I Won a Giveaway! ..

Please excuse my lack of posts of late; I’ve been really busy with work.

The beautiful Annie over at Three Little Búhos held a giveaway recently, and I was lucky enough to win it. A lovely parcel arrived for me a few days ago and here’s what was inside.

Before I start I’d just like to point out how cute everything was wrapped! Bless you, Annie! :)

First up are these really cute button earrings. The Boy gifted me these Tiffany studs a while back and I’m honestly never without them – I feel naked without earrings! But I’ll definitely be taking them out to sub for my new button earrings though. They’re so cute and kitsch.

Next was a very cute hair slide – it makes me feel really summery haha. Honestly speaking, I’m not a hair slide kind of girl. I never put any kind of accessory in my hair but I’ll definitely find a use for this – so watch this space!

My absolute favourite item in the parcel was this brooch. I’m always on the lookout for cute and quirky things and I LOVE this. When my bank balance is – ahem – restored I think I’ll be asking Annie to commission a few of these in different colours. 

I was so happy I won the giveaway and literally squealed when I saw my face announced as the winner as I really liked the prizes. Annie really kindly put in a couple of extras for me as well!

Beauty staples

I think she read my mind as I love lip balms (I’m ashamed to say that I have about 9 in my handbag!). Vaseline has so many different functions too so it’s definitely a good all-rounder for my bag. (Make that 10 lip balms!)

Funnily enough I recently ran out of this exact Nivea cream so I’m so pleased she added it. It’s very thick and creamy – perfect for keeping luscious legs moisturised this summer!

I haven’t had a chance to thank Annie officially, so thank you very much sweetie!

I’ll be holding my giveaway very soon, so keep a lookout! :)

Lola ..x

Hotel Chocolat Competition ..

Quick post about my Hotel Chocolat goodies.

For those that don’t know Hotel Chocolat was running a competition on their FB page, giving away 90,000 chocolate prizes. I was lucky enough to win ‘The Sleekster Easter Egg Selection’ worth £22.

I went to pick it up in store yesterday so here it is.

 

Runny Salted Caramel -- So delish! :)

Did you manage to get any goodies from the competition?

Lola ..x

Ojon Goodies! ..

Earlier this week, still nursing my wounds from not getting the Ojon Damage Reverse Hair Serum, I headed over to Beauty Box Swaps to see if there was anyone who was crazy enough not to want it.

I did find the lovely Nora who swapped items from my dud Harrods Glossy Box for her Ojon Serums and I was content. But whilst I was searching, somebody (can’t remember who!) posted that Ojon had announced a special giveaway code for their FB fans. Any orders made on the online store would get a free 250ml bottle of their Damage Reverse Shampoo and Conditioner and free delivery.

I’m trying to save money at the moment so I immediately told myself no – but I of course caved in after five minutes, reasoning that the cheapest item on the website was only £6! Needless to say the deal was snapped up pretty quickly so I was glad I took the plunge!

So anyway, I had a knock at the door the other day and was presented with a huge box …

When I saw Ojon on the top I was surprised that the delivery was so quick – but less time pondering and more time ripping open parcels!

IN THE BOX:

Damage Reverse Restorative Shampoo 250ml – Worth £20

Damage Reverse Restorative Conditioner 250ml – Worth £21.50

Dry Recovery Hydrating Conditioner – Worth £6 (Paid for)

Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment – Sample size worth £2.56

Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment Plus – Sample size worth £2.60

Now I read that they were 250ml, but it didn’t occur to me that the shampoo and conditioner would be so big – and my paid conditioner so small!

Slightly disappointed at the size of the Dry Recovery conditioner, not the product itself (it seems lovely and thick) but just the size of it. Can’t complain too much though, as it did come with £47 worth of freebies AND free delivery!

The sample sachets were a complete surprise, so I was extra chuffed when I got them.

Haven’t used them yet so full review to come shortly, but I’m loving the oil at the moment so hopefully they’ll yield similar results.

Lola ..x

Pop Beauty Lipstick & CK Lip Gloss

Being a very poor student I’m always on the hunt for a bargain or two and if you’ve seen my last few freebie posts you’ll realise I’ve found quite a few.

This will just be a quick review of some free lip-glosses that I received recently.

Pop Beauty Lip Lust Lipstick & Lip Gloss Lip Smoothie Duo in Petal Pink

Lipstick

The lipstick is full size, but it’s really cute and compact and comes in a blue and pink housing. It’s kind of an orange-y pink, which put me off a little at first but it glides on very sheer. It looks really natural against my skin tone but with a small amount of shimmer.

Bare lips on the left, and Pink Petal Lipstick on the right.

It's difficult to see in this picture, but the sticker says £5.

Lip-gloss 

When I was younger I loved lip-gloss. As I’ve said many times lipstick never suits me but gloss always did. I outgrew the shiny and sticky look and opted for balms instead, and the Pink Petal lip-gloss makes me realise why.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice but it tastes and smells awful. It’s really ‘chemically’ and oily, and whilst I think it looks nice on, the taste was just horrible. Now it’s not the worst lip-gloss I’ve come across in terms of smell and taste but since I’m used to lovely lip balms and salves I don’t know how often I’ll be reaching for this!

Bare lips on the left, Pink Petal lip-gloss on the right.

Think the duo was a really good freebie. Love the lipstick and would probably use the lip-gloss at some point if I could hack the taste!

Calvin Klein Glistening Lip-Gloss in Dazzle

I love the smell of this lip-gloss it’s like Fruitella! Still fairly sticky, seems like this is kind of unavoidable

with most glosses, but has a really like applicator brush and glides on really smoothly.

Not entirely sure on the colour, The Boy liked the Pop Beauty Duo but wasn’t so keen on this one. Same with me too. Plus I think I need to see it outside before I can make up my mind completely. Really nice quality though.

Bare lips on the left, CK gloss on the right.

What are your thoughts? Should I bin it? 

Have you ordered any freebies recently?

Lola ..x

A few more freebies ..

As promised here’s another freebie post, this time courtesy of Beauty Outlet Direct. I’ve ordered couple of freebies from there and can personally vouch for them; delivery is £2.95 so not the cheapest but quite fast.

You can only have one free item per order, so if you were going to order all four you'd have to pay four lots of postage.

Pop Beauty Lip Lust Lipstick & Lip Gloss Duo – Worth £12

Available in four shades:

Set 1 – Dewy Toffee – light peachy-nude glow

Set 2 – Petal Pink – sheer light pink

Set 3 – Flirty Fuchsia – sheer bright pink

Set 4 – Naughty Red – sheer strawberry red

Click here, pick your set and enter code ‘APSB’ when prompted. I got mine in Set 2 and it’s really nice. They’re all really sheer colours though so don’t expect high pigments.

Pop Beauty Eye Cake Eyeshadow & Eyeliner Duo – Worth £16

Available in four different shade combinations but I couldn’t find the names of each!

Click here, pick your shade and enter code ‘RPBE’ when prompted.

Nina Ricci Concealer & Elizabeth Arden Lip Colour – Worth £18

Unfortunately the lip colour is picked at random and they don’t mention what options you have, and the concealer isn’t for my skin tone but I think this is a really good freebie.

Just click here, add to your basket and enter code ‘WOW’ when prompted.

Elizabeth Arden Lipstick in Perfect Ginger – Worth £12

Elizabeth Arden says, ‘This lustrous, color-saturated lipstick, infused with Volulip^™ delivers brilliant moisturizing color, lasting comfort and shine for a plumper, fuller looking lips. Lips look fuller, more defined ... feel youthfully smooth, soft and nourished.’

Click here, add to your basket and enter code ‘RPEAG’ when prompted.

As always let me know if you indulge. My review of the Pop Beauty Lip Lust Duo will follow! :)

Lola ..x

Review of freebies I've received! ..

Just a little post about freebies that I’ve recently received – all of they items were free but I paid P&P for all of them.

Bourjois Ombre Stretch Eyeshadow in Green

Bourjois claim that this eyeshadow contains nylon microspheres, allowing it to be “stretched and blended infinitely”. Not too keen on the colour but I want to give it a proper try before I rule it out completely.

Nivea Super Moisturising Lipstick in Big Berry

I’ve raved about this product before, but I really have fallen in love with it. It’s not as dark as it appears on the website, and glides on as a very sheer pink not purple. I liked it so much that I ordered another one as soon as it arrived, so I have one in my makeup bag and one in my handbag.

Revlon Mix & Mingle Lip Palette in Tango with Mango

Not my cup of tea at all. Very sticky gloss and the colours aren’t really for me. ‘nough said.

Fudge Oomf Conditioner

You get one sachet of these for free with every order from HPF so I’ve had three so far. It’s for “fine, limp hair” and my hair is far from fine and limp. I’ve been giving these as extras in my Beauty Box Swaps trades to get rid of them.

Big Shotz

Mango and Passion fruit vitamin and mineral drink delivering 10 daily vitamins at 100% RDA. Tastes … weird. One of those things you tell yourself tastes nice ‘because it’s good for you’. Probably wouldn’t buy again, but was okay to try. The Boy didn’t really seem to think so though, and I had to force him to drink the whole thing!

Victory Tea Blend N^o 1

I love a good cuppa but the sample was a bit of a rip off – 16 ‘free’ teabags and £1.99 delivery make it more expensive than a normal pack. BUT I’m always willing to try something new so I gave it a go. Really like the tea, can’t explain the taste but there’s a definite difference to my usual PG Tips haha. 

Percy & Reed Totally TLC Hydrating Mask

Got this free from Glamour Magazine this month and used it yesterday. I could definitely see and feel a difference in my hair afterwards. I stupidly decided to use a different shampoo & conditioner before the mask though, so I’m not sure if the difference was because of the shampoo or the mask. Probably wouldn’t buy it full price though. 

Clinque Moisture Surge Gel

Got it free with April issue of Cosmopolitan. I’d heard rave reviews about it and the sample was worth about £18 (!) so really wanted to try it. Applied it one night before bed, instead of my Clarins Extra Firming Night Cream and … woke up with spots all over my face! Literally could have cried. I get the odd breakout around my TOTM and a few whiteheads here and there, but I had about 10 spots all over my face when I woke up. Never again!

The gel also came with a lipgloss that I’m yet to use. Might apply it over my lipstick to see what it’s like.

So that’s it, always on the lookout for free stuff – so when I know, you’ll know :).

SO. 

My next post is a little treat for you ;)

Lola ..x