Deco cases and mirrors

Hey!

Once again, I apologise for the total lack of updates, I have been pretty busy with stuff going on in my life at the moment.

I did however manage to finally get the deco phone cases and mirrors finished, and photographed tonight, yay!

These are currently on sale on the CandyDoll Couture facebook fan page. If they take off I will be making more and putting a section up on the CandyDoll website shop for these! :)

Been busy

Hey everyone,

Sorry I sort of disappeared for over a month. I have had a lot going on with work and other stuff, couldn't find the time to write about anything fun!

I will be blogging properly again in the next few weeks, with some fun topics including Deco-den :D

Bye for now!

Hello Kitty comes to Liberty London

Anyone who knows about Liberty London will know that they have been around since 1875 and are famous for their luxury items and great design. It quickly became famous for its iconic Liberty fabrics which were used for both fashion and home furnishings.

In the early 1960's it brought about it's flair for fashion and Art Nouveau became big again with Liberty adapting their furnishing designs from their archive.

Liberty is now the leading department store in London, selling modern fashions alongside its traditional classics.

Image from Liberty Archive

On the 26nd September 2011 they will be launching their newest range, a collaboration with the world famous Hello Kitty! Among their new Hello Kitty range they have come up with 5 original prints: Kakurenbo, based on a floral design from 1933 that has been reproduced throughout the years; Kitty Town, took from an original print in 1969; Kitty Wonderland, redrawn from a 2008 spring summer design called Orchid Garden; Music Festival, reworked from a design from 1978 called Kuovi and Apple Tree, which is inspired by a design of apples from 1934.

These beautiful designs will be adorning a range of products which include cosmetics, stationery, toiletries, tote bags, umbrellas, plush keyrings, iPhone cases, alarm clocks, jewellery boxes and travel sets!

I am so excited about this range, as I love Hello Kitty and I have a passion for textile design. This collection will be available for only 2 weeks, running from 26th September and their is a rumour that the Hello Kitty Liberty Art Fabrics will be available for pre-order online soon, so keep your eye out for them!

For more information and pictures check out these links:-

Liberty London

Daily Mail article

CEW (UK) 2011 Winners box

Hi everyone!

A while ago I mentioned a website called Latest in Beauty. They provide beauty samples and luxury samples for very small prices. They do a monthly box for only £1 (bargain!) where you can pick 3 samples, and if you like them you can purchase full size products from their online shop!

They have just introduced a new section to their site called "themed boxes". Of course I ordered their first one as soon as I found out as it was a total bargain for only £4.95 with free p+p! The idea is that they will bring out a themed box six times a year, which will contain seasonal picks, products designed for a specific beauty issue or a branded box in conjunction with a retailer.

Here is the list of their 6 boxes for the next year:-

* The 2011 CEW Beauty Insiders Choice Award Winners Box

* The Party Prep Box

* The New Year, New You Box

* The Spring Clean Your Beauty Regime Box

* The Endless Summer Box

* The Fall into Winter Box

I was really impressed at how quickly they dispatched my box, I think I only had about 3 days to wait from ordering to receiving it! Unfortunately my ever so kind postman decided to jam the box in my post box which resulted in it actually getting stuck and completely ripped one side (idiot!). I had to actually pull it back out from the front door as it was completely stuck! Does anyone else have such useless postmen?

As the title of the post says, the first box is the CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) UK. The box contains some key products from the CEW awards in sample sizes.

"The Cosmetic Executive Women Beauty Awards were introduced in the UK in 2006 to recognise outstanding innovation and creativity in beauty products. The winning products are voted for by the members of CEW (UK) – beauty insiders, women who work in the industry. The Awards are considered a showcase for new and exciting products, as well as some great classics. Winning products are allowed to carry the “Beauty Insider’s Choice Winners Seal” which tells the consumer when she buys this product she has chosen wisely." (http://www.latestinbeauty.com/sub/get-our-first-box/)

The good thing about this box is you know what you are getting, so you wont get any unwanted surprises.

Okay, so onto the goodies!! In the box I received a 15ml tube of Clarins Multi-Active Day Early Wrinkle correction cream, 50ml can of Batiste Dry shampoo (fragrance may vary), 15ml tube of Nivea for Men Q10 revitalising gel, Balance Me Rose Otto Body Wash (other boxes may contain the Balance Me Hydrating Rose Otto and Shea Butter Salve), Dr. Organic Rose Otto skin lotion-5ml sachet and a sachet of Lanolips 101 Ointment. I can't get over how cheap this box was, as the products are all worth over £20!!

I am really excited to try the Clarins cream, as sadly I have started to get lines on my forehead (okay well I am 24 I guess!) and have been wanting to try an anti-wrinkle cream for a while now. I reckon it will be good, although if I decide to get a full size I will need some money as its about £39 for a full size tube (eek!). The Nivea for Men gel will be getting tested by my other half, as he suffers from dry and tired skin. As I already use Batiste this will come in handy for my handbag, as it's just the right size, and I will be having a pamper night soon where I will test out the other samples!

I will post my reviews on these products in about 2-3 weeks, which should give me enough time to try them all properly. I would definitely recommend this site to anyone who loves trying new beauty products out, as it is by far the cheapest and now that they will be bringing out their themed boxes I think it just adds so much to their company. I also like the fact that all orders are one off payments, so their is no subscription fee like Boudoir Prive and Glossy Box.

Nail polish treats

Hey!

I totally forgot in my last post to add my newest nail polishes which I got from Sally's the other day when I was in Newcastle...oops!

I had seen a post by A Little Bit of Eki about one of OPI's new polishes from their Summer 2011 "Nice Stems" collection called 'I Lily Love You' and knew I HAD to have this colour! I went on the hunt for it but instead of finding a full size bottle in Sally's they had the whole miniature collection instead! Thanks to my smexy Trade card (love being a beauty student!) I managed to get the set for a little over £6, instead of £12.99...not bad eh!?

I also decided to try 2 of the Nina Ultra Pro nail laquers as they had a special deal on them. I got Royale Purple and a pearly pale green colour (which I have just realised doesn't have the name sticker on the bottle!).

I have played around with all my new polishes and have to say the OPI's are fantastic, I really want to get a full size bottle of the I Lily Love You so will most probably just order it off the net, since I couldn't find it in any shops round here. I also love the Nina Ultra's, but found the green wasn't as bright as in the bottle. I did two coats and feel it still wasn't strong enough, so maybe this could be a colour I could apply over a more opaque green to add a nice shimmer.

I also said in my last post I would be blogging about my new "fauxnad" set. I did play around with my new stuff on Fri and Sat night but sadly on Saturday my thumb nail decided to completely rip off. I had caught it at work and tried to save it with nail glue but with the amount of swatching and nail polish remover I kept doing to my nails it gave in and came off! And in true Emma style I couldn't bear to have one short nail so decided to cut the rest off (*cries*)! So my fauxnad adventures will have to be put on hold until my nails grow to a nice length again, sorry!

I am debating on whether or not to do some Gel extensions on myself tonight, as I have my friend coming round for a set on Wednesday and want to get some practice in before then. I'll see how I feel after tea though as I am totally exhausted most of the time nowadays haha!

August beauty and nail haul ;)

Hey!

Sorry I haven't blogged for a few weeks. I think I had blogger's block! That and the fact I haven't been up to much lately, bar from working...so not really very exciting haha.

I have however been buying bits and bobs, which of course I will show you!

First off, if you didn't already know, the September 2011 issue of Marie Claire comes with a free Ciate nail polish, and Dove damage therapy intensive repair conditioner. Obviously I bought it, mainly so I could try the Ciate polish which everyone keeps raving on about. I can't complain as I only paid £3.60 for the magazine, where-as the polish would have been £9 from their site. They are offering two different shades, a deep plum/black shimmer and a pale nude shade. I opted for the purple as I would be more likely to wear this. I swatched it on my nail (sorry no pic yet!) and over my nail plate it was a really nice shimmer deep purple, but on my free edge it actually looked black! Bear in mind I only did one coat. I liked the consistency of the polish, very smooth and no air bubbles, but not so keen on the colour on my nail. I will swatch again when I take my current polish off, and do two coats (which I normally do anyways!) and see how it looks.

As I said before though, I can't complain really as I got it a lot cheaper than if I were to buy it from Ciate's website.

I have yet to try out the conditioner by Dove, but I am sure it will be fab, as I already use a lot of their products and have never had a problem with them.

I was in Superdrug the other day, on the hunt for my foundation as I have ran out (noo!). They did have it but unfortunately not my shade, so it looks like I will have to order it off the net. I did buy a couple of other things though.

I bought this gorgeous eyeshadow from the Famous by Sue Moxley in Shade 3. I had swatched it the last time I was in but didn't buy it (trying to be good and not buy things I don't need!) but when I saw they still had it I gave in! It was only £2 so it didn't exactly break the bank, and I just love how it is a shimmery green, with flecks of gold in it.

It is quite subtle but you can build it up to make the colour more intense. I would definitely buy more from this brand! I also picked up a cute lip balm in I love... Strawberries and Milkshake for 99p. It smells so yummy, and feels really soft on my lips, another bargain!

Finally I want to show you some nail products I have bought in the past week. The first is a Nail art kit from Poundland for...you guessed it... £1!!!! I actually bought this same kit at Christmas, and was really impressed with how much you get in it that I went on the hunt for another as I have nearly ran out of my old kit. Thankfully they still sell it in the bigger stores so I picked it up in Newcastle the other day. You get pearl rhinestones, normal coloured rhinestones, various shaped flat shimmery flakes, two wooden orange sticks and a nail file. They are so handy and great to use over nail polish or embedded into gel or acrylic. I probably should have bought a few to keep me stocked up for a while!

I also ordered another wheel full of rhinestones (you can never have too many!) from Ebay for £3.49. I would say that is about the cheapest I have found for them so far (I got approx 1200) as most nail sites seem to sell them for over £7 which is just ridiculous!

I have also recently wanted to try nail art stamping as it is the latest craze now. I looked around the net for ages for cheaper alternatives to Konad though as they seem quite pricey, and after seeing other girls using "fauxnad" kits I thought, what's the harm, they do the same job, but are cheaper!

I found a really cool site called MoYou which sells their version of the nail plates, stampers and polishes plus kits at really good prices. They are based in the UK and are really fast and delivering!! I decided to buy 3 nail design plates from them for around £2.99 each (bargain!!) and they were delivered within 2 days of me placing my order, fantastic!

I will be trying these out tomorrow night so I will post my results and thoughts on these then!

I found a stamper and scraper complete with christmas designs plate for a few quid from a website called Beautiful Nails Shop. This is also UK based, and she sells nail art products, gel and acrylic systems and other items. I had looked at this site ages ago as I have been wanting some coloured acrylic powder to do my 3D nail art. I use EZ Flow products for my l+p but didn't want to spend a fortune on their coloured powders, so decided to get 3 coloured powders from the Beautiful Nails shop as the site claims you can use them with any monomer. I know mixing products isn't ideal, but as I am only using these to practice with, I have no problem. Once I become fully qualified I will be buying EZ Flow coloured powders :)

Finally, I ordered some Konad polishes from Blush Cosmetics as from what I have read, using these polishes are specially formulated for nail stamping, so work the best. I will try my regular polishes as well though as I know certain brands can work too! I also bought a little tub on pearl hearts for nail art as they were on sale for 50p, and a glass nail file for my mum. I tried to get the same file as mine from vivalanails but they have discontinued theirs :( Hopefully this handbag sized file will do for her!

I hope you enjoyed my post and well done if you read it all, I think this could be my longest post ever hahaa!!

Blog sale! (Elemis, Bourjois, Barry M and more!)

Hey!

I have just put up a new page on my blog, for my blog sale! Please check it out as it has some great bargains. I have a bunch of cosmetics that have hardly been used, or never... Barry M, Elemis, Bourjois, GOSH, Lioele and more! I also had a sort out of my jewellery so there is a few cute pieces up for grabs also.

If you wish to buy, please follow my rules, and please note that if you live outside the UK P+P will be slightly more :)

Thanks!

My Daily Beauty Products

I thought I would share with you my daily beauty products I use, to create my "natural" look. I put this together in Polyvore, hope you like!

My Daily Beauty by candydollcouture on Polyvore.com

Product rundown

• Max Factor Lasting Performance foundation in Natural Beige
• Maybelline New York Pure.Liquid Mineral concealer in Nude Beige
• L'Oreal Paris True Match Mineral foundation in Natural Beige (I use this to set my face)
• NYC Color Wheel Mosaic Face powder in Pink Cheek Glow
• Maybelline Liner Express in Black
• Black kohl pencil
• Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies mascara in Black

What are your beauty must-haves? xoxo

Nail sets

Hey everyone,

I finally got round to taking photos of 3 of my sets of false nails *yay!*. Unfortunately the photos really don't do my nails justice, they really look so much better in person, but hey ho, if I figure out a way of getting better shots of them then I'll re-do them at some point.

I have put them up for sale on CandyDoll Couture, along with nail glue. I will be adding more, but am wanting to see if these will sell first.

I also got my little Beauty Box from Latest In Beauty, with my samples which I had chosen :D I will blog about them over the next few days, as I need to try them all out first!

LN Girls samples and review

Hey everyone,

So, as you know, I applied for some samples from various cosmetic companies the other week. One of those was LN Girls Mineral Makeup. I actually came across this brand through a beauty forum, so filled my details in and sent my email off asking for a couple of samples to review and try. I didn't get a reply so was thinking maybe I wouldn't get anything, but then 2 days later I received two samples in the post! :D Talk about quick!!

The first thing I noticed about this company is that they really do promote natural ingredients. There are no dyes, talcs, fillers or chemical preservatives in their products. They are also suitable for any skin type, so if you are like me and have oily AND dry skin, these are fab for it! They don't test on animals either (yay!).

I didn't ask for any specific colours but since found out if you ask they will send you a sample colour of your choice. I received two really cute little pots, one is mineral foundation in Bride-To-Be, and the other is a mineral veil in Matt Glow.

Onto the samples:-

Mineral foundation in Bride-To-Be

Pros:

*Easy to apply

*Natural SPF 15

*Lasts well without continuous re-application

*Slight sparkly sheen to it

*Could be used as a highlighter for brows etc also

Cons: None!

Mineral Veil in Matt Glow

Pros:

*Absorbs oil

*Easy to apply

*reduces shine

Cons: *Colour was too dark for me (But, I want to say, they have two different shades of mineral veil and this one is actually intended for darker skin so I'm sure if I tried the lighter shade it would suit my colouring)

After testing these products out I would definitely say I would buy from them. They were super quick in delivering the samples, quality of products are great, website is fairly easy to navigate and they also have helpful hints for different skin tones (see their asian and/or darker skin tones) recommendations!

Check out http://www.lngirls.co.uk for their full range of makeup!

New necklaces at CandyDoll Couture!

Hey everyone,

Recently I have been really getting into Deco and decided to order some supplies to make my own deco jewellery for CandyDoll Couture. I got myself some air dry clay, Racoon Honey whip cream clay (love this!!!), deco sauces, more pearl cabs and other bits and bobs. It felt like christmas when the postman came!

I decided to make some biscuit necklaces and macaroon necklaces...I also made some mini cupcakes which will be turned into earrings and charm bracelets (need to photograph these though) soon. I'm really hoping these will sell, as I need some money (who doesn't!?) and also if they do it means I can make more and more!

I also had bought supplies for tattoo inspired cameo necklaces which I was meant to make in preparation for Whitby Gothic Weekend but in the end I just didn't have the time for these, so only now have I managed to get some on the site. I have more designs which I will be adding to the shop very soon though!

You can see more macaroons and biscuit necklaces at http://www.candydollcouture.com! ^__^

Mini Make Up haul

Hey all,

My camera decided to die on me the other day when I planned to take pics of my make up and samples so I had to wait until the weekend to borrow the other half's camera haha!

As I had said in my previous post, I went shopping the other weekend, mainly to pick up some bits and pieces I was running out of such as mascara and concealer but as usual I got side-tracked and picked some other things up too!

I love Barry M make up, and their nail polishes are fab! I decided to get the Mint Green and light blue (Blueberry shade) to go with my pale pinks and lilac I bought a while back. I love how nice they are to apply, no air bubbles and even coverage, so I tend to only need 2 coats if I'm wanting my nails really bright.

I also picked up some MUA products as my mum had told me she tried their eye shadows and they were really good, especially for only £1 each! She was right! I got an electric blue eyeliner (love my bright colours!) which is really bright. It lasts really well too, I thought it would just smudge or fade but it really stays on my skin well. I also got a purple eye shadow for £1. It is very silky and seems quite pigmented for such a cheap shadow :) You can build up the colour with these so you can wear them very pale, or brighter if you want. I also wanted another green nail polish so decided to try 2True, another cheapy brand hehe. It was only £1.99 for the bottle, although I have yet to try it out and see how if it is any good.

I love perfume, and hate not having any...which I managed last month when I ran out and had no pennies for any more. I usually wear Britney Spears Curious (yeah laugh if you want, but it smells really nice!!!).

I decided to try something new when I got paid though, and was flicking through the Avon catalogue and stumbled upon about 5 fragrances that I totally loved! (The catalogue has scratch and sniff bits, which I was a bit dubious about, as I wasn't sure if the actual perfumes would smell like the page did!) I decided to order 2 of the ones I liked though, as they were both half price.

Perfume images from the Avon site

I ordered Scentini (Plum twist) which is a really fruity, summery fragrance. I partly ordered it because of the bottle though, I love pretty things! And the fun thing with this perfume is you have to shake it to activate the smell! It is a really fun perfume that is quite subtle, and it sort of feels like a dry body oil when you are wearing it. The other perfume I bought is called Incandessence, another fruity but slightly stronger and more elegant fragrance I would say. This one is better in terms of the smell lasting all day, I have worn it a few times and not needed to re-spray later in the day (bonus!).

I also received some samples of LN Girls mineral cosmetics in the post which I will blog about next time. I hope you have enjoyed my mini haul! ^_^

Beauty samples

A few years ago I used to search the web for free samples of beauty products and perfumes, it was a great way of finding out about new brands and trying them without having to buy full size products. I decided to go on the hunt again for some new samples recently and stumbled upon a website called Glossybox. Basically, you pay £10 a month and they send you a cute box with 5 samples of good quality beauty products! I'm pretty gutted that I just missed out on one, and now have to wait until September when I can get their next one, but considering you can get samples of NARS, OPI and other great brands, I think I can hold out until then!

www.glossybox.co.uk

I have however read a few reviews from girls who have received their Glossybox and not been totally happy with some of the products, but I think it all depends on what you like, some people may like facial creams but not nail polishes, others may like hair products and not lipsticks. I'm pretty much an all rounder though! I love make up, and nail products (as I'm training to become a Nail Technician!), hair care products are always handy, and I like trying new creams for my face as sometimes it gets dry, then oily, then dry again *grr!*.

I googled for similar sites that offer things like this and found a website called Boudoir Prive which will be launching very soon I believe! The idea is similar, you pay £10 a month but you recieve 6 luxury beauty samples, instead of 5!

On my hunt for samples and freebies I found another site called Latest In Beauty which again is a similar idea to GlossyBox and Boudoir Prive. The idea behind Latest In Beauty is that you sign up and fill in your details such as skin tone, hair and eye colour, skin type (dry/oily etc) and then for just £1 you get to pick 3 beauty samples that they match to your needs and send you it out in a little box called the Beauty Box! You can order it every month and they also have a section where you can order larger sizes of luxury samples at low prices. If you like what you try you can purchase full size products also on the site!

www.latestinbeauty.com

It only takes about 2-3 days to recieve your box in the post so fingers crossed mine should be here very soon, I'm so excited!

The last thing I wanted to share with you today was some beauty competitions I found. If you sign up to the Loreal Paris Beauty Confidential page there are about 5 competitions where you can win 1 of 1000 Lash Architect 4D mascaras, Golden Goody bags and 1 of 1000 Glam Shine Fresh lip glosses and more!

I also went shopping last Saturday, mainly to get some mascara as I had nearly ran out, but bought some other stuff, so I will share my mini make up haul with you tomorrow for some more fun stuff! xoxo

Love fashion

Hi everyone!

Apologies for the lack of posts for the past erm...2 months (oops!), I think I have had a sort of mental block on all things creative recently :/

First off, I decided to take the plunge and order some fake whipped cream (clay) and air dry clay plus molds/rhinestones/fruit canes etc to make some Deco sweets jewellery. I have been looking into it for a while now and really fancied having a go at it as they look so cute and yummy!

I will be posting some pictures of my creations very soon so keep an eye out for them :)

The second thing I wanted to share was fashion-related. Have you heard of a fashion brand called Uniqlo? I first came across them a few years ago at the store in NYC. They are a Japanese brand whose aim is to provide casual clothes at affordable prices. The first thing I noticed though when I went inside was their huge range of cool graphic t-shirts. They had everything from Manga prints to childhood cartoons! I ended coming out of there with quite a few tops, which I still have actually! They use good quality cotton which washes really well, plus the prints don't wear off after a few washes like some other t-shirts I have bought from other shops.

I decided to check out their site a few months ago as I have been on the hunt for some fun t-shirts for the summer...and guess what, they did not disappoint! At the moment they have various special collections under the name of their UT project which currently feature Care Bears, Barbie, Cacharel, Pirates of The Caribbean: on Stranger Tides plus even more!

The best bit about their UT Project is that all of the collaborative t-shirts are really reasonable in price!

Here are a few of my favourites (perfect for Fairy-Kei and Decora lovers):-

Carebears Raglan t-shirt A-Was £7.99, now £4.99!

Carebears raglan t-shirt D-Was £7.99, now £4.99!

Barbie short sleeve T A2-£12.99

Barbie Graphic short sleeve T-shirt B-£12.99

Barbie Graphic T-shirt C-£12.99

I hope you enjoyed this post and be sure to check the Uniqlo site out, they also have a huge sale on at the moment!!! xoxo

Photoshoot

Hey all!

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. I have yet again been working a lot, and had some

problems to do with one of my jobs so haven't had much time for CandyDoll Couture :'(

I did however get some awesome shots of my products, modelled by the lovely Miss Kitty Star and photographed by the talented Frances Lane!

Please check out Frances Lane on Facebook, and also Miss Kitty Star!

Here are a few of my favourites, you can see the rest on Frances Lane's facebook page and of course CandyDoll Couture's fan page :)

Sweet Treats...

Just a quick update to say I have added some new pretties to the website http://www.candydollcouture.com/. I have been having huge problems with Mr Site, so it took me a while to upload just a few things! *Sighs* I will be adding more over the coming week though, and fingers crossed getting a brand spanking new website that works properly sometime next month too!!!

Onto pics...

This is just a few items I have added, prices start from as little as £4.50 on some of these goodies!