Festive Beauty Offers at Escentual and Urban Retreat Beautique

I'm finally feeling festive and looking forward to Christmas. But before I sit down with a glass of wine to write my Christmas cards, I thought that I would write a quick post to let you know about some festive beauty offers which are running at the moment:

• Today (9th December) Escentual are celebrating the birthday of their lovely blogger, Emma, by offering 15% off all Dior products. In order to claim the discount just enter the code: EMMASBIRTHDAY at the checkout.

• Urban Retreat Beautique are running a 'Festive Friday Christmas Treasure Hunt' every Friday until Christmas. Every Friday, you will be able to search through the brand and product pages and track down three prizes on offer by looking out for the pictures below. Once you have found the hidden prizes you can purchase one of them for 1p (including P & P!). The prizes on offer include: a beauty hamper worth £100; a gift voucher worth £50, and a gift worth £25. Once you have found one of the prizes you must make sure that you checkout quickly, as the hunt isn't over until you've checked out! You can find more details at:
http://www.urbanretreat.co.uk/beautique/competitions/festiveFridays.aspx

All for Eve Nail Polish

I noticed that I haven't done a nail polish post in a while, so thought that it was about time for another one.

Today's Nail of the Day is the 'all for eve' nail polish in 'Eve', created to raise money for the 'Eve Appeal', which raises funds for research into gynaecological cancer . 'all for eve' was set up by George Hammer, the man who brought brands such as Aveda, Urban Retreat and Ruby & Millie to the fore of the beauty industry in the UK. This was in response to the death of his sister in law to ovarian cancer in 2008.

If you have read my blog before you might remember that the 'all for eve' lipstick by Daniel Sandler is one of my favourite reds. Therefore I was really keen to try this red polish, which was created by nail guru extraordinaire, Sophy Robson, who is the lady behind well-known and trendsetting nail looks like the Giles Deacon 'Eek' nails. I am a big fan of red nail polish, and can never resist adding another one to my collection.

As well as looking very stylish, I found that the unusual curved shape of the bottle, and the textured lid helped to hold it when applying the polish.

The shape of the brush meant that the polish applied really smoothly and evenly. I needed two coats for full coverage, but it gave a lovely glossy finish.

I love this classic vibrant red polish and will definitely be repurchasing it. What's not to love about a brilliant beauty product that also raises funds for a great cause?

If you would like to try this, you can order it from All For Eve, Feel Unique, Zuneta and Urban Retreat Beautique for £10.50.

To GlossyBox or not to GlossyBox?

The discussion between beauty bloggers on Twitter has been raging: to GlossyBox or not to GlossyBox? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then here’s what GlossyBox have to say on their website (www.glossybox.co.uk)

“With the GlossyBox you receive the most interesting beauty products and latest make-up trends every month directly to your home. Each GlossyBox contains five selected luxury product miniatures. The product range is diverse, ranging from a luxury lipstick to a trendy hair care product from a cutting edge brand. All product miniatures are carefully selected and tested by our experts. Find your new favourite indulgent products to soothe those daily stresses or to add glamour to a party night.

With the GlossyBox many surprises and beauty tips await you. Let us find the right products for your type and let us guide you through the vast world of beauty.”

So basically, five luxury beauty treats landing on your mat every month, for the sum of £10. The idea is similar to the Birchbox service which runs in the United States.

There was a lot of discussion on Twitter as to whether this was a good idea or not. Quite a few people seemed to think that they would rather go in-store to get samples from brands they know they like. However I decided to trial the service, as not living in London means that my local department stores don’t always have the new brands I want to try, and I don’t always want to order an untried premium brand online, in case it doesn’t live up to the hype. 

I think a lot of people felt it was worth trying the service at least once though, and this feeling heightened once GlossyBox started dropping teaser tweets into people’s timelines hinting that Nars products would be making an appearance in the first box. Anyone who’s read my blog (for which I’m giving you a big virtual hug to say thank you) will know that I have only recently discovered Nars products. My first purchases were two of their fabulous blushes: Orgasm & Instant Cheekbones a.k.a Sin, and I soon added a Laguna bronzer to this list. These purchases were the start of a love for Nars that I know is shared by a few a LARGE number of bloggers (Is there a collective noun for a load of beauty bloggers?) If they have got Nars products in there then there will be some very happy GlossyBox customers out there.

My GlossyBox hasn’t been delivered yet, so until I can comment on the contents I’ve been thinking about what would be in my ideal GlossyBox. Here’s my list so far:

·    Nars – Albatross highlighter; Orgasm Illuminator; any of their lip products, Sheer Glow foundation….. (here endeth this sentence before it starts to resemble a Nars product list!).

·    Alpha-H – I’ve been impressed with this brand from my use of their 7-piece Daily Miracles set from Beauty Expert so would love to try more of their range.Until the 31st May you can get 15% off your order at Beauty Expert when you enter the code LOVELY at the checkout.

·    Daniel Sandler – I’ve heard some great product reviews and have been impressed with the base brush I’m using from his range and also his Eve lipstick for All for Eve which raises funds for The Eve Appeal which I purchased from Beautique.

·    By Terry – Ever since reading about Touche Veloutee on Chic Beauty Blog and Rose de Rose on Welsh Beauty Blog I have been lusting after this brand. For those who don’t know, this range was created by Terry de Gunzburg who created the iconic Touche Eclat for YSL. Thankfully for my bank balance there isn’t a branch of Space NK near me so I haven’t added anything by this brand to my collection…yet!

·    BioEffect – I was lucky enough to get a sample of this (worth £30) after finding out about their sampling campaign via the lovely British Beauty Blogger. Whilst I was impressed with the results, I couldn’t quite justify the cost to myself (£125 for 15ml or £76 for 5ml) so didn’t purchase it.

So have you ordered a GlossyBox or did the concept not appeal to you? What products would be in your perfect GlossyBox?

My Makeup Miracle

I am sure that we all have our own Holy Grail, ‘go to’ products, and this month Beautique are celebrating these products with their Miracle Month. During May, Beautique are offering customers a variety of different promotions and competitions all focused on their customers’ miracle products. There are offers on a variety of brands including Clarisonic and OPI.

As a new blogger I was delighted to be asked to write a post for their blog. Click through to find out about my makeup miracle. I love to hear about products that other people use, so what’s your miracle product that you can’t live without?

Beautique's Miracle Month