{New In} – Birthday Spoils, Shopping, UAE Haul.

In January I celebrated by birthday and Blogger BFF – Desle and I have this January to March birthday celebration theory where we celebrate our birthdays for 3 months and buy each other stuff. She ALWAYS spoils the sh*t out of me and she always seems to get me things that I love and would never buy myself. This year was no exception.

I’m surprised that I didn’t spend as much as I thought I would when in the UAE. I think mostly because the goodies that I wanted were so overpriced. I have however managed to buy goodies that were well priced for example stocking up on my beloved Garnier BB Cream because it was half the price that we pay in SA and besides the price, my Avon BB Cream could just not hold up with the Emirates heat. My face ate that BB Cream and it was definitely too drying on the skin so I ended up using it as a primer. Now that I’m done sharing useless information with you lovies, let me show you what I bought and received.

I have no idea what happened to my “you open it, you finish it” theory that I mentioned in my empties post last year. I was convinced that I could do it but once I received this massive box of spoils, it kinda just flew out the window. But. I. Will. Get. Back. On. That. Wagon. PROMISE!

I’m a lipstick person, I’m a crazy lipstick collector and wearer person. I’m not one of those people that just collects lipsticks and never wears them. I believe that someday I’m going to own 365 lipsticks, one for everyday of the year. Cheesy but true. So Des bought not one, not two but 8 lipsticks and the cutest Macaroon lipbalm. There’s some cult favourites in there that I couldn’t wait to get my lips on. I can’t wait to start using my Sephora and Too Faced lipsticks.

Then I got some ooh-la-lovie goodies for my body that I will using on my week off. I took a sniff of some of the products and I went to beauty blogger heaven. Then I also received a refill of Victoria’s Secret lotion that I used religiously since I got it the first time. Oh and my Bath and Body Works collection is back in existence and the plus side is, I haven’t tried this range yet!

Let’s move on to the hands and nails – Let me just say that the L’Occitane en Provence hand lotion smells like real roses that’s been stuffed into the tube. My past experience with rose scented products is that it smells so artificial and this is definitely a notch maybe 10 up from what I’m used to. Let’s take a minute to appreciate the cuteness that is Mini Pet Floral, its such a cute addition to my weekend handbag.

If you’re a follower on Twitter, you would know that my face suffered from all sorts of weird breakouts and reactions while I was there and I tried everything, even going back to my trusty faves but for some reason it just didn’t work. Slowly but surely I got my skin how I wanted it and how its supposed to be and colder months approaching, Des sorted me out with new face masks from Korea.

Jewellery might just be second on my list of my absolute must have accessories for my outfit. I got a trio of gangster, sweet and owl obsession. The “Amazing” chain is something that I would NEVER IN A MILLION years purchase for myself but for some reason its my most loved piece in my collection. Maybe after the owls earrings because I’m owl obsessed.

Now when I got back to SA I had money left and being a typical love shopping, student, always broke kinda fashion – I felt the need to go shop. I remember I spotted these heels at Shoe City for round about R400 and when I went back last week it was R120. I may or may not have BOOYAA’ed out loud in store. They are so comfy and appropriate for someone like me that absolutely – cannot master – the art of walking in heels.

Typo is Typo is Typo, everybody loves Typo. These are such awesome statement pencils and I don’t even want to use them. This is one of the gifts that I put away as is because I want to save it till I need it. Even though I find the urge to want to need it now. Self Control Tasneem. Self Control. I can be sensible when I need to be… I hope?

Then I did some shopping online at Retail Box for some The Balm goodies. I bought Mary-Lou Manizer in the UAE but wanted another one for that Blogger Bestie of mine and the Nude Dude Palette. I’m so impressed with the service at Retail Box. They always keep you updated with the details concerning your package and the delivery speed was better than any other online store that I shop at and I shop online A LOT. Kudos Retail Box! Fellow SA online stores, take notes.

M-M-Makeup! This lot of spoils are probably going to be the hardest to use because they are so pretty. I’ve admired the Physicians Formula Nude Wear range since it got released. Speak about packaging perfection, soon Ill dip my brush into it. Then the palette from Sephora will probably be my bestie because on the reverse side is a step by step instruction manual on how/wear to apply the eyeshadow. For a beauty blogger, I’m quite a noob when it comes to applying makeup.

Lastly, I wish Ikea and Lifestyle would open shop in SA already! They have thee most beautiful goodies to beautify your home and I may or may not have gone crazy at the store. Most of the goodies I bought I already gifted to people but I kept some goodies for blogger bestie and I. The candles smells heavenly even though its still closed and would’ve probably bought 10 more if I was allowed all of those fragile items on the plane.