MAC Shop Cook Lip Colours

This is just a quick post to show you a few of the lip colours from MAC's Shop Cook collection.

Lipsticks:
I picked up one shade from this collection - Watch Me Simmer. I also already had Innocence Beware and Runway Red from previous collections.

Runway Red swatches and a review can be found here.

Watch Me Simmer - such a gorgeously pigmented and smooth creamy lipstick. It is one of the must haves from the collection. It will be repromoted in a later collection this year.

Sorry about the appalling application, I did these swatches in a hurry.

Innocence Beware - a nice light pink nude which is quite flattering but can also be dabbed on if it looks too stark or to take the tone of your natural lip colour down a bit.

Kissable Lip Colours. I was really glad these came back, I was able to get the colours I wanted which I didn't get last time they were out. They are such a nice product, they apply really easily. You can read my review of when they came out last time here. It also includes the other colours which came out before.

Top: So Vain, Bottom: Woo Me

So Vain

Woo Me

Did you buy any lip products from the collection?

Jennifer x

Goodbye Google Friend Connect

Since the beginning of March, Google Friend Connect has been disabled on many blogs which are not on the Blogger platform. This includes Wordpress and others. These blogs are now seeing a massive decrease in traffic which is such a shame. They have also lost a lot of followers. Some of these blogs might be your favourites - or even your own. I'm lucky because my blog is hosted by Blogger so this has not affected me directly but there are blogs missing from my Google Dashboard which I have has to re subscribe to through another format. It is very annoying and why Google have done this is beyond me.

Please help these blogs but checking your reading list for any non Blogger blogs which may be missing and follow them through an alternate means. You can use:

Bloglovin
Facebook (if they use it)
Twitter (if they use it)
Hello Cotton
email subscriptions
Google Reader
RRS
and possibly others which I don't know of.

Also, if you are a blog owner who uses another platform other than Blogger, this will explain why you may be experiencing less traffic. Make sure you sign up to the twitter list that Lipglossiping and Liloo have created so others can see that you have been dumped by GFC and hopefully your readers will come back.

The best thing that everyone can do is the get the word out so that hopefully nobody gets left in the lurch.

You can read more about it at these blogs:
Lipglossiping
Le Petit Jardin de Liloo

Jennifer x

It's giveaway time! - CLOSED!

Hi everyone! I wanted to do my first giveaway to thank you all for following my blog and making 50 followers. It is a small amount compared to some blogs but I am really pleased to have achieved that, so thank you.

This is only a small giveaway. I wanted to get some of my favourite drugstore products which are things I use a lot, if not every day. Hopefully, whoever wins this will enjoy them as much as me.

So, the winner will receive...

1 tube of Blistex Intensive Moisturiser - a lip healing cream which does an amazing job at fixing dry and chapped lips, an essential for cold weather.

1 sachet of Montagne Jeunesse Chocolate Masque - a chocolate face mask to deep cleanse and clear pores. It is also moisturising. (I've not actually used this one, I normally go for their nourishing masks as my skin is very dry but I chose this one because it is suitable for normal, dry and t-zone skin so hopefully that means most of you).

1 tube of Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (in the colour of your choice - choose from fair, light, medium or deep). This is my go to concealer for my dark circles, it sets too so it shouldn't crease. I will buy this once I know which shade the winner has chosen.

You will NOT receive this tube - this one is mine.
I will buy a brand new tube to send to the winner.

Please choose your shade of concealer: On the left is LIGHT, on the right is MEDIUM.
If you are lighter than pictured, choose FAIR, if you are darker than pictured, choose DEEP.
For reference, I wear light. 

and finally...

1 bottle of Max Factor Fantasy Fire nail polish. Yep, the elusive shade which has become so popular among the beauty community and is also a UK (I think) exclusive.

Rules:

• You MUST be a follower of my blog through Google Friend Connect.
• You MUST leave a comment on this post to let me know that you want to be entered.
• For an extra entry, you can leave a link to this post on your blog. If you do, please leave your blog link in your comment here.
• Please make sure that you select the shade of concealer you wish to receive if you win. Choose either Fair/Light/Medium/Deep
• Please leave your email address in the comment so that I can contact you if you win. I DO NOT use Twitter or Facebook so can only contact you through email.

This giveaway will be open for 1 week and will close on Wednesday 14th March at midnight GMT. Entries made after this time and date will not be included in the draw.

The winner will be selected by random.org to make it the fairest choice possible.

This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE. This prize will not be sent with any insurance or tracking but I will get a receipt as proof of postage if you wish to see it afterwards.



Good luck everyone!

Jennifer xx

Leighton Denny Castaway Collection Available NOW!

Image from www.leightondenny.com

Leighton Denny's latest collection from Spring/Summer 2012 is out now! Go to leightondenny.com to order yours. Until tomorrow, the whole collection (all 6 shades) is available at a special price of £55, normal price is £11 each. Obviously, I've ordered mine :)

Leighton Denny is probably my favourite nail brand, the colours are effortless to apply and are very hard wearing. His treatments are lovely and his Crystal Nail File and Quatro Buffer are absolute essentials to me, my nails would be a mess without them.

Go to Leighton's Facebook page to view the promotional images and the colours applied, they are all beautiful. I especially love the look of the purple and blue!

Day out in Hastings

On Saturday (3rd March), the boyfriend and I went for a day out in Hastings, on the coast of East Sussex. The weather wasn't at it's best but it brightened up later in the day.

First we went to the Blue Reef Aquarium, they have some lovely fish in there. It was really hard to take decent photos though due to the lighting and not being allowed to use flash photography. I need to learn more about my camera to get better photos in darker places in future. The fish were so quick too, every time I snapped, the fish had darted off!

After the Aquarium we went to the arcades and spent ages playing on the 2p machines. We won lots of prizes in them! We've never won prizes on them before so were quite excited.

Then we went to the Smugglers Caves which are situated in the cliffs. It was such a trek to get up there, the steps are quite steep and there are an awful lot of them. I don't know how the people who live up there do it... they must be very fit compared to me lol! Anyway, the caves are where people used to smuggle goods into the country because of the high taxes which made things so expensive at the time. They were much later used as an air raid shelter during WW2 and they also used to hold Jazz shows in there. It was quite interesting and worth the struggle to get up there. The views from the top of the cliff were really nice too.

After that, we headed off to the shops for a bit before going back to catch the train. It was a great day and I want to go back for another visit, there are a lot of things to do in Hastings.

Martin wouldn't let me go on the Merry-go-round, he said I would look like a child :(

This is from the sea front and the cliff in the background has a lift to take you up.

Here is the lift that takes you up the cliff.

There are a lot of fishing boats

A ray in the aquarium was feeding off of the glass

I think this is a plaice, they hide in the sand

Can you see the teeth?

Sea anemones

SHARK!

This fish does crazy things to the camera

Lion Fish

NEMO!

Hi! - Hastings Beach

The view from the cliff

Smugglers Caves

This is a mysterious engraving inside the caves which nobody knows who put it there.

Have any of you been to Hastings before?

Jennifer x

MAC Shop Cook Cremeblend Blushes

I have a thing for cream blushes at the moment, I like the way they look on the skin, they give such a nice natural finish and you have the option to mattify them a bit with some powder. They are easily buildable and can be worn on lips too or even on eyelids if you wish!

There are three cremeblend blushes in this collection, two are repromotes (Florida and Optimistic Orange) and the other is brand new (Restores Dazzle).

They are all beautifully pigmented and glide on effortlessly. They blend out really easily so even though they are so pigmented, you can use them sheerly too.

Packaging (outer cardboard sleeve only - the rest is MAC's usual black packaging)

Clockwise from bottom left: Florida, Restores Dazzle, Optimistic Orange

New Look Blog

I was so sick of my previous layout so finally got around to changing it a bit. I like this much more but eventually I'd actually like to customize it properly with my own design, but until I have some proper software on my computer I can't do that. Plus I can't be that bothered doing more design and layout when I've been working at a design agency all day. I will get around to it though so until then, I'm sticking with the blogger templates.

So do you like it?

I've also noticed that I've got to over 50 followers! Thanks guys!

Jennifer xx