Halloween weekend and my carmine competition prizes!

Hello lovelies, I've had a pretty crazy weekend, hope everyone else has been celebrating halloween and getting their ghoul on!
I had a friends 21st party on friday to go to (unfortunately not dress up) and a halloween party then night out on saturday, having a well needed rest today!

What a way to kick of the weekend though when my prize goodies arrived on friday!
Heres what I got :)!

Firstly, how cute is this little handwritten note! I love things like this :)!

The box of goodies came beautifully packaged in a carmine box, and i was so excited to open it!

I was pretty overwhelmed with all the lovely products inside!

I got 4 sets of lashes, 4 2true nail polishes, 2 of which are crackle effect, a glitter liner, Trevor Sorbe volumising dry shampoo and eeee wait for it New <ID i-pout and eye shadow quad! I can't begin to tell you how much I fell in love with those!

Starting with the lashes WOWIE what a beautiful selection, whoever chose these did such a good job, they are stunning! I wore the bottom Ardell pair to my friends 21st party, and they stayed on till the morning so I woke up with lovely dolly eyes instead of looking tired or horrible! I can't wait to try the others!

These are the polishes and the liner :) It was lovely to get such a selection, the glitter crackle polishes are going to look so lovely on a night out! I forgot that i tested all of these out on 4 fingers of one hand and spent the whole halloween weekend looking silly with one hand polish free the other with 4 oddball fingers, but hey I can rock it ;). The liner is so glitter pigmented as well so super pleased with that, i've had so many glitter liners that disperse about 3 flecks of sparkle per swipe of the applicator! This one is FULL of bling, perfect :).

I can't begin to tell you my reaction when i opened these shadows! Literally the most beautiful quad I've ever owned in my life, and I looove me some eye shadows so thats quite a statement! The two sparkly shades are beautiful. I also used this quad to wear at my friends 21st party, it got a bit boozy and I forgot to take pictures but I'll do a separate post for it because this was my favourite item from the whole box :)! The pigment is divine and they're so creamy and blend like a dream. Also, the quality if of the little applicators you get are very good! Especially the bottom one, they're totally usable unlike more freebie applicators so what a lovely bonus!.

Look at this amazing lipstick!

Firsly WOW what a hot shade of red! Perfect pillar box shade but it packs a punch, its bright but super wearable, I either love really dull plain dude lips or bright look at me colours so this one definitely suits me! How cool is the light? The idea being I could be on a night out and wouldn't need to even nip to ladies room to touch up, because this also has a mirror on its case! What a fab nifty little beauty gadget!

Also this being from the New ID range, I actually had my photos taken at one of their studios for my 18th birthday, they hadn't developed all of these products at the time though so wow they have come a long way!.

Lastly, and I love this, is the volumising dry shampoo. This has to be I think one of if not the best dry shampoo I've ever had, and I have tried just about all of them. It smells nice, doesn't leave your hair feeling dull or powdery, and darn right it gives you lots of volume, I love it!.

Thank you SO so much carmine, this was a lovely prize box and I'm more than happy with absolutely everything :).

A quick little bit about hallowen last night (well for me because heck i'm not going out on a monday!), I had to do a friends make-up, which in turn made me a bit late getting ready for the party and night out, I lost my fake blood (so to save time turning my room upside town looking I made my own using glycerine, food colouring and flour), had no time do to prosthetics, and was basically in a big ol massive rush! I opted to be a zombie bunny girl, but sadly someone at the party stole my ears before I even got into town so I ended up being a plain ol zombie! I'm a pretty gutted i didn't have time to do everything I wanted with the costume and make-up, but I managed to whip up something half decent up! Here's a couple of snaps! 

Gutted that you can't see the lashes very well in the photos, I had big glittery spiderweb lashes that I got for a bargain £1.50 from clintons, they looked fab!

Hope you've all had an amazing weekend and are enjoying the halloween spirit, have you done anything  nice? Let me know! And once again thank you so much carmine for the fabulous competition and my amazzzzzing prizes! :D

Please check them out, I honestly think they are the best beauty box out there, I'm not just saying that either, the company reply to your facebook comments and tweets, read and thank your reviews, their blog and website is fantastic and they really are connecting well with their customers, well done carmine!

Gemma -x

I won! Carmine's Halloween competition!

Ahhh wow, this is an odd feeling! I haven't won anything since I was about 10!
Not sure how many of you know, but carmine the latest beautybox company of whom I am a bit in love with, see my post here, recently had a competition (that ended yesterday) which involved sending in a photo of a halloween look you have done, the one with the most votes or 'likes' on facebook won, and I was the winner eeee! With over 300 likes, so thank you to everyone who liked my photo!

Carmine had informed me that they have sent my prize so I cannot wait to receive it! Its a box of goodies worth over £70 including ardell lashes, New CID Cosmetics charles worthington and 2true. I can't wait to see whats inside. Blogpost later to come when I get it :)
Just want to say how happy I am and also well done to all the other submissions, there were some fantastic photos!

Carmine have put up a halloween blogpost of which I am featured in so go and take a look at that by clicking here :)
My halloween starts tomorrow, I have a 21st birthday tomorrow and a halloween party/night out on saturday SO excited! What are you doing for halloween, any fancy look your creating?

Carmine halloween competition

So last night I was fiddling around with some halloween make-up ideas and came up with a look that was pretty versatile and I used it as a zombie maid/zombie bunny girl.
Today I saw that carmine, the beauty box I recently raved about was doing halloween look competition so I entered :).

I would be super grateful if any of you would like to vote for my entry, thank you :)

 Click this link to vote http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=185914358155218&set=a.184313031648684.47760.146641685415819&type=3&theater

Early christmas shopping...for myself....

I was a bit naughty today, I initially took a wander into town to get a new charger for my macbook. It officially popped last night and wouldn't charge anymore :(. Annoyingly I had to pay £50 for a newone which could of gone on either towards a tattoo or got me a new dress or something, so boo to that however I couldn't bare having to use our windows computer its silly slow!

So the point of this post really, well last week I saw a beautiful blouse in newlook that I wanted, but being a bit of a skint flint lately I resisted.
I went back today tried it on, fell in love, rang mother dearest in the changing rooms asking her if I bought it she would kindly give me the money for it and store it away for christmas, which she agreed to.
I can't find this anywhere on newlooks website by the way, you'll have to hunt your stores but I think its new stock and its £16.99.

                          The only sad thing is waiting to christmas to be able to wear this beaut!.

This is very reminiscent of last year when I fell in love with this beaut of a jumper (i've just google image searched it and it came up with llymlrs blog, therefore i must have taste if she has it!) i begged and begged for it for xmas since I loved it and couldn't afford its £50 price tag and thanks to my granny i was a very happy girl opening it on christmas!

 On a very very sad note, on a recent trip to newcastle I left this jumper at costa, annoyingly saw it sat there as I departed on the train home, and lost property haven't picked it up so it was probably thieved, could have almost cried that was such a major staple in my wardrobe. So i'm currently bidding on a few on ebay haha! I cannot be without that jumper, its my love! I also lost my favourite laddered cardigan from republic, that i wore with everything, what is it with me losing my best knitwear!.

I can easily see this blouse being a staple in my wardrobe. I'll pair it with leggings, tucked into shorts, it will look FAB with my faux leather skirt, eeee can't wait!. Heres to hoping I don't lose it ;).
Gemma -x

The Japanese have both the craziest and most amazing ideas...

I have to give credit to lipstick and peals blog for this. As I found out this product via her post.
I love her blog, she combines beauty and brains as she's a biomedical science student as well as a brilliant blogger, her posts are not only helpful but really interesting and informative such as her post on ingredients in fake tan and how it can be damaging to you skin if you don't take care of it.

Click here for her blog


Now let me say, my 2 biggest cravings in life are cosmetics and cakes.
And the japanese how somehow created some kind of gourmet syrup that doubles as a lipgloss!
Ermmm yes please!.

http://www.ameyaeitaro.com/ < that is the website that makes them, now I don't know about you guys, but my Japanese isn't all that great... so I can't understand a thing on there.
But basically these little tubes of goodness contain different sweet flavours and can be added to tea/coffee, spread on toast, basically added to any confectionary you wish.

I only hope they bring this to the UK.

Hope you found this fun and interesting!
Gemma -x

Carmine Beauty Box Review

With all these new monthly beautybox storming the internet lately, whats a girl to do? 

I for one love a surprise, love getting parcels, and love cosmetics, so I think these companies are clearly doing something right.

I've been subscribed to glossybox from the very beginning and would never stray since I love them so much, but with so many new companies on the scene offering us deals, I felt the need to test the water and with several bloggers offering a 50% discount code off your first 'Carmine' box which made this only £5 plus p&p, I couldn't say no!

How cute is my nosey little kitty by the way, this is TJ, we named her after TJ from recess because from the moment we got her as a kitten she was always very mischievous and a bit naughty but nobody can help but fall in love with her. She's a very social miss so your bound to see her in other photo's. Our other kitty, Pixie, is a little more shy but I'm sure he'll pop in a photo to say hello sometime :).

Back to the review, now I was hoping to receive a brand new second box as I'd already seen the first one by a handful of bloggers. However I certainly wasn't disappointed when I got box number one as the standard of it was so high thats what made me buy into the hype! I shall definitely keep my subscription and see what their second box has to offer :)

First up is Daniel Sandlers eye delight in peach, this is a loose eyeshaddow that retails at £10.25. This is such a beautiful shade I love peachy colours. I'll use mine with a wash of water on my brush because this shaddow has beautiful luminosity and using it wet is going to enhance its properties. I also think used sparingly this will make a fabulous blush colour! I'll inform you when I try it.

Next product is Balance Me's super moisturising hand cream, it retails at £14.40 for 100 ml and my sample is a generous 30ml, in my opinion thats about the right size for a hand cream anyway, I don't want to be lugging anything bigger than this around in my bag. This has apparently won several awards. I can see why, its thick, creamy it sinks in quickly, its not oily and it has a beautiful aromatherapy scent! It states that its 98.8% organic to, which is always a nice bonus :).

 Here we have Trind nail repair in 'natural', it retails for £12.95. I haven't tried it yet but as soon as I do i'll let you know the result. I'm usually bored by nail repair varnishes, I hope this one can excite me, it looks rather promising anyway.

This was one of the products that really excited me, I love the balm, I bought a tinted moisturiser from the brand when I was in newyork and its amazing, fell in love. I also love the adorable vintage pin-up style packaging, the only thing that lets it down is that is card! Can get dirty and dented so easily. The retails for £16 so pretty amazing that it came in the box!.

Finally we have Caudalie quenching sorbet creme. This retails at £20 for 40ml and the sample I have is a nice 10ml, a pretty generous sample as its a whole 25% of the full sized one. Now I love face creams so I cannot wait to try this out in my routine, I'll report back and let you know what I think, I have high hopes for this one!

So that concludes the review really, a few things i might add though, comparing to glossybox I think they are about on par, a few plus point to carmine though, their website is great, they already have a beauty profile, this is something that glossybox are STILL working on. I received no iddy biddy perfume samples, no saches, the qaulity of product was excellent and the sizes of the samples were very generous, not ti mention 3 of the 5 products sent were full sized! This is brilliant and I shall definitely stay subscribed to carmine, I have high expectations for them and hope they can products such a good box again next month! The only thing I could mark it down on ever so slightly compared to glossybox is presentation, both very similar but i do prefer how how glossy box is packaged.

This has inspired me to go on a hunt and try out some other month beauty box companies, so be sure to look out for that!

Just one last photo of TJ trying to have a read, haha bless her :)

Let me know your thoughts, have you subscribed to Carmine? Do you think you'll give it a try now you've seen some of what it can offer and do you think this could rival glossy box? 

Personally I think glossybox will always stay on top however if its competitors like this pull their fingers out it could have strong competition and may need to start upping their game!

Gemma -x

Mac strobe cream dupe for £1.49!

Last night I was working on a shoot in cambridge, it was great, the hairdresser, model and photographer were all fantastic and we got some beautiful photos which I can't wait to show you!.

Its on shoots like this that I fall in love with my beloved Mac strobe cream over and over again, it just gives the most beautiful glow under the lights and camera, therefor making it a vital part of my kit on almost all shoots.

Now while rummaging in my kit I found a product that I've recently neglected since my love for strobe cream, yet it pretty much does the exact same thing at a very small fraction of the cost!.

(Now, if you reading this I'm quite sure you'll understand what this cream does, but incase your unsure, its essentially a moisturiser with light reflecting properties and makes the skin glow and gleam and is excellent for for photography and a staple in most pro's kits.)

I purchased superdrugs Illuminating moisture cream around a year ago after seeing how well it got reviewed compared to some high end creams in a magazine. This stuff is honestly fantastic, especially for the price. 

The only slight difference being strobe cream is very marginally thicker in consistency, the colouring varies very slightly as well.

As you can see below, swatched on my hand, strobe cream (left) is more of a pearly pinkish white whereas superdrug's (right) looks like more of a creamy colour. However when blended out they are barely detectable from eachother.

Here I have them blended in on my hand, again strobe cream on the left superdrug's cream on the right.

The very subtle difference being that strobe cream has more of a pearly shine with subtle pink reflects whereas superdrug's has as more subtle golden glow, but essentially do the same thing! Mac are just slightly more clever with how they market it and with all the pro's constantly raving about it everywhere you look, other similar products that might much out there don't really get noticed, much like this one.

Now heres the even better thing, that I'm sure you'd all been waiting for and seeing from the title. 

The PRICE!

Mac strobe cream, full sized at 50ml comes in at a hefty £21.50! The full sized Superdrug illuminating moisture cream also 50ml costs £1.49! Saving you a grand total of £20.01! Amazing! The strobe cream I've picture is my 30ml travel size that retails for £12.

This couldn't really get any better, and as much as I adore my strobe cream, superdrugs little gem also comes with me on many shoots! Another bonus is that the illuminating moisture cream also contains vitamin E and spf 15.

This glow on this model below was achieved by myself using superdrugs illuminating moisture cream.

Its also worth noting that since I purchased this product their packaging has changed and this is what you need to look for if you want to find this at your local store.

Now to conclude, I'm not saying that this bargain is better than strobe cream, I'll always be loyal to macs fantastic creation, however I can't neglect the fact that superdrugs cream is FANTASTIC very close dupe for it, and if you don't want to break the bank I would definitely recommend it, on both a personal and professional recommendation.

To purchase this bargain online click here
http://www.superdrug.com/moisturiser/superdrug-vitamin-e-radiance-cream-50ml/invt/396397/

Let me know your thoughts on this, have you used either product, have you found superdrugs little gem? If so, do you love it? If you haven't are you going to be rushing out to buy it?

Gloyybox October review

Oooooo look what I awoke to this morning! Thanks mr.postman!
Now I have actually been subscribed to glossybox since seeing the May launch of it broadcasted amongst numerous bloggers and instantly fell in love with the idea, so this is my 5th box. I wish I had started review thing from the beginning however I shall start with octobers edition :).

The theme for this months glossy box is 'Six Pack'. It's the 6th box that Glossybox have produced and they are giving you 6 items!

Now often these box's can be a bit hit and miss but I do feel they have upped the game, as so to speak, of recent. 

The first two products are from Dermalogica, a brand I'm sure many of you have heard of as it is constantly raved out. I've personally never tried anything from this brand however a little disappointed that received items from the Age smart range, I do think glossybox need to improve in the way of sending appropriate products to their customers, since people my age (teens to twenties) are not going to be suited to this type of product. They've given us an exfoliant (fullsised £40.50) and a mask (fullsised (33.00), the sample sizes are 15ml each, 75ml fullsised. I think I shall be passing these on to my mum to try.

Next up is a nail polish from a brand I have never heard of before, Leightin Denny Expert nails. This is a fullsised product and retails at £11. The shade is a beautiful shimmery deep orange with gold reflects and reminds me very much of a beloved barry M colour I own, so I shall definitely be making use of this. I've yet to try any of the products, but I shall give full reviews as soon as I have!

A product that I was very excited to see this stila smudge stick waterproof eyeliner. Again this is a fullsised product and retails at £13. I have swatched this already and its a beautiful olive green with subtle gold sparkles and its SUPER creamy. Again I shall do a full review of this soon. I've heard nothing but good things about stile liners!

The next item is something I know a lot of people sigh at when they receive in their beauty box's, perfume samples. However I was very pleased when I realised glossybox had in fact sent 3 samples as 1 product as opposed to 1 measly little sample that I know everyone gets quite toffee nosed at considering they are paying £10 a month plus p+p.

I'm normally never fussed for the perfume samples however unlike many others I really did love the Plum sample from septembers box. Now these scents are really unlike anything I've ever smelt before. They are each very complex, yet not overpowering like some of those perfumes you have to hold your nose to! All by Robert Piguet of Paris and are available fullsized at harrods for £65 for 50ml.

Now they all have very in-depth scent descriptions of their scents so i'll sum each one up a little more to the point.

Visa smells somewhat like a sweet white wine, with notes of pear, peach, rose, orange flower with a base of vanilla beans and patchouli. 

Calypso is described as bewitching and romantic and I'd have to agree, it's very floral with notes of geranium and manderin, rose, and has a base of patchouli and amber.

Fracas is my favourite, possible not to everyones taste but to me this just smells exactly like the scent of when you smell a fresh bouquet of flowers. Robert says, 'tuberose combines with jasmine, jonquil, gardenia, lily of the vally and iris in a lavish profusion of fragile white flowers.' This one is definitely going to be on my christmas list.

Now last up is the 6th product 'bonus' product i suppose you could call it, again its from dermalogica's age smart range 'sigh' if only the realised us 19/20 year olds don't have wrinkles to look after yet. Oh they also included a dermalogica make-up bag for good measure!

Now at first i turned my nose up at the tiny 1ml sample hidden in the packaging in its much larger bag however not so much when I realised that the fullsized product is only 1.75 ml its self and retails at £22.50, WOW, this little sample is worth about 15 smackers all on its own!!!

Now I may use this product or I may give it to my mum/granny, though I'm sure really sure how anti aging products on young skin can really do much damage, but its really not the best range to be using.

All in all, cudo's to you glossybox, this was quite a good month! I really hope you keep up the standards!

A little P.S, I might be dipping my toes into other monthy boxes to try and review so keep a look out for that!

Let me know your thoughts!

Gemma -x

I've Moved House!

So my theory of writing atleast a couple of blog posts a week totally failed. But I feel I am now up to the job! Its been a mad couple of months, I left my job at the hairdrssers to pursue my love for make-up and for now I am freelance but also hoping to get a part time job in something make-up related to earn some more cash to kickstart things for me. So in the mids of all that I've moved house, it had been planned for ages, still with my family, but the move date kept changing and the buyers kept putting it off leaving us with half a house of boxes and maddness for ages. They then decided to give us like 3 days notice of a move date! We were then still packing boxe's whilst the removal men were in the house taking everything out! I've now been in my new home for over a month and its been crazy, I only just got my wardrobe delivered this week but finally its starting to look less like box city and more like home. I love the house and my new room is slowly starting to take its character, I've gone for a modern retro rock and roll look, LOADS of union jack items, black red and white everywhere, lot of things all british, and lots of pictures and things to go on the walls, including my black and white crowns wall paper and framed vintage elvis picture, guitar mirrors and all things fancy. I will post pictures soon but I just thought I'd post to say I am here, I still read all the blogs on a daily basis and now I'm ready to pursue mine :)
Lots of love.
Gemma -x