"Here's my goody bag"....NO!

Long have I sat on my hands and long have I bit my tongue, but I now feel I must somehow give my two cents on the ugly side of blogging, and the beast that it has become. 

I shall start by saying that I am not 16 years old anymore, and that in this stage in my life and time, I know better than to 'point & judge' and get myself into debates and arguments about stuff that indeed, don't have a direct impact on me...however, this 'business' has become awfully unappealing and unattractive lately, all via the 'magic crystal ball' that is Twitter. I am talking press samples and goody bags.

Yes, some bloggers receive press samples and attend press events. That being said, in my opinion, press samples are not a 'privilege' or a 'reward' of some sort, but instead is something that just happens. It is a result more than anything else, of luck, hard work and TALENT.  I personally think I fall into the 'luck' category more so than the latter. I however choose my events and press samples carefully, since my time is quite precious (to me!).   

So, my beef this evening is: Why in God's name would you attend a press event or receive press samples, and then put the contents of your goody bags across the entire surface of the Internet? Why??????

I consider myself to be a reasonable person that lives by the saying 'Don't do to others what you wouldn't want others to do to you', so...

When a beauty blogger (in particular) receives a goody bag, by disclosing its contents online, it can only (in my humble/naive opinion) give birth to two reactions:

A) Other women will not care and think that you are silly for showing off

OR

B) Other women will be quite jealous and envious of your so called 'success'.

My question is, WHY would you want to provoke any of these two reactions to other people? 

If by all means you are a person that enjoys seeing what other people get for free on Twitter, then please do enlighten me as to why. Or else, if you are a blogger that does this regularly, do feel free to again advise me as to why would you choose to show it online? Transparency you might say??? Fair enough then, but be more transparent in your blog reviews and less on Twitter and Instagram. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing photos of new stuff (I am guilty of this myself), beauty launches and genuine comments accompanying it, but dislike seeing photos of one's mail and the contents of their goody bags. 

I shall end this by saying that the foregoing is not a rant, nor am I particularly being judgemental (maybe just a teeny bit!), but instead I genuinely would like to know why some Bloggers choose to disclose the contents of their goody bags online. In fairness.

*This was a different post from me today, it was my first ever 'debate' post and it will most probably be my last one too. Please feel free to comment in a civilized manner, and note that any nasties shall be removed and neatly placed into my 'deleted comments' folder*  

Sally Hansen Exotica Collection - Swatches

Available starting this month and retailing at the usual price of 8.95 Euro each, the new Sally Hansen Exotica Collection was inspired by "retro tropical prints, mixed patterns and baroque ornamental designs" and comprises of seven new delicious shades in the Complete Salon Manicure family. I shall leave you now in the company of some photos and swatches, but please note that while I *do* indeed have five fingers on my left hand, somehow I decided to photograph 'four fingered' swatches for some reason, just trying to mix things up a little and stand out from the crowd I guess. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!   

*Press Samples*

Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Gelee Blush in 'Tease'

Phew, its name is quite a mouthful but at this stage I can say it in my sleep even. Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Gelee Blush in 'Tease' *breathes* has been the subject of many of my tweets and instagram-ing lately, and if you follow me on any of these two social media sites, then you'll probably see the title of this post, roll your eyes and move on without even clicking my link. Which is a big mistake.

Look, here's the deal, I've been literally hunting this down for a week and I finally found it and bought it in Arnotts (a place of Angels - Suzie at the Estee Lauder counter, I'm looking at you!), part of the Spring 2013 collection, this was a limited edition product and the fact is, it's really hard to get a hold of at this stage in time, with the new Summer collection just hitting the stores. It retails at 39Euro but I got it with a 10% discount in Arnotts, for 35 Euro instead. So the following ladies and gents, was/is/will be the subject of my obsession:

   

It is both a blusher and illuminating powder in one, it is the sheer definition of 'perfection' and as I was telling my good friend Mags the other day, I have never been this impressed with a 

make-up product before, let alone a blusher. Cause you see, I'm not really a blusher aficionado, 

I need it to put some colour back into my cheeks after base, and that's 

about it. 

But oh my God this is stuff that Make-up Fairies create!  

My Top Budget Powder Eyeshadows

Hello my lovelies, hope you are all keeping well, happy and healthy :).

I decided to write about my favourite budget eyeshadows this evening mainly because:

1. they're really worth the mention
2. they're easy on the pocket
                  and
3. because they're bleedin' fabulous that's why!



FEATURING:

Bourjois Paris Intense Extrait '08'
Essence Creamylicious in '01 Wild Berry Sorbet'
Catrice Absolute Eye Colour in '400 My First Copperware Party'
Essence Metallic Effect in '35 Party All Night'

SWATCHES:

Top to Bottom:

Bourjois Paris Intense Extrait '08'

Catrice Absolute Eye Colour in '400 My First Copperware Party'

Essence Creamylicious in '01 Wild Berry Sorbet'

Essence Metallic Effect in '35 Party All Night'

April Favourites

It’s been a while since I last did a monthly favourites post, but I love to read these on other blogs so I thought I’ll  go ahead and show off some of my recent favourites in terms of beauty.

I must admit that for the past few months, I’ve been wearing 'minimal make-up' due to lack of time in the morning and extra added minutes of sleep, and ‘minimal’ to me means: foundation, concealer, mascara, blusher, bronzer, brow product and  a lip balm generally. Not that ‘minimal’ I hear you say? Yeah, I agree, basically me removing the eyeshadow application from my daily routine means I’m now wearing less makeup during weekdays. 

Guess 'Girl'

I remember while attending the Spring/Summer '13 Coty press event a good while back, this particular perfume and its introduction sounded beautiful, I specifically remember the significance behind the bottle and its cap, which has a hard plastic contour and a soft fabric detail on the inner part symbolizing both the strength and delicacy of a woman, and the curvy bottle which symbolizes the womanly curves of course.

'Girl' was inspired by Guess's 30th anniversary, and Perfumer Laurent Le Guernec of IFF states:

"I wanted to bring a youthful, flirty and ultra-sexy facet to this Guess fragrance, 

inspired by women such as Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe"

GUESS 'Girl' Eau De Toilette 30ml  RRP: 25.95 

*Press Sample*

The bottle reminds me of a tulip, which is why I included a tulip as props ;)

TOP NOTES:

Raspberry Nectar, Melon, Bergamot Mist

MIDDLE NOTES:

Brazilian Paradise Orchid, Provence Acacia Flower and Lily

BASE NOTES:

Australian Sandalwood, Madagascar Vanilla

Rimmel Apocalips

Sick of hearing and reading about the new Rimmel London Apocalips??? Yeah, me too, it's like the Universe wants us to buy and love them, and you know what? I caved in, it's not like I'm one to resist a good old much raved about lip product, so I bought it! I must say though, the shade 'Apocalyptic' which was the only one I wanted, gave me a huge headache. This was sold out everywhere I looked, either completely gone off the shade selection on the stands, or else only a couple left and all opened for swatches - like one tester product is never enough for some, they need to bloody open everything! 

But worry not my dear friends, for yesterday I found a brand new, unopened 'Apocalyptic' shade and as soon as I discovered it, I literally ran to the cash point to pay for it. If there is an 'IT' shade for all bright lipsticks, then my good fellow lipsticks lovers, this is IT, IT I tell you! *too much excitement*

RIMMEL APOCALIPS, Price: 7.95 Euro

The applicator is just beautiful, flexible and manageable and has the perfect shape for precision- which you need with these, trust me!