thankfully didn’t suit me when on) and headed to some makeup shops. I initially went into Superdrug to get a few bits for our first ever GIVEAWAY (which we should be launching today or tomorrow, keep your eyes peeled and be sure to follow us on Twitter @StylingoUK). But I of course got distracted by the Barry M stand. All of the nail varnishes had been removed from my local Boots last weekend – I asked the bloggers on Twitter, and apparently they had been recalled due to an issue with the current batch of bottles as they kept smashing. Either the issue has been resolved, or Superdrug just aren’t as bothered about protecting our little fingers as they had a beautiful fully-stocked nail section. Insert the ‘loveheart eyes’ emoji here. I’ve been wanting to try the new confetti range for ages, so chose this nice blue to start with.

I also picked up the Palmers Cocoa Butter gradual tanner after reading quite a few positive reviews about it. I occasionally use the Dove gradual tanner (which is a million times better than Johnsons – which, to use a retro insult, WHOMPS) but I’ve heard that Palmers one is quite a bit darker so I wanted to give it a whirl. I’ll do full reviews of these two products once I’ve given them a fair go.

And that is it! What do you all think of this mini haul? What have you been buying lately?