Boots Christmas Event

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Hey guys, I hope all is well. Christmas is around the corner and your gift shopping this year should be in one place only: Boots! I went along to their Boots Christmas Event for a sneak peak of what will be hitting stores soon and I must say IT LOOKS GOOD!

The theme this year is the Gift of Beauty and one of the main things you can do is personalisation on lots of items like perfumes, makeup etc! I totally love this idea and there are a few special people this year that will be getting a perfume with their name on it from me!  Christmas came early for me and THANK YOU BOOTS for this: I got my own personalised perfume! This Gucci Bamboo smells DIVINE! This was a huge surprise and I love it so much!

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Moving on, we have a lot to talk about!

No7 have some amazing collections coming your way! Everything is sparkly and oozes glamour. One thing you have to pick up is the Advent Calendar! I have never got one of these before but this one may just be my first!

 

 

no7-calender

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Soap & Glory, if you are a fan of this brand you have to check out their Christmas collection coming soon! The kaleidoscope theme makes everything fun and look out for singing tins and light out boxes!

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You can personalised your very own makeup palette and choose the shades you want in there! I previewed some of the shades and gurl they look very good!

Sleek, Nyx, Benefit, Ted Baker and other brands have amazing goodies coming soon! Everything is excellent value for money and packaged ever so nicely!

sleek-christmas

 

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Enough talk, see more pictures on my Facebook page

Most of the items will be available in store and online from the end of this month or beginning of October! Anything that is flat, glass or metal can be engraved in store and online for £1 – £3 (not exactly sure on the price). Please check online for participating Boots.

Hats off to Red Consultancy for the amazing event! The place looked amazing and the big reveal was a nice touch!

 

The Blogger Summer Hangout

bloggerhangout coverphoto

Last Friday, I went to my 1st Blogger Summer Hangout event organised by the Blogger Hangout! I have known about them for a while and usually get invites to their events but I can never make it. Their Blogger summer Hangout Event was over 3 days and it was a chance for brands and bloggers to network and get to know each other!

I met a lot of brands there, some new, some I knew about and was also gifted a few goodies which I am going to share with you guys! If you are interested in any of the brands, I will link their website or social media on here so you can check them out!

Sass & Belle

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They have the cutest stuff ever! If you are into decorative stuff you need to check them out! It was one of the new brands I discovered at the event and I seriously want more stuff from them (Their vintage map wall canvas and passport holder on my mind!) In my gift bag were some stuff from them and I am torn between using the glass for drinks or as a decorative piece on my vanity! *sighs* the parrot thingy you see is a nail file!

bloggerhangout sassnbelle

 

Dinki Belle Nail Wraps

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Another new brand I discovered. I love painting my nails but I hate the drying period then for the next hour or so moving around so carefully so they don’t smudge! So if you’re like me, whilst we are searching for the best top coat (Seche Vite comes close), Dinki Belle Nail Wraps to the rescue! Known about nail wraps but never tried them, Dinki Belle has so many cute designs. I chose the Mint Dream wraps which will look pretty in the summer. Each pack comes with 20 nail wraps and lasts up to 14 days!

bloggerhangout dinkibelle

Pink Parcel

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By far my favourite goody bag from the event! I have known about them for a while and I was really glad to meet them there. If you don’t know about them, make sure you click the above link to direct you to their website. I was able to build my own mini Pink Parcel Box and I am so happy with everything I chose! (The butter fudge was so good) I have been loving collecting tote bags from events I have been to and so far this one from Pink Parcel is my fav! The Lottie nail polish is in Blogger Babe- how befitting and so cute! In the black drawstring bag were tampons. In the monthly box, I believe you get something similar which you can use to store tampons/pads in your bag instead of them throwing them in there.

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United Beauty Gel Touch

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Another new brand discovery! If you love gel manicures you seriously need to look into the Gel Touch Kits! I had a manicure done there and I could not choose between these two colours!  The kits come in the mini version perfect for on the go manicures (comes with a usb connection) and the ‘full size’ kit. Both come with the Gel Top coat which works with any nail colour! They also have the Gel top coat with glitter (not included in the kits). They last up to 10 days and can easily be peeled off! (If you have used glitter top coats you know how DIFFICULT it is to take them off smh but they look so pretty!) From United Beauty they also have lashes and stick on eyeliner. I hope to work with them soon so I can bring you more info on their products!

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Finally, I also received sample sizes from KB Hair Extensions, Nature’s Wish and The Perfume Shop I totally love TPS, they always have free gifts with purchase which is always my incentive to get new perfume. My new perfume discoveries – Lancôme La Vie Est Belle Florale or the Narciso Rodriguez for her, I am very happy to be gifted one or both 🙂

sample sizes blogger hangout

 

That’s all folks! I had so much fun at the event and got to network with other bloggers. For more info on any of the brands make sure you click on the names to check them out! Also, follow me on social media where I will be posting on these products and other blogger events I get up to!

Hope you have a wonderful day, looks like summer is here after all. More pictures of the event can be seen on my facebook page!

Love never fails

SipnShare with Illusions Cosmetics

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Hey guys, how was your weekend? Good I hope. I went along to the Sip & Share event with Illusions cosmetics on Saturday and discovered new makeup and a brand dedicated to women of colour!

Illusions Cosmetics is the brain child of two celebrity makeup artists and twin sisters, Denise and Janice Tunnell and has everything you need from foundations to eyeliners and lipsticks! The brand created in 2006 boasts of celebrity clientele and is most known for their lip-glosses. The brand was created for WOC in particular Black women.

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The event was to meet Denise and Janice, play around with their makeup and learn a bit more about them and their journey to success. The sisters have a very impressive CV, Denise has worked with the likes of Taraji P. Henson, Megan Good, Mike Epps and movies like Hunger Games, Fast &Furious 5&7! Janice also has many films under her belt including Step Up, Fighting Temptations and Destiny’s Child! I found their story inspirational and testament to follow your dream even though your background maybe completely unrelated! They both hold degrees in Accounting & Business management and were fulltime accountants for the most part of their makeup artist journey!

After their opening address, we were free to play around with the makeup. After swatching some of their luxury lipsticks and eye dusts I must admit they are very pigmented and really pretty!

Then there was a quick Q & A with Rhia from Pride Magazine. I had a bunch of questions I wanted to ask but time did not permit urgh! After some (a lot) of pictures were taken, it was goodie bag time (filled with PreMae & Illusions Cosmetics goodies reviews to follow soon!) then home time! I had so much fun and it was great meeting the sisters and Clare from JoClare PR!

For more information on the brand, please visit the website, Illusions Beauty

I believe you can order via the PR company, contact JoClarePR for more information.

Have you liked my Facebook page yet? More pictures are available on there! SarahFynn

No amount of makeup can cover an ugly heart

 

Afro Hair & Beauty Live 2016 Event Cover

afro hair and beauty live 2016

It’s been 3 years I went to Afro & Hair Beauty Live! Check out my last event cover here, so this year I definitely had to go! Firstly a huge thank you to ORS for the VIP Bloggers Lounge and all the goodies (I spy a summer giveaway coming soon!). The canapes provided by First Class Chefs Ltd (check them out on Instagram) were very tasty, drinks and cakes were so good too!

afro hair and beauty live 2016

The show kicked off really well. I went on both days, Sunday and Monday to represent Brown Beauty Talk. I met a lot of Black Owned Businesses, discovered new brands and got complimented on my hair so much (details to follow soon!).

The show didn’t disappoint. It was packed with activities all around! Many seminars including Design Essentials, Cantu and Mane Choice were taking place as well as a discussion on the main stage, giveaways and a fashion show (some of the designers that took place in the show were also vendors on the day and available to purchase). A lot of vendors on hand: Nunaat, Pink Luster’s (hands up if you remember pink lotion!), Mon Shea, Cache Cosmetics, Taliah Waajid and many others. For children, Cerelac was on hand with a little play area and the Cerelac bear who I missed on Sunday to take a picture with but found him on Monday! Lol. They were also giving samples away

afro hair and beauty live 2016

Make it a point to go next year! It’s a great way to spend the bank holiday weekend! Afro Hair & Beauty don’t do goody bags but there were so many vendors giving samples away and many tempting offers you will definitely leave with your hands full! ORS were giving 3 full sizes products for FREE no purchase necessary!

Head over now to my Facebook for all the pictures over the two days! Too many to post on here! Follow the link below to my Facebook page for the pictures

Afro Hair & Beauty Live 2016

Love

Sarah

Love never fails, if it failed, it wasn’t love

Curlvolution 2016 Event Cover

curlvolution 2016

 

I told you this bank holiday weekend was packed! On Saturday, I went to Curlvolution, one of UK’s favourite natural hair event! Check out my cover for last year’s event here

For the 5th birthday celebration, the lovely Maria- Antoinette was the special guest. Her workshop ‘Out & Fly in 20 minutes’ gave ladies some tips and tricks to help with hair and makeup and be out in 20 minutes! I liked the quick demo she also had as she explained each step and lots of product recommendations. There were other workshops on hand too, Mommy & me, Financial freedom with Junior Ogunyemi (very insightful workshop and debunked a lot of myths on money) and Importance of Nutrition and Wellbeing with Trichologist Stephanie Sey ( the feedback I got from people who went to this workshop was very good)

As usual your favorite vendors were on hand: My Luxe Beauty, Shea Butter Cottage, Crème of Nature, Afrocenchix and of course this year’s sponsor Shea Moisture!

The panel discussion, the part everyone looks forward to didn’t let me down! Topics were cultural appropriation vs culture appreciation which got a bit heated I should add and social media gift or curse (let me know what you guys think). This year’s panel included Brown Beauty Talk Editor Ronke, Breeny Lee UK Beauty Vlogger, Junior Ogunyemi, Antonia Burrell and of course Maria-Antoinette. Action Jackson returned to host the event.

Visitors received a goody bag including a full sized product from brands like Shea Moisture, Palmers or Shea Butter Cottage!  I had a great time and it was lovely to reconnect with some of the volunteers from last year! Glam Africa and Black Beauty Magazines were also included in some of the goody bags!

Of course I took a lot of pictures too many to put on here! Please follow the link below to my Facebook page for all of the pictures. Guys also make sure you check Maria’s YouTube channel!

Looking forward to Curlvolution next year!

Curlvolution 2016 pictures

People are looking for Jesus’s bones for proof he existed, you can’t find the bones of a man who is alive now can you?!

The Mane Choice Take Over

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Hands up if you have heard of Mane Choice? Mane Choice is one of the bestselling hair vitamins in the US and has finally landed in London! I had been stalking Mane Choice for a while and watched countless of ladies on YouTube on their journey to healthier hair with Mane Choice vitamins and their results were amazing. I finally took the plunge and got myself a 6 month supply during their Black Friday sale last year. (A review will be up soon, I’m just pass the 3 month mark!). But this post isn’t about that..

The takeover party on Friday was for us to meet the Mane Choice team, have a Q&A session and network, network, network! Between the amazing canapes that were on hand (seriously I could not stop eating them lol) I met some really lovely bloggers and reunited with the Black Beauty and Mag crew!

The Q & A session with Courtney Adeleye, owner of Mane Choice was very insightful. She spoke about how she started, gave great business advice and dropped a few hints for stuff in the pipeline! One thing she said that stuck with me was ‘it’s not about balance, it’s about priority’ you can tell how passionate is she about her craft from hearing her talk and which was great to see.

Mane Choice has now expanded to include a full hair care range including deep conditioners, oils, gels and cleansers! They also have styling tools like their professional shears and hair straighteners! I got my vitamins shipped from the US which didn’t take long to be honest but the full range is now been stocked by Beauty by Zara

It was great meeting Courtney and her lovely team and I wish them all the continued success both here and the US! Really excited to work with them again in the near future! For more information on the brand/products, visit the Mane Choice website

P.S- Courtney’s hair is goals lool

‘It’s not about balance, it’s about priority’

 

See you soon,

Sarah

No Scrunchie Good Afro Salon Awards 2015

Loreal Academy Hammersmith
No Scrunchie Awards took place at the L’Oreal Academy, Hammersmith

 

How was your Sunday? Great I hope. I went along to the No Scrunchie Good Afro Salon Awards in L’Oréal and I am here to tell you all about the winners and nominees! Hopefully if you are looking for a new salon to try out, you can check these ones out! Remember I am doing my salon reviews? I will be sure to visit some of these (hopefully if my bank account will accept, some of the winners too) and let you guys know all about it!

No Scrunchie Salon Awards

First let’s talk about my AMAZING dress courtesy of Ankara House! I love everything about it. It’s a shame it was sooooo cold on Sunday (seriously!) and even though I braved it with no tights and flat shoes(bruh), I had to keep my blazer on at the event as it was really cold in there too. I had a few options to choose from…..but settled on this sezy number lol. Date for the night was the beautiful Tee from STWF

House of Ankara, African Print Designer
My amazing dress from Ankara House
UK bloggers
Tee from STWF

We were treated to delicious cupcakes (I lost count of how many I ate on the night), jerk chicken, noodles and some potato cakes. There were 10 categories in total, I will list all the nominees and highlight the winner in each category. You will find more pictures on my Facebook so make sure you check there for it! Link in the side bar

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Overview of pictures from the ceremony. My Facebook will have many more!

Natural/Loc

  • Angels Hair Nails and Beauty
  • Darren Scott
  • H and G International Hair and Beauty Salon
  • Hiikuss Hair Studio
  • Lockstafari
  • Mahogany Hair Spa- WINNER
  • Nefertiti Hair and Beauty
  • Plush Hair and Beauty
  • Rootz Hairdressing
  • Tip Top Salon
  • Ziuzo hair and beauty salon

 

Mobile Hairdressing

  • Hair by Lauralyn
  • Helen’s mobile styling
  • Natural Gloe- WINNER

Weaves

  • Angels Hair Nails and Beauty
  • GlamGorgeous Hair Boutique
  • H and G international Hair and Beauty salon
  • Kanni’s undiscovered beauty- WINNER
  • Natural Gloe
  • Rootz Hairdressing
  • Salon ABV
  • Tip Top Salon
  • Ziuzo Hair and Beauty Salon

Customer Service

  • Angels Hair Nails and Beauty- WINNER
  • GlamGorgeous Hair Boutique
  • H and G International Hair and Beauty Salon
  • Hair by Lauralyn
  • Hiikuss Hair Studio
  • Kanni’s undiscovered beauty
  • La Mode Hair & Beauty Concept
  • Lady Maude
  • Nefertiti Hair and Beauty
  • Samantha Beauty Salon
  • Sen Style Hair Salon
  • Tip Top Salon
  • Ziuzo Hair and Beauty Salon

Wigmaking

  • Kanni’s undiscovered Beauty- WINNER
  • Tip Top Salon

Braids & Cornrows

  • A touch Professional
  • Angels Hair Nails and Beauty
  • GlamGorgeous Hair Boutique
  • Kanni’s undiscovered beauty
  • Nadiva
  • Natural Gloe
  • Quality Time Hair
  • Rootz Hairdressing-WINNER
  • Tip Top Salon
  • Ziuzo Hair and Beauty Salon

Colour Technicians

  • H and G International-Hair and Beauty Salon
  • Inspire Beauty
  • Mahogany Hair spa
  • Ziuzo Hair and Beauty Salon- WINNER

Cut and Style

  • H and G International Hair and Beauty Salon
  • Inspire Beauty
  • Nefertiti Hair and Beauty
  • Tip Top Salon-WINNER
  • Ziuzo Hair and Beauty Salon

Mixed Race Hair

  • Sen Style
  • H and G International Hair and Beauty Salon- WINNER

Chemical Treatment

  • Angels Hair Nails and Beauty
  • Hiikuss Hair Studio
  • Inspire beauty
  • Kanni’s undiscovered beauty
  • Nefertiti Hair and Beauty
  • Rootz hairdressing
  • Sen style hair salon
  • Tip Top Salon
  • Ziuzo Hair and Beauty Salon- WINNER

For more information and reviews on these salons, please check at NoScrunchie. Also check out Ankara House if you love African prints and clothing. Check her website by clicking here

No Scrunchie Awards
Founder Leillah (Yellow dress) and MC of the night. I can’t remember her name but her jumpsuit was on point girl!
No Scrunchie
Good bag from No Scrunchie Awards

Until next time!

See you soon!

Cantu Soiree Event

Pictures from the Cantu Soiree Event
Preview of the Cantu Soiree Event

I went to the Cantu Soiree Event hosted by Pelumi from CFYH and Award winning hair stylist Anastasia Chikezie, of Purely Natural Salon. Read about my Purely Natural Salon Experience here

The event had a huge turn out! So it was quite difficult to navigate around, nevertheless there were demos on hair using some of the Cantu products, tips and hints and Pelumi talking about her fav Cantu products.

Products were on sale for 3 for £10! And rightly so as everything was sold out by the end of the night! There was music, food, drinks and a nice and friendly atmosphere. I connected with new bloggers and old friends! Bukky, organiser for Curlvolution was there! Curlvolution 2016 is looking great! I will keep you up to date but hint: a well-known brand recently launched in the UK will be there! Read all about Curlvolution 2015 here

Check out my Facebook page for all the pics from the event (link to the right). I was a bit disappointed with the goody bag though, I thought it would contain more products but I haven’t used their conditioner before so I guess it ok?

Cantu Soiree Event
Cantu Soiree Event Goody Bag

I love Cantu products, I think they work well and are very affordable. Check here to read all my reviews on all my Cantu products!

Cantu Collection for Natural Hair Reviews
My Cantu Collection both products I was sent and purchased

I think its fantastic idea that Cantu hosted this event. I hope other brands can follow suit!

Natural Nights Event Cover

Happy Monday!

Natural Nights

I hope everyone is doing great. Last night I went along with to the 1st Natural Nights Event in Fiddler’s Elbow, North London with Janet from Memoirs of a brave face, make sure you check her out!

I was able to catch up with Belinda, the lovely organiser at the event who was able to take some out time of her busy night (Catch all the interruptions and some cameos lol) for me.

“I think it’s got to a point where people have embraced it (natural hair) and they want to come to together…. It’s important….”

For what she wanted for her night, I think she absolutely smashed it! For me it was very different from all other natural hair events I have been to. It was more intimate almost like networking with great music, drinks and people. The turnout was great, It was actually the 1st event I have been to where I have seen a lot guys present (not that I was looking, lol I was just surprised), we had live music from some talented artists and vendors were on hand to talk about their products and a quick Q&A session.

NuNaat is back with a new range and I caught up again with Claire, brand ambassador for Nunaat. Remember she talked us through the NAAT cream range? If you haven’t tried those you should! I have 3 of them and I love ittt!! Read all my Nunaat reviews under the product directory tab. She spoke to me about the new Brazilian Patauà range, a review of which can be read on my blog by clicking here

Sorry for the background noise, as soon as I started recording someone went on stage to talk and I knew I would not get the chance to do so again

After that, it was just going around and speaking to different people and enjoying the live music. I met a few new people I was able to exchange contacts with. There were a lot of UK brands

It was a great night, good vibes. Congrats to Belinda for her event and looking forward to the next. I think next time lets go for a bigger venue because we will come bigger and better!, This one was quite small and packed. Catch all the pictures on my Facebook page!

Natural Nights Event London
Goody bags at the Natural Nights Event

Shopping for Christmas gifts? Check out my gift guide post here

Event: Natural nights

FMF_FLYER

What

Natural nights is an event dedicated to the celebration of natural Afro hair with music and in style! We aim to bring together individuals interested in natural hair, its maintenance, fashion, styles, and culture in a relaxing environment jam packed with live entertainment.

Where

The Fiddlers Elbow

1 Malden Rd
London NW5 3HS
United Kingdom

When

15th November 7pm- 1am, last entry 11pm

Tickets

£20. Contact 07928915687 or 07539357958(whats app) for tickets

For more info follow them on Instagram @naturalnightsuk or visit https://shoobs.com/events/8772/natural-nights

Are you guys going? I hope to meet all of you!

 

Love

Sarah