Bet you thought you couldn't afford Trevor Sorbie haircare, huh. Batiste Dry Shampoo. That hair colour stuff that comes in a massive box and has 'personally harmonised highlights', Colour Experte, the added 'e' to imply 'eeeeeeh, that's well out of your price range, sunshine'.
Think again. Welcome to TJ Hughes, a place where I filled a basket, and then another, and then another, full of enough cosmetic bathroom products to give Greenpeace a stroke, and suddenly realised I was spending less than twenty squid. Unbelievable, non? How DO they do it?
It's like a giant Home Bargains. But rather than finding obscure brands amongst the few designers and lucky dips, the majority of what is here falls under a well-known usually rather expensive name. Make-up, hair stuff, bath foams, even electricals, appliances, chocolates, biscuits, these are all things that would cost you a pretty penny on the high street. As well as this you've got clothes, toys, fragrances, garden items, homeware, gifts; more wonderful stuff than you could shake a stick at.
On a personal anecdote level? Well, not only did I indulge in a bunch of Trevor Sorbie and dry shampoo goodies (and heck, does that stuff work, especially for we brunettes who can't get away with not washing their hair as often) and swing past the Tigi Bedhead range looking on longingly, I bought the most supreme eyeliner I've ever encountered in my life. This stuff is incredible, and if like me you enjoy doing the 1960s black line and flick across the eyelid, you must buy it. It comes in a pot with a well-shaped brush, looks like solid paint and lasts forever, and you can cry, you can screw up your face, you can swim, and it will stay there. I tried some on my hand and I'm a regular handwasher, slightly OCD since the swine flu pandemic and the line was still there the next day, albeit faded. The only thing that takes it out is proper make-up remover. It's called 'Paint the Line' and it'll be the best £3 you ever spend, ladies. Or boys. You and your guyliner, I dunno.
Perhaps the cutest thing about TJ's is its spectacularly adorable and surprisingly large restaurant, where you can get a massive amount of good quality food for well under a fiver - traditional dishes like sausage and mash, fish and chips, breakfast, teacakes, all the tea in China and plenty of scones. It's always full, and like the store itself you get an interesting mish-mash of clientele. Anyone who forsakes TJ's for high street prices is a very, very silly person. I implore you to get down there and marvel at the money you'll save. read more