The people who surround us makes the world go around!
And another great thing about the UK? Boots!! And Asda - the food, the clothes, the homeware, the alcohol - all in the same place!
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| Me very excited to be in Asda! Two thumbs up! |
'What?!' I hear you say - yes fellow Australians! This is a real place - Scrumptious freshly made pizzas topped with an enormous amount of toppings - yours for only a few pounds! Bananas at 68p a kilo! Pomegranate seeds freshly prepared awaiting purchase for you to toss haphazardly through a salad. We bought half a kilo of blueberries for 2 pounds!! And gourmet ready meals in abundance. (I have gotten so used to whispering this word in Perth, frightened at the scornful looks I would receive from fellow shoppers) How dare I not prepare a meal from the bare basics of food - What possible reason could there be for me to not spend every spare second of my day slogging away in the kitchen like some modern day cinderella (woe is me)...and most importantly how can I physically stomach the atrocity that is the quality of Ready Meals available for purchase in the shops Down Under? And it is true - the ready meals here are terrible - they are sloppy, tasteless insults to the taste buds of people every where - but hear me out People of Perth - neigh People of the world - never again will you roll your eyes in disgust or pooh pooh me with your judgement once you have had the Marks and Spencers 10 Pound Ready Meal deal!!
You heard me - for 10 pounds you too can go home with main meal delights such as Chicken & Tewksbury Mustard Crumble for 2, Honey glazed gressingham Duck legs with smoked salted onions. What about 2 chicken kievs with wild garlic cornish butter...sounds amazing right - and don't forget a side - with choices like, chunky chips, santini salad, carrot and swede crush, garlic mushrooms; and finally - dessert - A simple cheese selection if you prefer, but of course you could also have a Key Lime traybake, Raspberry Pannacotta, Millionaires shortbread, Tarte Citron and the list goes on. But the 'piece de resistance' - you also get a frickin bottle of wine!!! Now I quite enjoy dabbling in my kitchen given the time and solitude to do it in (aah if only), but I kid you not - if we did move back to the UK - I may never cook again!...but where was I? Aah. Boots! A little slice of heaven...Now I spend quite a few of dollars in Priceline and they do have a reasonable selection of brands and products, but let me tell you now Priceline, is a poor mans Boots! Liz Earle, Bourjois, No 7, Soap and Glory, Benefit, Clarins - the list goes on and on.
Now my restraint whilst in the UK in terms of my purchase of skin care and beauty products was beyond compare! I walked into Space NK and out again good readers without anything except a small sample pot of Sarah Chapman's Skinesis Night Elixir (which I did not receive on Mothers day good readers despite my enormous hints which seemingly fell on deaf ears, or blind eyes in this case - although dear husband still insists he reads my blog I do have my doubts). But....in the airport at Gatwick awaiting our flight back to Australia, I suddenly found myself in Boots - under the guise of buying sandwiches and water for essential hydration I was surrounded by all these fabulous products and brands, and my resolve. Began. To crumble. I walked in for a sandwich and walked out with nothing less than a start up selection for a beauty salon. Well, it wasn't quite as bad as that, but please read on for a couple of my purchases.
Boots No7 Protect and Perfecting Serum - Advanced formula
If you haven't read some sort of media coverage concerning this product then you must have been living under a rock, but this miracle serum purports to 'reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles by up to 50% in just 4 weeks'. Its rich, it's velvety, it's (wait for it)...scientifically proven to work! Huzzah! I have never used this product before but after a personal recommendation from a friend I threw this baby straight in the Boots basket. I will let you know I feel about it after 4 weeks - but it is an amazing product to use. It feels very decadent and indeed velvety. And what can we attribute the enormous success of this product (it is Boots bestselling product since it's release) - well in the original formula, the key ingredients were a blend of peptides - proteins absorbed by the skin and then able to restore collagen and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. But in this advanced formula this blend (which they call Matrixyl 3000) with white lupin extract (reduces the breakdown of collagen by enzymes) and some good old fashioned anti oxidants - Vitamin C, ginseng. Add this lot with a new highly concentrated peptide acetyl-dipeptide which enables all the other bits to work more effectively and you have winner!
Can we buy it Oz?
Well there is good news and bad news folks - Good news is that Fish Pond do stock it - but bad news is it's out of stock.
And my sources say that Amcal and Guardian Pharmacies my also stock. Yaay!
Soap and Glory Mascara
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| Soap and Glory Mascara $33.89 |
This is my new favourite mascara! And I can be a bit of a mascara snob! I shall just cut and paste product description taken from Fishpond here, because I simply couldn't say it any better;
'The BRUSH is the stuff - Soap And Glory's 7-SIDED FAN FLARE-180 brush with a V-groove to lay down volume & intensity, and a network of combing & curling surfaces to give length, definition and DRAMA. Featuring strength-building COLLAGEN PRE-PEPTIDES, LONG-STRETCH POLYMERS that wrap lashes in a flexible, lengthening film and NO FLAKE24 all-day wear technology, prepare yourself for TOTAL LASH LIFT-OFF!'
...I know, right!! It sounds awesome because it is awesome. Click on the link above and get some. Right now!
Soap and Glory Extreme Plump XL
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| Extreme Plump $19.00 |
Another fabulous product by Soap and Glory - within seconds of applying my Very Berry tinted Extreme Plump Lip Shine - began to feel a tingling - and as promised, my pout did look subtly plumper! And I found the colour to have a bit of a 'stain' effect and lasted quite a long time, which in the Berry colour - was very pleasing. I quite like that natural looking berry lip so I really love this product.
Seventeen Define & Conquer Contour Kit
I have always been at a bit of a loss when it compares to contouring - and in general will just stick to a bit of good old fashioned blush - but I have to say - I love this Contour kit! The colour is great and subtle enough to look natural whilst also adding that important bit of definition. And I was a bit surprised at how much brighter my face and complexion looked with the highlighter. I found the brown colour to be quite an effective eyeshadow as well this morning when I was in a rush. Applied a bit with my Nars 'fluffy' brush (over my Nars Pro Prime of course) and then a little bit under my bottom lashes with an angled brush really gave a nice amount of 'shadowing' and definition - a great colour for a 'no makeup' make up look. Now can we get this brand in Oz? - I can't easily find it on the internet I have to say, but if someone else knows please leave the integral info in the comments box. Ta!
Bourjois Shine Edition Lipstick No 26
Aaah Bourjois - how I miss you your affordable cost, yet premium results delights! I think Bourjois is available over east in Oz, but I certainly have been unable to find it in good ole W.A! |
| Bourjois Shine Edition $19 |
Rimmel Good to Glow Highlighter
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| Rimmel Good to Glow $10.05 |
Good old Rimmel - another super consumer friendly (cheap) brand that I find you always get good quality make up for. Now you can obviously buy Rimmel products here, but by the time this baby went into my basket I had entered a bit of a frenzy in my last ditch Boots shopping trip - and actually there are some Rimmel products that you can't get here - or in WA anyway (they do a liquid blush I have been unable to find anywhere) Now this product is very opalescent on application, but really does provide a very radiant look when mixed with some foundation - or is also very effective when used in isolation on cheekbones and the other 'high' points on the face.
And there you have it. My Last-minute-airport-Boots-haul!
I hope you enjoyed reading and maybe found some inspiration for new products or brands to try. As always, any comments or recommendations are very welcome! Until next time...
Crystelle xx
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