Northern Girl on... March's beauty buys

1. The Body Shop - Vitamin E Gentle Facial Wash £7.50 - I had been using the Clinique foaming face wash and was running low, knowing how much I liked the seaweed scrub I decided to give this a try. As my skin can be blemish-prone at times, I like to use a gentle face wash to counteract the strong spot fighting treatments I apply later in my skin care routine which was why I was using the Clinique foaming wash and I have to say once again, I love the Body Shop even more which I didn't think would be possible! It's so creamy and doesn't feel like it dries out my face and at £7.50 an absolute bargain. I also love knowing that The Body Shop are all natural and cruelty free.
2. The Body Shop - Seaweed Pore Cleansing Exfoliator £11 - I actually first bought this product in December because I had a 40% off voucher at Christmas and was running low on my Clinique exfoliator and I loved it. Even my sister who uses it when she visits loves it and this is the first time I've had to repurchase since December. I have combination skin so I like my exfoliators to be strong enough to feel like they are working but gentle enough to use every day and this definitely ticks both boxes. It foams up quite a bit which is unusual for an exfoliator but my skin definitely feels buffed afterwards, it's easily my go-to exfoliator now and cheaper than some of the other brands I've tried (and a lot better too)!
3. The Body Shop - Liquid Eyeliner £9 - This was more of an add on/emergency item. At the time of placing my order, The Body Shop were doing an amazing £10 off a £25 spend and I knew I was running low on my Soap and Glory eyeliner so decided to use this to top up my order and prepare for the inevitable day of running out. I'm yet to use it properly but so far it's excellent to keep in my handbag and top up my eyeliner during the day at work. I'm looking forward to giving it a proper go when my current eye-liner finally runs out.
4. The Body Shop - Lip Butter in Strawberry £4.50 - OK, this is a little bit of a cheat. I never actually paid £4.50 as I got it FREE! with o2 priority (o2 customers can also often get £10 off a £25 spend). I don't wear anywhere near as much lip balm as I should and this smells divine. It's perfect for once again keeping in my handbag and hopefully the smell with lure me in to using it more. I will say that the consistency of this is delightful, much richer and smoother than it's "Born Lippy" cousin which in the past I have found to be a bit sticky. So if you're in the market for a delicious smelling lip balm I would definitely opt for the lip butter for an extra couple of quid. I'll probably write a full post at some point on my favourite store loyalty cards - I'm a sucker for them - but I love that The Body Shop have now launched one, each £1 equals 10 points and 500 points = a £5 voucher with an extra £5 voucher for your birthday!
5. Clinique anti-blemish clarifying lotion £18 - Whilst I'm doing my best to save money, my little luxuries to myself will always be my Clinique skin care. It took me so so so long to find an anti-blemish range that worked for me that I almost don't dare steer away so I have 3 Clinique anti-blemish products I can't live without. I always try and purchase them from Boots so I at least get points on my advantage card and because I only ever need to purchase roughly every 6 months, I nearly always have one of my 'point booster' vouchers at the ready.
6. Clinique anti-blemish all over treatment £21 - It had been one of those months where everything was either nearly running out or had run out already and I had been trying so so hard to live without this and use other moisturisers but as a result my skin has been suffering. Not only do I try and only purchase my Clinique stuff at boots, but I also try and hold out for a Clinique bonus time and luckily I got this during one.  Clinique run various offers throughout the year at various realtors where you qualify for a free gift with 2 or more purchases (1 being skin care or foundation), this time it was at boots and the gift set I have to say is exceptional this time round. If you're new to Clinique and don't want to make a huge spend commitment, the skin care sets qualify as skin care. As does the All About Eyes eye cream which has just been voted in The Evening Standard's top eye creams for 2017. Failing that, I am a huge fan of the chubby stick lip balms in particular Super Strawberry and the darker colours. They give tint like a lip stick but in a really creamy formula, it's my go to lip colour if I don't want anything to fancy of committing like a liquid lipstick. They would definitely be my recommendations for finding your qualifying products for the freebies.

(inside the Clinique gift set)

1. Rinse off foaming cleanser - I'd had this full sized from my last bonus time and I really really liked it. The only thing that stopped me purchasing again was discovering The Body Shop vitamin E cleanser. When it says you need a pea sized amount, you literally do. The tiniest amount foams up massively which means it lasts you ages. This will go going in my cupboard to dig out when I finish the vitamin E cleanser.
2. Clinique Pep-Start Hydroblur Moisturiser - I had been dying to give this a go so I was extremely excited to see this included in bonus time. I've started using it as a primer to sort of mattify my skin on the days when I'm not wearing foundation and at the minute I'm not sure. The smell is bordering on vinegary and the texture is odd, its very thick and not completely smooth which means like you feel as though you're dragging it over your skin as apposed to blending it in. I'm going to persist until I've finished the tub, but I'm almost hoping it's a dodgy batch and not supposed to be like this...
3. Clinique Pep-Start eye cream - I had actually already purchased the full size version of this and I balance it between All About Eyes. It's perfect for those mornings when you've not quite had enough sleep and haven't had caffeine yet but I'm still undecided as to if I love it enough to purchase full sized again - luckily I don't have to decide just yet and the miniature will be great to put in my travel bag.
4. High Impact Mascara - This is pretty much a bonus time staple and I really, really like this mascara. The thick wand means you get the right amount of product, I've used other mascaras with a thin rubbery wand and end up with the mascara caked all over my eyelids but this doesn't happen with Clinique. I have quite naturally long lashes (blessed, I know) and they genuinely curly up enough to touch my eyebrows when I use this mascara. I'm yet to purchase full size but thats only because these miniatures last for ages. I genuinely can't remember the last time I had to purchase a mascara, it must be at least 3 years and that's simply because the various bonus time freebies have lasted that length of time.
5. Take the day off cleanser for lips, lids and lashes - Another staple in pretty much every bonus time I've ever received, it's a great cleanser and as bonus time's are always travel sizes I pretty much have one that lives in every single travel bag I own. I mostly use it when I'm travelling as a way of removing stubborn eye make up. It has quite an oily feel so I'm not sure I'd ever purchase a full size bottle but at the minute I don't need to (I genuinely have about 6).
6. Clinique Pop, lipstick and primer in sweet pop. I really really like the formula of Clinique lipsticks, I tend to sway towards matte liquid lipsticks at the minute but I do like to mix it up. The Clinique lipsticks are always very pigmented and the fact that this is a built in primer makes the colour last and feel great on your lips. I don't wear anywhere near as much lipstick as I should but if I was in the market for lip stuff i'd definitely look to Clinique. I'm really intrigued to try their scrub/balm combos so they might be my next beauty treat to myself.

(such a dreamy, creamy formula)

Quite a big haul for me this month, what were your recent beauty treats to yourself? NG x