Time to get fit for the summer with sale shoes!

Summer is creeping up (finally!) and I, for one, have eaten so much takeaway food the past couple of weeks. I blame the boyfriend for visiting...
At university, we had free membership to the gym which I completely took advantage of and I surprisingly loved it. But now, back home, I am poor and to even step into a leisure centre or gym nowadays sends the bank account in a frenzy. Thankfully, I get discount on going swimming and going to the gym (gotta love Job Seeker's...) but I thought it was worth looking into going running. You don't have to pay for it (aside from time in bed, perhaps) and it's a great way to stay fit and lose weight. If you're like me though, and the thought of even walking to the shops makes you tired then it's fair to say you ultimately do have to spend money- on trainers. Yes. I didn't own trainers. Aside from three pairs of Converse, I was trainer-less. Going to the gym in trainers showed me that Converse are definitely not great for working out in, and so they definitely won't be great for running in. So, up Birmingham (as usual) I stopped into some sports shops as they have huge sales on at the moment, like every other shop.

I'm a size 4, and therefore, apparently in JD Sports my shoe size is considered a Junior size........... So it took me a while to actually find the sale section for my size. On this hunt, I wanted to find trainers that would be good for both running but also look quite nice as I'm going around Europe in July and I would wear them then, also. Most of the shoes in the sale are focused more on fashion and style, rather than durability. I did however come across one pair:

The first thing that struck me was the colours. Black and red is one of my favourite colour combinations. The second thing that struck me was the fact that they were £10. My budget was £15, so I was very happy with these! I have also noticed that wearing old athletic trainers is in fashion at the moment, so if I decide to go down that path then these will also go in handy as I think the colours would work for it!

Make-up removers I use that cost little

Being a huge fan of make-up, it's fair to say that when I do wear it I wear a lot of it! Bioderma make-up remover is currently on my 'what to buy when I have money' list, but until then I have to count the pennies and purchase cheaper alternatives. I still look for a make-up remover that does the job, though. Make-up on the skin ages you, so if it's not removed thoroughly then your skin will age much quicker! So removing make-up completely is very important if you want to look as young as possible and to not break-out.

For the past year or so, I have been using Garnier's Simply Essentials 2-in-1 make-up remover. It contains no alcohol, or no perfume, which is a BIGBIG bonus for the skin. You can get it from Boots for £2.99. It works well, makes the skin feel clean and doesn't require rubbing if you're attempting to get waterproof make-up off (it removes waterproof make-up very well!).

If you pop into Boots right now, they currently have a 'buy one get cheapest free' on Garnier products! So I bought one of the Simply Essentials make-up removers alongside the Fresh Essentials eye make-up remover. In my opinion, the 200ml Simply Essentials is a much better product that the 150ml Fresh Essentials eye make-up remover as you can use it for eye make-up removing as well as facial make-up removing.

Alongside these two Garnier products, I have been using their new Pure Active make-up remover purifying gel:

It is a 2-in-1 product that both removes make-up and cleanses skin, helping to target imperfections. I have oily skin that is prone to blemishes, which is what this product aims. Before this product, I had never used a cleansing make-up removing face wash... I wish I had before! It has never been so easy for me to remove my make-up, and it also removes waterproof eye make-up. It's such a holy grail for us lazy girls, believe me. You can get it from Boots for £4.99, which is a good price for a facial cleanser, a make-up remover and a spot treatment!

It's sale time!

Waltzing around Birmingham town centre, I couldn't help but notice the masses of 'SALE' signs plastered in shop windows. Being poor, this both saddened me and intrigued me. So I made it a mission to buy some clothes for under £10. Yes, £10.

I have been a huge fan of wearing brogue shoes at the moment. The pair I can't stop wearing are a Marks & Spencer's pair- that I found in a local charity shop for £10 instead of £30-£40! However, brogue shoes look good with a pair of cute little socks, or socks in general, in my opinion. I only own about 10 pairs of black socks from Asda and a few with cute patterns on but that is it... So one of my missions was to find some cute socks to wear with my brogue shoes.

The Topshop sale started yesterday, and so me and my best friend went there before anywhere else in the Bullring to have a look. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything cheap and wonderful that caught my eye so I gave up pretty quickly. I did however find some socks which were on sale for £2 instead of £4. I also discovered that I still had £2 left on my Topshop gift card that I got for my birthday so these were technically a free pair of socks and definitely helped my £10 budget and sock mission!

COS also had a sale on. I have a love/hate relationship with COS. I absolutely adore the clothes, shoes and accessories they sell but I can't afford much in there so I've never bought anything from there. Thankfully though, I found these cute pair of socks on sale from £5 to £3.50. The socks I've bought are thin like tights which I was looking for due to the sun slowly making an appearance here in the UK- sweaty feet is not pleasant in hot weather. 

You might be able to see the black panel on the heel, which I think makes these socks pretty unique and would be nice to wear with sandals where the heel is on show.

My sock mission had been fulfilled, and so me and my friend went to one of our favourite shops hidden in the back-streets of Birmingham- COW Vintage. For those of you who don't know, COW is a fashion shop that, as you may have guessed by the name, sell vintage clothes, accessories, shoes and jewellery. 

(http://vintagereflection.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/cow.jpg)

I went in with no hopes of finding much for under my remaining budget of £6.50, but I looked anyway. A jumper suddenly caught my eye on a hanging rail:

This jumper, ladies and gentleman, was £5. I could easily see other retailers selling a jumper of this quality for much MUCH more considering the leather and suede panels (apologies to any vegetarian or vegan readers!). I'm not sure what I'm going to wear it with yet, but that's part of the excitement... isn't it?

Three random bargains from the past couple of weeks that deserve a shout-out

Good afternoon, beauty bargain hunters!

The bargains I am going to talk about today are technically not recent, as I bought them a couple of weeks ago. However, they were too good not to share! (Believe me, prepare to be gobsmacked!)

I will start with the no-so-amazing sale purchase first. Don’t get me wrong, it was very decent and I love it to bits, but not compared to the other two I shall be showing you.

Here we have a purchase which I bought on sale from the closing down sale at the David & Goliath store in Birmingham about a week ago (weeps a river of tears). I am a huge fan of David & Goliath and it saddens me to see this pun-filled store dwindle, but thankfully you can buy their products all over the internet and in various other outlets. I have in the past successfully managed to purchase one of their infamous hoodies half price on sale (http://www.polyvore.com/we_will_wok_you_womens/thing?id=53458970) which I completely adore (It is so snuggly and I will never tire of their cute a humorous clothing).

This baseball t-shirt is not actually from the David & Goliath line... I’m sorry for wasting your time with pointless information, I just love D&G so much- to me, they are my Dolce & Gabbana. This top was being sold in their store nevertheless (possibly in an attempt to get more money from customers!). It was originally £15 but I grabbed it at an amazing £5, which I think is pretty decent for something that is currently in style and easy to wear.

My second purchase in the past couple of weeks has to be this 80 bag box of Twinings Green Tea from Sainsburys.

You may be wondering why I am telling you about this purchase, but for those of you who aren’t aware- Green Tea has so many beauty advantages! It is supposedly good for weight loss if drank often as it “contains chemical substances called polyphenois which are integral in dissolving fatty substances contained within the body” (https://www.sknclinics.co.uk/beauty-benefits-of-green-tea) and is packed with anti-oxidants which are great for clearing the skin and detoxing your body- to name just two of its benefits. If you did not know this, then head to Sainsburys right now where it is 85p for a box of 80 tea-bags instead of being at the £3.50 mark. (Reduced at the time of writing)

My third and final beauty bargain for the day is a coat I bought about two weeks ago now. I was minding my own business looking in the sale section of Topshop (as per usual) to see if there was anything cheap and decent on sale, when I came across this coat which I loved when it was at full price:

                                  (Mario and Boo are admiring my new coat in the background)

                                                                                 

This edgy and stylish coat right here originally cost £80 (!!!!!), but whilst searching in the sale section I saw a singular one of these coats, which happened to be my size (12) for an amazing price of..........

.... wait for it....

...

£10!!!!! Yes. You read that correctly. I saved £70 on a Topshop coat. Miracles do happen, you heard it here first. The one downside of this coat is that is more of a winter coat and therefore I can’t really wear it now, but that’s one of the compromises you have to make when buying sale items- it’s the store’s way of getting rid of clothes that are no longer right for the season. But you can save a bundle, and buy clothes ready for when the season next comes around. I, for one, can’t wait for it to be winter again just so I can wear this coat!

Buying sale items and reduced items is often a case of luck. It was luck that I happened to find that singular size 12 coat, and it is lucky I went to Sainsburys and happened to need some Green Tea at that time- but it is always worth it in the end. These three purchases together, at full price, would have cost a gut-wrenching (opens up computer calculator)... £98.50, but it cost a mere £15.85. I think that says more than anything I have just said, really.

Hope everyone had a good day, and let me know if any of you spent it in the sales/reduced section.

-  Charl xx

Welcome all to 'I Need my Beauty Fix but I'm Poor!' (Hey, it rhymed!)

If you're reading this, then I am assuming you're either a poor student, a poor anybody, a poor person looking for cheaper alternatives (to beauty products or fashion pieces) because you're poor, or you may have just happened to come across this blog because you were bored and clicked on the first blog you saw... or maybe for some reason you're interested. Whomever you may be, welcome! I hope to be of great service to your bank accounts (and my own).

As this is my first post, I am going to begin by introducing myself (I know you're excited, I can tell!!)

My name is Charlotte and I have recently graduated from University with a degree in English and Creative Writing. I am aware of how cliché it is for me to be writing a blog when I'm a creative writing graduate, but hey! This is my first blog, surprisingly! I have wanted to start a blog for years, and I was forever told by my lecturers that it helps creative writers to write blogs... but, as you may know, there are masses of blogs published each day. So much so, that it can be difficult to think of anything interesting to talk about in this huge topical network. It got me thinking- what both interests me and is applicable to many people at the same time? Without being too common and boring? I have always wanted to write about beauty products and fashion, but there are so many published that you could probably just think about one and it would pop up on your screen (try it, it will happen!... ahem).
I wanted to make it different.

Being a graduate who is thousands of £s into my overdraft and thousands of £s in debt from student loans, it's fair to say I can't afford many luxury beauty products and fashion items. I do own some, but I have either saved up for it, gotten them for birthdays/Christmas' or been silly with the minimal money I have (which I do quite often). Recently, however, whilst now jobless with no form of income aside from Job Seeker's Allowance I have realised how much of a financial mess I am in.

This is where my blog comes in. You, the reader, are going to join me on this journey of attempting to still look 'good' and fashionable, but without breaking the bank.

I hope to post often with news of offers or sales and the purchases I make that I think are a great bargain!
If you read all of that, I thank you. If you didn't, then thanks for taking an interest either way.

Let's start saving money together!