It's live. My five minutes of fame.

Please allow to indulge in this moment. It's not everyday that I am featured on the front page of a website. There is my photo and everything. Today, I have been featured by Spank the Monkey, aka the Buyapowa Monkey as part of the Buyapowa Blogging week.





This means that the co-buy for the Shu Uemura Smoky Layers False Lashes is live and that you get your lashes for half price (£10 instead of its usual steep RRP £20) if it reaches its best price on Buyapowa.


Buyapowa? CoBuy? Best price? What does all that mean? If you missed my introductory post about Buyapowa and the photos of what the Shu Uemura look like applied on me, you can catch it up all here.




Be quick though. The sale might be opened for the next 45 hours, but the stock is very limited. 
For my review and more photos of the lashes, click here or on the photo below:




p.s This isn't a sponsored post, I'm not being paid for this post, or compensated in any way for taking part in BloggaPowa Buyapowa Bloggers week, I am just addicted to BuyaPowa, I just love the concept and am beyond thrilled that little old me got invited to take part.

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The cutest lip balms ever?

Lip balms: Now this is something I didn't think I would write about. I don't usually use a lip balm. In fact, it's probably fair to say that I am not a lip person really. I find lip products {or the ones I've tried so far} uncomfortable and sticky. I also sport very long hair and I get paranoid at the thought of the lip product getting on my hair. I was offered the chance to try 2 lip balms from Mua Cosmetics, taken from the Love Hearts Collection, collection which was released just in time for Valentine's Day celebrations.      

     
     

The lip balms exist in 5 shades (although, at this precise moment in time, I can only see 4 on the website). Today, I want to share with you my impressions on 'Sugar Lips' and 'Great Lips'. The packaging is just too cute for words. To give you an idea of the size, the container is about the same circumference as a bottle of Batiste. On opening the lid, I was greeted with a lovely smell of vanilla. I found the formula very light, smooth, moisturising, and most of all not sticky. A little goes a long way. Just a teeny weeny dab is enough to bring moisture to your lips. The cherry on the cake? The lip balms cost £2.     

     
     


The daughter of my colleague at work (she's about 12?) was there when I received my parcel. Her eyes lit up when she saw the giant sweeties. I thought I could give them to her if I didn't get along with them, but I am afraid I am going to have to keep them. This is too good and too cute to 'waste' on teens. I love the light formula, the scent and the packaging too much to give them away.

This is totally the kind of lip balm you'd be proud to show off from your handbag, whatever your age, teen or all grown up. The lip balms reminded actually of the film 'Ratatouille', when the all grown up grumpy critique got all soft and gooey when he rediscovered his favourite dish from his childhood. If you've grown up with love hearts, this is a must have for you and for all girlfriends' Christmas stockings. I know, i know, it's only gone past Valentine's day. The thing is I don't even know if this collection is limited edition.

I don't remember the date when they'll be physically released in Superdrug stores, but you can already get your paws on them via the official website. Postage is low (£2.95).      

     
      

     

     
     
     

What: MUA Cosmetics Love Hearts Lip Balms
Where: MUA store online and Superdrug Stores     

How much: £2

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Cosmetic Candies

The teasing is finally over and MUA Cosmetics has announced the release of their latest makeup collection. Just in time for St Valentine's Day, MUA Cosmetics have inspired their latest collection on the theme of the famous sweeties 'Love Hearts'.



     

     


The adorable collection comprises 6 pastel polishes and 5 lip balms. The prices couldn't be any cuter: Each item is £2.

    
    






    

No need also to wait for the items to arrive in your local Superdrug as they are already available on the MUA website, with a low shipping cost as usual (£2.95) and possibility to pay via PayPal. Don't want to fork out on postage? The brand has announced that they will be doing free postage offers :)


MUA Cosmetics didn't make their job easy with this collection. Good pastel polishes are notoriously hard to find. Have they cracked the formula? Will they be patchy? Time will tell :) I am very tempted to try 'You and I', the lovely yellow polish. But most of all, I am very much looking forward to try their upcoming BB cream which they will sell at £4.







Now, if the free postage offer coincided with the release of the BB cream, it would make my heart and purse very happy :)
  

     

Will you be getting some love hearts?

Pictures sourced from Mua Cosmetics Facebook Page.
Top picture was also sourced from Mua’s page and lil montage done by me x

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My favourite reads

I've always considered myself more as blog reader than an actual blogger. Blog reading is a big deal to me, and checking for new content for my 300+ blogs subscriptions have become part of my daily routine. More than 300 blogs is a lot and I follow each one of them for a unique reason.


There's probably no one quite like Jangsara to blow me away with her make up skills, MakeupbyKaty for her eyebrow transformations, You've got Nail for her amazing photographs and reviews of nails polishes and I could go and on and on.

 

But if I had to narrow it down to just 2 beauty blogs which wow me on every aspect, without the shadow of a doubt, I would say that LIPGLOSSIPING and COSMETIC-CANDY are my ultimate favourite beauty blogs. As if blogging every day was not impressive enough, their posts have an unique style of writing: witty, friendly, humourous, and with a little bit of sarcasm. Their humour is not forced , they are just naturally funny people and it makes it more even more captivating to follow their beauty adventures. And to top it all, they have amazing photography skills.



Outside their blogs, they are a joy to follow on twitter and keep me entertained. I will never forget the day when I first posted about nail polish (I was so shy, I only painted my thumbnail then) and when Lipglossiping.com supported me and commented on my blog. I wanted to frame that comment as the encouragement and boost it gave me has been truly uplifting. I am beyond grateful to the time they spend blogging: it makes me happy.


Outside the realm of beauty blogging, I've been following LUVANDHAT has me in hysteric fits of laughter pretty much every time they post. Luv(e) and Hat(e) follows a very simple yet genius concept. It is a hilarious match of opinions on everyday topics between (mostly) Stuart and Robyn. I am not quite sure when they find the time to blog outside their busy jobs but I am so glad they do as they keep entertained from daily humdrum. If you're new to Luv and Hat, oh boy you're in for a treat. You could start by reading their post on the 'Post Office' and 'Google +'.


For its second year running, Cosmopolitan Magazine wants to celebrate the best of British Blogs and are running their Blog Awards. They are inviting blog readers to nominate their favourite blogs. If you had a minute, I would be so grateful if you could help me support my favourite reads and nominate them to the Cosmo Blog Awards 2011. To do so, it's very easy, go to: http://bit.ly/cosmopoliblog and paste their blog address:

Cosmetic-Candy: http://www.cosmetic-candy.com/ (Established Beauty Blog Category)
Lipglossiping: http://www.lipglossiping.com/ (Established Beauty Blog Category)
LuvandHat:  http://luvandhat.tumblr.com/ (Lifestyle Category)



 

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You haven’t lived if … you haven’t been to a Costco!

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I didn't plan to write this. It's all Stuart's fault. Please excuse the silliness of this post, this is not about makeup, it’s a just a little bit of fun.

I hate the idea of missing out of potential good stuff. I had heard briefly about Costco in the past. I knew it was a paradise shop but that’s about it really.


 

And then, sir Stuart Heritage, some ginger? hilarious bloke who writes for the Guardian tweeted this and I became all jealous and wanted to know more.


 

But when I asked on twitter:

What is Cotsco?
is it a posh shop down south?
what does it sell? xx

I really wasn't ready for the overwhelming wave of love you had for this shop and I really didn't expect so many would answer in mass. I could have googled it but being lazy nothing beats the feedback from real people, innit?

Here's what Costco is all about and what you are missing out on:







Thank you everyone :)
I am so jealous, and I want to go now. Please can I go with you next time? I want to stuff my face with birthday cakes and giant steaks.

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