CLOSED....Blog Birthday Giveaway! Chanel, Deborah Lippmann, Body America and Avon

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Hi  Ladies!  Well, it's my blog's first birthday today, so to celebrate I thought I'd have a little giveaway...  I've collected some products by some of the brands I've really liked over the past year and you can win them all!

First up, there's Astonishing Lengths Mascara by Avon.  I've recently been buying bits from Avon and I'm impressed!  Good quality products at very reasonable prices.

I bought some lip butters from Body America earlier this year and I've really enjoyed using them.  I've not tried Toast to the Coast, but I'm curious to know what it tastes/smells like - if you win, you'll have to let me know!

You may know that I've become slightly obsessed with Deborah Lippmann polishes over the past 6 months.  I went to House of Fraser to buy Across the Universe for this giveaway, but unfortunately, it was sold out!  However, I spotted Wicked Games and I snapped it up instead.  It's been a challenge not to keep it for myself, but somehow I've resisted!

This is the second sample I've had of Inimitable Intense Mascara by Chanel.  I loved the first sample so much, that I bought a full sized one!  However, I have so many unused mascaras, I thought I'd put this sample in my giveaway.  My first sample lasted about a month, so it's a reasonable sample.

Finally, I thought I'd get one of my favourite lipsticks... It's Coco Rouge by Chanel in Mademoiselle.  This was my first Chanel purchase, and it's still one of my favourite colours.  It's a pinky shade, but pretty neutral, so I think it will suit most skin colours.

Well, that's what's on offer.  So how do you enter?  Well, firstly, you MUST be a follower via Google Friends Connect.  New followers are very welcome, but not if you've only set up an account to enter giveaways.  Then leave me a comment saying 'enter me'.  Please either make sure you leave your email address, or have it easy to find on your blog so that I can contact you if you win.

You can have a second entry by tweeting a link to my giveaway, making sure you mention @bristolbeauty in your tweet.

The giveaway closes at Midnight on Friday 12th August 2011, afterwhich I will pick a winner at random using Random.org.

The giveaway is open to international followers as well!

Please note that I have opened the lipstick to photograph, as my own is now a bit yucky.  I haven't swatched it or used it though. 

Thank you very much followers - good luck to all!  xxx

June Favourites

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What's in my Bathroom? Products I'm Using Now

I love reading posts about what people are using right now, but shamefully, I've never done one myself.  So here goes...

Cleansing and Scrubbing

At the moment, I have two cleansers on the go - Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser from The Sanctuary and Visibly Clear 2-in-1 from Neutrogena.  I've only just started using The Sanctuary one, but I've been using the Neutrogena one for a while and I really like it.  I'm using Liz Earle's Instant Boost Skin Tonic as a toner, which I've reviewed before and I love.  For exfoliation, I use Origins Modern Friction about once a week, and Radience Exfoliator from The Sanctuary daily - I'm trying to use up The Sanctuary one, as I don't really like it.

Moisturising

I got two serums last week - Kiehl's Ultra Facial Micro Serum and Nourishing Facial Serum from Doozle.  I'm currently using the Kiehl's in the morning, and the Doozle in the evening, and liking them both.  I've got four moisturisers on the go - I'm using Liz Earle's Skin Repair Moisturiser mainly as a night cream, and The Sanctuary's Illuminating Moisture Lotion, Origins' A Perfect World and No. 7's Protect and Perfect Day Cream all during the day.  The No. 7 one is my current Sunday Sample.  All are pretty nice and I'd repurchase all of them bar the No. 7 one.

Shower

I'm currently using two shower gels - Nivea Happy Time, which is from my stash and is a bog-standard, pretty nice shower gel, and Body America's New York Cheesecake which I got last week.  I quite like the look and feel of the Body America one, and it has a foaming pump which I love.  However, I'm not convinced on the smell yet - it's strawberry scented, and although it contains real strawberries, it has a slightly artificial smell that doesn't wow me.  For my body scrub, I'm using The Body Shop's Shea Body Scrub which I recently raved about and I still love.

Hair

I'm using a huge array of hair products at the moment.  I'm using 2 shampoos - one from Aussie which is really nice, and one from Naked which I hate.  I really need to just finish it up - there's not much left!  I've got loads of conditioners on the go - Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, Liz Earle for dry hair, Timotei Revive, half a tube of Colour Lock Conditioner and Bumble and Bumble Creme de Coco Masque as my treatment.  I like the Aussie one - I've used it before; I love the Liz Earle one - this is my third repurchase; the Timotei one is the last of a huge stash of 6 Timotei conditioners I bought last year - I used to love them, but now I find them blah.  I've used the Bumble and Bumble Masque twice now, and I absolutely love it.  I'll do a full review shortly.

I'm still loving Morroccan Oil, and use it everytime I wash my hair.  I've got a L'Oreal Tec ni art serum that I occasionally use when I remember, but tends to be a bit greasy.  I've also got a L'Oreal Tec ni art straightening balm (not pictured) which I also find makes my hair slightly greasy.  I'm still loving Flirty Curls Scrunching Jelly from Umberto Giannini that I use when I natural dry my hair for curls.  I've got a mini Charles Worthington hairspray - I need to buy a full sized hairspray as this is all I have, raided from my minature stash.

So despite my best efforts with my Beauty Diet earlier this year, I seem to have loads of products open and on the go again.  Perhaps I should restart it to at least clear my conditioner shelf!

What's in your bathroom?

Thanks fr reading! xx

I've been hauling! Doozle and House of Fraser

Despite the fact that I seem to have abandoned my Beauyt Diet, I haven’t been too bad with my spending, so I was feeling the need to give my credit cards a workout!  On Sunday I decided to order some bits from various places, including Doozle, House of Fraser, Space NK, Avon and also a GlossyBox!  So far, I’ve had my packages from Doozle and HoF and this is what arrived

I came across Doozle a few weeks ago when they were exhibiting at a craft fayre in Wells Town Hall.  I like finding small, niche beauty companies, especially ones that are local to me.  Based in Wiltshire, Doozle makes skincare products using only natural ingredients, using mainly plant-based, fairly traded and organic ingredients, so they really appealed to me!  They are also reasonably priced. I really liked the products they had on offer, but I forgot to go back to the stall in Wells and buy anything, so I finally got round to ordering online. 

I bought the Nourishing Facial Serum which cost £5.75 for 10ml and the Cocoa Butter and Vanilla Lip Balm which was £3.75.  They arrived first out of all my orders, and were beautifully packaged, wrapped in tissue, with a little attractive cloth bag, in a sturdy cardboard box!  They also came with a complimentary drawer sachet bag (or it could be a Scented Bath Sachet) which was a nice little extra.  I’ve only used the serum once, and my first impressions are good!  The lip balm is lovely as well.  I will do a proper review on the serum once I’ve had a chance to properly test it out – fingers crossed it lives up to the good first impressions!

 

My second order was from the House of Fraser Apothecary range.  I couldn’t resist picking up a second nail polish from Deborah Lippmann – I went for Marquee Moon, as not only does it look fantastic, it’s one of my favourite song titles!  This cost £14, so it’s a bit of a splurge.  I also bought the Stripper to go remover mitts, as I found my previous Deborah Lippmann polish that it’s the hardest polish I have ever used to take off!  I thought I’d test out the professional remover and see if it does any better.  This was also a splurge at £14, but it does contain 6 mitts, which should each take off one full set of polish.

I also bought some items from the Body America range.  I got New York Cheesecake Luxury Bath and Shower Mousse at £7, and a New York Cheesecake lip butter and Vermont Va Va Voom lip butter which were £4 each.  I haven’t tried these out yet, but I love their packaging.   

I’m really looking forward to receiving the other orders – it’s really nice to have some new products, even if I don’t really need anything else!

What new products have you been buying recently? 

Thanks for reading!  xx