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!