I could tell you that I picked these items up in the January sales, or even the Boxing Day sales, but that would be a lie. The fact is I picked these items up in the Black Friday sales, photographed them, and then spent about 6 weeks trying to find time to actually write this post! So now that I’ve had the time to write, here’s a roundup of what I picked up in the Black Friday sales… 

Boots stocks a bunch of French pharmacy brands, so I took advantage of the discounts and multi-buys to pick up these four.

The Vichy Idéalia Smoothing and Illuminating Cream for Normal/Combination skin has been on my list to try for a while now. It’s designed for skin showing signs of ageing, wrinkles, dullness and uneven skin texture. I’m getting older (sob) and have some marks leftover from acne past, so this is a moisturiser I was looking forward to trying. So far I’ve been using it at night, and it’s been helping my skin stay nice and soft.

I picked up the La Roche-Posay Serozinc Spray on my trip to Paris last year, and when I used it up I began planning a trip to France to restock. Luckily, I noticed that Boots has it in store so I didn’t have to travel quite so far to get some more!

The La Roche-Posay Redermic Eyes was listed as one of Sali Hughes’ 50 best beauty buys under £20, so when I saw it in the offers I thought you know what? and then added it to my basket. Job done.

The last item that I picked up at Boots was the La Roche-Posay Effaclar A.I. Targeted Breakout Corrector. Because I struggle with spots and acne from time-to-time I thought this would be a good one to keep in the cupboard for when the spots strike.

John Lewis has a surprisingly good beauty selection, so whenever sales come round I always make sure to see what they’re offering. Not everything was discounted, but with free delivery to my local Waitrose if I spent over a certain amount I had already begun making up excuses as to why I needed each item in my basket.

I really like the Melvita Damask Rose spray that I’ve tried, so I decided to go for the Organic Rose Beauty Mist for no other reason than I enjoy spraying floral-scented mists on my face. I find them delightful. And it was an excuse to try something else from the Melvita range. So far I’m enjoying this purchase!

I previously tried the Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm as a sample from Caroline Hirons and was pleased with it. Because I was running low on my cleansing balm (Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm, if you’re interested) I figured now would be a good time to try out something new.

Oh, Caudalie! I’d never used one of their products till I bought nearly every item in their range in France at the suggestion of the sales person, and when I did try them out it was love. There’s yet to be a Caudalie product that hasn’t impressed me, and this Gentle Cleansing Milk has not disappointed.

Last but not least, I picked up the Clarins Anti-Pollution Cleansing Milk. This is another one I’ve used as a sample and was happy with, and using it nightly I’m still just as happy.

Did you get any beauty products in the sales? Are there any beauty products on your Christmas list?