Reduction of stock

Alright?

I'm still on my mission to reduce all my stock before I buy anything new but it is hard when all the shops have offers on. For example, I have bought the following recently despite having some at home already:

• Cleansing wipes. I had finished my original Boots stash (which by the way were crap, but then what do you expect for about £1.50?) and I'd heard that Biore ones were on offer in Superdrug and I did need some of their excellent nose pore strips. So, I picked up two nose pore strips and two jam packed cleansing wipe packets. I have still not opened these as I have been given a packet of L'oreal wipes to use. That brings me onto my next issue, I went to Boots and they had L'oreal wipes on half price so I bought two packets. Now I have gone from having no cleansing wipes to having 5 packets..
  
• Shampoo/conditioner. I bought some more shampoo as I thought I needed some, despite having some TBS banana shampoo at home already and some Herbal Essences. It was too good an opportunity to pass up as they had the usual BOGOF offer on so I got two. Conditioner wise I had a voucher from Boots so I bought some Mark Hill conditioner for frizzy hair which totally did nothing AND the design of the bottle needs some work as I had to take the whole of the top of as the lid was jammed stuck in the top part.

Hmm..that's been it really, bought some moisturiser which I really needed and it turned out to be crap, am going to get jojoba oil as it's been recommended by someone who knows what they're doing.

On the plus side I have only 3 body moisturisers left which is impressive considering that this time last year I had about 20.

Quite impressed really as I have only a few face washy products left, one face moisturiser, a lot of conditioners, two/three shampoos and no shower gels have been bought by me since November, woo woo.

Makeup and Quotes

I think I want to seem a bit more educated than I am so I will start putting quotes on the bottom of each of my posts, I'm not going to go back and do that because I've written a lot and I don't have the time or patience to do so.

Anyway, this post is mainly about makeup (I must however remember to label my posts because I keep forgetting).

I have an extensive range of makeup which I do use but not all at once. I am currently figuring out how to use powder blusher and keep it on your cheeks. Maybe I should add some background..here goes..

I got Selfridges vouchers for my birthday and went off to spend them, now I had to change my YSL Touche Eclat as it was too light, the girl at the counter changed it as I had never used it, I thought that whilst I was there I might as well use the vouchers so I bought a Lip Plumper (solely for the colour and the fact that the gloss wasn't sticky and some skin perfecter which I haven't used ONCE as it is expensive and I am saving it for special occasions). Anyway, you got to take a free sample so I thought I'd take the plunge and get some blusher (my thinking being that from the other stuff that I could take from the freebie box, blusher was the one thing I didn't have and that it complimented the other two, I could whack on the gloss, the perfecter and the blush..also, I've never had a blush before whereas I have copious amount of eye shadows and Marcello's, the only reason I wanted the M's was because of the funky boxing but I got a sample of that from somewhere else).

So, I've used the blusher once but I never know how much to put on..I must ask someone.

I asked two males that I know and they both said I don't need makeup, which is very nice of them and I tend to agree, I don't wear makeup to make myself look decent, I look OK without it, there are times when I go barefaced to work and most weekends I am not wearing any. I normally whack it on when I am going out for the evening or to a wedding/party/desi function.

Also, I've been asked by some people who read this blog what my essential makeup items are and they are listed below, by essentials I mean stuff you MUST have in your makeup kit, not stuff I MUST apply to my face everyday, so here goes..

1)Benefit Doctor Feelgood
This is the shit, I've got pores on my nose and the sides of my nose and this chappy goes on and fills them in, I get what I call "model" skin..it's like the skin of a mannequin, smooth and shine free..no pores. You have to re-apply it but not very often and application is a doddle too..you can't put too much on because you get a little sponge with it. You have to wash the sponge though as you get little bits on it. It's a little metal tin which I love (hard wearing AND hard working) and the balm lasts an age, I use this whenever I go out (gives me perfect skin without any makeup at all) and I have had it since January and I have not even made a visible indent to it. It cost me about £16 because I got a special offer in my skymag, usually it is £22.50 and it is worth every penny. The only downside for me is the smell, it's not overpoweringly horrible, just smells slightly of damp..apart from that, it's a winner.

2)YSL Touche Eclat
This is also the shit but people are always arguing whether to use it as a concealer or a highlighter..I think that's really confusing because the packaging says it reflects light off dark areas so surely you'd use it on your under eye bags? Well, I don't care..use it wherever, I use it under my brows and it makes me look really alert and different..I would exercise caution however as you need to push the applicator (YSL are very keen on this, my gloss has it and they have other glosses that do it and now also a nail brush) and it's easy to keep pushing and then see all the product come rushing out and fall on the floor. Also, a teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny bit is all you need of this, all you do is dab it in and it sets in very easily. It's cheapest in Superdrug, shade one is £15 and shades two and three and £16.99.

3)Clinique Moisturiser Gel
Best..moisturiser..ever. Moisturisers dry areas, keeps oily areas in good nick too. £27 quid but I'd wait til they do offers, I got mine for £27 but with a free toner and liquid soap.

4)Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer.
I didn't want to pay 9 quid for this so I saved up my Boots points and it is the best thing ever. It's like a glue for eye shadows, you put the tiniest amount on, wait for it to dry and then put your eyeshadow on over the top. Your eyeshadow won't budge until YOU want to take it off. I will definitely be buying more of this in the future. The only word of caution is that if you have darker skin, don't put too much on as it will alter the colour of your eyeshadow, it does claim to make your eyeshadow brighter so exercise some caution there. Apart from that, buy it!

PS..

A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.


That is all.

Russell Howard

I am going to see "Shaggy Take Two" at the Beck Theatre very very soon.

Ahh, I have such fond memories of that theatre, I watched my first Indian film there and it was the subject of many school projects and trips.

I havenae seen it for ages, will be strange going back to the old country, the "ghetto" from which I came.

Plus, tis pretty cheap seeing him..15 quid! BAR-GAIN!

I shall try getting a pik-cha with him.

Twas by pure chance that I found out he was performing "near" us, my brother was looking at his website and it was on there..wahey!

This is all.

My trip to Ikea

So yesterday at about half elevenish, me, my mum and my dad set out to go to Ikea.

My dad always hates going there for some reason and yesterday was no different, he takes a different route to the one I take though, I pass by Sahib Auto's and Ace Cafe but that is my dad's second route. Anywho, I digress, yesterday, we were going my dad's normal way and there was a fire and thus there was a lot of traffic. Funny, it was raining so much and we were put off by fire, you would think the fire would have dampened the flames. Anywho, we went the other way to Ikea and we had to park like ten million miles away, me and my dad ran into the shop and my mum was cantering behind (she had on heels and she runs funny). Got in and after some initial confusion re. whether or not to take a bag from the darling man at the front of the shop and whether or not to go upstairs first and then downstairs, we were off. Mother saw some sexy plates which I too fell in love with, dad as usual tried to jolly us along but we were having none of it and after a good 20 minutes circulating around an area no bigger than 4 by 4 metres squared, we left the plates alone, our bag still empty (plates were too large and wouldn't fit in the cupboards and I wanted a black one as opposed to the white ones mi madre wanted and as they weren't selling those, the whole search was rather redundant). Then we moved onto the cups, these cups have been the apple of my eye for an age, they are stackable and have this excellent cut in the bottom so when they are upside down, the water slides off, 19p each! Six were thrown into the bag with much apprehension re. breakages, until we saw a cardboard thingy much like the wine boxes you get in Sainsbury's. The boxes were in a crate that priced them up at 99p each, me not being one to pay for something which isn't really needed, chucked it back into the crate. We minced on to glasses and they had these in abundance, my dad asked the lady who worked there if the cardboard thingies were free and joy to the world, they were! The glasses were boxed up real quick. The utensils section was skimmed over as "you can get them much cheaper in Southall" and we moved onto more plates. This time the hunt was successful as after yet more agonising, we finally found six clear glass plates (we have small bowls at home that match them perfectly), in the bag they went.



Traipsed around for a bit looking for (on a first come, first served basis):

• A clock


• A rug


• Curtain rails and "finials" (the little knobs on the end)


• Pillows
  

The clock section was lovely, found a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge clock which I am definately going to purchase, the rug section was a bit lax and for the life of us we couldn't find the curtain accessories. So, off to pillow land (on the dreaded second floor). Enter the lift and tis like a spaceship, the lights are funky and play tricks with your mind, tis the most unnatural kinda light in the world in there, I kept babbling about something and you could see out of the lift. After battling past the kiddy section on the first floor, we got to pillows and duvets. They had some sexy pillows but in the end I settled for an old favourite, it was so tightly packed into the bag that it came in that it allowed me and my dad to have a decent duel in the middle of the shop floor. This man followed us around the whole store, perv. Anywho, once the pillow was bought we headed for the curtain section, which couldn't find anywhere, this is where my memory gets a bit hazy as I saw some very sexy cupboards (which I will buy if Habitat don't get their fingers outta their arses) and a sexy desk chair (also to be duly purchased). I think we went back to the ground floor and found the curtain stuff, I didn't measure the size of my curtain rail (though I have never had any complaints so far hehe) so I couldn't get that, but I did succeed in getting some curtain stoppers (very kindly made by the people living in the People's Republic of China).

Mum spotted a hook which was for heavy loads (heh, oh the jokes me and my dad had over that) and so I decided to get a differing hook for the back of my door as what I have on there currently is pissing people off so bad, though I don't mind it. Off to the canvasses..

They had a very sexy canvas of NYC in black and white with only the taxis being yellowy orange, that too shall be purchased once my room is completed. There was also a sexy bookcase which needs to be mounted to a wall, that too shall be purchased if my cupboards ever show up, damn you!

Off we went to pay, this woman in the queue next to ours had a bajillion little things in her trolley, twas jam packed I tells thee..so we got into the other queue and were done even before she was. No carrier bag was given but my mum had the insight to take a Sainsbury's bag for life and so most of our stuff went in there, the cups and plates were still in that cardboard carrier and we wrapped it up and we were off. The rain had subsided, I was shattered but we still had to trek to Greenford to purchase some clothes for my mum's friends from India and I had a Boots voucher which needed redeeming.

The next entry into this blog will chronicle my journey from the North Circular to Greenford via the back roads of Kingston and Harrow and it really is not for the faint-hearted hehehe.

Market Shopper

I'm going to the market back home tomorrow, I havnae been for ages and I'm very excited aboot it.

Ahh..to be money savvy.

I must charge and also update my iPod but I am so unbelievably lazy.