Little Giveaway Winner & a little problem...

My little giveaway ended on Tuesday and I have used random org to pick the winner!

 Congrats to The OPI Junkie !

I have emailed you for your address details :o)

Thanks to all that entered, I will be having a big giveaway when I hit 500 followers so keep an eye out for that  ;-)

Also..

Today I was having a little tidy up of my room, and I noticed that the Brown Thomas (Irish Harvey Nic's type shop, FYI) bag that I pop any 'pretty packaging' that I don't particularly want to throw away in was rather full...

Tipped it out on my bed, and this is what I found...

Seriously, what is wrong with me?? This is just a couple of months worth, since May probably.

Just a few lip product boxes...

So girls, are any of you freakish packaging collectors? Anyone? Or is it just me?! :o)

I should probably throw all of this away shouldn't I?

Love H xoxoxo

Peachy

Unless you have been living in a cave all summer, you will be aware of the huge coral trend that is around lately in clothing, accessories and even cosmetics. Luckily, the peachier hues are readily available and much easier to work with than bright orange (Read: Coral).

Today I thought I would hop on the bandwagon and create a daytime peachy fotd!

MAC Studio Fix Fluid NW35 / MAC MSF Natural 'Medium Dark' / MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW30 / UD Naked Palette: 'Virgin' (inner corner & highlight), 'Toasted' (lid) & 'Buck' (crease) / Maybelline 'One by One' mascara / NARS Laguna bronzer / NARS 'Gilda' blush / Benefit '10' highlight / Barry M Gloss 'Coral - 11'

A closeup of my eye make up...

Excuse the random silver lash on my left eye, I can only imagine I have a little lash glue stuck there that the eye shadow has attached itself to! I decided to go for a shimmery wash of colour as my blush is matte. I think it looks nice and summery too! 'Toasted' is a neglected shade in my Naked Palette, I really must use it more.

Now for the peachy ingredients...

NARS 'Gilda has been a neglected blush in my collection. When I got it I thought it was a scary colour, far too peach for me! However when it is applied, it gives the prettiest peachy pink flush.

In comparison to Benefits 'Coralista', you can see that it is much pinkier.

Finally, a closeup of the gloss I used - Barry M's 'Coral' (11). I didn't use a lipstick but as my lips are quite pigmented as it is, it came to quite a nice finish.

How have you been incorporating peach into your make-up?

xxxx

Marble Manicure

If you follow me on twitter you will be bored by know about my fun yesterday marbling my nails! I'm not gonna tell you how to do it because it can't be explained any better than Andrea's Choice 's video, so check that out.

Here are my marbelised creations...

OPI 'Koala Bear-y' & 'Lincoln Park After Dark' 

MUA Shade 16 & 4

OPI 'Blue My Mind' & 'Green-witch Village'

OPI 'Pink-ing of you' & 'Koala Bear-y'

Models Own 'Gold Rush' & 'Pink Fever'

So, what do you think? :o)

I also thought I would add some lessons I learnt about marbeling, from my own experience:

For God's sake, use tape!

Every tutorial will tell you to use tape around your finger to prevent a hot mess that looks like this:

yeah yeah, it looks nice. But it's a bitch to remove from the skin. So don't!

Prepare to make a mess!

This is the mess I made in my kitchen. Prepare to dig out every polish you own, destroy tupperware, go through a zillion cotton wool pads and stain your mums tea towels!

Not all nail polishes will work...

OPI's were my overall winners with this, however there was a noted exception ('You Don't Know Jacques', I am looking at you!).

Barry M was a total fail, they do not work! Such a shame as I have zillions of Barry M polishes :o(

Models Own were hit and miss, the last nail (above) is models own, however the glitter mostly ran. Instead I tried 'Beths Blue' and 'Cement Mixer', but they just sat on top of the water and wouldn't do anything! (see little floater below! Also, you can see a little failblob on the bottom, courtesy of Barry M!) 

You will be left with pretty cotton wool pads!

When you go to 'grab' the remaining polishes, you will be left with these! I love them :o) They are now in the bin, though.

I am going to do a full marble nail today! Any ideas of what colour combo I should go with?

xxxx

I'm a Become.co.uk 'Unforgettable Blog' !!!

I was so excited when Shopaholic from Become.co.uk asked to feature my blog as an 'Editors Pick: Unforgettable Blog'!

My little feature went live last night, so I couldn't wait to let you all know about it...

There's also a little blogger interview with me there that you may enjoy, so clickety click over there to have a look :o) 

Mini-giveaway will be posted this afternoon guys :o)

xxxx

I'm a Winner!

I am delighted to announce that I have been a very lucky girl lately, in fact I have won three giveaways in the past month! Woohoo!

The beautiful Melanie from Beauty and Bows sent me this amazing box full of Sleek goodies all the way from Australia!!

I am so excited to get experimenting with these! Already I adore the blush in Flamingo :o)

Toni from The Beauty Spot sent me a whole load of goodies! The bodyspray is already a firm favourite of mine, perfect as a handbag pick-me-up, I love it. I am also having great fun with the big W7 eyeshadow palette which I just realised I forgot to include in the picture. Thank you!!

Finally, I won Zoe from Diamond Solitaire's wonderful MAC giveaway in which I won a MAC shadow of my choice, as well as another MAC eye product!

I chose 'Shroom' eyeshadow - not the most exciting eyeshadow choice, however I have wanted to add a highlight to my MAC palette for quite some time!

Also I chose the Fluidline in 'Dip Down', a stunning brown. I can't wait to start using this, super exciting stuff! I just need to invest in a proper eyeliner brush as my old one isn't doing its job properly :o(

Don't forget to check out each of these wonderful girls' blogs!

xxxx

Lipstick Lover Review: Maybelline 'Summer Pink'

I bought this lippie quite a long time ago and as it sometimes happens, it got put in my collection and lost in my  lipstick drawer. However I was so happy to find this the other day when I was looking for something new!

Colour/Scent: It's a bright pink with silver toned shimmer, I couldn't detect any scent.

Consistency: Nice! Glides on and is very moisturising. It is almost a frost finish, however it isn't in the slightest bit drying. In  fact it has the most gorgeous pearlescent finish!

Pigmentation: Fantastic! The colour looks so rich in the bullet and it has fab colour payoff!

Packaging: Really nice pink and silver casing. Very pretty in a sea of dull black bullets!

Price? A bargainous £7.19!

Other shades available? There was loads in Superdrug when I was there, however I could only find this one on the Superdrug website.

Available from? Any drugstore that stocks Maybelline.

The Verdict... I am honestly pleasantly surprised with this! It has the most gorgeous multi-dimensional colour and some of the smoothest application that I have come across in lipstick. Honestly, I think this is nicer than the Benefit lipstick that I reviewed last time. When you look at the price difference, it may be definitely worth looking at some of the Maybelline offerings before shelling out on high end lipsticks. I definitely will be in the future now too! Also, I think this lipstick is cool/silver toned- something I never go for usually. However I think I suit them and I will be looking into more of the same in the future!

Have you tried any Maybelline lipsticks? Which are your favourites?

Tanning Tuesday: Garnier Summerbody update

 I am sure you will remember my fiasco last Thursday with my bad reaction to Garnier Summer Body lotion, a product I intended to review for this series.

**If you haven't read my original post, click here!!**

I emailed Garnier that day with a link to my blog post and they tried ringing me the next day, however I was at work. Anyway the head of the customer advisory department sent me an email and I rang them yesterday. She was very sympathetic and actually offered me a consultation with a dermatologist to help me determine what might have caused the problems, so I could avoid such ingredients in the future. Also I have been offered a refund on the price of the lotion and my medication.

All in all I cannot fault their customer service, however the fact that so many of you have told me you have had similar reactions leads me to believe that there has been a bad batch made or something. Even if you just google "garnier summer body rash", loads of results come up of people on forums etc all talking about similar symptoms.

Quite a few of you told me that you had no problem with the product but you were using the old shaped bottle, I asked the Garnier rep and she couldn't tell me if the formulation has been changed. 

f you have had any reaction to Summerbody, I really encourage you to contact Garnier - the more of us that let them know about this, the bigger difference it will make.

Click here to contact Garnier!

Note your batch number also as I do feel it could be a batch issue, so note your number:

Also, Hayley has posted about her experience with the product too - Check it out here!

Thank you all for your lovely words regarding my last post on this, my skin is feeling much better now, however I still have little white bumps all around the affected areas, and my skin is much drier than usual so I am applying E45 lotion twice a day still. If you were wondering, the pharmacist (who looked horrified when I showed her my rashes, btw!) gave me these:

Topical cream & Allergy tabs for skin allergies

Thanks everyone!!

H xxx

Nails of the Past Week-ish

I haven't posted a NOTD in quite a while, but here is two for you! One polish that I am not sure about, another that I luuurve!

Numero Uno is the polish I am still unsure about, Mod Hatter - Garden Party collection.

I was really excited to try this. I even thought of the name of the NOTD post I was going to make on it ('coffee nails' if you were wondering). However this polish is sheer, really really sheer. The above pics are of four yes four! coats. And as you can see, it still isn't opaque! This would be great as part of a french mani, but not so much on its own. This makes me sad, as in the bottle it has the loveliest lilac iridescence, but on the nail? nada. I am still looking for a great nude polish, but all of the ones I have come across have been of this consistency. Any reccs?

This next polish is one that I adore. I would go so far as to say that If I were a nail polish, this would be me...

Princesses Rule - Princess Charming collection

I do really like polishes that are flat colour, as I went through a phase of thinking that anything with shimmer was old-fashioned. This has well and truly swayed my opinion! It is the softest, prettiest pink with silver iridescence. Also, in stark contrast to 'Pink-ing of You', this pale pink is a dream to apply, and completely opaque (well, opaque enough) in 3 coats. Plus, its lastability is amazing. And it makes me happy when I look at it on my nails, yes a polish has that power!

I don't know what is happening, but I am kind of done with OPI's for the moment. I have quite a collection of them (for me, anyway) and I am not feeling so inspired with the shades I am finding lately. I am thinking about maybe focusing my attention on China Glaze or Essie for the next little while (Nails Inc. just doesn't do it for me, unfortunately!).

Have you guys tried Essie or CG? Any reccomendations to get me started?

Love, H xoxo

100th Post- A huge Thank You to some amazing people!

Once upon a time, 100 posts ago (last October, to be precise) I started up this blog. I had a rough start to my second year of Uni, leading from a wholly crap first year and I needed something to distract me from the fact that I hadn't really any friends to go and see during the evening or between lectures and I was living far away from home. I had a slow start with posting and stuff, and I didn't really commit to it until the new year. It came in sync with the help of three people who found me on twitter: Hayley, Charli and Ellie.
I didn't know anyone on Twitter, but I remember one night I was going on a rare outing to see Black Swan at the cinema (I have a weird memory for strange details) and Hayley was tweeting me and being so nice. She introduced me to Charli and then Ellie and the three tweeted me quite often. I'm sure they never knew it (and probably still don't) but through this last year of college, just being able to look on my phone at tweets and knowing that someone wanted to talk to me gave me so much comfort when I was having a genuinely crap time.
I even remember how excited I was when Ellie tweeted this, it meant so much to me at the time I favourite-d it and had to include it here now!

So a huge THANK YOU to you three!!!

While I am on the subject of thanking people....

More recently I have made what I like to think of as a real life blogging BFF in Julie. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met, she is absolutely gorgeous, has a fantastic writing style and she is always there with some wise words - only a text, DM or train ride away! :o)

I could go on all day long but I'd just like to mention these special people (I have added to this list over a few days, so I really hope I haven't missed anyone out!)...

Megan- An amazing blogger from across the pond that is moving to Norway right now! Good luck in your adventure Megan! :o)

Hayley - My fellow insomniac! Drinks next time I'm in Manchester ;)

Charlotte - Always there on twitter for a chat :o) great girl xx

Rachel & Dee - lovely Irish girlies!

Charli - I'm not a huge animal lover, but hers are adorable :o) I heart Gusgus!!

source

I have had some actually amazing opportunities thanks to this blog and I am truly thankful for them all. Though I mightn't have the shiniest blog, the most endorsements or the most readers, I have made genuine friends in a community that I didn't even know existed. I have established a hobby for the first time in my life and produced something I am actually proud of.

So yeah, this is just a huge virtual KISS to each and every one of you that has ever clicked on this blog, or read one of my little rambles.

Here's to the next 100!

Love to you ALL,

H xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

BEWARE OF THIS PRODUCT: Garnier Summer Body

I love Garnier products - in fact they are the only ones that I will put on my face. Although I do suffer from Eczema and have been only using E45 lotion for the past 6 months, I thought I would pick up a bottle of Garnier Summer body lotion- a tan moisturiser. 

I have used this twice in total, the first time I used it I noticed little red bumps all over my skin, especially on my tummy, however I put this down to a bad reaction to the metal of a new belly bar I had put in recently and thought nothing of it.

I know it's not all that clear but this is my stomach and the little red bumps all over it, the same bumps are on my legs and back.

This morning, I woke up to insane itching all over the areas I had applied the tan, like this...

Worse again, the inside of my arms and back of my knees look like this...

Sorry for having to post this disgusting picture, but you all really need to know about this. Especially as I tweeted about this about an hour ago and I got so many replies saying this had happened to other people too!

I am thinking that this may be a bad batch, so if any of you have had a similar reaction, check your bottle as it may all be from the same batch (batch no printed above the barcode?)

So yeah, I would not recommend buying this product and I will be contacting Garnier about this, especially since this is not an isolated case!.

I have taken an antihistemine and I am off to the pharmacy now to get something for this, if you can't tell from the pics, my skin is in absolute agony. The big white heat lump things are becoming more prominent now as I am typing this, and my skin is burning hot!

H xxxx

RAK: Feeling the Love! :o)

So the gorgeous Dee from Confessions of a Makeup-aholic set up a little group of us who would each send another randomly selected person a little gift through the post - a Random Act of Kindness! :o)

I think this is such a lovely idea, kind of like a secret santa for the middle of the year!

I was lucky enough to receive my goodies in the post last week - they were all from the lovely Leanne who writes 'A Slice of My Life'. I was just overwhelmed by the thought that'd gone into her purchases and the little note she enclosed really made me smile!

All enclosed in a Glossy Box! My very own.. yay!! :o)

Gorgeous cupcake mirror- perfectly girlie and pretty for my handbag!

Daisy earrings- So summery! Love these.

MUA goodies!! I haven't tried any of these yet as we don't get them in Ireland (not that I can find anyway) so I am so excited to try these! I love the nail polishes, I don't have any colours quite like them- expect a NOTD very soon. Also the gloss smells delicious, and is a perfect summer shade for me.

Finally, the Pandora charm that Leanne chose for me! I thought this was so thoughtful of her and it's HELLO KITTY!! This girl really knows what I like :o) Doesn't she look pretty along with my other charms...

Not pictured here are some yum Lindt chocs that were also sent to me and promptly munched!

Huge thank you to Dee for organizing this, and to Leanne for the lovely goodies! I'll be posting mine out in the next couple of days.

Love H xoxo

Lipstick Lover Review: Benefit 'Pinking of You'

Today in the Lipstick hot-seat (ha!) is a Benefit Full Finish in 'Pinking Of You'!

Colour/Scent? Benefit describes this as a 'pop of pink' however I would describe this as a pinky-coral, with silver shimmer. I'm pretty sure this is unscented, however it might just be because I have a cold and all sense of smell is out of the window for me! (ok.. you didn't need to know that!).

Consistency? Ok so this is the strange bit. When this lipstick is applied, you can actually feel the glitter when you rub your lips together. It doesn't particularly bother me, but I know it may do for some people! Other than that, it glides on nicely.

Longevity? Pretty good, but constantly rubbing my lips together because of the glittery chunks made it wear off more quickly.

Pigmentation? It is mildly sheer in texture, but a very buildable colour.

Packaging? Sleek and black, just the way I like it!

Price? £14 or €21 - dearer than MAC fyi.

Other shades available? The UK Benefit website has 10 shades in stock.

Available from? Benefits website or any Benefit counter.

The Verdict... I like it! I don't have any shades like this, so I do like that. If it weren't for the chunky glitter, I would love this loads. I am willing to oversee that though, for the nice colour. To be a little picky, this lipstick falls into my category of mean euro price conversions. 

Have any of you tried Benefit lipsticks? What do you think? 

H xoxo