Eyeko Bloggers Event- My oh My!

Aloha Bloggerinos,

I'm in such a ditheration of excitement that I don't even know how to start this post!

After an uppy-downy week with some really good ups (more on these later) and some big downs (like not being able to attend the MAC Venomous Villains Event because baby-in-my-tummy made me all sick and dizzy), last night was the PERFECT remedy!

I was kindly invited, by Ling from Moonbeamstarlight, to the celebrate 10 Years of Eyeko Cosmetics, at a very swanky bar in London- switswoo! This was the first event I have ever been to and despite being really nervous about not knowing anyone, it was fantastic.

I figured the best way to tell you about the event was kind of in a story through my eyes and I'll try and slip the facts in as I go, if I don't, I'll put them at the end :). I tried to take lots of snaps but my camera works best in daylight and as it was dark is was either dim-with-no-flash or blinded-by-the-flash, super!

The event started at 5pm in Angel, Islington, so I hopped on the 3.25pm train from Northampton. The first carriage I sat in had some really loud girls in talking about their plans for NYE (organised or what?!), so I moved to the next carriage which had a guy with the loudest iPod I've ever had to endure. If he wasn't a great big bald body builder type, I might've said something, but the wuss inside me held me back. The train was delayed by 20 minutes so I didn't get to Euston until 4.50pm-eeekkk! I was literally dying for the tinkleywinkley department but there was no time so I ran down into the tube and jumped on the train to Angel. I like the Angel stop because I think it's a nice name and I believe in them too- ahhh.

In my stupid head I thought, "I'll easily find the venue", but then my eyes saw the situation and said "it's piddling with rain and you don't have a clue!". Being as I was late, about ready to wet my knickers and getting my hair soaked in the rain, I practically THREW myself in a cab and away we went. About 4 and a half seconds later (durrr) we were there and I pootled into the bar, attempting to look like a profesh blogger type.

As we went in there was a huge canvass to sign with Eyeko eyeliners (clever!) and have our Polaroid picture taken. I get all flumoxed so just wrote "Wowee! Louise xxx". Note to self- memorise witty things to write on giant canvasses.

And then I was in! There were amazing looking cocktails (booo, I wanted one!), beautiful cupcakes and canapes to keep us going and it was a case of mingling about and looking at all the products that were scattered all over the room. I thought it was a nice touch to have them dotted about because wherever you looked, there was something to try and photograph. Someone told me it was OK to take them and put them in our goody bags (more on those later), so I was like a kid in a candy shop!! I cannae wait to review them all, so far, so good!

(Look at the boxes the cupcakes came in!! Wowzas!)

I had a really good chat with Ling (moonbeamstarlight) who actually works for Eyeko and she signed me up to be an Eyeko Ambassador!! Yay! What this means is, whenever you would like to buy something from their website, which you can see HERE, enter my code into the 'Ambassador Code' box (E11341 ) and you will receive a free gift with your order!! Who doesn't like a freebie?!?! Mentalists, that's who! I plan on reviewing all my lovely goodies so hopefully that will nudge you in Eyeko's direction :)

(Ling and I)

Next up I had a little visit to the Tarot Card Reader who was freakishly accurate with my reading. I love things like that and really believe them so I thought that was a really cool add-on to the evening. By the Tarot lady there were makeup, hair and nail artists so there was an opportunity for a bit of pampering. I didn't actually take this up as I'd already groomed myself to within an inch of my life (thanks rain for ruining all my efforts) but did enjoy watching people been done-up. I sadly didn't get the name of the girl having her makeup done but if it's you- hello! Let me know and I'll link your blog :)

We then had a little speech from Nina and Max who own the company and that started it 10 whole years ago, about their top Ambassadors and a competition we could do in groups. The competition was to draw the best body art with the eyeliners. I was with Catherine from Perfectly Polished and Bettina from Beauty Swot and Catherine drew the most AMAZING doodle of the Eyeko girl on my arm! Jeez Louise it was good! I would've drawn a stickman with maybe a few hearts round it hahahaha. Sadly we didn't win the competition but as they say, it's the taking part that counts.


(Catherine doing my 'tattoo' for the competition, woop woop)

Being the blithering idiot I am, I got up a bit too fast and knocked my drink all over Catherine and Bettina and wanted the ground to swallow me up it was so embarrassing, I couldn't say sorry enough!! Soorrrrrryyyy!! Bettina did you camera survive it's little wash? :(

It was then mingling time again and I got to give Zoe from Zoella a big hug. She's so small and cute that I wanted to pick her up, put her in my bag and kidnap her. In my excitement I actually said that outloud to her. Smooth Louise, smooth. Luckily, we have been chitchatting via email and facebook, so I hope she won't call the police or anything.


(Zoe schmoee foe loe and meeee)

More mingling lead me onto a play with their new range of blushers and lipsticks that are soon to be launched, with Nina the co-owner, how cool is that? She was super friendly and approachable and we even had a little chat about my pregnancy and her children, which I thought was really nice of her, to take the time even though there were so many people there for her to talk to. I CAN'T wait for the new products to come out, they are outstanding in quality and tick all my boxes for price and quality, yippe!


(Me, Co-founder Nina, Bettina and Catherine)


(Co-founder Max et Moi)


(The new Fat Balms, for face and lips, that will soon be released)


(Looookk! Open it up and there is a secret mirror and brush!! Yippee!)


(Nina holding the soon to be released blusher)

As the evening drew to an end, we all sat about chatting and socialising. I was literally beside myself with glee when I found out that Sophie from Sophie is Made Up reads my blog!!! I've read her blog for AGES and felt like I was meeting a celeb and then to hear she reads mine, well that was it, I was dither stations! We had a chirpy little chat about marriage and suchlike, lovely :)

All too soon it was time to shlep back to Angel station with my new blog chums Stephanie from Topshopprincess0188 and two other really nice girls who's names have totally escaped me because I'm useless- please comment so I can follow you and whatnot! x

And it was home time, time to mill about at Euston and then catch my train with the array of drunk men who made leaud comments about me all the way home, aahhhh the glamour!

I will be doing a YouTube video on my goodie bag (a-mazing thank you very bloomin' much!), which you can find on my YouTube CHANNEL. Please do hit that subscribe button, it's lagging behind in the blog/channel race!

A few facts I didn't slot in:

1. Eyeko Nail Polish is made in France- oh la la.

2. Eyeko Products are not tested in animals.

3. Max was born in Russia but has also lived in LA and New York, yowzas!

4. Nina had previously been using Nars and BobbiBrown Blushers mixed together to get her glow and this is what the new blushers are based on. She wanted to create a product of the same high quality but at a more accessible price.

5. Eyeko products were once stocked in Harrods and Selfridges but are now exclusively online.

6. Kylie Manogue uses the famed Eyeko 3 in 1 cream!

7. Ling's Eyeko business card is by far the coolest I have ever seen! It's glittery for goodness sake!!!

I feel so honoured that Ling, Nina and Max invited me to the brilliant evening and look forward to trying my new Eyeko products out and keeping in touch with fellow Bloggers, yaaayy!!

Toodlepip!

xx 

Get Your Glitter On!

Aloha Bloggerinos,

As October looms ahead, I think we are well and truly into Autumn. For me, this is the most magical time of the year. Trees turn golden, you get to treat yourself to lovely coloured gloves and scarves, dig out your winter clothes that you forgot about, turn on the cosy lamps and drape thick blankets all over your lounge.

I also tend to feel more attractive in the Autumn. I think this is because I feel confident wearing dark purple nails and dark smokey eyes, rather than the lemons and pastels that summer tends to suggest to us. With the festive season (by far the best time of the year) on the horizon, I also feel that is it perfectly acceptable to smatter yourself in glitter. Yes, SMATTER!

There seems to be a bit of a glitter issue though which I would like to address. Yes, children love glitter, yes, 12 year olds love a load of sparkle at a school disco, and yes, I know the rule 'less is more'. That's all very well and good but what if you really happen to like large amounts of glitter? Should you stick to the so called rules and have a light shimmer over your collar bone or a dust of luster on your eyelids? I say NO!

If like me, you love the sparkly goodness and feel repressed by the very un sparkly rules, panic not. These rules aren't set in stone like the old testament, it's just what people say. Who bloomin' well cares?!! If you can stand tall and have confidence, get your glitz on!!

There are many ways you can incorporate glitter into your look and here are my top tips on how:

1. EYES- There are quite a few ways you can go about this one.

You can apply whatever look you were going for with matte or shimmer finish and then with a small, dry brush, dab on a little bit of sparkle in the outer corner of you eyes to give a bit of joosh.

These are a selection of my glitter pigments. Clockwise from the top : Too Faced-blue irridescant, MAC- gold, Topshop- Pink, NewLook- Silver holographic.  

You could do your 'look' and then either over regular eyeliner or in leau of, apply a bit of glitter eyeliner. I have tried many a glitter eyeliner, right from the cheap 2true brand (£1.95 per item), to Ubran Decay (£15 per liner). In my shamefully extensive experience, the best brands for this are Collection 2000 an 2True. I found some of the more expensive brands to have a very thin brush and sparse glitter flecks, as opposed to Collection 2000 that has a dense line of glitter particles and a wide variety of colours.

My Collection 2000 liners.

My favourite, is the 'all over' glitter effect. I have a nifty little thing from Collection 2000 that is double ended (ooer missus). One end is glitter and the other is an adhesive gel. I apply black eyeliner, and then cover the lid (but not the eyeliner) with the gel. Then, using a small dry brush, I apply glitter thickly over the area. The gel allows the glitter to stick to every bit of skin so it looks dense. I do this look with my MAC Gold glitter pigment that I bought from a LE range last Autumn. The best picture I could find of this look is from a night out so please excuse my idiotic pose, I was a little worse for wear!! To add the extra wow factor to this look, I wear false lashes too. What I will say, is this is a rather full on look, so it's not for daywear!

2. LIPS- Like eyes, lips are a very versatile face part for cosmetics.

To add some lip sparkle then the obvious choice is either a glittery lipgloss, shimmery lipstick or a mixture of both. I would suggest you try sticking glitter pigment to your lips though, it would be a bit weird and scratchy. If you were feeling adventurous you could try adding your fav colour of glitter pigment to clear lipgloss but I would ensure the glitter is very finely milled so it's not 'bitty'. Pretty much all brands will have a few sparkly lipglosses to choose from. I love the MAC Dazzleglass ones the very most because I find them to be sheeny shiny on my lips rather than gloopy poopy. I also have a regular lipglass in 'Oyster Girl', which is a nudey pink with a slight gold shimmer. This is nice as it's subtle, a good choice for the office I find.

If you have a particular favourite lipstick but want to glitz it up, just add a layer of clear sparkly gloss and your away. Beware though, if you are doing sparkly eyes, try not to do sparkly lips (unless you REALLY want too) as that can look a bit much even by my standards!!

 

3. HAIR. This is not an area of sparkle that I personally pop into, but for fancy dress, I have been known to go there.

The easiest way to glizt up your hair is with Glitter Hair Spray. This is just hairspray that as you spritz it, particles of glitter shoot out. You can buy all sorts of varieties with different coloured sparkles and you can pick them up in places like Boots, Superdrug or Savers. I don't personally own any glitter hairspray because I tend to go glitzy on my eyes or lips. However, last year for a Halloween Party (please see embarrassing story at the bottom), I wanted to put glitter in my hair but didn't want to fork out for the spray that I would never use again. Instead, I generously added regular spray and then with my fingers in a 'pinch of salt' fashion, threw on some of my glitter pigment. Big mistake! looked good for the do, took about 6 washes to get out! Use this technique with extreme caution.

4. BODY. Glitter on the body is all about quantity control. Too much and you look like a mirror ball, too little and it's not worth it.

For big nights out (oh how I miss those now I have ze bun in ze oven), I like to add a bit of shimmer to bare arms, shoulders and collar bones. For this look you have to pick your glitter wisely. In my experience, the best ones are very, very finely milled. If you have big chunks of glitter wacked across your cleavage, you run the risk of looking a little cheap, and I imagine this is not the look you were going for.

To achieve the shimmery body look you can go a few different directions. I personally use my glitter pigments and a large fluffy brush and simply dust them onto the skin. By using a brush you can control how much you are applying and build it up as you see fit. 

You can buy many cream based products that you apply like a lotion and in the mixture there is sparkle which will then be applied to the skin. I have used these previously but found them to either be drying or sticky. This is obviously a matter of personal opinion though.

Another route I take with body shimmer is Lush's GlitterBug massage bar. It smells divine, is under £3 (I think) and applies tiny blue/iridescent sparkles to your skin. Note to self: buy a new one/locate old one asap.

Hopefully you have enjoyed my glitter tips and haven't slipped into an eye strain induced coma because of the length! Mwahaha! 

What are your tippy-pips or are you all together anti-glitz?

Toodlepip!

xx

Little story as promised:

Do you remember my niece Issobelle? Well last year, I was having her a lot after school and spending lots of lovely time with her. My Auntie Jackie asked me if I wanted to bring her to a fancy dress halloween party near where she lives, with her kids and her friends kiddlywinks too. I said yes and was really excited because I LOVE dressing up! I dressed Issobelle in her princess outfit and then set to sorting myself out. I wasn't working and didn't want to shell out for an outfit so decided to pop my creative cap on and see what i could do.

I decided to go put on a mish mash of mental clothes, do crazy mental makeup and huuuggeeee glittery dragged-through-hedge-backwards hair, I was a FASHION VICTIM, taadaaa! I thought I looked AMAZING!! Even Issobelle said "wow!".

Feeling pretty confident we went to the par-tay that was being held at a local Toby Carvery (so please bare in mind regular members of the public were also there, along with the mothers of the kiddlywinks). 

Issobelle and I walked in, feeling pretty cool as Princess and the Fashion Victim, only to turn the corner and feel horror to the pit of my stomach. NONE, and I mean NONE of the other grown ups were in fancy dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was stood there in a crazy mish mash of clothes and mental makeup and they were all in the restaurant like normal women!!!!!! Cuuurrrrrr-rringe!

xxxxx

One Thousand Follower- Geeeeee Wizz!

Aloha Bloggerinos!

Today I have been temping (what I wouldn't give to win the lottery and not have to work) at the most boring job I have ever done. Let me give you a run down of the day:

Nearly die on the country road to the middle of nowhere when a combine harvester ignores basic things like LANES and MY CAR, arrive at middle of nowhere office, enter to a woman who wasn't expecting a temp (good start), sit at desk facing wall, fold letter, gather leaflets, stuff envelope, stamp. Fold letter, gather leaflets, stuff envelope, stamp. Over and over and ovvveerrr again, until I thought I might rip all my clothes off and do a jig in the table just for a bit of entertainment!!

Thankfully 5 o'clock came and Matt and I went to the Toby Cavery to drown our sorrows in roasted veg. Yeah baby.

Anyhoo, I can home and a few nice things had happened! 1, The cat had not left me any 'surprises'. 2, I have been invited to a blogger event on Thursday in London (is anyone else going??). 3. I HAVE REACHED 1000 FOLLOWERS!!!!!

Thank you to every single little follower out there who clicked that magical little button, you have made my day!

To 'give something back' (and because I have abused weheartit.com a bit too much of late) I am giving you a treat. I say 'treat' but what I really mean is a picture of me pretending to be a badger (as you do) at my last job in Liverpool. I don't know why, but I was really obsessed with badgers at the time. I even made a song. And a dance. Oh god.......Oh look, the men in white coats are here now!

1000 follower competition coming soon when I earn some pennies to splash- woop woop!

Toodlepip!

xx