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Low Spend April

So, I've over spent a little bit these last few months, and to be honest it wasn't 100% my fault. For a while my bank account wasn't showing properly on the website so I accidentally spent cash twice not knowing. I'm not exactly millions of pounds in debt but I want to do something before it gets silly. So, bring on skint and boring April.

I would do a No Spend April, but that's just not possible. Mum is coming over next weekend so I'm going to need some cash for then and of course I'll need food at some point. This then calls for Low Spend April.

So, I won't be going out with friends, I won't be shopping randomly on my way back from events and I won't be buying things online. This isn't going to be the easiest of months.

I shall be blogging my progress as well as the ways I'm keeping my mind off shopping and buying things.

Wish me luck and stay tuned! 

x

Illumasqua Easter Sale Day 4- Lipstick £8

Today sees lipsticks add to the sale for the bargain price of £8 (rrp £16), stock up now and don't forget to check out the other offers available too.

Pick them up at the Leeds, Liverpool or London Beak Street stores or on the website.

Sangers

Atomic

Eurydice

Scandal

Melt

Pristine

50 Facts About Me

This blog post is doing the rounds at the moment and so I thought I'd give it a go!

1) My name is Indra, not Alice
2) I've always loved Alice In Wonderland, thus the blog name
3) I'm allergic to mushrooms
4) I have two cats called Eddie and Lucy
5) I also write about video games
6) My twitter account for that is @AliceGamerland
7) I have two tattoos
8) I'm from Lancashire
9) I have 7 piercings, three are stretched to 6mm, 4mm and 2mm
10) I'm 29
11) I can roll my tongue
12) I have a muscle disorder
13) After ten years of having it we still don't know what it is
14) I walk with a walking stick
15) I love post it notes
16) I count popcorn as one of my major foodgroups
17) I live in London
18) I taught myself Finnish, but I'm a bit rusty these days
19) I danced for 14 years
20) I used to be a Guide Leader
21) I like gardening
22) I'm an avid cross stitcher
23) I used to be very goth
24) I'm still a bit gothish
25) Joanna Lumley called me beautiful this week
26) I've never seen Titanic
27) I wish to keep it that way
28) My maternal grandmother was from India
29) I've never been to India but would like to go one day
30) I enjoy baking
31) I studied Linguistics and Psychology at uni
32) I never finished my degree because of my health
33) Moving to London was one of the scariest things I've ever done
34) Moving to London is one of the greatest things I've ever done
35) I'm hyper-mobile
36) A coach full of Japanese tourists waved at me near Covent Garden once because I was wearing a fluffy hat with ears.
37) I'm right handed
38) I don't own a passport, but need to get one
39) I suffer from depression, but take nice tablets that work very well
40) I'm an only child
41) There were only 83 pupils in my primary school
42) I own over a thousand books
43) I'm dyslexic
44) I'm also damn stubborn
45) My hair is down to my tail bone
46) I don't eat red meat
47) I'm Hindu
48) I love watching lifestyle programmes and documentaries
49) I'm a huge geek, I love video games, books, comics, technology, languages etc
50) I never learnt to drive.

Top Products - March

It's that time of the month (no, not that one) when I wheel out the things that have impressed me over the last few weeks. This month I have five things to tell you about, so let's get going!

No7 Instant Radiance Foundation in Cool Vanilla £12.50

This month I decided that I needed to get a change of foundation as the MAC one I was wearing was great, but too heavy for everyday so I wandered into Boots. I've explained about that more here so I won't repeat myself.

I've really liked this foundation and with the matching service it really is a good colour for me. It goes on well and lasts all day with no problems. If you have oily skin the Beautifully Matte Foundation may be a better choice for you, but it's still available in all the same shades.

At £12.50 I think this product is really worth looking into if you are on the hunt for a new foundation. The staff in store were really helpful and knew their products too, so if you struggle finding the right shade I would recommend you give it a go.

Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner £3 (30ml) 

I've tried toners before but I have always reacted to them and so I abandoned the idea a few years ago and forgot all about the world of toners. However, I recently decided that I could do with one and bought this one while I had a bonus code for the Body Shop online.

I'm glad I did too as it's great! I've not reacted to this toner at all and it leaves my skin looking clean and healthy. It also claims to minimise pores, but I've only been using it for a couple of weeks, so there's time yet for that.


Body Shop Facial Massager £6

In my random Body Shop order along with the toner, and several other things, I got a facial massager. I've seen a few people talk about these on YouTube so I thought I'd give it a go.

The lumps on the roller mean you can massage your skin without dragging it and damaging the tissues. After you have used it you skin does feel tingley and firmer as it really gets the circulation going in your face.

Use it in your daily routine to help keep you fresh and beautiful :)

Olay Essentials Beauty Fluid Sensitive £5.49 (200ml)

This was another product that I heard about on YouTube, by StyleSuzi I think. I was in the market for a new moisturiser and at that price I thought it was worth a go.

You don't need a lot of product which means a 200ml bottle is going to last a while. It doesn't feel greasy and it's left my skin feeling so soft I'm embarrassed about how bad it must have been beforehand.

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Scarce £14.50

Lastly we have my polish of the moment, Scarce. It was a bit pricey and a total splurge item but I'm so glad I got it.

You only need two coats and it looks great once it's on. There's an excellent ratio of 'bits' too, which is an important thing.

The polish lasted a long time without chipping too which is something I really look for in a polish. I now need to save up and buy all the colours!



Thanks for reading my products of the month, let me know what yours were too in the comments below or on Twitter or Facebook.

Marilyn Manson models for Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent have confirmed that designer Hedi Slimane has selected an interesting choice of model for their latest menswear collection; Marilyn Manson.

Photo: GQ Magazine

Saint Laurent, formally YSL, have a history of selecting iconic celebs to model for them. The singer songwriter Beck famously graced their adverts with his presence and Pete Dockerty has been linked with Slimane more than once.

The advert, leaked on Nicola Formichetti's Tumblr account, show Manson in an iconic Slimane leather jacket. The brooding frontman does work well in the black and white photograph and the campaign could well open the label up to a new audience.

What do you think?

Illamasqua Easter Sale Day 3 - Pure Pigment £8

It's Day Three and today's offer is on Pure Pigment. RRP £15.50, but you can get them for £8.

"Made to be played with. A metallic, high-shine, pure-colour powder that highlights eyes, cheeks and brows. Mix with eye shadow, blusher or use it on its own to intense effect. Bring out your bold side."

Buy now from the Leeds, Liverpool or London Beak Street stores or the Illamasqua website.

Don't forget, Day Two for Nail Polishes and Day One for Eyeshadows!

Beguile

Furore

Berber

Chasm

Alluvium

Android

Illamasqua Easter Sale - Day Two Nail Polish for £7

I'm back and clicking through that page so you don't have to!

Today's offer is £7 on six different shades of their nail polish and I can't praise these enough. They last really well without chipping and the colours are great too.

You can buy them from Leeds, Liverpool and London's Beak Street Stores or on the website, but remember it's only for today. Go go go!

Throb

Gamma

Hemlock

Poke

Collide

Bacterium

ARK Age Prepare Review

I love trail size things and so I got the ARK Age Prepare mini kit from Latest In Beauty. The kit is aimed at late teens to early 30's which is a bit different as many products tend to be either aimed at either early teenage or more mature skin.

The kit has 4 steps to it and a mini pot to go with each one, so off I went on a quest to look amazing!

Step One was a cleanser which was thicker than I expected it to be but it felt really nice and my skin felt soft and clean after it.

Step Two was an exfoliator and this had a great level of coarseness to it. I really like a good exfoliator as I suffer from dry skin and blackheads and this is one I would use again. You had to keep rubbing it on your face until all the bits had gone which gave it a great scrub.

Step Three meant walking around confusing my cats for 10 minutes; a face masque. The masque was good too and went nice and dry and tight when it was finished, meaning I knew when to wash it off. After this and the previous steps my skin was feeling quite good.

Step Four however took a bit of a dip. The moisturiser was really too greasy for me and I even had a bit of a breakout on my forehead for a couple of days after, which is somewhere I pretty much never breakout. I did wonder what this product would be like for someone with oily skin if I was having problems.

I have no idea why my hand is pink in this photo!

Overall the kit was great and I'd use steps one to three again, just with another moisturiser! I'd like to try and check out some more ARK products in the future too. The pots gave a great sample size of each product and will come in useful in the future for travelling or letting friends test products etc.

You can buy ARK products from a rep or online, all details are on their website.

Illamasqua Easter Sale - Day 1 Eyeshadow for £8

Over Easter Illamasqua are going to be doing over 45% off different products each day, but you do have to find them!

I've already been through today's so you don't have to, I'm nice like that :) If you see a shadow you like though, you need to get it quickly as the offer will end soon!

The offers are available on the website and in Leeds, Liverpool and London's Beak Street Stores.

You can buy these shadows, here! Go go go!

Easter Monday is apparently set for a BIG surprise, my bank card is bracing for impact!

Vapour

Pivot

Inception

Justify

Tango

Wolf

Stila Lipglazes A Bargain At 8 For £12.95

Stila are selling off their Christmas stock and you can pick up a pack of 8 lipglazes for £12.95, not bad for stock with a value of £75!

But what do you get?

Top row, limited edition colours: (l to r) Holly,Jingle, Jolly, Jack Frost, Splendor and Icy
Bottom row, best selling shades: Sugar Plum and Black Cherry

The colours are all great, very wearable shades that last well. They come in a tube with a brush at the end to help get a good application.

If you fancy grabbing this bargain you can get it from the Stila website while stocks last! Postage is free and mine arrived the next day!

Thanks to FabTips for highlighting this bargain!

Benefit Cosmetics Introduce All-Star Kits

There will be three kits in the new All-Star kits range; Do the Bright Thing, Primping with the Stars and The Bronze of Champions.

Do the Bright Thing comes with a brightening face primer and powder, mascara, luminescent complexion enhancer and black waterproof eye pencil.

Primping with the Stars includes a primer for use with concealers and eyeshadows, PRO balm, foundation faker, lip &cheek stain, liquid pearl for face and a mascara.

And in the Bronze of Champions box there is a longwear powder shadow, creaseless cream shadow, bronzing powder, highlighter for the face, mascara and lip gloss.

Each box comes with tips and instructions on how to use the products like a professional.

The All-Star kits will be available from May 18th and will cost £26.50 each.

Review - Illamasqua Speckled Polish

So, last week I finally caved and bought myself a bottle of the new speckled polish which is part of the Imperfection Collection by Illamasqua and I'm glad I did.

It was hard to choose which of the five colours to buy, but I went with the pink one (Scarce) for a change as I would normally have gone with purple.

The polish applies really easily and only needed two coats. There's a good mix and distribution of the speckles and the pink is a really wearable shade

I painted my nails on Friday night and only today (Monday) has the polish started to chip and even then it's only by a little bit.

In fact my only criticism of this polish is that I like it so much I now NEED the other colours!

The speckled polishes can be bought for £14.50 from Illamasqua.com or any of their stores or counters across the county. You can find these here.

YSL Release Tie Dye Nail Polish

Yes, you read that correctly, tie dye nail polish! 

La Laque Couture Tie and Dye polishes have just gone on sale in the US via the website and in Bloomingdales' stores priced $25 (£16). There doesn't seem to be any information on when they will make it to the UK just yet, but it seems safe to assume (and hope) they will cross the Atlantic soon.

"Inspired by the Couture Tie & Dye, YSL nail lacquer plays colour in gradation effect just like a sophisticated total look. The coloured base is covered by a "pop coat"for a sugary glossy result. Top Coat can also  be used alone for a “sheer” glittery result on the nails."

Are you over in the States? Have you tried these polishes yet? Let me know in the comments below!

Primark Summer 2013 Collection

I was born in the early 80s and this means that I have already lived though some serious fashion scares, so forgive me if I was a little apprehensive at the news the 90s were back.

Marie Claire have recently put up a slideshow of the whole collection on their site and I've had a look at it and pulled out my favourites.

The first thing that struck me is that it's a very general 90s vibe going through the range. There's some very early 90s items that scream Madonna but there's also the relaxed clothing and crop tops of the mid to late 90s a la All Saints.

      

The question in my mind looking at these two items, which would pair up great together, is are we going to see the return of combats or cargo and parachute trousers? The many pockets were useful and they were certainly comfortable, but I haven't seen any around so far.

These two have caught my eye due to personal taste. I used to be very goth in my younger days and I'm still drawn to that kind of style, so these shorts really interest me. I'd probably wear them with dark tight or leggings though as I hate having bare legs. The skirt is very me too as I'm a big comicbook geek and it's so happy cheerful I simply have to have it!

If there's one thing that terrifies me out this whole collection, it's these; jelly shoes! These bring flashbacks to summers spent on the beach and evenings spent putting cream and plasters all over my feet. Whoever has brought these back can only be a sick sadist! :p

Have you had a look through the collection yet? Have a nosy here and let me know what you think! 

Introducing Swatching Parties

I've had an idea, not sure if it's great or terrible but here it is! Let me know what you think in the comments below or on any of my social networks!

Thanks guys!


Twitter: @beautylanduk
SheSaidBeauty: https://www.shesaidbeauty.com/beautyland
Hello Cotton: http://www.hellocotton.com/mypage/aliceinbeautyland
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/aliceinbeautylanduk

Exclusive - CEO of Demeter Fragrance tells us a little more about the Zombie scents

After posting the piece about the zombie fragrances last night, I had a few people ask me 'are they real?' So, I put on my journalist hat and contacted the Mark D. Crames, CEO of Demeter Fragrances, to find out a little more about the product.

How did you come up with the idea of a zombie themed scent? And just how difficult was it to decided which scents to include?

"Interestingly, with all that has been written about the scents, no one has really ask me "why".  So here is the story.

Both our Creative Director and I are huge fans of The Walking Dead.  So, not shockingly, when the Dead Me app came out for the iPad, I was all over it, and sent some images to her, and the next thing I knew, as a joke, she turned them into Demeter bottles.

One thing led to another, and not surprisingly, we decided Zombie was perfect for a corporate April Fool's event.  I mean, who would make a fragrance called Zombie, right?


Then it happened...

The more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be cool to actually make a Zombie fragrance.  The challenge, however, was to make a fragrance in the Demeter tradition; something both representing Zombies, whom we all know do not smell all that great, but yet be wearable. Interestingly, instinctively I  knew exactly what I wanted to do before I even picked up the first element. And that vision was so true that I got Zombie for Him on the second try, and Zombie for Her on the very first try. After that I had no doubt we should actually move forward with the idea."


So there you have it. It IS real and it was treated with as much care and attention as any of the other fragrances in the range.

If anyone out there has a bottle, please let me know what it smells like as I'm dying to know! (no pun intended....well maybe a little)

Demeter Fragrance Library release new 'dead good' scent

Some days you just think to yourself 'I wish I smelt more undead', well now you can!

A cologne for him and a perfume for her has been released by perfumery Demeter Fragrance Library with the theme of zombies.

They describe Zombie for Him as 'a combination of dried leaves, mushrooms, mildew, moss and earth.' Whereas Zombie for Her is  'a slightly lighter version of the Men's fragrance with a touch of Dregs from the bottom of the wine barrel for that feminine touch.' 

At $20 for a 1oz bottle and $39.50 for the 4oz it's not exactly pricey, though shipping to the UK will cost you another $40, sadly putting it out of my reach at least. This does sadden me as I'm aching to know just how they smell, and you know you are now too!

This really is a must-have product for any zombie fan (or lover, ooh er) and it would certainly make a unique and memorable gift. So, if there's an anniversary or a birthday coming up soon, remember to say it with lov.......uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........brrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains. 

Who said romance was dead!

All of Demeter Fragrance's other available scents are far more normal and there is a great range of amazing sounding scents on offer.

* 'dead good' pun thanks to my housemate Mark!

Source: dailymail.co.uk

New Look launch bridal range

I'm single and don't really leave the house all that much so I'm not going to get married anytime soon, but many people will be doing and they will be worrying about money. Weddings are not cheap, not by a long shot! So many of you will be happy to know that New Look are starting to do bridal wear.

There aren't any dresses in the collection, but there is a good choice of really well priced accessories from shoes to bags to hair accessories. 

'Our bridal shoe collection provides a range of satin, lace, and delicate bows, sat back with pretty embellishment, beading and pearls, at great value for every customer. 

We also have matching bags and hair accessories available, in order to complete the perfect bridal outfit.'

The items available have been in high demand and it's not surprising, the prices are great and the items are too. The footwear range has been extended to 200 stores this week due to demand being so high.

So, would you buy your wedding shoes from New Look? Let me know in the comments below?

Source: Daily Mail