It's not quite bikini weather, but....

First, may I just apologise. This post is long overdue, but as I wanted a good few weeks to put these products to the test, I thought I'd hang on a while.

A couple of months ago, Gillette contacted me to ask if I'd like to review their new Venus razor.

But wait...please don't write this off as 'just another beauty review".... as I know there's been a lot of debate lately as to whether beauty bloggers should accept freebies from PR companies.

I have no qualms, however...and merely see it as a perk to blogging. I only ever write honest reviews of products anyway - and if I thought a product was rubbish/not worth the money/ etc etc, I would jolly well tell you.

Anyway, rant over....

The Gillette Bikini Challenge pack came just at the right time. I was due to go on my jolly summer holidays back in September and as I was jetting off to sunnier climes, I thought 'great stuff.'

And the kind folks at Gillette sent me this lovely lot:

Yep, a full-on beautifying kit, including some Gillette avocado shaving gel, the Gillette Venus Embrace razor and the Wilkinson Sword equivalent, some Aussie hair products ,(it's sounded a bit like the Generation Game), an ASOS bikini and a bag (literally) to put it in.

Now, who's going to refuse all that lot?

So, the idea of the Bikini Challenge then, was...wait for it...to test out both the Gillette Venus Embrace and Wilkinson Sword Quattro on the bikini line (shock!) and report back to Gillette HQ with my findings. This was a simple research/marketing exercise from Gillette - and blogging about it was in no way compulsory.

But I thought I'd let you in on my findings anyway...but don't worry, there'll be no bikini shots and certainly no bikini line shots. Heaven forbid!

Onto the razors then....

I've always been a disposable razor girl myself, so getting to grips with these two (above) was pretty new to me.

The Wilkinson Sword Quattro then... I actually really liked this one. It was simple to use, quite slim and easy to handle and it came with a free holder for your bath. Woo. The attached trimmer/clipper button was, quite frankly, bloody terrifying and I'm afraid I went nowhere near it!

I used the Quattro on my legs and on the whole it gave a smooth, clean shave with little irritation. Thumbs up!

The Gillette Venus Embrace was pretty similar - and gave the same result, if I'm honest. There was no stinging/irritation afterwards and it was easy to grip. Neither was it too bulky to store. There's five individually adjustable blades, too - which ensures a smoother shave. Overall, a pretty decent product.

I'm not sure either of these razors will tear me away from my Bic disposable (sorry!) but they did a pretty good job either way. Plus, if you buy Gillette Venus and you're still not convinced, you'll get your money back!

Has anyone tried either of these and what do you reckon? x

Awards, Awards...Everywhere!

Well, not quite everywhere... but I must have been doing something right lately.

I've received two awards in two weeks!

Thanks very much to the lovely Eliza and Georgie for passing on some lovely awards - it's much appreciated, ladies.

A big thank you to Georgie for passing on the 'I Love Your Blog' award, and Eliza for the 'Pin Up Pout Shout Out' award.

A massive thanks also to Eliza, who recently interviewed me over on her blog. You can read the interview here.xx

Clothes Show Live Winners!

Evening all,

So, I've picked my three winners out of a hat for my recent Clothes Show Competition.

Thanks very much to the kind folk at Idea Generation for providing three pairs of tickets to the show, which takes place this December.

And the winners (who will receive a pair of tickets to the show each) are:

Computergirl, DaisyBee and Georgie

Ladies, please email me your addresses and I'll make sure the tickets get to you asap.

Thanks to everyone who entered - keep your eye out for future competitions, and hopefully you'll be lucky next time.

Thank you

x

TAG: I Love Your Blog Because You Make Me Smile!

Afternoon all,

First off, a huge thank you to Eliza, aka Make Up Junkie for passing on this 'I Love Your Blog Because You Make Me Smile' tag.

Exactly what's needed on a dreary, rainy Monday afternoon, so thank you Eliza.

The rules are simple: "Upload a song that makes you happy, tag away and say at least one kind thing about each blog you tag."

Here goes then....

Whether you like them or not, you've got to agree this little number by John and Edward is classic - absolute comedy genius.

I tag:

Lucy - Lucy's pregnant and she's recently started up a new blog to chart her progress. Not long to go now, Lucy...

She's a really sweet, genuinely lovely girl and I'm glad she decided to return to blogging after she discovered she was pregnant. Go and check her out...

Rosa - Rosa is fairly new to the world of blogging so go over and say hi. Her blog is a lovely mix of stunning make-up looks and general everyday updates. Lovely stuff.

Valencia - Finally, the lovely Valencia from style blog, Roll up your Sleeve. This girl has impeccable fashion taste and I love looking at her fab pics, updated almost daily.

And there you have it! x

You looking at me?! Take a photo, it'll last longer

Photography, eh? Everyone likes to have a bash, but it takes a very talented person to take the perfect photo.

Here, freelance photographer, Darren Andrews - a good friend of mine (and former colleague at The Visitor newspaper), talks about his new book 'Pleasureland' and eating fish and chips on a well-known serial killer's garden wall! Intrigued? You should be...

Over the years, Darren's photographed everyone from Take That's Mark Owen, to Bob Geldof and The Fall's Mark E Smith. Read on...

Lauren: You've recently released your new book 'Pleasureland'. What can you tell us about it and how long was it in the making?

Darren: I've always been attracted to the English seaside, especially in winter when it's cold, dark and miserable.

All the pictures in the book are black and white and mostly shot on film.

It really came about after I was asked to put on an exhibition of my seaside pictures in London a couple of years ago.

It was well received by the public and press down there, so I thought why not make it into a book.

I've done it through Blurb as it seemed to be the easiest way. There was interest from a couple of well known publishers but I just got tired of all the messing about and i just wanted to get it over and done with. As well as the photos there's some poetry in there based on my work by my friend, Dicky Fusco, he does a good job.

Lauren: Where did you train and did you enjoy it?

Darren: I first got into photography whilst studying art at Storeys, Lancaster.

It appealed to me because it seemed to be easy.

I was 100% convinced when I went to see an exhibition over 20 years ago at the Victoria and Albert Museum by a photographer called Irving Penn, I fell in love with photography at that moment.

I then went on to do Advertising/Fashion at Gloucester College.

We used to sit on Fred West's wall eating our fish and chips - his house was at the back of the college. Little did we know what was going on in that house.

Lauren: You worked at a local newspaper. How does it compare to being a freelance photographer and what are the pros and cons?

Darren: Being a freelance photographer sounds cool and sometimes it is.

But you've got to be organised and look for work as it rarely looks for you. There's a lot of folks out there all looking for the same work.

So far I'm enjoying myself, being a staff photographer for local newspapers can sometimes make you feel it's Groundhog Day.

Lauren: What was your most memorable shoot and why? Lauren: I'm most happy when wandering around a city with my camera - Paris is my favourite place. Photographing my heroes Neil Young and Sonic Youth was good and spending the day with Mark E Smith from The Fall was interesting.

I liked the film director Ken Russell. I always look forward to meeting up with Hawkwind, they were the first band I ever worked with. I also still get a buzz out of the Isle of Man TT races every year.

Lauren: If you could photograph anyone (dead or alive) who would it be and why? Darren: There's lots.... Bettie Page, The Beatles, Becky Mantin (the ITV weather girl!), Dolly Parton, David Lynch, Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, all the great heavyweight boxing champions from the past. I could go on and on.

Lauren: Which photographer(s) do you admire and why?

Darren. My all time hero is Weegee, no one comes close to him.

Others I admire are people like Walker Evans,Cartier-Bresson,Brassai,Cindy Sherman,Josef Koudelka etc etc. I still like the work of David Bailey.

Lauren: Who's been the best person to photograph and why?

Darren: David Bailey's wife, Catherine.

You can't take a bad picture of her.Bailey is a lucky man.

Lauren: What top tips can you give to amateur photographers on taking the perfect photo?

Darren: Top tip is obvious....always have a camera with you!

Lauren: Finally, what's in the pipeline for Mr Darren Andrews?

Darren: A couple of exhibitions in 2010 and I'll be hopefully earning a living as a freelancer whilst working on a book of photographs of Saddleworth Moor.

You can buy Darren's new book 'Pleasureland', here

For more about Darren and to see more of his photos, go to www.myspace.com/darrenphotographer

Lancaster duo, The Lovely Eggs

Lancaster girl band, Foxslayer. Spot me?

Goldfrapp

Blackpool, England - taken from the book, Pleasureland

Blackpool, England

Darren Andrews: Self portrait

Et voila....the finished (hair) piece!

Anyone who read my last post, might have been wondering what my new 'hair' from Love Hair Extensions looked like.

Well......

There you have it! Everything but my fringe is fakety fake! Can you believe it? I may just be one of the lucky ones, but the hair piece I was sent was an exact match to my natural hair - the colour, the look....but sadly not the texture.

The texture is where this product fails a little, but who really touches your hair anyway?!

Apart from that and a slight heavy head, I couldn't really fault this product. At around £30 a pop, it's not too cheap, but it's a quick and easy fix for dull, tired hair.

These photos were taken by my work colleague, Greg Lambert. We were busy in the office, honest!

So, what do you think? x

Fake...Moi?!

I've never been a fan of anything too fake... fake nails, fake tan, fake hair. Actually, especially fake hair...

Apart from the occasional hair dye (and a spot of make-up, of course), I'm proud to be completely fake free.

So when I was offered the chance to try a clip-in hair piece from Love Hair Extensions, I have to admit I was slightly dubious.

I just didn't think it was for me...

I had visions of looking like a Barbie-esque bimbo. But after glancing at Love Hair Extensions' website, I quickly came round to the idea. And a couple of days later I was the owner of one of the site's new pony tail clip-in hair pieces.

As well as stocking full blown hair extensions, the site has recently introduced the range of 'clip in' pony tails (in curly and straight varieties) that are as easy to style as, well, your own hair.

There's plenty of shades to choose from, too and all that's involved is giving the pony tail a bit of a brush, whipping your hair into a bun and then clipping the bulldog style clip straight in. Et voila! - lusciously long, and in my case, polka straight, hair in an instant.

Here's the 'before' picture.... as you can see my hair is fairly long anyway.

Watch this space to see my hair with the Love Extensions' hair piece!

ASOS Benefit/Bourjois Contest: And the winners are...

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who entered my ASOS.com Benefit and Bourjois Giveaway

I got an overwhelming response, with well over 50 entries. Thank you for all your blog posts, subscriptions and lovely comments.

But I'm afraid there can only be two winners (I'd have loved to have picked you all!).

So, here goes...picked out of a hat by my work colleague.

The first prize winner bags this Benefit Powderazzi compact and a Bourjois eyeshadow (see pic below).

And the winner was.... Katy!

Well done Katy and thanks for entering.

The second prize winner gets this stunning Vintage-inspired Bourjois blusher (below)

And the winner is.... Nic!

Congratulations to the winners and thanks very much for entering. Thanks to everyone else who took the time to enter and subscribe - look out for another competition when I hit 300 followers

* If the winners could email me your addresses to laurenholden6@gmail.com I will get your prizes out to you asap.

Lauren x

Good hair day? Introducing Label M Hair Care

Evening all...

So these last few days I've been trying out a new hair care range by Toni and Guy.

Label M (www.labelm.co.uk), launched only last year has been making waves on the beauty circuit - bagging a spot in The Times Top 100 Beauty Products list, as well as being praised in The Independent's 50 Best Autumn Buys.

Curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about...

As luck would have it, then, Toni and Guy got in touch and sent me two of products to review: Label M's Volume Foam and Strong Wax (pictured below).

Now then... the Volume Foam.

Described as a lightweight foam that adds body and definition to hair, the product comes in a generous sized can. Packaging is sleek and simple, just the way I like it. After all, it's the product inside that counts.

I've never been too fond of mousse (apart from the chocolate variety, mmm) and this has a light mousse-y consistency. One squirt was required to style my mid length thick hair and the foam lasted well and left little residue. It was, however, a little on the sticky side and I wasn't sure if I liked how it made my hair feel. 

That aside, the overall look was great and it was fairly easy to achieve dramatic big hair in an instant.

Label M's Strong Wax, on the other hand, had a great consistency and left my hair feeling pretty good. It's a little hard to get out of the container - but a quick blast with the hair dryer should warm the product up a bit.

A nice travel-sized pot that does what it says on the tin. My fella even liked it!

Anyone else tried Label M's new products? What do you think?