Haul: Kelley's Contest

Good evening girlies!

I arrived home from work today to a wonderful surprise - I got a little package from the wonderful Kelley (go to her youtube HERE). I won third prize in on of her many contests and my prize was Lush's Honey Bun Bath Ballistic.

This bath ballistic was part of Lush's Easter collection and I don't think I ever saw one here in Ireland, so I was delighted to win it!!!

Lush describes this bath ballistic as follows:

Want to have loads of fun in the bath? Share it with your Honey Bun! Molded after a traditional Japanese cake shape, it's just as deliciously sweet. It's got the same toffee fragrance as our best-selling soap with sweet orange and bergamot oils. Pop one into your basket and hop right into the tub; every-bunny loves our bunny!

I cannot wait to try this out - it smells incredible. Thank you so much, Kelley - your generosity is overwhelming! Everyone, please check out Kelley's youtube and subscribe!!!

Take care

Summer Loving: 2. BBQs

I have a very random post for you today... the top secret recipe for my fantastic homemade (gluten free) burgers :) well, it's not exactly "top secret" but the burgers are bloomin' tasty!!

Ingredients

1x Large Onion (red or white)

1x Pack of Mince Meat

2x Eggs

Photo taken from here.

Method

1. Chop up the onion (as small as possible, without chopping off your finger tips)

2. Empty all the mince meat and the chopped onion into a large mixing bowl

3. Crack the eggs into the mixing bowl too

4. Mix all the ingredients together (and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty!!!)

5. Make six (large) meat balls from the mixture, and flatten them into burgers

6. Fire up the BBQ!!

7. Once your BBQ is ready, place your burgers on top and wait until one side goes brownish before flipping them (that way, they don't crumble!)

8. I usually cook my burgers for 10ish minutes but this will depend on several things: how large/thick the burgers are, how hot the BBQ is, how well done you like your burgers!

9. Enjoy :)

I hope you enjoyed this random, non-beauty related, fun post!! Now, get outside and BBQ...

Summer Loving: 1. Floral Prints

Evenin' Folks!!

I am sure that many of you will agree with me, but one of the best things about summer is being able to wear floral prints ALL THE TIME! I absolutely love floral patterns on anything... clothes, shoes, bags... you name it, I'll love it.

I thought I'd share this obsession with you beautiful ladies today... have a lookie at some of my favourite floral items:

Left to right:

1. Cardigan (Penneys/Primark)

2. Dress (H&M)

3. Top (River Island)

4. Dress (River Island)

5. Dress (H&M)

6. Tank Top (River Island)

7. Top (Penneys/Primark)

Left to Right:

1. Black Runners (Penneys/Primark)

2. White Runners (Cath Kidston)

I selected a few of my favourite pieces for this little post... if you want to see any more of my bazillion items, let me know :)

Haul: TRESemmé Restructuring Deep Conditioner

Good afternoon girlies - hope you are all enjoying the fabulous weather this Sunday!!

I did a bit of shopping this morning (I had to pick up some things for my mama and decided to browse around the beauty section for a while... as usual!!) and I came across this baby:

It's a restructuring deep conditioner from TRESemmé for extra dry, brittle hair. I have been having major problems with my hair lately... the hot weather, combined with near-constant styling, has left it very dry and lacklustre. It gets very frizzy, especially when left to dry naturally, and it gets greasy really, really quickly!! This is really distressing because I have never had problems like this before - my hair has always been healthy and durable.

The blurb on the tub says: "professional performance formula enriched with vitamins restructures hair, protecting it from split ends and breakage. Ideal for those who regularly use heat styling tools. Hair is left silky soft, shiny and tangle free"

The recommended use is to apply, after shampooing, to towel dried hair, leave it for up to five minutes and rinse it out. The product should be concentrated on the ends of your hair (where split ends are likely to occur).

I shall be trying this product out, and will get back to you with a review soon!! If any of you have been having similar problems, please let me know... and let me know if you found anything to help your hair - I'm desperate!!

100 Follower Giveaway

Good evening ladies... it's giveaway time!! You might be aware that I recently hit the 100 followers mark on here and I'm bloomin' delighted!! I never even imagined that 10 people would listen to me ramble on and on, let alone 100. So... to celebrate I'm giving away a few prizes to one of you ladies...

The Prizes

1. Hello Kitty Mirror Compact from Urban Outfitters

2. Honey Bee Bath Ballistic from Lush

3. Kimberly Girls Aloud False Lashes

4. A Mac Eyeshadow of your choosing!

The Rules

 To enter, simply comment below and tell me what blog posts you most enjoy reading!

However....

1. You must be a follower of this blog

 2. You can only enter once, so please don't spam :)

3. You must be over 18, or have parental permission

3. One additional entry if you tweet about this giveaway (please leave a link in the comments if you do this, and make sure you're following my twitter... @susyxxxx)

4. Two additional entries if you blog about this giveaway (a link in the sidebar is fine but please leave a link to your in the comments)

5. The closing date for entries is Midnight (GMT) on 12/July/2010

6. The giveaway is open internationally

 7. If possible, please leave your email addy in your comment so that I can get the prize to you, if you win!!

I am really grateful for all the support I have received, and this is just my little way to give back to all you wonderful ladies!! I will select a winner at random on July 12/13 on random.org and send out the prizes as soon as possible. Good luck

Benefit/Glamour Haul

Hello ladies... I have a mini "haul" for you all today...and I apologise in advance for the photo quality - I'm waiting for my digital camera to be fixed!! This week the July issue of Glamour came out and there was a free Benefit product with each magazine. The three products were:

1. It Stick (concealer)

2. Eye Bright (brightener)

3. Bad Gal (eye liner)

This products have an RRP of £45 (in the region of €55-60) and it is insane to think that you could pick up all three for under €10!! My wonderful mummy picked me up two copies of the magazine. I already have Bad Gal eyeliner, so I didn't really need another one, but I had never tried It Stick or Eye Bright, and really wanted the opportunity to try them out.

This is the Eye Bright - an "instant eye brightener"

According to the leaflet that came with this product, "this pale pink, brightening stick is a purse-sized pick-me-up for tired eyes". It also comes with instructions, which say "for an instant wide-awake look, apply a stroke to the inner and outer corners of each eye and blend".

The second product I got was the It Stick - a "conceal it all stick"

This also comes with an information leaflet which says "this is the instant concealing pencil that disguises lines, blemished and flaws of any kind for a smoother, younger appearance. And to use this correctly you should "draw whisker-like strokes in laugh lines, crow's feet and creases and blend in with finger".

I hope you enjoyed this mini-haul... and I hope you all managed to pick up a copy of Glamour this month!!

Take care ladies,

Tag: My Commute

Good morning ladies - I thought I'd start a fun little tag... all you have to do is snap some photos of your daily commute (to work or to school... wherever, really!!) This is my commute to work - sorry the photos are a bit dark, I leave home very early in the morning!

This is the housing estate that my family live in - I start my commute here, obviously.

This is the church in my town, I take a short cut through the church grounds!!

My morning usually entails waiting at the bus stop for 5-10 minutes... bloody public transport, eh?! Eventually the bus arrives... late, as usual.

I take the bus from Kildare to Dublin, which takes about an hour... I usually sleep for the entire trip. Today I tried to stay awake and take some photos but that didn't work - I fell asleep, and this was the only photo I got!!

This is Stephen's Green... I get off the bus here!

And I walk to my office... which is here!!

I thought this might be fun... it certainly made my morning more exciting anyways!!

Hope you all have a great day at work :)

Haul: Lush, Benefit, The Body Shop and Boots

 Hello girlies... I did a LOT of shopping yesterday (ooops) but I had just gotten my first paycheck, so it's understandable... no? I think so!!

My first stop was, of course, Lush! I picked up some bath junk because I'm running really low. I got Honey Bee Bath Ballistic, Floating Island Luxury Bath Melt, and Creamy Candy Bubble Bar Slice. I also picked up their Sugar Lip Scrub in Bubblegum (but I forgot to take a photo of it... sorry)

I then trotted over to Benefit, the Body Shop and Boots. My other exciting (lol) purchases were, from left to right:

Benefit's Playstick in Spin the Bottle (this is being discontinued... *sob*)

Benefit Lip Shine in Spiked Punch

The Body Shop's Eyeshadow Brush

Girls Aloud False Lashes (Kimberly)

Hope you enjoyed this haul, I've picked up a few prizes for my giveaway, so keep your eyes peeled :)

Ta ta for now!

Moroccan Argan Brilliance Shine Shampoo

The last MyPure product review for this month comes from Lovea, a French company that produces organic hair and body care products.

The product selected for review was the Moroccan Argan Brilliance Shine Shampoo. This shampoo is "ideal for lifeless hair". It claims to fortify hair and restore sheen and brilliance. You can read more about this product on the MyPure website, by clicking HERE.

Honestly, when I first used this, I thought I'd hate it (and that it wouldn't work) because the product was very runny, and not a "normal shampoo consistency"... but I was very wrong. Once applied to wet hair is forms an incredibly creamy lather, which feels really moisturising and scrumptious. Since using it, my hair has felt a lot stronger and healthier - and I've had to wash it MUCH less often... definitely going to keep using this product!

Since I speak French, I will give you a little (rough) translation of what the blurb on the bottle says:

"LOVEA BIO's Shine Shampoo restores vitality and strength to dull and lifeless hair. The formula is enriched with Moroccan Organic Argan, which strengthens and fortifies hair. This shampoo revives tired, lacklustre hair and brings out its natural shine"

(please let me know if you want any further translation!!)

 Scent

This product has a delicious citrus scent - I associate citrus scents with cleanliness, for some unknown reason (I'm rather bizzare!!) so the scent gets a big THUMBS UP from me.

Price/Size

This product is quite reasonably priced at £4.99 for 200ml - it's a similar price to what I'd normally pay for smaphoo (I'm a shampoo junkie - I have about 6 bottles on the go at home... I like to mix it up)

Hair Type

My hair is often very dry (from overuse of heat and underuse of heat protector) but it gets greasy very quickly, and I have to wash it at least every second day, usually every day! It's naturally curly, but since I straighten it so much, it's more wavy than curly. I have medium-long hair that grows really quickly. I get my hair coloured, occasionally, with a semi permanent die a little darker than my natural shade. Overall, my hair is relavitely healthy and strong.

This product added (much needed) moisture to my hair, without making it greasy... which was a surprising bonus. I would happily recommend this shampoo for anyone with dry, damaged hair!!

 Rating

A perfect 10/10 :)

Hope you enjoyed this review sweets

Please note: I was sent this product free of charge, but was not compensated for this review. All opinions expressed are my own - they are completely honest and unbiased. I am not affiliated with any of the above mentioned companies.