Easter Haul! Primark, Internacionale, Superdrug ect,..

Yesterday me and my boyfriend popped into Leeds to visit the new Trinity Leeds Centre. To anyone heading to Leeds for shop a shopping trip this is a great place to go! It's right in the city centre and basically there are a load of shops under one roof. It's not quite finished, they're still awaiting a huge Primark but even so you can tour round the rest of Leeds city centre and shop 'til you drop (literally). Anyhow, I brought myself a few things and thought I would share them!

I firstly visited Primark and found myself some great bargains! These first three tops are all the same but in different colours. It sounds crazy to buy all of these, I know, but they were only £2 each in the sale rack! As part of my university course I have placement and these tops are perfect for that! I'm going into a Primary school so I need some cheap, respectful clothes and I know for £2 if these get ruined with paint or glue I wont care. So everyone is a winner with these! They're dip hem, light and have a little net pattern on the back which doesn't come too far down. They're very pretty and convenient. I would suggest if you need a couple of cheap tops then get yourself down there and see if they're still about!

Primark- £2

Primark- £2

Primark- £2

The final item I brought was a dress. Last yeah I was obsessed with Spring/Summer dresses and I always felt comfortable in them. This yeah the obsession is returning! This dress was £10 and for some reason I felt like this was quite expensive for Primark; then I though, well.. It's made a lot better than the cheaper dresses in there so why not? It has two layers however it still feels fairly light so perfect for both warm and cooler weathers. It has two flatter factors: a) It pulls in at the waist and b) it has little sleeves which balance out broad shoulders and provides a little coverage to your arms. You can accessorise this dress in so many ways, different jewellery, jackets, tights, no tights... it's endless. This is why I can't get enough dresses! 

Primark- £10

The forth item I brought was from Internacionale. It's a denim shirt! I have really tired to stay away from these because me and buttons don't really get along. I usually find that I get a load of gaps when I wear shirts but I got this in a couple of size up and it's perfect. It was on special offer with 20% off so I got it for about £13.60, which I think is a good price for a denim shirt. In comparison to the Primark version (which I tried on a few weeks ago) it's much softer and made with higher quality material. I would recommend this one as opposed to the Primark one seeing as there is only a couple of pounds difference in price and at the end of the day you'll be getting a higher quality product! This is perfect with some leggings, under a jumper or even tucked into a skirt. I think most people can get away with denim shirts in any season, they're so versatile I think every girl and guy needs one!

Internacionale- £13.60 (special offer)

The next item isn't clothing unfortunately but it still is something incredible! I really enjoy Whittard's Hot Chocolates and this time I have brought the 'Luxury White Hot Chocoalte'. It is beautiful! It's so so creamy and full of flavour! I honestly don't know how this company does it but any flavour of their hot chocolate is simply gorgeous and I can't find a comparison! Whittard's hot chocolates are £5.50 each but so worth it if you're mad on hot drinks and want something to treat yourself with once in a while! Alternatively they make a great present, but probably more for in the Autumn/Winter months.

Whittard- £5.50

I've been looking for a mint green for a while now. I have a similar colour by maybelline 60 seconds or whatever it's called but it stains my nails so I thought I'd try something else. Barry M polishes are only £2.99 and not bad quality either! To get a good coverage with this I had to use two coats but it doesn't take forever to dry or go lumpy so it's not too much of a negative. It's a little bit darker than I expected but still a gorgeous Spring colour. 

Superdrug- £2.99

The last items are two MUA powder blushers. These are £1 each so I brought two colours; a shade 1 and a shade 4. I haven't tried these on my face yet but swatches on my hand are very nice. They seem to blend with my skin tone but shade 1 is slightly brighter and a little more shimmery whereas shade 4 is more subtle. I would most likely use shade 1 on nights out ect and shade 4 for casual wear.  I've seen lots of bloggers and youtubers suggesting to use these so I presume they're good! Still for a £1 you can't go wrong! 

Superdrug- £1 each

Just a note to anyone who doesn't know but yesterday I learnt that Superdrug do student discount! I think it's either 10% or 20% ? Whatever it is it's still a great money saver! You have to have a NUS card so you can't use a regular college or university card. I got my NUS card for free with Lloyds  TSB when I signed up for my student account. Alternatively can pick one of these up for £11 (ish)  from the NUS website. They're a great way to save money in high street stores and if I did pay for mine I would say it definitely has paid itself off! 

Okay, so that's a wrap for my first haul blog! I didn't manage to purchase much yesterday as by boyfriend commented on everything I picked up and said I shouldn't waste my money! But these are the things I have managed to buy and my little personal opinion on them! 

Thankyou for reading! (:

Ellabella 

♥ ✝ ☮

Birchbox- March 2013 Addition (My first Birchbox)

I received my first Birchbox on the 26th which was fairly later than most people. But I have finally got round to writing a blog post! This is the first Birchbox I have received, I signed up because I had heard very positive reviews about it and I wanted to see if they are true! I already had a hunch of what was in my box because, unlike Glossybox, Birchbox upload their surveys of the products that are in your box before you receive it.

Although Glossy Box have very good quality boxes and are very hard to compete against I am quite a fan of the Birchbox packaging too! I like the rustic brown cardboard contrasting the popping hot pink. I also like how everything is wrapped inside a little drawstring bag; it's kind of an extra little thing you can store products in!

The first product that got me going was this Sanctuary Spa mask! If you have read my other blog post you will pick up on my obsession for this brand. I have used a sample of this before and it is divine! You put two products on and the reaction of them mixed together creates heat. It is super soothing on your face and afterwards your skin feels polished. Just amazing, I really want to purchase this full price but the downside is it costs so much! I'm thankful I got myself another sample of it in my Birchbox!

The second samples is a perfume one. This Molton Brown fragrance isn't really for me. I would say it is more of a mature smell as it has that mumsie, nanna kind of zing to it. Personally I'm not a fan of this and for £65 a pop for a full sized bottle I will definitely give this a miss. It's still good to use as a room spray or to spray in your wardrobe to freshen up to stuffy clothes or linen. 

Okay, so when I opened my bag my eyes went straight to this. I was so so so confused when I saw it. The product is a Nick Chevez Thickening Spray for your hair. But the product was not advertise on the Birchbox website as an item from the March box so instantly I knew something wasn't right. I scrolled through the '#birchboxuk' tag on Instagram and saw that none of the other March boxes had this in. When I scrolled even further I saw that this product was actually featured in the February box. As you can imagine I was not impressed! I have contacted Birchbox over this matter and they are dealing with it. Anyway, after that massive rant I haven't actually tested this product but I have smelt it and it smells very salon like so I guess it is something I am willing to put in my hair. **Still not impressed** (rant over).

The next product is a La Sultane de Saba Body Lotion. This smells incredible! This lotion is like the smell of a baby in a tube. Okay, well maybe not like that, but it smells like baby powder and baby lotion mixed together. The lotion dries almost instantly which is great because it means your not waiting around for it to dry. Alternatively it could be bad as it doesn't feel like it's working! The one thing I love about this lotion is how long the smell lingers on my skin. I would consider buying this in the future because it does leave my skin very soft but we will have to see!

So for some reason the way I have edited this picture has make this product look slightly off colour! Anyway, this product is something different, it's a purple gel liner. I used to wear a purple Urban Decay liquid liner which I was obsessed with. But I've only just discovered gel liners as was a bit like, 'mmm will this work?' I've got it on today and I think it's something I could get used to. It has a long wear on it, it's simple to apply and I'm very impressed with the sample size!

Apparently Yu-Be skin cream is a Japanese saviour. I think it's UK rival is the Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream. They're very alike in consistency and use. The cream has a strong medicinal smell but this disappears within minutes. It's very hydrating and creamy which is what is needed for a good old moisturise. This is a fairly small sample but like the Arden cream it does go a long way! This is just under £20 full size so I guess maybe as Winter comes back around I may consider purchasing this.

As it was Mother's day this month Birchbox gave each customer a small box of Lindt chocolates.They're chocolate, of course I like them, who doesn't! There isn't much to say about these apart from they're delicious and a fab little extra. I will probably decorate the tin and then use it to store my earrings or something in.

Overall I was pleased with the majority of products within my first Birchbox. However, I wasn't pleased with the delivery time as I felt I got my box after most others. I've also had some other issues with Birchbox about the Thickening Mist sample I got but I'll update you on that when they reply to me!

What did you get in your March Birchbox? Were you impressed? Did you receive any random samples?Leave me a comment below, I'd loved to know what others got! 

Ellabella 

♥ ✝ ☮