I decided to treat myself to some cruelty free perfume!

I have wanted to buy some items from LgnsLondon for a while but kept putting it off.  As I now have a new job on the horizon I decided to treat myself.

All photos property of http://www.lgnslondon.co.uk

 

I remembered reading a blog on their Roses and Diamonds perfume and as my current perfume is almost done, investing in a cruelty free perfume backed by the BUAV seemed the most logical thing for me to do.  This perfume and Serenity which is also by LgnsLondon is currently retailing at £19.99 with free postage which I believe is a great price.

All photos property of http://www.lgnslondon.co.uk

 

Score for me as even better than free postage, at the moment they are offering a free nude lipgloss (retails for £4.99) and a black mascara (retails for £4.99).  Perfect for a natural look which is generally what I like for going to work.

All photos property of http://www.lgnslondon.co.uk

 

My “Eyes Right” mascara from Lush is nearing it’s end and although I love it, I am not going to be to shy to say I am looking forward to trying this one too.

All photos property of http://www.lgnslondon.co.uk

 

The lip gloss looks nice.  I don’t often wear anything other than balm on my lips but when I do it is generally a peach or light pink shade so I think this one will be right up my street.

Looking forward to reviewing these once they arrive so hurry up Mr Postman, Emmy is in need of something new to play with!

If you are looking to try some of their products for yourself, they are currently offering a free perfume sample to anyone who likes their facebook page here.  All the details of how to claim your free sample are on their website. 

On another note I am a little excited that although I am ending my current job soon to move to Lush, they have asked me to come in tomorrow to work on one of the make-up concession stands.  I never normally work in that end of the shop and so it will be great to put some of my beauty skills to use before I leave and hopefully get them a good level of sales – wish me luck!

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I have been a little quiet but it’s good news! (New job with Lush)

Sorry I have been a little lacking on the blog front but I had been going through the interview process for a new job and didn’t want to jinx myself posting about it.

So 2 weeks ago I had an interview with Lush for the role of Trainee Manager.  I felt the interview went well but you know how these things go, just because you think it went well doesn’t mean the interviewer agrees or even if they do agree, perhaps somebody else was better.  I did get the call I was waiting for, the one that asked me back for a second interview.

I had my second interview on Wednesday.  It involved a short interview with a more senior manager from the company, a business plan on how I would increase the average customer spend and then an hour and a bit on the floor showing what my customer service skills were like.

I won’t lie, I was pooping myself about the floor work.  Although I love lush and I use their products in my life regularly, I tend to stick to the same items again and again!  Why change what works?  I need not have worried, the team were really lovely and I think the time was more to see how I act with customers rather than if I knew the small print on every product.

As I left I was given a “little bag of goodies” as they put it.  WOW, this bag was not little and I will say there were no less than £80 worth of items in there.  A wide variety of items at that.  At this point although I was still hopeful I decided that even if I did not end up with the job it was okay.  I have other options.  I can go back to college, set up my home salon etc if needs be and so I relaxed and enjoyed my products.

That said, the store manager called me yesterday morning and offered me the job!  Of course I bit her arm off and said I would be accepting the job.

As you all know I have a passion for cruelty free cosmetics and so I honestly think that I will be so perfect Lush and them for me.  I guess you can now look forward to lots of reviews on the products I received in my goodie bag and any others I purchase along the way.

 

It does mean that my home salon will now be put on hold and I will not be returning to do my level 3 in September.  That is not to say I won’t go back to complete my level 3 and I do still wish to do a body wrap and gel nails course this summer to keep myself learning new skills that I can share my progress of with you.

Beauty equipment and Ikea?

I seen a great offer today that Ellisons had on Facebook – they had their “Camilla trolley” reduced from £89.95 to £39.95.  A saving of £50 had me very tempted to order it there and then but then I thought “Hmm I am sure I have read about people using kitchen trolleys from Ikea as a beauty trolley”. 

So my next logical step was to get onto the Ikea website and do you know what?  They have a trolley that looks perfect for my start up needs and it costs a mere £25! Its called the BYGEL Trolley and it has a drawer to hide bits and bobs (I am thinking my tinting stuff and lashes?). 

Trolley on its own

It also has hooks to hang either towels on or they do cute little pots which I actually think would be amazing for cotton wool and brushes.  As we have an Ikea about 40 minutes drive away it means I can also swing by and buy it in person next time I am heading past, thus saving me delivery charges. 

Totally going to buy some cute cups with my trolley as they are only 60p each!

 

My trolley isn’t the only thing I will be buying from a home store, equally my glass display cabinet is actually one from my old living room set which I bought many moons ago from Argos when we were starting out.  It is much like this one http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/6141183.htm .  Ours was mahogany but I am upcycling it with Annie Sloan Original White chalk paint to give it that perfect shabby chic look that many salons are sporting these days.

So there we have it – I shall be acquiring my beauty trolley for my home treatment room from Ikea rather than a traditional beauty supplier and my display cabinet is from Argos.  If you are looking a furnishings or practical items for your home salon (or heck perhaps you rent a room or own your own salon on the high street) then looking out of the box to find something that meets your needs could end up saving you a substantial amount of money.

If you know of any other out of the box ideas that I might find useful for my home salon then shout! I am already thinking I might start looking for an old spice rack to upcycle for a nail polish wall display!

Things I learnt today about the lips

The internet is such a great place to spend time when you want to learn new things.  Not that I endorse staying in on your computer all day, I would rather go out and experience stuff but it isn’t always possible.

I read some great tips today that I read and wanted to share with you.  I figured if I hadn’t been taught these tips in college then you may not have either.

Firstly – Lip liner should match your lip colour:   I was reading a little on lip liner.  My lip liner is a matte pink one that I must have had for about 5 years.  I don’t wear lip liner often but I always thought this colour was pretty.  However today I learned that if you want a natural looking lip you should not really be wearing lip liner to match our lipsticks, we should in fact be choosing one that matches our lip colour.  Who knew? I just figured I wear pink gloss and so pink liner would match so now I am on a mission to find a new liner to match my lip colour.

Lipstick should be applied with a brush:  Another tip for the lips and the more I thought about it the more it made sense.  Most people apply their lipstick straight on but the reality is that lipstick can easily bleed and end up going places we don’t really want it to.  Applying to the centre of the lips with a brush and working outwards of course reduces the chance of you ending up with too much lipstick on or your lippy sliding out on any fine lines you may have around the mouth area.

Dark lipstick makes your lips seem smaller:  Another one that makes sense when you think about it.  If dark shadows make the eyes look smaller then of course dark lippy makes our lips look smaller.  So if your lips are thin it is best to avoid it and opt for a lighter more natural colour to accentuate your lips.

So there we have it, 3 tips I thought you may find useful but on another note, carrot and cinnamon pancakes… why did I never think of making them before? Genius!

New shoes and polished toes

Today I got a beautiful pair of new sandals from my boyfriend.

As a given, my toe nails are well painted.  Currently they are coated in No.7 Cheeky Cheeky and No.7 limited edition gold glitter and they look pretty even if I say so myself.

It was only when I took this photo that I realised how glad I was that my toes were painted.  In fact, had they not been painted there would have been no way I would have posted a photo of my feel in those shoes on my Facebook feed.  I actually worried that people would think my polish was chipped as the glitter did not show up well on the photo I took with my Blackberry.

New shoes and polished toes

I am going somewhere with this honest so keep with me.  I actually hate feet and when I was doing pedicures in college I started them wearing gloves.  I just could not bring myself to touch other peoples feet with my bare hands.  After a few weeks I got to a stage where I would use my bare hands but I wasn’t very happy about it.  I really had to work hard at getting myself used to giving pedicures.  Why bother?

Well as above, I will not wear sandals without my toes painted and I think it is fair to say this is standard of many women in the summer months.  Recently I attended my daughters sports day and my nieces sports day (different schools) and I did take note that almost every woman at the events who had sandals on, had polish on their nails.  Further still about 50% of them actually had nail art on their toes.

So my point of today’s ramble (as inspired by my new shoes) is, if like me you hate feet and you are thinking of doing beauty then you need to quickly get over it.  Pedicures are going to become a good income stream for you one day and in reality they are very easy to perform.  With nail art becoming ever more popular pedicures are also a great treatment you can up sell from a basic polish to nail art on some of the toes.

As I said above, I hate feet and so if I can do a pedicure without moaning then I believe anyone can.

OPI Gelcolor

In my process of thinking of what brands I wish to use in my home salon I had already looked at OPI but didn’t think I would use it, I thought I would use Nails Inc.  That is until I realised that OPI do something called Gelcolor.

I will start of by saying yes I know OPI sold out to Coty (who do test on animals) BUT from what I have read OPI also signed an agreement with PETA to agree that they as a brand would remain cruelty free.  Their products are also vegan.  In a world where even the likes of The Body Shop are now owned by some of the evils in the beauty world I believe it is up to us as consumers to buy from the cruelty free arms to show the parent companies where their loyalty should lie.  That is with the cruelty free methods of testing their products and ingredients.

So moving on, I didn’t realise OPI even offered a gel polish.  It was by chance I spotted a training advertisement in a Sally’s brochure online and so looked in to it.

What I really loved is that they offer not only a quality gel based product but the colour choices also match with their nail polish range!  I honestly believe this could be an amazing retail opportunity.  Imagine the scenario, client is going on holiday and you are doing their nails in an OPI Gelcolor.  Perhaps they don’t often get their nails done with gel polish but love the colour.  This is your chance, you can retail to them the opportunity to buy the matching nail polish to use at home to remind them of their holiday in the future.  It would work equally well for brides as a reminder of their wedding day.

So today I dutifully call a local Sallys store who advise me they don’t offer the class but to try 2 other branches.  I called the next branch who where actually super (Sallys in Newry) and offered to call around to see who offered the course and said they would call me back.  She was true to her word and called me back within half an hour but sods law is the one store offering the course offered it TODAY and so I had missed it.  What were the chances of that?  She was very kind and said if I could get the minimum number of people they require for the course (3 or 5… she wasn’t sure which it was) that she will do her best to try and get them to book the OPI teaching staff again sooner rather than later.

In my opinion the course is an amazing price.  You do require your manicure qualification as this is only a one day course (5 hours) in the application of the gel and not a day course in how to provide a manicure.  That said, the course cost is £30+ VAT which is by far the best priced gel application training course I have seen.

Some of the beauties of the gel are that each coat cures in only 30 seconds!  It is also said to last up to 3 weeks and from the reviews I have read people seem only to be saying good things about this product.  The range of shades is also pretty amazing – you can see them here. The feed back on the removal process also makes it sound much easier than Shellac and Gelish which can only be another positive to add to the list.

GelColor colour wheel

So here is hoping that I can get on a course for it ASAP to get a chance to buy my starter kit and have a play.  I have even been thinking that gel nails could be my way to start with “testing my business” with the Princes Trust.

Not your average Sunday reading topic but talking about porn stars…

I read this the other day online and found it fascinating and so I thought I would share it with you.

These photos are by make-up artist Melissa Murphy who took before and after shots of porn stars before she did their hair and make-up.  The difference is immense!

Before

After

There is no doubting of the extreme change make-up made to these women but for me, one big element was the how much of a difference the eyebrows made.

Don’t take my word for it, check the story out here on the Daily Mail for yourself and see for yourself.  If it doesn’t leave you feeling inspired and motivated about what we can achieved by perfecting our crafts then I would wonder if the make-up industry is really for you.