Savers, the high-street bargain store (that kind of sells everything!) got in touch with me the other day, and challenged me to do a summer essentials haul for £30, and let’s be real, that’s the easiest challenge ever because you can buy A LOAD of stuff for 30 quid in Savers, and I’m the queen of shopping (but obviously, I didn’t tell them that – the hard things I do for this blog eh? 😉

Honestly, it was a bit of a dream come true because it was like Supermarket Sweep, but without the lovely Dale Winton and thankfully there was no running around the store looking for inflatable burgers. It’s far too hot to run in this heat!

I seriously thought about this too. Savers sells all sorts, but for me, I think it does luxury branded beauty stuff, at a cheap price best. So I was thinking of the items that I considered a ‘summer essential’. Top of the list for me is suntan lotion – and proper stuff too. When I was younger, I used to use factor five oil – yes FIVE. But you don’t know how stupid you were until you grow old, so now I slather myself in factor 30 at all times. Apparently, the most popular brand in the store is Nivea and P20, but I went with the Malibu set because I like the smell and it’s a cute kit to take away on holiday.

For me, a real challenge in the summer is my hair when the weather gets hot (well, all year to be honest), but it’s especially bad in the summer, and I spend a lot of time and money trying to tame it. It’s thick, frizzy and curly but not in a nice way. It’s not even properly curly. The underneath half of my hair has ringlets and the top heavy and wavy. So I need to straighten it every day, or try and make it last longer with serum or dry shampoo (or a mix of both). Savers had so many products (and really luxe brands too), which were there specifically to calm hair down in the summer heat – so got pretty excited!

Some things I chose:

You know what, I think I made some brilliant choices (humble as usual) and I’m going to pick a few to talk to you about.

I was chatting to the lovely manager of the Savers in Streatham and she pointed out these semi-permanent hair dyes which loads of people swear by and are only £1.59! I have a mate who dyes her hair cotton candy pink, and what hairdressers don’t tell you is that these colours only last a few washes – so these are perfect to stick in for a bit without needing to make a massive commitment or spending a fortune in the hairdressers every three weeks topping up your colour.

Something I can’t wait to try is the TRESemme Keratin Smooth treatment that costs £3.49 and promises to keep your hair straight for seven days in a row. For me, if I can avoid having to straighten my hair every day in the summer – this is a proper win for me. So definitely worth a shot. Has anyone used this before? Let me know what you think.

I got really excited about some makeup dupes I spotted in Savers from the W7 brand including a Kylie Jenner lip kit dupe and the iconic banana powder ‘Banana Dreams’, which Kim Kardashian West is obsessed with, and have amazing reviews online. Why pay £23 for a Kylie lipgloss when you can get a dupe for £2.49, that has amazing reviews and looks exactly the same?

I bought 17 items in total which came to £29.69, but was really pleased with my choices because there were big brands in there, awesome makeup dupes and butterfly clips, because we all just have to accept that the 90’s is fashionable now and even though we look back at photos and cringe at the mistakes we made – we have to fully embrace them again! Ha.

Here’s the full list of items (you can see in the pic)

• Malibu sunscreen kit – £3.99
• Velvotan tanning mitt – £1.99
• Charcoal foot pack – 99p
• W7 lip kit – £2.49
• W7 Banana powder – £2.99
• Heady Candy hair dye – £1.59
• Butterfly clips – £1.99
• Batiste dry shampoo – £1.99
• Keratin shampoo – 99p
• Keratin conditioner – 99p
• TRESemme Keratin smooth – £3.49
• Coconut oil – 99p
• John Frieda hair spray – 99p
• Vaseline – 99p
• Imperial Leather unicorn gel – £1.99
• Spring hair bobbles – 99p
• Flat hair bobbles – 49p

That’s pretty good for under £30 right? I reckon that would cover you for the summer easily.

Do you have a Savers close to you? What do you always pick up? Any summer essentials I should know about? Let me know in the comments.

*This is a collaborative post*

Competition time!