The Poor Girls Alternative To The Clarisonic

As much as we hate to admit it, some of us in the blogosphere can't afford to shell out over €125 on what some consider being the Holy Grail in beauty.

I did like many drool over the Clarisonic being drawn in by many bloggers reviews and who can resist being able to choose your very own colour! I did even consider taking the plunge but in no way could I justify it. It was too much of a risk as I found more mixed reviews on the Clarisonic that I could shake a stick at.

After in depth research on alternatives, many like the Clarisonic I decided to opt for a manual version

Here it is in all its glory!

It has been around for years, good know how long! Much longer than the Clarisonic in any case.

It works in the same way as the Clarisonic dose. You pop on your chosen cleanser, pop the Facial Brush under the tap and then brush your face in a circular motion.

I did at first find the bristles hard on my skin; it feels really soft on your hands. I found that if I ran it under the hot tap for a few seconds it softened up. If you have really sensitive skin I would advise you to avoid this.

After I used it for the first time my skin felt really soft. After using it for a week I noticed that the purging stage that many talk about that they experience with the Clarisonic occurred, as it is a manual it takes longer to pass this stage.

I have been using this for over two months; I have to say my skin has really improved. I used to use it twice a day and my skin was much better than it is now, more out of laziness than anything else. My skin is a lot smoother and I don’t need to exfoliate as often either [about once a week]

I have a very simple and quick routine for using the Body Shop Facial Brush. 

I pop on my cleanser, I then run it under the hot tap for a few seconds then I spend 20 seconds on each cheek going in a circular motion, 20 seconds on my forehead, 20 seconds on my chin and neck and 10 seconds on my nose. I splash my face with cold water and pat dry.

I found the No 7 Radiance Boosting to be the best cleanser as it foams.

Now the best part. The Body Shop Facial Brush comes in at around €4/£3. I Would recommend that you change the brush every three months.

Have you tried this before? What are your thoughts? Would you try this product? 

How to pick the wedding date

Picking the date of when you are going to get married sounds straight forward. 

you sit there with a dart and each of the months of the calender ripped out and taped to the wall and you just throw, right?

In some cases, and it dose sound like a novel way of picking your date. 

In  the majority of cases it involves a lot more than that.

It took myself and himself almost a year to chose the date. lets rephrase, it took about five minuets the getting there part was the problem. 

Everyone is different and everyone chooses there date for different reasons. 

Some decided on what there favourite season is as a couple 

Some go with an important date

Some just pick it out of a hat.

There is no right or wrong way to pick a date, its all down to the individual.

There are downsides though, if you chose too early you might not get the ideal wedding if you chose too far ahead you wont be able to plan anything.

Top Tip:If you want to save some dosh and all thanks to your date chose a winter wedding. A lot of hotels do discounted rates that make the rest of us brides to be burn up with envy at the sweet savings that can be had.

Have you picket your date? How did you pick it? When is your date?

Dublin Blogger Meet Up 2012

A few weeks ago I attended the annual Dublin Blogger Meet Up. This year it was hosted by the amazing Sarah form Adoreabubbles.

What I really enjoyed about this year’s blogger meet up was that it was open to any blogger, unlike other meet ups where it seems a certain amount of people are invited and that's that.

Sarah really went all out and I can't thank her enough for such a lovely day, it was really fantastic to meet other bloggers in person and put a face to the name.  The plan for the day was to meet at 12pm at either the spire or the GPO if it was raining, and of course it was bucketing down! I was about ten minutes late which was slightly embarrassing as everyone was deep in conversation when I arrived so kind of awkward, after a quick introduction we all huddled under the GPO chatting away about anything and everything and waited for a few more bloggers to arrive.

Sarah gave each and every one of us our own goodies bag! This was really unexpected! It even had our names on it which was quite handy if you forgot someone’s name (something I always do!) After about an hour of catting we headed to LUSH to check out the new Emotional Brilliance range. It is a really unique way of looking at make up; Sarah goes into more detail about it here.

We where then asked what our favourite colour was as they where doing some research, when it was time to go and head to our next destination a few staff members arrived whit large bags containing our favourite colour and a mascara! 

1. Hannah getting her colour reading (http://abullettothehead.blogspot.ie/) 2. The LUSH Emotional Brilliance  range in all its glory 3. My reading 4. All us bloggers :)

We then went on to Arnotts, where we were greeted by the lovely Gemma from Benefit, who demonstrated the prep, prime and prefect routine on Alycia. It is basically the best way to prep your skin for make up to achieve that flawless look even with bad skin! After Gemma finished demonstrating on Alycia she went through a few new products, one which really caught my eye was the new lip glosses range. They are in no way sticky and you can match them to your favourite blush, you can find out more here. 

After that we headed to the Church for a bite to eat, it is located just at the bottom of Henry Street. I was amazed by how beautiful it is on the inside and shocked by how reasonably priced it was. I have walked past the restaurant for years and have always thought of it as being a high end type place. The food its of a really good quality as well. This is the point where we all got to know each other a little bit better.

Slowly but surly our group started to shrink, after looking around the Jervis shopping centre a few of us decide to go for a few drinks to end a wonderful day. 

This is a full list of the Irish Bloggers who attended 

Sarah: http://adoreabubbles.blogspot.ie
Paula: http://randomramblingsandmusings.wordpress.com/
Emma: http://themakeupbuff.blogspot.ie/
Rosie: http://rosesandrockets.blogspot.ie/
Dee: http://dee-lightfulthoughts.blogspot.ie/
Charlene: http://www.youtube.com/user/SmokeyEyeSurprise?feature=watch
Donna: http://notjustontheinside.blogspot.ie/
Alycia:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Makemeblush416/videos
Alice: http://www.youtube.com/user/PinkGlitter10
Joanne: http://www.jimmilou.com/
Eimear: http://www.youtube.com/user/xDEimearByrne
Cheryl: http://secondlastsong.blogspot.ie/
Ellie: http://miss-eblog.blogspot.ie/
Robyn: http://robynrantsandraves.com/
Marian: http://www.highlifeofmars.blogspot.ie/
Hannah: http://abullettothehead.blogspot.ie/
Claire: http://clurr92.blogspot.ie/

Should I have an engagement party?

That is one of the bigger questions when you first get engaged.

In wedding world there are certain rules to follow. In wedding world if you are planning on tying the knot within 6 months there is no need as you my dear you will be brushing up on your wedding know how from day one!

In real world, has it even crossed your mind till A, you were asked when the engagement party is or B, been to one and saw that it’s a must!!

Either way you must host one?

I am not quite into the whole unnecessary celebration for things as others are. There are benefits from both sides but beware there are rules you must follow if you chose to go ahead. Wedding world verse's real world is built up on rules and steeped in tradition. You do not want to break a wedding rule unless you want your wedding to be talked about for the wrong reason and on the big W day as i like to call it.

The rules

If it’s a short engagement there is no need for an engagement party it will not be expected of you. If you still want to mark your engagement with a bang then go ahead.

1. Invite the same guest to your party as you would your wedding

2. Ensure the theme and décor is the same as your wedding

3. Avoid a late engagement party i.e. over a month is no good.

If it’s a medium engagement, anything from nine months to a year and a half. It will be expect of you

1. Be very careful in who you invite. You don't know who is watching. You have some leeway in dropping a few guests from your W day but not a lot.

2. Have a hint of your theme i.e. flowers or colour

3. You can host your party between the second and third month of your engagement.

For a long engagement over two years.

1. Invite who you want, there is no need to be careful.

2. No need to have any hint of your theme, what’s the point it will be dated on the day.

3. Host it between three to nine months of being engaged.

You can also go a different route and not have one at all. Depending on the type of person you are.

An engagement party is more of a recent thing that is only used to show off. In my opinion having had my own engagement party I feel it’s a waste of time, energy and money.

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