Lush Cardiff Summer 2014 Blogger Event

I was invited to the Lush Summer 2014 Blogger event at Lush Cardiff. This was my first blogger event I got invited to and I was really excited.

I met a couple of other bloggers at Starbucks before the event. It was great to meet Claire, Charlotte, Leanne, Briley, Alice and Jo. Apologies if I left anyone out.

We all then walked over to Lush for the event. I've never been to one of these events before so I was really looking forward to the evening.

After everyone had arrived we were split into two groups. At this event we would be shown the new sun care range, the self preserving products and the perfume. We were shown the sun care first while the other group were taken upstairs to look at the other stuff.

First was the new sun care range. I can't remember the name of the lady who told us about the products but she was lovely, really friendly and was happy to answer any questions we had about the products. First we were shown all the moisturisers that had SPF in them and for the exciting part the new product called - The Sunblock.

The Sunblock is quite interesting. Its basically solid sunblock. I've never seen a product quite like it. To apply, you wash the product on in the bath or shower, rinse, then dry with a towel. It seems really interesting and I am yet to try it out.

We were also showed powdered sunscreen called Powdered Sunshine, this is really good for protecting your scalp against the sun. My favourite sunscreen product shown was Sesame Suntan Lotion. This is a sunscreen lotion that apparently helps you tan. I really liked the smell of this one, the scent of the sesame was really nice.

Then we were taken upstairs to look at the Self Preserving range of products. A number of Lush products come with synthetic preservatives in them, to give products a longer shelf life. The synthetics are safe, although a number of customers like to avoid them. The self preserving products we were shown take these synthetic preservatives out. The products were were shown were Mask Of Magnaminty, Ocean Salt, Dream Cream and Charity Pot. I'm pretty sure I heard that Ocean Salt now contains tofu making it suitable for vegans. Mask Of Magnaminty and Ocean Salt were also demonstrated on hands so we could see how to use them.

Then it was over to the perfume to have a look. We were all told about Lush perfume and all the different sized bottles it comes in along with all the different scents. I enjoyed spraying all the perfumes to find scents I liked. We were then left to ourselves to browse for any items we wanted.

Refreshments were provided by Waterloo Tea who have a tea shop in Waterloo Gardens in Cardiff and one in Penarth. They also have a place over in the Wyndham Arcade. The guy from Waterloo Tea was great, he explained about all the different tea and cakes. At every different area in the evening was a different type of tea and cake, so something different each time. Downstairs we had a cold blend tea with this chocolate cake while upstairs we had mint tea with lemon and poppy seed cake. There was another type of tea too but I can't remember what it was exactly. Waterloo Tea also gave us some orange cake to go with it.

My favorite cake had to be the Lemon and Poppy. I've never had poppy seeds in a cake before and it tasted great. Was something different.

The staff at Lush were great and were happy to help with any products. They weren't pushy or hard sell which is great because some brands get their staff to sell like that and it really puts you off. 

Lush also gave us a goodie bag with products in. I thought they were only going to be samples but it turned out they gave us two proper sized products of our choice. From the sun care range I went for the Sesame Suntan Lotion and Ocean Salt from the self preserving range. Waterloo Tea also gave tea in the goodie bag. I got their Meghalaya Autumn Flush which is a tea with chocolate and caramel in it. I can enjoy their lovely tea at home now which is great.

I got the 9 To 5 Cleaner, Love Lettuce Face Mask, Aqua Marina Cleanser and Granny Takes A Dip Bath Ballistic.

I enjoyed the blogger event at Lush. It was great to learn about the new products and try them out. Was also great to meet new people at event. Thanks Lush.

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Stargazer Hair Mascara

I'm always experimenting with different hair colors, my favourite being bright crazy colors. Stargazer sell hair mascara in a range of different colors like bright yellow, green and pink. I've always liked hair mascara and applying these takes me back to the 90s. I got two of their hair mascaras in bright pink and yellow.

The product comes in tubes like regular mascara and has a mascara wand to apply the color with. The best way to apply this is to find a section of hair you would like to color and then run the wand through it. There was plenty of pigment in this mascara so two applications was all I needed to get bright color in my hair.

The mascars only give you temporary color that washes out in one wash. If you want something that lasts a bit longer than Crazy Color or Stargazer's Semi Permanent is better for that. I quite liked the hair mascaras as you can do a lot with them. They do make your hair feel a bit dry on the section you applied them but as it is only a one wash color it isn't that noticeable. 

These mascaras usually go for about £3.00, so a good price for having bright color. 

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Sam And Nic From Real Techniques Brushes, Meet And Greet

Sam And Nic Chapman, two makeup artists from the You Tube channel Pixiwoo were at the the Superdrug Beauty Studio in Cardiff on Wednesday evening for a meet and greet. Sam And Nic have also brought out a line of brushes called Real Techniques.

I was really looking forward to this event so I got myself to the store and got in the line ready. I've heard good things about Real Techniques and I also watch the Pixiewoo channel which has some great makeup tips. I was in the queue for at least 30 mins but I think I was waiting for about an hour. It didn't feel that long and along the way was plenty of products to look at.

As I was getting nearer to the front I was getting even more excited and before I knew it it was my turn. Sam and Nic were really friendly, chatty and immediately commented on my makeup saying how colorful I looked :)

It was time to have a picture together and then they gave me a signed photo of themselves. If you brought some of their brushes with you they would have signed them for you too.

With Sam And Nic

Signed photo

I decided to pick up one of their brushes too - the eyeshadow shader brush. Also if you bought one of their brushes you got a free buffing brush. It was a really good gift with purchase as it was a full sized brush and not one of those small travel sized ones some brands give you for free.

Shader brush and buffing brush

It was a really good event which I enjoyed a lot. I'm also using my new brushes and think they are really good. I will be reviewing these brushes soon, so keep reading.

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Lime Crime Aquataenia Palette

I really like Lime Crime, especially their bright colored lipsticks, so I decided to try one of their palettes. The one I got is called Aquataenia and features 5 bright colored eyeshadows all in shimmery pearlescent shades. The palette comes in purple tin packaging with the Lime Crime logo on the front. I quite like the design and it is easy to carry around, very light and sturdy.

Lime Crime is an American brand so not many places over here sell it. Fortunately there are some UK sites that sell this brand. I got mine from Cute Cosmetics for £23.95. They also stock other Lime Crime palettes and lipsticks.

Professional-quality eyeshadow arranged by themes. Each palette features 5 coordinated shades that work flawlessly together as well as on their own. Cashmere formula is loaded to the brim with pigment & offers luxurious payoff and superb blendability. Palettes arrive encased in a deluxe purple tin.

Aquataenia is different from all previous LC palettes because it's completely *pearlescent*. Each oceanic shade is loaded with shimmer & glitter particles to create a wet, glistening effect -- reminiscent of a mermaid's tail under the moonlight -- and makes your eyelids sparkle like the sea! Can be used on eyes or cheeks. Arrives encased in a deluxe purple tin.

The colors as you can see are very bright and shimmery. All are named with sea themed names such as Nautilus Prime (Dark Blue), Coral Of The Story (Coral), Seahorse Discourse (Lime Green), Pearl-Ple (Purple) and Atlanteal (Aqua Blue).

For the bright eyeshadow lover like me, this palette is great for creating all different looks. I found all of the colors were very pigmented and blended together easily. There was no creasing and by the night time the colors looked like I had just put them on.

Atlanteal, Nautilus Prime and Pearl-Ple

Seahorse Discourse, Nautilus Prime and Coral Of The Story

Coral Of The Story and Pearl-Ple

All of the colors were great to work with, although my favourites were Coral Of The Story, Pearl-Ple and Nautilus Prime. These palettes are amazing to work with as you can do so much with them.

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Sleek Curacao Palette

As I like using Sleek eyeshadows I've been searching for some of their palettes that were limited edition or no longer available in stores or on the Sleek website. One of these palettes was the Curacao palette that got released back in 2011. I really like Sleek products, they are not expensive and the quality is great.

The Curacao palette as you can guess from the name is Caribbean themed, the colors are bold and bright, very summery (just like the Caribbean). The packaging is also themed for the collection in bright colors along with a picture of a boat in the water with a palm tree.

This palette was limited edition and is not available in the shops or on the Sleek website. I found this on E bay still new and in it's original packaging. I love my bright colors so this palette was definitely my sort of palette. It features 12 eyeshadows with names such as Blue Lagoon, Singapore Sling and Tequila Sunrise.

This palette had a great choice of bright colors allowing you to create loads of different looks. I loved to blend the colors together. If you prefer to wear them on their own then you can do that as well. All of the colors apart from Screwdriver were well pigmented and blended nicely. The yellow went on a bit patchy. Every single yellow eyeshadow I have seems to go patchy. I love my eyeshadow to be very intense and this palette allowed me to do that.

Blue Hawaiian, Blue Lagoon and Purple Haze

Screwdriver, Tequila Sunrise and Bloody Mary

Apres Midori, Purple Haze, Singapore Sling, Espresso Martini and Green Iguana

The colors didn't crease or fade, once they were on they didn't come off. I loved how intense you can make these colors, you can go as intense as you like. My favorite colors to use in this palette were Blue Hawaiian, Blue Lagoon, Singapore Sling, Purple Haze and Tequila Sunrise. 

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