Shop Dixi - Mini haul and review

Hi all,

Like most people I think, Shop Dixi first some under my radar due to Instagram. I'd seen a lot of their jewellery in posts and also linkied YouTube videos ( I'm pretty sure Bunny from Grav3yard Girl has a necklace from there) and I sort of dismissed them. Why? For example, the large crystal necklace I had my eye on was out of my price range, and they were probably an American company who would cost me loads in shipping and customs right? Wrong. 

I only bothered to do some actual research into them when I saw the "Lone Wolf" ring ( now sold out, sorry guys). Becoming recently single for the first time in ten years ( I'm 26) it seemed fitting for the strength I believe I have shown and am planning on continuing to show while I learn how to just be me, without another  person.  I had to have it. Unfortunately I used a ring sizer which indicated to me that my size would be a 17.5", which was  sold out. Wah.  I tweeted the company a couple of times but didn't get a definitive response. Sort of fair though, companies don't always know when exactly stock will be in of specific items and probably don't want to make promises that they then cannot keep.

 I then received a newsletter email from ShopDixi, informing me that they had 20% off all rings. I couldn't resist that. There were others I wanted. First one I put in my basket was a thin, sterling silver band reading "Moon child" which is another perfect description for me. The full price for this was £22. I also ordered their "casket" ring which is a small sterling silver coffin ring prices at only £26 (not including discount)

 The final ring of this order is the beautiful "Sunset lovers ocean blue " ring which I got a really good deal on as it was from one of the sample trays. It is  sterling silver and due to being worn on a photo shoot was discounted down to £14. 

The only sign that it had been worn was the sample sticker attached.

 It's perfect and I would really reccomed checking the sample trays out to snap up rings that you like at a discounted price. Obviously there is usually only one or a couple of each though so act fast if you find one that you love. 

I also purchased a heart necklace which was on sale for £5 and reads "witch" not to everyone's taste but it suits my style perfectly 

In my excitement of checking out, and the pain of using terrible hotel wifi, I realised I had mistyped my email address and so did not receive the confirmation email (rooky mistake) I emailed ShopDixi customer service and also included another request about the "Lone Wolf" ring. They got back to me very quickly (within a couple of hours) resent my email and advised that unfortunately they would not be getting any more stock in of the ring now but I could keep an eye on the sample trays as it might appear there. I panicked and immediately ordered the ring in 18" with the intentions of getting it resized.

 As I was in holiday at the time I got all packages at once when I got home, however shipping was incredibly quick (a couple of days max) and cost only £1.95! Bargain! The " Lone Wolf" ring was £36 but was reduced down to £24 with the 20% off. Turns out that, as the band is thicker, I would have needed the larger size anyway, and it fits perfectly stacked with my other purchases. As all the rings are sterling silver, my fingers won't be going green anytime soon! Hurrah! 

To sum up, Shop Dixi DOES have expensive things out of my personal price range but they also have very good value, affordable products, are a UK company and have quicker, cheaper shipping then most! What's not to love?! Unfortunately that particular promotion of 20% off of rings has now ended however I would definitely recommend signing up to their newsletter before buying as they seem to have discount codes on a lot! They also do special offers on specific items which I believe changes daily so keep an eye out for those too! All in all I'm very happy with my purchases and am sure I will be shopping with them again sooner than my bank balance would appreciate  

Has anyone else bought anything Shop Dixi? What are your thoughts? 

Xxx 

(Another!) Cherry diva mini haul!

*sigh* Sorry if you guys are getting fed up with these posts but.. I can't stop shopping here. So hauls will continue. This is what I purchased on my latest online spree! 

This was what I originally went on for and the photo does not do it justice! I've been wanting a neckline like this for ages and this little beaut was only £5. Unfortunately I've managed to break the plain chain section already (no idea how but it did travel to Lanzarote) but it's still wearable! I love it! Super 90s and grunge and pretty

Next was this little baby that I've been eyeing up for a while now 

It was only £1 and no idea why I haven't bought it before but I finally caved. It reminds me of Snow White and I love it 

Next was this bad boy which I'm wearing today! It's embossed with roses and is super cute (for a skull!) 

It's on a lot gold chain and it's quite big too! Only £3.50

I've been eyeing this next choker for a while but now that it's in the sale for £1 it would have been rude not to

Lastly was this layered necklace. I haven't worn it yet (I'm a little afraid of "chain" style necklaces) but I'm sure I'll be brave enough soon. I just loved the vintage looking key mostly. This one set me back £5

So all in all I only spent £16.50 with shipping costs (only 99p in the UK) cheap as chips! 

I think I was quite restrained but I do already have my eye on this so who knows how long for?! 

I also recommend signing up for their newsletter if you are considering making a purchase as they always have different offers and flash sales and the like 

Shop Cherry Diva here ; http://www.cherrydiva.co.uk

LUSH! My first Lush experience and HAUL

So being the total mad head that I am, I decided to make the Christmas Eve eve the first time ever to visit Lush. The main reason for this is because I'm lucky enough to be off work for a week or so over Christmas so thought it would be the perfect time to try some nice bath products. 

I have never shopped in Lush before as I have very sensitive skin and always assumed I would be allergic, but after watching some Youtube videos I realised that they do cater for sensitive skin and the main rule is to avoid anything glitter. 

So I walked into the super packed,overwhelming store and people were going crazy. I literally couldn't get to the displays. Luckily I was only standing there for about a minute when a Lush employee saw my lost puppy expression and asked me if I needed help, which was really nice. I quickly told her I have really sensitive skin and there were some products I had heard of that I wanted to try and listed them off for her. She then took my basket and shopped for me! She squeezed through to displays and picked up the bits I asked for, passed them to me, told me about the product scents and skin benefits and let me choose whether or not I wanted to purchase. I asked her loads of questions and she could not have been more helpful..very impressive first experience especially considering how busy the store was. I ended up betting everything I wanted to try plus a few extra bits. 

In no particular order;

Coal face - which I don't have a picture of as I bought it for my partner and he hasn't tried it yet. Clearly he was not as excited as I am by Lush! 

Buffy bar - I'm a sucker for the name as I am a huge fan of Buffy the vampire slayer so obviously I had to try this! I also bought a tin it keep it nice

Safe to say, I LOVE this stuff!!!!!! It's super scrubby for expholiating ( which I love for my legs in winter) smells amazing ( I can't really describe scents ) and it is magical as although it scrubs, it also has a buttery texture so leaves your skin super soft. I'm finding it hard to limit myself to using this once or twice a week. 

Snow fairy shower gel - 

I love sweet scents so knew I wanted to try this. Now the description says cotton candy, but to me it smells like my favourite sweets, which are these little babies 

I do really like the scent of this, but I am used to shower gels by Philosophy, which lather up way much more in my opinion..

Angels on bare skin - 

Now the helpful staff member recommended this to me because I asked her for a gentle expholiator for sensitive skin. I was really hesitant to purchase this as it is marketed as a cleanser, and I love my Liz Earle so much, but she insisted this was the best for regular gentle expholiating. At first I hated this product, all gritty and weird the texture is like stuffing mixture and the smell is very different to anything else. I looked up videos on how to use this properly and realised that I wasn't mixing this enough into a paste before using and now I'm enjoying it much more. However this is not good enough to remove the hundreds of coatings of mascara that I use, and I feel like the grits get stuck in between my lashes, so I only use it in the mornings now. I am not sure if I will repurchase this.

American cream conditioner - 

I got a small bottle of this to try as I love the scent of strawberries and cream but have heard that it doesn't actually do much for the hair. Unfortunately I found this to be true and much prefer my secret pound shop conditioner! It does smell nice, but not as nice as the Milk_shake brand whipped cream products which are my absolute favourite thing to put in my hair, so I won't be repurchasing this.

King of skin- 

To say I love this stuff is an understatement. As previously mentioned I have sensitive, dry eczema prone skin so anything that adds moisture is right up my alley. This stuff smells like white chocolate and I am so addicted to it it's already half gone. It does moisturise the skin and as mine is so dry, I tend to put it on wet skin and not wash it off completely, but my skin is still itchy after? Not sure if this is a bad reaction to the product or just because my skin is so dry this time of year? It's mostly my arms that are the problem and I LOVE this stuff to really hope it's not a reaction. Going to have to do some experimenting to find out. 

Butter bear - 

I love this!! I tried using half of it but gave in and chucked the whole thing in the bath. It makes the water all oily and soft without a super strong scent and did wonders for my skin. It did leave a residue on my skin but this is the Shea butter in the product and I love it as I didn't have to moisturise after. I bought two of these but gave one of them to my boyfriends sister so I hope she loves this as much as me! I went back a few days after Xmas for the Boxing Day sale and picked up a few more of these, as well as the Christmas hedgehog and melting snowman.  I also braved the Boxing Day online sale and after about 3 hours of technical difficulties was able to order 2 half price boxes of the candy shop which contain a butter bear in each so I will have four more in total when that arrives so I'm very happy about this

Overall I have to say my experience at Lush was really enjoyable and they have definitely earnt a new Lushie! Super helpful, friendly, informative but not pushy staff teamed with cruelty free, yummy and effective products, what's not to love? 

Let me know if you hauled at Lush this year and what your overall shopping experience is like there? I will probably do a mini haul when my online Boxing Day order arrives and let you know what I think of those products too!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a fantastic evening tonight whatever you may be doing! 

 

REVIEW; Too Faced Holiday collection - Beauty wishes & sweet kisses palette

So a while ago, the Too Faced chocolate bar palette was released and my love affair began. Chocolate and make up combined= heaven! I was and still am, addicted. 

After lugging my whole palette ( along with a ton more make up) on two holidays with me this year, I tweeted Too Faced and asked them to please release a "best of" chocolate bar collection with eyeshadows and bronzer, and it seems I couldn't have been the only one as voila! The beauty wishes & sweet kisses was released as part of Too Faced holiday 2014 collection.

Although not marketed as such, the palette does contain 3x eyeshadows from the original chocolate bar palette. The first is "White Chocolate, a gourgously smooth, off white colour which for me is perfect for my lid as a base colour on my very pale skin! The second shade included is "Creme Brûlée", a beautifully pigmented gold and the third is "Haute Chocolate" which is a deep brown with flecks of gold. These three shades together can create a variety of easy but impressive looks and even better, they all smell of CHOCOLATE. I can't open the palette without having a good sniff.

As you can see, white chocolate does not show up at all on my hand! But I am the fairest of the fair so that's probably just me! 

The palette also holds two of Too Faced famous bronzers, "Chocolate Soleil" bronzer ( which yes, you guessed it, smells like chocolate) and "Sun Bunny", which has four shades in one which you can use separately or swatch together got a beautiful shimmery bronze highlight effect. Although I am more of a "Milk Chocolate Soleil" girl, the "Chocolate" bronzer is an excellent accompaniment to the palette and the slightly deeper shade will be perfect for when I take the palette with me on further holidays! 

Last but certainly not least, is a very pretty lipgloss with the name "Naked Dolly" obviously the name is very close to my heart, but it's also a beautiful peachy nude shade which would go well with all skin tones in my opinion. It's not sticky and the texture reminds me a little of the NYX butter gloss which is always a good thing. The scent reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on, but I want to say tutti fruitti bubblegum! 

All in all, this is a really nice palette to own and I know I will get a lot of use out of it. It's light and compact design makes it perfect to travel with and the signature Too Faced tin packaging is also very sturdy so there's little fear of breakage. Plus, how pretty is it to look at, I mean seriously, it's a girls dream! 

The only downside I could find was the size, but I do think I am being my picky, moany self here really. I was just a bit surprised about how small the palette was, and then how much space is around the product. For the price, I still think it's good value for money, I just always want more! 

 I purchased this from Sephora on my recently holiday to Florida, however I know that it is available to buy from www.asos.com and other retailers and is priced at £32

( not that I want to encourage the beauty communities overspending or anything but UK girls, you can now order online from Sephora and shipping is only around £6 with a £75 purchase) 

So my lovelies, do any of you own this product or have it on your Christmas list? What are your thoughts?