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Elemis beauty bargain thanks QVC

Beauty, self care, skincare

If you like beauty and a bargain then QVC has some great deals. Now I sound like my mother. This deal was ridiculously good. So good my mum got one for her and one for me as a nice birthday treat.

Rose fragrance

So Elemis is one of my favourite brands and last year I tried the rose balm cleanser and fell in love. I know this smell is not for everyone. Roses always smell like people’s nan . But I am telling you it’s because nans got it right.

As a flower, roses aren’t my favourite but I can appreciate their beauty and I love there fragrance. Every time we visit a garden and there are roses you will find me having a good sniff.

Lots of fragrance mimics roses as powdery but I find them fresh with a hint of citrus. I love the smell I truely do. So this set it beyond perfect for me.

The smell is heavenly.

What’s in it

First of all the gorgeous makeup bag! I find Elemis do the perfect makeup bags and this is the perfect colours for me!! I am obsessed with this bag it’s suck a pretty colour and it will be coming away with me this Christmas!

What’s inside the bag

  • Rose cleansing balm
  • Apricot toner
  • Marine cologen moisturiser
  • Rose face oil
  • Rose hand and nail cream
  • Rose shower wash
  • Rose body cream

Do they work?

Well it’s Elemis so yes and they smell wonderful. I am trying to buy less and only replace instead of trying new things but this was a gift!

I also have the Marks and Spencer calendar to try out! I may even try and do a mini blog on it to see what I think about the products.

I have put my rose shower milk on the side ready to replace my flamingo shower gel. This will be coming to France with us at Christmas.

The details

I have used the moisturiser for years and it’s a firm favourite. My skin loves it, it feels light and moisturising which is what it’s supposed to do. It gives instant relief to my combination skin and I love it.

The facial oil

I have combination skin so I thought that meant stay away from oils. I was getting break out from trying the Drunk Elephant marula oil. So I forgot that when ever you try new products your skin may not take to them straight away and that you are probably using too much.

So I used less and had no more breakouts. Oily skin doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use oils! Just find the right one. I am hoping I fall in love with facial oil, smells so good I will let you know how I get on.

Apricot toner

Again I have used this one for years and I was sort of running low. Apparently Elemis has a two year life span before you open them. So I have enough time to use it all up. Hopefully they will bring out a rose one!

Hand cream and body creams appear to be similar if not the same as the other ones I have tried just with the rose smell.

Was it worth it?

I was lucky, this was a gift but for £48 and all these products yes it really was a bargain! I would have paid my hard earned cash for this deal. The cleansing balm akin is over £40!! And the amount of product in it is amazing, plus I will use it all.

Without sounding like my wonderful mother you really can grab an amazing offer at QVC.

Taking a skincare break getting my life back on track

skincare

My skincare shelves are full.

Jam packed with skincare and they are all open and being used.

It’s not a waste but I just have to organise myself and get real.

There is no more room for more products and although I really really really want the Cult beauty box advent calendar in all its glory luckily if sold out in two hours so I have my hope on the Marks and Spencer one!

I don’t need it ( yes I do just put it on the credit card). But it’s a nice treat for Christmas so screw it!

So messy even when it’s tidy!

Will I try a no buy year?

Probably not! I am not that strong!

I have decided to only replace things when I need to! This will be hard. It’s Christmas time and all the offered are amazing and I want it all.

But I have so much skincare that I can’t use it all.

So I am going to reorganise.

  • Day care
  • Night care

All into separate boxes

I need to set aside an evening and actually do this!

I am going to use my gorgeous new bullet journal to list absolutely all of my products to see what needs replacing and what doesn’t.

I will try harder not to splurge on crazy products especially since I still want that Elizabeth Arden serum!

And haven’t bought it yet… my birthday is coming up so I should treat myself.

I really should.

Plus I need to focus on Christmas as we are going away more to be explained!

So I am trying to cut back on my skincare. Maybe now the wedding is over I can calm down the crazy!! It feels like my life is back on track. The wedding has been such a focus for the last two years which is crazy.

But weddings are crazy.

Pinterest made me do it! The welcome sign of my dreams and how I made it!

Wedding, Wedding Budget

Okay from the tittle that this is something that I definitely didn’t need but really wanted to make for me and for my guests!

A welcome sign that is definitely not relevant so I didn’t want to spend any money on it, or at least not a lot!

This is the image that started it. It’s nice and rustic and pretty. I just imagine having fresh foliage and flowers on it.

So I asked my step father in law to whip me one up. Let’s call him Papa Smurf as it makes it easier! He used an old palette and attached two planks across the back to secure them.

To paint or to stain

I had already painted a palette white to use as my order of the day but I was thinking maybe I had made a mistake. That it actually didn’t look that great. We had a discussion about painting them but I felt that the wood stain was better.

Then he got his blow torch out and scorched some detail into the wood. I think this was his favourite part.

It was already to stain and then decorate.

How beautiful does it look? I friggin love it.

Cricut time

Papa Smurf dropped it off so now I have a chance to decorate it. I have been practicing my hand writing and initially decided to hand paint it but I have a very clever Cricut machine that can cut it out in two minutes and then I just have to apply it.

So first I wrote it out using a font called November Easy! I down loaded it to my computer and typed it all out in word in a large font. Then I placed all the words so they would fit on a 12 by 12 square!

I then loaded this to my beloved Cricut and cut it out to check the placement and it fit perfectly. With limited waste of vinyl.

Cut it out in paper first so I could make sure that the placements were all in the right place!

Then I bought some premium gloss white permanent vinyl and cut that out. This didn’t take long although because the sign wasn’t perfectly smooth their were a few issues but I am so proud of it. I bought some longer cutting matts as an investment and I have used them a lot!

The final make

So with all this done it was time to put it all together. I was supposed to paint some flowers on it but I ran out of time. After speaking to Charlotte my talented friend and florist she planned on dressing it up with fresh flowers.

I had no idea she was going to use my favourite Cafe au Lait Dahlias on it and my other signs were all so dressed to their best shape!

So what do you think?

We loved it and judging by our friends photos of it they loved it too! It cost a few pounds to make only because I had everything all ready. We didn’t need this. It wasn’t important or necessary but it was pretty and I would make another in a heartbeat!

Darling Dahlias how does your wedding bouquet grow?

Flowers, Wedding, Wedding Budget

In April I started planting my dahlia tubers with the intention that these beauties would actually end up in my bouquet. I find that cafe au lait Dahlia are far superior to peonies in looks, just not smell.

This summer is a Dahlias dream with hot sunny days and me watering the pots like a crazy person.

Gardeners are crazy

We have to be. I watched the weather like a hawk. I studied the frost repost like it would determine how my day would go. Well it did, if it was going to frost then I would evacuate my growing bulbs into the spare bedroom

Luckily I never had to.

No frost

Our bathroom over looks the garden so I got to watch my baby’s grow. I already told you I was a crazy plant lady.

I looked over them, made sure that they we happy squeezed when they started to grow and felt bad for the ones that never got to make it.

These are my first,

little pom pom jewels. To me they are perfect but it’s evident that even if I cut them to encourage regrowth they still won’t be flowering in two months.

I can’t be sad about it though as these are beautiful flower that make me so happy!

Saving pennies

They will make it to the wedding though, I am drying the petals and turning them into confetti. So nothing will be waisted. I still have my peonie petals from June splurge.

Confetti isn’t massively expensive but myself and the venue only want biodegradable confetti. To me this should be rule everywhere. I don’t buy that many flowers but I will be using my stocks, and all my flower petals for the wedding.

The cherry blossom petals went a bit brown so I am looking at perhaps dying them. I am going to do some research and see what was best. This will also save me money.

Dahlia hopes

I still have a hope that Dahlias that I have grown will make it into my bouquets but if they don’t I won’t be too disappointed. They still may be in my bouquet but just shop bought ones!

This is my harvest from today and I think they are pretty perfect. I hated cutting them but I know they won’t grow if I don’t.

I am a novice gardener but I will definitely be growing Dahlias next year and the year after!

DIY wedding, dying my own napkins

Wedding, Wedding Budget

Our venue is beautiful and magical and it one of the those set ups where you do everything yourself. Hire everything, including the linen.

It means a lot of work but then I guess it’s a bit more special.

We also have the venue from the Friday till the Saturday which is amazing. We have a lot of time to set up and get ready.

So I started thinking about where we are and what sort of food we are having. I truly believe in a well dressed table, it hurts my eyes when table cloths have thick folding lines. It makes me want to Holt the wedding breakfast and iron the tables..

I don’t even have ocd I just hate an in-ironed tableclothes.

I love a dressed table, flowers, nice glasses. If someone has made the effort then I really appreciate it. So I decided to dye my own napkins.

DIY napkins

Is that crazy?

My friend Charlotte showed me a picture of her sisters birthday where they ombré dyed the napkins a gorgeous grey and well I fell in love.

She found the napkins at a place in brick lane where hotel and restaurants get rid of perfectly good seconds. And so she bought mine.

Task as hand

Yup all 120 napkins plus a few spares.

This sounds like a mammoth chore but it’s not.

I did the first batch in a few hours in a patch of sunshine the British weather bestowed on me.

Instructions

So I read the instructions and like any modern women I watched a few YouTube videos to boot.

The best piece of advice I got was that the fabric had to be wet in order to absorb the dye better.

I used two different strengths of dye and dipped my first batch of napkin. I put them in different buckets. So I popped them in my weaker green bucket. Then into the darker second. I am just going for a ombré effect and I love the results so far.

I used the length of my glove as a measurement and held my napkins at an angle so that one corner was left white.

They are still drying in this picture I had to cover the deck with plastic you get for painting so that I didn’t stain everything. I used gloves so my hands didn’t go green. Only when I moved the dye it exploded onto my hands and I now have green tinged fingers.

At least it matches my ring!

I really enjoyed myself.

I only have 90 more to dye as these are currently in my bathroom drying over night.

I can’t wait to have these finished and another job ticked off my list!

What DIY jobs have done, doing?

Growing my own bouquet: a budget step too far?

Flowers, Personal Experience, Planning, Wedding, Wedding Budget

So on an early post I wrote about how trying to find the perfect September flowers are hard. I also said that it’s hard to find what actual flowers are in season.

My mum and Charlotte are doing my flowers.

My sister said I should try growing my own dahlias , so for my birthday I bought two lots of dahlia tubers.

Sarah Raven has got the most beautiful selection and it’s where I bought mine from!

This beauty is the Rubens collection

Which are the most Devine colours ever! These are all dahlias but all so very different.

I figured that if it works great!

If they don’t flower in time then my garden will be beautiful. If I just get one bloom I will be over the moon!! If it’s a Cafe au Lait even better.

I fell in love with them so much I bought a second set of tubers in a slightly different palette. This is the Flamboyant selection!

I figured that they would all work beautifully together if I was lucky enough to grow them all.

I am on Dahlia watch

I planted them just after the last frost and have been monitoring the weather ever since.

I am like a crazy plant lady.

I actually screamed when the parcel arrived. And then I had to wait almost a month because the weather was bad.

I also bought cheap pots that I had to cut wholes in so my plants don’t drown with the amount of rain we are sure to have.

I also ran out of soil and had to top up a week later.

Being a planner I had to plan which ones to do first!

Luckily everything is written on the bag so while I was writing out the sticks I could match it to the tuber. Makes me happy!

My friend said to write the name on both sides because rain and sun will fade them.

Measure twice, cut once

This makes me so happy. I am pretty sure I am supposed to snip the top so that I get more flowers but I will do a bit more research before I make the final cut.

My garden is now covered with plant pots and Dahlias.

I have used plant pots because my garden is dark and this means I can find the best spots for them.

Idle hands are the devils online shopping subscription

Beauty, confidence, Make Up, Wedding Budget

I have signed up to too many beauty / home websites. This pay day I had a ridiculous amount of emails offering me money off discounts, free postage ahhh. I want it all. my idle hands are shopping as soon as the subscription emails roll in.

My account looks healthy and my fingers start emptying it again.

I went on Cult Beauty filling up my basket with Zoeva brushes and Charlotte Tilbury makeup. When I got to a £100 of products I took a step back. What am I doing?

Stop the splurge

Yes I want to buy a lot of gorgeous things for my home but right now I don’t need them. I am not a shopaholic but there is something about a pay check that makes me want to spend money That has literally just entered my account!

I need to save

It’s not long till the wedding! This month has been all about paying for wedding deposits and payments. Blah blah blah. My savings are looking pretty empty.

Time for less outings

More walking ( bus fares add up)

Definitely no beauty, I have enough. I don’t wear much makeup so why am putting all this makeup into my basket? I am too susceptible to advertising and influencers. I do use all my skincare products but everything else is just money I could have spent on the wedding!

Idle hands

Luckily I also need to watch my diet! Which means less takeouts and premade meals.

As it’s a big sunnier I do want to eat better food with more veg and in the evenings I need to keep busy.

Idle hands are the devils online shopping subscription. They sit and wait for my pennies to roll in then they send me what I have always wanted but have absolutely no need for.

Yes I want velvet cushions with embroidered bees on, yes I need more plants! I just topped up my rather sad makeup collection with my Boots points. It really is the bare minimum and didn’t cost me anything however did I need it?

Plan

I need to be busier without exhausting myself like I did over Christmas.

I have so much to do so rather than spending my weekends completing tasks I am going to complete them in the weeknights instead. I will still schedule nights where I can just cuddle my best friend the sofa ( I wrote a blog on my lack of energy)

I will still relax when I need to, I won’t even look at my subscriptions this month unless Elizabeth Arden has an amazing deal on ( never going to happen).

I won’t delete them because I do have enough will power to stop buying them. This month will be a no buy month!

No spending on silly things

No make up

No skincare ( Cult Beauty I already miss you)

Do you have the same problem with pay day offers?

So obviously I bought the new Birchbox because Rock My Wedding sent me a naughty email and I wanted to try out half the items in it! It arrived within two days and I will try out the bits tomorrow when I go shopping with mum.

On Sunday I got a call from my mum suggesting that I had, HAD to buy the new Gatineau tanning accelerator.

“You don’t want to be a pale bride darling”

So thank you QVC for your special offers! I look forward to looking like a bronze goddess at our wedding.

So I failed!

But a few treats here and now are important to me not going insane with all the wedding planning.

Or so I tell myself.