Giveaway goodies :)

As mentioned a few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of Sarah's 50 followers giveaway and wanted to share the lovely goodies I received from her starting with....

  

Perfect pink packaging.....



and a sweet note from Sarah....



On to the goodies......

From left to right:

Soap & Glory Mist You Madly  body spray (love love love this scent!)

MUA lipgloss in shade 05

Soap & Glory Hand Food hand cream

17 Crackle Top Coat nail polish

17 Lasting Fix nail polish in Woo Me

Accessorize eyeshadow in Golden Haze

Piz Buin  Summer Sensation gradual self-tan facial moisturising cream

Finally some swatches for your perusal....

A huge thank you to Sarah for all my fab prizes (and especially for giving me my first taste of MUA and Accessorize- I've never tried either brand before but v.v. impressed with both!)

Until next time,

Hauled: Rimmel, Lee Stafford & Boots 17

A few beauty buys that I picked up whilst visiting my mummy last weekend.... 

From left to right:

♥ Lee Stafford Nourishing Miracle Oil. I'm in desperate need of a hair cut so hoping the Argan Oil in this serum will sort out my split ends till I can get an appointment!

♥ Rimmel 25 Hour foundation - I picked this up after seeing loads of great blogger reviews including Nicoletta's here

♥ Rimmel Colour Show Off lipstick in Shocking Pink. I've had my eye on Nars Schiap lippie for a while but couldn't justify the price tag so picked this up instead - its not really a dupe, more a substitute until payday!!

♥ Boots 17 Crackle Top Coat nail polish - I'm late to the crackle party but saw this on the 17 stand and had to give it a whirl.

Swatches to follow...shout if there is anything you'd like to see a more thorough review off!

Until next time,

p.s I'm totting up all my giveaway entries as we speak and will reveal the winners tomorrow evening! :)

**CLOSED** Giveaway time...

Hey everyone...hope you're having a fabulous weekend. I'm going to be MIA for a little while as work are sending me to Copenhagen for a few days. I wasn't that excited until I read that its home to the longest pedestrianised shopping street in Europe :)

I thought I'd fire up my 100 followers giveaway before I go so without further ado here are the bits you could win. (I went a bit nuts shopping for this giveaway so decided to share the giveaway love by splitting it into main and runner up prizes)

Main prize

17 Lasting Finish nail polish in Chaperone (grey), Forever (beige) and Holding Hands (pale duck-egg blue) 

Lush Whoosh shower jelly

Haircare minis (Umberto Giannini Intense Beauty shampoo and conditioner and Lee Stafford Spray Shine)

Tea cup charm necklace, navy spotty headband and navy/white nautical bangle - all from Primark

Benefit Finding Mr Bright face kit

No 7 Exquisite Curl Mascara in Black

17 Mirror Shine lipstick in Belle and Nudist Peach

Runner Up Prize 

No 7 Eye Colour and Eyeshadow Blend and Contour brushes

Lush Ma Bar bubble bar

No7 Define & Shimmer Eye Palette

Pic to show the shades in the palette

How to enter

If you would like to enter please leave a comment on this post with your name, blog link and an email address that I can contact you on should you win :)

The all important rules

You must be a public follower of my blog

The giveaway will end on 3rd April 2011 and is open to international readers

The winners will chosen using random.org

Extra entries are available by:

• Following me on twitter here and sharing a link to the giveaway in a tweet (+1 entry)
• Posting the giveaway in your sidebar (+1 entry)
• Blogging about my giveaway (+2 entries)

Please let me know in your comment which of these you've done so your extra entries can be counted and last but not least....

  

Until next time,

Fab Boots 17 Competition!!!

I was just having a quick peruse of the Boots website and came across a competition they're running where you can win every single item from the 17 make up range!

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is leave a review of any 17 product on the site - every review counts as a separate entry. I'll be popping a review on there for my fave 17 item - their solo eyeshadow in Mardi Gras which for such a low priced shadow its amazingly pigmented and blends like a dream. Its also (in my opinion) a pretty reasonable dupe for Mac's Satin Taupe and I find myself reaching for it all the time.

You can find more details on the competiion here. Every review will also get you an entry into a further prize draw to win a 17 goody bag which will include their Wild Curls Mascara, Fast Finish Nail Polish and Sheer Moisture Foundation and more.

Good luck if you decide to enter!

Until next time,

Reviewed: Boots 17 Photo Flawless Lashes Mascara in Black/Copper

What they say

"These fabulous mascaras have a clever curved wand that will give your lashes a long-lasting lift and voluptuous volume from day to night. They are smudge-proof and promise to leave you saying good-bye to panda eyes. Each mascara contains a carbon black shade mixed with a twist of pearlescent colour. 

By accentuating your natural eye colour, you’ll never feel the need to hide from the camera again. Thanks to the angled brush of this mascara it creates the most dramatic effect by lifting and curling the lashes. The best thing about this mascara is the intense pigment in the formula that accentuates the colour of your iris, brightening your eyes making them bigger and your lashes full of life."

What I say

Packaging
This mascara comes packaged in quite a unique shaped black plastic tube with gold lettering - I love the film reel detail.

Product
The Photo Flawless mascara is available in 3 colour-ways Black/Blue, Black/Green, Black/Copper for blue, green and brown eyes respectively! You can (hopefully) see the slight pearlescent shimmer on the brush in the picture below. 

The mascara features a medium sized, curved bristle brush and a middle of the road formula which is neither overly wet or dry. I do prefer a wetter formula but its not unworkable.

Results
As the pics show it took 3 coats to get a look that I was reasonably happy with (probably owing to the medium consistency). There was definitely some decent length but volume was in my view lacking. Also worth noting that this mascara lived up to the claim of being smudge proof during the day but its in no way water resistant.

Bare eye

One coat..

Two coats...

Three coats...

The copper shimmer isn't visible once on - but the key selling point is that the the mascara accentuates your natural eye colour so here is the bare eye/3-coat pics side by side.  To ensure impartiality I asked the boyf to look and see if he could point out any differences. His first comment was 'your lashes are different' (bless!) but he did also go on to add that my iris in the right hand pic is ever so slightly brighter so the mascara appears to have made a little difference :)

Price £5.99 from good old Boots

Would I repurchase? I love the brightening effect but for me the formula doesn't give enough volume for this to become my new fave - three coats is just too much hassle!

Would I recommend? This will be a great mascara for a natural look with a eye-brightening twist so if that's your aim, you could do a lot worse.

Until next time,