Charlottes Collection | Leeds UK Blog : Fashion | Beauty

You may remember when I attended Sheffield Meadowhall’s Blogger Style School last month we were set a 10 minute make-up challenge at the Bellapierre counter in Debenhams. Well after a vote on the Meadowhall’s Facebook page I was voted winner of the challenge and crowned the Meadowhall’s Top Style Blogger for Spring Summer 2012! The win was a total shock, but a totally amazing one because it meant I was given lot’s lovely make-up products to try from the brands we visited on the day, AND I was given a few goodies to give away to my lovely readers!

Bellapierre is a totally new brand to me and I love the fact that there is natutal & organic. I’ve also not had much experience with mineral make-up, but after a tutorial and talk from Joanne from Bellapierre at the Meadowhall Shopping Centre I soon fell in love wit the fact that make-up should actually aid in looking after your skin. Bellapierre's mineral make-up diminishes fine lines and helps skin become more youthful!

The champagne eyeshadow is my favourite product! I love to use it as a highlighter on my brow bone, in the inner corner of my eye, on my cheek as a highlight, even dabbed lightly over the moisturising Vanilla Bean lip balm to add a bit of shimmer to my lips! You can see it blended with the Deja Vous shimmer eyeshadow in my crease, which I also used a blush, in the pictures above. The Eyeliner / Brow Brush is really amazing too, the angled taklon bristles make applying eyeliner and filling in your brows a breeze!

Giveaway!!

So I’ve got some core items from the Bellapierre Cosmetics range to give away to one lucky reader!! One of you could win a goody bag containing the following:

Vanilla Bean Lip Balm, Mineral Eyeshadow in Campagne, Lash Building Mascara, Eyeliner/ Brow Brush and a stunning Ruby Lipstick (all products in the picture below!)

To be in with a chance of winning all you’ve got to do is:

* Follow Charlotte’s Collection via GFC

* Leave a comment below with someway for me to contact you if you win

* For an extra chance to win follow me on Twitter (@CharlCollection) and tweet ‘@CharlCollection is having a giveaway! Visit www.charlottescollection.co.uk for a chance to a win!’

The winner be picked at random from all the comments and tweets – no duplicate entries please, each person has up to chances of winning! Entries close at midnight GMT Friday 18^th May 2012.

Good luck!!

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The natural edition! Natural or not I love this months box! I love the rustic look to the 100% biodegradable box, and of the course, the re-assurance that this months box is a little more environmentally friendly... Though I re-use all my boxes for storage, we all know that the Glossybox comes with a lot of packaging! The Natural theme obviously carries through to the products, which are all either natural, organic, or both! I think it's great that the Glossy team have surprised us with another themed box!

One sentence that I've got to repeat, as repeated with the January, February AND March Glossyboxes, I got another body lotion!! The Burt's Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion. I've never actually tried any Burt's Bees products, but heard lots about them so I'm really pleased to have received this. It smells amazing too! I suppose moisturisers were a mini theme for my box this month as I received two more! I'm really going to enjoy using the Caudalie Vinosiurce SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum and the Monu Professional Skincare Moisture Risch Collagen Cream. These products are both geared towards dry skin, I've mentioned in other posts that I've got quite oily skin, but recently I've felt my skin is feeling quite dehydrated, so I'm very open to trying new things to combat it.

A lot of people received the INIKA Certified Organic Eyeliner. I noticed that there are a variety of colours of this creamy pencil and I'm really pleased I received mine in number 12 Purple Minx, a rich plum which is very wearable and actually one of my favourite colours to wear. Finally, I received the Cherry & Vanilla flavour of the Figs & Rouge Lips, face and Body Balm. I love the retro packaging of this balm, it's so pretty! 100% organic I know I'm really going to enjoy using this product too. It's quite gooey and oily - once you've swiped your finger through it a few times, so I think it will work really well dry patches of skin. I like how it's won't just be restricted to use on my lips!

So all in all I don't think there's an item that I'm not pleased with and won't use from my April Glossybox! Result!

Did you receive a Glossybox, or another subscription box? What did you think? Link me your blog posts below!

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If I had to choose only one make-up product to wear for the rest of my days, yes ONE, I could quite honestly say that it would have to be a bronzer! I love a bit of bronze! The Soleil Tan De Chanel has been on my radar for so long now, but as most beauty addicts know, it had totally disappeared from the face of the earth for near on six months! Well as you can see, I managed to get my mitts on it!

I happened to be passing the Chanel counter in Boots back in March when I saw the Soleil Tan De Chanel, shining at me like a beacon! So I coughed up close to £30 and walked away feeling very happy with myself!

The presentation of this product is impeccable, a beautiful swirl of luxurious dense mousse with the most delicious smell ever - it reminds me of peaches! The main thing that reviews point out about that Soleil Tan De Chanel is that it's super orangey. Maybe I've just got different expectations about bronzer, but I'm definitely no Jersey Shore wannabe and I've not noticed I look in anyway tango-ed after application! This product is actually a base, so you can wear it under your foundation if orange tones concern the very fair among us. However I've found that I really need to build with this to get the sun-kissed glow that I'm used to, not a bad thing to be honest though! The finish is stunning though, I'm loving all cream to powder products at the moment, so easy to work with.

To apply I switch between the Real Techniques Contour and Buffing brushes. The contour brush is pretty small so I use this more when I want sculptured cheeks and precision contouring. On those days when I want that all over glow, or am just being very lazy and want to buff in the Soleil Tan De Chanel quickly (most days!) I'll use the buffing brush. The dense bristles of these Real Technique are perfect for the thick mousse texture of this product.

A note on the price... I do think that it's expensive. It's a really lovely product, which I'm going to be very happy to use up to the bitter end. I'd also happily repurchase, but at the end of the day I don't think it's a necessity, must have item. The price tag is for the Chanel name in my opinion. You could get the exact same look most lower end brand, and probably a look more tailored to your own skin tone.

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