Exclusive Buzz Barry M Kit (& Giveaway!)

This exclusive Barry M Kit has been sponsored by The Sun buzz Magazine :)

To celebrate Valentine's Day, buzz have teamed up with cosmetic experts Barry M to give away a fabulous make-up set designed for buzz. The set is worth more than £9 and includes a Glossy Tubes lip gloss, a black kohl eyeliner pencil and a pot of nail polish all in limited-edition shades not available in the shops. All readers need to do to get the FREE make-up set is take the

voucher printed in this week's buzz to their nearest participating Superdrug store.

This offer is UK only.

My swatches:

And this is me wearing the kit which you can get tomorrow (Saturday 12th February 2011) with The Sun buzz magazine! Just take the voucher in the mag to your nearest participating Superdrug store!

I have also been given a set to giveaway! To enter, watch the video below :)

Love love and buzzlove!!

Toffee xXxXx

Jelly Pong Pong (Reviews & Giveaway)

Jelly Pong Pong - doesn't that name just make you smile? :D

Let's start with Crystallizer!

(haha I really like this pic because if you look closely, you can see me taking it!)

This beautifully packaged product looks so chic sat on my desk :)

Rumour has it that this product was made by fairies! It's not difficult to see why... the shimmery sparkliness, the sweet colours, it's hard not to believe!

It comes with the softest puff that is probably made from donate fairy wing feathers and silk. The four magical gemstone powders are (starting from the top and going clockwise) Light Amethyst, Tanzanite, Firestone Ruby and White Crystal.

This is just a swatch on my hand, but there are many uses for this! I just love how it sparkles :P

You can add a little to a moisturiser to liven up a dull complexion, its great for use on the hair for an extra special shine, and brilliant to make the skin on your body glow :) I love putting some on my legs and décolletage when I go out!

Next up, we have the Venus Magical Pearls!

This beautiful product comes packaged in a what looks like a pearl! Very appropriate, with a twist off jar lid and a seal to stop any of the product beads escaping.

There are two uses to this product. First use is swirling the beads to give the Gossamer Highlight to cheekbones (or anywhere else you'd like).

Below is a swatch of the swirled silver. On the left of my hand, I dipped an eyeshadow brush into the pot and applied.

The second use of this product is to crush the beads!

Breaking the shell of the bead releases this gorgeous blue-y turquoise eyeshadow that blends beautifully and compliments almost all eyes :)

If you like the idea of this product but aren't too keen on the silver/turquoise combination, I urge you to check out the product on the Jelly Pong Pong website where there are four other colour combinations :) (Immortal and Worship are on my wish-list!)

And last up, here is the Shoe Palette!

This is such a clutch-friendly product! It's quite tiny (in a good way), thin and compact, and comes with a mirror which is great for touching up on-the-go! So cute and the colours are perfect for everyone!

The brown shade is a cream eyeshadow which can be used as a base or on its own :) If you wanted to, you could apply this to the lips to give a more mature look.

The white shade is actually a clear (or very sheer) lipgloss that has a decent sparkle to it! This gloss is actually a little glossier than the brown shade and so for this reason, I would not recommend putting this on the eyes. As a lip gloss though, it's great!

The swatches - the brown shade actually reminds me of a MAC Shadestick!

Now to the giveaway! I have some gorgeous products lined up from the Jelly Pong Pong range!

This is the Muffin & Meringue Gloss Set which is two tubes of lip gloss packaged so cutely!

And we also have the Soap Popsicle in Watermelon!

(The little green bow is so cute!)

So to be entered in this giveaway, comment on this post answering this:

If you could only have one hair style for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Giveaway ends 11.59pm GMT 15th February 2011. Open to international followers, must be a public follower and be over 18 or have permission to give me your personal information if you win. Don't forget to add your email address so I can contact you! Good luck :)

Love love and pongponglove!!

Toffee xXxXx

Let's Go Sky High (NOTD & Reviews)

Hello Starlings - haven't called you that in a while, have I? ;)

The other day, my sister-in-law came home with a little present for me - DuWop Venom Gloss in Pink Champagne!

This little gem is a 'plumping color gloss' which comes in squeezy tube packaging with that plastic doe foot that has a little hole to dispense. No surprises here, the tube works just as functionally as any other tube gloss. The colour is perfect for me! A wonderful nude shade that would sit prettily on top of any lipstick!

So the reason why it has been named 'Venom Gloss' is because it has some plumping effect that feels all tingly on the lips! With the minty scent and the tingles, this definitely has an effect on my lips. Now whether it plumps them is a big question. I don't believe that these kind of products help but maybe with the sensation it causes a slight reaction on the skin causing it to slightly protrude (like when you scratch yourself, you get a raised area).

I don't think this would be good for those who are very skin sensitive or have low pain thresholds. I don't find the gloss unpleasant at all, but I can see why someone might feel uncomfortable with this on.

I can report that the tingling sensation lessens after about 30 mins. I can still detect it, but it's so faint compared to first application.

I love it, thanks, Mel!

Another gift I got (for Christmas 2010, so a while back...) was from the lovely Vicky!

She sent me this gorgeous No 7 Define & Shimmer Eye Palette, along with two other items as a little present - Vicky, I still have yours here... I haven't sent them yet, oops! But I will I promise :)

This quad comes with a double ended brush, one for shading and the other for lining. The swatches below were done using this brush, which is pretty soft for a palette brush! I've used it for application on my eyelids and it has done a pretty decent job.

The colours from left to right are a light champagne, a light khaki green (mucus green? :P), a chocolate brown and a light aubergine. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of green so that one will probably stay unused. However, I'm loving the other colours and have been using this palette for a while now!

The champagne is a perfect highlighter colour and the brown and aubergine simply complement each other when smoked out!

Mel (sis-in-law) also recommended that I try out Rimmel's nail polish as, in her words, the brush is pro. Haha!

I picked up Rimmel 60 Seconds nail polish in 825 Sky High as the colour intrigued me. It's a really nice teal that maybe a little bit greener than a teal should be.

Someone once told me that the perfect teal is one that when held next to blue looks green but when held next to green looks blue. With this one, holding it next to blue does make it look green but next to green, it still looks green to me. I'm still getting used to the colour on my nails but I think it looks pretty chic and is a nice alternative to the light vintage jade green that is such a big hit!

The 'Xpress brush 1 sec application' doesn't really do much for me, but it's a nicer brush which seems to mimic the time I paint my nails with O.P.I. polishes (they have that Prowide brush) so I do like this.

The back also claims that this is a one coat polish which dries in less than 60 seconds. Well, it's safe to say that I don't paint super thick coats on my nails as I KNOW it will take more than one measly minute to dry, so the pictured nails have three thin coats of this polish and a trusty coat of 17 Double Gloss Top Coat. As for the less than 60 seconds drying time, I have still yet to find a polish that will withstand this claim.

Beautiful colour and seems quite hard wearing, although with two thin coats on earlier and no top coat, I did notice a few tiny chips and a little fading after 5ish hours. I would advise wearing a top coat with any of these Rimmel polishes.

So, what do you think??

Love love and skyisnolimitlove!!

Toffee xXxXx

How to: Red Packet Fishies

After Chinese New Year, we are left with many (we hope!) red envelopes.

Let's make fishies out of them!!

Things you'll need:

* Red Envelopes

* Scissors

* Stapler

Step 1: Start off with an empty red envelope!

(always check for money, as it would be very unfortunate if you cut up paper money)

Step 2: Flip the patterned side to face the surface, and fold a bottom corner to the opposite side to form a triangle.

Step 3: Cut off the excess paper, to form a square.

Step 4: Keep the square folded in half from corner to corner.

Step 5: You don't have to draw before you cut, but this is a demo. Make sure you're cutting the side which is already open.

Step 6: Cut this area off to shape the fins of the fish.

Step 7: Make sure you have cut through both sides of the envelope.

Step 8: At the closed corner, snip off a tiny triangle to form the mouth of the fish.

Step 9: Open up the envelope so it looks like an arrow.

Step 10: Cut down the centre of the tail (open) end to about the centre of the body.

Step 11: Cross the split tail, puffing out the body of the fish on one side, hold this tightly and repeat on the other side.

Step 12: Staple the fish at the base of the tail to hold it together.

And this is the finished product!

Different patterns will give different coloured fish :D

Then you can make plenty more!

If you like, you can poke a needle through the top with a piece of thread and hang up your fishes!

Credit goes to my sister-in-law, who taught me how to make these, but also as the modeller in my step-by-step photographs :)

Hope you like and do post a picture if you make some fish, I'd love to see!!

Love love and fishlove!!

Toffee xXxXx

Gong Xi Fa Cai! 2011

Happy Chinese New Year!!

♥(\ /)

♥( . .)

c(”)(”)

This bunny will bring you luck in the Year of the Rabbit!

May your year be filled with wealth, health and happiness :D

Love love and properitylove!!

Toffee xXxXx