Clarins Haul & GWP

I had another £15 (and £2 left over from last time) rewards on my Debenhams beauty card (I know the way I bang on about that card, I should be ambassador for it), anyway it was burning a hole in my unicorn purse and so I set off to spend it. It was a week or two ago when they had 10% off and I figured for £17, I'd be able to get a nice lipstick. Last time when I got the Clarins balm, I'd noticed some nice lipsticks, so decided to give them a better look. My hand was absolutely covered in swatches of lovely sparkling lip colours and I couldn't remember which one was where, but had fun trying them all!

The Joli Rouge Brilliant Lipsticks are sheer in colour, so the majority look nothing like the stick inside when swatched (which meant testing them all!). I found there wasn't much difference between some of the shades (hence my struggle to make a decision), especially when you tilted them a certain way. I then started trying out the Joli Rouge and Rouge Prodige colours too until I ran out of hand space and forced myself to make a decision already! So in the end I went with 04 Praline.  It's a pinky brown in the tube and comes in a sleek, nicely weighted silver case with clear end and coloured sticker name/number.

As usual when I got it home and swatched it again, it seemed totally different than I'd first thought (damn those lights in Debenhams that make everything look super sparkly). It's still a pretty sheer nude mind you and as the flash shows, it can look sparkly under bright light.

When going to pay for my lipstick, the assistant pointed out their current GWP and wondered if I might want to purchase a skincare item to qualify (they see me coming); I was going for a free lipstick though and was NOT to spend any money, so politely and not very convincingly declined. Cue Mum looking aghast while saying "but you get ALL that free?" Add to this the fact my Clarins night cream ran out a few days earlier, it was obvious where we were headed, especially judging from the first image of this post (although I want it put on record that I tried to resist). Mum also tells me afterwards she expected me to be spending another £20, not £42 (I also want it on record that I was well aware of this, hence my initial hesitation because in my position I can't really afford £40 moisturisers)! So, my lipstick was £17 reduced to £15.30 with 10% off and my Multi Active Night Cream £42 down to £37.80. Remember I also had my £17 of rewards to use, which meant the lipstick was completely free!

The gift was worth around £44 if I remember correctly and included very generous sizes of bodycare products which I have to admit, I'll totally use. It always makes it that little bit more worthwhile if the free products are things you'll actually use up. First of all they came in this bag, which I wasn't all too keen on at first, but it's grown on me and is extremely roomy.

Inside there are 4 products...

Hand & Nail Treatment Cream 30ml

Relax Bath & Shower Concentrate 50ml

Smoothing Body Scrub 75ml

and a whopping 100ml tube of Extra Firming Body Lotion!

Am I a sucker for a GWP or considering I got 10% off, all these items and the lipstick free, was it worth it? Can I also mention I qualified for 500 bonus points (which I wasn't expecting), so that's another £5 reward, which I think I have stacked up until the end of January now!