And the winner is...

As you are likely to have seen, this past month I've had a giveaway live to win a custom phone case from CaseApp - I really love the one I created and I've had it on my phone for the past month solidly. It's not had one scratch, any fading and hasn't slipped off, despite me dropping my phone a few times!

The lucky winner is listed on the widget below, but don't worry if it's not you, I also have a sweet 20% discount code for everyone!! Just enter the code PIXI3CASE20 when you're placing your order and you'll receive 20% off (valid until 25th July).

Thank you all for taking the time to enter the competition, and better luck next time :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

CaseApp Review + Giveaway

Recently I was approached by the lovely people at CaseApp to see if I wanted to review a custom iPhone case, and offer you one to win in a giveaway too!  Since getting my iPhone 6 I've bought one super fancy kawaii phone case (which I don't use for everyday as it's LARGE!) so I've been looking for a new phone case but hadn't found anything that caught my eye.

With CaseApp you design it - so you decide on the colour (from a colour wheel), and there's a massive range of images (like nice clip art) to place on it - including inspirational and motivational quotes (I nearly did this instead).  You can add as many of the images as you like, and you arrange and size them as you see fit.  They also do skins for older iPhones and for MacBooks.

When it turned up I loved the packaging, it was simple and had a nice message on the back - it also fit through the letterbox easily and was in good condition.

Inside some folded card helps to keep it in place and stop it getting damaged.

The phone case I created I did by picking a teal background (love teal!) and using 2 sets of their colourful stars art.  I did think about adding more but I didn't want it to be too busy - I thought it looked really nice this way :)  I opted for a matte case as in the past I've found glossy cases tend to scratch up more.

The quality of the case is really lovely - it's really solid and doesn't bend and creak like some do. It snapped onto my phone really easily and fits it really well (the last case I bought off Etsy had a Totoro on the back (this was for my old HTC One) and it never fit on the phone very well, always clicking off).

Now onto the giveaway!  One lucky winner will win a phone case that you can design yourself. They specialise in iPhones (they do have some cases for the Samsung S5, S4 and S3) - but obviously if you don't own one of those phones, you might not want to enter this one :)  Just visit caseapp.co.uk to see which cases they do.

Psst - if you're stuck for inspiration, they share a lot of designs on their Instagram page :)

RULES

1. This giveaway is open internationally (originally UK, but now international)

2. The giveaway will be going for 1 month

3. Anyone making a false entry (e.g saying they follow an account when they don't) will have ALL their entries removed - this will be moderated

4. When the winner has been chosen, they will have 48 hrs to respond

5. Good luck! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
*Post contains a PR sample

Maybelline Giveaway

Today I bring you a giveaway!  The lovely people over at Maybelline sent me a few products, some of which I've already bought, tried and reviewed some time ago (the Brow Drama) and the BB Bronze isn't something I'd use as I'm one of these 'pale and proud' people :)  So they said I could do a little giveaway for these products instead, perfect timing just for the Summer too :)

To enter, it's pretty simple, just follow the steps on the Rafflecopter widget below - there's only 2 mandatory entry requirements, the rest are optional.  The giveaway will run for 2 weeks and the winner will be picked at random. Once notified, the winner has 48 hrs to come back to me and confirm their address, otherwise another winner will be picked.

This giveaway is open within the UK only.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

MAC Giveaway with Cohorted

I must say, I feel like the luckiest blogger recently being able to host so many wonderful giveaways for you all.  Today, it's a BIG one.  Three MAC products courtesy of the lovely people over at Cohorted.  I must admit, I did lust over their latest box since there was a gorgeous MAC blusher in there, so when this giveaway email landed in my mailbox I was very excited to work with them for you :)

In the past my MAC giveaways have been some of my most popular and that was just for one lipstick, so to be able to give you the opportunity of winning 3 MAC products is really fantastic.

First off, I thought I'd tell you a little about the brand since they're new to me too (I haven't sampled their boxes yet, only drooled over my keyboard while reading blogger reviews about them) :) Cohorted are an online retailer who sell makeup (high end), skincare and beauty accessories as well as putting together a limited monthly beauty box.  Each box costs £19.99 and contains a selection of 'beauty must-haves' which are presented in a black box with a hand-tied bow (all very sophisticated). To pick up the boxes you simply pre-order them in advance, but please note these are very popular and sell out quickly from what I've seen!

Now, on to the prizes!  They are giving away:

1 x MAC Blusher in Dolly Mix

1 x MAC Bronzer in Refined Golden

1 x MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Light Plus

Simple rules

1. Follow the Rafflecopter widget

2. Cohorted will send the prizes to you

3. This is only open to UK residents
4. The giveaway will run for 1 month, ending on the 15th May

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Yves Rocher Giveaway

Remember the other day I created a step-by-step tutorial to create a green eye shadow look using Yves Rocher products? Well, I now have an exact same set of these goodies to give away to one lucky person, how amazing is that!  The set contains:

1 x Eye Shadow quad in Brilliant Green
1 x Kohl Kajal
1 x Volume Vertige mascara in black
1 x Eye shadow primer
(all pictured above)

For those of you not familiar with the brand, here's a bit of a background.  The botanical French brand started out in 1959 and have been creating makeup and skincare that embraces the goodness from plants since those early days.  In France, in La Gacilly, they have their own botanical garden where they grow more than 1100 species of plant to be used in their products (how amazing is that!?).  They're also committed to ethical product development, focusing on their natural ingredients. They also sell their products in 88 different countries across the globe, boasting over 30 million customers.  I must admit, I never realised they had such botanical roots, it makes me appreciate and love their makeup even more.

Here's the rules to enter:
1.  You must follow the conditions using the Rafflecopter widget
2.  False entries will be removed
3.  The giveaway will run for 2 weeks from today, until Saturday 18th April at midnight
4.  The winner will have 48hrs to respond to my email notification, otherwise another winner will be selected
5.  This giveaway is only open to people living in the United Kingdom

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Benefit lip gloss giveaway with Cosme-de

I have another exciting giveaway today for you, this time the prizes have been supplied by the lovely people over at Cosme-de.  If you haven't heard of Cosme-de before, they're an international shopping website (free worldwide delivery!), and on checking they are actually having a sale on some of their Benefit products at the moment, so if you're in the market for a Benefit splurge, you could save yourself a few ££s in the process.

The lip glosses included in the giveaway are beautifully designed in pure 1920's art deco style, both the outer design of the boxes, and the actual lip glosses inside, pure luxury.  The boxes are held closed with a little blue ribbon - so cute!

The prizes
I have 3 pairs of Benefit lip glosses to giveaway - each lip gloss worth £14 on Cosme-de at their current discounted rate - so each prize is worth over £28 :)  There will be 3 winners picked at the end of the giveaway, and each will receive one pair of Benefit lip glosses.

The rules
1.  This giveaway is open internationally
2.  The winners will be selected by the random.org picker on Rafflecopter
3.  The winners will have 48 hrs to get back to me with an address, if they don't, a new winner will be selected
4.  All entries will be moderated and anyone with false entries will have all their entries disqualified

5.  Good luck everyone :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Versace Eros Pour Femme Review & Giveaway

Versace have released a 'pour femme' version of their renowned Eros scent.  The packaging is simply luxurious and stunning.  It doesn't come in the standard box packaging, but a drawer you pull out to reveal the perfume.  The round glass bottle is adorned with gold coloured metal on the front and back that match the lid.

The scent is done I'd describe as being an evening scent, it's strong, bold and packs an elegant punch. It really is as stunning as the packaging - since I had this, I haven't worn another perfume, this might just be an alternative favourite of mine, I know the hubby really likes it too :)  One thing I really like about it is how long the scent lasts when you're wearing it - I must get a good 6-8 hrs out of it.  If I spray it on my scarf, I'll still be able to smell it when I go to wear it the next day too, but much more subtle.  The main notes I pick out from this are the warmth of vanilla, and a beautiful floral scent - it really is stunning.  It is very strong when you first spritz it, but it does settle down after a few minutes.

If you're interested in buying this, and I completely understand if you are! here's where you can pick it up :)  The lovely people over at House of Fraser have gifted me a second bottle to giveaway!! So to be in with a chance of winning, just complete the Rafflecopter widget below :)

Rules for entering
1.  This giveaway is UK only (due to Royal Mail restrictions on posting perfume)
2.  Any people with false entries found will have all their entries disqualified
3.  After the winner is notified, if they do not respond with an address within 2 days, another winner will be picked

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on
Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

*Post contains PR samples

GOSH SS15 Collection & Giveaway

GOSH have announced their new line-up for their SS15 collection, and let me just say this, hummina, hummina, hummina! 

First up we have their Forever Lip Shine's.  These are massively pigmented with a luxurious buttery finish, an absolutely gorgeous product

Next up are some of their new nail polishes.  A gorgeous mixture of brights and pastels - all gorgeous creamy colour and great quality - only the purple was a little streaky with one coat, the others could have passed with just the one, especially the peach.  I can't comment on their quality as my nails are horrific at the moment (bitten down) , but the colours are lovely.  The new wide brush was fab too, not too dissimilar from the OPI brush.

These are available in a total of 7 different shades including a gorgeous minty green called 'Apple Bloom' - it looks similar to Essie's Mint Candy Apple.  You can pick these up for a purse-friendly £3.99 each.

Then we have this larger than life mascara - I know I can't convey how big this is without putting it next to a ruler, or another mascara you might know, but trust me, this is the biggest mascara tube I have in my collection!  I haven't tried it on the lashes yet, but I am intrigued by the wand and how well it'll grip the lashes.  It claims to add volume, define the lashes and add length - I'll be putting this through it's paces and a full review will be up in the next couple/few weeks, so don't forget to check back!  (available at your local Superdrug for £8.49)/

Eye shadow trios - available in 4 different colour sets (001 Three of a kind, 002 Fairytale (pictured left), 003 Chunky chocolate (pictured right) and 004 Vanilla sky).  Each set comes with a highlight shade, a glitter shade and a satin shade - however shade 001 is a highlighter set, each one being a different shade (what a lovely idea!).  These are well pigmented, and have a nice creamy consistency. I've only used 003 so far, and the middle shade at that, but it sat on my lids really nicely, the edges blended well and it lasted all day without fading. (n.b. they're also paraben free).  Available for £6.99 each.

What are your favourites of this collection? For me, it's probably the Forever Lip Shines - they are just gorgeous and a lovely quality

I have 2 of the lovely Forever Lip Shine's to giveaway too! I have shade 001 Baby Baby (pink), and 009 My Valentine (red) - both swatched above.  The giveaway will be open for 1 week - to enter you must be following my blog via Bloglovin' and you must be following GOSH on Twitter (links are in the Rafflecopter widget) :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

*Post contains PR samples

eNail polishes, giveaway & discount code

This is something perfect for Christmas for friends and family that are lovers of nail polish.  eNail provide a gift box of 3 nail polishes where you pick the colours, and you name the bottle, how fab is that?

The website is easy to use, you start off by naming your polishes over 3 rows, I named mine 'Pixi3 Polish' using their Andes font.  After that, click on 'colours' and click & drag the shades you want over to the bottles, you can chop and change until you find a combination you're happy with.  You could stick to one colour family like I did, or pick 3 completely different colours out of 47 shades all together - you also get to pick between cream and glitter polishes.  Then, click on 'box' and pick your choice from 12 different designs, I went for a classic black that came with a teal ribbon, which by the way, was very well presented :)

The polishes took about 3 days to get to me, so if you're thinking of ordering this for someone for Christmas, there's plenty of time.

Being the muppet I am, I didn't take any pictures of me wearing the nail polish before I bit all my nails off, and they're now not exactly photo-worthy... For the days I had the polish on my nails (I had the creamy purple shade on and then the dark purple glitter over the top) I can say that the quality was decent.  The creamy purple shade needed 2 coats, pretty typical for a nail polish - the colour really reminds me of my favourite purple OPI shade 'Suzi and the 7 Dussledorfs'.

The glitter polish was a different consistency than I'm used to, it was thick and gloopy, this did mean however that it didn't need more than one coat - but I'm not sure if any air had gotten to it, or if it's just a thick consistency.  I had both on my nails for 2 days and in that time it didn't chip :)

The brush that comes with the polish is decent too, the bristles aren't splayed and they glide the polish on well.

They've also offered my readers a discount code DISC10 for 10% off orders, another great incentive :)  They offer free delivery as standard within in the UK, and a free clear top coat with every order. The RRP is £19.95 but with the 10% discount it makes it £17.96, which for 3 polishes, gift wrapped, isn't bad at all :)

As well as a discount code, there's also a set of these up for grabs, the winner will receive a code to apply which will give them a free box (and free delivery of course) - which you could order for yourself as a treat, or as a Christmas present for a friend or family member - because of how close we are to Christmas, I'm only going to run this giveaway for a week (open to UK residents), so get entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

*Post contains PR samples

Jewel candle review & giveaway

When the lovely people at Jewel Candle got in touch and asked me to review one of their candles, I couldn't help but squeal - I'd been eyeing their candles up for a while but hadn't taken the plunge yet to actually buy one.

Each of their candles has a piece of jewellery in, worth between £10 and £250.  You get to pick from either a ring, or earrings.

After virtually leafing through their online catalogue, I finally settled on their passion fruit ring candle from their classic edition - these seem to be quite large candles compared to others in their collection.  I'm a sucker for sweet, fruity, zesty scents like this, and a sucker for a pretty ring.  My only concern would be if the ring fitted, but fear not, it did :)

On the back of the candle there is a picture of a ring, and on the other side of the glass, in the candle, some foil which the jewellery is wrapped up in.  I'm not kidding, it must have taken 10+ hours of burning to get down low enough to get the jewellery out, and that was burning maybe a quarter of the candle, so there's some serious burning time to be had with this one.

The scent is lovely - it didn't 'fill the room with scent' but when you were near it you could really smell it, and I loved the bright happy colour of the wax.  The ring is made of sterling silver and has the appropriate hall marks and is arguable very pretty!  It's quite light, so I would hazard a guess that it's at the lower end of the value scale, but the only way to really find out is to take it to a jeweller to appraise it for a value.  That's probably my only niggle with this - it'd be nice if the value was printed on the tag attached to the ring, but that's a minor niggle.

Overall I'm really impressed with the candle and the novelty of having jewellery inside.  The burn time on the candle is great - even if you buy one of their smaller ones you'll get a decent amount of hours out of it.  If you're looking for something more seasonal, they have some festive themed candles from their classic edition too, like cinnamon bun, santa claus and merry christmas.

The lovely people at Jewel Candle have also offered one for one of my readers to win, so it's giveaway time!  All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning, is follow Jewel Candle and me on Twitter - there's other ways to earn extra entries too.  The giveaway will run for 1 week from Sunday to Sunday, and the winner will be picked at random after the giveaway closes.  The winner will have 48 hours to reply to my email once they have been notified of winning, once that happens the winner will pick which candle they want and their details will be passed to Jewel Candle to dispatch.  If the winner does not reply within 48 hours, a new winner will be picked.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

3000 Follower giveaway

It's been a while (months) since I've had a giveaway on here, and reaching 3,000 followers was such a big milestone for me, it couldn't go unmarked.  This might well be the last giveaway I do where I buy the products myself (and not a collaboration with a brand) as once the baby comes, my money will dry up and what little I have, will go on the baby :)  With that in mind, I wanted this giveaway to be a special one, so I've picked a palette by the Balm that I would love for myself, and one from Makeup Revolution that's stunning too - I love the quality of palettes from both brands, so both of these will make great prizes.

This is a big thank you to all who have followed me and supported me and my blog over the last 2.5 years.  This giveaway is open internationally, you MUST be a follower of my blog via Bloglovin' and GFC.  I will be checking all entries, and if there are any false entries by a person, then all their entries will be removed (i.e. if you say you've written a blog post, and all you've done is share it on Facebook, or you've done nothing - all your entries removed.  Or if you say you're following me on Twitter, and before the giveaway is over you unfollow me - all your entries will be removed).  This is to keep the giveaway fair for everyone.

The giveaway will run for 1 month.  There will be 2 winners, the first winner will win the Balm palette, and the 2nd winner will win the Makeup Revolution palette.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Restaurant review - Le Bistrot Pierre, Cardiff

A couple weeks ago the hubby and I were invited to sample a 3 course meal at a new restaurant here in Cardiff, Le Bistrot Pierre.  Seeing as it's not long since we came back from France and sampled lots of fantastic French cuisine, it had a lot to live up to!

The decor inside really reminded me of 'Au Bureau' which is the restaurant we ate at every day we were in Bergerac, this was like a fancier version of that.  Our waitress was Veronica, she was super friendly and happy to go back and forth asking the kitchen if their cheese was vegetarian (I'll come back to that).  Chris had a glass of St Jean wine to go with his steak, and I opted for an orange juice and lemonade (since I can't drink at the moment due to being pregnant).

 Excuse the bad pic of me, I wasn't having a photogenic day!

My choices from the menu (baked camembert, onion tarte and gateau au miel)

They brought us some lovely seasoned olives while waiting for our starter to arrive, these were seasoned in what looks like shallot's :)

 Our starter was a sharing started or baked camembert - I've since read that pregnant women shouldn't have camembert, whoops!

 Now on to my main, the onion tart.  Very creamy, and served with what tasted like dauphinoise potatoes and vegetables.  Now, all of this tasted phenomenal, however, due to pregnancy, I'm totally off rich food, which meant my favourite part of the meal was the vegetables :)  If it wasn't for being pregnant, the potatoes would have been demolished!

 Chris suitably demolished his meal, and a fair bit of mine :)  The chips (I can vouch for this) were amazing, really crispy on the outside, very soft in the middle, lovely!  The steak was cooked rare just as he'd asked, and he chose to have the roquefort sauce over the top, which he later regretted just because he's not that into cheese, but he wanted to try something new :)

 This dessert was so tasty, the sauce was honey, the ice cream was ginger, and the sponge was also honey - yes this was far too rich for me, but I polished most of it off all the same :)

Chris' favourite dessert is creme brulee, so as soon as he saw this on the menu, it was going to be his!  He loved that it wasn't made up to be all fancy with special biscuits, fruit and a fancy flavour - he likes creme brulee nice and plain - this one was vanilla, which was delicious!

We really loved our meal here and would definitely go back there, the service was great, the ambience, the food (fantastic!), the only negative (and there's always one), was that meals marked with a green 'v' for vegetarian, didn't have vegetarian cheese in.  I'd expect anything with a green v to be 100% suitable for vegetarians and safe, and I was disappointed that this wasn't.  But obviously, I'm in a minority there :)

If you live in Cardiff, or fancy a day trip here for a free lunch, the lovely people at Le Bistrot Pierre are offering my readers the chance to win a lunch for 2 with a glass of St Jean wine, all you need to do is complete the rafflecopter widget below, making sure you follow Le Bistrot Pierre on twitter, and me.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jaina from Which Beauty Box UK

 

Follow me on Google Plus | Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest