Thursday 31 January 2013

Primark's Spring Summer 2013 Lingerie Collection


Primark Lingerie Spring/Summer 2013

Just a short post today to whet your appetites for Primarks' brand new lingerie collection...just in time for Valentine's day. It's definitely more designer inspired than ever before and is more Victoria's Secret than bargain basement. It looks absolutely beautiful, and with most knickers costing around £3, and most bras costing £5, you can definitely afford to spoil yourself, and your partner come to that!

photot of Primark S/S13 lingerie collection


Primark lingerie 2013 spring summer

Primark underwear

Primark S/S 2013 lingerie

(All photos from Primark's press release packet)

One has to wonder why Primarks' press release is only through black and white photos and video though. Yes it looks arty and glamorous but hell I want to see what colours they are available in! Perhaps as the press release was only yesterday we will start to see colour versions on our magazine stands and online in the coming days and weeks.

Hopefully this new lingerie selection will be available in Primark's full range of sizes, normally 32 to 42 AA to DD cup, in their bras, and knickers from very small to super large (my size descriptions not theirs) All in all it looks like Primark's success is enabling them to employ the most beautiful underwear models and better designers, as they seem to be improving designs overall, and I love the look of this collection.

What do you think of Primark's underwear? Cheap and nasty, or good value for money?


Wednesday 30 January 2013

EYE MAKE UP TRENDS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2013


Eye make up trends from the catwalk, will you be wearing them come Spring time?


As always when looking towards the upcoming Season for fashion and make up trends, there is no where more worthy of a first port of call than that harbinger of all that is on trend, that citadel of style, that bastion of exquisiteness...Vogue Magazine.

During fashion week all of the major fashion houses, including Chanel and Dior in Paris, Versace in Milan  and  Donna Karan in New York, Vogue tells us, were emphasising eyes, with longer than ever lashes, coloured eye liners and  jewelled eye lids! But how wearable will  these trends be for "real" women?

This model wears incredibly long lashes at the Gucci show, and after the past few seasons of ever growing falsies I am sure lashes of this length will be worn from Sugar Hut in Essex to the red carpets of Hollywood come Spring and Summer 2013.

Gucci S/S13
(photo from vogue.co.uk)

 This colourful look hit the catwalk during Donna Karans' show, probably not wearable for most women like this, but a thin line of pink on the top lid and on the bottom waterline? I think the toned down version will certainly be wearable for the under thirty age group out there.

Donna Karan models
(photo from vogue.co.uk)

Personally I find this version of the coloured eye liner trend, seen at Moschino cheap and chic, infinitely more wearable. And I think this will be a far more popular look than the pinks and lilacs seen on so many catwalks, although pink is the IN colour for Spring and Summer, so I suppose those slaves to fashion will wear it, whether it suits them or not.

Moschino catwalk model
(photo from company.co.uk)

So, onto the "jewelled lids" as seen here at Christian Dior. This look will not suit too many girls going down to the local pub or night club, but come festival time? Oh yes, these jewelled lids will be rocked by many at Glastonbury and Leeds, I am positive of that. In fact I am sure there will be many ageing hippies who wore flowers in their hair in 1968 charging a few pounds to bedazzle the eyelids of those not even born then. I'm thinking that had I managed to get Glastonbury tickets, I would have rocked this look with my red wellies myself! 

(photo company.co.uk)

So there we have it, the three big trends, according not only to Vogue, but to every fashion journalist at the Spring/Summer 2013 shows, will you be wearing them?


Tuesday 29 January 2013

YANKEE CANDLE REVIEW


Midsummer's Night




For several years this has been my absolute favourite Yankee candle fragrance. It looks different to the majority of Yankee candles, which are generally, soft, pastel colours, as it is black. To be honest I think the colour is what attracted me to it in the first place. It has what is often referred to as a "masculine" scent, the company themselves describe it as, "An intoxicating and masculine blend of musk, patchouli, sage and mahogany cologne" A description I feel is exactly right. 

It is the one fragrance that absolutely every single person who visits my home seems to love, surprising as people tend to assume they prefer the floral or "foody" scents, until they smell this one! I always have wax tarts in Midsummer's Night in stock, and I would say I burn these in roughly a 4 to 1 ratio compared to other fragrances I own. It has a very quick pay off with my whole apartment smelling absolutely gorgeous after about 20 minutes! If you have never tried Midsummer's Night I highly recommend it. If you are normally a floral lover maybe try a sampler candle or a wax tart just to be sure, but I have never met anyone who doesn't love this fragrance.


Winter Wonderland


Yankee candle review

This is the candle I currently have on my coffee table, a Christmas gift from my sister. Although a seasonal fragrance this doesn't scream "Christmas" in the way some other candles do. It does have noticeable notes of balsam and cedar, but not in a heavy overbearing way. To me it just smells of the outdoors, a fresh, woody, forest scent. Had it been too Christmassy, such as Apple and Pine Needle, I would have put this one in storage until next Christmas, but I am still enjoying it. It takes a little time for the fragrance to spread through out my living room and is a more subtle fragrance than many, but it is beautiful, and one men seem to enjoy too. I think next Christmas a couple of people will be getting a Winter Wonderland candle from me.


Cafe Au Lait



This is another candle I received as a gift, but this one is only a small jar, thankfully lol I say this because I find this fragrance sickly to say the least. Now I love to smell real coffee brewing and assumed this would smell just like that, but, no. It's over riding fragrance is a too rich, too sweet vanilla. When I first lit this candle I felt my whole apartment smelt like chocolate rather than coffee, and not in a good way. No one I have asked an opinion on this candle have actually liked it, so this is definitely one I would never buy for anyone, and certainly not for my own home. I believe this fragrance has now been discontinued, and I am not surprised!

Meadow Showers




This one was another gift, I think my family and friends know me too well! I haven't had one of Yankee's "Grassy" fragrances before, and I'm not sure why, as one of my favourite things to smell is freshly cut grass, and this candle did not disappoint me. Once the candle has been burning for about twenty minutes the whole room smelt of a freshly cut lawn after the rain, beautiful. This is another fragrance I would recommend, one that again will appeal to men and women, because who doesn't love to smell newly mown grass?

Lilac Blossom


Yankee candle Lilac Blossoms wax tart


Currently this is the wax tart I have in my burner. It is a lovely fragrance but is not a quick pay off. It has to be in my burner (an electrical  one) for at least an hour for the scent to permeate the whole apartment. Once it does though, it is quite a decent strength. I am not an overly floral person and some floral's I find over powering, not this one. There is a hint of lavender as well as lilac flower, and it is a fresh, light hit of fragrance, not cloying as pure lavender or pure lilac can be. This is the type of fragrance that would be nice when one has quests as it smells so clean and invokes the outdoors. It would be great choice as a gift as I doubt anyone could find it objectionable.

 Sweet Strawberry



As Yankee Candle state, this fragrance captures "The essence of perfectly ripe strawberries sprinkled with sugar" A sweet, refreshing and fruity fragrance with a quick pay off, quickly fragrancing my whole apartment. This candle in particular makes one aware that Yankee use pure essence in their candles, it smells so "real" like you are in the middle of a field full of ripe strawberries. I chose this fragrance to include in my giveaway as not only do I love it, but I feel no one would find it over powering or distasteful. It is the next wax tart that I will be putting in my wax burner, and it is one that lasts for many days. I find the fragrance of some wax tarts fade after only two or three days in my burner, so I am always happy to find one, like Sweet Strawberry, that I get more bang for my buck from! This would be a good choice as a gift for someone whose taste you are not sure of, instead of the more usual Vanilla.


Yankee candles are available to buy everywhere it seems, but I have found my best bargains on Amazon and in the QVC multi packs, and as a bargianista I NEVER pay full price! I can not recommend highly enough the Yankee Candle electric wax burner, it is so much more economical than the candles, and the fragrance is stronger and very long lasting.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my thoughts on my current Yankee Candles, I would love to hear your thoughts on them, and which fragrance is your favourite.


Saturday 26 January 2013

Inside my flat, and my head I suppose!!

I have had very similar items in my homes where ever I have lived for at least the past 15 years. Even after leaving everything in Texas when I moved back to England a couple of years ago, and moving from a big house with a swimming pool to a small flat without even a window box, there have been many constants. Apparently the things I choose over and over again indicate a lot about me, so maybe by showing you inside my flat I am also showing you who I really am, what makes me tick. Oh dear, hope I don't give the wrong impression lol Anyway, here are some photos of things that are important to me, often that I love because people I love bought them for me, or are just plain old useful!!

MY LIVING ROOM
Buddha decorating

The chair isn't important, it's just a cheapo calico one from Ikea, that was supposed to be a temporary measure, three years ago! Rather it is the Indian fabric on the chair that has importance as it is a souvenir from a fabulous holiday with my lovely man last year, a holiday where I finally rode on an elephant in the jungle - a long held wish that came true!

The Klimpt picture, The Kiss, is probably my all time favourite painting and my daughter bought me this print last year, unfortunately I still haven't had it framed yet!

Ah Buddha's, I have had them in every room where I live for many years. They remind me to live in the now, as much as possible. I used to meditate daily but since I moved back to England I haven't felt the need.  My meditation practice gave me some peace when living in America where I was unhappy and homesick.



The guitar is a representation of John Lennon's guitar that I fell in love with in an amazing little shop in Venice.   The Madonna egg was a gift from my son from St Peter's Church in Venice, well he gave me the money to take with me and buy something from him, I choose this. Incense, I love real Indian incense the most and brought loads back from India last year, my sister bought me this burner, but I have quite a few scattered about. Finally my wee stereo, with a Dylan CD in. I love music and have plenty of CDs, prefer them to mp3s, but I tend to put a CD on to play and leave it on for weeks at a time.

MY KITCHEN

Blue berries, always in my fridge, love them, but not as much as I love Galaxy chocolate! The gorgeous toaster was a Christmas present off my son, along with the matching kettle.I have bright green accessories in the kitchen, the pots on the cupboard were from Ikea. The cute Russian doll is a measuring cup, a gift from my daughter, I love Russian dolls. I have the water filter as I drink litres of the stuff every day and this is cheaper than bottled water. The drawing on the fridge door, with the Buddha magnet, is a thank you note from my beautiful great nieces for their Christmas presents, awwww 

MY BATHROOM
Not much to say, it is what it is, a small bathroom with no bath, just a shower. I hung floor to ceiling sheers to cover the huge expanse of white tiles. 

MY BEDROOM

The golden Buddha was a wall hanging my Mum bought me, the other two hang over my bed. Big brown teddy has been mine for 45 years! My brother bought him for me when I was 7 and he has lived in Cyprus and America with me.



I have so many pairs of jeans they have to live in the hall closet! Skulls show up a lot, in my jewellery, handbags and tee shirts. And oh dear boots...so many pairs, but I wear the same couple of pairs most of the time, typical woman and footwear I think.

MY HALLWAY

In my entry way I have some shelves where I store my Yankee candle tart burner, love it as I can just plug it in and twenty minutes later my whole flat smells fabulous. I store my hair dryer and straightener in the wicker box as I have big mirrors over the shelves and dry my hair there. 

Rumi

A close up of my favourite books, the poetry of Rumi. Beautiful words that blow my mind!
Well, not sure if you know me any better now, but either way I hope you enjoyed seeing my home and the things in it that are important to me. What items are most important to you?

Thursday 24 January 2013

WHAT'S YOUR FASHION STATEMENT?

GIG


So, what's my fashion statement?


 As part of the fabulous Girls Inspired Group I have been asked, along with any other GiG members that want to do this, to post on "What's Your Fashion Statement". This is a great topic for the GiG Spotlight series, as so far I haven't really written any fashion posts and this gave me the push I needed to do one.

 My own fashion statement agrees with the legendary Coco Chanel who stated that,“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” I have never felt the need to follow current trends, rather I dress to suit my life and me! Therefore, you could say I don't have a fashion statement, what I have is, a style statement.

As suggested by GiG regarding posting on this topic I have been thinking what items I couldn't do without for a trip away, what would show my style, what I would toss into my suitcase, although being a Virgo there would be more gentle folding and rolling of my clothes than tossing of them!

"Everyone has their own style. When you find it, 
you should stick to it"
Audrey Hepburn

I am very much a jeans girl during the day, but I do like to make the effort if I am going out in the evening. These items would be first in my suit case and typify my style...



I always take too much footwear, especially in colder climes as I love my boots and take several pair everywhere I go! 


Boots! How I love them, I must have at least a dozen pair. Flat, biker or riding boots for day time, and heeled, knee length for evenings, oh and my fabulous bright red wellies with white stars on!
They were made for concerts, this is them on the way back from The Stone Roses concert last Summer!


My true loves in the world of fashion/style though are these...


Scarves and bags! I dread to think how many of each I actually have. I think a scarf and a good bag can make any outfit look fabulous.

So my style is laid back, jeans, boots, scarves and tee shirts, with the occasional drifting into glamour for a night out. As Bruce Oldfield said "I'm not interested in fashion...When someone says that lime-green is the new black for this season, you just want to tell them to get a life"

Style on the other hand..."Fashions fade, style is eternal" and who could argue with Yves Saint Laurent? Not I!

BUT, I have to add a little footnote. When I was young style meant going against fashion for me, I was anti establishment, anti fashion and anti everything else. To the rhythm  of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK I shopped in underground boutiques and charity shops, I became a punk, one of the real ones, not the copy cat ones since the mid seventies!


(Forgive the bad quality of this photo, it is after all over thirty years old) 1977, aged 16, a style of my own that put two fingers up at fashion!

And in a way my style is still like this, ageing rock chic who thinks age should not stop us developing, or indeed, keeping, our own style. You don't have to be 18 in a skater skirt to have style, it's inside you and oozes from your pores, never try to be fashionable, just try to have style ladies! 








Wednesday 23 January 2013

MUA 50% OFF SALE HAUL

Well, after all the craziness on Monday, all the rude comments made to poor Mr MUA (by others not me of course), and all the panic, today I received my MUA 50% off sale haul. What incredible service! I ordered late Monday afternoon and the post man arrived this morning with all my goodies, thank you Mr MUA. Anyway without further ado here is what I received.


I am not going to list each item individually because I am sure most of you know what everything is, BUT if you want to know about any particular item just leave me a quick question and I promise I will get back to you today. Here is a close up look of some of my lovely make up...

Such beautiful colours, I am already in love with these.

A mix of colours for my lips.

A couple more brushes to add to my collection, an eye dust and a hide and conceal.


Palettes! I ordered two of the now famous Undressed palette, not sure who the second one is for yet but couldn't resist at these prices. And finally the Glamour Days palette, could the colours be any more beautiful? Not in my opinion.

Just a closer look at the beautiful Glamour Days palette.


Perfection, can not wait to try this out.


I am not going to do a huge review, there are lots of great ones out there already, but I thought I would show you my lip products. I thought it would be nice to see them in day light on lips that aren't young, pouty and fabulous!


Love this lip stain, Fabulicious, gives a just kissed look to the lips, and it's kiss prof!!


Love heart lip balm, Great Lips. This was the first thing I got my sticky fingers in. I love it, very natural and great for when you can't be bothered with lip stick but want a little something. I will use this a lot. I had to take this one in the bathroom as it didn't really show the gloss when I tried in day light for some reason. Well I'm sure the reason is my lack of photographic skill, but there you are!

This is the lipstick, shade 15 Juicy. Not really my kind of colour, I prefer more natural looking lips,but it will suit a lot of ladies out there.

So there it is my MUA 50% off sale haul, not bad for a total of £15.45! More than anything I am so happy with MUA for their incredible customer service and super fast delivery times in such a busy, crazy time for them. Thanks MUA, you deserve all the praise and success you get!


Monday 21 January 2013

***100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!!*** now closed!!!



I HAVE A WINNER :)



Ok everyone, thank you so much for entering my giveaway, I have now drawn a winner and I am waiting until I hear back from her before posting her name on here. I have printed out the names of all my current followers and anyone who un-follows now the guveaway is over will be banned from all future giveaways, seems very wrong when I hear other bloggers talking about how that happens so much and is just not fai on "real" followers. Thank you again, my next giveaway will be very soon by the way.
Love Angela xx


I HAVE A WINNER :)

Ok ladies, I can now reveal that the winner is Kaka from  http://kakabeautyblog.com  I will be mailing her prize off asap. Congratulations Kaka xx 



Well what can I say? Just a huge thank you to all you lovely people for following my blog. As I have said from day one, that would be two weeks ago, I am holding a thank you give away now I have reached my first 100 GFC followers! Anyway onto the good stuff, the prize! I decided to do a make up give away with a mixture of products and a mixture of brands, so there would be something that whoever won, would enjoy, I do hope you will enjoy these products. All products were bought by me, of course, but I know everyone always makes sure to mention that! And of course all products are brand new and unused, not even swatched!

The Prize!



No 7 Eye Shadow palette, with 6 colours
L'oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara in Magnetic Black
MUA single eye shadow in shade 16 matt
O.P.I. Nail Lacquer in French Bordeaux
MUA Nail Quake in Broken Arrow
Naturals Lip Balm, Coconut and Shea Butter
No 7 Stay Perfect Lipstick in Classic Rose
And, a Yankee Candle tart burner in Sweet strawberry, just because I love them :)

All in all I would say they are worth about £30 - 35  I can't be exact as the eye shadow palette and lipstick were part of a larger set I bought. But the mascara cost £11, the OPI £11.50 and you probably know how much the rest cost :)

A close up of a few items so you can check out the colours.
No 7 Palette and MUA single shadow

No 7 lipstick

O.P.I. nail polish

Hope you like all my choices, I tried to buy colours that I thought would be popular with most people, hope I succeeded! 

So what do you have to do? Well personally I hate when people expect you to jump through hoops to enter a blog give away so I am not going to use Rafflecopter, and I am only going to ask you to do a couple of things to be part of this give away, I want it to be quick and easy for you.

1) Follow my blog on GFC
2) Follow me on Twitter  @acunnane
3) Leave me a comment below with your GFC name, and your Twitter name.
4) Most importantly, leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.
So there you have it, easy entry to be in my give away.

Competition will close on Sunday 3rd of February 2013 at midnight and I will let the winner know within 24 hours!

Oh and as it's my first give away it is open internationally, it just may take a bit longer to get your prize to you.

THANK YOU!



Sunday 20 January 2013

Glow worm :)

Love this saying, so had to post this :) xx


Saturday 19 January 2013

What's in my make up bag?

One of my favourite posts to read are the ones that look inside people's hand bags or make up bags, just because I'm nosey! So I thought I would show you all what's inside my make up bag.

My Make up bag is from Victoria's Secret, and was part of a gift set containing my favourite perfume, Heavenly, that my daughter sent me from America for Christmas 2011.


A little overview of all the contents...


My face products...



I hardly ever wear foundation during the day as I find that no matter how much you pay for it, once you're over 40, it emphasises lines and wrinkles. Therefore I only wear a tinted moisturiser, No. 7 dual protection in medium. This evens out my skin tone and gives me a healthy amount of natural colour.
I do however use a concealer under my eyes to help disguise the dark circles that are often there due to my hardly ever sleeping because of my spinal pain, Clarins Eclat Minute in shade 01. I have had this for ages as I only use a tiny amount.

My cheek products...


I have used Bare Minerals Warmth for years now and love the amount of colour it gives me. I tend to use it on my cheeks, forehead and a little down the bridge of my nose to give me some much needed healthy looking colour!
The Benefit 10 was a Christmas gift, and after getting used to it I really like it, although I tend to have to wipe some of the darker colour off the brush or it is too dark for my skin. I love the lighter shade and the amount of highlighting it does, and it's so easy to apply, one sweep and a little blending and I have cheek bones!

My lip products...


I use a lip liner if I am using any lip product apart from lip balm so that they don't bleed into the lines above my lips. This one is MUA in Softly Lined and I have this in my make up bag as it is light enough to use under any lip slick I throw in my bag.
One of my all time favourite make up products is the Clinique range of Chubby Sticks, this one is Heaping Hazelnut. I love the way they feel, the way they look and the fact I can apply them without even a mirror if necessary. 
Then I have my Korres lip butter, in wild rose. This wouldn't be my first choice of colour but it came in a little kit and I didn't get to choose the colour. It does feel nice on my lips though.

My eye products...


Eye liner is one product I would hate to have to do without. I feel like my eyes are not noticeable without it. The top pencil is Playboy, shade 145, which is a dark blue, it's OK but nothing special
The bottom liner, the shabby worn one, is Rimmel Exaggerate, shade 230 Deep ocean. I have had this pencil for a few years now and it's still got a bit of life left in it! I like the fact it has the smudger on the end in case I get a little heavy handed in applying it, and also the fact it doesn't need sharpening.
The mascara I keep in my make up bag is my least favourite of all my mascaras and is only there in case of a mascara emergency. It is Clinique High impact extreme volume, shade 01 Extreme black. The brush isn't very good, I find it too thick and it gets too much product on it so I hardly ever use it.

Lastly...


My almost empty hand cream. It is L'Occitane in Cherry blossom. Luckily I have several of these small sized creams in stock so I must remember to replace this one. In Winter I really need to use hand cream or my hands get really dry and tight feeling.

I do carry one more make up item with me, but it doesn't fit in my make up bag so it just gets to lie in the bottom of my hand bag.

Benefit make up


My Benefit Smokin Eyes palette. I rarely use this as I have a lot of other eye shadows that I prefer, hence that is why it gets to stay in my hand bag. 

Well that's it for my make up bag contents, not much really but that's because I tend to not mess with my make up when I am out of the house, except to apply my Chubby stick. 

I would love to hear from you if you use any of these products and hear what you think of them.