Bargain Time with Famous Cosmetics (Sue Moxley)

Famous Cosmetics has had a makeover, a spanking new website and are slashing their prices down to invite you to celebrate with them. Famous Cosmetics (or Famous by Sue Moxley) is one of these brands which I don't know very well because it's usually really very hard for me to have access to the products. They are one of these exclusively-sold-in-Superdrug brands which are regrettably sold in a very limited number of shops. Naturally as I live in a small town, my store is not big enough to accommodate fancy brands. This accessibility issue now belongs to the past as they have an online store. Woo :)

The brand has had a makeover and the design of their logo has changed dramatically. The (1920s?) 'broadway showtime' meets 'budmo jiggler' font I used to be fond of has been modernised to a handwritten font but the added racy leopard pattern in the background is cheering me up a little.






There could never be a better time to discover the Famous Cosmetics products as every item on the website has been discounted. Here's my little fantasy shopping list:

The promotion will be available till Tuesday 3rd July.



disclaimer: I heard about this promotion through following the twitter account of Famous Cosmetics and was not contacted to write about it.

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A Heavenly neutral palette?

Ever since I saw the pictures of the new products of the Professional Range from Budget Brand Mua Cosmetics, I've been longing to get my hands  on 'Heaven and Earth' a gorgeous neutral eyeshadow palettes, at a record price of £4.







A triumphant open bloggers event later, where all  participants were able to see 'Heaven and Earth' in action, and an overwhelming wave of rave all across the board later, and I was still not  sure whether this palette was for me. Why? I was scared it would be too shimmery for me.



 



My palette is a generous present from Danielle, who blogs at Madame Gourmand who kindly donated it to me and I have never wished more  than any other time to be in love with it. The shadows are utterly gorgeous, they are very soft, very pigmented but as I feared it right from  the beginning, they are too shimmery for me and I am unable to make it work. The shimmer is not chunky and is quite delicate but it still  remains too intense for me to wear the shadows confidently in the crease of my eye and beyond.





The search for a heavenly neutral palette  carries on...

What: Heaven & Earth Eyeshadow Palette, MUA Cosmetics, Pro Range
Price: £4.00
Where: Selected Superdrug Stores

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Early Green Nails and new releases from Gosh

Another day and another little trip to Superdrug. Today, I am taking you to the gosh corner of my little Superdrug to show you an amazing lime green polish by Gosh. This is Early Green, shade 606 (£4.99) It's bright, it's in your face and I love it.






Despite to what the noticeable booboos I've made on my index and middle finger might suggest, this polish was a delight to apply. All my photos show 2 coats of Early Green with no clean up whatsoever. Well, considering the massive gap I’ve left around the cuticle, it’s no wonder I didn’t need any clean up. I am working to reduce that gap. The amount of coverage delivered just after one coat really impressed me.










 




I leave you with some cheeky snapshots of the latest nail polishes from Gosh. Gosh released 4 gorgeous limited edition nail polishes (£4.99) with a very cute artwork on the bottle. You can hop along to Kelly’s aka Jellyminx Thinks Blog: she has some gorgeous swatches for you.  The 4th colour appears to be black on my dodgy bootleg quick_before_anyone_sees_me  photo but it turns out to be a very dark and elegant bottle green.








Last but not least, Gosh has hopped on the crackle bandwagon and has released 4 shades of 'cracked' nail polishes. The shades looks very nice, the design on the bottle cap too and the promotional picture delicious and inviting. However, I feel that, personally they will struggle to sell their shades of crackled polish (£5.49) which is such a shame.




*cue uncontrolled rambling*



 



On average, each company which I have seen doing crackle polish sell the product for £1 more than the normal polish. Beautyuk usually sells their polishes at £1.99 so their shatter polish is sold at £2.99. Barry M would usually sell their traditional polishes at £2.99 and the crackle version at £3.99. Gosh, by contrast has only amped their prices by £0.50 which is really generous but the competition they're facing is too hard.

To give you an example, my tiny little Superdrug has a permanent table put out, with chairs and white towel on which could almost look like a nail technician work station. On this improvised station, 3 plaquettes displaying a multitude of nails, showcasing Barry M crackles and the various colour combinations you can get.


This workstation is there all the time, from the minute they open the store till 5.30pm when they close it. Client goes in, see the 'exhibition' and no one sees the MUA crackles, the Beautyuk nor the Gosh ones. I feel a bit sorry for the other brands really. Do you think, in the case of my shop, Barry M felt suddenly threatened and decided on this tactical approach? I was a bit rude one day. Shop assistant was demonstrating the Barry M polishes and I barged in and went: It's the gold crackle you want, it's better :) I am not sure which one she bought in the end.


I couldn't work in Superdrug, I'd be wanting to push the underdogs forward and would get fired for it... I am surprised they even let me in as a customer. I bet they think 'Oh that's the weirdo which comes in every Saturday...

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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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Are BB creams for you? My week in BB creams

If you're anything like me you will have just recently heard about BB creams or actually not heard about it all. Well, it's totally normal. The BB creams phenomenon has yet to hit the UK and only the beauty obsessed educated will have had an awareness of their existence. With this is mind, I was extremely excited when little ol' me was offered some mini samples of BB Creams by Cosmetic Candy herself, with a chance to try them out *and* share my honest thoughts about them on her blog.


So, today, I would like to invite you to pop along to Cosmetic Candy Blog to read my review on BB creams. If you have a minute, and enjoy what you read, I would love you for ever if you leave a little comment. Thank you :) xx

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