Back with a Giveaway!

Hiiii guys *waves frantically* Exams for the year are over and I have completed two years of university, yay :) It is great to be back and free from studying for the next three months, haha.

And as a way for thanking you for your continued support even when I have been on hiatuses... I have a giveaway for my 800+ followers!

I have circle lenses provided by my sponsor, mukuCHU to giveaway - 5 pairs! And I have included a brand new Sigma E25 Blending Brush for those who want to enter the giveaway but don't wear circle lenses. A prize for anyone :D

Things to know about the lenses:

• They are all PLANO (no prescription), EOS-branded circle lenses. 
• They are 14.8mm in diameter.

For the brown lenses, the one on the right just needs to be flipped inside out - it's not a defective lens so don't fret!!!

As mentioned earlier, I have a non-sponsored prize for both circle lens wearers and non-circle lens wearers (everyone can enter to win this prize too).

This was a freebie with my last Sigma order and I never opened it because I already had this brush from my previous order (and it doesn't need replacing).

Brand new one is still in the cardboard and I am holding my own. It's great quality and has minimal to no shedding! To me, the blending brush is an essential eye brush :)

Just as a side note - if you happen to be a winner of prizes 1, 2 or 3, please make sure that you are aware of the potential dangers of wearing circle lenses! I do not wish to and will not be held responsible for any issues that you may face while wearing these lenses - it is best to do your own thorough research before entering this giveaway if you have never worn any type of contact lenses before and for you to be informed about the risks involved. As long as you take care of your lenses properly and follow the 'rules', generally everything should be fine.

More information here: http://www.mukuchu.com/2009/11/faq.html

If you are hesitant or would like some clarification/question answered about circle lenses, you are free to message me privately to my email, via the comments below or on Twitter.

How to enter? Simply fill in the form once and you'll be in the draw! This giveaway ends in exactly a month's time. Good luck!!!

I promise you'll be hearing from me again VERY soon :) I have surely missed blogging~

♥ Jen xx

[CLOSED] Giveaway Time! Thank you 700+ Followers

A very warm hello to all of my readers! This post is dedicated to you guys to let you know that you're awesome ^﹏^ Thank you for following, reading and thank you especially for leaving sweet comments on my posts! That is the most rewarding part about blogging - receiving support through comments and making friends with people who share the same interests. Thank you for making my blogging experience a whole lot more worthwhile and enjoyable. It's a hobby that I hope to keep with me for life.


I promise that each time I reach a milestone of followers, I'll have something to give as my way of saying thanks. Words are simply not enough. So I have arranged a small giveaway with 2 prize packages for 2 lucky winners :)

I'll have this on my sidebar as a reminder for you guys~

• Open worldwide!
• 2 prizes up for grabs
• New followers are welcome
• Just fill in the form below to enter
• Winners will be chosen at random on September 22

I've made the optional entries fairly simple (no need to reblog my post). Hopefully the form is really quick for you to fill out hehe. Google docs just makes sorting out a whole lot a easier.


I've been meaning to have a giveaway for quite a while but didn't find time to make the post! Well here it is finally and I guess that all I can really say now is... good luck :D


Sadly as each week passes by I am becoming more and more busy with uni work which I know will get in the way of my blogging routine. I can't guarantee that I will have a new post each week but I will definitely be trying to publish posts as often as I can. Please bear with me, thank you!

♥ Jen xx

My First GlossyBox AU

Hello! Last week I was contacted by Amanda of GlossyBox and from that I was sent January's GlossyBox - a box filled with full-sized products/samples from a range of beauty brands. I'm sure most of you bloggers out there are already familiar with these boxes. If not then here's what I know about them:

• A subscription is required to receive these boxes monthly
• Generally they range from $14.95-$20 a box p/month
• Contain 4-6 samples/full-sized products which are beauty, skincare or haircare related
• At least a few high-end branded items are included
• The items are unknown before receiving the box
• Every box's items are the same

They first became known around early last year where they weren't available in Australia. I remember thinking to myself, 'I wish they had these in Aus, it's such a good idea!'. About 6 or so months later, many different companies started launching these beauty boxes in Aus and before we knew it, we were pretty much bombarded with many to choose from! And because of this, I wasn't able to make up my mind on which to subscribe to. I decided to wait for others in Aus to receive their boxes and review. Then after seeing reviews, I still couldn't make up my mind so I subscribed to none :| Not to mention that I wasn't too keen on spending 'x' amount for a box where there may be products unsuitable for my skin (my sensitive skin can be so problematic).

Here is the GlossyBox for January 2012:

Contents:

• Nivea Rich Nourishing Body Moisturiser
• Sheer Cover Nourishing Moisturiser
• Sheer Cover Lipgloss
• Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Recovery Complex
• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Colour
• Australia Day Temporary Tattoos
• GlossyBox Welcome Card
• GlossyBox Men Discount Card
• Sally Hansen Booklet July to December 2011
• 2 x THE ICONIC $25 Gift Cards

The box was sent via express post and was delivered straight to my door :) It arrived on the morning of Australia Day (January 26) and since it was a public holiday, my mum was home. Haha, you're probably thinking why I mentioned that. Well, my mum is always extremely curious when I receive a package in the mail and she makes me open it straight away. I had planned to take pictures of the box and everything before opening it but of course, I couldn't because I did end up opening it beforehand. I did my best to package it all back nicely for photos:

A box within a box

Cushion-y stuffing wrapped with black crepe paper tied with a pink ribbon

These are the 5 items that were inside the wrapped packaging

List of items in the box and brief descriptions, pricing

I actually didn't know that this GlossyBox would also come with a few discount codes for affiliated companies but yeah, it's cool =] These are the ones that came with my box:

GlossyBoxes for men are now available! If you're interested in purchasing one for your man, this is a $5 off code which is redeemable until February 29 2012

CODE: GBMEN2012

I made use of my $25 gift card for THE ICONIC (I made a blog post about them here)

I'm willing to share this code with my blog readers ^_^

$25 off your purchase from THE ICONIC - one per person and minimum $49 spend

CODE: GLOSSY

Since it was Australia Day in January, these temporary tattoos were included

Does anyone want them? First person to request them can have them for free!

My initial thoughts on the GlossyBox

• Lovely packaging, pink sturdy re-usable box is perfect
• Secure wrapping around the products
• A theme within the items - 'goodies to make your outer beauty glow'
• Informative card about each product
• Sally Hansen nail booklet included has some very helpful tips
• 2 full-sized products and 3 sample-sized products
• 3 skincare, 1 nail and 1 lip product
• Honestly expected there to be a few more items in the box
• Discount codes seem to be a bonus in the box, also the tattoos

Thoughts on the products provided

I'm not a very fussy person and I am usually happy/grateful for things that I am given. In this case, the box was provided for me free of charge and being the nice person that I am, I can't exactly 'complain' about the items. But from a beauty blogger's perspective, I don't feel obliged to point out my concerns and give my honest opinions. I'll start off by saying that yes, I would use all of these products as they all are suitable for my skin type... and taste in skincare/cosmetics =P But I already have heaps of body moisturiser. That's my only complaint, if you even call it a complaint, lol.

I have to admit that I did feel a bit puzzled after seeing only 5 items in my box. I did a little search on GlossyBox's site and I found out that there are two products that weren't in my box - Kosmea Daily Exfoliant and Mirenesse Tight Liner Hydra Gel Eye Liner. BUT then I found out that there are actually 2 versions of the box where they would include those two products but then not have two of the ones that I had!! Thanks for the clarification Sue and Anna.

Because I've had these products for only a bit over a week, I haven't been able to use them to their full extents to be able to write a review. If anyone would like a review for any of January's GlossyBox items, just let me know!

Repurchase?

$14.95 is a decent price I suppose, so yes I would repurchase, aka keep the subscription. It's just that I'd rather use that money on products that I actually want or need to purchase. But I've realised that this a good way to try new products without having to buy full-sized items.

And guess what? I have now subscribed to GlossyBox! I found out about their limited edition Valentine's Day GlossyBox that will have an extra gift never before in their boxes! I am super eager to find out what it is, and I couldn't wait until other bloggers receive and review so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and be one of the first to receive it ^o^

 Credit to GlossyBox

Do you know what's even better? Groupon are having a deal right now where it's only $7 for a women's GlossyBox and $9 for a men's GlossyBox! I must thank Sue who tweeted this amazing deal, I just couldn't resist! Interested in your own GlossyBox for less than half of its RRP? Here is the link to the deal :D Be quick because this deal will be over in less than 72 hours!!

I'll do a post like this when I receive the Valentine's Day edition of GlossyBox. I seriously cannot wait!

My questjen of the week:

What are your thoughts on paying for samples?

And would you subscribe to a box like GlossyBox?

Disclaimer: Products mentioned in this blog post were sent to me for consideration. I am not affiliated with GlossyBox and I do not receive monetary compensation for this review. All opinions stated are my own and are 100% honest.

Giveaway Winner Babie!

Sup guys? Apologies for my delay in writing a post on the weekend, I had a massive week and I am extremely glad that it's mid-semester break! I've been catching up on my sleep over the weekend (that's why I didn't blog) due to my horrible sleep debt and now I'm back on track! Having two major assignments due on the same day was not fun T_T My procrastination got the better of me again. Stress levels plummeted through the roof.

But anyway, to happier news -  I happened to find some good in all the 'bad' stuff that was going on - I won Cindy aka The Bad Barbie's giveaway! There were two prizes, one for an Australian winner and an international winner, and through a random draw I was chosen *-* Finding out via email made my day/night/week xD

I can honestly say that I was not expecting to win. As you may or may not know, 'Cindy' (it's her alias) is one of my blog friends and we're from the same city, Adelaide. It's a small city and I'm surprised that I haven't been able to see her around despite sometimes catching the bus on the same street she goes to for her studies :o I seriously want to meet this girl but I'm so darn shy lol v_v Have you seen her? She's freaking gorgeous ♥ But not only that, she's an absolute sweetheart!

Just a screenshot of her blog. Her face isn't on the header but if you scroll down a little you get to see her doll face staring back at you. Envyenvyenvy.

Not only am I shy but I will probably be speechless anyway if I saw her in person *imagines being starstruck*

So as I was saying before, I entered her giveaway as a way of showing my support of the launch of her online store, BadBarbie. She was the co-owner of the previous online shop... oh crap I forgot the name :S Bahaha, this shows how insignificant that 'other' shop is to me now, ever since Cindy left. But yeah, I'm glad Cindy is now the boss of her own shop so she can have things her way without unnecessary arguments and whatnot.

By the way, I decided to use 'babie' in the title instead of baby because it's a combination of bad barbie, hehe.

And since we live in the same city, shipping only took a day! Fastest package received ever~

 The contents of the prize, items which can be bought from the Bad Barbie shop:

- Red Union Jack Bag ($30)

- Three Layered Feather Earring ($30)

- BadBarbie Arty Ring ($30)

I felt that it was appropriate to deck myself out in gyaru-ness while wearing the bag and accessories. I'll be nice and show just two HD pictures of myself with lenses, lashes and double eyelid tape. 

I wore my hair extensions so that I could see how well the feather earrings could blend in with my hair. I wasn't worrying about how well the extensions blended with my hair. I guess it sort of did blend in. Wearing the extensions made me miss my long hair :(

 Lace, denim, feathers, bows, floral, union jacks/flags, studs - just some gyaru fashion trends

My favourite item out of the giveaway prizes is the ring:

 The arty ring is gorgeous, I love the turquoise stone and I have been wanting a ring with a big rock like this but I just haven't found. I had no idea how popular these types of rings were until I got my own and did a little research online/Tumblr.

 BadBarbie has this instock, only size 17 is available. That's about a S-M size

Another thing I didn't know was that they're designed by YSL!! Mine is an inspired one whereas a genuine YSL one would cost around $200 I think o_o ?

When I first saw this I could not make out what was engraved =/ It reads 'YVESANLURENF' lol, close enough

I like how the ring looks on my index finger but it doesn't fit properly :( Only middle finger or thumb

The pink one is so pretty *-*

I really do love my arty ring, I haven't seen anyone wear one before (in person) so I reckon this would make a great statement piece. It is a little big for me but if I'm careful when I wear it then it should be okay. It's definitely not too over the top like other chunky rings - it's enough to attract attention and compliments.

I took pictures from my ViVi back issue of turquoise accessories and rings:

My second favourite item would be the earring:

Feather accessories are in

I never used to like feathers that much but now I've been inspired by celebrities and I reckon they're pretty cool. You should know that I love jewellery, especially earrings and necklaces. The fact that this can double up as a feather hair extension is awesome, the length is great and the colours match each other :)

You can read all about the trend here as posted by Miss Boss herself: http://www.thebadbarbie.com/2011/08/feathered.html#more

Even though it flicks outwards here, it still complements my hair

Swapped side

I don't know whether it's real feathers or not so please don't ask me u_u But I seriously love the blue feathers because they stand out against my dark hair. I liked the patterned stripey one too ^.^ The 3 layers are very distinct and when I first saw these on BadBarbie, I thought that they were attached by thread but nope, gold chains! It's a hook at the end to hook into your ear piercing (like drop earrings) so there's no need for an earring backing. I guess you can only wear this if you have your ear lobe pierced :P Overall I adore this piece!

I recently bought a back issue of Chinese Popteen magazine and I found some feather accessories:

Feathers AND turquoise stone on the necklace, cute!

Thirdly and finally is the bag:

I'm going to be very honest here - this time last year or anytime before this year, I was definitely not interested in wearing any flag symbols as clothing or accessories. Tacky would come to mind but also... others categorising and judging. I would stand out from a crowd and that's not ideal for a shy girl like me. It would seem as though I'm representing the UK instead of Australia, despite the union jack being on the top left hand corner of the Australian flag. This could sort of be controversial... I don't know. I'm self-conscious and I really do care about what others think of me ~_~ I hate getting weird looks from strangers!

Buttttt things are different now. No, I may not be confident enough to change my sense of fashion entirely however I could wear this bag without caring as much as I used to. BadBarbie = giving people self-confidence to dress stylishly and freely? That's what it seems haha, and I love it!

*Clutches bag* Stuff the haters >=P

The material is sturdy and not too soft or hard. It has an adjustable strap so you can wear it as a cross-over or shoulder bag. The buckle at the front is easy to twist to open and close and it's enough to keep everything inside secure. For added security, there is a zip inside as well as another compartment zip and phone holder.

:O It perfectly fits something inside! I'll reveal what it is soon hehe

Everything is sewed on well, especially the front design. The gold studs seem to be glued on nicely so I don't have to feel paranoid about them falling off randomly. I hope none of them do!

There's just one thing that has made this the third liked item of them all. It's not about the design or symbol but it's about the scent. Everyone is different and this may not be a big issue for some but I dislike the scent of the bag. It's not that slightly pleasant 'new bag' scent unfortunately... it's much stronger and smells like a factory of some sort :/ I really can't describe it but it sort of reminds me of moth balls. I reckon it's the material that is emitting this scent which has made my room smell a bit like this lol. It also transfers onto my fingers after I've touched it D: I've opened my windows, lightly sprayed the bag with my perfume but the scent is still there with a hint of my perfume's scent ._. I guess the only way to get rid of it is to wash it thoroughly. Aww what a shame... wish it could go away by itself.

If anyone has any tips on how to get rid of that 'strong bag' scent then please let me know!

Since I wore my denim dress and this union jack bag, just thought I'd also incorporate pages from my magazines:

 This outfit looks familiar ;) I've seen it worn by Cindy before (she's model material by the way)

 Repping the American flag, despite being Japanese

It actually looks pretty alright, in small doses

So yeahhhhh, that's it to my little show and tell of the items I got from winning the giveaway - thanks so much again Cindy! It's lovely to add these awesome items to my accessories collection, I feel very lucky. Don't know whether I'd wear them all at once as seen in my pictures but I'll be sure to make use of all of them :D

If you haven't checked out BadBarbie already then you should be making your way there now (after you're done reading my blog post) for all gal-inspired items. The cool thing about it is that it won't only be for girls - a Bad Ken section will be coming out soon for men apparel and footwear. It would be cool to let her know that you've been referred by me but since Cindy and BadBarbie is already overwhelmingly popular, I'm sure most of you are aware of her and her shop by now.

Now to reveal the item that perfectly fits in the union jack bag...

 My newly-owned mini notebook/netbook - Asus Eee

Technically, it's my boyfriend's but he was kind enough to lend it to me to allow me to multi-task on dual screens. A few days after he lent it to me, he said that it is now mine and I can keep it - yay =) Glad to have this netbook and an awesome bag to store it in ^_^

Ok this post is really long now and photo-spammed (so sorry). Now that I've increased the width I've decided to make all of my photos X-large to fit in with it. I know that it may decrease loading time and if this is an issue for you, please tell me so I can downgrade the size of the pictures next time to large or medium, thank you.

Questjen of the week is...

Describe your fashion sense

This isn't an actual question but I want to know how my readers dress and style themselves lol, sounds kind of creepy. The sad thing is that I don't get to see more than three quarters of you in person :( But if we were to meet, how would you dress? Are there any clothing items that you avoid like skirts or dresses?

I'm a mix of things - casual, girly, sporty and chic and more. I'm not a sporty person but I like to wear hoodies and trackies sometimes x] There's nothing that I really avoid besides the really outrageous outfits like Lady Gaga's. Actually, nowadays I avoid wearing halter-neck tops, shirts that expose my stomach, maxi dresses (just not my thing, maybe for an evening dress only), baggy pants, mini skirts, checkered shirts, flare jeans and polo tops. I used to wear a few of what I just listed but I won't say what they were :P I love my skirts and dresses as well as my shorts and pants. I'm very versatile with my fashion but most of the time I dress chic/girly because it suits my personality the best. These days my fashion sense has definitely been inspired by the items from BadBarbie ♥

See you in a few days time when I'm back with a new post,

And the winner is...

Helloooo all, I know it's been a bit over a week since I last blogged but I promise that I will have a lengthy post later today :) In the coming week I will no longer be on holidays as I will be going back to uni for the second semester D: I do look forward to seeing friends but nothing beats sleeping in everyday, being stress-free and doing whatever you want!

Time to announce the winner of the Sigma Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush. I just closed off the giveaway less than half an hour ago which means that all of the entries have been counted and finalised. There were just under 150 entries and over 50 participants - thank you everyone who entered and also for your efforts with your entries.

It's funny how as I am writing this, I haven't picked the winner yet haha. As soon as I am done talking I will go onto random.org to generate a number which will match up with someone's entry number. Ok let's do this!

The winner of the Sigma Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush is...

Who is number 73? I wonder, who could it be...

Congratulations, Dharla J.! You are the winner of the kabuki brush ^_^ I will email you shortly and please respond within 2 days or else I will have to choose another winner.

After each giveaway I host, I always need to address the following:

- Please don't feel too disheartened if you didn't win, I will host more giveaways in the future so do not worry :) I've had a few snap giveaways in between my posts for my regular blog visitors and I'm thinking of doing another some time (I won't say when) so be on the lookout for those!

- I know it's common to unfollow a blog after finding out that you weren't a winner of a giveaway and it's happened plenty of times to me before. Anyone is free to unfollow but the consequence of that is that you'll be immediately disqualified from future giveaways of mine. I've already caught at least... 20 people out of all the giveaways I've held! And yes some have come back to following and entering my giveaways thinking that they'll have a chance to win when in fact they have none :P

So that's pretty much all to it. I've appreciated the comments about my detailed review for this brush, thank you :) I always like to put in the time and effort into all of my blog posts because I really enjoy it and it's also my way of showing you guys that I care ♥


OH and one last thing - there were a few entries for the blog header design and I just want to say a big thank you to those girls who made some cute blog headers for me!


I've decided to pick out one to use that was created by Elle. This was the first blog header design that was submitted to me and I was sooooo impressed by it! Elle enjoys digital scrapbooking and so with her digital scrapbooking skills she was able to create this header:

I love how it has a vintage feel to it and I love the heart with the wings :) It definitely looks pro and much better than what I came up with (referring to my previous blog header haha). Thank you Elle! There's got to be a way to 'repay' you for this, hehe.


I am open to random header submissions if you'd like your piece of art to occupy that space - just email me!


I have a feeling that many of you are going to like or maybe love my next blog post :D Can you guess what it'll be?


As I always say,


STAY TUNED!