Halloween Makeup with My Beloved Makeup - review

If you are after a really good make-up artist to do an awesome job of making up your kids (or indeed yourself) for Halloween, I can highly recommend Emese Csoma who runs My Beloved Makeup in Uckfield.  She'll come to your home with her supplies and work her magic to create some amazing designs.  I worked with her recently on a collaboration as I love her designs and she wanted some new photos of her work so she came to paint the twins with Mexican sugar skulls to go with the Day of the Dead outfits I bought last year which were too big!

Due to them still being somewhat un-cooperative at times (ha) and us wanting to aim for early morning light (we were hoping for another foggy morning but at least we got sunshine), she kept it simple with plain white designs which we knew would stand out really well against their Indian toned skin and would be quicker to apply before they got fed up and/or the sun got too high.

Liz Earle Love

by Roz

We don't write that much about make up and beauty products on the blog.  The wonderful Anna K wrote a fabulous post about her favourite make up and I wrote about an all too short subscription to Glossybox that my brother bought for me last Christmas, but that's been about it.  I adore make up and beauty products but over the last year have been trying to be very restrained and not spend money on beauty treats for the sake of it.  One thing I have never given up is my Liz Earle habit!  I figure I'm *allowed* to spend a bit of money on some decent skincare for my face.

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I discovered the brand through QVC when I still lived down south, so maybe 8 or so years ago, and have loved it ever since.  I felt the need to tell you about the brand as their customer service is quite simply exceptional.  I ordered a few products last week, they do a cleanse, tone and moisturise offer each month where you get an additional free full size product and free postage, along with the usual sample size freebie that they send with every order.  Their sample size freebies are simply amazing for holidays and trying products in the range that you haven't thought of ordering before. 

I got home from a rather long day working at the house and my order was waiting for me on the doorstep.  I opened it excitedly (I always like to see what the freebie is!) and noticed some extra products in the box.  And the following note...

They had included two full size face moisturisers for free to thank me for being a customer!  That's nearly £40 worth of free products when my total order was only for that amount.  And it's not the first time they've sent me a little gift, it's probably the fourth or fifth.  Last year it was a set of three 100ml shower gels, perfect for taking on weekends away or on flights.

I don't have experience of any other brand sending such generous thank you gifts and it certainly puts a smile on my face :)  Does anyone have a similar experience with another brand to share?

Roz x

Wedding Outfits - What I Wore

by Bex

I really loved my outfits for my cousin's wedding weekend down in Warrington :)

On the Friday night we all had dinner in the hotel and I chose to wear my dragonfly print dress (with a little help from Instagram, thanks Yanthe!) and I wore my gorgeous red lipstick Gemma gave me for my birthday called Mistress.  I don't often wear dark or colourful lipsticks but occasionally like a bright pink or deep red lip and having now tried this one out, I love it!

The gorgeous lipstick and me before I put any make-up on!

I was really pleased with my new long bob haircut (recently dubbed the clavicut - basically mid-length hair), my first cut in 6 months since I stopped colouring it!

Dress - Dorothy Perkins
Lipstick - Tesco F&F
Bag - Oasis
Necklace - eBay
Boots - Firetrap

On the wedding day I wore a dress I bought in the sale at Coast back in July, I thought it was a very autumnal colour being dark forest green and I thought it would look fab with gold accessories for this wedding.  I recently bought a gorgeous coat in Debenhams by Jasper Conran when they had 25% off Designers at Debenhams.  As soon as I tried it on I knew I had to buy it, I think the colour, shape and length really suit me, it's also really heavy so will be very cosy come winter.

I added an old big green flower brooch to my coat and wore antique gold court shoes from M&S.  Mum wore a fab multi-coloured dress, also from Coast and shoes from Debenhams.

My earrings were from Jenny Packham at Debenhams and necklace was given to me by Nik when he proposed.  Flower brooch from H&M years ago.

Green amethyst ring from eBay and bangle from Debenhams.

My hair wasn't sitting right on the Saturday so I put it in a random up-do with a small peacock feather clip.  You can really see the grey here but I am long past caring.

The shoes from M&S are SO comfy as they have a mid-heel and are quite wide.

My nail varnish is 'Wicked Game' by Deborah Lippmann (TK Maxx) and was perfect for this outfit having a nice purple-plum colour but a green tinge at certain angles.

I was pleased at how it all came together and had a great day at Lisa's wedding
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INAA Scottish Hair & Beauty Awards - blogger event

Last Monday night Bex and I went along to a "Bloggers do it best" event organised by INAA (I Need An Appointment) in advance of their Scottish Hair & Beauty Awards which takes place on 26th May.  The bloggers event was held in 29 Private Members Club, a venue that we both love.

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INAA.com, is the UK's 1st online Hair & Beauty booking portal and was launched in Jan 2010.   I have to be honest and say I had never heard of INAA before I was invited to this event, but I have since had a good look at their website and think it's a great idea.  You can type in your postcode and view time slots for all kinds of beauty treatments and I liked the way you could easily compare prices for similar treatments at different salons and if you were looking for a last minute appointment could potentially find some great deals.

The bloggers event itself was quite informal, with a brief introduction from the ladies at INAA, explaining why they set up the business and the role they believe bloggers play in today's beauty market, and a hello from Lauren Goodger (of TOWIE fame) who was there to promote her new fake tan products and Glasgow tanning salon.  We were provided with some yummy canapes and as Belvedere Vodka are one of the event sponsors, some long vodkas.  I think the last time I had a long vodka I was teenager! 

After taking some obligatory outfit shots in the big room, we moved on the The Apartment section of 29 for the remainder of the evening and it was a great opportunity to speak to both the lovely ladies who set up INAA and the brand representatives, whilst mingling and chatting to fellow bloggers :)

The following brands had stands at the event and we could chat to the girls and try out the products / receive little makeovers: Lauren's Way, GHD (they had an awesome new styler which has extra sensors keeping the temperature more even for better, faster results!), Bare Minerals, and last, but most certainly not least, Bumble & Bumble.  The very talented Bee (not to be confused with my B, that would be weird but awesome!!) was creating amazing hair-dos for those that wanted one.  After seeing some of her fabulous creations, including on WestEndGirl who requested a retro pin up style that looked amazing, I decided to ask for a beehive!  It was quite funny not being able to see what Bee was doing whilst she was styling my hair, but Bex took lots of photos!

I was so impressed with my hair that I honestly didn't want the night to end, well my hair was too fabulous to just go home!  So Lauren and I headed round to Corinthian for another drink and took some rather hilarious photos on the way there before Bex headed home.

We also received a goodie bag at the end of the evening which contained some of Lauren's fake tan products and sleep in hair rollers, a bare minerals eye shadow (I got a fab deep blue one and Bex got pink) and some bright orange OPI varnish called A Roll in the Hague.

It really was a fun night and it was great to meet so many Scottish bloggers, I hope the actual awards night goes well for the girls at INAA.

Roz xx