Thoughtful Thursday: 08.12.2011

Hey guys, as I’m on a different PC today, this week’s Thoughtful Thursday is going to be a little bit different. Basically, Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourite all-time books.

I’m not a huge lover of poetry, but I find Lewis Carroll’s use of poetry in Alice in Wonderland just beautifully written. So, I wanted to share a few of my favourite excerpts with you. Enjoy:

How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tale,

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale!

~ From Chapter Two: The Pool of Tears

 Twinkle twinkle little bat!

How I wonder what you’re at…

Up above the world you fly

Like a tea tray in the sky.

~ From Chapter Seven: A Mad Tea Party, and I believe was said by The Dormouse.

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,

“To talk of many things:

Of shoes-and ships-and sealing-wax-

Of Cabbages-and kings-

And why the sea is boiling hot-

And whether pigs have wings.”

~ From Sequel Through The Looking Glass, Chapter Four. Recited in a story by Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Are there any other Alice fans out there 🙂 What are your favourite parts of the books?

A Nearly Hungry Nail Polish…?

The Hunger Games is touted to be one of the biggest-selling films of 2012, and with a blanket of teaser posters, trailers and the placement of Districts, through the Capitol.pn website, we fans are certainly being spoilt in the marketing stakes. And if Lionsgate, the company behind this highly anticipated film had had their way, we could expect the mother of all beauty-related marketing tools to be heading in our direction, in the form of a China Glaze nail polish.

I say “if”, because if the reports are true, American International Industries, who own China Glaze are planning on suing Lionsgate after the film company allegedly pulled out of the contract.

If the polishes had been released, these are what they are said to have looked like:

Image from here.

When I first heard this story yesterday, I really could not imagine what types of colours the range would have featured, but my speculation had included reds (for the flames of the fire) and golds (for the mockingjay) and dirty greys (for District 12), so I was really glad to find this picture of the collection. I was also glad to see that all of the shades, other than the red, was included, but I’m happy with the orangey shade.

I’m really hoping that Lionsgate figure stuff out with American International Industries, because I think that this China Glaze range would have been amazing, personally.

Marketing of films is always a tricky ones, firstly because you never know what is really going to do well. For example, look at the amount of hype that revolved around the making of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass in film form!); marketing went crazy, it had a pretty amazing cast, and unfortunately, it inevitably completely panned at the box office, with plans for the second two books to be adapted apparently disappearing off the face of the planet!

However, for films that are a huge success, tie-ins can be a brilliant supplement to the overall film, as film-goers strive to have a piece of the film that they can keep.

It might seem crazy to have film tie-ins that are beauty products, but when you consider that the fans for these films are probably predominantly female, it actually makes perfect sense. Take a look at some of the other beauty-related tie-ins that we’ve had over the past couple of years:

Review can be found here.

What do you think of the Hunger Games nail polishes? do you hope that they’ll be released? And what about beauty/film tie-ins? Are you a fan, or do you not see the point? Which ones are your favourites, and which ones do you wonder why they bothered?

Why Charity Shops are a Beauty Bloggers Dream!

I’ve blogged a fair few times about picking up some great bargains in Charity Shops, not only with clothing, but also with beauty products. In fact, Charity Shops can be a haven for the skint Beauty Blogger. Here, I wanted to tell you guys why:

Products that can be found in Charity shops tend to come in four categories:

1. The Clear-Out Queen

Image found here. Yeah, Marilyn Monroe was probably still alive when some of these products were originally bought!!

These are products that someone has probably had in their collection for years, and they’ve decided to get rid of them as part of a clear-out or whilst moving house. Their aim may be to simply cut down on the clutter, but whatever, they no longer want to keep it.

The Bad Side: The problem with stuff like this is that a lot of the time, it tends to be stuff that is so out-of-date you probably wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole, even if the Charity Shop paid you to do it!

The Good Side: On the other hand, this is potentially a great way to find products that are discontinued either because they were Limited Editions, or the brand just chose not to sell them anymore. This is of course going to be rare, but as my Nana always said “you never know what you might find in a Charity Shop”.

2. The Hated

Image found here.

The title seems a bit harsh, but these are the products that most of us will purchase at some time or other. You know, the product that we bought because at the time, everyone seemed to be talking about it, so it was very much a “Hype Buy”. Unfortunately, the product wasn’t all it cracked up to be, it was hated, and ultimately ended up being passed on to the nearest Charity Shop.

The Bad Side: It’s been used/tested/swatched, but let’s face it, how many of us happily purchase used products from blog sales these days? Probably most of us, and I say that as long as you do all that you can to sanitise the product, it’s unlikely it’ll cause anyone any harm.

The Good Side: A lot of the time these products are still fairly new, hardly used and will probably be still available pretty much in the same condition in the shops, but these will be a great deal cheaper. In that sense, these are probably the best types of products to get your hands on, in a Charity Shop.

3. The Free Gift or Sample

Image found here. We all like free stuff, but how many of us actually use it?

The Products sometimes come in fancy make up bags, or on their own, and they’re typically miniature versions of products. These are quite likely the free gift that came with another purchase in Boots or where ever.

The Bad: The colours tend to be neutral, bland or “natural” tones, in a vain attempt to fit everyone, but unfortunately they are never going to suit everyone’s skin tone or even their tastes.

The Good: Quite often they are barely touched, or even unopened, as they were probably never wanted in the first place. Buying these free gifts or samples is a nice way of trying a product without buying a large size one. So, in effect you’re achieving the ultimate goal that the product had in the first place!

4. The Unwanted Birthday/Christmas Present

Or not…as the case may be…!!

I can imagine that the Boots Christmas 3 for 2 offer practically supplies the Charity Shops Beauty sections every year. Why? Because when we don’t know what to buy someone, we always turn to the gift sets available in the Boots 3 for 2. It’s a great offer: we can get points on our Boots Card, and of course the free gift we can keep for ourselves. The problem? Not everyone likes these gift sets, in fact, a lot of people seem to not like them, because by January 1st, the Charity Shops seem to be bursting with them.

The Bad: A lot of the Gift Sets can be a little naff, the one’s that were obviously bought by an elderly Aunt that thinks you have the same tastes as her, but doesn’t really get these “newer” brands. I hate to sound ageist, but it’s unfortunately true.

The Good: We can find some really amazing Gift Sets, from top brands. In the past I’ve found some pretty expensive Body Shop-branded ones, or even some quite big brands. Personally, I’m a fan of the ones with bath bombs, purely because I hate buying them myself, because I can never choose ha!

I’m not going to deny that Charity Shops are full of complete and utter crap 99% of the time, but if you’re happy to put the time in to keep checking, then I promise that it will be worth it 😉

Happy Hunting, and let me know if you find any awesome beauty products in your local Charity Shop!

What is Beauty: Revisited

Way back in March, I wrote a post titled What is Beauty. I don’t remember what was written in that post, but following the success of my Positive Beauty Pledge, and how far I have come emotionally in the past seven or eight months, I’ve decided to revisit this topic, as an experiment to see how my opinion of beauty has changed.

So, what is Beauty, to me?

The notion of beauty, as I now see it is an incredibly difficult one. I know that I wear make up in a vain attempt to make myself feel beautiful, as I am positive that many other women do, but I do not think that make up is what truly makes a person beautiful, by itself. I think a lot of things contribute and compliment each other.

I believe that beauty is a smile, but not a fake “for the camera” type of smile. I mean a genuine smile, that comes from deeper inside the body.

Beauty is dressing how you want to dress, and being the person that you want to be, and not caring about the doubters or the people who try to put you down.

It is believing in yourself, and having confidence.

Image found here.

Beauty is a pair of shoes that make you feel ten-foot tall. It is a lipstick that suits your skin tone, or an eyeliner that makes your eye colour pop. It is a foundation that doesn’t hide who you are, but disguises the things that dent your confidence.

Beauty is knowing that you are wearing an outfit, that might follow the latest fashion, or it might not, you don’t care, because it looks amazing on you, accentuating the body that Mother Nature gave you.

But, beauty isn’t just appearances, because it also exists all around us, but so many of us don’t take enough time to stop and really appreciate it.

Image by C. Jacklin

Beauty is a sunset, shared with someone you love. It is watching a cat loved you unconditionally, as you tickle his chin. Beauty is walking to the top of a really steep hill, feeling absolutely knackered, turning around and seeing how far you have actually come, physically and emotionally.

What is beauty to you?

A Thought for Thursday

Beauty Advert Faux Pas

Every single day, no matter what we’re doing, our lives are bombarded with advertising. On the Train, watching television, surfing the net, reading a magazine. Everywhere is just advertising. Some adverts are really clever and thought-provoking, whilst others, are just so infuriatingly annoying, that I feel the need to rip my hair out.

I’m not talking about WeBuyAnyCar.com, or Mazuma, or any of those irritating adverts, either, because they’re irritating on purpose, and get your attention by being plain annoying. but no, I’m talking about the ones that actually interest us, and pique our curiosity. The ones that are promoting products that we might actually be interested in buying. Yup, you guessed it, I am talking about…Beauty adverts

So, being the nice person that I am (shush you!), I decided that out of the kindness of my heart (I told you to shush!), that I would help beauty companies out, by telling them a few things NOT to do, when trying to promote their latest product through the mystical powers of advertising:

1. Don’t treat us like idiots. 


If you are going to use the “Interview” method of advertising, which features people talking to the camera, about how much they love your products, at least make it look believable. Despite what you might think, we can actually tell that they are so blatantly reading from a script.

Even if it is going to be scripted, at least try to make it look and sound more natural, and maybe even let the actors improvise a little!

Example of how NOT to do it: Barry M

The most annoying thing about this collection of adverts is the following quote from Barry M’s YouTube page:

“The inspiration for the ads was formed from all the great feedback Barry M regularly receive from customers and are based around a group of girls (aged between 18-22) talking about what they love about Barry M. The stars of the adverts reflect a range of girls from the UK, from Sheffield to London, each with a different look and style.”

Okay, that’s great, so why didn’t you let those customers, go on camera and give their honest and unscripted opinions? It would have looked so much more fluid and natural, and much better than an advert that feels like words have been put into the mouths of your customers.

2. Don’t treat us like idiots.

If you are advertising a product that you want us to believe is the best thing since sliced bread, we want to honestly believe that you have faith in your product. If you don’t have faith in your product, then why should we?

So, if you have faith in your products, why do you feel the need to enhance the model/actress using photo shop or lash inserts? You’re not promoting the product, you’re promoting your photo-shopping skills. Why? Because we know that it isn’t your mascara that is making those eyelashes so big and curvy, nope, we know that it’s eyelash inserts and a little bit of photo-shopping.

Example: Oooh, so many possibilities for this one. But, I picked out this one for L’Oreal, featuring PEnelope Cruz. And the fact that she is so obviously wearing false lashes speaks for itself really.

Hand on heart, I don’t expect a mascara to work miracles. If I want huge lashes, I’ll wear false ones, but you are not trying to sell me false lashes, you are selling me a mascara, and I want to see what it really does.

3. Don’t treat us like idiots.

Just because you use an A-List celebrity, does not mean that we believe them when they tell us how much they love your products, because we won’t necessarily believe them.

Example: L’Oreal. C’mon L’Oreal, are we really supposed to believe that Cheryl Cole suffers from limp, lifeless hair? She wakes up looking like that, and we all know it. Okay, so I’m not entirely being serious with that one but as someone who has limp and lifeless hair, I know for a fact that none of these products will ever give me the huge hair that Cheryl Cole wears, why? Because with my hair being so thin, it just drops out after ten/twenty minutes.

If that’s how NOT to create a great advert, then how do you get it right? Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but this is my personal checklist of what makes an advert, especially a beauty-related one, absolutely great:

1. It should be realistic. If it uses a script, then it should come across as a scripted piece, not feigned as “that’s what these people really said”
2. It should be light-hearted and fully of warmth and heart
3. I should be able to relate to the situation being played out
4. It should feature characters, rather than celebrities playing themselves
5. The “characters” should be interesting, and again easy to relate to
6. Most importantly, it should be funny. Not necessarily laugh out loud hilarity, but even just a little chuckle would be good.

Example: Boots. I’ll let this one talk for itself 😉

So the underlying rules of creating adverts are: Don’t treat us like idiots, and make us laugh 😉 What other beauty adverts really bug you, and which ones do you really love?

Natural Beauty

On this blog, I often review products that we all use to make ourselves look good, and I’ve been “attempting” to get people to view themselves more positively through my Positive Beauty Pledge, but I’ve never really spoken about natural beauty, and when I say that I mean beauty that is there without any make up at all. Not many of us are blessed with natural beauty, and most of us think that we need make up to help mask/hide/enhance our imperfections, but here are a few women that I personally believe to be truly natural beauties, and I wanted to show you some of them, to show that you can look past the make up (oh, and no, I have no intention of walking around with no make up on either!)

Sienna Miller looks so pretty in this picture. 

She isn’t perfect, but she still looks great without any make up on.

Admittedly, Fearne Cotton looks a bit tired, but she still isn’t looking too bad.

Maybe I’m really weird (this is quite possible), 

but I actually think that Kristen Stewart looks a lot better without makeup on. 

Whilst her Twilight co-star Ashley Greene looks incredible

with and without makeup on

Mischa Barton also looks great with or without make up on.

As you can see, natural beauty really does exist, but that doesn’t mean that a person will agree with you. I bet, if you showed each of these women a makeup-less image of themselves they’d want to rip it up, just like the rest of us. 

It’s just a shame, that the media chooses to use these types of images to highlight how rubbish celebrities look without makeup, when they don’t at all. I wish the media would start highlighting how beautiful women can look naturally. 

Any other suggestions for celeb ladies that look hot without make up? Let me know 🙂

Edited: Reader Suggestions:

Cameron Diaz has to be one of the most targeted celebs by the media. 

I often come across articles claiming make up artists find her a nightmare, 

but I agree with Georgia (who suggested her), 

Cameron looks great without make up.

Breaking Down the Barriers of Salons

Hi guys,

Just a really quick and snappy blog today.

I treated my mum to her first manicure today, as a surprise Mothers Day present, and she absolutely loved it, which I’m really chuffed about, because I was really worried that she wouldn’t like it, but yay! I think I enjoyed the experience more than she did. As you know, I don’t have very long nails, so I’ve never really seen the point in having my nails done, but it was interesting to see how it’s done, what they do and even received a mini education on how gel nails work! Wow, I honestly never knew!

The Salon I took her to might not have looked anything special from the outside, but I have to say for my first experience inside a beauty salon, I was honestly impressed, and I am now considering investing in some treatments. Perhaps a trial facial or maybe have my eyebrows done. We shall see!

It’s funny, because it doesn’t seem long ago that going to a beauty salon seemed so, well, not me, if that makes sense. But, I feel like writing this blog has really opened me up to trying out new things. I may even have to try out a spray tan….whoa! Okay, I think I came over a little faint then, because that really is never going to happen. I’m happy to try most beauty treatments, but I stand firm that I will never have a spray tan, or a bikini wax!! Just no.

Don’t forget that there is still time to enter my giveaway, to win two absolutely gorgeous pieces of jewellery donated by the lovely Emma, from Ji Ji Kiki. To enter, click here. Giveaway closes at noon on Monday 18th April 2011.

Debate: What is Beauty?

I’ve blogged about this before, but I often feel like a hypocrite writing a blog about beauty, when I don’t consider myself beautiful, and I haven’t really been interested in make up, until a few years back. But, then it got me thinking. Who said that beauty had anything to do with how we look anyway? Beauty is much broader than that.

The Oxford Dictionary definition states:

Beauty

noun (plural beauties)

1 [mass noun] a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form , that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight:I was struck by her beautyan area of outstanding natural beautya combination of qualities that pleases the intellect.
[as modifier] denoting something intended to make someone more attractive:beauty treatment2 a beautiful or pleasing thing or person, in particular:.
a beautiful woman:a blonde beautyan excellent example of something:the fish was a beauty, around 14 pounds(the beauties of) the pleasing or attractive features of (something):the beauties of the English countryside[in singular] the best aspect or advantage of something:the beauty of keeping cats is that they don’t tie you down

This got me thinking. Beauty? What is Beauty? It’s a question that I often find myself sitting and pondering, until it gives me a really bad headache. Ultimately, beauty is subjective. No two people will ever be in agreement to it’s true definition, and that my lovelies, is the true beauty of beauty. What I might find absolutely hideous, might be completely stunning to the girl sat next to me, on the bus.

Beauty, in my eyes, is not about physical appearance, or money, or even possessions. It is all of those little events, moments and actions that piece together to make us happy in life. It isn’t the grand gestures, or the extravagances!

Right now, I see beauty in the Spring sunshine, and the sounds of birds singing. I see beauty in the feeling that having a decent set of curtains up, in my living room creates. It’s a sense of closing the world out, for a little while, whilst I conquer my thoughts.

I see beauty in kittens, and when someone unexpectedly says “thank you” (annoyingly rarer than I might like). I see beauty in how people are pulled together, out of the darkness of war, earthquakes, and other man-made and natural disasters alike.

I see beauty in seeing a stressful project finally piecing together.

I see beauty in watching someone opening a present, and just knowing that they like it. They don’t need to tell me that they do, because I can just tell.

To many, these might sound incredibly corny, but I’m okay with that, because we’re all different.

Of course physical beauty fully exists, but I think it’s part of something bigger. What is your definition of true beauty? Do you see beauty in things that other, perhaps, don’t?

Beauty Must Have of the Week: Oil-Free Products

I didn’t get around to writing a Beauty Must Have post last week, so I’ll get back on track with it 🙂

This week’s Beauty Must have, is oil-free skincare products. The reason that these are a must-have for a lot of greasy-skinned people, myself included, is because we already have enough sebum in and around our skins pores to heat a small nation, we really don’t need any more added to it. This means that a large majority of skin care products, especially for the face, are just too greasy for is, and this is usually because they are oil-based.

Now, there are tons of different products on the market at the minute, that are oil-free, but I have to say that I’m becoming a huge fan of the Simple Oil Balancing Range, which consists of:

Oil Balancing Facial Wipes: Unlike some facial wipes, I find these to be incredibly gentle on the skin, especially when using them. They leave the skin feeling smooth, and free of grease, but without leaving it feeling overly dried out.

Oil Balancing Moisturiser: At times, the oil-free moisturiser can be a little bit greasy, for my liking, especially when my skin is particularly oily. However if like me, you sometimes find that you do have more “combination” skin, than oily, then this is actually perfect.

Oil Balancing Exfoliating Wash: This Exfoliating Wash is very light, and isn’t bogged down with too many exfoliating particles, like other exfoliating washes. This makes it perfect for sensitive skin, in my opinion.

Oil Balancing Facial Scrub: I recently had very big issues with another leading brand of Facial Scrub, which even though it was allegedly designed for sensitive skin, actually left my skin feeling dry and incredibly irritated. Nevertheless, this one from Simple is incredibly gentle, and so far, hasn’t irritated my skin, in the slightest.

Who is this range ideal for?

The Oil Balancing Range, is absolutely perfect (in my honest opinion) for anyone who:

• Has oily or combination skin, and wants to reduce the shine
• Has issues with sensitive skin
• Is looking for products that are gentle, and won’t irritate
• Needs a product that won’t clog up the pores