April's Degustabox

 

After spending a ton on various different beauty boxes and not using half the products id receive, I made a pact with myself that I would no longer subscribe to any. I’m supposed to be sorting my finances out after all, so I’m being behaved! Or at least I was until I kept seeing fab reviews for Degustabox. It’s filled with food and refreshments, not beauty so that’s ok right?!

Any I was so glad I did cave in as I received so many lovely goodies! This is what came in April’s box:

Crabbies Raspberry Alcoholic Ginger Beer – in the box was also some cocktail recipes using the ginger beer, which I can’t wait to try!

Cawston Press Sparkling Apple and Rhubarb Juice Soft Drink – Rhubarb reminds me of summers and Rhubarb crumbles…

Keoghs Atlantic Sea Salt and Irish Cider Vinegar Potato Crisps.

Mornflake Superfast Fruit and Nut Muesli – I am terrible at eating breakfast so being in a little tub this is so handy. I can take it to work and eat it when I get there!

Jaffa Cakes Mini Rolls in Berry Burst and Tropical.

Go Splash Low Calorie Energy Lightening Red Sugar Free Water Flavouring.

3x Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Bars – this just happens to be my favourite chocolate of all time, yey!

2x Organic Instant Miso Soup on the go – perfect for lunch at work when you’re having a crazy day.

Fine Cooks Chocolate in Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate – I feel a baking session coming on!

I think I will definitely be getting another Degustabox for £12.99, it’s such a bargain when you look at the amount of products you receive! I am really impressed and it’s a great way for me to try new things.

Do you have a subscription box you would recommend?

Motivational Monday #14

I love this quote so much! I am a huge believer in what comes around goes around and what you give out is what you get back. I know that when I’m positive in mind and attitude, positive things tend to happen.

I am really trying hard to embrace life at the moment and make the most out of each day. So this week I plan to keep today’s quote at the forefront of my mind.

Happy Monday lovelies!

 

MAC Girl About Town Lipstick

 

Is it possible to actually love a lipstick, I mean really LOVE?! I wanted to invest in a new MAC lippy for a while but have been hesitant as just couldn’t decide on a shade! After months of ‘umming’ and ‘aaaahing’ I decided on ‘Girl about Town’ and I can’t explain how happy I am that I did! I am so in love with this shade, it’s a complete beaut!

 

‘Girl about Town’ is a blue based bright pink fuchsia and It's an Amplified Crème formula, so it's completely opaque, semi-creamy, and really pigmented. It can be built up on your lips and it doesn't budge. My skin tone is pretty fair but I think it would look fab on most skin tones. Being so well pigmented it really stays put and when it does start to fade it leaves a gorgeous stain.

 

It applies very smoothly with no patchiness or drying sensation and doesn’t seem to smudge or bleed. To top it all off it has a gorgeous Vanilla scent which just adds to its perfection for me. What more could you want in a lip product!

I have been wearing this lipstick every day and it’s so versatile you can easily wear it day and night.

If you were keen to find a negative to this product, the only thing I can think of is the £15.00 price tag. However it is so well pigmented that you really don’t need much to get good coverage so I think it will last a while. It’s also just such a good quality product I feel I can justify the price tag.

The Bloggers Snail Mail - Signups now open!

 

So in the beginning of March I launched the first ‘The Bloggers Snail Mail’ and we had over 40 lovely bloggers sign up! It was really good fun, and the feedback from those who took part was so lovely I just had to run another!

So here is how it works:

A quarterly gift exchange where you can meet other bloggers from around the world and spread a bit of positivity! People get paired up in March, June, September and December. During the sign up period, every participant will be paired with one other new participant and you’ll spend a few weeks becoming BFFs (i.e. reading each other’s blogs, sending happy e-mails, you name it!). After that, you’ll send your partner a gift from your country that you think they may like from the info you now know about them. There’s a £5 limit on the gifts to make this project as affordable as possible. Be as creative as you can and make it meaningful! Motivate them, tell them all the beautiful things you learned about them, and make them feel special! We could all use a little encouragement, especially from our new friends. Also, each package should include a postcard (or a letter if you can’t find one!) with some motivating love or positive words of wisdom written all over it.

So to sign up for the ‘The Bloggers Snail Mail’ you just need to send an email to whatsinyourmakeupbag@gmail.com, title it ‘The Bloggers Snail Mail’ and include in it your name, where you are from, and you blog! Sign ups will be open until the Friday 30^th May. I will then randomly match you all up aiming to make sure you are with someone from another country or at least in another area from you! I will then let you know by Monday 2nd June who your partner is and you then have 4 weeks to get to know them! So the week of the 30^th June, you can then send your new buddy their Snail Mail!

Once you receive your gifts, write a blog post about your experience, sharing what you gave, received, and learnt through this being part of this and meeting your new pal.

If you want to tweet about this project, use the hashtag #TheBloggersSnailMail, You can also tag me @GemmaMarieJames and ill retweet your post, so everyone can share your experience!

Nails // Seventeen Gel Colour in ‘Mocha-tini’

 

Ooooh a neutral colour! Very different for me as I do tend to like my bright and bold nails. However last Saturday one of my lovely friends got married, so for the wedding I wore a simple Navy dress and in an attempt to be a little classy for once I thought neutral nails were the way to go!

I went for Seventeen Gel Colour in ‘Mocha-tini’ which as it says on the tin is a gorgeous light mocha colour. I really like the colour, which is very different for me. I am also a huge fan of the Seventeen Gel Colour range which I have nothing but good things to day about. It claims to last up to 8 days, which it seems to do. So it is long wearing, has a gorgeous glossy finish and is really easy to apply.

Are you a fan of neutrals or are do you like a pop of colour like me?

Motivational Monday #13

Firstly I would like to say a massive THANK YOU! to all the lovely, sweet and kind folks who commented, emailed or tweeted me after my last post. I was in a bit of a rut, however after taking a week off from blog land and reflecting over all the lovely things people said I am feeling a lot better and read to get my blogging but back into action! HURRAH!

 

One of the best comments and the one that hit me the most came from Maura who blogs over at ‘Led by Moonlight, A Beauty Blog for Beautiful Dreamers’. Her makeup is incredible, so go check it out!  Maura quoted the below to me...

I think it says it all and sums it up perfectly for me. I love this quote, we are all creative individuals and we need to embrace our differences and individuality.

This week I am going to focus on what I enjoy, I am going to make sure I relax and have fun and look after myself.

Happy Monday Lovelies!

The Blogging Blues

source

 



If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that I try hard to promote positivity, so this post is a bit different for me. Lately I have been feeling a bit disillusioned with life and this feeling has spread to my blog as well. I am going to draft this post to get a few things off my chest, whether I post it or not will be another story.

Life has been ridiculously stressful lately and super busy but it’s never effected my blogging before. It’s all things I have no control over, so no idea how to step away and turn my mind off to it. Work and home haven’t been going well and you know when you can normally balance it when ones going bad the others pretty great? Well I’ve had no such luck lately. I feel like I’m about to snap, I want to switch off and relax but not sure how you go about it. I keep getting poorly at the moment as well and I know that’s due to being stressed and run down. Everything just seems a little grey.  

In terms of my blogging block, I suppose I don’t have any blogging buddies either so don’t have anyone to talk it through with or anyone who understands this hobby. I want to say I have fallen out of love with it, but that’s not true I love blogging fiercely. ‘Lipsticks and Lashes’ is my little sanctuary and I really enjoy it, cherish it, it’s my baby. However right now and over the past week or so I keep sitting at my laptop and it’s just blank. I have ideas for posts, lists and lists of ideas, but I can’t seem to focus to put anything together, no words are coming out.

I also hate to compare my blog to others, that’s not why I started this. I started it as I love writing. I want to be a writer one day and thought blogging was a great way to practice my writing. I just find it’s become such a competitive community. I have always been flattered that people even check out my blog let alone follow it. But I am sometimes not sure I fit in.

I feel like I have lost my blogging mojo and I don’t know how to fix it.

Apologies for a bit of a ‘bleurgh’ post but I feel better for venting. Have you ever had the blogger blues or blogger block?