Guest Post Request!

Okay, so life is definitely getting in the way of blogging at the minute.

I obviously haven't reached the drastic stage yet, but as I have exams, deadlines and an increasing amount of hours at the hospital to juggle (as well as the inevitable Christmas preparations) I am predicting a serious case of blog neglect on the horizon.

Damn you third year!

Source

So I was wondering if any of you lovely lot could help me to keep my blog as active as possible by doing me the honours of guest posting on Painted Glitter!

If I have any volunteers for this, my plan is to schedule as many guest posts as possible roughly between now and the end of January.

As I don't expect a huge amount of offers (sad face) I will obviously also be posting myself as much as I can manage.

All I ask is that you use clear images on your posts. I don't have any specific requests on the content, just whatever you fancy (obviously as long as it fits in with the theme of my blog). Beauty, fashion, life, health... anything along those lines!

If you are interested in helping me out, I'd love you to pop me an email at jotwentytwelve@hotmail.co.uk with a rough idea of what you would like to write about.

Thanks for reading!

Jo xx

Avon True Colour 6 in 1 Eye Pallette | Glamour Eyes

I'm not sure if it's just me, but Avon is a brand that confuses me a little.

It's so hugely famous yet I never seem to hear much about them at all, if that makes any sense?

Let's take the blogging world for example.

Maybe I'm just not following enough blogs (I'll take that as a good enough excuse to follow even more), or maybe I'm just plain stupid and have completely overlooked/ignored all of their Avon reviews (definitely the more likely option), but I've barely heard a peep about Avon in the year or so I have been reading beauty blogs.

However, after trying out this eye pallette, it baffles me a little as to why this is!

First off, the packaging is nice and sturdy (you can see from the picture above it has survived a bit of battering already!) with a really generously sized mirror.

I must admit, when I first opened it up I found the shades a little uninspiring.

I'm not sure why this is, because they actually come across really nicely in the picture, I think it's just that I don't usually wear purple shades on my eyes so I wasn't really sure how/when I was going to use them.

(If you're asking yourself why I got it, it was given to me by my Auntie amongst a selection of other goodies as seen in my previous haul post here).

However, once I had done a few swatches and had a bit of a play about with the colours I was actually really pleasantly surprised. Each shade has great pigmentation and a really lovely subtle shimmer, particularly the lighter colours which I think are my favourite.

The darker shades are a great tool for smoky eyes as they are really easy to blend out. Each colour compliments the other beautifully and they all have really great lasting power without creasing, the only downside being a little bit of fall out during application.

Overall I was really pleasantly surprised by this little pallette...I kind of feel a bit bad for ignoring all of Avon's products for so long!

The Avon True Colour 6 in 1 eye pallette can be purchased here for £7 reduced from £11

Have you tried many Avon products?

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx



Firmoo Glasses

So a couple of weeks ago whilst flicking through my emails I came across one from a company called Firmoo explaining that they were looking for some bloggers to review some of their glasses*.

Firmoo pride themselves in providing the highest quality glasses at extremely low prices, and offer a wide range of prescription and non prescription glasses and sunglasses (including designer!).

Having been hunting on and off in Primark for the perfect pair of non-prescription glasses (I've been wishing I needed glasses for so long now, but you can guarantee that when I actually do need them I'll be wanting to throw them off a bridge!), I thought this was a good opportunity to finally find a nice pair.

And here they are!

The pair I chose were model number #SD2243 which can be found on the website here.

They arrived from China super quickly (i.e. in a week) but I must admit that when I first put them on they were a bit of a shock, simply because the frames are so thick and I'm not used to having anything like that on my face. It felt plain weird!

But after a short amount of time they really grew on me; and now I love them!

They actually make me feel intelligent (I'm wearing them to write this blog post just to make me feel clever, sad I know), and my mum said I actually look like I have brains. Thanks mum.

You can tell that they are really good quality glasses; the plastic is really tough and sturdy (not those flimsy little things you can break by dropping), and they came really safely packaged along with a cleaning rag, glasses pouch, very sturdy glasses case and even spare screws and a teeny tiny screwdriver in case you do have any mishaps! 

The best bit?

Firmoo are offering new customers worldwide their first pair of glasses absolutely free! All you have to pay is postage! Plus you can return them if you're not happy!

I really am delighted with the communication, customer service and product I received from Firmoo.

They have a great team behind them who are more than willing to help you with any little query you may have.

So what do you think of these glasses?

Will you be ordering yourself a pair using the first pair free offer?

I really could not fault my experience with Firmoo, many thanks to them for giving me the opportunity to try out their product.

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx

P.S. Yes, I was sent these glasses for review purposes but all opinions are 100% my own.

Teeny Tiny Topshop Sale Haul

Topshop jewellery sales are definitely right up there in my list of favourite sales, so I was delighted to find that they were having a little jewellery sale when I popped in late last week.

I only got a few little pairs of earrings but I thought you still might like to have a cheeky peek.

Clockwise from top left:

Spike earrings, £7.50 £1.50

Skull earrings, £6.50 £1.50

Spike drop earrings, £7.50 £1.50

Spike cuff earring, £7.50 £1.50

I actually bought these for my sister as part of her birthday presents, so it might be worth a peek if you're struggling for Christmas presents for a friend. She is really fussy and awkward to buy for so I always panic around her birthday/Christmas time!

She's quite quirky and individual so hopefully she'll like these unusual earrings; if not I'm sure I could be the best sister in the world and take them off her hands for her.

I didn't think £29 worth of jewellery was too bad for £6!

Have you bought any gems in the sales recently?

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx



Laura Geller | Blush-n-Brighten blusher and Baked Marble Eyeshadow

So following on from my little make up haul here, a good few of you mentioned that you'd be interested in seeing reviews of the Laura Geller products.

Your wish is my command!

L-R: Laura Geller Baked Marble eyeshadow in Moonstone/Blue Heaven, and Laura Geller Blush-n-Brighten in Berry

I love the packaging of these products, namely the little plastic window that allows you a cheeky peek into the pan. How enticing...particularly when the products look so beautiful in the pan! The pots are really sturdy and I love the globular shape of the eyeshadow. The mirrors are also really quite generously sized.

So let's start off with the eyeshadows. In the pan, they have a lovely swirl of silver throughout, which gives the eyeshadows their shimmer applied to the skin.

They have great pigmentation and a really luxurious, silky smooth texture.



Unfortunately the above swatches don't do the shades much justice, but they are actually really lovely bright shades, particularly the blue which is a really vibrant colour. The eyeshadows last well and have minimal fallout. Overall a lovely little pallette.

Laura Geller Baked Marble Eyeshadow in Moonstone/Blue Heaven can be bought on the Laura Geller website for around £17 here. 

Next up is the Laura Geller Blush-n-Brighten blusher in Berry.



Again, this looks absolutely stunning in the pan, although I was quite worried about the amount of shimmer in the powder! I had mental images of me looking like something out of Twilight, with cheeks so shiny you could use them as a mirror.



However the shimmer is actually really lovely and subtle. I am usually a lover of matte colour on my cheeks, but I actually can imagine myself wearing this quite a lot during the summer months, as it makes your skin look lovely and healthy.

This particular shade is quite dark and probably best suited to olive toned skin, but again it lasted me the whole day with no problems. It definitely needs to be applied in light layers as it builds up really quickly (as I found on my first attempt when I was in a rush for work).

Laura Geller Blush-n-Brighten blusher in Berry can be bought here for around £19.50.

Have you tried any Laura Geller products?

Do you think they're worth their price tags?

Hope you've all had a good weekend. Last night I went to a 21st which was a fancy dress dressed as Lara Croft! My mum and I had spent ages making gun holsters to go round my legs and getting the outfit together but unfortunately a handful of people were asking me why I was dressed as Rambo.

So as you can probably imagine I wasn't very enthralled and kept going back to the bar for more G&T's to take me past the point of caring. It worked, trust me!

I spent this morning nursing myself back to health with a bacon and egg butty and a few brews. Good as new now! I also have this week off uni and placement so that I can tackle the stack of work that I keep adding to at my desk. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx

Competition Wins to Date

 Recently (i.e. since about the start of this year) I have become partial to entering a few competitions online in the hope that I might win some goodies.

When I first started doing it, the enthusiasm didn't last long at all. I was wasting my time entering all these competitions and had absolutely nothing to show for it, so my competition entry numbers dwindled down until...

Bare Minerals Golden & Gorgeous set | won on Facebook | RRP £32

...I got my first ever win, and a bloomin' good one it was. A Bare Minerals makeup set!

Once I knew it actually worked and the competitions were real, I started entering a few more again.

I know for a year of entries I don't really have much to show for it, but to be truthful my enthusiasm has been up and down like a yo-yo, and with life and such getting in the way I really don't have the time to sit at my laptop and do it every day.

Anyway, I am so delighted with the bits I have won over the year that I thought I might show you all in one post.

(Apologies for the initially appaling photos, my old camera wasn't great...)

Laura Ashley scarf | won on Twitter | RRP £10

LoveFilm gift card | won on RottenOtter's blog | RRP £29

Vax laminate floor cleaner (exciting stuff!) | won on Twitter | RRP £4.99

Zara voucher | won on Twitter | RRP £25

2 Vitality Boutique tickets | won on Twitter | RRP £16

Sheridan bath mat | won on Twitter | RRP £26

Kiko nail varnish | won on Mollie Muses blog | RRP £3.90 (review here)

So there we have it! My competition wins to date.

I love winning stuff that you wouldn't normally treat yourself to!

Have you ever won any competitions?

What is your favourite competition win?

If you've done a post showing your competition wins please pop a link in the comments below, I'd love to have a nosy!

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx

Makeup Haul

So the other day we had a visit from my auntie. After a bit of a chinwag and a cup of tea, she made her excuses and off she popped, leaving behind a bag of makeup goodies...

...my auntie is always buying makeup (not that I'm complaining, obviously) but due to her very sensitive skin she has to be careful as to what she uses. Which kind of works in my favour. Okay, it really works in my favour.

Here are the fabulous goodies she left me with!

Avon true colour 6 in 1 eye pallette in Glamour Eyes

Bourjois Delice de Soleil bronzing powder in 12 fair/medium

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream

17 BB Blemish Balm

Bourjois blush in 92 Santal

Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Smoother primer

Laura Geller Baked Marble Eyeshadow in Moonstone/Blue Heaven

Laura Geller Blush 'n' Brighten in Berry

I know, I have the best auntie ever, right?!

I am still a BB cream virgin so I am partiularly looking forward to testing these out!

I will be reviewing all of these products but due to the fact that I have a never-ending list of things to review, if you're interested in seeing a review of anything in particular sooner rather than later, please let me know in the comments and I'll put it to the top of my list!

What do you think of the selection?
Have you tried any of these out before?

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx

Ted Baker | The Lookbook of Love

Please note before reading: this exact Lookbook is no longer available on the Boots website; there is a newer set available containing different colour combinations (but which is otherwise identical to the one I have reviewed).

This review is therefore more for the quality of the contents - please see end of post for further details.

So a few months back, my mum received the Ted Baker Look Book of Love as a gift from one of her friends. Not being a huge makeup fan, she gave it to me to have a bit of a play about with.

The set is beautifully presented in a sturdy almost geometric-patterned box and secured with a pretty stretch band. It includes three seperate lookbooks; Day, Night and Party.



Each book contains two eyeshadows, two lipglosses, a blusher or bronzer, three application brushes (which as far as freebie application brushes go aren't actually that drastic) and a handy little mirror.



L-R: both eyeshadows, both lipglosses and the blusher

The daytime Lookbook is by far my favourite of the three. The colours are really natural and the eyeshadows are so easy to blend, each colour compliments the other beautifully.



L-R: both eyeshadows, both lipglosses and the bronzer

Now with both the Night and the Party book I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the eyeshadow colour combinations. The differences in colour between the eyeshadows are so small (i.e. both eyeshadows are so dark) that it just looks like one block colour when blended on the eyelids, making my eyes look really closed off.

I will definitely be using these eyeshadows seperately and with lighter shades.



L-R: both eyeshadows, both lipglosses and the bronzer

The eyeshadows and blushers aren't as pigmented as you may expect and do need building up, however once applied they will last throughout the day or night.

The lipglosses however do have great pigmentation without being at all sticky or heavy on the lips. I particularly love the party lip shades: hot pink shade and transparent gloss with pink speckles of glitter.

Overall this would make a lovely little Christmas or birthday gift which I would perhaps buy for a younger sister or friend. Once swatched and used, something about this set makes me think that it is well suited to younger teenagers although I can't quite put my finger on what!

I can only find this exact Lookbook on eBay's private listings here , however

Boots are now selling a newer set, Ted Baker: Ready For My Close Up Look-Book

which appears to have much better colour combinations than The LookBook of Love.

This retails for £16

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx



MUA Lipstick | Shade 8

I have a phobia of lipstick. A phobia that I am trying my absolute best to overcome.

This MUA lipstick is the first ever lipstick I have purchased with my own money. Why did I dive straight in at the deep end and pick shade 8, a deep red colour? I'm afraid I can't answer that one...I literally have no idea what came over me. Probably the worst colour I could have picked.
After all, I'm hardly easing myself in with a bright red, am I.

 

Anyway, onto the lipstick itself.

For the price, I think the packaging is pretty decent! I love the fact you can see what shade of lippy you're picking up without having to peek inside, and the black plastic looks simple and clean. Most importantly, it does its job of protecting the lipstick.

Without flash

With flash (aplologies for the sulky pout)

The pictures above make it look a bit pinky but I can't say I noticed this at all in person.
Shade 8 is in fact a warm deep red colour with a lovely subtle golden sheen. Although the colour does need building up on the lips, with a few layers it is a fab shade that is perfect for my skin tone.

The wear isn't great as it starts to fade (unevenly) once you start eat or drink anything, but then again what do you expect from a lipstick with such a tiny price tag?

Fortunately I can't say it has scared me away from lipstick altogether. I may only be brave enough to traipse round the house with it on at the minute, but I did wear it to nip out to the car yesterday.
I know, calm yourself ladies!

I will definitely be stocking up on a few more shades from this range in an attempt to try and overcome my lipstick fear...

...maybe more subtle colours next time.

The MUA lipsticks can be purchased from the MUA website here for a mere £1, and there are 16 shades to choose from.

Do you have an MUA lipstick?

What shades would you recommend to try for someone who isn't used to wearing lip colour?

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx

Kiko | Apple Blossom

So a few weeks ago whilst on placement I had the exciting pleasure of experiencing my first ever bout of 16 hour (yes, 16 hour) night shifts at the hospital. I have to say it was nowhere near as agonising as I expected it to be; the night flew by and after downing a couple of energy drinks before setting off on my hours drive home, I managed (just about) to stay awake until I was safely tucked up in bed.

Anyway, somewhere in the middle of the week whilst drowsily flicking through my emails, I was absolutely delighted to find that I was one of the winners of a giveaway hosted by the beautiful Mollie over at Mollie Muses. It was definitely the highlight of my week!

My prize was a Kiko nail varnish*, a brand that I had never really heard of before and so I was pretty excited to try it out! The shade I was lucky enough to win was Apple Blossom, a light pink colour.

The parcel came beautifully packaged in a gorgeous Paperchase gift box (which now holds my most used bracelets) and mounds of cute orange tissue paper!

It didn't take long until it was on my finger nails and I have to say...I love this pink. It's such a happy, summery shade, that I would describe as a lovely slightly-darker-than-pastel pink.

It's such a cheery colour!

Thanks again Mollie for my lovely prize!

You can buy Kiko Apple Blossom here for just £3.90

Have you tried any Kiko products before?

What colours would you recommend?

Thanks for reading,

Jo xx