Boudoir Privé

I know many of my lovely readers are highly interested in makeup and some of you are even beauty gurus in your own right. Therefore, I thought that this particular piece of news might be of interest to you.

[Pic source: Boudoir Privé]

Have you heard of Birchbox? What about Glossybox? Well, the latest company to join the line is Boudoir Privé, a UK-based company.

For those who aren't too familiar with these companies, basically, you pay a small fee and every month, you get a box of (luxury) goodies delivered right to your doorstep. For most of the other companies, the box usually contains 5 (sample-sized) products, but Boudoir Privé is promising at least 6! The items can range from luxury make-up to skincare to bodycare products.

The general idea is that Boudoir Privé provides these products in deluxe sample sizes so we can try it out a good few times before deciding whether or not to invest in the full-sized product.

Boudoir Privé will only be charging a flat rate of £10 (postage included) a month.

[Pic source: Boudoir Privé]

I personally have not signed up for any of such boxes, but for some reason, Boudoir Privé appealed to me. Maybe it's because such concepts have really caught on here, maybe it's the exclusivity or maybe it's just the fact that I love the name of the company! Who knows? One thing's for sure, if I do get the first box, that means I would have broken my shopping ban *guilty*

I honestly don't know much about it and no one can guarantee that I'll be happy with the boxes, but I think I'd like to give it a try. I know I'm giving in to the hype, but I think this one may actually be worth it.

Even though all the products in the box are meant to be a surprise, Boudoir Privé has announced a little teaser on their Facebook page. They managed to get the amazing hair and make up artist, Jay Pinxie Turnbull as one of the contributors for the first box!! Also, they have picked up some stuff from the Beauty Hall in Liberty London! Exciting!

They will have their official launch in a couple of days time, so if you want to get your hands on the exclusive first box, be sure to sign up here *click*

News from Asia Fashion Wholesale

Hey, guys!

I am not sure if you guys read my Asia Fashion Wholesale review here *click* from some weeks back. In any case, I just wanted to share this piece of news I found on their website with you.

So I was writing up a more detailed blog post on them and went to their website to do a bit of research. As I was browsing, I saw this tiny line on top that read, 'Important notice and big apologize'. Wondering what this could be about, I clicked on it only to see what I deem to be quite a major issue. I've attached the full statement below (spelling/grammar errors and all) because I wanted to quote them word for word incase I misunderstood anything.


*******************************************

Important notice and big apologize

We are very sorry that a dismission employee stole our customers' emails and use the emais illegally.

That guy joined another company and that company tried to cheat our customers with below mean tricks:
1) They registered very similiar domains (only change one or two words of our website domain).
2) They copied our web pages and photos (in order to let/cheat you think they belong to our company).
3) They sent SPAM emails to you to cheat you to place order and pay money.(Please don't risk to do business with such company.)

Please make sure you open our page from your favorite sites, or enter http://Asia-Fashion-Wholesale.com/welcome into the browser.
1) Please don't register or login from the fake pages.
2) Please don't place order or make payment on the fake pages.
3) Please don't click the link from the SPAM emails.
4) If you experience failure login at that fake website, you are recommended to modify your member password.

We appreciate your information and suggestion very much if you could provide more details.

It may take a very short time for us to resolve this horrible problem.
Hope you understand the current situation and we promise we never disclosed your information at any conditions and we will avoid such problem in the future.

We will try our best to offer good product and nice service for you as before.

Asia-Fashion-Wholesale.com Team
28th June, 2011

----

Our web store is http://Asia-Fashion-Wholesale.com/welcome

Our customer service email is AsiaFashionWholesale@gmail.com

Our Paypal is yangdefang@gmail.com

*******************************************

For the original statement, click here *click*

As I said on Twitter, spam emails I can deal with because I think people are smart enough not to open spam AND click on the links inside anyway. In fact, I did notice I have been getting some emails from what I thought was AFW, but upon closer inspection, I now realized that the sender is actually Asia-FashionS-Wholesale. They seem to have just added an 's' to the name of the fake account. Luckily, Hotmail marked these emails as Spam, so I chucked them all without even looking.

What is worrisome is perhaps what else this ex-employee (and his croonies) can do. I am more concerned about other forms of breaches of security/privacy.

Personally, I am not sure what else AFW could have done better as I am not too familiar with the workings of the company. But I feel they could have at least notified their customers in a better way. Putting a tiny link on your website is hardly enough when anyone could have easily missed it.

Anywayz, I just wanted to spread the word to be more careful if you're purchasing from AFW or any other online shop for that matter.

Incidentally, I'm doing my dissertation on Internet Marketing (Pros and Cons) and this has been quite an interesting case study for me.

Shoppingholics Geo Tri Color Brown review

So quite a while ago, I made some purchases from Shoppingholics.com. I ordered 2 pairs of circle lenses and a set of Dolly Wink falsies. It was my first time ordering from them and I didn't quite know what to expect. First thing that impressed me was their website; so kawaii and aesthetically pleasing, yet very organized with lots of pictures and good descriptions. Their customer service was great and they replied to my emails promptly. The package itself took just slightly over a week to arrive.

When my order arrived, I noticed how much effort they put into the packaging. Their packaging has got to be the nicest out of the all the online shops I've purchased from before. Everything was neatly arranged inside two separate, pretty bags. Inside, all the items were individually bubble-wrapped and the circle lenses were placed in cute little gift boxes that had more bubble wrap inside to protect the vials.

I wouldn't say my order was huge, but they were so generous with the freebies. Together with my order, they gave me a Dainty Design Lavender Mask, a velcro fringe holder, an Anna Sui-inspired mirror and two adorable contact lens cases for free!!

Little 'Thank You' cards like these really make us, customers, feel appreciated. The reminder to soak our lenses before wearing them was very thoughtful.

The two pairs of lenses I ordered this time were Geo Tri Color Brown and Neo Cosmo Glamour Brown.

I'll be reviewing the Geo Tri Color Brown circle lenses today.

Item details
Origin: Korea
Diameter : 14.0mm
Water Content : 38%
Base Curve : 8.6mm
Life Span : 1 year disposal

Comfort level: 4/5
I can wear these for 6-8 hours without any problems, but any longer and my eyes would start to feel quite dry. It's very comfortable and I completely forget that I'm wearing contacts. Then again, I've worn contacts since I was 14 so I'm very used to it.

Enlargement: 2/5
As these are only 14.0mm in diameter, they don't offer much enlargement. Even though I don't think it has much enlarging effects, that is perfectly fine with me. I bought it because I wanted a hint of colour in my eyes.

Colour: 4/5
*note that a 5/5 score would mean that the colour's very obvious even while indoors*
These lenses are exactly what I wanted; it offers a subtle change of eye colour, but nothing unnatural. I know in these photos they look very obvious, but I took these in bright daylight (or facing the window) so I could capture the colour and details. Yes, it's more obvious in daylight, but still looks pretty natural, in my opinion.

I think these are perfect for people who would like to try circle lenses, but don't want to go for those with a wider diameter or the ones with a very dark ring around it.
I can totally wear it without any eye make up. I don't usually wear falsies or have dramatic eye make up on a daily basis, so this is perfect for every day wear. I've a couple of other circle lenses and I alternate between them for classes.

If you're interested in purchasing circle lenses, I'd highly recommend Shoppingholics.com

Recent bits and bobs

Today's post is a bit of a mish mash (including one Big announcement at the end) as (following from my previous post) I've been looking through my photo albums and clearing some of the things I wanted to post, but just never got the chance to.

The outfit below, I wore last week when I went out for Vietnamese food with a couple of friends.

Dress with sequined bow: Malaysia

Furry cuff wedge: New Look

Bow ring: Primark

This dish was recently recommended by a friend and it's absolutely delish! It's BBQ pork, Vietnamese style. I thought it'd be pretty dry, but the pork is actually quite juicy and very tasty. The noodles are plain, but it just goes so well with the flavourful pork.

I wore the next outfit when I went to see my dissertation supervisor very recently. It's nothing fancy, but this blog is about documenting my everyday outfits, after all.

Shirt: atseoul.com
Leather cube necklace: ASOS.com
Rhinestone heart cocktail ring: ASOS.com
Silk scarf: Random souvenir store in Paris
Skinny jeans: Primark

Oh, and as I was going through the photos on my phone, I found this one I took quite a while ago. Look at these funny shoes from New Look! It's so quirky, but I don't know if anyone would be able to pull it off for everyday wear. No, of course I didn't buy ém, it's not really my style. In any case, it's mad high. Am not sure if the camera angle shows it, but it's Really high, it's like walking on stilts! Anywayz, after getting over the initial reaction of "Wha...?? Are they really selling this in New Look?", I kinda thought, "Hey, I think it's pretty cool New Look wants to try something different".

The point is, I think New Look has got the best selection of high street shoes. I, myself, have got like 5 pairs of shoes from them! They've got all sorts there. From really unique, fashionista-type ones like these to proper sensible courtroom shoes. I like how they try to cater to everyone. For example, the shoes above, I'm sure they know it's not going to sell out or be too popular with the average shopper, but props to them for stocking them up and be brave enough to sell something to target a small, specific market group.

What dyou guys think of these shoes? Even if you've an opinion completely different to mine, do let me know in the comments :)

So this brings me to the next topic; my shopping ban. I think I'm doing pretty well. Nearly 3 weeks now, eyh? I know, I know, thank you. Haha...no really, I've been really good and haven't broken my ban. It hasn't been as hard as I thought, mainly because like I said, I simply have too many clothes, so I'm slowly getting through them one by one. So it's kind of like shopping in your own closet as you discover new coordinates.

Anywayz, I did however, spend on something really special to me (and I really don't think this counts as shopping). I'm really excited to announce this because I've thought about it for quite awhile now and was just waiting for the right moment. Well, yesterday, the moment came and...

I decided to buy my own domain! YES!! I've officially made the switch to dot com. Don't worry, it should automatically bring you to the new site even if you accessed my blog via blogspot.

From here on, my blog will be at

www.everyday-outfits.com

Craft Fair

Today, whilst browsing through my photo albums, I stumbled upon this neat set of photos from many, many moons ago. I actually placed it under my everydayoutfits blog album to be posted, but have completely forgotten about it. Still, better late than never, I say.

1) Vintage-style candle plates

2) Tooth brooches

3) Soft toys

4) Laser cut acrylic necklaces

5) Unique hand-knitted scarves

6) Wooden and acrylic brooches

7) Pretty pins

8) Purses

It never fails to amaze me how talented some people are. All the things you see above were lovingly handmade by someone or a team of people with similar interests. The sewing, the knitting, the cutting...all done by clever crafters who decided to make something completely different and unique to what's available from the high street. They are all original pieces of art, really.

I have been supporting these fairs ever since I found out about them and I can't wait to go for the next one in a couple of weeks.

I challenge you to...colour-block with primary colours!

Biker jacket: H&M

Red roses clutch: H&M

Green scallop edged vest: eBay

Blue balloon skirt with bow: Primark

This outfit is my contribution to this week's "I challenge you to..." installment.

The "I challenge you to..." is a creative initiative by two very pretty bloggers; Dany of Nany's Klozet and Flor of Flor de Maria Fashion. Here's how they described it:

"Dany from Nany’s Klozet and I (Flor) decided to start something called “I challenge you to…”. In this weekly special, we challenge our readers and bloggers around the globe to wear specific trends- and we would love if you could join us. Every Tuesday we’ll publish next week’s challenge, on Mondays: we’ll show you how we wear the trend and you’ll be able to share your link & outfit her on my blog. You can also upload your pictures to Nany’s Klozet Facebook or Flor de Maria Fashion Facebook. We were inspired by “Bloggers do it better” but we want to give our own twist to it!"

I honestly can't remember how I stumbled upon this, but when I did, I thought it was quite a fun project and I couldn't wait to participate. So this week, I've decided to contribute properly. This week's challenge was colour-blocking with primary colours!

Colour-blocking is so in trend this season and totally perfect for summer. The colours are big, bold and loud, definitely not for the faint-hearted! I don't think I've tried colour-blocking before, but the bright, summery colours make me really happy clappy!

I'm actually really glad colour-blocking is so 'In' these days. It means that I don't have to worry about clashing colours or rack my brains thinking about the right colour coordination. I also like it that this trend is so...brave. Usually we're taught to pick one item to focus on and build the rest of the pieces around it, but for this trend, every single piece screams for attention.

Have you tried colour-blocking? If you have, do leave me a link to the blog post, I'd love to check out your outfits
xx

Cut out back

Lace cut out back oversized shirt: Topshop (eBay)
Floral shorts: ASOS.com
Flower ring: Dorothy Perkins

Cameo ring: Primark

This gorgeous Topshop shirt (which I scored on eBay for less than half its original price) is everything I want in a shirt; sheer, comfy and interesting. The material is so soft and flowy, it really is very comfortable to wear. And isn't the lace trim detail at the back just lovely? The shirt is also actually shorter in the front than it is in the back. What interesting cuts.

Speaking of the lace detail, it was quite awkward trying to take a picture of the back of the shirt. Anyone peering through my window would have thought me quite mad. I'd have to prop my camera on the tripod, set the timer, then race to the front to face the wall as the timer counts down. So, it's like, "Hmm...nice wall" *tick*tick* "Very white" *tick*tick*...
And I couldn't just do it once. Oh no, it took me at least 5 shots before I found a decent one -.-

The weather has been quite good here and when the weather's good, the BBQ grill comes out. Have been to a few BBQs already and am actually getting a bit sick of it, to be honest. The smoke makes me really uncomfortable. But mainly, I dislike waiting around for food. However, certain BBQ etiquette dictates that thou shalt not go for thy second round until everyone else has had a piece of chicken wing. I'm more of a buffet kind of girl. Lay out all the food and pile it on my plate thankyouverymuch.

It's a nice way to chill with friends, though. I always come back from BBQs with an empty tummy, but a much bigger smile.

Do you like BBQs?

Glittery pink kitty

Slanted tips: The Face Shop PK102

Nail stickers: Hello Kitty

1st top coat: Boots No.7 Stay Perfect in Twinkle

2nd top coat: Eyeko Chi Chi Polish

You can tell I got a little carried away with the photo-taking. It was so much fun, though! This look is so girly and cute, I couldn't help but add some pearls and flowers and even more pink!

The Face Shop PK102: I usually need 3 coats for my nails to look opaque, but since I only painted the tips, I only needed 2 coats this time.

Hello Kitty nail stickers: These were the free ones I got from the Born Pretty Nail Art Store which I blogged about here *click*. The stickers are absolutely adorable. So easy to apply and super sticky!

Boots No.7 Stay Perfect in Twinkle Pink: The colour is actually a very, very pale pink with tiny specks of glitter. The consistency is just right, definitely not runny at all. However, it's actually quite sheer so to achieve the colour on the bottle, you'd need a good 3 or 4 coats. I used it here mainly as a top coat to seal the kitty stickers in place and to give my nails a subtle hint of pink.

Eyeko Chi Chi Polish: Topped it off with some rosy pink glitter. The glitter is really pretty in real life. I applied just one coat because I wanted the pink tips and kitty stickers to be the main focus. This nail polish is more suited for layering on top of another nail colour. To achieve the colour on the bottle, it'd take a good 4 or 5 coats.

Summer Giveaway [CLOSED]

[CLOSED]

Hello, lovelies!

I haven't done a proper giveaway since my first one, so I thought it was about time.
As always, thank you for all your support. Thanks for taking the time to drop by this little blog and for reading my inane ramblings. Extra hugs go to those who comment regularly. You guys are stars!

Just to mention, I purchased all these with my own money. I tried to go for a summer theme (since my first one was spring), but I'm afraid it's a bit of a jumble this time. Still, I hope you'll like them! :D

How to enter:

1) You must follow my blog via Google Friend Connect (GFC)

2) Leave a comment with your GFC name and email (so I can contact you if you win) (1 entry)

3) For additional (entirely optional) entries:

- follow me on Bloglovin' and Like this entry (+1 entry)

- tweet this: [ @everydayoutfits is having a summer giveaway! Click to join http://bit.ly/m5c3pD ](+2 entries)

- post this giveaway on your sidebar (please use the banner above and provide a link back) (+3 entries)

Please leave only one comment.

Open internationally!

Deadline: Friday, 1st July

Some close-ups of what the winner will be getting

 Some of you may recognize the River Island floral earrings from my first giveaway. The winner for that giveaway didn't have ear piercings, so I replaced it with something else. Here it is again, up for grabs!

I used my own Cookie mirror for photography purposes, but the winner will be getting a brand new one, of course :)

Plus a black dress.

[Pic credit: Luphia]

This black dress was purchased from an online website that stocks lovely Korean fashion. Luphia pride themselves in selling true Made in Korea clothes. I've not been disappointed with my purchases from them. I'm not paid by them to say this, but I just wanted to give them a little shout out. Again, I would like to reiterate that I purchased this with my own money.

 

Good luck!!

My vintage-style dress

Vintage-style polka dotted dress: Asia Fashion Wholesale

'J' Scrabble ring: DIY gift from the boyf
Mary-janes: Spain

Wooo...check out my hair blowing in the wind. At least it's not blowing across my face or blowing in 20 different directions so that I look like Medusa's Asian sister. The hands at the side look a bit awkward, though. Never know what to do with my hands in outfit shots.

The dress is my favourite out of the bunch of clothes I got from my AFW haul. It's so vintage-inspired and the colour is really pretty. When I was browsing around the website, I very nearly chose the safest option; black. But as my mouse hovered over the 'Add into Basket' button, I chided myself, "Stop being so boring and get something you don't already have in your wardrobe!". So, voila! Best decision of the month!

By the way, Pocky posted a comment quite awhile back, asking for the link to this dress on AFW. I tried to look for it, but I think it's sold out. However, I found the red version. If you're still interested, click here. I'm sorry I took so long, but you didn't leave an email or some other way of contacting you. Hope you read this, though :)

The ring is something I've always wanted. I've seen it in vintage and craft fairs, but I couldn't bring myself to fork out £5 for a Scrabble tile when I have an entire box of them sitting at home (There's only one 'J' tile, though). So for my birthday, the boyfriend actually ordered the tile off eBay and got a packet of those metal rings for DIY. He also bought other deco stuff and glued it on to those metal rings and presented me with a whole bunch of accessories. That's a good few pounds saved.

Went out for lunner at Wagamama, today. Was actually headed to a lovely vegetarian cafe we frequent about once a month (our way of deluding ourselves that we're getting a bit of detox from all the meat), but we were late and pretty much all the food was gone. Was literally stumped, but my tummy was already growling so to Wagamama we went. I always find the food there quite average in general, but their Japanese curry is pretty good. I ordered the vegetarian Yasai Katsu Curry which came with a rocket salad side. It was quite yummy.

Hope you guys are having a lovely weekend!

My red bowler hat

Minnie Mouse jumper: H&M

Bow suspender tights: Pamela Mann

Red bowler hat: Camden Market, London

You've seen this red bowler hat before. It's not new, but I'd like to share with you an extremely dull story about this little hat. You've been warned.

I bought this the last time I was in London. I saw it everywhere, but prices varied according to quality and place it was sold. I literally went all over town to check out the prices and finally settled on the cheapest one I could find in Camden Town. I was very pleased with myself and my new hat.
 
So I was strolling around Spitalfields Market, minding my own business, when a man stopped me as I was walking pass his hat stall.

Can I help you?

No, thanks, just browsing :)

I've got bowler hats *points at a stack of bowler hats*. These are REAL bowler hats. Yours is *touches MY bowler hat*...*pauses and makes a face*...It's still nice, but...
It's okay, I don't need two hats *walks off in a huff*

Excuse me, but how rude was that man?! I know my comeback was pretty lame, but I was a little taken aback by his behaviour. He literally insulted MY hat. And kindly remove your grubby hands, mister! Wtf? Who cares if mine's not a REAL bowler hat; I like it because it's red and cute and just a blardy hat to me! But most importantly, it's none of his business!! How would he like it if I insulted the clothes he was wearing?

I mean dude, I'd understand if I was carrying a bootleg Prada and strolled casually into a Prada shop. But bowler hats?! Seriously?! It's not even patented or anything! And he didn't even design those damned bowler hats!! Are they also real straw hats and fake straw hats? Do I look like I care? No.

I'm not sure how well I conveyed the story, but I was pretty mad at the time. People are allowed to have a different opinion from me and I respect that, but to insult me like that is totally uncalled for. Tsk.

Ah, I didn't mean for this to turn into an angry rant. I'm not even angry anymore. There, let me put on a red nose to take away the "bad energy" :)

Saturday shopping

So Saturday was shopping and movie day. It's been months since I properly shopped in stores. Yes, I've done quite a bit of online shopping *guilty*, but I've not actually stepped foot into shops, thanks to my insane workload and pure laziness.

Anywayz, Saturday was successful shopping-wise because I managed to buy some birthday gifts for a friend and also got some stuff for myself.

I love my new lace up floral brogues. Look at the pretty heart cut outs! Love little, little details like these. I'm thinking of changing the laces to ribbons. Will have to find the right colour first, though.

The original price was £24.99, marked down to £10.00, but I got it for only £8 because I had a 20% discount voucher! Bargain or what?! I love a good buy!

The camisole and accessories are from H&M. The leather butterfly hairclip reminded me of a necklace I saw on ASOS and it inspired me to turn it into a necklace. I could also just clip it on to my leather cube necklace. Those animal rings are ones I've been looking for since last year, but they were sold out everywhere. So it was a pleasant surprise to see a set hanging nonchalantly there. I'll show them off properly in a future outfit post *wink*

Stripe sweater: Asia Fashion Wholesale
Leather cube necklace: ASOS.com

Alexa-inspired satchel: Blogshop

Faux fur fox tail: H&M

Sneaker heels: New Look

After shopping, we met up with some friends to watch X-men: First Class. I'm not a fan of superhero movies, but the boyf, like most boys, likes them. The only superhero movie I liked was The Dark Knight and only because it was a deliciously dark psychological thriller. So now that I've written a little disclaimer about how the movie isn't of my favourite genre, please don't throw daggers at me when I say that it was just so-so. But hey, whatever rocks your socks.

Any-jimmy-who, I'm announcing it here to make it official...I'm on a 2 month shopping ban! I mean it! No, seriously, believe me! I don't think I'm an overzealous shopaholic and I always only buy cheap stuff, but I think I need to slow down a bit and actually use/wear the things I've bought. So yes, 2 months, starting from today.

Born Pretty Store haul

I really must thank Elisa for blogging and tweeting about the Born Pretty offers. Without her, I wouldn't have found out about such amazing freebies! Thanks, Elisa!

The people at the Born Pretty Nail Art Store are super generous! They are constantly having giveaways and they give out really good stuff, too. We're talking about really pretty nail art stuff like rhinestones, stamping plates and nail stickers. Amazing!

I was a little bit sceptical at first because I didn't understand how the company could keep giving out hundreds and hundreds of freebies just like that. Still, it didn't cost me anything to Tweet or Facebook Like so I followed their instructions and to my delight, the freebies came in one by one.

 The M71 nail stamping plate!

They are still giving away free Hello Kitty stamping plates, so if you're interested, head on over.
Code: BP299 
End date: 31st July 2011
Just put in the code during checkout. They only give out 10 plates per day, so if the code doesn't work, just try again the next day.

A 12 colour rhinestones wheel, how generous!

Uber cute glittery Hello Kitty faces!

I'm not sure if they're still giving out the rhinestones and Hello Kitty nail stickers, but you can Like their Facebook page and keep an eye out for updates. Their page is pretty active with not just their annoucements, but constant member contributions.

I suppose their marketing worked because I was then tempted to get more nail stuff. They had a 12% discount code for Mother's Day and so I took the opportunity to get some things. I bought some nail polishes (for stamping) and stamping plates (which came with the stamper and scraper tools).

Everything was well-packed in bubble wrap and all the items (including the freebies) arrived in less than two weeks. Perfectly reasonable as the items were sent from Singapore (to the UK).

Their customer service is excellent! They always reply within 24 hours and are always very nice and courteous.

Here's what I did with my nails:

Base: Rimmel Lasting Finish Fruities in Apricot Punch

Tips: Boots No.7 Stay Perfect in Twinkle Pink

Thumb and pinky tip: B.O (??) in Gold
Nail art: M71 nail stamping plate

Are you into nail art?