Hi there my lovelies!

Well it's the month of goodwill and sharing so myself and Slummy Mummy have collab'ed once more to bring you a big Christmas Giveaway!

This is not only for Christmas but also to say a big thank you to all my & Slummy Mummy's readers, we are truly grateful and amazed that so many people read our blogs.

Not everyone has much at Christmas, and there are many people less well off. So this prize is meant to be a gift that will allow the winner to feel totally pampered, glammed up, and feeling great! Or can be fabulous gifts to your loved ones, whatever you want to do with them, so long as it makes someone happy, that is all we can ask!

Refuge

Well, actually, there is something else I'd like to ask, while we are here! As Christmas is the season of goodwill, I'd like, just for a minute, to bring your attention to the charity Refuge. Refuge are there to help women & children escape domestic violence. Women often arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs and in a state of shock, possibly battered and beaten, with scared children. When this happens at Christmas time, mums can't afford a single toy for their children, so they wake up to nothing on Christmas Day. So I'm going to ask you, if you have a few pounds spare, if you can possibly consider helping to give a frightened child with no home or belongings, or a lonely, scared woman, a happy Christmas. There are many ways of donating to Refuge, from clicking the Donate button & donating a few pounds, to buying parcels at a set price, for example the Emergency Parcel, which costs £10 and includes clothes, toiletries, food, nappies for children etc. when they arrive at the shelter with nothing. But as its Christmas, they have a wonderful way to give an actual gift! 

If you click HERE you will find their Christmas List appeal. All you do is click on the link, type in their given list number, and you can chose gifts from £4.50 from the John Lewis Gift List. That gift that you choose and pay for, will go to a child or a woman on Christmas Day, someone who has nothing and are grateful for everything. Give them hope when they have none, show you care when they think no-one does. Show the world how YOU'D want to be treated if you were to end up in the same awful situation. 

Now I've asked you to think for a few moments of others that may need our help, the only other thing I can possibly ask of you is to celebrate Christmas with love and happiness, and wish you a caring, sharing, magical Christmas full of good things and good cheer! 

The Prize

The prize up for grabs is in the picture, and the contents of the winner to this will receive:

1. Size 12 hot pink Lipsy bodycon-style minidress with removable straps
2. New Look black patent quilted handbag 
3. Inglot Freedom Palette with 5 eyeshadows - chosen specifically by me, 4 mattes and 1 shimmer, to be all you'll ever need for a daytime or evening look, with the superb quality known from Inglot
4. Benefit Fine One One brightening cheek & lip colour for lift, shape & pop
5. Rimmel's famous Stay Matte face powder in Transclucent
6. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Cherish/devotion

Altogether these prizes are worth approx £140, and one lucky person will get this parcel arriving on their doorstep! 

How to Enter

It's easy to enter. All you have to do is to follow me on Twitter HERE, plus follow Slummy Mummy on Twitter           
HERE, OR if you aren't a Twitter fan, please 'Like' both Facebook pages, mine is HERE, and Slummy Mummy is HERE.

You MUST be following both myself and Slummy mummy, either on Twitter or Facebook to enter, if you don't follow both of us then unfortunately you will be excluded from entry. And no one wants that! When you see any posts with #Giveaway on it, you must share at least once. Each share will act as one entry, so if you share the posts more then you get more entries, 1 share = 1 entry. Again, this must be either Twitter OR Facebook, but you can do both if you like! Once you've shared, please add the word "shared" on the Facebook Status or Tweet that you've shared.

So to enter, follow myself and Slummy Mummy to be eligible, and then share to actually enter, as many or as little as you like.

If you're not sure of any rules or if you have entered correctly, you can go to the contact page on here, and fill out the form and I will check your entry for you.

Rules

This giveaway is open to UK only I'm afraid, as all items and post are paid for by myself and its just not possible right now for me to pay overseas postage unfortunately. There WILL be an international competition next year though! 

The closing date is Monday December 8th at 7pm, and the winner will be announced either that night or the following day. Any entries after that time and date will not be counted.

The winner will be announced on Twitter and Facebook, and I will DM or message you for your postal details. Please ensure you check your "others" folders on Facebook, if you are announced as the winner and do not receive any contact straight away, for whatever reason, please send me your full name and address via the contact form on this website or by emailing me on BLBeautyLoves@gmail.com.

Any entrants that are fake accounts or competition only accounts will be disqualified, this competition is to thank and welcome current and future readers and each entrant will be checked before a winner is picked.

Thanks everyone, and thank you for reading this post! 

Happy Christmas! 

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

Well this week has turned cold & blustery and has really made it feel on the Winter side of Autumn!

As I was giving myself a little manicure I realised it was time to pop my pastels and brights to the back and bring out the dark nails! So aswell as posting some pics I thought it would be a good idea to give some tips on how to make your winter polish stay put for as long as possible - the dark rich hues are bang on trend for this A/W and we all know how unforgiving dark nails can be for even minor chipping and wearing away at the nail end. My manicures tend to stay put for at least 5 days minimum with the steps I take.

Keep on reading to see what you can do to keep your polish in tip top condition! Here's a little pic of my finished mani and the products I used...

1. Firstly, do any tidying up needed, cuticle removing, filing into shape etc. The last thing you need to do before you start is to use some acetone on a lint free pad and wipe across each nail - this makes sure any grease or oils from your fingers are completely removed, which helps all the products adhere to the nail.

2. I like to go for a "gel look" finish, so I add a coat of Bourjois So Perfect correcting Base Coat. This helps level out any ridges to give a smooth surface. Base coats dry slightly tacky in order for the nail polish to adhere to it, and of course it protects your nails from staining, which is especially important when using dark colours.

3. Next I applied Essies Smokin Hot nail polish, which in some lights looks a browny black but has a gorgeous aubergine undertone which my pictures show. I love polishes that look like two different colours in different lights! I did one thin coat, allowed that to dry and then added a second, thicker coat.

4. I allowed my nails to dry for a good ten minutes - there is nothing worse than smudged nails! Then I applied a generous coat of Rimmel 3D Topcoat Clear. I use this top coat first because it really gives a smooth gel like finish with high gloss. I always recommend two layers of top coat to give a high gloss finish & to protect the mani.

5. I then applied a second coat of top coat, but I used a different one! I use Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat which is literally the holy grail of top coats! It has something in it which encapsulates all layers of base coat, polish and any other top coat, nail art etc., and it dries it through to the base. Your nails will be totally touch dry with no tackiness within 2 or 3 minutes BUT as you've used so many layers underneath, if you try to use your nails for anything, or catch them, they can still smudge for a little while, so if I have the time, I make sure my nails just sit for about 15 minutes before I try and do anything. If you should happen to make a mark, because the top is totally dry you can just try to press down gently and re flatten the polish, it WILL work! While I'm sitting there I always add a drop of oil to the cuticles.

6. The last step in keeping your mani chip free is to add another top coat the following day. Another thick layer of the Seche Vite, and this time it really does dry within minutes as the layers beneath are completely solid and dry.

The bottom picture in the image above is a recommendation for Autumn/Winter nails. Its so easy to liven up a dark nail by adding dots of gold or silver, or add a glitter accent nail, so this kit has all the gorgeous winter dark shades, aswell as metallic shades for a bit of nail art, and some gorgeous glittery top coats too. The best thing is that this Nyx Nail Polish Set in Decadent Delight is available HERE at Next for the bargain price of £20, and as you know, they offer next day delivery slots and if you order on time you can even order same day delivery, which is amazing! They also stock a really impressive range of beauty products and make up now and the prices are some of the lowest prices for some of the items I've seen for sale. Got to love Next! 😍

So enjoy your winter manicures, let me know if you've noticed a longer life on your mani using the steps above, or if you've found any ways yourselves of prolonging the life of your polish!

Take care my Lovelies!

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

I hope you're all doing fabulous and knee deep in all the amazing Holiday beauty sets, there are some mouthwatering ones out there, I wish I could go and buy them all! 

Anyway, we have a winner for the last giveaway, featuring a NYX Cosmetics palette with a row of gorgeous neutral matte eyeshadows for a daytime look, and a row of gorgeous shimmery evening colours. Ooh I do love a NYX palette, they just never let you down!

Plus the overnight tan and magnetic nail polish. The lip balm had a slight accident....my boy cat who like to destroy things for kicks, knocked the balm off my high up 'safe from small hands' cupboard, and then my dog ate it. I'm not sure if it was a team effort or just pure opportunity! Anyway, I will be replacing the balm with an alternative! 

So congratulations to our winner @Gill_Manwaring on winning these goodies & thank you for following me and Slummy Mummy! And thank you to everyone who entered, keep watching for more pre-Christmas giveaways! 

That's all for now but later on this week I'll be posting some Christmas Gift Guides for great ideas for fellow beauty and make up addicts, although there might be a few other cute little knick knacks that seep into them! 😁

Take care my Lovelies!

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

Well, as promised, here is another run-up to Christmas collaboration giveaway with www.slummymummy.co.uk.

The winner will win the items in the picture below, which consists of a Nyx The Runway Collection Palette, which is a lovely neutral set with some shimmers to mix it up from a daytime to nighttime eye; an Essie Magnetic nail polish; Burt's Bees lipbalm because everyone needs a Burt's Bees balm and a James Read Tan sleep mask - all these items will take you back to the warm, bronzed dewy look of the summer!

So to be in a chance of winning these items, all you need to do is pop on over and follow us on Twitter on @BLBeautyLoves and @SlummyM and Re-Tweet the #Giveaway tweets as and when you see them! 

Fake profiles and professional competitioners are exempt from entering as this giveaway is a thank you for the support shown to myself and Slummy Mummy! Unfortunately, again its a UK only giveaway, as it is all funded by myself and shipping prices and prohibited items means I have no choice but to restrict entries to UK only. so sorry to our "over the pond" followers, we do love you too! ❤ So thank you and Merry Christmas! (Its not too early, this is a Christmas run-up giveaway!😁)

The giveaway will close at 12pm midday on Monday 17th November, giving you all a week from now to get your entries in! 

Please ensure you complete all the parts for entry as I would hate anyone to miss out, so remember, its the big 3 - follow myself over on Twitter, follow Slummy Mummy on Twitter, and RE-tweet the #Giveaway tweets from either or both of us! That's all you need to do!

As a last note, don't forget to click HERE to read my 1st part of a new series giving examples of how to create a beginner makeup set for a teenager, or a basic kit for an aspiring Make Up Artist! 

Take care my Lovelies and good luck!

Loz 😘 
X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

Welcome to the first part in a new series of mine. After various questions and advice asked of me, equally from teenagers who want to put together their first basic makeup kit and want to know the basics about make up, and also from aspiring make up artists asking what essentials are needed to start out, both on budgets, I thought this series might be useful to both groups.

As I have tried many MANY make up sets, brands, tools, being the make up addict I am, I have quite a large knowledge base of budget and high end makeup. And I've made the expensive mistakes too, of buying items that are just purely rubbish. It doesn't matter whether its budget or expensive, both can be brilliant quality as equally as they can be truly horrendous.

So the rules are simple - I aim to keep to budget brands or the lowest priced item I think will do a good job, that have proven themselves over and over within my kit or my make up bag, they have to be good quality, they must last a long time (although there will be lots of tips and tricks I can show you along the way to keep everything staying right where you put it!), and it must be something I've used and trialled myself. If there is a high end quality product I will mention that too because, let's face it, there's always Christmas and birthdays and there's nothing better than getting a good quality, luxury make up item in your stocking or on your special day! I will be doing one type of item at a time so I can give as much info as possible. The links I give will link to the lowest priced item I've found at the time of publishing, and will only be with online retailers I've used myself and I believe are trusted.

To help save yet more pennies, I can't recommend highly enough that you register with Quidco.com who you go via to search for your shop, click the shop link within the Quidco window, this will give you cash back directly to your bank and I use it for ALL of my online shopping! Not every single shop is on there but a lot are, and those few pounds soon add up - I've received £170 in cashback from them in the last year!

Without further ado - the essential make up palettes! You can't see me but I'm rubbing my hands together because honestly? Palettes are my most favourite make up item EVER! I collect them to a degree that may be classed as slightly psychotic, but hey, we all have our vices, right?

So the first palette you'll see is the very first one I received in my student make up artist course. This one is actually my second one as I seem to have lost my original one, but that's another story! Its made by an American brand called BH Cosmetics who do actually ship to the UK, but I bought mine from Amazon.co.uk as it was quicker and cheaper shipping wise. Click HERE to go directly to it on the amazon website, it was approximately £15 inc P&P. This palette first of all is going to give you all the colours you will ever need! Its a good basic palette and has a good colour payoff and is highly pigmented. It gives you the basic shadows you will need which consist of a light matte colour for all over the lid, a light shimmery colour for the inner of the eye and the brow bone, a light beige colour for the mobile lid, a darker crease colour, and an even darker colour for the outer V or to line eyes. (Please note, this will be a very long post if I explain every term I use, but do please visit my Contact Me page if you have any questions at all about anything in my posts, or if you don't understand something, or pretty much anything you'd like to know - I am here to give advice and help so feel free to contact me using any of my contacts at the top right of this page, or from my contact form). This palette has also proved invaluable to me whenever it comes to fancy dress! Halloween, Valentines, Christmas, all the colours are here - using only the matte colours within this mixed palette of shimmers and mattes, I have created a green witch, various zombies, black eyes, bruising, a pumpkin, a devil - don't be put off by the word 'eyeshadow'! Yes, it was created to go there but it can go anywhere on your skin (although it might take a day to get rid of green tinges on little witches as I discovered with my daughter! Oops!). The only con to this palette is it is quite perfumed as a lot of these 120/188 colour palettes seem to be. I have very sensitive skin though, and it has never caused any reactions to me (which can sometimes happen with fragranced items.)

So, the next palette in the picture is the budget brand W7 and is the In The Buff Palette. This palette can be purchased HERE for the bargain price of £4.84 with free P&P! That is not to be sniffed at! Now, this palette is a clear dupe (cheaper duplicate of a high end product, with at least equal quality) of the Urban Decay Naked3 Palette (£37 inc P&P). That's not to say don't get an Urban Decay Naked3 Palette, because although the W7 palette gives equal colour payoff and results, nothing beats the buttery, creamy texture that Urban Decay manage to get in every palette of theirs - not so much in their matte colours, but always in their shimmers and frosts! And the colours, although similar, aren't exactly the same. If I had the choice, I'd have both palettes, and I do, but if you're on a budget the W7 In The Buff Palette has all the neutrals you'll need for basic day time make up, up to more dramatic or shimmery evening looks, you simply can't go wrong, and I honestly use both brands and palettes!

The last palette in the picture is the Urban Decay Basics Palette. This is a slightly pricier palette at £22.00 but will give you all the colours needed for a basic eye look, and the powders double up as eyebrow powders too. If I had the choice, I would hand pick MAC cosmetic eyeshadows and make a basic eye quad, but that would cost £45 and you'd only get the four colours - the colours you would need would also depend on your skin colour and tone so I can't recommend colours that would suit all. This Basics palette is short of the creamy, velvety feel of Urban Decay's more luxurious eyeshadows, but that's why its called the Basics palette. The palette itself is very small and sturdy so it's always one that I pop in my travel bag when I'm off travelling anywhere!

There are a couple of other palettes that are out there, they are definitely of the luxury high end of the spectrum, but having them myself, I think they actually give you good value for money for what they are, aswell as having a rich colour payoff, and quality staying power. If you fancy a splurge, I'd do it on the following two Palettes!

The first of my 'special mentions' is the Estee Lauder The Ultimate Makeup Kit. It costs £50. But this isn't just any old eyeshadow palette, its a KIT! For your £50 you get the following (and all very good, high, quality makeup, Estee Lauder are one of my favourite brands): 

30 eyeshadows
16 lip colours
3 blushers
1 bronzer
2 lipglosses
1 black eyeliner
4 travel sized applicators
Plus 2 'look cards' to give you some ideas for makeup.

I think this is unbelievable value for money, and a great entire starter kit - if you are starting with nothing I would definitely say save your pennies and get this, it has all the neutrals plus some lovely dramatic colours, but get this quick as I believe its only around for Christmas!

My second 'special mention' is the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. This costs £39. Pretty much anyone who's anyone has this palette, but that's not why it's deserving of my special mention! Aswell as being packaged like a bar of chocolate, which is just too cute to resist, the eyeshadows are actually made with cocoa in them, which is a powerful skin antioxidant, and makes all the shadows smell of actual chocolate! I would have licked it if I wasn't too scared of ruining the perfect shadows! It has 14 standard sized eyeshadows plus 2 larger ones. The larger ones are a plain cream colour which is useful for matte highlighting or for base powdering, and a beautiful champagne highlighter for your brow bone and inner corners. To be honest, I've used this as a cheek highlighter too. I like the fact the two shadows that will get the most use are larger. The other colours are pretty neutral with a few mattes and some gorgeous shimmers. There is also a pink colour and a stunning purple colour, so this covers daytime and nighttime aswell. The pigmentation is amazing, and its so soft, it applies like a dream. Although you will have to force yourself not to lick it! This is definitely one to put on your Christmas list!

Well I shall sign off with a pic below of my 2 special mention Palettes and let you go exploring the online shops. I hope this series is of use to someone and I'd love feedback or comments and welcome all queries as mentioned above. Happy palette shopping!

Take Care My Lovelies!

Loz 😘 X x X