Retail Therapy! Primark and Poundworld, and a look at my organisation

I was in dire need of a bit of retail therapy (aka, Primark therapy) as I hadn't been into town for ages, so I went into town after work yesterday.

First I went into Poundworld, to see if they had any good discontinued makeup stuff, which they didn't, and I then looked at the usual rows of imitation Simple makeup wipes, and so on, and then saw a tub of Nivea Creme, which is £1.40 for 50ml at Boots, so £1 is a saving of nearly 30% on the normal price. It appears to have been aimed at the Polish market.

Then I went to Primark, because I wanted a new purse, and I chose this one for £4; it's nice, doesn't look particularly cheap, and has millions of card slots (the most important thing for me)

They have a new thing of charm bracelets - the bracelet is £1 as is each charm. I chose a yacht because I love to sail, the US flag star because the school trip I went on there last summer was amazing, and a Mini because I drive one.

 And I chose this bag, which is nice and big, and with a fun print ready for the Jubilympics this summer! It was £9.

 And lastly I picked up these wipes - at £1 for 50 they're worth a try, and the last Primark wipes I had (with a mini review here) were really good.

Here's a shot of how I organised my purse - In the front card slots clockwise from top left: drving license, student ID, library card and swimming pool membership, bank card. And then vouchers in the front. One of the two biggish bits will be banknotes and the other receipts - and then loyalty cards and giftcards in the back slots.

Since we're on the topic of organisation, here's how my current diary is organised - it's the Breast Cancer Care Pocket Filofax. I've ordered a Personal size one which I think I will need for the summer and uni, especially with my disorganised tendencies.

In the left hand card slots are my NI card and a sample of fabric from the prom dress I'm not going to wear - I can't think where else to put it, and I like stroking it so I'm keeping it in here. In the pocket behind those are the tab dividers I'm not using.

Here are my tab divisions. The dividers are the ones that came in my Paperchase branded organiser; I like the bright colours! In the plastic wallet in the front is my sponsorship form for the Big Splash Sport Relief Mile which I'm doing next Friday. There's also a list of which of my friends haven't paid me back for a BBQ we had before Easter.

In this tab you can see that I use the Filofax brand letter tabs within my 'address' division. They stick out less so it works well.

In the 'information' divider I have things like my tube map and world map, and in the 'agenda' section my school timetable. I'm going to show you more about what comes in my 'planner' divider. First is a cross-off chart about how many school days I have left ever. Scary, right?

 Then I have a list of all the topics in all my exams, and my revision plan/to-do list day by day.

Then in the back pocket I have some stickers that came with the diary, my list of 19 things to do before I'm 19, and a spare hairclip so that I always have one.

I hope you've enjoyed having a look at how I organise my life - how do you organise yours?

Also, while writing this post my blog crossed 2,000 views. Thanks, guys, it means a lot - that averages out to 500 a month, or just over 16 a day since I started my blog at the end of December. I might do a giveaway soon to celebrate - what do you think of that?

Review: Simple 'Spotless Skin Quick Fix' cleansing wipes

I have used up the wipes I was using (more on that in my Project Pan update on Sunday) and I had these in store ready to go, and here's a review from first use.

I picked these up on a multibuy deal, but the normal price is £3.85 for 25 wipes, which is a lot of money, so I'll be reviewing with that in mind. I chose these ones specifically because they say they're good at reducing and preventing spots, and although I'm very lucky with my skin in general, I have recently been getting some spots, so these wipes should help. I also chose them because they promised to remove waterproof mascara, which I wear quite a lot.

Packaging

Fairly standard for wipes really - I like the colour which is much more vibrant in real life than it looks in that photo. The logo patch thing on the front is cool, looks really swirly. (technical term, there).

On the packaging these wipes promise to:

• Remove waterproof mascara
• Have spot fighting ingredients which give results from Day 1
• Be naturally antibacterial
• Have no perfume or colour
• Be kind to sensitive skin

Do they live up to the promises?

I haven't yet worn waterproof mascara since I've been using these, but I have been wearing my Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hour Eyeliner, which I find actually tougher to remove than waterproof mascara. These wipes dealt with it really well; I was impressed.

The spot fighting ingredients are Zinc PCA and Chamomile, which it says absorb excess oils and soothe the skin. While my skin does feel a little clearer, it also feels a bit drier than it would normally in the morning (I use wipes in the evening, and do the whole moisturising thing in the morning, usually), which I guess is because oils have been absorbed away from my skin.

I did wonder why face wipes needed to be antibacterial, but apparently the Phytosphingosine helps to fight spots and blemishes. This is something that I'll have to observe over a longer period of time, I think.

While these wipes most definitely have no colour (unless you get all deeply philosophical and say white is a colour...), they do have a slight scent. They just smell of 'clean' to me, a little bit similar to Boots' own brand cucumber hand wipes. I like the smell, personally.

I would definitely agree with these being kind to sensitive skin. Maybe it's just the jump from those harsher Primark wipes I was using, but these just felt really soft and soothing on my skin. Smooth rather than the slight sting and rough feel I had with the other wipes.

Would I repurchase?

If I saw these on offer, I would definitely repurchase, but I wouldn't pay £3.85 for them.