21st Birthday Pressies! :D

Hello ladies
Well today is my 21st Birthday as many of you who follow me on Twitter already know by now!
What can I say.. I am sooooo lucky to have such fab people to spend my big day with. I have recieved some AMAZING gifts, I cant believe it im so happy with them all.
I have recieved an absolutely gorgeous Louis Vuitton Scarf and Tiffany & Co pendant with todays date engraved on the back (I really cant thanks you guys enough, I love them!xx).
From my boyfriend Gaz, I recieved a silver and gold Michael Kors watch with a beautiful mother of pearl face. Oh and for those of you who read my Tweets last Saturday about how stressed my boyfriend was choosing my gift. This was all just a big ploy, cleverly thought up to throw my off the watch trail! (Damn I got kicks out of the fact he was sweating over it ;)lol).

Gaz also chose me a DKNY purse, which I have to say Kelly did a great job at noting that there was 'spare change' left over from the watch. So being a bloody good friend as she is she lets say, gave him a gentle nudge towards Selfridges lol (You know how the shit goes down KP lol).

My mum bought me a Tiffany & Co Key pendant necklace which again is fab. My mums manfriend (Note:- too old to be a boyfriend!) bought me a silver bracelet. I also got the 21st birthday key and keep sakes.

The plans for the rest of the day are firstly to make the most out of doing absolutely nothing but pampering myself and resting. Later on this evening all my family and close friends are going out for a meal and few drinks (Few?! who the hell am i trying to kid because it certainly isnt working on myself!
Hope you all like my pressies as much as I do!.

Thankyou to all of your who have sent birthday messages to me :D
Im sure there will be lots of candids to update you all with after tonights events.
So thats It for now, I am one happy gal ;)

xxxx

Manchester Illamasqua Event

(Please!! No more photos lol)


(Top Right:- A work of art in the making)


(Top Left: Mmmm Cocktails :D )


( A little snap of Ithaca, the photo really doesnt do it justice may I add!)



(The lovely Jen AKA MissWorthy and Alex Box after the make over!)




(Strike a pose)

Hey guys

I was lucky enough to attend my very first Blogger Event, which was Illamasqua. It was really great to finally get the opportunity to meet and talk to all you lovely ladies in person!

The event was held at the very luxurious Ithaca, which specialises in Asian fine dining. The event took place upstairs in the exclusive lounge bar, I don't think that Illamasqua could have possibly chosen a more fitting venue. It really felt as though Ithaca had been designed with Illamasqua in mind!
The decor was all a magnificent glossy black, with glass chandeliers hanging from the ceilings.

We were all given an odd looking cocktail on arrival, which was pinky red in colour with a black layer across the top! I really had no clue what the hell I was drinking and to be honest wasn't that keen. However after the third I decided that I quite liked the taste (thanks guys ;)). I then discovered that the bar was a free! Yes free, I felt like a kid in a candy shop at this point.

Eventually after a bit of ice breaking chit chat we all started to have a play with the new Illamasqua range named Dystopia. This range is described as 'Makeup for your alter ego'. Now I must admit that I personally have never tried any of the Illamasqua product range at all. Quite honestly I have never really understood the brand before, and thought it was all a little too out of my comfort zone.

I am pleased to say that after a fantastic speech by the highly influential makeup artist Alex Box. I now have a better idea about what Illamasqua are all about. The concept is to develop makeup that is different and alternative to the norm. The new makeup range Dystopia has been designed to be the opposite to Utopia and is described by Illamasqa as:

'A strong statement of defiant confidence. Where monochrome shades build and blend, brought alive by flashes of intense pink and lurid purple, while dazzling pigments, metallic textures and iridescent finishes all add to the drama of this strikingly uncompromising look'.

After swatching a few of the products I found that the majority was actually very wearable. Even the more bold colours when worn in the right way were really nice.
I was given a mini make over by one of the make up artists at the event.
Now Initially I cannot lie that I was really quite panic stricken by this! I really believed that I was going to end up looking like a charactor from The Rocky Horror Show. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that I quite liked the smokey eye look on myself. Now I cant speak for everyone but for some reason whenever I attempt to create a smokey eye on myself, I some how feel like I have too much makeup on!? :/

I really do think that I will be more inclined to experiment a bit more with eyeshadow from now now on. I have begun to staple myself some what to 'safe' neutral colours which isnt very fun I have to admit.

Another reason why I find myself warming to Illamasqua, is because of the S.O.P.H.I.E Charity which the brand work very closely with. Illamasqua have helped to raise awareness as well as money for the charity over recent years.
We were lucky enough to meet Sophie's mother, Silvia at the event who gave a really heart warming speech about the charity and the progression made towards stamping out hate crime.

I also got chance to watch Alex Box work some of her magic on her model for the evening the lovely MizzWorthy (Jen). The finished look was really fab :)
So flawless that it was almost doll like I would say. Towards the end of the evening we even had the opportunity to speak with Alex. She seemed very keen for us to voice our opinions about the brand and makeup in general. I personally thought this was great, It is nice to voice your own opinions!

Now admittedly I am a complete event novice, therefore I really wasn't at all sure what to expect from Illamasqua. I have to say that it was a little touch and go to start with but overall I had a lovely day! The makeup was surprisingly nice and the food and drink was great too!

As we left we were handed a pink goodie bag to take away with us. Now I was a little puzzled by this because each of us received one product, £20.00,A poster and members card to Ithaca. The downfall to this was that I actually had to return to get my freebie product, because there wasn't one in my bag! :/
I can also speak for a few other people who suffered similar problems.
I must say that It was a little embarrassing returning to retrieve a missing goodie bag item. Due to this fact I think that the goodie bag should have been better oraganised in order to prevent this. Also we all recieved different items so it was a little hit and miss as to whether you would like the product or not :?

Luckily enough though I recieved a grey eyeshadow in shade F2094 (Matter), which is particuly nice may I add so I cannot really complain.
So thats it really I had a great time and I even learnt a thing or too along the way!

Thankyou Jen, Illamasqua and all the gals :D. Hope to See you all soon at Maybelline :D xxx

Never Give Up!

I just thought I would do a short blog post for you all, I appologise for my lack of posts lately, what can I say :/ (*Slaps Hand). I have decided to base this post upon something I think we could all relate to ourselves, in some way.

I saw this poem while I was at work one day and I thought it was brilliant! Almost everyone of us out there has some sort of Goal set for themselves to achieve. This might be to loose weight, kicking a habit of some form, running a marathon....! Either way, We all have a tendency to set these goals relatively high. We also tend to find that when this journey gets a little difficult, or we take an unexpected turn along the path in some way. We find ourselves wanting to GIVE UP!

I am a firm believer in that anything at all that is worth doing in life, is going to take a lot of time and effort in order to get there and achieve it.
Sometimes all we need to get back on track is a little motivation from those who matter most. Along with a subtle nudge towards the right direction, In order to get us back on track again :)

Now we all know that in theory this idea is wonderful. In practise however this is some what different. It would be great if we had someone to motivate us all the time, but in the real world this is unlikely to be the case.

When I read this poem I found it made perfect sense to me, and I think you can apply it to any situation. Just remember one day you will be where you want to be in life. Not only this but the more difficult it was for you to reach this point, the better you will feel! :)

The key to this achievement is never to Give up! No matter how far away you feel you are from achieving your goal. No matter how much crap falls in your path, Remember it is there to test you. You will succeed and reach your very own happy place, so long as you do NOT give in!!! :)

You heard me Kel ;) xx

Second Hand plan!

(How cute!?)


(One word...Bargain!)

Okay so before my recent holiday to Cyprus my fantastic friend Kelly suggested to me that we should begin to browse our local charity shops in search of a bargain! Now this idea immediately aroused the inner bargain hunter within me, and as sad is it seems was even a topic of discussion during our on holiday!

On Saturday just passed I had a spare half an hour in town before I was to meet my mum. I spotted a British Heart Foundation Charity Shop close by, so decided I would take this time to go and peruse the isles and see what was available.

I was amazed to see just how many bargains there really are out there, and all at such low prices. As the Grinch (One of mine and kels faves shame its a Christmas film lol) once said 'one man's junk is another mans pot pourri' lol and this was certainly the case!

I managed to find a T shirt style top which originally was from Zara, but cost me only £2.80 which is only a snip of what the full retail price would have been. You can see from the pictures above, just how super cute this top is. As you can imagine I was over the moon with this purchase! So a big THANK YOU KELLY! (KELANJO19)your a star!! :) xx

Loving 'Hot Looks'!

(After application: Ok so I couldnt decide between both colours so in the end I chose both! )
(3 Days later and only 1 major chip! cant be bad!

I recently purchased 2 nail vanishes from the Collection 2000 Hot Looks collection, another impulse purchase may I add! :/. I had to limit myself to only 2 shades, all thanks to being the proud owner of a low bank balance :(
The colours I chose were a lovely creamy lilac colour named Dynasty and a really light turquoise shade called Button Moon.

This range polishes have begun to cause quite a stir within the beauty blogger community because of the fantastic selection of colours. I would describe these polishes to be, 'just that little bit different'.

There have been mixed reviews on to the durability and application of these polishes so I wanted to give my opinion on this.

I found that the consistency of the polish was quite thick,therefore not a lot of product was needed to achieve a good solid colour.

As for the durability of the product after 3 days only one chip was visible on my thumb nail. This I thought was fantastic considering I have a cleaning job in the evening which means my hands are in water and cleaning products the duration of the night.

I have included some picture above of what my nails looked like after application and then what they looked like 3 days later.

I highly recommend these polishes as they are gorgeous all round, they also cost under £2.00 so are a real bargain :)

Sleek Cosmetics, Eyeshadow Palette

(Sleek palette Packaging)


(Outer shell)


(Sleek, Divine eyeshadow Palette, shade storm)


(Neutral shadows,top row of palette)


(smokey shadows,bottom row of palette)

Hiya Guys

Today I went shopping in Meadow Hall in order to buy my holiday clothes :D (4 weeks to go and then Cyprus here I come, eeeek :oD). Of course I accidentally on purposely ended up having a so called 'browse' in Superdrug (Yeah right ). This is where I discovered a whole new make up range called 'Sleek', that I some how haven't seen before today!

The variety of makeup available within this brand was quite vast and the prices were very affordable. I think the most expensive product was still under £10 which is fantastic, given the fact that majority of us gals are currently undergoing a Spending Diet :/

I decided to allow myself to purchase just one Item from the store (thats self disapline for you!), so my selection had to be a worthy one! In the end I selected a Divine mineral based eyeshadow palette in shade 'Storm'. There were 3 other palettes available but I opted for this one, as it consists of both neutral and smokey colours, which personally I Love with a capital L!

The shades are quite shimmery, but just the right amount in my opinion. In the past I have opted for Matt colours, as shimmers generally end up all over my face!? (We have all been there I'm sure lol). When I swatched the shadows when I returned home I was really surprised at how nicely pigmented the shades are. This is I think is mainly due to the soft mineral texture of the product which is all the range at the moment. The palette was an absolute bargain, costing just £4.87 would you believe! There are 12 shadows within the palette, a double ended sponge applicator and last but not least a large mirror. Now, I'm sorry but if that is not an absolute bargain, Then I really don't know what is :)

I have included some pictures above of the outer packaging, the palette itself and also some swatches of the shades included within the palette. I really think I will be making a return trip to Superdrug very soon, to buy some more product from this range.
I would be really interested to here if any of you guys have already tried these products or not, if so I would be really interested to here your view :)

Schwarzkopf Professional: Essensity, Natural Performance, Air Fix Pump Spray Review :)

Above:Essensity Air Fix Pump Spray


Above: Hair after styling in the morning


Above: The quiff in full force


Above:Hair still going strong 10 hours later!


I was recently given the opportunity to sample a new and exciting hair product developed by Schwarzkopf professional. The product is called Essensity Air Fix Pump Spray, which is soon to become available exclusively within Salons. I was only too happy to assist on trying this product for myself.

So what exactly is Essensity? I hear you cry!...
Well the product is described to be a "Medium to Strong control fixing spray, with vacuum dried organic essences of Ash Tree Bark enriched with bamboo extracts". The aim behind this is to provide any style with a strong hold, but with a naturally controlled finish.

Schwarzkopf also claim that Essensity formula is both non sticky and easy to brush out. Not only this ooh no, the spray is also claimed, NOT to leave the hair feeling damp after use.
Too good to be true? Well this was my initial thought after having read this information!

However my expectations of how this product would prove to live up these claims, were I am pleased to say, far greater than I had assumed.

The spray is very easy to use and apply with its pump action, and I also found that the product did go where I had intended to apply it. Because Essensity does not contain any artificial scent enhancers, the smell of the spray isn't great I must admit. However baring in mind the level of synthetics a regular hair spray would contain to disguise this smell, makes this product more desirable.

Now, the next question on your lips is probably, How did the spray perform to its expectation?
In order to give this product a fair try, I decided to put my hair into a style that I would normally wear when using a regular hairspray. As you can see the photos above,illustrate that the style I decided to sport was a quiff.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the spray did not leave my hair with the usual crispy texture to it,that I find with a regular hair spray.
You guys all know exactly what I'm talking about, where the hair sort of congeals together and looks... well id say wet looking :P not really a good look if your honest. I am also pleased to say that my hair held in position all day, and looked pretty much the same when I returned home some what 9 hours later!

This in my personal opinion was very impressive, baring in mind that my hair actually felt almost product free after application. When I later brushed the spray out I was really shocked to find that my hair still felt quite soft, bit free and most importantly hair spray undetectable! :)

All in all I would definitely rate the Essensity Air Fix Pump Spray! It really does do what it says on the tin, so to speak. The only thing I could say is that I am not sure how much this product will cost to purchase from a salon. My guess is that it would exceed the £10 mark, which I would deem to be quite expensive for 200ml of product. How ever on the the plus side, I have not yet seen a product that is similar to this one on the market, so perhaps the higher price tag is justified?

Overall I would say that Schwarzkopf professional have developed another great product. Also as an added bonus Essensity actually initiates tropical reforestation by 70 hectares a year.
This factor definitely bought and sold me, I'm a sucker for the whole saving nature scenario, need I have another excuse to buy! lol :D