My second trip to London was for a very exciting reason, I attended the London Blogger Meet and Evening She Said Beauty blogger hang out.  It was such an enjoyable day and I loved meeting so many ladies I have been chatting to on twitter for a long time and the amazing brands that were there.

After arriving in London we made our way to Meat Liquor for some lunch, now when I say lunch this was no normal lunch.  This was the best burger I have EVER tasted in all my life and the onion rings were just amazing, so big and crunchy and yummy!  Thank you to Charlotte from Lil Miss Chickas for the picture of the untouched burger, I was so excited I forgot to photograph before I touched it but we had the same.

After the finest burger to ever pass my lips we made our way to the meet up which was kick started with a trip to Selfridges.  I have been to Selfridges in Birmingham many times but the one in London is so impressive.  I visited Nars to check out the liquid liner pens and one of the counter assistants gave me a perfect eye flick.  I was walking around for a good 45 minutes looking at all the brands available and really enjoyed looking at the brands we don't have here in Birmingham.

We then jumped in our taxi's to make our way to She Said Beauty HQ, this was fabulous as it gave me the chance to see a little bit more of London, I really enjoyed the short trip looking at all the sights.

On arrival we were guided down the stairs to enjoy Prosecco, the most delicious little cupcakes and the company of some lovely bloggers.  I took advantage of the flowing drinks and cupcakes and even had a little game of ping pong with Ben, one of the She Said Beauty team.

Four amazing brands were also there for us to explore and enjoy their products.  Millie Mackintosh Lashes, HD Brows, Illamasqua and Filthy Gorgeous Nails.  This was a fantastic opportunity to try out new products and ways to use them.  

I visited the lovely team at Illamasqua first as I seen they were doing the speckled eye looks, this look is something I have been desperate to try out but not confident enough with my own make up skills, after about 2 minutes in the chair I had the amazing look!  Everyone who had the speckled eyeliner look applied looked gorgeous!  Below Sophia from Tattooed Tea Lady and Georgina from Make Up Pixie and myself enjoy the Illamasqua treatment

I had some Millie Mackintosh Lashes applied, which was the quickest and easiest application of false lashes EVER, thanks to Steve. These have really impressed me, Im awful at applying false lashes but love the effect these give and I had mine on for about six hours before I took them off and there were no signs of lifting at the corners.  I chose the style 'Shoreditch' as they were very full and thick, each little set come with tweezers and glue. Below Ellie from Ellie's Ramblings and myself with our Mills Mackintosh Lashes.

The last, but certainly not least, treatment that I enjoyed was a little brow filling in from the lovely Kristina at Hd Brows.  My brows are my least favourite part of my make up application and i dread it everyday.  this lovely lady has restored my confidence with a new way of filling in my brows and also convinced me to go for the full HD Brows treatment as all of the tiny hairs that I normally hate could actually be tinted and help me achieve a fuller looking brow, thank you so much Kristina for the guidance as Im booked in for next month and I cannot wait.  Below here I am with my newly filled in HD Brows.

 Thank you very much to the amazing Sophia for inviting me and She Said Beauty for putting on this enjoyable event for all of us.

Lots of Love

Gem

x

Recently I have becoming so much more experimental with eye make up so I have decided to start a weekly post showing you which look has been my favourite of that week.  I will try to do a tutorial on how I achieved the look and which products I used, I am by no means professional but just thought Id show you how I do it.

 

Purple Passion

 

This week the reason I decided to use purples is because I have green eyes and I have always found purple really brings out the green in my eyes and makes them pop.

 

Step 1. Cover your eyelid in your favourite eyeshadow primer, I chose MUA's professional eye primer.

Step 2. Using an all over shadow brush, apply the forth shade on the bottom on the MUA Pretty Pastels Palette, all over your lid

Step 3. Using a thiner shadow brush, apply the first shade in the MUA Poptastic Palette, in the crease of your eye and blend well

Step 4. Highlight your browbone, I used Benefit's High Brow Glow under my eyebrow with a sweep of the first shade in the MUA Pretty Pastels Palette.

Step 5. Apply a thin line along your bottom lashes of Barry M Supersoft Crayon in No.5 and blend with a smudge brush.

Step 5. Create a medium thickness black line along your top lash line using your favourite liquid liner I used Rimmel's Exaggerate Liquid Eye Liner

Step 6. Use a white liner pencil along your waterline to give the illusion of wider eyes, I used Bourjous Noir & Blanc Eyeliner Pencil(just the blanc side)

Step 7. Coat your lashes in mascara, I used Loreal Volume Million Lashes and Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp.

Step 8. You should end up with a finished result as below

 

 

 Hope you enjoyed this post

 

Lots of love

 

Gem

 

xxx

On Sunday it was my boyfriend's cousin's little boy's Christening, wow what a mouthful. The perfect excuse to dress up.  Adam(the boyfriend) and myself were honoured to be asked to be Godparents, so knowing that I was going to be standing in front of the whole family I made an extra special effort to look nice and wear something different.

I love this dress so much, it was such a bargain at only £10 in a sale in my Outfit(the one with Topshop, Miss Selfridge, etc.) store but I cant remember which shop, I have worn it once before so wearing it for the Christening was a must.  My shoes were £6 from Matalan, they have some great cheap and cheerful pumps and boots in at the moment.  My bag was also from Matalan (I work right next door to matalan now..can you tell) it was only £3 and I do not have a satchel type bag so this filled the gap in my wardrobe for now.

 

On my face

Benefit Porefessional

Collection Lasting perfection Concealer

Clinique Stay Matte Oil Free Foundation

MUA pressed powder shade 2

MUA bronzed perfection to contour

MUA Blush shade 2

 

On my Eyes/Eyebrows

MUA Professional Eye Primer

MUA  Pretty Pastels palette

MUA Poptastic palette

Loreal Volume Million Lashes

Benefit High Brow Glow

Hd Brows Palette 'Vamp'

Benefit Speed Brow

 

On my Lips

Mac 'Angel'

Mac Plushglass 'Ample Pink'

 

Yesterday I received July's Glossy Box and to be honest out of the three boxes I have recieved it looked the best, every product at first glance looked amazing.

  Unfortunately the delight was short lived as I started to unpack the box and investigate the products more it turned out 3 products did not match up to my beauty profile making them useless to me.

In the Box

Jelly Pong Pong Irish Cream Pavlova Lip Frosting

'A multifunctional cream gloss.'
I was delighted to see this full size product in my box as the packaging looked sweet and trying it out on my lips for the first time was a treat, it smelled good enough to have a wee taste. It is a beautiful pink shade and adds just a hint of colour to lips, you can also use on your cheeks for a lit from within glow, although as it is very pink I don't think I would use on my cheeks.

Monu Golden Glow

'This moisturising treatment for the face and body provides a safe, natural looking tan in just 3-5 hours.'

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference
Skin Balancing Skincare for Combination Skin

 'Skin Balancing line works to keep skin looking revitalised and healthy'
These samples were a bonus item in my box this month which would have been fabulous if they were targeted for my oily skin type.  Unfortunately they are for combination skin so are completely wasted to me.  This is just one example of the beauty profile not being used at all. 

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference
Skin Balancing Lotion SPF 15

'This lightweight, oil free lotion helps protect skin fro UVA/UVB rays and pollution as it provides hydration all day long'

This is just a larger sample size of one of the samples above so therefor another wasted sample.  Although this sounds like it may be okay on my skin as the range is targetted at combination skin I will not be trying it because the risk of upsetting my skin is too high.

Clynol Salon Exclusive Enrich Colour Shampoo

 

'A gentle shampoo with liquid jewel extract and UV filters to protect rich tones from fading'

I have seen this brand many times in salons so it is a very well known brand but not one I have ever lusted after.  I love the smell of this shampoo it smells so sweet and fresh I just hope the smell lingers when I have washed my hair, I would have loved a sample of the conditioner as I'm a weirdo and like to have matching products.

 

HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette

 

'Give your eyes and brows beauty that lasts with this all-in-one compact palette'

When I opened my box and seen this product I might have screamed a little, I have wanted this for so long its unbelievable, I even phoned my boyfriend to tell him I had got it.  So when I was reading the back of the box and seen the words ''Vamp - For Dark Hair'' I could have cried!  Glossy Box had sent me the wrong shade of palette. This was the most disappointing thing that could have happened, it was like someone giving me a present with a warning on the top DO NOT USE.  I have found a lovely lady to swap with me as she recieved the palette better suited to myself 'bombshell' and she is better suited to 'vamp' so all is not lost. If this had been the correct shade I would have been delighted with my box but again it was just more proof that the beauty profile is not being used.

 

So I have now recieved my 3 Glossy Boxes and reached the end of my 3 month Subscription and I have came to the decision not to renew my subscription due to the following reasons:

So with that I am on the hunt for a new Beauty Box subscription any suggestions?

Love

Gem

xxx