Just a quick post to say I added a Button Swap page to my blog, and I just wanted to know if anyone is interested in it? Check out the page and let me know!
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Buyapowa Review
I've been following Buyapowa on Twitter for a while now, and checking their website quite a lot, so recently I finally decided to buy something. I had been wanting to purchase Moroccan Oil for quite a while so I decided it was okay to buy it instead of something that I hadn't wanted for a while (I like to think about things before I buy them). I checked their coming up Co Buys and saw that it was due sometime soon so I signed up to be emailed when it was live. I love how you can do that so you don't miss out (I'm currently waiting for the Naked 2 palette and Benefit They're Real mascara).
After getting an email to say that it was now live on their website, I purchased it immediately and then sat to wait for the price to drop, which it did pretty fast. I then received three emails to tell me whenever the price dropped, which I thought was very good as you got constant updates on how much you were going to pay for the product. I was then emailed again whenever it closed, and another to tell me when it had been shipped. I think it took about 3 or 4 days to reach me after the Co buy had closed, but I've heard of other people getting their's a lot sooner, so delivery is pretty good.
It then arrived in a small little box (which I've kept to reuse again as it's a perfect size for parcels!). The Moroccan oil was protected with little polystyrene shapes to make sure it didn't break, and there was also a letter included with all my order details and information on returning the item.
Great service and I loved all the updates I was sent so I knew what was happening the whole way through. I'll definitely purchase of the website again and can't wait until my new Co Buy's come up (I've just discovered I missed the Benefit mascara because it sold out so fast, but there's another one coming up!).
Check out BuyaPowa by clicking here!
OPI - Kiss Me On My Tulips Review
I absolutely love this nail colour that I purchased while away. We don't get OPI that easily where I live as far as I know, I've only seen it online. This colour is called Kiss Me On My Tulips and is part of the Holland collection from OPI. I had seen them whilst reading a magazine and this wasn't the colour I had originally planned on buying, but after seeing it I fell in love. I love the OPI polishes because they go on so easily and smoothly and a little goes a long way. I found one dip in the bottle done about 2 or 3 nails very easily.
This shows the colour directly under natural light. It's a lovely bright pink colour. I applied some of OPI's Sugar Daddy to the ring finger on each hand over the top of the polish, another colour which I also love (review coming soon).
This is the colour under normal lighting. Excuse the quality of my nails, they're a bit of a mess at the moment so nail polish won't go as smoothly as I want it too!
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Catching Fire & Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
I decided to finally make a start on my Summer reading list, which was in no particular order. The books that I wanted to read most was the rest of the Hunger Games series. I had started reading the first book the day before the release of the film and got around halfway through the book before the film started (I read it right up until the trailers whilst in the cinema). As I hadn't finished it after seeing the film it kind of put me off finishing the book as I already knew what happened. However, I wouldn't let myself start the second book until the first one was finished, so it took me until last week to actually make myself read it again! I finished the first book in a few hours and then made a start on the second one. I read it for about 6 hours, until 2 in the morning, and then forced myself to go to sleep and finish the last 50 pages in the morning. I absolutely adored the second book. Then I made a start on the third book straight away, which I read a bit slower this time to draw it out a bit, and finished it on the car journey home on Monday night.
Catching Fire
*Spoiler Alert* The second book brings a second hunger games. The beginning is all about how the relationship between Katniss and Peeta has fallen apart as she tries to get closer to Gale. However, she must pretend for the cameras that he is just her cousin, and that Peeta and her still have a relationship, and Peeta also announces to the world that she is pregnant (she's not). They then make the rounds of the districts publicising their love after Katniss is threatened by President Snow that she could cause an uprising against the Capitol after her poison berries stunt. After this fails, as punishment, he announces that for the 75th game, there will be a special twist, the participants will be two victors from each district. This brings Peeta and Katniss in for a second time. The book focuses a lot around this game, and whether the two protagonists can trust their fellow contestants who they have made allies with. Many people are killed off in the first 24 hours of the game, but obviously the two survive until the end. It ends with Katniss once again fooling the capital by firing against the force field which surrounds the arena. She is then airlifted out by the game maker, who is secretly on her side, with those in the hovercraft not having enough time to save Peeta.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it was definitely my favourite out of the tree. I'm not sure why, I think it may be because I loved that I didn't know what was coming in terms with the new characters who were introduced, and whether they were good or bad. The second hunger games was also very interesting in terms of how the arena was lead out, and there were lots of twists and turns.
Mockingjay
*Spoiler alert* This is the third and final book of the series and is all about the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. It begins with Katniss discovering that Peeta is in the possession of President Snow and the Capitol, and that she is now in District 13, which was believed to have been destroyed 75 years ago. Along with Finnick, she starts to go slightly off the rails as she realises her true feelings for Peeta, and plans to kill President Snow for what he has done in taking Peeta away from her. Along with a team of new characters and some old ones, the District 13 army make the rounds of the 12 other districts in order to bring them on to their side and defeat the Capitol. This is recorded each time and intercepted with the TV screens which are trying to put everyone against Katniss. Peeta is rescued along with a few other survivors of the second games, and they all join together once again to defeat Snow.
This was sadly my least favourite in the series. I'm not sure what it was about it but there was something that didn't capture me as much as much as the first two. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good book, just not my favourite. I was also slightly disappointed in the end, it seemed to just come too quickly and there wasn't enough in it for me.
Sorry for such a lengthy, almost picture free post, but I don't know how else I can write something like this! Any suggestions on how you would prefer it to look, feel free to comment below. I think my next read will be On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
I'm still here!
After posting everyday for nearly 2 weeks or so it may appear as if I have fell of the edge of the earth, but I'm still here! I've been working a lot this week, and whenever I come home I've been too tired to even turn my laptop on so I have loads of blogs to catch up on, so this is why you may have noticed an absence in my commenting and posting. I was actually in the middle of posting a book review a few days ago but I got interrupted and didn't get round to finishing it. It'll either be up very shortly, or else tomorrow, and I'm also going to prepare a few other posts for during the week. I posted a while ago a photograph of some new products that I wanted to review and asked you all what you wanted next and I'm just letting you know that they're coming! I wanted to give them all a proper chance before I form an opinion of them so just keep an eye out. Just a little update for you all!
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Lush - Emotional Brilliance - Passionate Lipgloss
Third post about the Emotional Brilliance range...with more to come! I wore out the Passionate lipgloss for the first time last night when going out to dinner and decided to take a photograph for you all to let you see how it looks. I took the images on my iphone so the quality isn't that great but you can see how nice and bright it is. It's a bright pink colour with purple undertones and I absolutely love it. To the left shows my natural lip colour, and to the right is how it looks after the colour is applied with nothing underneath. The feel of the wand on my lips reminded me of a felt tip which was quite interesting and I could tell straight away that the colour was long lasting, and it definitely is. Even after accidentally wiping my mouth a few times, and going out for dinner and eating my food, and dessert, the colour was still intact until I removed it that night. So pleased as it's hard to find one which lasts after eating. The lipgloss line also doubles as a cheek stain, but I doubt I'll be using this shade for that. I highly recommend this colour in the range!
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Lush - Emotionial Brilliance - Passionate Swatch Update
A few days ago I put up a post Lush - Emotional Brilliance Launch/Review + Swatches and I just wanted to give you all a little update. You will have noticed I put up an image of the two lip colours I tested on my hand. Above is a photograph of my hand around 16 hours later. This doesn't even show just how bright it still was, but you can notice that the colour from the Passionate lipgloss is still there on my hand. I went to work, and washed my hands with soap about 5 or 6 times while I was there and it still stayed! This definitely shows how good staying power this colour has! I definitely made a good choice and I'm very pleased that it appears to last so long.
Friday, 20 July 2012
Lush - Emotional Brilliance Launch/Review + Swatches
Hey everyone, if you follow my blog then you will know already that I mentioned last week that I was going to the launch of the Emotional Brilliance collection at Lush tonight, and as promised, I'm here straight away to do a review and let you all know what I thought.
Firstly, I thought it was pretty awesome how they had a little list to tick everyone off on entering, and you were greeted with a lovely goodie bag, and a raffle ticket (unfortunately I didn't win). As soon as you walked in, there was a table laiden with lots of lovely treats and drinks, which were really good to snack on when walking round.
Inside the goodie bag I found the following three products :
- Turkish Delight Shower Smoothie (£15.95)
- Dirty (£4.10)
- Sultana of Soap (£3.35)
This totals to £23.40 which is very impressive and I'm so thankful to Lush for this! Now I have new products to review as I've never tried any of these before so I'm absolutely delighted.
The first table is the colour wheel table. It was explained that you close your eyes and let yourself into a place where you feel happy and relaxed, and the wheel is spun. Your eyes remain close for around ten seconds, and some fancy dry ice creates a mist over the wheel. You then pick the first three colours which you are immediately drawn to after it settles. The three colours I choose where definitely not one's I would normally go for at all, and I was very interested to find out their meaning.
The first colour you choose represents the one that currently represents your life, the second what your weakness or downfall is, and the third is how you go about changing your life.
My colours where Calm, Lifted and Dynamic.
Next, someone will take you over to the make up collection and show you the products which your moods have chosen for you. As much as I loved the colours that I had chosen, I had seen a few photographs online of people who had went to the press launch and had already fallen in love with all the pink lipglosses, and had to choose two of them instead!
I ended up buying Passionate and Charm.
Passionate is a gorgeous vibrant pink colour, and is highly pigmented and is very bold on the lips. Not a colour I've had before.
Charm is what I'm going to refer to as Barbie pink, and is exactly the same shade as OPI's Pink Friday. I always thought this colour wasn't one which I would like for my lips, as I have saw a similar shade in a MAC lipstick, but after trying it on I really loved it and ended up buying it.
The photograph on the left shows the two colours (Passionate on the left, Charm on the right), under a light, and the one on the right shows them using the flash on the camera. It was dark when I came home so I wasn't able to use any natural light! If you want to see more photographs, or how they look when on, just let me know!
I wanted to buy a third, but wasn't sure which colour to go for, and after already trying on 4 or 5 different lip colours, I felt the colour was getting stuck to my lips too much, even though they had remover to take them off, so I think I'll maybe go back in the next two weeks when I have time and get another one as there was some really pretty red colours too. I tried one on before leaving, and even after going for food after, the colour was still intact so I know these are definitely going to have good wear on them.
There was also a third table which had their mascara, liquid eyeliner, powder and skin tints, but I had came shortly after finishing work so I couldn't try the mascara and eyeliner, and I'd also just bought a new foundation which I had tested on me at the counter before going to Lush so I didn't get to try them either! However, I'll be back!
All in all, a really fun night, and I was so glad to be invited to this event, and I hope they do another one soon as I had been looking forward to it all week and it didn't disappoint!
Monday, 16 July 2012
Tag - Would You Rather?
This has been on two different blog's I follow, Jessica and An-An so I thought I would do it too! Let's get started...
1. Would you rather go out with messy hair and nice make-up, or nice hair and no make-up?
Messy hair and nice make-up definitely! I wouldn't feel as bothered if my hair wasn't too great than my face.
2. Would you rather shave your eyebrows or have your eyelashes fall out?
Ermm...shave my eyebrows if I could draw them on? I think having no eyelashes would make me look like a mouse.
3. Would you rather be forced to shop at only MAC or Sephora for the rest of your life?
Sephora obviously, especially since we don't have one here and I absolutely love it. So much more to choose from than just going to MAC alone.
4. Would you rather wear the lipgloss/lipliner look or 80's perm?
Both are pretty bad and I can't really decide at all, but I'll go with the 80's perm just so I can at least laugh at it.
5. Would you rather leave the house with an obvious foundation line or overdone blush?
Overdone blush I think, a really obvious foundation line is pretty bad!
6. Would you rather wear MC Hammer pants or biker shorts in public?
MC Hammer pants so that I could still be comfy! I would feel way too self conscious in biker shorts.
7. Would you rather have a bad orange-y spray tan or really weird tan lines that can't be covered?
Really weird tan lines. Far too many people where I love have the bad orange-y spray tan and it looks awful.
8. Would you rather have a bad haircut or bad hair color?
This is one of the hardest ones and I still can't decide because I've had bad hair colour done twice and it is really awful. I think I'll go with a bad haircut because I could at least put it up in a bun and no one would really notice. Bad hair colour is too hard to hide!
9. Would you rather have youtube or twitter taken away forever?
Twitter definitely, I spend way more time on YouTube to have it taken away.
10. Would you rather give up using makeup brushes or mascara?
Makeup brushes for sure. I can probably put on most things without them but as I said before, I would look like a mouse without mascara, my eyelashes are pretty much transparent! Far too blonde.
I tag everyone to do this tag so go ahead!
Sunday, 15 July 2012
What Do You Want To See Next?
Hey everyone, as you may have read about a month ago, I picked up a few new things while in America and I still haven't got round to reviewing them yet! I thought I would post up a few photographs of the beauty purchases I made and ask what you want to see a review of first?
In the top left we have :
FAIRYDROPS mascara
Cover Girl - Shimmering Sands Eyeshadow Palette
In the top right we have :
Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush - Orchid Hush
In the bottom left we have :
Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24 Hour Eyeshadow - Pomegranate Punk, Tough as Taupe, and Audacious Asphalt
In the bottom right we have :
Bobbi Brown Foundation Stick
YSL Touche Eclat Concealer/Highlighter
OOTD - Cinema
Thought I would do a little Outfit Of The Day for you all since I was going to the cinema.
Purple jeans - Boutique in Ocean Beach, San Diego
Blouse - Forever 21
Shoes - Urban Outfitters
Scarf - Forever 21
Bag - Guess
Ring - Stray Jewellery, Belfast
Nail polish - OPI's Kiss Me On My Tulips and Teenage Dream
It may still be Summer, but we also went to a market which was beside the sea and it isn't exactly warm here!
I have a review on the nail polish coming up within the next few days if you all want to know more about it.
Friday, 13 July 2012
Lush - Oatifix Fresh Face Mask Review
I mentioned to you all a few posts ago that I had got a free sample of the Oatifix Fresh Face Mask from Lush during one of my visits and that I would do a review on it. Above is a photograph of how it looks in the sample tub.
Firstly I would like to say that you should not be fooled by the small size of this tub, it actually lasted me about 4 times, and they gave me two tubs! I had asked the sales assistant which mask she would recommend for my skin type, which is sensitive and quite dry. She suggested this one or Cosmetic Warrior, but I couldn't quite bring myself to put garlic on my face.
Very easy to apply, firstly I applied my Full of Grace moisturiser from Lush (review coming soon), as this was recommended online. I then took a small amount at a time and applied it to my face. This one is quite crumbly so I found that it kept falling of my face and that you couldn't really go over the same area twice. I then let it sit on my face for 10-15 minutes as I wasn't exactly sure how long you were supposed to, and then I rinsed it off with cold water.
My skin felt soft and clean afterwards which I liked, but I don't feel like it made any real difference to my skin, it was pretty much just the same the next morning when I woke up.
Pros :
- Lots of product in the sample amount
- Smells nice, quite sweet.
- Leaves skin feeling soft.
- Easy to apply.
- Tastes nice (according to my sister).
Cons :
- Quite messy as it falls of your face if you aren't careful.
- Not the most attractive thing to put on your face.
- Didn't give any long term effects on my skin.
I haven't used face masks in years, but wanted to try one from Lush as I had heard good things about them, but I wasn't overly impressed by this one as I felt like it didn't make a difference. I would like to try another one to see if it works any better for me, possibly Cupcake as it is their most popular.
Lush - Emotional Brilliance
I knew about this a few weeks ago, as I discovered the video on the US Lush website as I was doing some browsing. After a bit of research on other people's blogs I found out that this was the launch of Lush's make-up line. As a lover of both Lush, and make-up this was very exciting news for me and I'm super excited to try it all out!
You can watch the video with a super catchy song by clicking here. It doesn't give too much away of what exactly Emotional Brilliance is but I can tell you here. The way it works is that there is a colour wheel which you spin after closing your eyes for 10 seconds. Once you open them, you pick the first 3 colours which stand out in your mind. Each colour has a meaning which is supposed to reflect your current mood. You may find that you choose colours you wouldn't normally go for. I found this very different as I haven't heard of any make-up brand ever having products which show your mood.
The launch is next week on July 21st. I visited the store last week and was speaking to the sales assistants about it, who asked how I had even heard about it because it had been kept very quiet and they hadn't been allowed to tell anyone about it, so obviously I felt pretty pleased with myself for hearing about it before most other people. They told me I could put my name down for their VIP party the night before where they would have all the products available before they go on general release. This news just made my day and I'm so excited as it is a week from today, and I can't wait to go and get some new products as I've looked at people's blogs who went to the press release and some of the swatches look amazing.
I'll do a review with swatches of my purchases the night of the release so you can all have a look at them to see how you like them! Watch this space!
Liebster Award :)
Rules:
1. Each person must post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and make 11 new questions for the people you tag.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in this post.
4. Go to their page and notify them.
5. No tag backs.
11 Facts About Me
11 Facts About Me
- I like to buy stationery that looks nice, even though I'll probably never use it.
- I can't go to sleep until I've checked my Facebook/Twitter/Instagram.
- I hate walking to work by myself early in the morning because I'm convinced someone is going to get me.
- I bought the Urban Decay NYC Book of Shadows about 2/3 years ago and have never used it because I don't want to ruin the colours. I take it out and look at it sometimes and put it away again.
- I still love my Sweet Valley High books and like to read them sometimes.
- I've wanted to get a third piercing in my ear for about 4 or 5 years now, but I'm too lazy to actually go and do it.
- I have to check my whole room for spiders every night before I go to bed.
- I can't throw away any of my magazines and have Cosmopolitans from 2007.
- I like nuts, but hate nuts in chocolate and will pick them out before I eat the chocolate.
- Whenever I decide I'm going to sell old clothes on ebay, I try them on and decide I like them too much and may wear them in the future, and end up keeping half of them.
- I have at least 50 DVDs in my collection that are still in the plastic.
An-An's Questions
1. Favorite bands?
Muse, Radiohead and The Pretty Reckless.
2. What's your HG beauty product?
I kept trying to figure out what HG stood for and I really can't figure it out haha. I'm going to go with it meaning something like favourite/most used? If so, I absolutely love my FAIRYDROPS mascara and I'm sad that it's not available in the UK. I also love my Berry Smoothie Revlon Lip Butter.
3. Would you rather shop at Forever21 or H&M?
Forever21, but we don't have one in Belfast, and I don't like to buy from their online store as I need to try everything on. I just have to stock up when I'm away!
4. Favorite books?
Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my favourites, and I love the Harry Potter series, and have probably read all of them several times.
5. Who is your favorite youtuber?
This is a super hard question for me. For comedy value it has to be JennaMarbles, I also love EpicMealTime for all their food creations, beautywise I've found MissGlamorazzi to be too influential on me, as well as Macbarbie07, and I've also recently discovered Pixi2woo who is very good at makeup. I spend too much time on YouTube...
6. Do you play any instruments? If so, what?
Sadly not.
7. Are you neat or messy?
A very organised mess, I know exactly where everything is. Although my idea of a mess apparently is very tidy compared to a lot of my friends.
8. What are your favorite TV shows?
Gossip Girl (so sad it's ending next season!), 90210, The Vampire Diaries, The Lying Game, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, Pretty Little Liars, The Secret Circle (hate that it's ended now).
9. Do you have a phobia?
Heights and spiders.
10. Favorite fast food restaurant?
If we had it, it would most definitely be In n Out burger, their animal fries and grilled cheese is so amazing!
11. Do you remember your dreams when you wake up?
Usually. Sometimes I remember them later on when I see or hear something that reminded me of it.
My Questions
- If you could only use one make-up product for the rest of your life what would it be?
- If there was a fire and you only had time to grab one thing (pets not included), what would you take?
- Do you prefer sweet or savoury?
- What's your favourite hair product?
- What's your favourite season, and why?
- If you could go away on an all expenses paid trip, where would you choose?
- What's your favourite smell?
- What would be your dream job?
- Which channel do you watch most on TV?
- What was your favourite concert?
- Do you prefer milkshakes or smoothies?
Lovely bloggers I tag
Monday, 9 July 2012
Shopping Haul!
As you may know if you follow my blog, I went shopping at the weekend and picked up a few new things and thought I would share my purchases with you all! There's a few good sales on at the minute so I had a little look around.
Urban Outfitters - Dress - £18.00 (can't find it online, sorry!)
H&M - White blouse - £12.99 (Click here to view)
Lush - Marilyn - £8.50 (Click here to view)
Lush - Ultimate Shine Solid Shampoo- £5.00 (Click here to view)
Superdrug - Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush - £2.39 on offer! (Click here to view)
Debenhams - YSL Touche Eclat Concealer/Highlighter in shade 1 - £20.83 also on sale! (Click here to view)
Centra - Wonka Gobstoppers and Jolly Ranchers Lollipop
So happy with all my purchases and can't wait to try them all. The dress is so cute and I had been looking at it a few months ago but didn't really want to pay £38 for it so I was really happy when I saw it on sale. It has a little cut out in the back that you can see slightly in the photograph at the top. I had finished my previous concealer which was the Clinique Airbrush and had heard good things about the YSL Touche Eclat and after seeing that they had a sale on I of course had to purchase it. Once I use it I'll do a review, and also for the two Lush products I bought. I decided on the Ultimate Shine shampoo bar after seeing it was one of the favourites from Lush so I hope I'm not disappointed. Marilyn is also supposed to be good for brightening up blonde hair, and this isn't something I've really tried before so I'm interested to see how it turns out.
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