Real Techniques from iHerb.com

I introduce to you, iHerb. I would like to thank Lily Melrose for introducing me to the site, unfortunately I can not find her post to show you! I had been meaning to get my hands on some Real Techniques for months now, and just hadn't got round to ordering them. iHerb is an American website which sells nutritional supplements and lots of other healthy products.
Hayley and I chipped in together for the shipping as we both treat ourselves to some new brushes. I ordered the Core Collection set and the Stippling Brush, whereas Hayley ordered the Blush Brush and the Setting Brush. This came to a total of $39.96 including $4.00 shipping costs.
A friend told us to be weary of shipping from America as they do spot checks on parcels which charges about £30 a pop, an inconvenience but a price me and Hayley were prepared to pay if it got checked. Mainly because we were getting the brushes so cheap anyway!

$39.96 works out about £24.33, and for 7 Real Techniques brushes, that is just crazy cheap.
The shipping was only £2.44 and between the two of us it was pittance. We ordered end of November and received our parcel on 19th December, so it took about 20 days for our order to arrive. You can pay more, I think its $8.00 to get it delivered to you earlier, but we saw no point.
We'd rather wait 20 days and pay £24.33 for the brushes rather than walking in to Boots, freely and paying £52.96 for the same thing!
The brushes are just the same quality and fortunately they didn't arrive damaged, which is always a risk. iHerb also emailed me a couple days before arrival asking if our parcel had arrived yet and if not to let them to know when and if there is any problems. Which reassured me that they were there to help if there was a delivery problem.

I actually haven't looked properly on the site for anything else other than the Real Techniques, however I do plan to see what their skincare and makeup section is like, see if I can any more bargains!

Have you ever used iHerb before?

2014 goals

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I hate the term 'resolutions', it's almost like we make them to break them. I've come up with a couple of things that I would love to have achieved by the end of the year. Kind of like Becky Bedbug's 101 in 1001, however I don't think I could possibly think of 1001 things!

Blogging Goals:
1. A blog post a week with my 'cool things' feature
2. Blog more about baking
3. Go to a blogger event
4. Meet a blogger in "real life"
5. Read everyone's beautiful blogs more often
6. Write more reviews on products
7. Be more consistent at writing posts

Career Goals:
8. Focus more on university work - well I am paying 9k for it.
9. Pass second year - would be most ideal
10. Get a placement - ideally in Leeds, ideally with a good company. However I am NOT being picky, i'm just applying everywhere and anywhere. (If you have any/know of any Accounting internships, hit me up - I'm the best)
11. Be more confident in myself, I always doubt if i'm right or not, and I think especially with my work this is a big weakness of mine
12. Move in a nice flat or somewhere nice for my placement
13. Get supervisory role at O2

Personal Goals:
14. Lose my uni weight - you either can't afford to eat or you eat too much crap...
15. Watch a shit load of Disney films
16. Go to see Charl, Tori and Alice in Spain at least once every 2 months... Hopefully if I can afford it, they are all leaving me for a semester in the sun, boo!
17. Go on holiday with David for the first time
18. Find the perfect skin care routine for me
19. Read the book David got me for Christmas 2012
20. Watch everything on my TV series list
21. See the fireworks on New Year in London
22. Explore Leeds more - I've lived here over a year now, why haven't I yet?
24. Go for a bike ride in Leeds
25. Go to an outdoor cinema
26. Visit friend's from uni in their home town
27. See Beyoncé live again - without paying more than £100 for a ticket
28. Be more like Beyoncé!!?

Creative Goals:
29. Have a creative night at least once every 2 weeks with Hayley
30. Make a smock dress with the help of Annika Victoria's blog DIY DIY 
31. Make some clothes with the patterns I bought
32. Make a scrapbook of first and second year of uni
33. Get a new lens
34. Shoot more in film! I love film photography
35. Photograph my soon to be step-sister's wedding
36. Keep a 'Good things jar 2014'
37. Learn Spanish
38. Learn how to knit
39. Knit something substantial
40. Use pinterest more

Here's to a good year!

Cool things #1

Merry New Year! I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas. Mine has been hectic, travelling to and from Leeds, home and Sheffield. I spent Christmas with my dad in Sheffield, which was lovely, although I had to go back to Leeds for work on Boxing day. Which to be honest wasn't such a bad shift 9.30pm - 5.30am, I got £15 in tips (yess), I took top take of the night and won a flatpack aeroplane which I conveniently left in Leeds. I had 2 glasses of Baileys at 5.30am, which was a perfect way to end the shift.

I've been thinking of some 2014 goals which I will share with you once I have thought of a reasonable amount! One of them is to do a weekly post of pictures/things/quotes or whatever that have made me think 'wow, thats pretty dam cool'. David and I raided reddit last night (which is why the sources aren't great) but here's the outcome.

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An artists work, using a projector, glass and a wall! So beautifully clever. 

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This is hilarious. I love everything about this, Jay-z face and Beyonce's reaction!

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This is from a blogger I found, Annika who writes The Pineneedle Collective which is a Fashion, DIY and Science blog. Which I think is super cool. I actually tweeted her saying how much I enjoyed her blog and that me and David were going to try and make some DNA ourselves! She replied with 'If you manage to *MAKE* DNA you could probably get a Nobel prize - you can extract it, though ;)' ...  I felt so silly! However I am going to attempt to extract some!

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Just oh my!

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This is a tomato which has grown in a metal fence feature. I just think this incredible how its grown!

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'SkyCycle' this is just a proposal, I'm assuming, but I think this is a really cool idea. Following the train routes around London with an above cycle track. This would lower the carbon footprint of the UK by not using cars, trains and tubes getting in, out and around London. How futuristic does it look! However I honestly don't think this would happen, it would cost a hell of a lot and would 12,000 people per hour actually use it?

Shopcade: Launch of the mobile app and GIVEAWAY!

On Thursday, Shopcade is officially launching their FREE new mobile app, hooraay!
Which means you can shop all your favourite brands in one place on the go now! The app has been available for about a couple of months, I downloaded it as soon as I fell in love with the website and since then I've seen drastic updates and changes to it, ready for the launch on Thursday.

I love this app. It really is so simple to use and is basically the same as the website, just in an app form. The only big changes that differ from the website is the colour scheme, the app is pink based colours whereas the website is blue. Honestly, I prefer the app colours, I really like the pink colour scheme as it feels a lot warmer and cheerful, I'm not sure if that's just because its from a girls perspective. I wonder if the app changes colour scheme depending on your sex, I highly doubt it but it is an idea. To be honest, I like the idea of having the app different colours scheme to the website, it adds variety and it's nice to have a change every now and then - however I was taken back when I saw the update.



Within my 'social media' folder on my phone, I definitely think the colour change is for the better as the majority of social media apps are the generic blue. I did get confused between the Shopcade and Skype app a good couple of times... they are VERY similar.
Like most apps, the logo is very simple. The bold pink background with the Shopcade S stand out very well and it does look intriguing to click on.













The opening page of the app is the trending page, this is where you get to see all the most popular products that thousands of shopcaders are wanting.
The trending page also features specific Shopcade lists which are trending.
My list was featured on the trending page a couple of weeks ago for my Shh! Secret Santa Under £15, check it out for some great christmas gift ideas under £15!

Your deal page is one to keep an eye on. Here you find all the deals and offers on the products you have wanted.
You might see that pair of shoes you've wanted for ages in the sale!

On the left, shows your profile. The header with your name and bio is locked. I can't decide if I like this concept or if it's just takes up too much of the page with the header, your username and the options to see your wants, lists and followers. Your profile page is the only page where the bottom taskbar is locked too which also limits what you can see on this page, you can only really see two rows at a time when viewing your lists and wants. That is really the only problem I have found with the app.


When you click on a product, a screen like this will appear. The top states where the product is from and the top right icon makes it easy for you to share and tell the world what you want either via text, email and any other social media you have on your phone.
By clicking on the photo of the product you can zoom in on the product and check it out close up, if you really like it, you can press want or add it to a list of your choice.
Underneath the want buttons is a full description of the products and an option to comment and hashtag the product (which I've never done before). I really like the black taskbar at the bottom of the page as it tells you the price, where it's from and the buy button, this taskbar is locked to the screen so when you are scrolling on the product you can always see the price!






With the new Shopcade app launching on Thursday, I have decided to have a little giveaway with some shopcade goodies for yourself! The competition is unfortunately only open to the UK.

I will be giving away 3 bags of goodies so you have more chance of winning one.
Mandatory entries:
1. You have to of signed up to the app through THIS INVITE HERE - if you do not sign up via this link then your entry will not count
2. You have to be a follower of my blog
3. You have to be a follower of my Shopcade account - if you sign up through the correct invite, I think it automatically does this for you

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will run from 10th December til 21st January.
Good luck!

Shopcade List #2: British Fashion Awards Inspired 2013

Of course, everyone who attended the British Fashion Awards last Monday looked amazing! A big congratulations to the winners, even Harry Styles won a cheeky award.
For this weeks Shopcade List, I thought I would incorporate one of the biggest fashion event of the year and find affordable alternatives - for everyone who wants to look fabulous but can't afford the whopping price tag.
The worst dress award definitely goes to Pixie Geldof. She wore a Topshop Slip Dress which would have looked fine if it was a size bigger. I'm more on the chubby side and I know what looks good on and what doesn't, it didn't help that she wore a fluorescent green soft toy bag.

 

 

 

 

 

I just love all of these outfits. As a big lover of shirts, I obviously loved Poppy Delevingne's outfit, her Emilia Wickstead S/S14 shirtdress paired with her simple beige pointed heels, looks fab.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looked incredible. I really like the wet look hair however I only think it would look acceptable at a red carpet event, which I haven't had the pleasure of attending as of yet... Her pale skin, red lips and red suit is so striking. Alexa Chung, as always looked simply stunning.

I've raided the high street and found similar products which will look just as fabulous on us, especially with my student budget! Check out my list here and if you haven't joined up yet, then what are you waiting for? It's the up and coming shopping app, where you can organise all your wants, buys and needs in one place. I am well and truly addicted, get yourselves signed up here and follow me.