I won £1.2m on the Euromillions and immediately treated myself to a £5 lippy from Superdrug
WE'VE all fantasised about what we'd spend our winnings on first if we ever won the lottery.
But one woman bought a £5 lipstick from Superdrug to celebrate finding herself with £1.2m in the bank.
Liz Anderson, 45, purchased a ticket in the EuroMillions Mega Week draw after a long day at work and was stunned to discover she had become a millionaire literally overnight.
"I work in the city on a trading floor as a desk support and the day is usually quite busy, so it wasn't until late morning that I decided to take a break and logged into my account," explained the office worker, who lives in Sevenoaks with her husband Frank Coles, 51.
"The balance hadn't changed so I thought there must be a mistake despite the socking great big banner at the top of the screen flashing 'Congratulations you've won £1million and a holiday', at the time I thought it was just an ad so ignored it!"
When she then checked her email to see if she had nabbed a £2.70 win, she saw the same flashing banner again.
I decided I ought to celebrate, so went to Superdrug about bought myself a £5 lipstick!
Liz Anderson
Rather than tell the 200 colleagues on her open-plan office floor, she closed the email and went back to work.
"It was totally surreal but I didn't tell anyone, I didn't even message Frank!" Liz recalled.
"I think I was worried it might not be true so just carried on working.
"At lunchtime I popped out and wandered about the city in a daze. At some point in my wandering I decided I ought to celebrate, so went to Superdrug about bought myself a £5 lipstick!
"With lipstick in hand I went back to the office and called Camelot who verified the win."
Liz only told her other half Frank later in the day when he arrived at her work with their daughter, ready to go watch Arsenal play in the Champions League.
"I met them both in reception and Frank was chatting about his day when I said 'I've got something to tell you too' and then explained what had happened," she revealed.
"He was utterly speechless and then we couldn't stop smiling as we headed off to the match, where Arsenal won 2:0, the perfect end to an amazing day!"
While we already have a lovely home and have no plans to move, we will at last be able to pay off the mortgage and do all the renovations we want to.
Liz Anderson
In total, the couple pocketed £1,248,880 - some of which they quickly decided to spend on paying off their mortgage and renovating their house.
They also made plans to visit Frank's son in Australia as part of dream holiday, and Liz decided she now had the financial security to change careers.
"This win really does open up a whole new world for us," Liz explained.
"While we already have a lovely home and have no plans to move, we will at last be able to pay off the mortgage and do all the renovations we want to."
She added: "I've enjoyed my work in the City and have in the past toyed with moving into teaching but again have stayed with my job for financial reasons, now I can really start to think about other career options that might be open to me and will mean I'm at home more for our daughter."
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