Huge Meadowhall Haul!

Yes I know what you're thinking. Urgh, another blogger doing a haul? Well mine is more of a personal achievement rather than a brag session.

What with being a student, then facing a long illness, unemployment, occasional casual work and then becoming self employed I've never really had the money to go crazy on buying products, and I know the popularity of my blog and channel has been affected as a result of not being able to keep up with everyone else.

Recently though the tides have finally been turning and I was able to treat myself to a (rather extensive!) shopping trip at Meadowhall for new clothes and beauty items. Hopefully this will be the first of many trips as I just want to start afresh with everything and my beauty routine is no exception.

Starting with high end make-up I picked out 3 items of interest I've had my eye on for quite some time. 

I headed to the Mac counter first as normally the service is quite rude, so I figured I should get that out of the way first so it wouldn't ruin my day (an employee at the Belfast Mac counter described my neck as looking "Sallow" a few months back....)

I picked up the lipliner in Talking Points and the lipstick in Patisserie. The most shocking thing of all was the customer service went above and beyond, and the staff all had a fantastic attitude. I'm not sure if there has been some new training rolled out but long may it continue! The young man who served me was incredibly professional and even applied the colours directly on my lips for me so I could be confident in my choices. Customers were actually being smiled at and told to have a nice day. I was gobsmacked!

Later on I then moved onto the Bobbi Brown counter where I picked up their foundation stick in the shade 00 Alabaster. Again, I have to say I received excellent service from the Meadowhall branch after previously having derogatory comments made about my skin issues at another Bobbi counter on Oxford Street.

This was certainly not the case with the lovely Shumin at Meadowhall who tried a couple of different Bobbi foundations out on me to help me find a more everyday type coverage. Bobbi Brown and Illamasqua are the two go-to counters for pale skin so I couldn't wait to add one of their foundations to my collection. 

After first trying their skin foundation, I opted for a touch more coverage with the stick foundation. I had swatched this earlier in the day and noticed the oxidization was pretty minimal which for pale skin is crucial. I was really happy with my choice and the service from start to finish was incredibly warm and friendly. I can't wait to go back!  

I think the truth is that not every company has poor service at every branch, and so when I do find a counter that is professional I will make sure only they get my custom in future. The counters at Meadowhall in my opinion are generally quite excellent, so do pop by if you are in the area.

I also think it's important to state when counters give less than satisfactory service and not dance around the issue for fear of brands not wanting to work with you as a blogger. You have to be completely honest so that things can change for the better, and so you will notice I will always state both my good and negative experiences I have had with a brand. Make-up can be bloody expensive so make sure you are made to feel worth it and accept nothing less!
  
I bought quitteeee alot of other items so head over to my channel where I have done a full haul video! Perhaps prepare drinks and nibbles in advance ;)

Make your Glow Tonic last longer!

At £18 a bottle, Pixi Glow Tonic itself is not what I would super expensive (especially compared with Sunday Riley at £85 a pop!) However when you consider what all products in a routine can cost when totaled up, it can get pretty ridiculous especially if like me you are in need of particular ingredients to keep your problems at bay.

For me, Glow Tonic is an absolute must as my skin reacts very badly if it's missing from my routine for even a day, therefore I need to keep it in constant rotation where as other products I am more likely to swap around.

With continued use over the years I noticed that the bottle would get used up rather quickly within less than a month. However what frustrated me the most is that I found you spent a fair few drops just getting the cotton pad soaked in enough product so that it's actually got some on there, and hasn't immediately absorbed into the pad. I'm not talking about unnecessarily drenching it either, just literally enough so that some will transfer onto the skin and you will get a proper tone out of it. 

I found this wasteful in both the product and the pounds, so when I introduced the Nip & Fab cleansing (now the one that was cleansing is called toning!) pads into my routine, that sprinkling even a single drop was enough to distribute the glow tonic on my face without the waste.

The Nip & Fab pads are pre-soaked, but they also have a thickness similar to that of a nail varnish removing pad so are ultra thin. Therefore even a tiny drop of another product will soak straight through so you can use the pad on both sides and still get a good distribution of product.

I have tried the pads without the glow tonic, and find them just a *tad* dry without, and I definitely notice the difference with a drop of glow tonic compared to without, just incase you were wondering. 
 
The current Glow Tonic bottle I'm using I bought a good six months ago now, and there's still a hearty bit left which will no doubt give me another month of use if not much more. Compare this to a new bottle every 4 weeks and that's quite some saving!

Now, I know what you're thinking.... yes but you have to buy the Nip & Fab pads though. The great news on that front is that because they are stocked in so many places, they are always on offer and infact I've never bought them at full price! They average at around £7 for 60 pads which is 2 months use if you use once a day, and a month if you use twice a day. They also give just that extra hint of acid tone, and I've had no adverse reaction from doing so. My skin will flare up like a baboon's bum if I use even a hint of the wrong thing - believe me. 

I would recommend the regular pads for those new to acid toning, and the extreme if you are having a particularly bad breakout and or need them to use on areas of the body too. I've tried out both varieties and for me the extreme show amazing results within just a few days of using them. 

I really hope this has helped some of you out there save some pennies and get a little more economical with your products. Again I love Pixi and I've continually purchased *many* bottles of the stuff and will continue to do so, however when you are on a budget every little helps!


Where to Buy:
Pixi Glow Tonic (£18)
Nip & Fab Regular (£7-£12)
Nip & Fab Extreme (£7-£14)