Birthday (Shopping) Haul: What I got For My 21st Birthday & What I Bought Myself!

On the 28th of October I turned 21. This meant a fun celebration with my family and a couple of my friends. I love my birthday. Mainly for the cake but also a little bit for the presents. I mean, I could act all kinds of humble and lie about it. But let’s be real about it, I love it. Aside from receiving gifts I’ve also done some birthday shopping with my mom and with my best friend. My mom and I went to Rotterdam and I went to Eindhoven with my best friend. I’ve bought a lot of amazing things and I received a couple of incredible gifts. In today’s post I’m going to share all of the things I bought and got gifted for my birthday. So if you’re interested in finding out what I got, make sure you continue reading!

What I got for my birthday!

Let’s start this post off with the gift part. The first gift I received is the gift from my mother. My mother obviously knows me best and therefore she lets me pick out my own gift. I know what you  might think about that. I’ve heard lots of peoples opinion on that. But I just like knowing what I’ll get okay. I don’t want her to waste her money on something I wouldn’t even use. So I’m really glad we have this arrangement going on.

Anyway, she gifted me two amazing products from Dior. The first one being the Dior Forever Concealer. I saw that they came out with this a while ago and I have been wanting to try it ever since. As you guys know by now Dior is my favourite brand on earth so I just had to try it. In addition to that I’m someone who really likes concealer, so well. There you go. I’m really excited about this concealer and can’t wait to give it a proper try. A review will be up soon!

The other item she gifted me is this stunning Dior Blush Brush. It’s from their original range, not the Backstage one and I love that about it. I feel like the Backstage brushes are really pretty, but these original ones look even better. They are a bit more up there in price which should mean that the quality of them is better. Anyhow, it looks really pretty and the hairs are incredibly soft. I can’t wait to play around with it.

Moving on to the gifts I got from my boyfriend. Somehow he’s the most amazing gift giver on earth and he always comes up with exactly what I want. Even without me telling him. This year he gave me these stunning booties from Tommy Hilfiger. In terms of fashion Tommy Hilfiger is one of my all time faves and he knows that. I also really love ankle booties and that in addition with the shiny black look of them and the little logo makes these boots the best boots ever. I really love the look of them and I’m sure I’ll be wearing them everyday from now on.

Aside from the booties he also gifted me the Zoeva Cocoa Blend Voyager Palette. I have to say that I did influence him on this one, but I didn’t really expect that he’d buy it for me. He actually gave it to me a couple of weeks before my birthday so I have been playing around with it for a while now, but that doesn’t make it less amazing. It’s a really pretty palette and it’s just perfect for autumn!

Moving on to what I got from my sister and her boyfriend. They gifted me a Rituals Shower Foam from the latest limited edition called The Ritual Of Yalda. I’ve been eyeing that shower foam for a while now so I was very excited about getting it from her. I tried it the day that I got it and so far I’ve been loving it a whole lot. Obviously I do need to test it out a bit more before I can really say what I think. But when I do know what I really think, I’ll come back to you with a review!

From a family member I received a giftcard from Rituals. Lately I’ve been pretty obsessed with Rituals so I was really happy with this gift. This is definitely going to come in handy around the sale season! My friends also gave me a giftcard. This is a Fashioncheque so I can spend it at a whole lot of stores. I’ve already used it a bit when I went birthday shopping, but all in all I think it’s a really good gift!

What I bought in Rotterdam

Moving on to the things I bought myself. My mom and I went to Rotterdam and we got a lot of shopping done. I have to say that I found a lot of great items that I wanted to buy and I scored some bargains. I guess the first thing I bought was at TK Maxx. One of my favourite stores ever. The one in Eindhoven, which is where I come most often, is already pretty big. But this one in Rotterdam was even more amazing. Their beauty aisle… Oh my! The first thing I picked up there was actually something my mom found for me. It’s this stunning eyeshadow by Stila. Stila is one of my favourite brands, especially when it comes to eyeshadow. I’ve always wanted to try a single eyeshadow from them and now I finally got the chance to do so. It’s in the shade Twig and it’s a very pretty warm brown colour with a touch of red and purple to it. It’s really, really pretty.

Then when I was taking a look at the xl-sized bottles I found a big bottle of the Philosophy Falling In Love Shampoo, Body Wash & Bath Soak, or something like that. It’s a really big bottle, beautifully designed, with a pearl-like purple fluid in it. It already looks so luxurious. The scent is absolutely amazing as well. It smells very decadent and luxurious. Just what I like! I’ve been trying it out ever since I got it, so get ready for a review soon!

Stila Mono Eyeshadow in Twig €5,99 – Philosophy Falling in Love Shower Gel €9,99.

Moving on to some clothing. Lately I’ve been updating my closet and wanting to add some more trendy pieces. But also some very basic, essential pieces. I went to C&A which is a store I usually don’t visit. However, lately I’ve heard a lot of people saying good things about their collection so I thought it was worth the look. I found this amazing corduroy jacket in a very pretty beige colour with some teddy on it. I didn’t expect myself to ever buy and wear a piece like this. But you guys, I love it so much. It’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn and I love the look of it. In addition to that it was very affordable and on sale. Usually it would’ve costed me €29, but now it was only €19. What a bargain!

Another thing I bought at C&A is this really pretty mustard blouse with little details all over it. I’ve been wanting a blouse in this colour for a while now but I could never find one that I considered perfect. This one is. It’s made out of a very soft and comfortable feeling material and I love the design on it. It’s also very basic so you can wear it with anything and for any occasion. I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a lot of wear out of it!

C&A Corduroy Jacket €29 (on sale for €19) – C&A Mustard Blouse €13

Moving on to something I bought at Bijenkorf. Like I said I really wanted to get some nice proper basics in my closet. Some high-quality ones even. Whenever I want something proper I usually go to Bijenkorf. On the website I found this really pretty navy J.Crew t-shirt that looked perfect for me. The sleeves were a little longer than usual, which I like, and the fit is just stunning. Very casual but very chic. I decided to order it, but to my surprise I received a light blue one. Which clearly wasn’t what I ordered. Because I liked the colour of that too, I decided to not make a problem out of it and just order it again and keep the light blue one as well. However, the second time I order it I, again, received a light blue one. I contacted costumer service and they told me it was a mistake on their end and they were going to fix it.

However, I saw on the app that they had one left in their location in Rotterdam. And I happened to go there that week. So, while I was there I was looking for the navy J.Crew t-shirt. Obviously I couldn’t find it and I thought well, too bad then. But then a sales associate took a look for me and she came back holding the one J.Crew navy t-shirt they had left. I tried it on, loved it and bought it. Both are very pretty t-shirts and I’m glad I now have a couple of nice basics in my closet.

J.Crew Perfect Fit T-Shirt – €36,95 (on sale for €18,47)

Next up is The Body Shop. Recently my mom and I have become obsessed with the Body Yoghurts and there was a get one, get one half priced deal going on. So we decided to go in and both get another yoghurt. Since it was the month of my birthday and I got a membership card we also got another €5 off and this resulted in us both getting a Body Yoghurt in the Almond Milk scent for just €5 each! What a great deal right!!

To stay within the beauty part of this post, I also bought a tube of the Chanel La Mousse. Recently I tried out my first ever Chanel skincare product, fell in love with it and wanted to try more. The first Ici Paris I went to didn’t have it, but the second one did. There was a 25% off cleansers sale going on, which was great, and I had 2 coupons and a giftcard. Thanks to all of that I got this cleanser for absolutely free! How amazing is that! I’m really excited about this cleanser and I can’t wait to test and review it for you guys!

The Body Shop Body Yogurt €10 (on sale for €5) – Chanel La Mousse €38 (but got it for free!)

The last two things I bought in Rotterdam are from Hema. It’s one of my favourite stores when it comes to room decorations and such. They also had a deal going on where it was get one, get one free on everything that was on sale already. I ended up grabbing this can of tea. It’s called Green Tea Moroccan Mint and it’s a very different flavour than I’d usually go for. However I am a huge, huge fan of it. I’m not a big fan of mint tea, but this is different. this is fresh but it also has a bit of a spice scent to it. I can’t describe it, but I do really, really love the taste of it!

The other thing I got is this ‘&’ sign made from gold metal. I really like simple decorations like this one and I like the fact that it’s a sign and not a letter. I think it looks really pretty in my room in a very minimalistic way. And the best thing is that both of these things were on sale. Both were marked down to €3 a piece, but there was a also a 1+1 on sale items discount going on, resulting in me having to pay just €3 in total. What a steal!

Hema Moroccan Mint tea €3 – Hema Golden Sign €6 (on sale for €3)

Some online shopping items

Next up I want to show you a couple of things I bought online throughout the month. My lord this is turning into some sort of collective haul. Well, let’s just roll with that shall we? One thing I am really excited about is this The Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey Body Butter. I’ve been a huge fan of this range from The Body Shop for a while now and so far I hadn’t tried the body butter yet. I saw it on sale for just €8 on the Hudsons Bay website and finally ended up ordering it. I’m sooooo excited about this!

Moving on to another Chanel skincare product. Since I’ve been loving the two ones I’d already bought so much, I decided I wanted more now that they were still on sale for 25% off. It was hard to choose from the amazing range they have, but I ended up going for the Gommage Microperlé Éclat. This is an exfoliator and from what I’ve read this is supposed to be pretty amazing. Can’t wait to give it a try!

The Body Shop Body Butter €16 (on sale for €8) – Chanel Gommage Microperlé Éclat €43

I also ordered some makeup from Lookfantastic recently. I do that very often, more often than I should, but I’m very excited about these three things. First of all I got a new one of the Stila Eyes Are The Window Palettes in Soul. I’ve used this palette to death and I figured that I should just order a new one since all of my go-to shades in the palette are gone. This is my first time repurchasing an entire palette, so I’m pretty excited about that.

I also got another mono shadow from Stila. This one is in the shade Kitten. Kitten has been my favourite eyeshadow for all my life now. I just think it’s exactly what I’m looking for and it’s perfect for everything I can think of. Because I use it so much I figured it would be a great idea to have it in mono as well. Just so I can use it even more often.

The last item I bought from Lookfantastic is a new Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in the shade Demolition. This is a very pretty deep brown colour and these UD pencils are my favourite. I’m still a big fan of eye pencil and this one just is it for me. It doesn’t budge and I love the formula on them. It was 20% off now making it very affordable, so I figured why not buy one?

Stila Eyes Are The Window Palette €34,95 – Stila Kitten €13,95 – Urban Decay Glide On Pencil €12,95

The other things I bought online around the time of my birthday are all clothing pieces. Those of you who know me really well might know that my favourite clothing brand for fancy clothing is Vanilia. It is a rather expensive brand, but I love it to death. To keep it affordable and to be good to the environment, I like to shop brands like this second-hand.

Anyway, I was looking for some classic basics. Not just a simple H&M tshirt that will lose its shape after washing it once. No, I wanted something that would be high-quality. I ended up getting this black long sleeve from Vanilia. It might look very basic, but in real life it’s made from a really nice thick and heavy material. Because of that it doesn’t wrinkle as quickly and it sits on my body in a really pretty and chic way. It’s very hard to describe, but I hope this makes some sort of sense anyway.

The next item I got is another basic but with a little bit more than that. It’s a top with blue stripes all over it and three letters on the top right corner. It’s very my style but then just a bit better quality than the items I usually go for. The material feels really nice and the top fits me like a glove.

Next up are two basic t-shirts, also from Vanilia. Can you tell that Vanilia is my favourite brand of all time? Anyway, the first one is all black and has a golden zipper on the back. Just like the other two shirts I just showed you this one is made from a bit thicker and heavier material than your usual t-shirt. Thanks to that it fits really nicely and it looks more formal.

The last basic Vanilia tee I bought is white and has a bit of structure to it. It has like a waffled thingy going on. Like the black tee it also has the zipper on the back. Sadly however this t-shirt doesn’t fit me properly. It’s a bit too tight on the boob area, so I will have sell it again. That’s the risk of second hand shopping online.

Because it was my birthday month I got a lot of great deals in my inbox from all of my favourite stores. Including Rituals. The deal was that if I bought anything I’d get a tiny perfume worth €9,50 for free. Normally I wouldn’t really buy something because of that, but somehow I felt like I really wanted to do that this time so I placed an order. They had another deal going on where you’d get a free mini luxury set of fragrance sticks worth €13,50 when you spent €35. So that’s what I did.

I bought a total of three things: two body cremes and one box of tea. One of the body cremes is from their latest limited edition. The Ritual of Yalda. It smells very luxurious and I’m all about things that smell like that. The other body creme is from the Ritual of Anahata, which smells very warm and unique. The box of tea was from an old limited edition and tastes like citrus and verbena.

Ritual of Yalda Body Creme €18,50 – Ritual of Anahata Body Creme €14 – Express Your Soul Tea €3,60

What I bought in Eindhoven

Moving on to the part where I show you guys what I bought when I went shopping with my best friend. I have to say that the shopping session went a lot better than I expected. I got a lot of things that I’ve been wanting for so long and I got great deals on literally everything. The first thing I bought is this amazing smelling showergel from Philopshy. It’s called Dance Of The Dew Drop Fairy. It looks extremely pretty and it smells absolutely gorgeous. They had another one I was tempted to buy, but I ended up choosing just one. I have a lot of showergels so one is definitely enough!

I also got another body creme from Rituals. It’s from the Happy Budha collection and somehow I never tried this one before. It was on sale for 30% off at De Bijenkorf and I still had a giftcard that I was ready to spend. Therefore I got it for free and that makes it even more exciting. It is a very fresh and ‘happy’ smelling product, so it’s not super winter-proof. But I’m still really excited to give it a try sometime soon!

Philosophy Dance of the Dew Drop Fairy Showergel €9,99 (at TK Maxx) – Rituals Happy Budha Body Creme €12,25 (at Bijenkorf)

Then I went to The Body Shop. I had a new coupon on my card that gave me €5 off and there was a 30% off when you buy 4 products deal going on. It seemed like the appropriate time for me to pay a visit to the store and get myself some new products. I knew my mom really wanted another bottle of the Almond Milk & Honey Shower Gel so I started with picking that up.

Then I took a look at the haircare section. I had never tried any of the TBS haircare products and since they are all silicone free I was pretty excited to change that. I ended up picking up three conditioners. All are for different purposes and I had to find 4 products in order to get the deal. One conditioner is from the strawberry range and promises glossy hair. The other one is from the Fuji Green Tea range and promises freshly hydrated hair and the last one is from the banana range and promises true nourishment. I’m really excited to try these three and I’ll definitely get back to you with a review very soon!

And by the way, thanks to all of the discount thingies I had going on all four products costed me a total of just €14,60 instead of €28 (which it would’ve been if I didn’t get any sale). How impressive is that!!

EDIT: I did something dumb you guys. When I took a shower and wanted to use the Banana Conditioner I experienced something weird. The formula felt very thin and it started to foam. Slowly but surely I started to realise that I did not buy the conditioner, I accidentally bought the shampoo!

The Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey Showergel €7 – The Body Shop Conditioners €7 a piece

Next up are some amazing chocolates. I didn’t want to include them in this haul at first but I have to tell you guys about it. I bought these at my favourite little chocolate store in Eindhoven. It’s a very popular store but it’s located in a very hidden spot, so only people from here know where to find it. Luckily I live in Eindhoven so I know my way around here. Anyway, the store is called Hilfrawa and it’s a tiny chocolate store in someones garage. The store is filled with literally the best chocolate in the whole country and it’s all handmade in that little garage.

The best thing is that their prices are incredibly low. I bought a box of 400 grams of bonbons for just €9. Considering the fact that it’s a very tiny store and that these chocolates are high quality and handmade, that’s right about nothing! My absolute favourites are the white chocolate mice. They are the best. Even if you prefer milk or dark chocolate, the white ones taste the best in combination with the filling. So if you ever happen to be in Eindhoven please take a look at Hilfrawa. It’s a bit of a hustle to find it, but it’s sooooo worth it. Literally, you’ll be hooked.

Hilfrawa white mice bonbons 400 grams – €9

Moving on to a tiny little purchase. Sostrene Grene is literally the cutest store ever and I always fall for their cards. This time they had a lot of Christmassy cards so I ended up buying a few. It was so hard to choose between all of them, but I ended up narrowing it down to just three. Especially since I never send anyone a Christmas card, I didn’t want to go crazy. But how cute are these?!

Sostrene Grene Christmas Cards – €0,43 a piece

Lastly I bought two pieces of clothing. Since I already bought a ton of clothing this month and because I’m in a bit of a clothing dilemma right now I decided not to go crazy on clothing during this shopping trip. One thing I did really want to buy was this amazingly gorgeous ocher sweater. I have been looking for a sweater like this for about two years. One time I found one and bought it, but it went super ugly after wearing it once so I had to return it. This one is from a brand called Garcia and it’s 100% cotton, so the quality is much better than the one I bought years ago. It also has really cute button details on the back and it fits me perfectly. On top of all of that it was on sale from €50 to €25. What a bargain!

The other piece of clothing I bought is a real bargain as well. It’s this pair of paperbag pants in a really nice black colour. The material feels very sturdy and overall it’s a very proper looking pair of pants. Something I’ve been looking for since I really like formal clothing these days. It fits me like a glove and this one was on sale as well. It was discounted from €19 to €9 at C&A. That store has really surprised me these past couple of weeks!

Garcia Ochre Sweater €25 – C&A Paperbag Pants €9

Shopping in Amsterdam

I thought the birthday shopping part would’ve been the end of this post, but surprise surprise, it isn’t. Another one of my best friends actually asked me (or well, she gave hints) that she wanted to go to Amsterdam with me. Obviously I’m down for that so I went along with her.

First of all I bought two lipsticks. I had a couple of coupons and giftcards from Ici Paris and there was a 30% off all lipsticks deal going on. This sounded like the perfect moment for me to score some beautiful lippies. I ended up buying a Dior Addict Lipstick in the shade Not Shy. It’s a very pretty rather natural but a little more unique than that colour. It’s pretty difficult to describe what it looks like without showing the shade to you guys. But I’m reviewing it in the near future so if you’re interested in that kind off stuff, keep an eye out for the review.

The other lipstick I bought is a pretty bold shade. It’s the Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Lipstick in the shade Dialogue. It’s a bright red colour. These Rouge Coco Shine Lipsticks are rather sheer and therefore I feel like colours like this are still pretty wearable even though they are really bright.

The best thing is that I had so many coupons and giftcards that I only had to pay €3,30 for both lipsticks. What a bargain!

Dior Addict Lipstick in Not Shy €37,50 – Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Lipstick in Dialogue €37

Next up is a new Lush bath bomb. I don’t take baths too often, but when I do, I like to use a proper bath bomb. And to me the only proper ones are the ones from Lush. I know that that’s nonsense, but well, whatever. Recently I used up my last bath bomb so I decided to buy a brand new one. This one is from the holiday or halloween collection (I suppose, since it is a limited edition). The scent is called Lord of Misrule and it’s a bright green bomb. It smells really, really good and I cant wait to take a bath with it.

The last thing I bought in Amsterdam is my very favourite purchase. It’s the Dior Eye Reviver Eyeshadow Palette. I have been eyeing this palette for years now but I never ended up buying it. In Amsterdam they have this amazing store called Pourvous and there it was on sale. I got it for 50% off! Well that’s a deal I can’t ignore. I’m really excited to start testing this you guys!

Lush Bath Bomb Lord Of Misrule €5,95 – Dior Eye Reviver Eyeshadow Palette €61,50 (on sale for €31,32)

With that being said I think I covered everything. This is one of the longest and probably most expensive hauls I have ever done, so I’m definitely not going to add up the amount of money I paid for everything to see the total. That’d be shocking!

Anyway, hat’s it for today. I know it was a long read and it was a LOT in general, but I hope you enjoyed reading today’s post anyway. Anyway, thank you so guys for being here and be sure to let me know what you have been buying throughout October!