Free stuff for me!

I remember that, when I was a child, one of my favourite books to borrow from the library was called "Free Stuff for Kids". It told you lots of different places that you could visit or write to who would give you free stuff! I can't remember if I ever got round to sourcing any free stuff through reading the book, but I enjoyed reading it anyway!

The recent weeks have been the grown-up version of that! It all started with Spa in the City which I visited in St Andrews Square and the west end. On those visits I got a free updo by Toni & Guy, cleanse and makeup by Liz Earle, eye makeup by Benefit, and a massage by Aveda. I also got booked up to go and get my makeup done at the Urban Decay counter (worth £25), and I got a phone call to get me booked in for a skincare consultation at the Liz Earle counter.

The Spa in the City goodie bags (which were themselves quite decent tote bags) had some free stuff in them too. The first week I got samples of Lush Vanilla Dee Lite hand and body cream and Happy Hippy shower gel, and some other samples which included night cream, hand cream and body lotion. The second week there was a coconut water drink, and samples of night cream and perfume.

Then there was the voucher book that came in the goodie bag! Most of the vouchers were for money off, but there were a couple that gave you something for free, so on the second weekend of Spa in the City I went to redeem those vouchers.

The first was for a pair of earrings from Macintyre's Jewellers on Frederick Street. I hadn't heard of Macintyre's (and walked right past it while looking for it, as it is upstairs!). It is a wholesale jewellers, so the prices are apparently a lot cheaper than at other jewellers. I had a choice of cubic zirconia or fresh water pearl sterling silver studs. I went for the pearl ones as I already had a cubic zirconia pair. I thought that, being free, they would be so tiny you'd hardly see the pearl, but actually they are a good size!

After this I headed to Lush, as there was a voucher for a skincare consultation and three free samples. The woman at Lush was lovely. She sat me down at the big table, and demonstrated the various skincare products to me, massaging them into my hand. In the end I got six samples rather than three, so I was delighted with that! I suppose they got their money's worth out of me, though, as while she was packaging them up I picked out a couple of items I wanted to buy!

And later, when I was buying shampoo at the Aveda counter, I got a free gift of some Stress-Fix body lotion!