Trying Arbonne

21 Monday Sep 2015

Tags

arbonne, cc cream, contouring cream, dry skin, eye cream, eye shadow, Glasgow, hair serum, Intense hydration mask, lifting cream, review, smokey eyes

Recently my local Arbonne consultant got in touch to ask if I would like to review some products and of course I said yes.

Donna, the Arbonne consultant, sent me the Intense Hydration Mask, Arbonne Intelligence CC Cream, Pure Vibrance Colorlast Hair Serum, RE9 Advanced Lifting and Contouring Eye Cream and a vanilla and java eye shadow duo, all of which you can see below:

The first thing I tried was the Intense Hydration Mask as I have been having problems with dry skin. The mask was good because it didn’t really dry in and a mask so dry that it cracks is really not what you want when you have dry skin. I left it on for 10 minutes, washed it off with warm water and noticed a real difference after just the first use. My skin felt a lot smoother and a lot less dry than it had been. I think if you have dry skin it really couldn’t hurt to give it a go.

Once my skin was feeling a bit better I tried the CC cream and it was a little bit dark for my skin but not overly so. I could get away with it If I blended it well at my neck. It was actually a really nice colour that made me look like I had been away in the sun for a week or two but it wasn’t too orangey which was good.

The eye shadow duo is a good little hand-bag extra, the brown is great for a smokey eye, it blends really well and it’s easy to remove. It’s inspired me to try a brown smokey eye. The vanilla wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything to rave about either, just a normal eye shadow that does the job.

I tried the hair serum twice because I didn’t realise the first time around just how little you need to use, seriously – a lot goes a long way with this stuff, once I got the hang of it it was quite good at smoothing down frizz, particularly when I was wearing my hair back in a pony-tail but you have to be extremely careful not to make your hair look greasy. I found putting a teeny tiny bit in the palm of my hand and rubbing my hands together before applying to my hair was the best way to get the results I wanted.

I didn’t really notice a result with the lifting and contouring eye cream but I think maybe that it is meant for more mature skin, I have some dark pigmentation under my eyes but I don’t have puffiness or bags so there wasn’t really anything to lift or contour in the first place. The cream smells quite nice though and it comes in a lovely chic little pot that looks nice enough to leave on show somewhere in the bedroom or bathroom.

Overall I would say that if you like discovering new beauty brands you should give Arbonne a go because you just might find something you like. I’ve used my Intense hydration mask more than once and I’m very glad that Donna chose to send me this.

Arbonne is a global brand and Donna can supply anyone in the UK, USA, Canada, Poland and Australia with products. Her details are below and her website link is also the place to find out the prices of everything I have reviewed.

donnavenman.arbonne@hotmail.com

http://www.donnavenman.arbonne.com

http://www.facebook.com/donnavenmanic

Finally, I would just like to say thanks to Donna for sending me these products to try 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Mary Kay Press Event in Glasgow

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in Beauty, Glasgow, Make up, Makeup, review, Reviews, Shopping, Skincare

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Tags

40% discount, beauty blotter oil absorbing tissues, blotting wipes, cleanser, cosmetics, custom palette, exfoliating cleanser, EyeCandy professional make-up, face brush, free gift, Glasgow, good eye make-up remover, lash love mascara review, Lynne Mills, Mary Kay, Mary Kay Compact Pro, Mary Kay Men, Mary Kay Press Event, Mary Kay review, nail lacquer, oil-free eye makeup remover, press event, review, semi-matte lipstick, Skincare, skinvigorate, skinvigorate review, time 3-in-1 cleanser, translucent powder, true dimensions lipstick

Recently I got to go along to a Mary Kay Press Event in Glasgow. It was at the gorgeous Blythswood Hotel in a nice little bar which we had all to ourselves for the event. We got to wander around and try the products placed on tables around the room and ask the Mary Kay staff everything from how the brand began to what their latest products were. Below are some images that give just a hint of the range that Mary Kay has to offer. There is also some interesting information about the brand at the bottom of this post.
After wandering around trying things from the tables Make-up artist Lynne Mills from EyeCandy Professional Make-up gave me a nice little make over. I was grateful for this as I had only found out about the event that day (thanks Amy!) and had come straight from work so I wasn’t exactly feeling or looking glamourous.
After my makeover I got to put together my own palette and I chose some of the products which Lynne had used on me. This made the choice a little easier – there was so much to choose from. Here is a pic of me (looking particularly frumpy) but I’m pleased with my make over from Lynne and happy to show off my own custom palette. There are better images of it below.My palette wasn’t the only thing that I got to take home with me, Mary Kay were very generous.
You can buy and create your own custom Mary Kay palette. I still have space in mine and I’m thinking that I will include some brushes and maybe some of my own make-up like eye-liner. Compact Pro (Empty) Palette : £12.50

I tried to pick my favourite product from my Mary Kay haul and I just couldn’t, everything I’ve tried is really good, but I have 3 products which I love and that I am already using everyday. The skinvigorate brush is one of them. To use it you wet your face, apply a cleanser ( I recently converted to cream cleansers and now there is no going back) I’ve used this brush with the Mary Kay Timewise 3-in-1 cleanser(more about that below) and with my own Elemis cleanser and it works great with both. I’m continuing to use it with the Elemis one just now as I like to use all of a product before moving on to the next one. I’ve used it morning and night for 3 days and I’m already much happier with my skin. Anyway back to how use it: wet your face and the brush, apply cleanser and then use the brush in a circular motion for 15 seconds on each area of your face (forehead, nose, cheeks and chin – don’t use it too close to your eyes where the skin is delicate) The brush has a pleasantly odd sensation which I find quite relaxing. I find a light touch works best as, if you apply too much pressure it can feel a bit like the brush is dragging your skin but if you hold it lightly enough it gently buffs and polishes your skin and leaves it looking and feeling great. It even comes with batteries included and a replacement brush head (it’s recommended that you change the brush head every 3 months so I will have to pick up some more of those.) The only negative thing I have to say about the brush is that I had to wrestle a little bit to take the bottom of the brush off. I did eventually manage to take it off myself (to insert the batteries)- I’m not sure If my own model was particularly stiff or if it is the same story with all of the brushes but either way it is really not much of an issue and the excellent results are well worth this small hassle. Skinvigorate Cleansing Brush: £35.00

My second love is this Mary Kay mascara, I actually got one of these in a Glossybox a while back and hadn’t tried it yet ( I told you a like to finish a product before moving on to the next) Anyway I have tried this now and I LOVE it. The finished result is amazing. I’ll need to do a separate post on good mascaras because I have a few that I like but I think this one might be number one.

Lash Love Mascara: £16:00

True Dimensions Lipstick: £14.00 Semi-matte Lipstick: £12.00

Beauty Blotter Oil Absorbing Tissues: £5.50 Translucent Powder: £18.00 Nail Lacquer: £9.00 The cleanser above is a good choice particularly if you want a cleanser which also exfoliates as it contains little exfoliation beads which do a very good job. This will be a weekend cleanser for me as I can be quite rushed in the morning and when I have used exfoliating cleansers like this in the past I end up finding/feeling exfoliation beads when I am doing my make-up for work, apparently I never manage to wash them all off. I will treat my skin to this on weekends when I have time to make sure it is all properly washed off and it will make a nice little addition to my routine.

Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser: £20.00This eye make-up remover is my 3rd love. It takes my make-up off effortlessly and works so well that instead of waiting for my Simple eye make-up remover to run out I have just ditched it as I think the Mary Kay one works much better.

Oil-Free Make-Up Remover: £13.00

After trying their products I’m impressed with Mary Kay and know I will make future purchases from them. If you want to purchase Mary Kay products too there are a few ways to do this, Mary Kay has 3 million beauty consultants worldwide in over 35 countries. The beauty consultants offer a try before you buy service and let’s face it buying make-up without trying it before hand is just a gamble and the reason why I have so many full bottles of foundation gathering dust.

Speaking of foundation, Mary Kay cater to all ethnicities and age groups with all of their cosmetic and skin care products so you should be able to find exactly what you need and stop adding to your dust gathering collection of bottles and tubes.

To find out who is your nearest Mary Kay beauty consultant or to buy Mary Kay products online visit www.markykay.co.uk, now is a good time visit as I spotted some free gift offers today.

Thank you to the team at Mary Kay for all of my great products and answering all of my questions ( the start-up story was particularly interesting, if you want to know the story it’s on the Mary Kay website along with details of how you can become a Mary Kay consultant – they get a 40% discount by the way)

Thanks also to Lauren at Pure PR for letting me attend at short notice and to Lynne for my make over.

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Perfect Gifts and Interiors, Glasgow

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in Christmas, Creative, Decor, gift ideas, gifts, Inspiration, Jewellery, Shopping

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chic, Christmas Decorations, gift inspiration, gifts for new parents, gifts for newlyweds, Glasgow, housewarming gifts, Launch, modern, Perfect Gifts, Perfect Gifts and Interiors, Stockwell street, unique, unusual

So last week Glasgow gained a cool new store. Perfect Gifts and Interiors opened up on Stockwell street and I went along to their launch night to check it out.

I’ll just say right now that if you go, even with a few pounds in your purse, you will want to buy something and it will be something that you probably won’t find anywhere else in Glasgow.

No prizes for guessing what Perfect Gifts and Interiors sell, (gifts and interiors) but if you like modern, cute and funky products then you will really think that they are perfect.

They are also quite inspiring, there are lots of gifts and interiors aimed at newly weds, new parents, people in new homes that are just right on mark and at the moment there are also many chic and unusual Christmas decorations and gifts.

I took so many photos at the Perfect Gifts and Interiors launch night of cool products that caught my eye so I have just added them all below to give you an idea of the type of range you will find.

Yes the chandeliers are for sale – I had to ask.

There really are so many lovely products and gift ideas and I was lucky enough to take some home with me in a goody-bag. We also bought two items to give as Christmas gifts so obviously I think Perfect Gifts and Interiors is worth a visit when you are doing your Christmas shopping. You can see what I took home with me below:

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Capital FM Event at Topshop

18 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in Beauty, Fashion, Glasgow

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

blood necklace, Capital FM, Capital FM Event, freedom, Glasgow, glitter lips, Halloween, Jennie Cook, mask, masquerade, Topshop

On Tuesday I sauntered along to a Capital FM Event at Topshop in Glasgow with my boyfriend. I heard about the event through @brantastic_x (Paula) tweeting about it so thanks Paula. I wasn’t too sure what I was in for, I just knew the event was a night of discounts and goody-bags at Topshop and that Jennie Cook from Capital FM would be there. We had decided to go for dinner on Tuesday anyway so thought we would pop along and see if we could grab a bargain. We got there about there about 15 minutes before the doors opened and by the the time they opened there was a big queue. When we walked through the doors, Jennie already a good playlist going and we were directed to the goody-bag table and handed our bags and then it was time to shop. We were also given cans of red bull but we drank those on the way home. I got a blush and a Topshop mag and my bf got a beanie and Topman mag. Not bad wee freebies for just turning up to shop. Everything was discounted by 20% which was brilliant. I picked up a dress and spotted some really cool Halloween buys: I got this gorgeous Maxi-dress for only £8.00, it was already on sale AND I got the discount on it even though it was from the Miss Selfridge section. Topshop had a chic little Halloween section. I was going to buy this mask but they eye-shape didn’t suit me 😦 I thought the blood necklace was really cool, I might actually go back and get it when payday comes. On the night you could also get mini-makeovers, I wasn’t too bothered about this as I still had my work make up on but then I spotted something really cool and I just had to get it done: How cool are these glitter lips? I had been at work all day so the rest of me looks a bit ‘meh’ but I had to post a pic to show you these lips. There was quite a crowd around the bit where I was getting this done so I didn’t get a chance to actually see the pots of glitter that were being used and I can’t find them on the topshop website so if you want one you will have to visit a store. It will be worth the trip though. I loved these lips but they weren’t the best make up choice for going out for dinner so in the end we got a Chinese take-away on the way home. So all in all it was a good wee night 🙂 Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Currys in the Kitchen Glasgow Blogger Bake-off

17 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in Baking, Blogging, Food, Glasgow, Scotland

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Bake-off, baking tips, bloggers, Currys, Currys in the kitchen, Food mixers, Glasgow, Glasgow bloggers, Joes Bloggers, Kenwood, Kmix, scottish bloggers, The Cookers School

On Sunday I went along to the Currys in the Kitchen Glasgow Blogger bake-off which was held at The Cookery School in the Jacobean Corsetry Building in Glasgow. The event was organised by Joe Blogs Network on behalf of Currys.

I’m no baker, in fact nothing kitchen related is my forte, so I was a bit nervous about going but I thought it would be fun all the same and it was 🙂 There were a lot of bloggers there so it good day for meeting other Scottish bloggers.

Image courtesy of Joe Blogs Network

Once we had all arrived we split into teams of three to bake. I teamed up with Lynne and Paula who were both lovely, you can check out their blogs here and here. We tried our best but none of us were up-tight about creating masterpieces so we had a lot of fun.

Although we weren’t expecting to create masterpieces, the chef from The Cookery School, Danny McArdle taught us well and demonstrated everything very clearly so I surprised myself by creating some cakes that I was actually proud to take home.

Image courtesy of Joe Blogs Network

Danny showed us how to bake scones, cupcakes, muffins and a Victoria sponge:

Danny also gave us a great tip for adding filling to small cakes like cupcakes. Use a tooth pick to make a small hole in the cake and twist until you it is big enough to insert the filing using an icing bag.

Toothpicks are also really handy when it comes to decorating too:

When we weren’t baking we were eating, so I can’t tell you which part of the day was most fun. We got to eat one of our scones with some tea and then later we had lunch, I had a lovely soup which I scoffed before I thought to take a picture of it (blogger fail I know) and then we were offered raspberry panna cotta’s.

After we had made all of our a bakes it was time to box them up:

I took a nice full box of cakes home as you can see. See that cupcake with the butterflies on it? I originally tried to make that a halloween cupcake which was topped with white chocolate and had the word ‘Boo’ written on it in milk chocolate but I messed it up quite a bit. This wasn’t too much of a problem as I just used a toothpick to swirl the 2 chocolates together to create a new design and hide my mistake. My top baking tip? Keep a toothpick handy.They can be used for everything from making it easier to fill cakes, decorating and disguising mistakes.

Once our cakes were boxed up it was time to find out who had won the competitions of the day (best baking tip in a tweet and best instagram pic)

Congratulations to the winners who won Kenwood Patissier Food Mixers

The blogger on the left is Charlotte who was seated at the same table as me during lunch. She’s really nice and has a cool blog – coloursandcarousels

The rest of us didn’t leave empty handed either, in addition to our bakes we also got to take home great goody-bags:

I couldn’t believe we were all given Kenwood Kmix’s from Currys. Since I got that, a nice little recipe book and I learned a lot about baking on Sunday I’ll definately be spending this weekend in the kitchen 🙂

If you bake too or if like me you want to start and you want some funky kit then check out Currys kitch range at http://www.currys.co.uk/

Thanks to Joe Blogs Network, Currys and The Cookery School for a great day!

If you want to find out more about the day or read posts from some other bloggers who were there then check out #currysinthekitchen on twitter or visit http://techtalk.currys.co.uk/cooking-home-appliances/bloggers-bake-off-the-cookery-school-glasgow/

I’m dreaming of a Lush Christmas – Lush 2014 Christmas Range Event, Braehead

05 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in advent, Beauty, Christmas, Glasgow, Halloween, Shopping, Skincare

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Bath Bombs, bath melts, Blogger Event, bonfire night, Book, Christmas, Christmas launch, Dashing Santa, Dragon's Egg, face masks, fireworks, Glasgow, Halloween, Holly Golightly, Lush, Lush 12 Days of christmas Advent calender, Lush Braehead, Magic Wand, massage bars, Northern Lights, porducts, Reindeer rock, shoot for the stars, snow cake, soap, Sparklers, Sparkly pumpkin, The Christmas Hedgehog, wizard, yog nog

I was one of the lucky bloggers who were invited to the Lush Braehead Christmas range unveiling event and I can tell you that Lush has you covered (in sparkles, glitter and amazing scents) this Christmas.

They also have you covered for Halloween with a really cool chic little range that you will be both excited and reluctant to use. Excited because these products smell amazing, reluctant because the look so cute that you might be tempted to use them as ornaments rather than bathing products.

In fact, there is a lush product for every occasion… even Bonfire Night.

But let’s get back to Christmas and the launch event, I’ll start at the beginning- when I first walked into Lush Braehead I was directed to the treat table:And then I had 5 minutes or so to wander around the store and take pictures of anything that took my fancy before the event started:

Once all of the bloggers had arrived we had a fun little ice-breaker event where we introduced ourselves and our blogs and told everyone our favourite thing about Christmas (my favourite Christmas thing is surprises but food was a very big theme with a lot of the other bloggers) We were then split into 3 groups and my group visited the Christmas bath bombs, melts and bubble bars first:

The Christmas Hedgehog Bubble Bar

Father Christmas Bath Bomb

Golden Wonder Bath Bomb

Snow Angel Bath Melt

Dashing Santa

Holly Golightly Bubble Bar

After bath bombs we were shown all of the new shower gels:

There a few more including Snow Fairy but my camera was low on battery at this point so I had to save some for the soaps. Don’t worry, the link to the Full Lush Christmas Range is at the bottom of this post.

We were then shown the amazing and eye-catching array of Christmas soaps:

Reindeer Rock

Baked Alaska

Fairy Ring

Snowcake

Yog Nog

Then, after a quick hand and arm massage using the massage bars below, we had time for a spot of shopping.

The one thing I couldn’t leave the store without buying?

This reindeer rock soap smells wonderful, it’s made from a dried lingonberry infusion that I just love the smell of so much. I think it has beaten rock star soap to be my new favourite.

Thanks to the team at Lush Braehead providing us lucky bloggers with goody-bags the reindeer rock soap wasn’t the only product that I took home with me:

Thanks Lush!

So which lush product will be at the top of my Christmas wishlist? Well I saved the best until last:

The Lush 12 Days of Christmas Book is definitely at the top of my list!

This post has just been a snapshot of the lush Christmas range, they are bursting to the seems with new products and I couldn’t fit them all in but luckily the lush website can. Go discover all the amazing Lush Christmas products at https://www.lush.co.uk/products/christmas or pop into your local Lush store.

Want to keep up to date with all the latest Lush Braehead happenings? It’s easy, just visit them at:

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Why it is Dangerous to accept Gifts in Scotland

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in News, Scotland

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Bizarre, cautionary tale, gift contracts, gifts, Glasgow, gold diggers, Homer Simpson, Law, Ned Flanders, odd, presumption against gift, Rinsers, Scottish law, STV, the dangerous of receiving gifts, the dangers of rinsing, unusual, you can be sued for accepting a gift

So yesterday I came across this article from STV about a wealthy man suing an ex-girlfriend for the cost of a designer handbag and a designer pair of shoes. Basically the man said the arrangement was a loan and he expected to be paid back and the woman claimed that they were a gift (although she had signed an agreement to pay the man back) Make what you will of the article but the article itself is not actually what interests me.

From reading the article I gathered that in Scottish law it is up to the recipient of a gift to prove that what they have received was in fact a gift, in other words if someone gives you a gift and then later claims it was a loan and takes you to court to sue you, unless you have proof that it was a gift you will have to pay them back. I have looked into this and it’s true, in Scot’s law there is a presumption against gifts.

I am the only one who thinks this is a bit unfair? Also, it’s not really the type of information that you are likely to know without looking it up.

So do we now need gift contracts? Have you ever made anyone sign a statement agreeing that a gift they have given you is a gift…I’ve never seen that happen at a birthday party.

You should be wary of getting into relationships with gift givers. If you’re new boyfriend or girlfriend treats you to a romantic weekend in Paris you may have to them pay them back for it.

I guess there is a silver lining, people who get ‘rinsed’ can now get their stuff back when they realise what has happened and people who loan each other money or items and then don’t get their stuff back can sue eachother. Imagine how much stuff Ned Flanders could claim from Homer if they were real and lived in Scotland?

So what if your neighbour gives you their old lawn mower because they have bought a new one? Or someone treats you to a weekend away? or a wealthy relative pays your school fees? Or your parents buy you a car?

My advice would be to not accept anything that you can’t afford to pay back because at some point down the line you may well end up having to pay for it. Either refuse or at least have a pen and paper handy next time you are lucky or unlucky enough to be given a gift. I might make sure any future benefactors (not that I expect to have any) are recorded on video stating that they are giving me X,Y,Z as a gift.

Gone are the days of no take-backsies.

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂 I would love to know your thoughts on this so please comment x

Rainbow Room International Blogger Event

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by masquerade21 in Beauty, Glasgow, Hair, review, Scotland

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Beauty, Blogger Event, Dermalogica, Glasgow, Hair, hair problems, hair styling, hairstyles for Valentines day, how to combat flat hair, how to french-braid, how to give hair volume, Rainbow Room International, Scotland, styling techniques, Valentines Day Hairstyles

Last night I attended the Rainbow Room International Blogger Event (Thanks for the invite Laura!) and I received a one-on-one styling session with a lovely stylist named Jillian Free.

When I arrived at Rainbow Room International I was 10 minutes late (because I have a terrible sense of direction) and the event was already well under way. I walked in and there were people everywhere. Over the top of other blogger’s heads I could see a nail bar and a Dermalogica facial bar. I hovered in the queue for these for a while before noticing some people going upstairs. I followed them.

And was greeted with this:

This was only half of the room, there were bloggers getting their hair done on the other side of those mirrors as well.

A lovely member of staff spotted me hovering and led me over to Jill to get my hair styled.

Jill sat me down and asked me if there was anything that I would like to learn how to do and if I had any problems with my hair. I told her that I wear it straight a lot (like in the pic above) and that as my hair is so long and heavy that it sometimes looks quite flat. I also said that I would like to learn how to French braid my own hair ( I can’t do the back of my head)

So Jill set to work solving my hair problems for me.

First of all she was surprised by how thick and heavy my hair is:

But this didn’t faze her at all and she got to work.

To combat how flat my hair was, Jill showed me how to correctly back-comb my hair by holding it very loosely at the bottom and teasing only about an inch at the top. Jill demonstrated this for me and then let me try it for myself. Thanks to Jill I will never have flat hair again.

Then Jill showed me the best way to French-braid my own hair:

You pick a starting point, keep your hands as close to your head as possible and keep braiding as far back as you can. Gradually you will be able to braid further and further back until you can do all of your hair.

Jill curled my hair with GHD’s which took a while because I have so much hair. I could feel the room getting emptier around me and I felt really bad for keeping Jill for so long but she didn’t seem to mind a bit.

I had planned on getting a facial after my hair was done but my hair took quite a while (entirely my fault) and when I went downstairs to the facial bar there was still a queue and I didn’t want to make the staff’s night any longer by joining it so my boyfriend and I decided to go for dinner. I’ll definitely have a facial on my next visit to Rainbow Room International since they certainly impressed me enough to make me want to go back.

I had a really nice evening, had my hair styled for free, and learned a lot so I’m really glad that I went along. The only down-point was that I hurried off without realising that there were goody bags! To be honest though, I think this just shows how good the event was since looking for a goody bag didn’t enter my mind (at blogger events, a goody bag is usually the first thing I look out for.)

When I was in the salon I didn’t manage to get a decent photo of my finished look (I have a bad habit of blinking in pictures.) When I got home and realised this, I had another photo taken so now you get to see the finished look that survived going for dinner and travelling from Glasgow to Falkirk :

It was a little less curly and my journey had made it a bit frizzy but I’m actually as happy with the lived-in look as I was with the just-finished look so I know this is a great all day style for me. I also think it would be quite a pretty Valentine’s Day style.

Thank you to David at Rainbow Rooms International for hosting the blogger event. Thanks to Laura for inviting me to it and Thanks a lot to Jillian for making my hair pretty and teaching me lots 🙂

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Premae – The World’s First Allergen Free Beauty Brand

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by masquerade21 in Beauty, review, Skincare

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

advice, Allergen Free, Allergy UK Tested, Balm, Cream, Creme, Forbes, Glasgow, glossybox, Harmony, luxury, make up, Moisturising, October, Premae, Primer, Psoriasis, review, skin issues, skin problems, Skincare, Smoothie Serum, Soothing, SPF, Tirade, Vegan, Vegan Society Approved, Vogue

Hey 🙂

Recently I was invited to the Premae Glasgow Beauty Blogger Event. I had never heard of Premae before so of course I went along. I was quite lucky as, due to a time change on the day, the evening blogger meet-up was very intimate and I had lots of one on one time with Premae founder Clare Eluka and Premae PR, Marketing & Communications Manager Pariss Sloan.

Clare, who is a Make-up Artist and Allergy practioner, founded Premae almost 2 years ago (Premae celebrates it’s 2nd birthday on 1st december 2013) after years of research in order to bring beauty lovers high quality beauty products which are completely allergen free. In fact, as Premae is the first beauty brand to be simultaneously Allergy UK Certified and Vegan Society Approved, I had absolutely no reservations about applying Premae Harmony Moisturising Smoothie Serum to my skin at the event. I had been asked to bring some foundation and a foundation brush along with me and it turned out that this was so I could make my own BB cream using my foundation and the serum. After mixing my foundation and the Harmony Moisturising Smoothie serum together I applied the mix to my face and was happy enough with the results to leave it on all night and get the train home wearing it.

I used up my little BB cream mix quite quickly and instead of whipping up another batch I have settled into the routine of applying the serum before putting on my foundation as I think it works really well as a primer. It is absorbed quickly enough that I don’t have to wait around before putting my make up on which is great.

Each of the bloggers at the event received gift bags containing the following :

Do these products seem familiar? There are a few reasons why they might. Premae is already a Glossybox favourite, you will have found the Harmony Moisturising Smoothie Serum in the October Glossybox :

Thank you Claire for gifting me the October Glossybox when I told you that I hadn’t got this one due to moving house.

Or maybe you have read about Premae in Vogue, Tirade or Forbes magazines who have been showering Premae with praise. Premae has been featured once again in Vogue’s December issue.

I was already an instant fan of the Harmony Moisturising Smoothie Serum after trying it at the event but it wasn’t until a couple of days later that I tried the Harmony Moisturing Creme Balm. I’m really impressed with this balm, it has a texture very similar to Benefit’s the Porefessional and I love the feel of it on my skin. The fragrance is very subtle and reminds me of lemon sherbet. It is nice and thick so I was quite surprised by how quickly it absorbed into my skin, for me it takes less than 2O minutes to be completely gone. I have been applying this after I come home from work as I have a freezing walk home and my skin feels really raw by the time I reach my house. The balm soothes my skin instantly and leaves it feeling soft and looking well-cared for instead of weather-beaten. It’s also great for oily skin as it has a mattifying effect. If you think this sounds good and want to try it I have good news. Premae have kindly given me a second Harmony Moisturising Creme Balm to give away so stop by the blog tomorrow for all the details.

At the event I got chatting with Pariss who told me that she especially loves Premae products because they help her skin look good even when her psoriasis flares up. This struck a cord with me as my sister suffers from psoriasis and I knew that she had a particularly bad outbreak on her hands as I had seen her earlier that day. I told Paris and Clare this and they recommended the Premae Luxury Hand and Foot Cream :

I decided to buy it and give it to my sister. I gave her it a few days ago and she is going to let me know how it works out for her, when I gave her the cream her hands looked like this:

You might not be able to see it very well but the dark red patches on her fingers is where her skin is peeling off. Hopefully she will see some improvement after using Premae’s Hand and foot cream. I’ll keep you updated.

Do you have skin Issues too? The Premae website http://premaeskincare.com/ let’s you filter their products via skin issue so if you have a skin problem you can find a product that will help. They also have a chat function so that you can ask questions while you are browsing, click the above link to see for yourself.

Currently Premae have 13 different ranges targeted at different Skincare issues so whatever issue you have Premae should have a product that will help. They also have an SPF range arriving in May 2014 which will be followed by their first make up range which I am already excited to try.

Don’t forget to visit the blog tomorrow to take part in my Premae giveaway!

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Dower & Hall – For when it needs to be special

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by masquerade21 in Fashion, review, Shopping

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

bespoke, bloggers, bracelets, British, Celebrity, charms, chintz, Designer, Dower and Hall, engagement, event, Fashion, feather, Glasgow, gold, hearts, Inspiration, James Bond, jewel, jewellery, Judi Dench, Kasabian, lockets, M, pearls, pendants, Press day, rings, severine, shopping, silver, spiral, unique

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the Dower and Hall Press Day in Glasgow. I was absolutely thrilled to get an invitation, especially since most of the press invitations I get are for events in London which isn’t even in the country I live in. When I received this one and a) it was from Dower & Hall and b) it was in Glasgow, there was just no question about whether or not I would attend.

The Glasgow Dower & Hall store is tucked away on the first floor of the lovely Princes Square shopping centre. Princes Square is a gorgeous little shopping centre which is full of luxury stores. I normally only go there to wander around window shopping so this time it was actually quite nice to go in with some purpose and walk straight into a store.

I was actually the first one to get there and this was my first time attending a press day so I was quite nervous and as at first it was only me and the store staff I felt a little awkward. That didn’t last long though as the Dower and Hall team were all really friendly and soon I was chatting away to Dan Dower.

Now before I even tell you about Dower & Hall jewellery or review the lovely piece that I was gifted, I will tell you the main reason why you should go there if you ever want something special. Dan. Dan is the reason. He is one of those rare and lucky people who love their job. And what does he love most about his job? Turning an idea from your imagination into a real, beautiful and one of a kind piece of jewellery. He showed me some images of bespoke pieces that he had created and they were all really lovely. If you commision a bespoke piece he will really go above and beyond for you. He even goes so far as to cast the pieces in silver and then plate them in gold or whatever the client wants and set them with cubic zirconia instead of diamonds just so you can wear the piece and say ‘yes I want it like this’ or ‘please change this and make it x’ so you always know that the finished piece will be exactly as you imgained it. Dan showed me some beautiful images of the pieces he has created in the past but unfortunately I don’t have them to show you.

I can however show you one of the members of Kasabian wearing a feather pendant that they commisioned from Dan and also Judi Dench wearing Dower and Hall pearls in the latest James Bond film Skyfall:

To be totally honest, Dower & Hall is a bit out of my price range, my budget only allows costume jewellery at the moment but now that I have met Dan and seen his passion for what he does and heard him describe how he really wants to create exactly what clients want and imagine, I am sure that I will be seeking him out for the one piece of jewellery that I will want to be unique, my wedding band (not that this is on the cards at the moment) So, if any of you would like to have your own unique piece of jewellery created, you know who I would recommend.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces that are on sale at Dower & Hall at the moment :

Would you like to see the lovely gift I received? Here it is:

To see what else Dower & Hall have to offer visit : http://www.dowerandhall.com/

Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂

Beauty and the Best of the Rest

~ A lot of beauty and a little bit of everything else

Tag Archives: Glasgow

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I’m dreaming of a Lush Christmas – Lush 2014 Christmas Range Event, Braehead

Why it is Dangerous to accept Gifts in Scotland

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Premae – The World’s First Allergen Free Beauty Brand

Dower & Hall – For when it needs to be special

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