Irish Blogger Secret Santa 2013

Back some time in November Aisling from Total Makeup Addict Blog announced on twitter that she was organising a Irish Blogger Secret Santa. I of course jumped at the chance to get involved (any excuse for more shopping). Can I just say before I go on Aisling did an amazing job at organising it all and thank you for letting me been part of it.

I was paired with Lisa from Pink Sugar Sparkles Blog who I sent a little box of presents to which I am told she loved so head over to her blog to see what I gave her.

I found out this evening on twitter that Eimear from Bargain Hunter Byrne Blog had me and she sent me some lovely little gifts from The Body Shop. I was delighted with my gifts especially the lip balm as with this weather my lips just keep drying out.

My gift unfortunatly was left in Dublin and I am now home in Wexford for Christmas and I had not taken photos of the gifts yet. So excuse the stock photo but I did not want to leave this post with no photos.

She gave me this cute little Snowman washball.

And this Lip Balm trio which includes a shea butter, nectarine and coconut flavours.

 

She also gave me a card which had my name on it but I never got a photo of it.

Thanks again to Eimear for my presents.

Be sure to check out all the other Irish Bloggers posts under the Twitter hashtag #irishbloggersSS

Parfois has landed in Dublin City!

Last October I wrote a post entitled Fall In Love With Parfois detailing my love of the shop and my small bag collection for them. Up until now you could only shop Parfois online in Ireland or if you were lucky enough to be heading through Terminal 1 of Dublin Airport you could shop there. So while Christmas shopping last week I literally did a little dance amongst the shoppers when I saw Parfois been constructed beside Wallis on Henry Street just a couple of doors up from the Jervis Centre.

A week later and it was opened! I wish I took a picture of inside so you could see all its beauty but I was too excited and common sense went out the window. I touched every bag walked around the shop twice and literally just savoured in the fact my favourite shop is now readily available to me.

I had to restrain myself from purchasing the whole shop and because I was still not finished Christmas shopping I could make no new bag purchase :-(. I did though purchase some new earrings which I fell in love with instantly.

 

These gorgeous blue grey toned drop earrings, which just scream chic to me and at €7.99 they were a total bargain.

* Since writing this post the boy and I had our mini Christmas due to me working all this week and heading home to the parents house for Christmas. He did very well with my hints and I am now an owner of a new Parfois bag which I will reveal after Christmas.

INGLOT GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Last week my blog turned 2,  in these last two years I have moved house 5 times moved country twice and two counties, dyed my hair 8 times, had 6 different jobs amongst everything else.

Through it all my blog has been there every step of the way, 168 posts later and more views and readers I could have ever imagined. I have blogged about lipsticks to skincare, clothes to single life, Ive gained more from blogging then I ever could have imagined and its opened so many doors for me. I have become apart of a community that has grown massively in the last two years but is still as supportive as the first day I entered into it. I have met some amazing fellow bloggers and some I am glad to be able to say are now my friends.

So to celebrate on turning two I wanted to hold a giveaway as I have not done one in over a year. Last week I headed into Inglot on South Anne Street and picked up a two pan palette that I thought would compliment the festive season ahead.

I chose Inglot Eyeshadow in 25 and New eyeshadow in 613.

Entry is through the Rafflecopter widget below, just do not forget to comment with your GFC or Bloglovin name and email.

Good Luck

xxxx

T&C

1. Competition is open internationally and p&p is paid by me
2. All entries will be checked
3. Competion is open from today(27/11/2013) to 13/12/2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kiehl's Christmas Collaboration with Haze and Christmas Gift Offerings

Last week I was invited along to the Kielh's Wonder of Giving Event. After the success of previous years collaboration with various celebrated artists, Kiehl's announced their fifth annual Holiday Collection with New York based artist Eric Haze. Haze has designed various artwork for The Beastie Boys and MTV, also his work with brands such as Nike and other Designers. 

These Christmas Collaborations are not only pretty but also raise funds for various children's charities world wide, with Ireland's been Temple Street Hospital. Since 2010 Kiehl's has raised $800,000.

One of my favourite body moisturisers, it's super hydrating, has a beautiful smell and leaves skin feeling silky smooth. 250ml rrp €31 and 500ml rrp €52

A light textured daily hydrating cream. Leaves skin supple by continuing to replenish skins moisture loss throughout the day by drawing moisture from the air. 50ml rrp €28

A variation on my favourite Creme de Corps classic Formula, this scented Body Butter with Soy Milk and honey, instantly penetrates the skin on application to help restore, protect and soften skin, leaving a delicate scent. 226g rrp €42

Kiehl's is also offering customers the option of customising their own gift sets. Here are a few that were made up at the event, as you can see they can cater for all budgets and skin types and ages.

Photography is my own or provided by Thierney-Crowe.

Pearlys Express Teeth Whitening At Harveys Nichols Dundrum

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the lovely people at Pearlys Teeth Whitening in Harvey Nicholas asking would I like to come and avail of their express teeth whitening service. I jumped at the chance as I love having white teeth and with work I always need to have a smile on my face so having a smile with so shiny white teeth makes smiling all the better.

I had whitened my own teeth 3 years prior with a at home kit which had held very well, but I do brush twice daily I have recently given up coffee, I do not smoke and drink anything I can with a straw to save my teeth.

Pearlys is not much different then home whitening except from the beautiful red goggles! Also unlike other teeth whitening Pearlys does not contain peroxide which is a big plus for me as it can cause sensitivity in teeth and make the teeth weaker.

The treatment took literally 30 minutes from consultation to prep to whitening process, I was sat down and explained what would happen and also compared my teeth to the vita shade guide. My teeth were pretty high up the white guide so it was just about getting them whiter instead of removing staining.

I was first given the powder prep which involved me wearing a little finger glove, the consultant placing powder on it and me scrubbing all around my teeth. Following this I placed the trays already containing the gel on my top and bottom teeth, putting on my safety glasses and manoeuvring the L.E.D light to my teeth area. The timer sets to 20 minutes and switches off when finished.

During this time I was told of all the products Pearlys had to offering including travelling electric toothbrush, compact mirror, floss, toothpaste and a home whitening kit. The time flew by very quick and the process was soon over. I was given a paper bag where I could put my whitening trays and a glass of water to wash the residue of the gel off my teeth.

I was very impressed with the treatment my teeth came up very well and white and for such an express treatment 3 weeks on my teeth are still looking sparkling.

I was given a little goodie bag when I left which contained their teeth whitening pen which I use once a week to maintain my white teeth, their electric toothbrush and floss.

Their 20 minute treatment cost €97 or you can avail of a double express treatment for €155.

Exclusive to Harvey Nichols Dundrum

Home Whitening Kit

If you would rather choose the home whitening kit the counter consultant will show you how to take a simple impression of your teeth. You can choose to buy the home kit also after your express treatment to continue the whitening process at home.

Home kits retail at €185 but if purchasing after your express treatment you can avail of it at €125. 

Product Review Custom On It.com Bar Blades

 

A few months back I was contacted by the lovely Paul, he had seen through twitter that I was a bartender as well as a blogger. He asked if I would be interested in trying out some of their bartender merchandise. 

I jumped at the chance and was delighted to be able to design my own bar blade. For you none bartenders a bar blade or speed openers as it's referred to in other countries is a slim piece of metal with a finger hole on one end and a bottle opener on the other end.

I first started using bar blades about two years ago and have never looked back they are much easier to use and you can do tricks with them. Mine never leaves my back pocket in work or my bag any other time as you never know when your bartender skills will be needed.

 

For my design I knew I wanted something girly, mainly because I knew the boys in work would not steel it. The quotation took some thinking about but then I remembered that my friend Saskia calls me this when ever we meet people mainly because my "attitude"  and skills behind the bar. 

Custom On It was kind enough to not only design me one but two bar blades both as a pretty as each other and girly as ever.

 

I have been testing them out over the past few weeks in work to see how the paint holds up on them as I have bought previous ones for friends on ebay that after one shift in work where you can open 100+ bottles  a night the paint had chipped off it all over the blade. But these Custom On It blades have not even chipped apart from small scrapes around the opening section where you expect it from jagged edge of bottle caps. My colleagues have all commented on how striking and well made they are  and my regular customers think they suit me down to the ground.

Overall I am delighted with my bar blades.

About Custom On It

Custom On It was founded in 2007 by Paul Serra and Adam Topping from originally just designing sweatbands and wristbands they have now grown to designing t-shirts to toys, drink ware to folders. Anything that can be printed on they print on it. 

They have minimum orders on all products which varies with each product they also offer free shipping on all orders. My bar blades took about 12 days to arrive. Need any help with your orders they provide a great customer service and are always swift in answering any questions you have.

Website: http://www.customonit.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/customonit/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CustomOnIt

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/custom-on-it

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Customonit/posts

Penneys Exfoliating Foot Mask

I have never been a big fan of feet, like who is? Well a part from foot fetish people but lets not go there!  I work on my feet there is no sitting down in my profession and no matter how good my shoes are or if I have socks on I will always end up with wet feet. I am constantly walking in puddles the glass washer is leaking sinks are over flowing, you would be surprised I had to teach a few lads in my job how to fix a u-bend before in work.

With my feet constantly been "attacked" it's no wonder the skin can get hard and they just turn nasty  and I would not even take my socks off for nobody not even if Tom Hardy was asking me to.

So I had heard about these Foot Mask from Penneys from Twitter, bloggers had been chatting about them for months some absolutely loving them, some loathing them aka Dani from Glamournazi.com. The disgust some people have for them is nothing to do with the mask itself which is very easy and pleasant to use it's what happens 5 days later...

Before I get into the "changes" that happen to your feet I will just give you a quick low down of the process/application, because it's all very easy. 

1. You cut open the open top of packet be careful as you do not want to cut the socks.

2. You take out the folded socks as seen above and unfold them and cut along the scissor line

3. Place the socks on your feet for 1 hour - 90 minutes

4. Sit back blog/watch the soaps / file your nails etc...

5. Take socks off, wash feet and throw socks in the bin.

Easy Peasy! 

The fun part/ or gruesome how ever you view it, these masks do not work straight away, they can up to five days till you start seeing the results and then another 4 days to complete the process. I eagerly waited checking my feet everyday to see any hint of changes even at the fourth day I was like these do not work at all my feet are still same ugly hooves they always was. Then while I slept that night and woke the next morning the "Process" had begun.

"The Process"

I would love to vividly go into this pictures and all but I would like people to come back an read my blog so I will keep it short and straight to the point. Your skin just starts peeling off your feet like a snake sheds it skin, or you get sun-burnt and start peeling, except its much thicker as your sole of your feet are much thicker. It can take anywhere up to four days for your whole two feet to fully peel. Honestly I would say if you have a boyfriends I would definatly not let them near your feet during the process. It just it's not the prettiest. 

The Result

You are left with silky smooth feet that happily let Robin Thicke sing into as he did in The Blurred Lines video.

These retail at €4.50 in Penneys/Primark stores, they may not be easily available because they always sell out but I found mine in the Artane Penneys.

Things That Ain't Working For Me #3: Surya Brasil Swedish Blonde

Part three of my mini blog series and today I am bringing you another hair product. I was given this box of henna powder at a blogger event over the summer, it was when I had my balyage hair so I chose the Swedish blonde.

Never had I tried henna powder or cream before, I do remember it growing up my mam using it to dye her hair black when she was trying to avoid using drugstore products and all I could remember is the smell which honestly was not that pleasant.

A bit apprehensive about lashing it on all over I decided to do a strand test. I took a strand from the underneath and followed the instructions.

Unfortunately the end result was not pretty. I had no expectations, sure my hair was bleached and I doubted it would be able to change hair that had been died with peroxide, but on the box it has a color chart that contains a bleached hair color and the results showed a strawberry blonde color ( note the picture on the Brasil Website shows more of a copper). Well I got neither copper nor strawberry blonde, I got green!

Thankfully it was just a strand test and it was from the underneath of my hair and it washed out within two weeks.

Now this is not to say the whole range is bad or product I have seen other bloggers such as Sarah from Adoreabubbles get beautiful results from other colors and at the recent bloggers event held by Aisling from Total Makeup Addict  I met the lovely Catherine Mulcahy who came talk to us about Surya Brasil and how it all started and what other products they have. They have products for not only hair but for face and body as well and products that I would be interested in trying. Aoife from A Little Infinity won a Surya Brasil hamper in the raffle and the smell from some of the products was to dye for, I am really looking forward to reading some of her reviews on the brand.

Oriflame Color Drop Lipstick- Glossy Berry

Oriflame newest lipstick offering Color Drop Lipstick. 

Here's what Oriflame have to say,

"Get endless perfection, intense color and high shine gloss from the first application to the last drop with the world's first lipstick to follow the curves of a women's lips. With Dew Drop Complex for intense moisture and comfort."

I ordered the color Glossy Berry as I thought it be a great color for autumn/winter season. I liked the idea of the drop shape as when lipstick get used a lot they lose their shape and you can never get a perfect application without the use of lip brush. So the fact that this lipstick will never lose its shape is a real plus for me.

Honestly I was expecting more color, the color on one application is very sheer but is buildable with a few applications. It is very moisturising so great for winter dried lips. The finish is glossy so you get a nice shine aswell as a lick of color.

The range offers a selection of 8 colors from nudes to pink and reds to brown. They retail at €12.45 but are on a special launch price of €8.25.

Oriflame is available from consultants worldwide and you can find your nearest consultant on the oriflame website. 

* I am an oriflame consultant but all my opinions are my own and products have been purchased with my own money.

Inglot Nail Enamel in #21

As you all know I am not  a major nail person. I have stubby little fingers which means I have stubby little nail, that never grow longer then the tops of my fingers. Also I am a culprit for chipped nail varnish that I leave for days at an end on my nails.Sometimes I do like painting my nails, even if I do make a mess of it and it goes all over my fingers, from afar they look exceptional!

I have never owned a red nail varnish, never ever! So when I received this little beauty in my goody bag from the south Anne street opening I was thrilled.

The polish itself looks very watery and I was afraid I would have to apply a good few coats. However to my surprise 2 was enough and I got some beautiful shiny red nails. 

Longevity wise I got about 3 days wear out of it before any major chips appeared.

Inglot nail polishes retail at €10.

Things That Ain't Working For Me! #2

Part Two of my new mini blog series and I hope you are enjoying it so far.

From the picture some of you will know what this is if you follow me on Twitter, if you do not this is the front of my phone case. What is wrong with my cute adorable bunny phone case you ask nothing! It is the device i.e my phone that sits in it that is the problem.

Back in March on my birthday I dropped my beloved Nokia E71 in a bucket of water, it had served me well for 3 years and it was time to move on to more technology. I decided to go for a Samsung Galaxy Ace  GT S7500. A lot cheaper then the Samsung Galaxy S3 out at the time and could do everything I needed it for i.e pictures, twitter, instagram, blogger, youtube etc...

Forking out for anything above 100 euro to me is a big decision and not one I take lightly, so forking out 200 euro is huge!

Everything was going wellish sometimes I experienced some freezing but its a computer and all computers freeze now and again. The phone even did me for my netflix while my iPad was out of action.  So when it went dead while out for dinner last week I thought nothing of it. That was until I had turned it on when I got home to find my scroll down notifications bar had vanished along with my pictures and sd card unreadable. I thought at first it will be grand I will turn it off for the night let it charge and turn it back on in the morning to normality.

This was not the case, again I turned it on and same as before all items missing and when I was receiving a phone call it was ringing but the screen did not change so I could answer it. Luckily I still had proof of purchase ( my hoarding of receipts has finally paid off!) and Meteor kindly took it back to be sent for repairs.

Unfortunately this meant I was phoneless for 10+ days until my friend Saskia came to the rescue.

Introducing my new iPhone 7!

Ooogle at the technology of Snake in color! They call it Snake Xenzia!

Things That Just Ain't Working For Me! #1

You can not expect everything to work for you right, sometimes they do not suit your skin type or it's the wrong shade for you in makeup and what not. Sometimes products Really Do Not Work and they are just absolutely awful!

So here is a new mini series on the blog a few products I have been trying out lately that are just awful. I will post one each week or so. 

Viviscal Gentle Shampoo and Moisturising Conditioner, I had received these in a goody bag at a blogger meetup and had high hopes for them but they did not live up to my standards at all. First of all the shampoo, it took at least three big squirts of it in my hair before I got anything resembling a lather/foam, I found it hard to spread around my head and after washing it out I never truly felt my hair was clean.

I tried to capture the little plastic bits but it did not work.

The conditioner, oh boy the conditioner! It is horrendous! Again I found it hard to spread and this also contained something I have never experienced before in Hair care. It felt as if it contained tiny bits of plastic in the liquid. I could feel them when I squirted some out into my hand but even when I tried to spread it throughout my hair I could still feel them. At first I thought it was something in the formula that was to dissolve but even when washing out they were still there.

Viviscal do say in their press release that you will experience less of a lather but I barely saw any lather at all. Also on top of this they claim these will condition the hair from root to tip add volume and shine and all round much healthier hair.

All I experienced was greasy hair a day later and lather less shampoo and some really difficult bottles to squeeze with my tiny hands!

Would I pay €11.95 each for 200ml, not a hope!

Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm - Dare I say it my Holy Grail Cleanser!

As you all know I like to give everything a good trial, Items like tans, Hair care, cleansers and so on get a good trial of a month before I will review it on the blog.

This little beauty I have for quiet some time now and have yet to review it on the blog. The reason for this is I believed after using it for month straight that I had found my Holy Grail of cleansers. This is a pretty big thing and not something I just throw around lightly. But this is my number one cleanser!

Now before I get into the review I want to tell you about Merumaya and it's founder Maleka Dattu. On a sunny July morning I was invited to Arnotts for a bloggers breakfast by Lekha who is in charge of PR for Merumaya. As you all know I work nights and mornings are not my thing, but I was intrigued by the brand that I had not heard much about so I popped along at 8:30am. To say I was thrilled to have gotten my bum out of the bed and went would be an understatement I came out of the breakfast with a huge understanding and fondness for the brand Merumaya and also completely inspired by Maleka who in my eyes is a wonder women with juggling a baby and a company that just keeps growing. Also she gave us bacon rolls with ketchup and I am a sucker for bacon!

Maleka has a very impressive CV she has worked for company's Clinque, Origins and Lancôme, in 2006 she was awarded with Cosmetic Executive Women's Achiever of the Year. In 2010 she decided to fulfill her dream and create Merumaya Integrative Effective Skincare. She wanted to create a brand that would not only help prevent skin aging but to also perfect existing signs of against and help skin to perform better for itself while protecting against skin ageing aggressors.

So back to the Melting Cleansing Balm. It is part of a double cleanse process but you double cleanse with the Melting Cleansing Balm, if you have oilier or troublesome skin Maleka does recommend cleansing with this first and then move onto Merumaya Luxury Facial Wash. I have normal to combination skin so I have no need to change. You massage the balm all over your dry face and it begins to break down your makeup. Adding water it turns milky and really gives your face a good clean. Remove with a damp facial cloth or Everyday Cleansing Cloth from Merumaya. And then you repeat.

So what makes this my ultimate favorite cleanser, well there's a few things.

The smell- At first when trying it at the bloggers breakfast I was not a fan, but after using it a few times it has grown on me and whenever I smell it I think of luxury. The smell is the Merumaya Signature Essence Blend which you will find in most but not all of the Merumaya brand.

It's Effortlessness- It is so easy to use! It's one product and it does all the work, there's no harsh scrubbing, it does what it says and melts away your makeup as well as dirt and grime. With the second cleanse you really get down into the skin to really give it a good clean.

It removes my Bomb proof Inglot Gel Liner- No joke a little massage around the eye and it just melts away. Mascara and all, and furthermore it does not sting the eye or make it red. Perfect!

It is affordable - For 100ml it will only set you back €18.50 and is readily available in Arnotts, Arnotts.ie and Merumaya.com.

If you have yet to try out Merumaya you should really give it a whirl.

Blogging wise does this mean I will never try another cleanser, no. I try out new things all the time and even have some different cleanser reviews coming over next month or so, but I know they will be all compared to the Melting Cleansing Balm and so far I have yet to use one even on par let alone better then it.

Gorgeous Hair Salon Artane- New Hair Do!

For a long time I have expressed my displeasure with my balayage which eventually turned into utter detest of it. I juggled with what to do with my hair for a while, I thought about going blonder, I have always said I wanted to go back lilac, but my hair was struggling. It has lost its shine and had become extremly dry on the ends .

I saw a picture of Gianelle Liscio from the show Jerseylicious on Instagram and I instantly fell in love with her her and decided to try go for something similar.

I found  Gorgeous Hair Salon on Facebook and then it turned out my friend Amy gets her hair done on  there as well, which I always love how her hair looks.  So I called them Tuesday and got booked in for Wednesday afternoon.

From the outset the staff were very friendly and attentive , my hairdresser listened to exactly what I wanted and made me feel completely at home. After three hours and two cups of black tea and Milka Chocolate squares ( anywhere the gives you Milka with your tea/coffee gets a plus in my book) my hair had been transformed from dried out Balayage to a gorgeous chocolate brown with a few small highlights of blonde through the underneath mid section.

Just before the Hairdressers

Last night before the Inglot Flagship store event with it curled.

I am beyond happy with my new hair do, the cut and curl is just perfect and I finally have  healthy hair again.

While in the salon I saw an array of hairstyles from color and cuts to upstyles and curly blowdrys which I have to say are some of the best I have seen.

Their prices are extremely reasonable and constantly doing deals, also the salon is only 10 minutes on the bus from town and the 14 stop is only around the corner from the salon.

Gorgeous Hair Salon Price Salon

Blowdry (short, long & curly) €15

Cut and Blowdry €30

GHD or Wand Curls €25

Up styles €30

Colour Bomb (colour refresher) €10

Colour Semi (root-tip) Cut and Blowdry €50

Colour (roots) Cut and Blowdry €50

Colour (root-tip) Cut and blowdry €65

Colour, Tbar hi-lites Cut and blowdry €65

Easi Meche Tbar and Blowdry €60

Easi Meche Tbar Cut and Blowdry €70

Easi Meche Half head and Blowdry €70

Easi Meche Half head Cut and Blowdry €80

Easi Meche Fullhead and Blowdry €80

Easi Meche Fullhead Cut and Blowdry €90

Easi Meche per pack €2

Ombré (darker roots) and Blowdry €55

Ombré, Cut and Blowdry €65

Balayage (brighter ends) and Blowdry €55

Balayage, Cut and Blowdry €65

Ombré and Balayage and Blowdry €65

Ombré and Balayage, cut and Blowdry €75

They also do a deal that if you check in on Facebook while in salon you will receive €10 off any service over €50.

You can find Gorgeous Hair Salon on Facebook 

For bookings you can ring them on 018674643

Photos of Gorgeous Hair Salon taken from https://www.facebook.com/ProfessionalMakeoverAndPhotoshoot?fref=ts