Monday 26 November 2012

My Christmas 2012 Wish List!

So here's my rather extensive Christmas wish list, all things which I have been lusting after!

Now some of these things aren't cheap... but then it's me so that doesn't surprise me one bit!


 
Canon 600D
18 megapixels
Sensor size and type: 22.3 x 14.9 mm APS-C CMOS
HD video: Full HD 1080p
ISO Speed Range: 100-6400

I adore this camera, I know that a lot of other bloggers swear by it because of the amazing flip out screen so you can see yourself when filming.  

It has been one of my aims to buy this camera after Christmas. 

 They offer a £40 cash back offer on Curry's website and an extra battery and remote control.  

Its a lot of money at £479.00 but I know that I will use it and plus my aim is to start taking photography courses next year!

You can buy this camera by clicking Here




This Diptyque Jasmin candle is in a mini size, Jasmin is one of my favorite scents and this true to life candle really exudes luxury.  

Diptyque really have the luxurious candle and scent market right.  And their display In Liberty's is beautiful!  

I HAVE to treat myself to this candle!!  

This mini candle is priced at £20.00 and can be found by clicking Here



I adore Glamour Magazine and InStyle, both of my subscriptions have expired for these magazines so to find a subscription for 12 months for £12.00 is just great value for money!  

You can find this great deal by clicking Here




The REN ultimate way to experience the world of Moroccan Rose.

100ml Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash
100ml Moroccan Rose Otto Body Cream
30ml Moroccan Rose Otto Ultra-Moisture Body Oil
30ml Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil

REN’s 2012 gift sets feature an Arabesque pattern derived from Islamic art and calligraphy that was inspired by our award winning Moroccan Rose range. The pattern is simple yet captures something of the beauty and vitality of nature…


This REN Rose Otto gift set is just amazing!  I have tried REN products before but never any body products and I know that REN have won an InStyle award recently for their Rose Otto range.  

The set above contains most of the Rose Otto range and at £32.00 its a great way of sampling everything.

You can find this amazing gift set by clicking Here


The Women's Michael Kors Watch MK5464 (MK5464) is available to buy from Shade Station. 

It features a white rubber with rose gold plated stainless steel central links strap, a rose gold plated stainless

 steel case and has a silver with three hand movement, sub dial chronograph and date window dial. 

The MK5464 comes with an official Michael Kors Watches 2 year guarantee.

I adore this watch I have been lusting after it for ages!!! It's pricey but worth it, I adore the rose gold and the

 white and I know I will wear this watch everyday.  

You can buy this watch from Shade Station which is a great website for £177.65 by clicking Here




BLACK STUDDED EREADER CASE from River Island 

Accessorize your eReader with this black studded case! 
Features gold tone studs and popper fastening. Height 20cm, width 13cm.  
I love how chic this is and it will go with my current handbag too!
You can buy this case for £15.00 by clicking Here



This River Island Black patent quilted iPad case with gold tone logo.  

This is also so chic, it looks so Chanel - esque and smart. 

And it has a great price of £20.00 you can buy it by clicking Here



Now i know that the case above won't fit on the Kobo Mini E-reader but a girl can dream!!

This E-reader has great reviews on the WHSmith website, and it's such a good price!
£49.99 from the WHSmith website and in white with a choice of cases.

You can view it by clicking Here

I hope you enjoyed this post?  A girl can dream!!

How have you got on with your Christmas Shopping??


SHARE:

Sunday 18 November 2012

ALLURE by Ané Dallas-Orr


My beautiful friend and colleague Ané has decided to showcase her amazing artwork.  

When she asked me to write a blog post for you all to advertise her exhibition I jumped at the chance! 

I hope you can pass this message on to any of your friends who live in the Cape Town area to visit Ané's exhibition and to see how talented she really is.

I have included details below of where the exhibition is being held as well as further information about the my friend the artist!... thanks for reading and don't forget to spread the word - we'd both love you for it!!

Here are details for ALLURE:

Below are a few pics of new ink paintings on display at exhibition. 

ALLURE by Ane Dallas-Orr opens Thursday 6 December 2012 from 5.30pm - 8pm at Grand Gallery & Shop, Grand Restaurant & Beach, Granger Bay, Cape Town. Exhibition concludes 31 January 2013.



DEGAS Ballerina


Fran - my personal favorite!


Marilyn

Stella - another favorite of mine!

ALLURE by ané dallas-orr

Born into the natural beauty of Cape Town, and raised by a mother in interior design and a father with a successful career in advertising, Ané Dallas-Orr spent her childhood surrounded by inspiring landscapes, objets d’art and intriguing design. 

With art and beauty beating in her veins, it was an easy decision to study Graphic Design at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Today, she works from her bright and happy studio in Richmond after moving to London with her husband in 2002.

It is from her childhood, and her appreciation for the beautiful and beguiling, that she draws the inspiration for her latest series of work. As a young girl, she delighted in making cards for friends and family members, depicting their main character traits with her distinctive and expressive line drawings. 

Three decades on, Ané draws inspiration from wider society; observing people, photography, fashion, music, interiors and fine art - subjects close to her heart. Her childhood technique is now refined and expanded to include a combination of sketch marks, line drawings, acrylics and watercolours that fuse effortlessly to portray simple yet uncannily realistic portraits. 

The pieces in Allure intrigue and entice, eliciting the sensuous. The tactile simplicity of a solitary black line curiously reveals the beauty of the subject matter it portrays. Magnetic, at times, steeped in vulnerability, uncompromisingly bold and quirky or even outright iconic, at others.

Allure is the product of the artist’s unrelenting passion: not just to simply capture the beauty that surrounds us, but to strip it down to its barest bones. Today’s society, in its relentless pursuit of youth and its ephemeral flawlessness, is obsessed with a beauty that can be both sterile and obvious. Ané challenges this obsession by capturing and portraying the bewitching, often elusive, qualities - that we all too often overlook - in an arresting manner that is hard to ignore. 

Throughout her work, Ané’s choice of colour captures and projects the play of light. In addition, her portraits showcase the interior world of the subject matter while her figurative and abstract collections display the emotion of observing a peaceful, ethereal or turbulent landscape. Combined with a staggering spectrum of brushwork, her characteristically vibrant palette evokes anything from a sense of dynamism and momentum to stillness and meditation.

Deploying line and ink alone lends integrity to the subject matter, bringing its true presence into crisp, distilled focus. Beauty and aesthetics are both celebrated and challenged. 

“There is space for everyone and everything in this world. My art does not hide behind anything, but rather aims to be a resolutely positive and life-affirming contribution to the world of art. I hope to connect the viewer with the inner beauty and integrity of my subject matter and draw their attention to all that is vulnerable, peaceful, charming and graceful. In a world that is constantly changing, it is art that challenges and shifts the boundaries.”  Ané Dallas-Orr

SHARE:

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Primark, Clarins And Dorothy Perkins Haul!!

A haul video for you all to enjoy this time from Primark, Clarins and Dorothy Perkins.

I hardly ever make haul videos and because of the amount of gorgeous stuff I have picked up from Primark I just couldn't resist sharing them all with you!



Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel it really would mean a great deal.

Thanks for watching! :-)
SHARE:

Sunday 11 November 2012

Look Good Feel Better - Theatre of Beauty Event at Harvey Nichols

So on the 6th November 2012 I booked the day off to attend the Harvey Nichols Look Good.. Feel Better Event.

The event looked really interesting canapés and drinks and a goodie bag too - all for £15.00.
Of course they also offered a VIP ticket for £25.00 but I just didn't want to pay that amount just to meet a beauty editor from one of the glossy magazines for 15 minutes.

Look Good...Feel Better (The Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Foundation) seems to have everything sorted out see the below information and advert about the event taken from their website (it really does look good but it isn't worth the money!! More on this later..)



                        Look Good...Feel Better, the beauty industry’s charity, and Harvey Nichols, the world’s leading international luxury beauty destination, have created the first ever series of ‘Theatre of Beauty’ evening events to run across all its stores nationwide on the below dates during November:

·         Knightsbridge, London – Tuesday 6 November (6-9pm)

·         Manchester – Wednesday 7 November (6-9pm)

·         Leeds –  Wednesday 7 November (6-9pm)

·         Bristol – Wednesday 7 November (6-9pm)

·         Birmingham – Wednesday 14 November (6-9pm)

·         Edinburgh – Wednesday 14 November (6-9pm)

·         Dublin – Thursday 15 November (6-9pm)

This new partnership and unique fundraising showcase will bring the UK’s Beauty Industry together to create a stunning beauty theatre first.

All tickets must be pre-booked via www.harveynichols.com or can be purchased in-store

There are two ticket options available...

·         £15 – entry into the event, drinks, canapés and a gorgeous beauty goody bag

·         £25 – VIP ticket holders will enjoy a personal 15-20 minute, one-to-one with a Beauty Editor from one of the UK’s leading glossy women’s magazines or national newspapers. Inside a specially created ‘Beauty Editors’ lounge, you will receive expert and impartial advice on the hottest new products, trends and beauty tips, plus a specially created VIP goody bag filled with various skincare and make-up products.

All ticket holders will enjoy:

Drinks and canapés hospitality •• Beauty counters showcasing top make-up artists, consultants and brand ambassadors •• Mini make-overs, skin consultations and mini-treatments •• Luxurious competitions, beauty tombolas, with the chance to win lots of amazing prizes •• Live Q and A sessions with top beauty experts on stage

100% ticket proceeds will come to Look Good...Feel Better

 
My opinion of the evening -

The event started at 6pm, I got to the store at 7.15pm - there were no signs on any of the doors promoting the event, nor were there any signs inside the store telling you were to go.

When I found a member of staff they seemed confused as to where I needed to go and I ended up finding a queue of people and just waiting in that not knowing what it was for.

Once I had spoken to someone holding a clip board they took my name (not asking for my reference number for the purchased ticket) and gave me a pink itinerary sheet which informed me of the various events being held on the evening.  This itinerary could then be given over to collect your goodie bag.

The itinerary sheet

I was told where to collect my goodie bag and handed over the pink itinerary card to then be asked if I was VIP or a normal ticket holder (Now I could of lied at this point and told them that I was a VIP ticket holder because they seemed so disorganised but I didn't see the point because all bags were the same whether VIP or not! and I am an honest person)

Now onto the goodie bag - the photo below illustrates why I am so upset about this event -


It contained NOTHING! two Clarins products which I received for free some weeks back from my own local Clarins counter, some fragrance samples which you can also get for free from anywhere, some sour cream and chive popcorn - which is the weirdest taste combination to make popcorn in I have ever heard of.  To say I was upset about the goodie bag is an understatement it was a waste of time booking the ticket and also booking a day off annual leave to go.  I wish I hadn't bothered!

Beauty Editors’ lounge

The beauty editors lounge was packed full of people, everyone looked unhappy and it just didn't look professional to me.  I didn't recognise anyone in the chairs, it would of been nice if the booths or tables had the peoples names on them so that you could distinguish between the different beauty editors in turn helping those that have VIP tickets to their correct seats!



Above is the beauty Mart which is a new concept at Harvey Nichols, I was interested to see what all the fuss is about and made my way up to the 5th floor to check it out.  It wasn't anything to write home about, and was just racks of beauty brands lined up with curricular tables containing products you could try.

I think they are trying to copy Sapce NK with this idea and I just didn't feel very welcome to touch anything, and besides the sales assistant spent her whole time on the phone to her plumber about a leak - which wasn't the most professional of conversations to hold while a beauty event is going on in the store!!


Even the Christmas Harvey Nicks windows were a let down, they looked as if Lady Gaga had thrown up in them, they were gaudy and brash and not at all what I would expect from such a renowned Knightsbridge store!

So my verdict on this beauty event was quite low, a lot of time and money wasted on something which I hoped I could of shared with you all and told you about new items coming through the beauty halls for Christmas.. instead I was left to try and find a glass of champagne and the illusive canapes I was promised and I didn't even end up having either of those because I was so angry I didn't want to wait 30 minutes to drink or eat!

So £25.00 later, a one day travel card and the ticket price for this event wasn't worth it, and if you hear of this event happening again then please don't bother is my advice it just wasn't what it was cracked up to be!

Are there any events that you think I should go to that will be better then the Harvey Nicks theatre of beauty?


(All Photos my own)
 
SHARE:

Thursday 1 November 2012

The Perils of Internet Dating




 I love the internet as much as the next person.. I use it for everything from ordering groceries to the odd spot of virtual shopping!  But one thing the internet has never given me is a reason to find a potential partner until now.

I set myself up on a very well known "free" dating website about 2 years ago, to be honest I don't know why I did it, I wasn't in the right head space to meet anyone and I didn't have the extra funds to meet up with anyone either LOL! I did meet one lovely guy on there (never in person) and we have kept in touch through Facebook which is lovely so it instilled in me that the website wasn't all that bad!

A few months back after finding out some girlfriends of mine had gone on the site I thought why the heck not! 



So I signed up two months ago - not really that bothered but thought what have a I got to loose?
I tested the water a bit, did a few searches for guys and then was lazy and sat back waiting for them to notice me and send me a message.  

I received a lot of messages as anyone on this site would do, and you really have to trawl through to find the people you really want to talk too!

I have been talking to a few, and although lovely the last guy who was Italian made me want to come off of the site for good.

We spoke for over a month, via email (exchanging pictures), text, phone calls you name it and when it came down to meeting something always came up.  

To say that I had an on-line relationship with this guy might sound stupid to some people but its exactly what happened.  We spoke about everything, kids, home life friends everything - he even spoke to some of my friends on the phone, and as a woman you start to conjure up how this person looks in real life, a photo in your mind comes to life and you think of them with rose coloured specs on.

This guy was and seemed to be everything that I could of wanted in a partner - gorgeous looking, the right age, driven, and family orientated you name it he had it!

But as the weeks went on of talking everything didn't seem to fit right, he let me down on days we were supposed to meet, and we argued loads on the phone.  

Now I am not telling you this as my life story or trying to push you guys into my way of thinking but after this guy and the amount of stuff I found out about him and the lies he told I really don't want any of you to make the same mistakes as me!

Please if you are going to go on these dating websites - don't let yourself get tangled up in a "virtual boyfriend"  Please follow my tips and try and keep strong and safe - 


  • Talk to guys for a week to two weeks MAXIMUM - if they have no intention of meeting you then delete them - don't waste your time, they probably have women lining up in their inbox!
  • Ensure that your friends all know that you are talking to a guy or guys - show them pictures and messages to get their honest opinion on whether its worth meeting.
  • Make sure that you have exchanged photos of all kinds as in - out with friends, side profile, height etc - this might sound extreme but you haven't met this guy yet - you need to get a good basic knowledge of them in all lights LOL!
  • If you do meet them, set a time and date and stick to it, if they cancel on you bin them! Don't give ANYONE second chances, there are plenty more fish in the sea.
  • For your first date I would recommend meeting in a coffee shop in the day time, meaning that if you do get on you can continue the date else where, but if you don't get on you can always go shopping!
  • ALWAYS tell your friends where you are meeting this guy - exact location, time etc - get them to text you or tell them that you will one ring them to give them the nodd if the guy is OK!
  • And PLEASE if it doesn't work out, don't be sad because there are plenty of nice guys out there you just have to keep looking!

I'm still on the dating website and although it's not costing me anything I am still meeting some lovely people, so far I have been on 3 dates with 3 different guys and although nothing came of the dates there's no hard feelings.  You just have to keep looking, I know he's out there for me but at the moment I am in no rush!


I hope you found this post helpful, it's hard meeting a potential partner these days.

Let me know how you have found internet dating??

I'm fiercely independent so meeting Mr Right is on my list but when it happens it happens!

(pictures taken from weheartit)
SHARE:
Blogger Template by pipdig