Review: Gemondo Gold Mystery Box

Gemondo, an ethically sourced and sustainable British demi fine jewellery brand, sell gold and silver mystery boxes. The silver version costs £35, the gold £55. Each box contains one piece of surprise jewellery. The gold version consists of ethically sourced gemstone jewellery in yellow, Rose gold or white gold. Designs are from past seasons or sample designs. The silver version contains gemstone jewellery set in either sterling silver or gold plated sterling silver. 

I chose the gold version and received a beautiful necklace which I would never have chosen myself, howevera I do really like it. I would, however, have loved to know what the gemstone is. The item arrived packaged in a beautiful presentation box, so if it’s a gift there is no need to wrap it! 

I like the ethos behind Gemondo. All their gemstones are ethically sourced and have obtained  Responsible Jewellery Council Certification for responsible sourcing of gold, silver and diamonds. They are a British brand that specialise in fine and semi fine jewellery and they are are constantly looking for new ways to check their gem stones are all ethically sourced. 

I purchased this item myself and the views expressed in my blog are my own.

Review: Erborian BB Crayon

  As my old faithful Bourjois CC cream ran out I was looking for a replacement. I liked a sample of the Eborian BB cream I received in a beauty box years ago, so I decided to get the travel sized BB crayon au Ginseng in Clair (fair) as it is currently on sale £16.10 rather than £23 on their website.

The BB crayon is a multi purpose stock which is infused with Ginseng. It is promoted as their BB Creme and hydration in a makeup and skin care stick. The crayon can be used as a concealer, to touch up or to even out your complexion on your whole face whilst also moisturising it. 

 I wanted to use the crayon to even out and cover my whole face. I drew stripes of the cream down my nose, cheek bones, forehead, chin and blended it in so my complexion was evened out and the redness was covered. I then went pack to cover any imperfections (spots) with another layer of cream. I found that the BB crayon left my skin looking natural and velvety with my real skin peeking through so it didn’t look like a mask. I found that even though it was a stick format the stripes blended out really well and I didn’t have to use as much as I initially thought I would. My makeup blended well on top of the product and my skin looked great. I would expect it to last several months if I use it 2/3 times per week. I found it didn’t clog my pores and I didn’t get any reactionary breakouts as I normally do when I’m trying out new complexion products. 

I would repurchase this and I have also purchased a travel sized BB cream just to try it out. 

I purchased the item myself and the views expressed in my blog are my own. 

Review & Swatches: Paul & Joe Beaute Summer 2021 Collection

  The Paul & Joe Beaute Summer Collection 2021 is a beautifully thought out and creatively packaged collection. The theme of the collection is Afternoon Picnic. I showed in a previous post how I made the charms into earrings. I didn’t buy the whole collection, just the items that I will wear. 

 I purchased two out of the three limited edition eyeshadow trios. Afternoon Picnic consists of a taupe, ballet pink and a rose pink. Field of Clover consists of  a dark grass green, a lighter clover green and a silvery white shade.the shadows are infused and coated with jojoba oil, orange flower water and hyaluronic acid to ensure the colours don’t get muddy when blending and stay vibrant throughout the day. I love the white and clover shade of green in the field of clover trio. The green is almost translucent and very shimmery whilst the silvery white shade really makes my eye pop. As a glasses wearer the grass green is slightly too dark to use as anything other than an eyeliner, which I am sad about as I thought I had found my perfect green shade. I liked all three colours in the Afternoon Picnic trio. They are light and summery but also work appropriate shades. All the eyeshadows feel light on the eyelid, blend well and last all day, even during this mini heatwave.

I purchased two out of the three gel blushes. They are 80% water based gel formula designed to give a glow from within. I chose 001 Lumiere which is a light pink/ silvery blush which can be used as either a highlighter or blish. I loved the highlighter effect as it gave a healthy shine to the cheek bones. It also worked well as a blush, bring dimension and a glow to my cheeks. 002 Bavarder is a cherry hue.this blush added more colour to my cheeks and can be blended until the colour looks like a glow. This product gives my cheeks a healthy just gone for a brisk walk glow. I like both of these but would definitely repurchase 001. 

 Lip wise I purchased a liquid rouge tint and a liquid rouge shine. The shine is more opaque than the tint. The tint I selected was 01 Cocktail Cherry which is a glossy cherry sheen. It does smell of peppermint but this sooon dissipated. The gel based gloss is supposed to moisturise and plump the lips. My lips certainly felt moisturised both when I was wearing the tint and when I had removed it. I didn’t, however,  see any noticeable plumping effects. The other lip product I purchased was the rouge shine in 004 Cat Grooming. This is a highly pigmented gloss with a gel formula designed to moisturise and plump the lips. This is a rose nude gloss infused with rose honey, jojoba oil and orange flower oil creates a unites glossy, highly pigmented lip colour that isn’t sticky. I found this to be my perfect glossy nude lip colour. My lips did feel moisturised when wearing the shine and after I had removed it, I didn’t really notice any plumping effects, but that isn’t something I look for in a lip product.

I liked all the items in this collection and would definitely repurchase the cat grooming lip shine and lumiere blush. 

I purchased these items myself and the views expressed in my blog are my own.

Making Earrings from Paul & Joe Beaute Charms

The recent Paul & Joe Beaute Spring 2021 eyeshadow collection had little silver tone cat charms fastened to ribbons which kept the lids closed. I purchased Field of Clovers (£19) and Afternoon Picnic (£19) and I felt that the charms are too cute to be packed in my makeup box! 

 The charms are 3D and have a cat’s on the front and a cat’s face and chrysanthemums on the back. For the hoop version (which is the easiest and doesn’t need any extra tools, I repurposed them by cutting the charms off the ribbon (so it could still be used to hold the lid of the eyeshadow box in place) and hooking the charms over a pair of small hoop earrings. The stud versions needed jump rings and jewellery pliers to tighten the rings to make sure the charms didn’t fall off. I had removed the charms to make the first version, but as I prefer studs to hoops I reused the charms. I opened the jump ring so I could slide the hoop of the charm and the stud connector on to it, then used the pliers to tighten the jump ring so the charm didn’t fall off. It only took a few minutes to make and now I have a pair of unique earrings! 

If you don’t want to make earrings, you could make a pendant or bracelet charm by adding a jump ring which would allow you to slide the charm onto a chain and the charm to sit flush against your skin. 

I purchased these items myself and the views expressed in my blog are my own 

the charms 

Review: Tada & Toy Masa Elephant Hoops

 The Tada & Toy Masa Elephant Hoops are available as a pair in either recycled sterling silver (£95) or 18ct gold on recycled sterling silver (£105). The blue eyes are made from midnight blue cz stones. As I have mentioned in previous Tada & Toy are a philanthropic  demi fine jewellery company. 100% of the profits from the sale of these Masa Hoops (and the Saba Leopard Hoops) will be donated to the Aspinall foundation to help critically endangered animals. 

 The earrings arrived with free next day delivery. They arrived carefully packaged in Tada & Toy branded packaging. The hoop earrings measure 1.5cm and the elephants 1cm. The elephants are very detailed - I especially love the eyes, they look like they are watching you! Despite having grip/dexterity problems I didn’t find them particularly difficult to put in. The earrings feel comfortable to wear and the elephants don’t weigh the earlobe down. 

I enjoy wearing these earrings and would recommend them. I would love to wear them mismatched with the leopard hoops!

I purchased these items myself and the views expressed in my blog are my own. 

 

Review:Gardman Bird Stickers

 Over the past few years I have been encouraging birds back into my garden. I now have a pair of blackbirds, collared doves, starlings, tree crawlers, robins, blue tits and sparrows. Annoyingly the local council sold the leasehold to piece of woodland at the end of my road to a local estate agent who promptly chopped the trees down. Some were over 400 years old. This created the perfect environment for a sparrow hawk to move in and basically massacre fledglings and terrorise the birds. They now panic when they see it over head and have started to fly into windows. 

 To stop the bird strikes I bought two packs of Gardman bird stickers (£3.99) each from Amazon. There are 6 birds per packet and they can be stuck on either side of the window. They are easy to peel off and don’t leave any gluey residue on the glass. They can also be taken off and repositioned if the windows need cleaning. Since I put the stickers up I haven’t had any birds fly into the window which is great so I certainly recommend these if you are having similar problems with birds in your garden.

I purchased these items myself and the views expressed in my blog are my own 

#win Couture Kingdom Star Wars Millennium Falcon Necklace

 The Couture Kingdom Star Wars Millennium Falcon Necklace (£39) is a CoutureKingdom.com exclusive.  They do, however, offer worldwide shipping which is very reasonable and I normally wait until they are offering a free item. 

 The Millennium Falcon necklace is 14k white gold plate and measures 45mm. The Falcon cabs are so detailed. The necklace comes presented in a Star Wars logo box. To enter the competition just fulfil the Rafflecopter requirements.

Enter here >>> a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules: 

Competition opens on 8 July 2021, closes on 1 August 11.59pm GMT.

Competition is open worldwide 

Entrants must fulfil the mandatory Rafflecopter option.

This competition is not affiliated with Couture Kingdom.