Money Supermarket's Big Night In

A short while ago I contacted Money Supermarket about taking part in their home improvement challenge which I was woefully a smidge too late on. But, because they're really lovely people they asked me to take part in the next competition to design a fab night in for under £50! Being the total night-in lover that I am I just couldn't refuse. It's so easy to spend a fortune on a night out. A trip to the cinema and simple dinner will take a hefty chunk from your bank balance nowadays and that's just for two people. When you want to involve family it becomes absolutely extortionate.

Here's how I decided to spend £50 on a night in for the lovely people in my life:

I decided to make my all time favourite dish, enchiladas (a delicious mexican classic with chicken, cheese, and spicy tomato sauce baked inside tortilla wraps) and garnish it with some tasty grown up sides. Since we're non-drinkers I picked up some sparkling juices which went down a storm and are so much cheaper than cocktails!

 Even my Grandma who swears by the simple meat and two veg rule for every dinner tried an enchilada and I now have a potential Mexican cuisine convert! How adorable is she?  Every day is a night in for her so it's so nice to see her smiling and enjoying time with us like this.

For dessert I set up a mini ice cream cone factory with flakes, sauces and sprinkles which my brother adored. I went for a vanilla ice cream waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles, raspberry sauce and flake. Things were melting so quickly I was only able to get this one quick snap. But yum, so, so good.

We rounded off the evening by watching Despicable Me. Who else can't wait for the sequel?

A big thank you to MoneySupermarket.com for letting me take part! How would you spend your perfect evening?

Lauren

Baobella

A few weeks ago I started hearing about a new website called Baobella. It didn't really impinge on my consciousness much until I started looking into it and found out what it's all about. It's essentially a social network dedicated to beauty (I know you're already hooked) where you can share your photography and inspiration. It was officially launched on Friday and I'm already well and truly addicted! It's a great way to show off your makeup looks and product swatches and is useful for driving traffic to your blog.

It's incredibly easy to navigate and everything has been linked up so that you can add all of your social networks and blog to your Baobella profile. There are sections for your favourite products and posts so you always have a place to grab some beauty inspiration and keep your wishlist up to date! 

Here are my favourite posts which I've "loved" by some of the best bloggers around:

Coco of The Beauty Milk - here   Kat of Tales of a Pale Face - here   LaaLaa of Dolce Vanity - here

Miranda and Mackenzie from Pretty Squared - here

I love making all the collages and I've uploaded something every day since I joined. Yesterday I even put in an entry for the competition that Baobella are currently running for bloggers! It took me a while to decide what sort of look I wanted to go for but in the end I chose something quite natural with some light bronzing and I'm thrilled with how it turned out! Click here to find out more about the competition (and pop in an entry!) The prizes include a 6 week professional make up training course, personal shopping at MAC and luxury afternoon tea with the Baobella team. There's also a runner up prize of a £150 voucher to spend at UK department stores.

You can find my profile here and I'd love to get your links too! Below is my competition entry and of course I'd love some feedback and maybe even a few cheeky "love"s here.

I hope I see you on Baobella soon and if you have any questions the Baobella team are really helpful and active on Twitter @Baobella.

Lauren

Hope in a Blog/Wishtrend Competition

I spotted this post on Sophie's blog Punky Pugs last night (check her out you'll love her) and it's all about this interesting little competition! Give it a read:

Confused ? Why is there a dragon and a cupid ? Welcome to Hope In A Blog x Wishtrend’s  first ever blogger’s event. The Dragon represents Wishtrend, the cupid – Hope In A Blog. The Dragon represents courage, power – and the cupid represents love, passion. The Dragon represents the East, the cupid – the West.
Most importantly….
The Dragon is a symbol of the Asian Lunar New Year, while the Cupid – the symbol of Valentine’s Day.
This year, they both fall on the same month – in February, and to celebrate this special double occasion – Wishtrend and Hope In A Blog is collaborating on a special box and a special event and competition for bloggers WORLDWIDE to join us celebrate these two important days!
…And what do these two celebrations have in common ? The colour RED! Yes, that’s it ! Wishtrend will be releasing a special box – which compromises of all RED items to beautify yourselves in these two occasions. If you are a blogger, you will be able to have a chance to test this box out yourself FREE OF CHARGE – post a photo – and WIN a grand prize! Create your best ‘RED’ look with the items in the box and let your creativity take over!
Open to bloggers WORLDWIDE.
How To Enter ? 1. Create a new post on your blog and copy and paste this entry. 2. After creating the post , email the URL/Website to jwzs@wishcompany.net. 3. Selection process will begin and bloggers selected will receive an email. Red Box will be delivered on 2nd week of January with tracking number. 4. If selected, the Special Box will be mailed to your address. 5. After 2 weeks, Blogger is required to review and post a photo using all the items in the box. Dateline : 31/01/2012. Please mail the blog link to jwzs@wishcompany.net to validate your entry. 6. Wishtrend and Hope In A Blog will pick a blogger with the most creative photo and blog post ( make good use of the items and create your best ‘RED” look! )
P.S : IF You are not chosen as a Wishtrend blogger, but have purchased the Red Box on your own, you can enter this competition as well by sending us the link of your blog post with review and photo to jwzs@wishcompany.net
PRIZE : Winner will have their photo posted on the main page of the Wishtrend site as well as the Wishtrend Facebook Page with their Blog site. With over 40,000 likes on Facebook and more than 100,000 clients all over the world – this will give your blog a huge push!
Winner will also win a $50 coupon from Wishtrend.com

Exciting ay?! As everyone knows I really enjoy doing make up looks and love red eyeshadows (which would hopefully be included) so this seems like a really fantastic challenge for me to get involved in! Wish me luck and enter yourself if you fancy.
Lauren