Clothes Show Live 2012 Haul

 HIYA!  I had a lovely day out at the Clothes Show Live on December 8th and since then my bedroom floor has been taken over with bags so I thought it was time to show you what I bought.  I'm sure you're all familiar with the Clothes Show but just in case you're not, the Clothes Show takes place in Birmingham at the NEC and is the UK's largest fashion and beauty event.  The main event is the massive fashion show that includes lots of models, singing and dancing.  Obviously I enjoy the show but the most important thing for me is the stalls!  They're full of amazing brands offering heavily discounted goody bags (most of them anyway).  You might be thinking, where are all the clothes you bought?!  The clothes for me, are a huge disappointment.  The majority of the clothes stalls are very cheap, market-y versions of things - alright for some but i just prefer to buy my clothes from the high street.  Anyway, this is going to be a picture heavy and massively long post so I do apologise.  Here we go...

The first stall I visited was Company/Cosmopolitan magazine who were offering this goody bag for a mere £3.  It includes Company and Cosmopolitan magazine, a Missguided lipsplash, an OPI shatter nail varnish, a Lacoste perfume sample, some horrible sweets, Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets, a Rimmel Eyeshadow set, a mini Batiste Shampoo and it also included some crisps which I ate and a coconut water that I detest that I discarded as it was too heavy to carry.

The daily mail also had a fantastic offer on.  Again for £3 you get Hello magazine, Hairstyles Magazine, Daily Mail newspaper, a little hair shampoo/conditioner sample, a YSL LIPSTICK (BIG WOW!), a Maxfactor mascara and a Maxfactor foundation.  For me, this was a tad disappointing as the Mascara I received was blue and the foundation was in shade toffee.  The YSL lipstick sort of makes up for it though even though it is an orange colour, I'm sure i'll put it to good use.

 So...? is something that I associate with 12 year old girls but when I saw the offer of a bodyspray, a dry shampoo, a mini dry shampoo, a mini bodyspray set and a lipgloss and perfume set for £5 I couldn't not buy it.  The body spray is actually really nice so I'm looking forward to giving everything a try.

Probably the best bargain I've ever bought in my entire life was this Lee Stafford goody bag. 10 products for £10.  I love Lee Stafford for this.  My mum, my sister and I all picked one of these up and were completely over the moon.

  This was the goody bag I was most excited for as I'm a little obsessed with Models Own.  The offer was that you had to buy two nail varnishes for £10 and you get a goody bag worth £70 for free.  Seeing as the nail varnishes are £5 each anyway, this offer is amazing.  I picked up the exclusive Clothes Show live nail varnish in 'Show Stopper' and 'Thunder and Lightning'.  You also get a free copy of More Magazine which is my fav.

At first I was a bit dubious about buying this as it was only £10.  I thought it might be a fake but I'm pretty certain it's not.  You get a 100ml perfume, a bath and shower gel, a body lotion, a reb'l fleur sample and a bag with RiRi herself on it.  This is honestly one of the nicest perfumes I've ever smelt.

My mum ordered me to buy this as she heard a man on the stall shouting they were buy one get one free.  For £2, I got two of the above.  Each bag contains a December copy of Elle Magazine, a January copy of Elle Magazine, a St Tropez 75ml body moisturiser and a Jemma Kidd eyeliner in copper.  Absolute Bargain!

I've never heard of Helen É before so I wasn't sure whether to buy this at first but after the Sales lady had given me her best pitch I thought I'd just go for it and I'm glad I did!  For £10, the goody bag includes a little makeup bag, a Skin Smoother, a Lip Crayon, an eyeliner pencil, a clear lipgloss, a concealer, an amazing holographic glitter and a couple of nail files.  What I like about this goody bag, is that everything is all really wearable - they don't chuck in silly things like green mascara that nobody (maybe?) ever uses.

I usually love Barry M but I was extremely disappointed with this goody bag.  You do get a lot in it for £10 but most of the things are silly.  How many times will I be coating my eyelashes in green mascara, lining my eyes with orange eyeliner and putting a hideous blusher on my cheeks?  Zero.  The nail varnishes aren't even their beautiful normal ones :(   I like the makeup bag though so I suppose that's a plus.

 I LOVE SLEEK!  Couldn't resist a cheeky goody bag for £10.  You get the Storm Palette, some rather nice fake eyelashes, a lipgloss and a face & body highlighter.  I'm excited to use all of this.

Next up is Jelly Pong Pong that I think must be rebranding to So Susan?  If they are, it's a shame.  I think Jelly Pong Pong is such a lovely, unique name.  I mostly bought this for the packaging, it's just so pretty and girly.  This set me back £8 which is amazing!  I got a Wide awake palette, a particularly huge bronzer, fairy lashes mascara (cute, aww) and a lip cushion lip gloss pot.

I also grabbed myself a Fake Bake set for £20.  It includes the Airbrush self tan, a Buffing polish for the face and a bronze goddess lip gloss.  Had to pay a cheeky visit to the Carmex stall too.  They were offering three products for £5 so I got a cherry lip balm pot, the cherry liquid lip balm and I gave the other one to my Mum.  Bourjois weren't doing a particulary amazing deal.  I think it was 3 products for £12.  My sisters and I picked up a Bourjois nail varnish remover each.  I then visited the Steamcream stand, something I have wanted for absolutely ages and I love it!  I picked the Daisy tin and picked up two other steamcreams - one for my Mum and another for my Grandma for christmas.  The deal was 3 for £20 and considering they retail at £12.50, I was well impressed.

You get a free goody bag at the end but as we were collecting ours, a lady tempted us with an offer of buying the official clothes show bag for £3 that the Platinum ticket holders receive and upon showing it, we get an extra goody bag.  We didn't think twice as every other year I've been the goody bag had been pretty good but I wish I'd never bothered now because this year's were poor.  I feel sorry for the people who spent extra on a Platinum ticket because they received exactly the same goody bags.

If you've managed to read all of this, you're the best.  Sorry that it's been so massive.  Even though my shoulders and arms ached for days after from lugging all of this around, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Clothes Show Live is one of the greatest days out for fashion/beauty loving girls ever.  Let me know if you went too!

Grace x

Also - my Sanctuary Spa giveaway ends in four days.  GET ENTERING HERE!