Lovely Girlie Favourite Bits of 2011!

Ladies, we have two months left of the year and what a year it has been!  We have tried so many new products this year and have continued to purchase our regular favourites and we will be announcing our top products of 2011 around Christmas.

We've whittled them down to the following categories:

1. Favourite foundation.
2. Favourite mascara.
3. Favourite lipstick.
4. Favourite shampoo & conditioner.
5. Favourite hair treatment.
6. Favourite nail polish brand < €5.
7. Favourite nail polish brand > €5.
8. Favourite nail polish shade.
9. Favourite nail polish shade.
10. Favourite blush/bronzer.
11. Favourite skin care product.
12. Favourite perfume.
13. Favourite body product (moisturiser, scrub etc).

Now, this is where you guys come in.  We're sure you have your favourites and we'd love for you to let us know some of them in the comments below so we can buy them and try them out.  It's always interesting to see what other people love and it can be daunting standing in Boots or Superdrug, not sure what to try next.  We'd love to have a list from our readers and over the next few weeks, give some of them a go.  So get suggesting everyone and we'll go shopping!

Christmas 2011 with The Body Shop

Last week I went along to The Body Shop on Grafton Street to see what they have in store for us this Christmas.  Mulled wine, Christmas trees and Band Aid's Feed The World set the scene for what was a really lovely night.  It was great to meet some new faces and catch up with the old ones (wait, that didn't sound right, nobody had an old face, everyone was looking beautiful)!

This is what we were here to see ladies:

Top: Silver Black palette (€23.95), Pink Sparkler (€19.95), Lip Glosses (€17.95 for set of 4)
Bottom: Golden Brown palette (€23.95), Gold Sparkler (€19.95), Lip Glosses (€17.95 for set of 4)

The charismatic and completely fabulous Karim Sattar was there to greet us with air kisses, show off his blingy button covers that he bought in Africa recently and impress us with his make up skills creating a smokey eye for the Christmas season using one of the new palettes from The Body Shop.

Karim and Karen (has a nice ring to it doesn't it) Zoom in to see his blingtastic button covers!

There were Christmas displays as far as the eye could see so I had to take a few snaps to show you what's in store (literally) for this holiday season.  Feast your eyes on this red and gold table of Christmas-ness!

Above you can see the plethora of products from the Cranberry Joy and Candied Ginger ranges. I had a play with the Cranberry Joy Shimmer Body Lotion and it smells divine and gives the most gorgeous shimmer without looking like a big glitterball.

They have plenty of lip balms in cutely packaged sets, the newest Shimmer Cubes and how cute is that little set with the Strawberry shower gel, matching body lotion and a little shower poof for €5!  There's something for everyone and I will fully admit, last year when we were doing Kris Kindle, a new girl started after we'd picked the names.  So after collecting a couple of euro from everyone, my first thought was to go into The Body Shop because it's a great place to get stuff for people you don't know very well.  Everyone loves The Body Shop!  (She loved her present and I got to be all smug, in case you were wondering.)

Karim used the Golden Brown eye palette to create a beautiful smokey eye on Dee, the contest winner from The Irish Times, giving us tips and tricks along the way.  I tried my best to file them in the noggin and will put them to use when I do a look featuring the Silver Black palette.  Karim was in fine form and had us all eating out of his hand as always.  He told us that there's going to be a new brand ambassador coming to The Body Shop next year but kept schtum on who it was, so my mind is already wondering who it could be.

We got some goodies to try out so stay tuned for more on them.  But first impressions of the Spiced Vanilla hand cream, I absolutely love it and haven't stopped using it since I got it.

Thanks so much to Karim, Suzanne and everyone in The Body Shop for laying on such a great night for us.  You really know how to spoil a bunch of girls don't you?!

So lovely readers, will you be heading into The Body Shop this Christmas?  Did anything you see here tickle your pickle?

Winner of Skin Essentials by Mariga!

So sorry for the delay in posting the winner of this fabulous giveaway.  It was a busy week but it's the bank holiday weekend so lots of time for good stuff like this!  Let's remind ourselves what was up for grabs:

We have the Hydrating Cream, Blemish Control Cream and Nourishing Oil.  So drumroll please...........

The winner is Roisin!!  Congratulations Roisin, I will be in touch with you to get your postal address.

Don't forget to enter our Chanel giveaway, we have 2 polishes up for grabs that aren't in Irish shops yet!

No Halloween costume? A quick Halloween make up tutorial!

As I write this, I'm hoping nobody comes to ring the doorbell because look at moi...

Sorry Karen, you have a little something under your eye there...

Last year I posted a crappy photo of this look from my phone and decided this year to do a step by step tutorial because I find these easier to follow than videos.  I followed Petrilude's Unzipped tutorial last year when first creating the look but kept having to press pause, so hopefully this will be a bit easier for you to follow.  I didn't have any of the products he used but found grand substitutes in my stash, so here goes!

This is what you'll need.  From top to bottom:

1. Any red/wine lip gloss.  I used NYC's B'way Berry which is dark wine in real life and really lovely and thick for this look.
2. Any red/dark red lipstick.  I used Avon's Red Hot Lips here.
3. A red lip liner.  I had Barry M's liner in shade 3.
4. A black pencil liner.  I used my Urban Decay pencil in Zero.
5. Eyelash glue.  I used Duo glue.
6.  Any black and red eye shadow.  I used My Sleek sunset palette.

Oh yeah, you *might* want to have a zip too.  I took this photo after I finished the tutorial because I wasn't sure what I'd need and so the zip is currently on my face.  You can get zips in Hickeys or anywhere that sells trimmings and fabric.  I, however, disemboweled a little purse that I don't use and so have a cute blue zip.

You should have most of those in your stash but if you don't, substitute as necessary.  Now let's get to work!

• Start off by holding the zip under your eye where you want it to be.  
• Use a small brush and the black eyeshadow to trace gently outside the zips to give you a guideline.
• Colour in the area with the red lip liner.

• Take the eye lash glue and put a generous amount all along the back of the zip.  You need a good amount to make sure it stays put throughout the night.
• Stick the zip on in place, over the red lip liner.  You don't have to be neat with this because you can make it even messier on the outside of the zip later.
• While you're waiting for the glue to dry, take the black eyeliner and colour in your eyelids and under your eye that has no zip.
• Mixing your black and red eye shadows, apply on your lids and under your eye that has no zip.  Once again, this can look as messy as you want.  Your poor eye has been unzipped, of course your make up is gonna be all over the place.

• Take your black eyeshadow and with an angled brush, make little dragging lines on the outside of the zip to make it seem like your skin is being pulled down.  Also apply some black shadow right inside the zip.
• Apply the red lipstick to the inner part of the zip and apply red lip liner to the waterline.  If you have sensitive eyes or are unsure about putting lip liner on your waterline, by all means, leave this out and put black liner on the waterline if you'd like.  I've used this a few times now and my eye has been fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!
• Next, apply the lipgloss on top of the red lipstick and you are done!  

This is a perfect look if you don't want to dress up for Halloween but don't want to get given out to for not making an effort!  I wore this to a party a couple of years ago and freaked people out so go forth, stick zips on your face and Happy Halloween!

Joanne actually found a foundation she loves! La Roche-Posay Toleriane Teint

From as long as I can remember, I have always had dry/sensitive skin.  Its typically on my fivehead and either side of my nose that would get so red and dry it would hurt.  My earliest memory of having such dry skin was when I was 14, one Saturday afternoon having lunch with the family and my mam asking me if I was sniffing something in my bedroom because either side of my nose was so red!! (In case you are wondering I wasn't!)  Since then I have been on the hunt to find a cream that will keep it at bay.  But because of such dry skin I don't wear foundation.  I feel like I can't because the dry patches are just so obvious under the foundation.  I have yet to come across a foundation, or even a tinted moisturiser, that will blend onto my skin and hide the dry parts, not make them a hundred times more obvious... That is, until now!

I bring to you La Roche-Posay Toleriane Teint foundation!  I'm in LOVE with this!!  It's made mainly for people with dry/sensitive skin and it works a treat.  It does everything that every other foundation for me in the past hasn't done.  I don't like the feeling that I'm caked in make-up and this foundation feels light, but also gives you the cover you are looking for.  I wore it recently and completely forgot to put primer on under and there wasnt a flake of dry skin to be seen, which is unheard of for me.  It has a really natural finish but great coverage too.  I'll hand over to Karen here to explain a bit more about the packaging and the foundation itself.

Karen here ladies, speaking to you via italics.  So Joanne is actually wearing a foundation, can you believe it?  Let me give you a bit of background story.  Whenever she's going out for a big night, I always offer to do her make up and because her skin was so dry and flaky, we were never able to find a foundation that would work for her.  I used foundation brushes, sponges, my MAC 109 brush, my hands and no matter what tools I tried or what foundation I used from my stash, her skin just rebelled and flaked like mad and she would end up having to go out with no foundation because the flakes were highlighted by the foundation.


We were sent La Roche-Posay's Toleriane Teint foundation a while back and I had a go of it, but it didn't work with my oily/combination skin, so I bullied Joanne into trying it and now she is a happy chappy! 


Ok, let's talk packaging.  The compact is white, which for a messy person like moi isn't great and I managed to have foundation all over it after a few minutes, but it's sturdy, has a great sized mirror and a little section under the foundation to store the sponge that it comes with.  Have a squizz.

According to La Roche-Posay "upon contact with the skin, the ingredients blend and swell to form a 3D network which spreads easily, and perfectly matches the skin's surface textures".  According to moi looking at Joanne's face, her skin tone is evened out beautifully.  It covers any redness on her face and most importantly, doesn't cling to any dry patches or irritate her skin.  When we were out a few weeks ago, I didn't know she was wearing it and said to her later that her skin looked gorgeous.  She smugly told me she was wearing "the foundation in the white compact", girlfriend couldn't remember the name of it, but girlfriend does now because it works.  I told her to use my Sigma F80 flat topped kabuki brush to see how she got on.  I have not seen the brush since.  Stolen by her.  But for a good cause.

Much laughter ensued taking these photos.  She is not used to having a camera about 4 inches from her face but I worked it as the photographer and told her to "work it and smize".  You can see in both sets of photos without and with the flash that her complexion looks even, natural and glowing. 

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Teint foundation retails at €20 and comes in four shades.  To find out more and where to purchase this, visit La Roche-Posay's website.  

Origins - A Perfect World highly hydrating body lotion with White Tea

One of my early posts last year was on Origin's A Perfect World intensely hydrating body cream with White Tea and I now bring you the body lotion from the same range which landed in Lovely Girlie Headquarters recently.

What's the first thing you do when you get a tube of something like this?  You scan the front of it and then flip it over to read the back.  And I was mighty glad I did.  This cream does something special.  I will let Origins explain in their own words.  "This lush aromatic lotion coddles bare skin to noticeable smoothness."  Now, ladies of Ireland and maybe more specifically Dublin, will recognize the word "coddle".  Irish mammies have been making this for years and for those that don't know what it is, here's a wee picture of what we were force fed as children.  My gift to you.....

Rather lovely photo of coddle.  Source: Wikipedia

Now, please take note that A Perfect World highly hydrating body lotion with White Tea will not make you look or smell like coddle.  It has a gorgeous scent of peaches that sticks around for a good while, fading away gradually.

The lotion itself has shea butter to moisturise and mimosa to help tighten up the skin.  The Silver Tip White Tea has the magical antioxidants that neutralizes free radicals and helps keep the skin smooth and just lovely.  Who doesn't want lovely skin?  Origins advises to apply the lotion generously over damp skin and I apply it at night after my shower.  It sinks into my skin leaving a sheen behind that absorbed into my skin after a few minutes.  There's no greasiness or stickiness left behind, just gorgeously smelling, soft, moisturised skin.  Because it's such a rich body lotion and takes a little while to fully absorb, I pretty much only use it at night.  I don't have time to do anything like that in the morning!  But it's my treat to my skin every evening and my elbows are no longer so rough that I could grate cheese with them.  Result.

It's obviously not as thick as the body cream but still packs almost an equal punch on my skin.  My skin gets really dry in the winter and last year, the body cream helped me through the cold months with the heating on constantly.  This year it's the turn of the body lotion.  Love it and would definitely purchase myself.  I've checked with Origins and this body lotion comes in at €31, so a little on the spendy side but it is pure luxury for your skin.

Origins have some amazing gift sets coming up for Christmas, so stay tuned for more on that.  They've something for everyone and will be a fabulous treat for a loved one!  Also, if you buy a product from Origins in Ireland, you can get a free mini facial!  They have shops in Debenhams in Cork (say hi to Aileen if you go in there, she is one of the funniest people I've met in ages), Arnotts Dublin and Boots Liffey Valley.

Have you tried anything from Origins?  What do I need to try next?  Take note that I have tried well over half of their products throughout the past 8 years or so, why didn't I start blogging back then...

Won't you take me to Tinsel Town?

Ah the glitter is back and blingier than ever.  Check out what I've been wearing on the nails since Sunday.

I paired NYC's In a New York Colour Minute polish in Bowery Black with China Glaze's Tinsel Town and brought out the inner magpie in me.  In person it's not overly blingy but then I have a very different cut off point to the normal person when it comes to glitter polishes!  I wore it to work without feeling like I was going to blind everyone in a two mile radius.

I love gunmetal anything.  Gimme an eyeliner, nail polish, eyeshadow and I'm good to go.  So NYC's Bowery Black is right up my street and it's only €1.29 which is fabaliss.  I applied two coats of Bowery Black and topped it with one coat of Tinsel Town.

Tinsel Town is a charcoal grey polish literally packed full of silver glitter and larger glittery bits.  The base itself is a sheer grey and I'd say you'd get away with one thick coat if you were using it alone.  I like using glitter polishes as a top coat really and I only needed one coat here.  It's really pigmented for a glitter polish and this makes me happy.  I want glitter, not base.  Otherwise I'd buy a normal nail polish...

I think this combo would be lahffly for the Christmas season and especially New Year's Eve (which I detest). It's twinkley, sparkley and glittery, what more could you ask for?

Chanel giveaway! Two Rouge Carats up for grabs!

Do you feel lucky punk?

Our lovely nail polish fairy (thanks Sophie!) brought us two more of these gorgeous nail polishes from Chanel so that we could thank you all for your support over the past year.  We want to give back to you so we have two of these nail polishes, Chanel's Le Vernis in Rouge Carat to give away to two lucky followers!

How to enter

First and foremost, you must be a follower of the blog.  I will totally be checking as always, so no Anonymous entries please!  If you're not a follower, click on the Follow button on the right of the page and sign up with your Google Account.

1. For one entry, leave a comment below with your GFC name and email address.

2. For that second entry, get your behind over to Facebook here and "like" our page and leave your Facebook username in the comments below.


3. You want a third entry?  Go follow us here on Twitter and leave your Twitter username below in the comments.


4. For your fourth and final entry, tweet this message "@Lovelygirlybits is giving away 2 Chanel nail polishes from the new Christmas collection! http://alturl.com/zm6kx #chanelgiveaway"


The giveaway is open internationally and will close at midnight on October 31st.  The nail polishes don't hit Irish shops until the 4th of November so we will get it out to the winner asap.  Random.org will be used to choose the winner.  We will contact the winner to get a postal address.


Good luck everyone!

NOTD - Chanel Le Vernis - Rouge Carat

Ooh ladies, were are excited over at Lovely Girlie Bits HQ (semi-d on the northside).  We are in possession of the Christmas nail polish offering from Chanel's Les Scintillances de Chanel holiday 2011 collection, Le Vernis in Rouge Carat.  You may drool now.

Rouge Carat is a rich, vibrant, shimmering red nail polish that screams Christmas party.  On first glance, you can see the red shimmer but as you look at it from different angles, it has the most subtle fuchsia pink shimmer running through it and the tiniest hint of gold shimmer making it a pain in the behind to photograph.  But did we let that stop us?  No, it was glamour shot time.  Much direction and coaxing was needed.  I felt like Mr. J in America's Next Top Model.

Joanne's nails were used for the swatcharoonies as I have something else to show you on my nails.  After one swipe of Rouge Carat, she fell in love immediately and so did I.  Rouge Carat is a really thick, pigmented polish so one coat is enough, but me being the OCD person that I am always has to apply at least two coats, so the photos you see below are with two coats of Rouge Carat and one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Looks like a regular red shimmery nail polish doesn't it?  Let's get up close and personal with it shall we?

It's a truly stunning, multidimensional nail polish that has to be seen in the flesh because these photos really don't do it justice.

It's a gorgeous polish for the Christmas season and is heading towards the metallic trend but the subtlety of the shimmer draws it back, making it elegant and classic.

It's out in shops here on November 4th for the sum of €21.50.  Will it be on your Christmas list?

Oot and aboot, Joanne's new boots

On Saturday, myself and Karen decided to hit the shops - she was hoping to buy a winter coat and I was thinking of maybe buying new pjs, nothing exciting.  But this all changed once I walked into TK Maxx in Blanchardstown.  We had a look at the make-up (of course and can you believe that Karen didn't buy anything at all in there!) and then we went straight down to the shoes and these bad boys caught my eye.

These are made by Rockport, which I haven't seen in TK Maxx before but I'm SO happy that they sell them now!!  I was in town today and walked by a Rockport shop and popped in to see if they had them.  I keep forgetting TK Maxx say that they sell current stock.  Anyhoo, there they were and the original price was €180 on sale for €144 and I got them the day before for €99.99!  I was delighted with the saving I made on them and I know I'm going to get so much wear out of them over the next few months.

Is there anyone else out there that hates boot shopping  because you are a member of The Big Momma Calves Club?  You sit down to try a beautiful knee high boot on.  You inhale, suck your stomach in and hold your breath because by doing so, it will automatically shrink the circumference of your calf.  Yes, I wanted to say girth but was good and said circumference.  If this was Karen't post who knows what she would have said.  Well, I am a proud member of The Big Momma Calves Club so imagine my surprise when I could actually zip these up without any problem!  On upper inner part of each boot is elastic with the leather which gives it a bit of stretch, so the zip closes with easily.  They had them in brown too but I thought I'd get more use out of the black coming up to Christmas and all.

As well as being a member of BMCC, I have arthritis so shoe shopping for me is always a nightmare, whether it's that shoes are too flat, too high, there is always something that hurts my foot but these boots are perfect!  They have a 2.8 inch heel with a 0.7 inch platform which feels like you aren't wearing heels at all.

You can view them on their UK site here.  They are the perfect addition to my wardrobe for Winter.  Thank you TK Maxx!!

Thanks for reading
Joanne

Facebook only giveaway!

Ladies, we realised that we haven't run a giveaway on our Facebook page to thank you all for sharing, liking and commenting on our posts, so here's one to warm up with!

Head over to our Facebook page to check out the details!

Good luck :)

Karen & Joanne

Elie Saab - Le Parfum review

Back in July I went to Spain with two of my chums and of course had to make a trip to Sephora.  I had to investigate the perfume section and was immediately drawn to Lebanese designer Elie Saab's perfume purely because of the bottle at first.  It's simple and beautiful.

I had a little spray and immediately fell in love with it.  So sprayed some more (some=lots, you could smell me a mile away) and decided I needed to get it the next time I was in Spain.  I ended up getting it in the duty free on the way home and it was €68 for 100 mls.

"The top note is orange blossom, jasmine is the heart and the base notes are cedar, patchouli and honey rose.  Composed as an ode to light, ELIE SAAB Le Parfum celebrates the splendor and the brilliance of radiant femininity with a floral solar woody theme. The permanent exchange between flowers and wood is what gives the fragrance such captivating resonance."

Whenever I sprayed it on me in Spain (which was a lot, I mean, every time I went into Sephora or El Corte Ingles, I drowned myself in it), I immediately felt clean and fresh.  I was struck by how bright the scent was and understood why it was described as an ode to light.  The initial scent of orange blossom is really strong but then it calms down and develops into a really clean almost soapy scent that is perfect for the hot weather.  Now that I'm home, I wear it during the day all the time.  I prefer something stronger and deeper to wear at night.  To me it's a feminine, pretty, sophisticated perfume.  I'm a big fan of jasmine and love Lush's Godiva shampoo bar purely for that so this perfume is right up my street.  Whenever I wear it, I cannot stop smelling my wrist and force my chums to smell it too.  It is love.  Except for my mam, she hates it, but then again, she still loves Anais Anais...

Since I will never be able to afford or fit into an Elie Saab gown, it's me and Le Parfum for life now.  I would most definitely repurchase this and when I bought it in the airport, I was given a mini bottle of the body lotion which is gorgeous so I think one of those sets would be a good idea for my next Elie Saab purchase and they're always on offer especially coming up to Christmas.

You can pick it up in Debenhams and other department stores and perfume shops.

Have you tried this yet?  If so, what do you think of it?

Baby it's cold outside!

I think everyone can agree that winter is finally here.  But the one thing that makes me happy about winter is all the gorgeous and cosy clothes that are out in the shops at the moment.  Especially the coats!  Never have I seen such fabulous faux fur and country chic coats in the shops.  There is something for everyone's budget and here are just a small selection of my favourites.

L-R: Short faux fur jacket €30 - Penneys,  Black faux multi fur coat €35 - Penneys, Khaki Tammy fur coat €75 - A Wear

I'm loving the fur collar on the khaki coat from A Wear and the belt adds a bit of detail.  As for the Penneys fur coats, they're just waiting for a Christmas party to be worn to!

L-R: Cheryl Faux Fur coat €70 - A Wear, Gerard Darrell Lamb Gillet €350- Arnotts, Pinko Brown Shearling Coat €440 - Arnotts

We go a bit higher in the price range here but that Cheryl coat from A Wear is gorgeous, especially the length of the sleeves, love it.  If I won the Lotto, that Pinko Shearling Coat would be mine.  The collar, cuffs, belt, it's just all beautiful.

Next up is the Country Chic trend.  We're talking plaid, duffel, tweed, all the good stuff that makes me think of going on a hike up the mountains with your welly boots on.  Except I'm 'lergic to that and can't think of anything worse to be honest. Why hike in the cold when you can sit inside with the heat on?  But if you must leave the cosy confines of your house, have a look at these coats that will make you say "Tally ho old chap"!

L-R: Check Toggle Duffle €31- Penneys, Toggle Cape €29- Penneys, Claire Check Duffel €65 - A Wear, Hoss Intropia Blazer €365 - Arnotts 

The check duffle coats remind me a lot of some of the winter items American Eagle have every year.  The cape is so Mallory Towers or Harry Potter so Karen's sorted there.  As for that blazer on the end... That has Kate Middleton written all over it.  From the neckline to the pockets to the shape, stunning.

I have so many things on my wishlist now for the winter... where to start?!

Thanks for reading,
Joanne

MYscara Semi-Permanent Mascara in Nu Essence

Today I was in a beauty salon for the first time ever!  I was invited to Nu Essence on South Anne Street to try out one of their new treatments, MYscara.  Nu Essence is one of Dublin's most popular beauty salons offering a range of treatments from facials, waxing, manicures to hair removal, IPL and microdermabrasion.  It's spread out over 3 floors and beautifully decorated.

In the next couple of weeks, they are adding a new treatment to their repertoire, MYscara.  Before I fill you in, have a look at the before and after shots!

Kind of obvious but before (Top), after (bottom)

Like what you see?  Then read on!

So MYscara.  I'd never heard of it so I googled and youtubed it and saw a friend of mine in a video about it so had to ask her advice and she gave it the thumbs up, so thanks Ruth!  MYscara is Ireland's first semi-permanent mascara.  I didn't know what this meant to be honest and thought it was like eyelash tinting.  So how does it differ from eyelash tinting?  Well, eyelash tinting just give colour to the lashes, where MYscara gives colour, length, curl and volume.  It lasts around three weeks depending on lash growth.

Before (L), After (R)

The lovely Margaret started off my removing my eye make up and then had me open my eyes and look upwards so she could place some surgical tape right under my lower lashes.  Then she had me close my eyes and took more surgical tape and stuck up upper lashes to my eyelid!  That felt strange but it didn't hurt a bit and I kept my eyes closed so I couldn't get too freaked out by that.

She started off by putting a primer on the lashes which dehydrates them and prepares them for the MYscara. It's made of powdered thickening fibres, rubber toughened cyanoacryalate and extra black pigment and looks and feels like mascara.  Next she unleashed my upper lashes from the surgical tape and they were free to be MYscara-ed.  The primer went on first again, but next she used a heated eyelash curler to give my lashes a bit of hooshing up.  My friend Kim got me one of these a few years ago and I must search it out now, however, I was warned not to use it post MYscara because it'll cause my lashes to clump together, so duly noted.  Anyways, the heated eyelash curler did it's job and Margaret explained that by curling the lashes and then applying the MYscara sets the curl, pretty nifty no?

Before (Top), After (Bottom)

Margaret applied one coat of MYscara to the top of my upper lashes and two coats to the underneath of my top lashes if that makes sense.  Applying more than one coat to the top of the lashes would weigh them down, she explained, but she also told me that they do up to five coats on the top lashes (but underneath you get me?) giving you a proper full on dramatic lash.

The surgical tape came off and I was left with really lovely looking lashes!  I will admit that I was worried about how the lower lashes would look because I tend not to wear a lot of mascara on them during the day but at night, all bets are off and I'm caked in the stuff.  My lashes look and feel like they've mascara on them and they're not rock solid the way I thought they would be.  The whole process took about 40 minutes and it flew by.

Here are some factoids about MYscara:

It's waterproof - eh, bonus if you're going on holidays, you can swim no hassle.  If you're going to a wedding, you can cry like a baby (except if you're going to a wedding 2 hours after having it applied, you're not allowed to have water contact your eyelashes for the first 2 hours, so be warned, tissues at the ready.)

You can wear mascara over it - this is only grand if you've gotten a natural look like moi and want to amp up the lashes when you're going out, just use an oil-free eye make up remover at the end of your big night out and be gentle.

You can get it removed in the salon or let it grow out yourself - I'll be letting it grow out and showing you how I get on over the next 3 weeks.  I'll be topping it up with mascara as it starts to fade.

It is perfect if you do this like me - bring your mam's foldy up shopping bag to work instead of your make up bag.

You can wake up like yer wan in Bridesmaids who got up early to put her make up on and legged it back into bed, except you can stay in bed!

Anyway, since they haven't started the treatment yet, they don't have a definite price yet but it will be around the €50 mark.  I'll let you know when I know for sure.  Margaret assured me there will be offers going on so visit them on Facebook page to keep up to date on what's happening.  I'll let you know how the wear and tear goes and report back in 3 weeks.  I have high hopes for this and think it'll be great for the Christmas season, I'd just have to up the number of coats and go all out!

Thanks to Margaret and Nu Essence for making my first visit to a beauty salon so enjoyable.  In the words of Arnold himself, I'll be back.

Will you be trying MYscara ladies?

China Glaze 2011 Holiday collection - first look

Yes I did.

As much as I hate glitter polishes, I love them ten times more so when I was walking by Sally's Beauty Supply this evening and saw these little bottles of joy, I had to snap them up.  And when I saw they had an offer of 3 for 2, well it would have been a sin not to pick them up!  I was very restrained and only got three of them.  The three that spoke to me the most, the way nail polishes do.  They're part of China Glaze's Let It Snow Holiday 2011 collection and were the three prettiest ones that I could justify buying because I don't have anything like them in my collection*.

*Twinkle lights totes looks like last year's Party Hearty which one of my all time favourite polishes.  I just had to get this because it made me smile and I'll do a compare and contrast post this weekend to justify having both in my collection.

Tinsel Town is a stunning glittery bottle of gunmetal gorgeousness.  This will be amazing for over the Christmas season, bling without being over the top.  (Yeah, who am I kidding, it's sparkletastic.)

Please feast your eyes on this little beaut.  It's called Snow Globe and any time I pick it up, I feel compelled to shake it comme une snow globe.  It has a sheer base full of different coloured iridescent glitter and it makes me happy.  I can't wait to swatch these over the weekend and show you what they look like up close and personal.

Do we like?

Orofluido Shampoo & Conditioner review

Karen was at the Professional Beauty Trade Show in the RDS a couple of weeks ago and came back with Orofluido Shampoo and Conditioner.  I have had to endure her raving about their of the Orofluido hair oil since January, so when she came back with the shampoo and conditioner, being the lovely sister I am, I just had to try it myself.  As you can see from this post I have extremely long hair, which can be quite frizzy at the best of times so I was looking forward to trying this out.

The packaging is gorgeous.  The boxes are sleek and sophisticated and the bottles themselves are beautiful.  They're the type of bottles you want to display in your bathroom so when your friends come over, you know they're going to inspect them some more!  Take a look at the shampoo.  It is a thick amber coloured shampoo with a faint scent of vanilla.

The conditioner has a pump dispenser.  I feel very posh altogether pumping the conditioner out.  It has the consistency of custard and has a lovely light scent of vanilla, just like the Orofluido hair oil itself.

The first thing I noticed while shampooing my hair was that it didn't lather up as much as my usual shampoos, but it felt squeaky clean after washing out the suds.  So far so good!  Then I put the conditioner in the the bottom half of my hair and left it for a few minutes and rinsed it out, like you do.

When drying my hair I'm literally like a mad woman - I dont have a set way, section by section...  I would be there for the duration if I did that so I just dry it any which way I can so that dries it the quickest.  The results?  Really soft, silky, shiny, frizz free hair - I would actually go out with my hair down after the blow-dry.  Usually I would have to straighten it and if I straightened my hair just after washing it, it would still end up frizzy enough so it would be back in a pony tail in no time.  But not any more!

We're not sure of the price because Karen got it at trade cost, but a little look at millies.ie shows they have the shampoo at €10.50 and the conditioner at €12 and I honestly would recommend to anyone with frizz prone hair.  I'll definitely be purchasing this once I run out.  We've also been trying out the Orofluido hair mask so stay tuned for a review on that soon.

I'm sure wherever sells the Orofluido hair oil will sell this, like Hair Crazy or Terrisales but if you know of any other stockists, let us know and we'll add it to the post.

Millies.ie stocks the Orofluido range along with Hair Crazy and Terrisales.

Thanks for reading,
Joanne

Smith's Rosebud Strawberry Lip Balm

I bought my first Smith's Rosebud Strawberry Lip Balm a few years ago on a trip to New York after reading that Beyonce was a fan of it.  Joanne and I fell in love with it and stocked up because we didn't know where we could get it in Ireland.  Thankfully Beautyemporium.ie have recently started to stock them which is good because Joanne lost her last tin two weeks ago under a fridge in a cafe and had to stop her friend Lorraine from diving under it to retrieve it.  She's a good friend that Lorraine, willing to get on hands and knees for Rosebud Lip Balm....  A little birdie told me that Lorraine likes to put two dabs of the lip salve under her nose because she likes the smell so much.  This little birdie has no name.  Ok, here's a hint, starts with J and ends in oanne.

But as I mentioned, Beautyemporium.ie has it and so Joanne and I can now relax in the knowledge that our beloved Rosebud is only a click away and is €8.10.  We are hoping to go to NY next year and that was already on our list of things to get but now it's much more accessible.  Beautyemporium is an Irish company who sell the biggest names in make up and skincare and here's the clincher, there's a €2 flat rate of shipping in Ireland and €3 for Northern Ireland and the UK.

Obviously the beautys at Beautyemporium are psychic and sent me Strawberry to review.  This is the one I always get when I'm in NY so I was delighted!  They also stock the Menthol & Eucalyptus Balm, Mocha Rose Lip Balm, Brambleberry Rose Lip Balm and Rosebud Salve in a tube along with the Strawberry Balm.  I decided to research a bit for my review and found a few articles where they said it can be used on your lips, face, body and hair.  Hold on, hair?  Now, how demented would I look, pulling this little tin from my bag, opening it, dabbing my finger into it and patting it onto my lips, then dabbing my finger back into it and start rubbing it onto my hair?  No, I don't think I'll be doing that thanks.  Lips and cuticles are my main uses for this salve.

First of all, the tin is too cute.  It has that Ye Olde Lipe Balme vintage feeling going on.  The balm itself is pink has a lovely smell of, funnily enough, strawberries to it and I think that's another reason why I limit it's use to my lips and cuticles.  I don't think I want my eyebrows to look lovely and neat but also smell like strawberries.  It's harder in consistency than Vaseline so no need to worry that you're going to scoop loads out or even worse, watch your sister scoop loads out and scrape the residue back into the tin.  Not with this baby.  It's non greasy, non sticky, moisturising and leaves my lips glossy.  A tin lasts me ages and we know I love my lip balm.

Basically it's a gorgeous lip balm and it does what it says on the tin.  Ha!  Did you see what I did there?

Have you tried any of the Rosebud salves?

Check out Beautyemporium.ie for some more from the Smith's Rosebud range.