Please Nominate Me in the Marie Claire Blog Awards?

I know that there are a myriad of beauty blogs out there, but I'd absolutely love it if you might consider nominating me as 'best beauty blogger of the year' in the Marie Claire Blog Awards. The nominations are open until 31st December and I'd be over the moon if 2012 started with being told I had been nominated!

xx

A Few New Beauty Deals!

I am being a naughty enabler again and giving you more shopping discount codes and deals - but at this time of year, people generally are shopping more anyway and any chance to save a bit of money (or be able to buy more for less) should always be shared with the masses!

First up is Boots who are offering:

 £50 off the new Philips Lumea Precision IPL device, so you'll be paying £399, rather than £450! I am about to embark on a trial of this and I'm very excited as it uses NO GEL and is CORDLESS which should make for an easier experience than some other IPL machines! It gets great reviews and is obviously a lot cheaper than going to have IPL done professionally. I think it would make a great gift, that you could either ask for, or buy for somebody else if your budgets allow!

Code: LUMEA50 Ends: 6/12/2011

Superdrug are offering:

25% off selected fragrances - Everybody loves getting a gorgeous perfume (or aftershave) for Christmas, and whilst I know it's a personal thing - some people have signature scents, and/or types of scents that they like so this could be a great gift idea. Alternatively, treat yourself... well it is party season!

Debenhams have new codes valid between today and 4th December:

Code: BTFV
Offer: 5% off Beauty and Fragrance (there is already 10% off right now, so this extra 5% is even better)

Code: DX49
Offer: 10% off fashion & home at Debenhams

John Lewis are running a price match promotion where you can save up to 20% across besuty, women's/men's fashion and accessories, kitchenware and more!

I'll keep posting as and when I get emails informing me of new offers! Happy shopping! x

Competitions - WIN With Urban Retreat!

I have found out about a couple of fabulous competitions that Urban Retreat are running and thought that you might like to enter too! I'm just going to copy and paste the details in so that everything you need to know is definitely there!

WIN!! An Urban Retreat Make-Over & A Dress From Maria Grachvogal

"We have teamed up with glamorous British designer Maria Grachvogel to offer one lucky winner the ultimate, head to toe make-over prize. This incredible prize, worth up to £2,000, includes a day of pampering at Urban Retreat’s flagship Super Salon on the fifth floor or Harrods followed by an afternoon chooising the dress of your dreams from Maria Grachvogel’s coveted collection.


The competition will run until midnight on Tuesday 20th December 2011 and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is answer one simple question, http://www.urbanretreat.co.uk/beautique/competitions/Grachvogel.aspx"

What a fabulous prize, it sounds like the perfect day going from being pampered to shopping for the dress of your dreams - bliss.

Christmas Treasure Hunt at THE URBAN RETREAT BEAUTIQUE!!

Every Friday up until Christmas we will be spreading the Christmas cheer with our very own treasure hunt, players will be in with a chance of winning some top prizes worth up to £100!

WHEN TO PLAY

Our Christmas treasure hunt will take place every Friday up until Christmas at 1pm

Friday December 2nd / Friday December 9th / Friday December 16th / Friday December 23rd

HOW TO PLAY

Players simply need to search through our brand and product pages to find the special prizes which can be identified by one of the pictures above. When the gift is found players must follow the normal ordering process and purchase the prize for just 1p (P&P is included) as quickly as possible before someone else gets it! Be warned- just because it is in your basket does not mean you have won the prize, it’s the person who processes the order first who will win!

HOUSE RULES

Players are only allowed to redeem one 1p gift per order- players trying to process orders with more than one ‘1p gift’ will be eliminated. This competition will expire once all of the gifts have been found.

http://www.urbanretreat.co.uk/beautique/competitions/festiveFridays.aspx 

So, this one requires a little more effort, but it should get you into the festive spirit at the same time. I'll definitely be giving it a go!

Good luck!

The Christmas Countdown Begins...

I can't believe it, it's actually December already(!), and that to me means that panic can now set in as Christmas is officially here (almost) and I need to get my skates on and get my gifts for people chosen, bought and then wrapped... the countdown is ON!

I'm sure many of you are also in the same predickydoodah* as me, especially if you also don't have a clue what to buy for your nearest and dearest. So with that in mind, I'll be doing a series of posts to try to help you pick some fabulous gifts for the special people in your life.

Another part of Christmas that I look forward to is partying and with that thought in mind, I'll also be showing you my favourite party season make-up, accessories and skincare to help get you through the festive season in style.

Finally, I'll also be throwing a couple of competitions into the mix, so don't forget to come back and check the site for those too!

*Mr Beauty Scoop insisted that I wrote this, instead of the more widely used word 'predicament' that I originally had typed out!

MUA Launch Standalone Online Store!

Popular purse friendly brand, MUA's standalone store/website has now gone live, meaning that if you previously found it difficult to get hold of MUA products from your local Superdrug, you now have a treasure trove of MUA products to browse through and purchase.

I think this is great as not all Superdrug stores sell MUA products, and those that do, don't always have the full range in stock. Plus it also means that your MUA goodies will arrive untouched and unopened so that you can be safe in the knowledge that they've not been fiddled with by (potentially) dirty hands!

Today they're offering their Immaculate Collection palette for FREE when you spend £8 in one transaction in the store (subject to availability - ends 20th December 2011) - the Immaculate Collection palette is worth £8 in itself so this is a brilliant deal.

They also have the raved about (and constantly sold out in stores) 'Heaven & Earth' palette in stock, for now at least!

http://www.muastore.co.uk

Wordless Wednesday - Ellie Goulding!

I'm really not sure what I think about this hair colour, it's a bit on the grey side, don't you think?

I did a post last year about celebs embracing grey hair but I still can't help but feel that there's plenty of time for grey hair in later years... or not, as I expect that I'll continue to colour my hair for as long as possible - although maybe a more natural colour when I get to that age! I just can't fathom why somebody would want to dye their hair grey!

What do you think?

Cheap Chanel on Buyapowa - RIGHT NOW!!

Quick quick, if you fancy getting your mitts on a gorgeous 'Les 4 Ombres' eyeshadow palette (shade 83) for £28 (as I am certain it will get to that price) then you need to visit Buyapowa right now! I'm not going to waffle on any longer as this post needs to be up!

Claire. x

Guy Kremer Professional Salon Style Shampoo & Conditioner!

I was recently sent a selection of products from the new Guy Kremer Salon Style Range and the first 2 products I'm going to tell you about are the 'Repair & Replenish Cleanser (Shampoo) for Colour Treated Hair' and 'Add The Bounce Rebalancer (Conditioner) for Fine/Fragile Hair'!

Now I was actually also sent the matching shampoo and conditioner for each of the products above, but since I have both colour treated AND fine hair, I thought it might be a good idea to mix the products up so that I (hopefully) addressed each characteristic of my hair by using them in this way... and I think it has actually worked!

The shampoo is a clear shampoo that lathers VERY well and feels ultra silky on the hair, with only a fairly small amount of product needed in each wash! The scent is quite herby, but not excessively so and I think would be suitable for ladies and men alike. It left my hair feeling clean and fresh but not stripped of colour or moisture - so basically it does what it says on the tin!

The conditioner is creamy and white and again, only a small amount is needed. I applied mine to the ends, then working through to the mid-lengths of my hair before using the tiny amount left on my hands a little closer to my roots. The conditioner moisturised my hair perfectly without weighing it down and left it feeling silky soft and VERY smooth.

I could not stop touching my hair after washing it, I can't remember the last time it has felt so soft and smooth (other than when I've been to the hairdressers)... and styling it was a dream, so easy!!

I hadn't actually noticed how much the products cost until I had already used them (something I try to do with new products that I try that I don't already know the brand's price point so that my opinion is based only on the product itself), and after using these, I was expecting them each to be to be around the £15-20 mark, but to my complete surprise, they only cost £6.97 each which is VERY reasonable indeed for such fantastic products.

They're available from Guy's Salon or online at the Guy Kremer website and I will definitely be repurchasing when these run out!