some retail therapy

With it being exam season, I've been feeling quite sorry for myself which has lead to a fair amount of midnight online shopping. At that time of night I'm usually in a tired, almost delirious state, and if I do stumble across something pretty on the internets my first thought is "oh go on then, treat yourself".
Hence the reason why over the past month I've ended up buying far more than is justifiable.

Jenning Floral Vest Top | Cream Munford Knitted Jumper | Aztec Knitted Jumper
I've come to the conclusion that it's almost impossible to take decent photos of clothes on the hanger, they never sit right and are just a bit too much hassle. Hopefully you can make out the pattern from my photos and get an idea of what the cut and fit is like from the stock images.
ARK had a 50% off sale items offer floating around at the start of May, so I took advantage of that voucher and got myself a few new tops - a beautiful floral sleeveless tshirt that is going to be perfect with a pair of shorts for summer, and two knitted jumpers because let's face it, we're nowhere near summer. Yes I do realized that I've just contradicted myself.

Blue Galaxy Print Leggings | Cosmic Tie Dye Print Leggings
Somehow I've winded up with two pairs of cosmic print leggings as I added a pair to my cart when I placed my order at ARK (just so I could get free shipping, shh) and a couple of days later saw the other pair on sale on ASOS and I couldn't pass them up. I do prefer the ASOS leggings, they're more flattering and are better quality. They're also three times the price, so make up your own minds.

Colourblocked Floral Shirt
I popped into the brand spanking new Forever 21 in Glasgow (I guess it's been there for a while now, but I go to Glasgow so rarely that it's the first time I've seen it), and this shirt caught my eye on the sale rack. It's literally my perfect shirt, right down to the floral pattern with my favourite colours and the black sleeves. It doesn't seem to be on the UK website, the closest I can find is this which is only available in plus size.

Rimmel Apocalips in 501 Stellar | Alpha-H Liquid Gold | Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Vanille Clair | Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner 24H in 01 Intense Black | L'Oreal Super Liner Black Lacquer in Black Vinyl
The Alpha-H Liquid Gold has been right at the top of my wishlist ever since I tried a sample of it, and I finally caved and bought it - I've been using it for the past few weeks and so far the results are promising, I may even write up a review once I've used it for a bit longer. And I may be the last person in the world to buy one, but I now own one of the Rimmel Apocalips! I haven't swatched it yet, but the colour is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to give it a whirl.
 I went into Superdrug with the aim of buying the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, but all makeup was on 3 for 2 and I got a little carried away. As well as getting the Maybelline Gel Eyeliner which I've been wanting to try for ages, I picked up a backup of the L'Oreal Super Liner as the one I have has dried up. Although the Super Liner isn't the best for doing winged eyeliner, it's perfect if you struggle with liquid eyeliner or if you want a liner that you can put on in a hurry without worrying that you'll mess it up. Right when I was first getting into makeup, this was the first liquid eyeliner that I could put on with no difficulty (after a little practice).

Real Techniques Core Collection | Starter Set | Expert Face Brush
Boy am I glad to finally get my hands on some Real Techniques brushes. I've had a Sigma brush kit for about a year and a half now, and although I've taken good care of them, they were in dire need of replacing. The brushes I used daily were shedding so much, and made applying makeup such a chore as I was constantly having to brush away the stray bristles.
iHerb also had 20% off all RT brushes at the time, coupled with $5 off my first order and guess how much I paid for both brush collections and the Expert Face Brush including delivery...
£23. Guess who's a happy bunny.
If you're ordering from the UK please be aware that you may have to pay customs when your order arrives, when mine got delivered there was a sticker on the box stating that my customs tax was around £12 (I think that my postman may have just forgot to ask me to pay!).

And of course with all this online ordering there's bound to be some samples thrown in somewhere. If you're ordering from BeautyBay I'd highly recommend that you pay the £1.50 extra for the premier service at the checkout, which means you get a few deluxe samples with your order to try out - hello Egyptian Magic cream (I've wanted to try this out for ages) and Mario Badescu cleansing soaps!

* Stock images are not my own.