Stay put Mascara - Must Have Beauty Buy

One problem that I have always had with mascaras is their tendency to transfer onto my eyelids on a night out.  Whenever I have gone out to clubs, had a day out shopping in town or used the tube it tends to smudge.  Usually I am too drunk to notice or too busy so it doesn't bother me, but when I'm just shopping or going about my daily tasks, to suddenly catch sight of myself with mascara all over my eyelids is a tad annoying.  Even when I use waterproof mascara it always smudges grrrrrr.  To illustrate my point here is a picture of what I mean by my mascara smudging.

I'm rather tiddled in this picture so excuse the insane grin, and I'm pretty sure I took the photo myself which is why not all my face is in it.  Anyway the big arrow points to the smudging on my eyelids.  Not that noticeable from a distance but annoying none the less!  You can quite clearly see the black marks of each individual lash as they have touched my eyelids and rubbed off in the heat.  I am also not wearing false lashes and you can see that my eyelashes are sort of clumped together and don't look as full as they could - and I have quite full eyelashes naturally.

I am pleased to say however, that I have finally come across a mascara that is the answer to all my problems.  Not only does it separate and lengthen each lash to make my lashes look more full and fluttery, it also stays put in extreme heat!  Last week I went to London on what has now been stated 'the hottest day of the year'.  It was unbearably hot!!!  And even though I sweated like a pig, my mascara stayed put and did not smudge at all.  I took a picture to show you all, because I was SO impressed.

LOOK!!! NO SMUDGEAGE!!!!  ------------------->

Impressive non?  This is me after my Knit Club in London last week.  (Another self taken photo but I was sober this time so managed to get most of my face in).  The rest of me was a little dishevelled after walking in a heatwave and dodging tourists, but my eyelashes were still in tip top condition and as I had prepared them that morning.  And the secret to my new found non smudge lashes?  Is this little baby:

                        Masquara by Illamasqa

The nattily named 'Masquara' by Illamasqua in 'Raven'.  Which incidentally I have problems pronouncing!  I always want to say Illasmaqua for some reason.  Anyway I just so happened to stumble across this must have item via twitter.  Someone in my feed had mentioned that it was awesome.  So the next time I was in Selfridges I popped along to the concession stall there to buy one.  At £15 a tube, I think this is a great little buy.  I used to buy Max Factor mascaras which I believe are around £10/£11 a pop.  And we all know what happened when I used that (refer to drunk picture above top), it smudged everywhere.  So for a few extra £'s I don't think that £15 is an unreasonable amount.  I would even go so far as saying that it averages out to be around the same amount per application as a cheaper mascara.  

This is because the applicator is very efficient so you don't need to apply as much product.  With my Max Factor mascara I would apply two or three layers to get a dramatic look.  This Illamasqua mascara only requires one layer, two at most.  So buying a mascara because it is cheap, is a false economy as you end up using it more frequently so have to buy more tubes.  I think it is also worth saying that this is a waterproof mascara.  I don't know if they do a non waterproof version but just in case if you are going to try it, ask for a waterproof one (so don't blame me if you get the wrong one and it doesn't work for you!).  I really couldn't recommend this item more highly, it is utterly amazing.  I know it is quite expensive, but I think it is worth every penny and I'm a total convert.

Thank you twitter for yet another piece of amazing advice, I am so glad that I stumbled upon this must have beauty item.

Betty xxx

Knit Club

"Knit Club - like Fight Club only cooler (obviously!)"

A while ago I blogged about my love of knitting (Old Lady Hobbies) and I promised you that I would keep you all updated on my progress on certain items.  Well the day job took over and I didn't do much knitting or crocheting as I was as busy as a bee getting the Black Nell Robe out to all you lucky girls.  With the shock return of summer in the UK, I decided to have a day off to enjoy the sun, meet up with a fellow knitting enthusiast and do a little more knitting.

The gorgeous Ellen of B Millinery and I decided to meet up and have a picnic in a London park and bring our knitting along.  The picture to the right is a picture of the cardigan that I have been working on (as has Ellen but she has run out of yarn eeek).  It is a vintage pattern that I picked up via Ellen on ravelry.  Ellen and I particularly wanted to knit this cardigan as it is almost identical to one that Miss Lemon wears on an episode of Poirot.  Well being a HUGE Agatha Christie fan we just had to knit it!

(Interestingly this particular Miss Lemon cardi has been used in an episode of Miss Marple and another BBC period programme - obviously a fav in the BBC costume department)

Here are some pictures of the fabulous day that I had in London.

Do you like my Christmas napkins ;-) it's all I had!

Being as poor as a church mouse we brought our own picnic to London so we didn't have to spend too much money.  So we set up our picnic mat in a shady spot in a London park.  Not being very observant I can't remember what the park is called, but I can direct you to it!  Ellen and I didn't fancy going on the tube to somewhere like Hyde Park, so we walked out of Waterloo Train Station towards the Southbank.  A quick hop over a bridge and we found a little park just by the Embankment Tube Station.  By then I was sweating like a P.I.G so we quickly got out the picnic to find our drinks.  I had made frozen Pimms the night before.  If you want to make some all I did was mix cloudy lemonade with Pimms and pour it into a plastic drinking bottles.  Don't fill the drinks bottles all the way to the top (water expands as it freezes) otherwise the bottle will split int freezer.  Then I just popped it into my freezer the night before the picnic.  The next day I took them out and used them as ice blocks in my picnic hamper.  Et voila you are killing two birds with one stone; the picnic is kept nice and cool and by the time you set up the picnic in a nice London park, the Pimms mix will have melted slightly to create a Pimms slushy!  Prefect!!  I was also pleasantly surprised that the lemonade was still fizzy even after freezing.  That slushy stuff in a cup with a spoon is the Pimms by the way ;-).

Here is the lovely Ellen (right) looking all pretty and 'glowing', she didn't seem to sweat like I did.  I WANT TO KNOW HER SECRET!!!!  Despite being the hottest day of the year, Ellen remained perfectly composed and cool all day.  The other piccy is me after I had had time to cool down and a glass of Pimms slushie.  I also had made little butterfly cakes as our sweet treat at the picnic.  This however did not stop me having to stop at the Krispy Kreme stall at Waterloo on the way home.  Well I had been very good and not spent any money in London up to this point!!!




It was really lovley just sitting in a shady spot eating, chatting and relaxing enjoying the warm weather.  I was also really impressed with the general atmosphere in London.  I am not a fan of the Olympics as I am not in any way a sporty person - apart from Tennis which I do like.  So the thought of thousands of extra people in London on one of the hottest days ever does not fill me with joy.  But I have to say the atmosphere in London was lovely.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and there was lots going on, especially on the Southbank.  If you can bear the crowds I urge you to head down there to see what they have going on.  I'm glad I did venture into London at this busy time as it was really lovely to enjoy the pre Olympic atmosphere and all that London has to offer culturally.  I am an Olympic convert ;-).  Anyway back to knit club!  I did manage to get some knitting done and finished the back panel of my Miss Lemon cardi.  Here it is:

I have been trying to find a cardigan in this shade of sunny yellow to no avail so decided to knit one instead!  Much better for the soul to knit it than to buy one.  Here is is on the person for those of you not in the know about how clothes look in their basic form.

Just two sleeves and two front sections to go ;-) haha.  Ellen was doing some knitting too, working on a particularly lovely lacey 30's number, but I am a bit of a rubbish blogger and forgot to take a pic of it.  Sorry!!  After a lovely day soaking up the happiness of a sunny London, I was impressed when I caught sight of myself whilst checking my lippy in my compact.  My new mascara had not slid off my face as it usually does.  I think I may do a review post on this particular mascara as it is AMAZING!  So look out for that :-).  In the meantime, why not treat yourself to the summery nightwear set that is the Bridgette Babydoll Set ;-).  You see Betty Blue's Loungerie has a solution to every weather eventuality, come rain or shine.

Lots of Love
Betty xxx

Betty needs YOUR help!

Why not treat yourself in this rainy weather to this!

Hello everybody.  I hope all is well with my readers, despite this rather rubbish "summer" weather us Brits are currently experiencing.  Well you expect it really with the Olympics coming up - gotta show the world what we have to endure 99% of the time :-p only fair really.

Anyway summery type garments are being put into production so I should have more news on the Tempest Set and Hedy Teddy soon.  Also a second much larger batch of the Black Nell Robe is well under way and I hope to have those in stock and back on my website soon too.  Obviously when I have more firm information I will let you all know :).

So onto why I need your help.  All this gloomy weather (and the fact technically for publicity purposes I should be thinking about Christmas) has got me thinking about Winter 2012/2013 items.  I have been trying to source a nice fluffy fabric so that I can make a beautifully cosy robe.  The kind you can wrap yourself in luxuriously when it is cold outside to shut out the drizzle.  I have FINALLY found some suitably lovely fabric, but there is one small little problem............they don't have a colour chart.  Usually I select fabrics from a colour chart based on the colours that jump out at me and ooze glamour.  So having to invent my own colour for the company to dye the fabric to is making my scratch my head!  The minimum order is painfully big for me as I am such a small company, so I have to be sure that the colour I select will sell.  Otherwise I will be stuck with a mountain of fluffy fabric in a colour no one will buy.

So here is a picture of a rough design of the robe and the colours to choose from.  Head on over to my facebook page to pick a colour or alternatively leave a comment on this blog.

I have managed to narrow it down to Burgundy, Midnight Blue or Dusky (Vintage) Pink.  So which do you prefer?

All I have left to say is, want to be one of the first to hear about the arrival of the Black Nell Robe in size Small?  Did you miss out last time and just can't miss out on one this time?!  Then sign up to my new Newsletter where you will be one of the FIRST to hear about its arrival a WHOLE DAY before my twitter and facebook followers hear about it.........I like to spoil my faithful followers ;-).  To sign up go to this page.

Lots of Love
Betty xxx

P.S.  Once again here is the link for the facebook poll on fluffy robe colours HERE!
P.P.S  Again be the 1st to get hold of a Small Black Nell Robe by signing up HERE!