Christmas Shopping!

Well, it's that time of year again, the time of caring and sharing, of giving and receiving, of delicious festive treats (or in my case, family infighting, a bulging waistline and a heck of a lot of credit card debt!). Have you guessed yet? It's Christmas!!

Melbourne City Council decided to give me a friendly reminder by erecting a Christmas tree in October, followed closely by carols in City Square and tinsel on the tram lines a few weeks later. Coles and Safeway were kind enough to make sure I could get my advent calendars and cards as early as September!

Traditionalists like my mother complain that it's too early, but for paranoid organisers like myself, it's a great opportunity to get all the presents purchased and wrapped by the time long before the first square of the advent calendar is peeled open!

Given the terrible economic climate, retailers are even more desperate to try to get us to part with our hard-earned cash than normal, and this means one thing - pre-Santa sales! My favourite store in the world, Myer, was one such place this week and they were really slashing prices at their Myer One VIP Night! I picked up some lovely luggage for my boyfriend at 40% off, as well as some tree ornaments for 25% off and a beautiful metallic silver bowl for 30% off. The greatest deal for me though was the 10% off cosmetics - in Australia, cosmetics are NEVER on sale!

The Clinique counter was packed to the max due to their amazing range of gift sets, but unfortunately, not everything was in stock (boo! no Black Honey Set! see right for it's gorgeousness). However, I did manage to pick up two presents...

Eye Refresher Kit for mum: was $58 AUD but for me, a steal at $52.20!

This is a great starter kit, coming with a full-sized jar of All About Eyes eye cream as well as a mini High Impact Mascara and a 30ml Take the Day Off Makeup Remover.

I'm a huge fan of Take the Day Off - you don't need much and their is minimal rubbing or pulling to remove even the most waterproof of liners and mascaras!

Target Eyes (my gift from Matt) was $65 AUD but I snapped it up for only $48.50 thanks to an additional one-night-only $10 off coupon!

Last year I got the Eye Refresher, but I've been using the Repairwear night cream with great results and thought it was time to follow up with the matching eye cream. This also comes with High Definition Mascara which I am yet to try.

All up, it was a very satisfying sale and I was pleased to find myself 80% finished when it comes to gifting for the big day.

As an aside: the days of pushing and shoving old ladies for cheap hosiery and manchester are long over! I have vowed to several friends that I will never pay full retail for anything at Myer any more because they have so many damn sales! This year alone there has been the End of Financial Year in June, Boxing Day, then the two mid-season sales and numerous VIP nights...moral of the story is to shop smart, ladies!