1000+ Followers Giveaway

Hi everyone, welcome to my 1000+ follower giveaway! I would like to show my appreciation to my amazing readers. Thank you for supporting my blog and also for leaving such sweet comments. I'm also grateful for the lovely new friends through blogger.

The Prize:

The prize includes a vintage inspired mirror by Paul & Joe. The mirror comes with a velvet brown pouch, and can be folded to a standing position.

An adorable flower bracelet from the Danish Pilgrim (one of my favourite jewellery brands).

Figs & Rouge 100 Organic Balm in Sweet Geranium.

Sleek idivine palette in Storm.

A sweet Chanel Charm.

Miniature luxury goodies including:

2 x Chanel Hydramax + Active Serum

Lancome Genefique

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair

Liz Earle Skin repair Light Moisturiser

Jouer Luminating Moisture Tint in Pearl

2 items personally handmade by me.

The first is a small floral pouch, and the second the Rose de Mai Makeup Brush Roll from my online Boutique Handmade By Penelope.

Samples of Lancome Genefique and the award winning Sisley Express Flower Gel Mask .

* OPEN INTERNATIONALLY*

Rules:

1. Must be a follower

2. Simply leave a comment with your name, email address, and a new year's resolution

3. +1 entry if you mention my giveaway in your sidebar

+2 entries if you write a post on my giveaway

3. Giveaway ends on the 25th of February

My Latest Obsession: Figs & Rouge 100% Organic Balm

These were actually introduced to me by my mum. She read an article which stated that Emma Watson was a big fan.

I adore the vintage inspired packaging which makes me want to collect them all. But I have to remind myself 'just how lip balm does one need?', and sadly the answer is 'one'.

These balms are rather hit and miss with people worried that they are not moisturising enough. I personally LOVE them. They are great for dry hands too, though due to their small packaging, I only use them on the lips.

They have quite a gritty texture which melts away into a moisturising balm once applied.

They make great gifts too as they are super pretty and are light to carry. I've stocked up on them for all my relatives (my mum is one of 7 siblings - so there are plenty of relatives) when I go back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year.

Peppermint and Tea Tree - Quite an elegant white packaging. Super fresh minty scent. Gives a minty tingle to the lips, really gives me a pick-me-up whenever I use it.

Pomegranate - Fun pink and spring green packaging. Has the most subtle scent of the three, an amazing fruity scent that is not too sweet. Hard to describe, slightly lemony. Love it!

Wild Cherry with Sweet Orange - Sweet gold with red cheery and little bird packaging. Has a deep sweet cherry scent that is unlike conventional lip balms are not sickly sweet. Slight cherry and citrus taste.

Why I Love Them:

100% Organic

Gorgeous packaging

Available in different varieties

Comes in 2 sizes, the little one even fits perfectly in pockets

Feels moisturising on lips and hands

Multi-purpose

Available from Boots and Amazon

~£4.75 (large) £3.99 (small) Amazon

£4.99 (large) Boots

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year to you all! May you have a prosperous year filled with much love and joy. This year it's the Year of the Dragon.

I'll be in Malaysia to spend time with relatives for this special occasion. It would be the first time I've been back for Chinese New Year in about 10 years, and I'll be spending it with my mum's side of the family at my Grandma's house in Kuching, Sarawak.

Lets hope I get to see some Lion Dancing! When I was yo

ung these Lion Dancers would go from home to home and perform, so it was such a wonderful treat for to see them at my own front yard.

Also, it'll be the first time my husband goes to Borneo, so I'm taking to climb Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah.

As we're married, my husband and I have to give out ang paus (literally red packets). Typically, they are filled with money to give out to young relatives. I loved receiving them as a child (let's hope now that I'm grown up, I'll still receive some)!

Thankfully there's only one child in the next generation so my husband and I won't bankrupt ourselves. We'll probably be giving one to my grandma as well, so I bought a pack of cute ang paus!

I love cats, and so does my grandma, so I think these will go down very well.

Review: John Masters Organics Shine On

This review will be a very positive one as this product is one of my all time favourite hair care products.

John Masters Organics Shine On Leave-In Treatment for Supernatural Shine & Softness

I love organic products, but for some reason have never tried John Masters Organics before. When I saw this products in my local organic beauty store, I was instantly taken in my the name. Hair with supernatural shine and softness? Sounds perfect.

'Shine On is a natural, leave-in hair treatment that uses organic kelp in place of syntheticsilicone. It smoothes the hair shaft, resulting in supernatural shine and softness, all day long.'

The packaging really appealed to me. The glass packaging gave it somewhat of a luxurious appeal.

The product itself was in a very light gel/pomade form. Though essentially a gel, it did not feel heavy or greasy on the hair. It had a subtle scent that you would find in typical hair gels.

I use a small dollop of this on towel dried hair (in place or hair serum) and let hair dry naturally. Once dry I notice that my hair looks a lot healthier. It has great shine, though a healthy looking shine opposed to greasy looking shine. My hair doesn't feel weighed down at all, though it does feel incredibly soft.

This product can also be used on dried hair. Though I prefer using it on towel dried hair, it does work well on dried hair too. Hair instantly looks smoother and shiny. Though care must be taken not to overload the product on dry hair as in this case, too much product can result in greasy looking hair.

Pros

Great packaging

Lightweight and non-greasy

Gives hair great shine

Makes hair feel soft

Cons

Pricey at ~ £26/ 113g tub (though this product has lasted me ages)
Packaging makes it more difficult to take on travels

Dior Garden Party Haul; Garden Clutch & Rosy Glow

I already find it difficult to resist buying new makeup, but always find it near impossible to stay clear of Spring Limited Edition products. Spring makeup generally consists of my favourite makeup shades; romantic fresh pastels as well as colours inspired by florals.

A strong case in point would be Dior's Spring 2012 Garden Party Collection, inspired by Christian Dior's garden in Granville, Normandy. The 2 products from this collection I could not resist were the Garden Clutch and Rosy Glow blush.

Dior Garden Clutch 002 Granville Garden

Makeup Palette for Glowing Eyes and Lips. Eyeshadows and Lip Gloss.

'A pale pink case with a delicate woven decoration, and two silver-plated rosebud clasps: The Dior Garden Clutch is a precious accessory inspired by Dior's jewellery-making expertise.

The case opens to reveal the must-haves for fresh, radiant eyes and lips: three eyeshadow shades to light up and emphasise the eyes and two lip glosses, one to enhance the lips, the other to give them color.'

I hope you can see why I found this difficult to resist. I adore the cute clutch packaging, with two roses acting as a clasp.

I chose Granville Garden 002. It comes with; 3 eyeshadow shades (taupe brown, champagne pink and mint green), 2 lip shades (one Lip Maximizer and the other an Ultra Gloss), and a double ended applicator brush. The 2 lip shades are in the hidden compartment protected by any stray eyeshadow powder.

The shadows are embossed with a smattering of roses.

A view of the lip gloss shades. They are very sheer and glossy. So sheer in fact, that I could not take a decent picture of the swatches. However, allow me to redirect you to fruitylashes who has an amazing swatch of the lip glosses for those of you who are interested.

Swatches of the eyeshadows. Each shade contains fine satin-like shimmer.

Dior Rosy Glow 001 Petal

Healthy Glow Awakening Blush.

'Dior creates its first blush that enhances your unique cheek color for an ultra-natural and customized healthy glow effect. Rosy Glow intuitively adjusts to the moisture of each skin to make the cheeks blush with delight, as if revitalized with a breath of fresh air. Its ultra-fine powder texture and its irresistible rose fragrance offer a moment of pure indulgence with each application.'

I love makeup that reacts with the individual's skin for a customized effect. This is usually found in lip products, so I was very happy to come across one for the cheeks - and in powder from too.

The blush itself looks beautiful. Embossed with 'Dior' all over it, it looks a very bright, very vibrant bubblegum pink. (Please note: Due to poor lighting conditions, the blush actually looks a lot brighter in real life!)

A close up of the blush.

On my skin, the blush does not actually look as bright (which to me was a bit of a relief). Instead it turned a soft pink with slight red undertone.

What I love best about this blush is that it gives the skin a lovely radiant glow. Cheeks look instantly brighter, a whole lot pinker, and looks fresh and healthy-looking too.

*Tip: I always make the mistake of putting too much of this one, and after a minute or two of reacting my my skin it becomes its customized shade and I've realized -too late- that I have applied too much on. So apply only a tiny bit, wait to see what colour it changes too, and only then apply a bit more if needed. *

Wishlist: Dresses I Can't Afford

I was feeling low one night and decided to cheer myself up by looking at dresses I can't afford on shopbop.com. This had an unsurprisingly effect of making me feel even more blue as I came across some pretty cute dresses!

Allow me to share some of these with you:

Nicholas

Reem Acra

Matthew Williamson

Nanette Lepore

Robert Rodriguez

The Reem Acra dress is something I would have really loved to get married in. I chose a classic looking dress and part of me sometimes which I chose a more vintage inspired one instead.

♥ Surprise Package from Riya ♥

It's always lovely to receive a surprise package in the mail. I was truly not expecting it and it definitely made me week! As I've mentioned in my previous posts, I've been feeling super stressed and down lately. Sweet comments from you all and thoughtful packages like this really makes me take a step back from it all and realise just how kind people can be out there. Especially when I feel i'm in a world where it's every man for himself!

Riya is an absolutely gorgeous beauty blogger, and exceptionally sweet and generous too. Do check out her blog, she's actually hosting a birthday giveaway now with a whole host of prizes.

Her package to me contained numerous goodies, too many to mention each and every one of them! As you can see from the pic above, these goodies included; a Nars eyeshadow, Missha Lip and Cheek Duo, Castledew eyeshadow palette, Dollywink eye products, Hello Kitty face mask and an adorable bunny mirror.

I love the packaging. It cheered me up and brought a smile to my face. I remember admiring the Missha blush duo on Riya's blog and the kind girl went and got me one!

The shades she chose for me were all colours which I would have chosen for myself!


I'll leave you with a close up of this adorable eyeshadow palette. Thanks again Riya for such a sweet gift that brightened up my day.