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 ;)