Bourjois 'Summer on The Riviera' Bronzing Range

The new 'Summer on The Riviera' bronzing range by Bourjois is in stores now and will be permanently part of the Bourjois family, and comprises of the following: Bronzing Primer, Maxi Delight Bronzing Powder, BB Bronzing Cream 8 in 1, and Fabulous Body Mousse Bronzer.

*Press Samples*

Favourite Body Creams

I admit it, I am not one to lather on the body creams on my booday on a regular basis, but when I do, I kind of like to do it *in style*. And by that I mean I like to very much enjoy the process and pamper myself.  I have an insane collection of body creams and lotions for one tiny person like me who's not really that much into body creams. But amongst these body creams I do have four favourites. Oh yes I do! Today I'm talking only body creams and not lotions, which are very different in texture, plus one you squirt/pump out of a bottle and the other one you scoop out from a jar. Just in case you were confused about the difference :).

PR Perspectives

I long  planned on a feature of this sort and when I finally decided to go ahead with it, I knew exactly who to turn to for help. I'm talking about the blogger-PR relationship per general, and today's post will feature some general questions and answers from two PR professionals, who kindly accepted the challenge. 

Have you ever wondered about what exactly PR's like in a blog, their dislikes and the highs and lows in a PR - Blogger relationship from their perspective? Yeah, me too, so we have two awesome ladies today answering my questions, and hope you enjoy reading them. On a side note, I respect their opinions because they're two of my favourite PR's to work with, and they're exceptional people who are kind, considerate, highly professional and most of all GOOD at what they do!

First, we have a highly regarded and well loved Beauty PR who represents her clients with originality and creativity, a PR professional to the very core, with over 10 years experience in the marketing/PR industry under her belt. We shall call her ‘Kirsten’ today because she chose to be anonymous in order to express her sincere opinions in this matter without the risk of affecting any of her clients or the brands that she represents, and I respect and fully understand her choice and kindly ask that you do the same. 

And then we have our one and only, Ms. Paula Hurley - Senior Account Manager at Market Match, who manages the PR for Vichy, LaRoche-Posay and Roger&Gallet in Ireland. If you're an Irish Beauty Blogger then you might already know who she is, she is funny, witty and a pure pleasure to interact with, Paula is by far one of the kindest professionals I have ever came in contact with. Always on spot with replying to emails and queries, always on top of her game and always with a cheeky smile on her face.

My Eyebrow(s) Routine

Eyebrows are important. Very important. It can make or break a face structure, can add or take from its symmetry, can build or destroy everything, it's a serious business and should be treated accordingly! *breathes*

That being said, great eyebrows are so bloody hard to achieve, especially when your 15 year old self has taken the liberty to pluck them in a crazy fashion during your teens. (If you're a teen and you're reading this, stop what you're doing right now! )

Based on this and being always on the look out for the perfect eyebrow shape, I finally arrived to the conclusion that your natural shape is the best, not 'Cara Delevigne natural' in my opinion, but slightly polished and natural. I've been growing mine out (brows that is!) for some time now, I like to say because I wanted to change their shape. And it's true to some extent, I was planning on booking an appointment with The Brow Artist  - these girls have mad skills when it comes to eyebrows, however I decided on plucking them last weekend as I'm planning a hair colour change soon and of course I want my eyebrows to match my colouring and that includes my hair. So, I have to make the hair colour change before getting my eyebrows done professionally.

So shape change and general laziness (and the fact that I sneeze like a mu'fucka every time I pluck them), led me to growing out my eyebrows to the stage where I became a 'hairy eyed beast'. More hairy, less beast I want to believe :).

It looks less scary in the photos, but in real life, I had mad eyebrows I tell you.  

Now I am no eyebrow expert, but I know what I want and like with utter precision, so here's what I did to fix mine:

TheSavvyShopper.ie Flash Sale

Back in the days before I even started blogging, I had two major online crushes, the fab and brilliant beaut.ie and the always fantastic thesavvyshopper.ie. The latter I used to check out every single day for discount codes, special offers on beauty and fashion, and your regular savvy person frills. I usually kept my eyes peeled for the 'Bonus Time' and gifts with purchases, as I used to run to the counters to buy as soon as the offers hit the stores, and the reliable savvyshopper.ie was always there to guide me. 

Which brings me to this evening's main subject: Thesavvyshopper.ie is having a ***Flash Sale*** tomorrow and something tells me it's gonna be a good one, with exclusive sales directly from the website, a first in the website's history.   

Think everything from discounted designer goodies (bring it!) to insider prices to Ireland's top restaurants. So yeah, put a reminder in your phone calendar for this one, it starts tomorrow (Wed. 29th) at 8 a.m. with industry insider & celebrity make-up artist extraordinaire Ken Boylan offering readers a one hour private make-up lesson with the team at his Drury Street Studio for €40, a discount of 33%.  

Thesavvyshopper.ie Flash Sale will run for 4 days or until they sell out.

Not one to keep a secret like this for myself, I thought I'll give this a shout and I'm sure I'll see you all there tomorrow!

Isadora Sugar Crush Nails

Yet another nail polish post from me today, but this time it's a bling-y one. I love the look of sparkly nail polish on someone else, but when it comes for me to actually wear it, I somehow feel too 'overly done' if you know what I mean. Yes I would wear such a nail polish on a night out or at a fancy event (very rarely), but on a day to day basis, the classic one colour satin finish nail polish does me just fine. 

And still, I could not have given these a miss on my blog since they're very pretty and it's practically my duty (more or less) to keep you all informed with news. 'Sugar Crush' is the new nail polish line from Isadora, a Swedish brand which also happens to have been the make-up sponsor for this year's Eurovision Song Contest that took place in Malmö, also the home town of IsaDora. On this note, I voted for Sweden's entry this year and coincidentally the year before, but I was also happy with Denmark winning the contest :).  End of note.

*Press Samples*  RRP: 9.75 Euro

The Isadora Sugar Crush range is free from toxic ingredients like formaldehyde, camphor, toluene and DBP, and is not tested on animals. In fact, Isadora does not test any of its products on animals. 

Below are the two coats swatches of each of the shades above for your kind attention, 

which I'm sure they will no doubt grab. 

"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*