Event: Clarins

Clarins is one of those brands that I feel aren't talked about enough, even amongst us who prefer high end brands. I've approached them so many times over the last year, for lipgloss, eyeshadow, foundation and cleanser out of pure curiousity, but I never know what they're really about. So when Anna invited me to be her plus one for the Clarin's blogger event, I was more than happy to join her!

Now I haven't even been to that many events (i.e. I've been to 1), but I felt it was such an informative event! It was hosted in their head offices in Cavendish Place - needless to say, our jaws kind of dropped when we rang the bell and the heavy wooden door slowly opened automatically.. FANCY! (I didn't tell Anna this but my inner Sherlock Holmes fan girl was squealing as this is where Dr. Watson moves out of Baker Street to :P)

There was a lot of swatching going on, but that's a given at a beauty event. I think the thing that set it apart was how engaging the hosts were. Not only did they entertain us with Jini's Michael Buble stalking expeditions, but she told us so much about all the products we were oo-ing and ah-ing over. It was kind of like, "Ooo what's that?" "How about this?" "And this?!" and they'd be like a little encyclopedia for us! :P The most interesting things I found out were..

1) Clarins' make up is also skincare. They will always have incorporated some sort of their skincare technology into the make-up products.

2) They are all about natural finishes - even the hottest pink lipstick is sheer and wearable.

3) The products centre around plants and their natural power (however they never seem to explicitly claim their ingredients are all natural - so a bit confusing/misleading with all the plant pictures - that's marketing for you I guess! :P However, I've found out they never test on animals! :))

4) They have a fragrance section, of which Thierry Mugler and Swarovski is under! As a Mugler noob, it was so interesting to hear about how revolutionary he actually was! He was the first one to dye the liquid, and he doesn't use a single floral tone?!

Thierry Mugler atm has several limited edition EDPs of Alien, Angel and Womanity. One of the sets is Taste of Fragrance, where he's added a food to the original formula! Swarovski also has limited editions of their Aura perfume, including one with a refillable bottle (which will be good for all you faithful Aura lovers - eco warrior mode!) and a whopping jeweled shell-like bottle with concentrated Aura sold for £950 - caj ("casual".. in case that wasn't clear :P).

The event was arranged in such a great way and in an appropriate sized space for the amount of people there. There were 2 full stands of Clarin's make-up, a wall of Thierry perfumes and an empty space in the middle for us to congregate in, which was nice so we could have a chat with each other and with the staff.

One of my favourite things at the event was the individual consultations we all got with their head of treatment, Marie. She walked us through this Skin Care Planner pamphlet and told us what products would suit us, what the product does and how often we should use them and how. I really appreciated this because it was so individually tailored, relaxed and really informative as to how your skin technically behaves.

All their displays were brand spankin' new and I couldn't help but feel guilty swatching everything and making a right mess! But after all the trying and testing, swatching and speculating I've come up with a list of favourites/potential purchases..

Skincare:
*Gentle Foaming Cleanser for Oily/Combo Skin
*Lotus Face Treatment Oil

*Water Comfort One-Step Cleanser with Peach

*Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner

*Body Treatment Oil "Relax"

Make-Up:

*Everlasting Compact Foundation

*Blush Prodige Illuminating Cheek Colour

Perfume:
*Thierry Mugler Alien Taste of Fragrance EDP

We were absolutely spoilt rotten with goodies, which they took the time to customize for us - and I must say they did an amazing job! I'll be sure to be posting about my favourites soon! :)

Usually the sheer amount of product, and simple labels being too simple and not too descriptive, and the French being well.. French to me (har har), I never knew what anything was, or how they were organized. But seeing it in a pamphlet and having them talk us through it was really helpful and it really organized the brand out in my head. If they had something like the pamphlet on the counters, I think it'd be loads more approachable, cuz looking at the range, it's clear they've thought through every potential skin problem incredibly thoroughly! :)

So thank you to Anna for inviting me, and the Clarin's team for having me - I had such a great evening, and it was such a good opportunity to learn more about the brand!

Have you tried anything from Clarins before?

What are your favourites? :)

<3yu

*PR Event

Event: Youngblood Relaunch

I'm always wary of mineral cosmetics as in my head, mineral = loose powder = disaster. But when I popped in for a look around Youngblood's relaunch on Tuesday, I was glad to be proven wrong! There's nothing more exciting than exploring a new brand ;)

Jayne, who had invited me, was kind enough to let me bring a friend as it was after uni and we were planning on going to a nerdy lecture in Aldwych afterwards. As soon as we walked in, we were offered drinks - Kellie tried some mix of orange juice and bubbly wine?! I'd never heard of that! :P

We both got our make-over done by their make-up artist, Fiona, who did a lovely job on both of us! I'm always wary about make-overs, as I'm scared everything will be caked on and I will have runway make-up on but Fiona asked specifically what we wanted and what we were used to - it was very refreshing to say the least!

Here are some of the questions I asked, that I was kinda itching to ask..

*When products say "mineral", what does it actually mean?

It means that all the ingredients are taken from the earth. Youngblood's cosmetics are 100% mineral.

*How can drugstore products afford to create mineral products?

There's a certain legal amount of natural products you need in the product to call it "natural" and it's ridiculously low, like 5%?!

*Do natural preservatives last as long as chemical ones?

They apparently do!

*Are all your brushes synthetic and cruelty-free?

They are cruelty-free, but no tall synthetic. There are ways to extract animal hair without mistreating or killing them!

It was so nice to be able to ask these questions to someone who was really friendly and willing to answer everything and anything honestly :)

The colour product that caught my eye were the pressed blushers - it was such a slim, sleek packaging with a reasonable amount of product. The pigmentation were great on all colours, and the variety was so unique! There was one that I particularly liked, but because their display didn't have the actual products, I didn't get to see the name :(

What you see on the bottom right are the eyebrow kits - which I also really liked! They had 3 shades - 2 powders, 1 wax, a tweezer and a brush. I really liked how the 2 powder shades were so distinct, as one is meant to outline your brows, and one is meant to fill it. I LOVED the way Fiona did my brows! The product would be great for on-the-go as it has a mirror (although it is quite big for what it is)!

I think Youngblood's biggest focus must be their face products, as we all got given goody bags before we were about to go. Kellie absolutely adored the Hi Definition Hydrating Mineral Perfecting Powder, and I personally liked the Pressed Mineral Rice Setting Powder - both of which were used on us respectively :)

We got given the Mineral Primer, the Liquid Mineral Foundation, Mineral Radiance Moisture Tint Illuminator, Mineral  Radiance Moisture Tint and the Hi-Definition Mineral Perfecting Powder :)

L-R: Mineral Radiance Moisture Tint, Mineral Radiance Moisture Tint Illuminator, Liquid Mineral Foundation.

The one thing I did fail to take a picture of was their Liquid Foundation brush, which was like a fluffier version of your typical paddle foundation brush - definitely something I will consider investing in, along with the Pressed Mineral Rice Setting powder! This list obviously may grow as I start testing out these little testers - how cute are they that they've got mini-sizes with proper tubes and pumps?! (it's the little things ;P)

My favourite part of my time there was definitely getting to chat with Fiona and Jayne about the brand - mainly because I didn't have much of a clue before! I'm really interested in their brand now, and am looking forward to seeing them branch out from the clinics and salons they are at now - mainly so I can have a swatch and decide what I want! :P

Many thanks to Jayne and the rest of the Youngblood team for inviting me, as I had a lovely time! If you wanna check out their line, here's the link!

Have you tried any of Youngblood's products?

What do you recommend!? :)

<3yu

TOWIB: My First Blogging Event

Ever since I first heard about such things as blogging events, I wanted to go. But living in the middle of nowhere it was often impossible to make it to big events.. also probably would've helped to be invited to something LOL :P So for me, when TOWIB (The Only Way is Blogging) started happening, I was really excited!

Sadly, for the first event I was en-route to London with my boyfriend to pick up my parents from the airport - yeah, not so much a, "You can do it yourself right, I'll see you at the hotel!" kind of thing :P So this Winter Warmer was pencilled in as early as August so I can make sure there will be no family obligations in my way ;P This time it was at a bar in Green Park - lovely :)

Did I enjoy it? I did! Sadly I was an airhead as usual and brought a camera, a camera charger but no SD card so I'd refer you to other posts for photographs of the event :) But the event as a whole was a interesting experience for me, mainly because I got to see George and Anna again, and meet some bloggers I've been reading their blogs for forever like Siobhan and Lauren, and also got introduced to new blogs like Gem's and Suzie's. My main reason for going was to meet people, but the demonstrations by make-up artists were so fun to watch, and it was just really cool to see in real life how a pro does make-up on a model. I wasn't so sure about the setting/layout, or if the other talks were my cuppa tea, but others seemed to enjoy them which is always good! :)

The make-up artists that were there were from FashionistA and VIVO. They both had 3 presentations each - FashionistA had 3 from the runway, and VIVO had 3 that was more street-friendly. It was a good contrast to have! FashionistA did a blue smokey look, a feline look and a blusher look, and VIVO did a vampire, golden and bold lip look. Lots of variety and "Ooo"s and "Ahh"s on my behalf :P

I'd never heard of FashionistA, but really liked the idea of the customizable palettes - SURPRISE! :P So was really excited when we got to choose our own palette to take home and play around with! I'm hoping I'll see them around in store so I can get some more bits to put in :) The one I chose was used for a dark blue smokey eye - a bit scary but something I've wanted to try out for ages! The mirror is absolutely maHUsive (even bigger than my ArtDeco one) so I'm keen on carrying it around with me!

VIVO - how could you not have heard of them? When they first said they'll be sold only in Tesco, I was like, "Pshyeah awesome." Err, do you know how hard it is to find a bloody Tesco that's not metro or express in central London? So I was a VIVO-virgin, and am now so glad I'm not! I tried many of the products they gave us yesterday and I was really impressed, even with the packaging! The goody bag I got contained products that were used for a bold lip, subtle everything-else look, which I haven't got nailed down so I wanted to give it a shot again :) I love the metallic black packaging- it's very chic and SUCH a good change from a boring black plastic that many budget brands seem to resort to. And, the lip products - OHHHH MY. They smell DELICIOUS. I want to eat them.


I think my favourite product out of everything so far has been the VIVO blusher, which I thought was going to be my least favourite. The colour is GORGEOUS, it is a fool proof, peachy pink with a slight iridescence.

So yes, it's Monday again and I had a great weekend. Sunday was spent in Canary Wharf with the boy watching the Three Musketeers (AMAZING) and shopping around, as well as having a delicious and cheap Sunday roast! Today is actually kind of still the weekend for me as I have no classes, but I have a lovely dinner planned at a posh restaurant (did any of you take advantage of the London Restaurant Festival!? :)) for me and the boy's 3 year anniversary :) I cannot wait!

Do you remember your first event?

Have you tried any FashionistA or VIVO cosmetics? :)

<3yu