Christmas with Fragrance Direct

If you're a regular reader of Affordable Treats, you'll know I love Fragrance Direct. It's the place I go to get my nail polish fix! If you've not heard of Fragrance Direct before, it's a website where you can buy branded perfumes and cosmetics for a discounted, more affordable price, and P&P can be from as little as £1.99. With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I'd show you my top picks from the site. I normally buy my Christmas presents throughout the year, but I know that now's the time when many start, or are in the process of, buying gifts for their loved ones.

Sally Hansen £1.49, Revlon 99p, OPI £3.99, Essie £1.99, L'Oreal £1.30

I don't tend to buy makeup for people unless I know exactly what they like to wear (like my mum and sister, for example), but I like gifting nail polish, especially to my friends. I think a couple bottles of OPI or Essie in a mug or gift bag would make a great present. I, for one, would love to receive that as a gift because nail polish and mugs are two of my favourite things! If you're not sure what shades your friends like, ask them. Just don't say why you're asking them!

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau De Toilette Spray 100ml* £49.95, 50ml £38.95, 100ml Gift Set £56.95, 50ml Gift Set £41.95, Eau De Parfum 50ml £45.50

Perfume is very popular to give at Christmas, and if you're planning to buy a bottle for a family member or friend, I'd suggest checking Fragrance Direct first because you may be able to get it cheaper. For example, the bottle above is £14.05 less expensive than other places. In terms of the actual fragrance, Marc Jacobs Daisy is loved by many. Instead of me trying to describe what it smells like, here's a description: 'Daisy is the first of Marc Jacobs iconic fragrances for women; a fresh and floral fragrance, which is youthful and sweet, and perfect for summer. Marc Jacobs Daisy is light and easy to wear, and features a cool combination of Strawberry, Violet Leaf and Blood Grapefruit top notes, heart notes of Gardenia, Jasmine and Violet, and base notes of Musk, Vanilla and White Woods.' Even though it's described as a young, summery fragrance, it's one I'd wear all year round. They also have the Eau So Fresh version available in a range of sizes, but I already have it, so decided to try the original instead.

DKNY Red Delicious Eau De Parfum 100ml* £28.99

This retails for £60, so if you buy it from Fragrance Direct, you'll save yourself £31.01. The description for this is: 'The follow up to the hugely popular Be Delicious, Donna Karan DKNY Red Delicious Eau de Parfum Spray is sweet, fruity and feminine; a tasty perfume for the summer. With top notes of Lychee and Raspberry, heart notes of Bergamot, Patchouli and Rose, and base notes of Leather, Amber and Vanilla. DKNY Red Delicious is a modern and stylish fragrance.' I didn't expect this to be as fruity as it is, which is a good thing because I love fruity scents. To me, this smells like summer berries with hints of floral notes. There's also a little warmth there.

Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau Eau Fraiche Eau De Toilette Gift Set 80ml* £40.95, 80ml £40.95, 50ml £29.95, 30ml £21.95  

This is my new favourite scent. It's the lighter, fresher version of the original, and if there's the option of a lighter, fresher version of the original, I'll go for it. Here's the description: 'New for 2013, the Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau Eau Fraiche fragrance has made a great impression with its romantic, fresh fragrance, which can now be enjoyed in this fabulous ladies gift set. The Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau Eau Fraiche Gift Set features the stunning fragrance, which is a blend of Apple, Neroli, Grapefruit and Mandarin top notes, heart notes of Gardenia and Cherry, and base notes of Musk; a dreamy and feminine perfume.' There's a note in there that reminds me of my childhood or a sweet from my childhood, but I can pin point it! If you're looking at buying the 80ml bottle, I'd go for the gift set because you get the 80ml bottle and the lip gloss for the same price. Even if the lip gloss isn't used, it's essentially free! And looks pretty. 

Are you planning on buying any of your Christmas presents from Fragrance Direct? I know my sister's bought my mum Paco Rabanne's Lady Million from there for her birthday/Christmas (her birthday's on the 15th December). I'm tempted to buy my mum and sister more nail polishes, but I well and truly kitted them out earlier this year. You can never have too many nail polishes, though...

*PR samples

Nail Polish Haul!

Every once in a while, my sister and I seem to find a load of nail polishes we like the look of on Fragrance Direct, and because they're so affordable, we buy them! This is our most recent order, with the most expensive polish being just £1.49. First up, we have the Rimmel Lycra Pro Nail Polishes in 312 Ultra Violet and 420 Aqua Cool, which were 99p each. I love the brushes of the Rimmel polishes! These two are my sister's, but I'll definitely be adding some to my next order. Then we have Sally Hansen's 848 Sgt Preppy and 843 Palm Treat, and these were £1.49 each. I also love the brushes of these. I then bought L'Oreal's 507 Riviera Lavender and 506 Exotic Grenade, which were £1.30 each. These are only 5ml, but I never finish a bottle of polish anyway, so don't mind. I wouldn't pay the full price of £4.99 for them, though! I also chose Revlon's 920 Make Mine Mango, 210 Jelly (Top Speed), and 570 Vintage (Top Speed), which were 99p each. These are the ones I like the most out of our haul! I love oranges/corals, so had to get Make Mine Mango. Jelly was another must have because I love deep, red toned pinks. Although it's called Jelly, it's not a jelly formula. Then we have Vintage, which is a berry shade, and perfect for this time of year.

Have you bought anything from Fragrance Direct recently? They're supposed to be getting some more Essie shades in this week, so I'll no doubt be placing another order!

Favourite Nail Polishes - Glitters

Choosing just 16 favourite nail polishes in my Favourite Nail Polishes - Rainbow Edition post was incredibly hard, so I bring you part 2: Glitters! I used to dislike glitters, but have come to love them. Fine ones look pretty over every nail, and chunkier ones look great on an accent.

My first favourite glitter is Illamasqua's Creator; a black base with silver glitter. I bought this on ASOS with a £10 voucher, and I'm glad I did, but wouldn't pay the full £14.50. As much as I love bright nail polishes, I also love shades like this.

Sally Hansen's Oxide is more of a shimmer than glitter, but it didn't fit into my Rainbow Edition post! This is similar to Creator, but it's more of a gunmetal shade, and the glitter is much finer.

Models Own Ibiza Mix is a mix of green, blue, purple, gold and bronze glitter. Very unique, in my opinion. I used to hate chunkier glitters, thinking they looked tacky, but this looks very pretty on my ring fingers.

Models Own Party Pieces (exclusive to ASOS) is a mix of larger and smaller glitter chunks, and the colours include red, blue, green, purple, gold and silver. It's very fun and goes with most colour nail polishes.

Barry M's Amethyst Glitter is densely packed with blue, purple, pink and gold glitter pieces. I love this with darker blues!

Barry M's Pink Silver Glitter is so, so pretty. The glitter is very fine, so I don't mind wearing this on every nail. Glitter can be very bold, so I love that the colour is subtle to even this out.

Essie's Beyond Cozy is another fine glitter that I like wearing on every nail. Normally, the combination of gold and glitter screams tacky, but this colour is very cool toned, and can sometimes look silver, so I think it works. I wore this for Christmas 2012, and will probably wear it for Christmas 2013, too!

I also love my flakies nail polishes (Nubar 2010 and Gosh Rainbow), but haven't included them in the photo. They're so beautiful, with the flakes changing colour in the light. They look incredible over dark polishes!

What are your favourite glitter nail polishes? Are there any I absolutely have to have?

Fragrance Direct Order

Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue £1.49, Rimmel Coralicious 99p, Astor 070 x2 75p, Astor 086 75p, Astor 112 75p, Astor 119 x2 75p

Grace Cole Peach & Pear Hand Wash 500ml £2.50

If you haven't already guessed, I love Fragrance Direct. I didn't realise how much I order from there until I looked at my order history the other day! Just so you know, half of the nail polishes above are for my sister's birthday (in August...). I love the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polish brushes, so whenever they have new stock, I add one (or more) to my basket. I already own a couple of coral shades, but I'm always drawn to the colour, so couldn't resist Rimmel's Coralicious for just 99p. The Astor polishes are the main components of this order. I had never heard of the brand before, but apparently it's a budget Spanish brand. It's blogged about very little, which made searching for swatches very difficult, especially because the polishes don't have names! The bottles are only 6ml, but I never finish a nail polish anyway, and they were only 75p! How beautiful is 070? I've been after a blue like this for a while. I let my sister have this one early, and it took 2-3 coats to become opaque, which is quite good. I already own a couple of berry shades similar to 086, but I love the colour so much. The bright red/coral (112) is another one of my sister's, and so is 119. The second 119 is mine, and, again, I own 1 or 2 shades similar, but it's pretty. I then added the Grace Cole Peach & Pear hand wash to my basket. After using The Body Shop's Vineyard Peach shower gel, I have been loving all things peach scented. This isn't as nice of the Vineyard Peach shower gel (I don't think anything will ever be), but it's subtle, and smells like peaches and pears (you don't say?!).

I have a browse through Fragrance Direct once or twice a week to look at the new stock. I usually keep up to date with the nail polishes and lipsticks. Do you like Fragrance Direct? Have you placed an order recently?

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Yellow Kitty

This is my first yellow manicure! Yellow isn't a common colour to wear on the nails, and I don't know why. I love the colour of this polish, but didn't get on with the formula. It's very streaky. Because of this, I'm wearing a white base coat (China Glaze's Snow) underneath. Even with a base coat though, it took 2-3 coats. I'm now on the look out for some other yellows, possibly brighter ones. I have a neon yellow from Models Own, which also requires a white base coat (yellows are tricky!), but I want a mid-toned, sunshine yellow. I also filed my nails right down before this manicure. I love going from long to short nails - It just feels nice!

What do you think about yellow nails? Do you own any yellow nail polishes you'd recommend me buying?

Easter Nail Fail

The nails above took me hours to do, I wasn't happy with them, and they weren't drying, so I've just removed them. Thankfully, I managed to take a rubbish photo on my phone before doing so. I wasn't going to show you them, but they took ages, so I may as well get something out of it! In case you're wondering, the blue nail polish is Look Beauty's Vintage, the yellow is Sally Hansen's Yellow Kitty, the light pink is Barry M's Strawberry Ice Cream, the lilac is Barry M's Berry Ice Cream, the white is Models Own Nail Art Pen in White (mine was clogged up, which didn't help matters!), the black is Models Own Nail Art Pen in Black, the orange is Barry M's Gelly Papaya, and the medium pink is Barry M's Gelly Dragon Fruit.

I think this will be the last time I try nail art for a while! I become obsessive and stressed, which is never fun.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Nail Polish in Oxide

I bought this polish from Fragrance Direct for £1.49, and I'm so glad I did. It's a beautiful gunmetal shade packed with silver shimmer. It makes a difference from the light and bright shades I normally wear. The closest shade I have to it is Illamasqua's Creator, but I wouldn't say it's a dupe. Creator is more of a true black with silver glitter.

What do you think of dark shades like this? and have you bought any bargains from Fragrance Direct recently?

Superdrug and Fragrance Direct Purchases

At the end of January, I placed a couple of orders with Superdrug and Fragrance Direct. Now, let me just say that a lot of the products above are not for me! Some are for my mum and sister.

All of the nail polishes are from Fragrance Direct. From left to right, you have Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty x2 £1.49 each (one for me, one for my sister), Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue £1.49 (mine), Sally Hansen Oxide £1.49 (mine. I love this shade!), Sally Hansen Fairy Teal £1.49 (mum's), Sally Hansen Cherry Cherry £1.49 (mum's), Sally Hansen Gilded Lily £1.49 (mum's), Sally Hansen Purple Pizzaz 99p (mum's), Rimmel Apricot Punch 99p (sister's), Essie Camera £1.99 (mine).

From Superdrug, I bought the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Honey and Crush. I've wanted these colours for a while and they were on offer for £5.99, so thought I may as well. I now have four shades, so will be reviewing and lip swatching soon! The Rimmel Scandal Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Nude was £3.99 and is for my mum for Mother's Day, like the rest of her products in this post. She used my one a few days before placing this order and really liked it.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Yesterday, I published a nail polish collection post, so if you would like to have a read of that, just click here.

Nail Polish Collection!

 

Barry M: Clear, Indigo, Raspberry, Coral, Pink Flamingo, Strawberry Ice Cream, Berry Ice Cream, Pink Silver Glitter, Aqua Glitter, Amethyst Glitter, Boots Limited Edition, Gelly Blood Orange, Gelly Prickly Pear, Gelly Pomegranate, Gelly Blueberry

 

Essie: Mademoiselle, A Crewed Interest, Lady Like, Bikini So Teeny, Beyond Cosy, Mod Squad, Lights, Bazooka, Camera, Barry M: Gelly Papaya, Gelly Grapefruit

 

ASOS: Blake, Megan, Olivia, Gwen, Lauren, Lily, Maybelline: Hot Salsa, Nude Rose, GOSH: Holographic, Rainbow, Nubar: Nubar 2010

 

Illamasqua: Creator, Deborah Lippmann: Razzle Dazzle, 17: Sweet Kisses x2, Forever, Ruby Dazzle, Pink Grapefruit, Sally Hansen: Yellow Kitty, Himalayan Blue, Oxide, MUA: Frozen Yoghurt, Shade 5, BK (Glow in the dark nail polishes from eBay): Shade 13, Shade 14

 

Models Own: Nude Beige, Champagne, Disco Heaven, Ibiza Mix, Party Pieces, Mystic Mauve, Beth's Blue, Balearic Blue, Luis Lemon, Beach Party, Fluro' Orange, Hedonist, 3 in 1

 

Models Own Nail Art Pens: Black x2, Gold, Silver, White, China Glaze: Snow, For Audrey, Dance Baby, Make Some Noise, Secret Peri-Wink-Le, Flip Flop Fantasy

OPI: No Room For The Blues, Lucky Lucky Lavender, Shorts Story, Elephantisic Pink, Look Beauty: Beret, Vintage, Flamingo, Dusky, Petticoat

I haven't written a nail polish collection post in years! I've been meaning to for the last few months, but I just kept buying more... oops! Recently, I've only been buying shades I don't have anything similar to though, and I'm trying to slow down on the purchasing because I'm running out of room. For a beauty blogger, I don't think my collection is that big. I think it's bigger than the average girl's though! A lot of the nail polishes above have been featured on Affordable Treats before, so if you would like to see a swatch of one, just type it into the search bar. If I haven't swatched it already and you would like me to, just let me know.

I hope you enjoy your evening!