Lush 'Emotional Brilliance' Event - Manchester!

So, on Friday i went along to Lush in Manchester Arndale for the launch of their new makeup range called 'Emotional Brilliance'. It is all now available in stores to buy! I went with the lovely Anastasia from Dainty Desires - as beauty bloggers we obviously couldn't wait to have a look look around and test the new products! 

I personally love Lush as a brand and have tried/use a lot of their products. I'm happy to see they are expanding their range to include lots of lovely, versatile makeup items. You can now literally get all things beauty from there in one quick stop! 

Anastasia having her colours read!

The idea of the range is that certain colours represent certain emotions. They had this lovely colourful wheel where you had to close your eyes whilst it was spun then pick the first three colours that caught your eye. It was a little bit of fun and the idea that each colour told us something about ourselves.

I chose 'Perspective' - my strength - which meant when decision making i liked to mull it over and try to make the best decision based on my options (which i actually think is pretty correct - i take ages making decisions). My subconscious desire was 'Drive' apparently this was something i may be lacking at the moment and i need it to move something forward that may not be going anywhere. And the third colour i chose was 'Vibrance'. I was told i may be seen as a vibrant, bubbly person to others - that's the persona i put off. Overall i was pretty happy with my choices and picking 'Drive' is giving me a kick up the bum to get things done ;)

Now onto the new items..

Above are all the colour pigments available in the range. Some are lipsticks some are eyeliners but, the idea is that they can be used in all different ways - on the cheeks, as eyeshadow - however you like! You can also mix the shades to make your own custom shade. Each little pot is £14.50 which seems slightly over priced for Lush but i guess they are multi-tasking products and seemed good quality when i tested them out (the eyeliner literally wouldn't budge!). There are very bold colours colours - bright purple, lime green, royal blue and a few natural shades which is nice too!

The second part of the range is the part of the range that appeals to me most! Oily skin + translucent powder = love! This is your more 'typical' makeup range - powder, mascara, highlighter, bronzer.
I didn't get to test the mascara unfortunately but i tried the powder and the 'Feeling younger' skin tint which is a highlighter and wow - i may have feel slightly in love. Again the products are multi-tasking the skin tint can be used a highlight (cheekbones, nose etc) or mixed in with foundation/moisturiser for a healthy glow. Both products i need in my life. The 'Charisma' skin tint was nice too - that can be used as bronzer or mixed in with foundation/moisturiser for a bronze glow.

So enough rambling, as you can tell i did rather enjoy the products despite the prices! Here are my favourite products:

Feeling Younger Skin Tint - to make you look healthy, young and glow! Use as highlighter or mix with moisturiser.

Perspective - a natural mauvey pink lip colour with shimmer - so beautiful.

Translucent powder for setting foundation into place! Great for oily skinned people like me!

Believe - the most amazing pinky, coral lip colour!! So bright too.

What do you think of the 'Emotional Brilliance' range? Will you be buying anything?

Outfit: Carat Media Event.

Hi all! Today i have another outfit for you (getting pretty good at these). Obviously being a fashion (and beauty) blogger i have to share what i wore to a fashion event - it'd be rude not too!

If you've seen my previous post (here) all about the event then you'll know it was a chilled evening, nibbling, drinking and getting lots of useful blogging tips which i aim to put into action asap!

Top - H&M

Jeans - Topshop 'Leigh' jeans.

 Boots - River Island

Blazer - Primark

So, i feel like i wear these jeans in every single outfit i do aha, but that's just because i literally do love them - and wear them - to death! They're by far my comfiest pair of jeans i own and want to get some more colours in this style.

Also, i am succumbing to a trend i never thought i would! Literally a week before i bought this top i was shouting 'I HATE PEPLUM, WHO WOULD WEAR IT?!' to the television. Then, here i am wearing a peplum top and lusting after a few more peplum style items! I don't know how i can change from hating the style to loving it so much in a matter of days. I love the lace detail in this top and the fact it isn't as structured as some peplum tops. My only complaint is, it blows up in the wind (revealing my belly) not attractive and not ideal whilst waiting for a bus on a main road!

Anyhow, let me know what you think of the outfit? Don't you just love 'trusty' items (like my leigh jeans and my black blazer) that you can shove on anytime, anywhere and still feel glamorous?!

Carat Media Event.

On wednesday i attended the Carat Media bloggers event which was based around monetizing our blogs. I thought i'd do a little post about the night and share a few pics as i learnt so many good tips. It's nice to share, right?!

When we arrived we were greeted by staff and got little name badges with our name and blog url to make it easier to identify people. We were then took up to a nice big room with nibbles and drinks and tables where different brands were displaying their items. After a bit of mingling and chatting to the brands we had a presentation by the Carat Media guys. There were three different mini presentations the first, being about how to optimize our blog search engine wise, the second being about affiliates and the third being about how to make the best of our blogs and little tips of how to boost views etc. Overall it was so informative, i took lots of notes and feel like i genuinely learnt something. Affiliates were something i was a little unsure about, now i feel more confident in knowing how to go about things.

The events twitter hash tag.

My name tag

Food & empty glasses of wine (cheeky!)

Kaleidoscope - online clothes for 'over 50's'.

The brands at the event: Kaleidoscape (over 50's although you there are some lovely pieces for anyone)   Swimwear365 (swimwear all year round)   Curvissa (fabulous clothes for curvier girls)   Matalan A/W12 prview (can't wait!)

Anyway, i had such a lovely evening, i really enjoyed it. Thanks Carat Media for holding such a great event for us northerners! 

Here are some tips we learnt:

• Don't have big long blog roll lists - no more than 20!
• Most important info should be at the top of a post, in the heading and in the first sentence of a paragraph.
• No duplicate content - keep posts unique! e.g. do not do a guest post on someone else's blog then do it on your own blog.
• Don't have too little or too much text - between 400/500 words is best.
• No random/spam links e.g. don't have a link to car insurance if your a fashion blogger.

Some of these may seem so simple but i think they are a thing as bloggers we often miss. Sometimes we forget that although it is our blog and can link/do whatever we like it may not benefit us as a blogger.