THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO ALL FOR PARTICIPATING!

And the surprise is …

Next month, Beautyholics Anonymous officially turns two. I’m so excited! It’s been such a great year, and I’ve gotten to know so many beauty bloggers. And learn so much more about skincare and makeup along the way.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion (other than break out the bubbly and drink it myself), is to announce the biggest giveaway Beautyholics Anonymous has ever done. I don’t do many giveaways, so I hope this would not disappoint.

THE PRIZE

One lucky winner will get all of these:

Sponsored Gifts:
Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara, courtesy of Maybelline
Exuviance by NeoStrata Simply Glow! sample pack, courtesy of NeoStrata
Nana Mays Magic Hands & Magic Facial Scrub, courtesy of Tiny Tapir
Not one, not two, but THREE RuMe bags, thanks to Tiny Tapir

Many thanks to our sponsors for the lovely gifts.

Gifts from me:
Softlips lip balm in Passionfruit
L’oreal De-Crease eye shadow base
Eylure Naturalites falsies
Boscia Enlivening Amino-G Eye Treatment
Smashbox Skin Tint in Radiance
Ecotools eye-shading brush
ELF eyeshadows in Drama and Luxe
Benefit Dr Feelgood complexion balm
Biotherm Biosource Clarifying cleansing gel
Cancer Council Australia Everyday sunscreen
Flirt Peek-A-Blush Sheer Powder Cheek Color in Dapple Apple

And then some (oh yeah, there’s more).

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Subscribe to my feed via email or in a feed reader. You can do so by entering your email address at the top of the page and click on Subscribe.
AND
2. Leave a comment below the blog post – let me know where you’re from, and what the best birthday present you’ve ever received was. It does not have to be fancy. Just a line, e.g. “I’m from Melbourne and the best birthday present I’ve ever received was a hand-knit sweater from Gran.” would do. But if it’s good, please do share with us. Even if it’s a naughty one 😉

That’s it!

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

1. This contest is open to ALL readers. Yep, all international readers as well.
2. Anyone can enter regardless of whether you’ve won anything here before.
3. One comment per contestant please. Let’s give a chance to everyone, yeah?
4. If you want to boost your chances at winning, you may do so by linking to this blog post on your blog. You don’t have to do a full-on post about it, just a link and a phrase would do the trick. Please email me with the link at sweetcontemplation[at]gmail[dot]com to let me know, and you’ll get an additional entry. I.e. 1 comment = 1 entry. 1 comment + 1 blog post = 2 entries. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
5. When you subscribe for email updates, please remember to VERIFY your subscription (please check your email for a confirmation notice). If not, you will not be subscribed to my feed.
6. Please keep it clean and spam-free.
7. Winners will be chosen randomly via an online-super-duper-random-list-generator-thingy.

CLOSING DATE
The closing date for this giveaway is 10pm, 5 May 2009 (Melbourne time, +10 GMT). All comments will be closed, and results tabulated. A random winner will be picked, and will be announced on 7 May. I’ll try to send the gift out as soon as possible.

Feel free to spread the word even if you’re not taking part in the contest (why aren’t you?? Go back, go back! :P). I’d really appreciate it.

Good luck to all!

Note: My apologies for getting the surprise out later than expected. I was waiting for one of the prizes to arrive, hence the delay. I hope it was worth the wait 🙂

Happy Easter Monday, ladies!

No, I have not disappeared off the face of the earth, or O.D-ed on chocolate eggs (although I did score some good chocs cheaply from shops trying to clear their Easter choccies). There’s been a lot to do of late, hence the silence on the blogfront. The past few days, I

– Stuffed my face with chocolates.
– Tried to figure out some WordPress configuration which I’ve conveniently forgotten (should have written a manual when I first went through my WP installation. Retracing my steps is a bit of a bummer).
– Had a fantastic spa treatment at Sakura Lounge, as recommended by Val. It’s not the most luxurious and amazing spa in Melbourne, but it’s very value for money. The last time I had a spa treatment like that was the day before my wedding reception in Penang, Malaysia, which was over a year ago. Mmmm …
– Went on a road trip with the hubs to Cape Schanck and surrounding areas of Mornington. Note to self: Remember to make reservations for meals before a long weekend begins. Clearly the recession has not hit us when every single winery we went to had their restaurants fully-booked for the entire weekend.

We walked all the way down to the rocky beach.

Excuse the hair. The wind was blowing something fierce.

Cape Schanck Lighthouse

– Went for a walk on the beach with the hubs at Mentone. So lovely to watch the dogs playing with their owners and other dogs.
– Attempted to grow my own herbs on the balcony. Please don’t die, please don’t die, please don’t die.

Basil, Italian parsley and pink rosemary

– Stuffed my face with leftover chocolates.

And then some.

That pretty much summarises the past few days. Beauty blogging will resume tomorrow. I haven’t hauled in ages though. I thought I’d give makeup a miss for a bit and go full on with a spa treatment instead, and boy, it was worth it.

How was your Easter weekend?

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

A week ago, Kristen, who works with Maybelline, very kindly sent me a few samples of Maybelline’s Lash Stiletto mascara to review. Here it goes. Stick around, the end gets interesting.

Description:

The only mascara that does for lashes what stilettos do for legs.
The Grip & Extend brush grasps each lash and coats from every angle
Elastic formula stretches lashes for provocative length
Pro-Vitamin B-5 formula conditions and smoothes for black-patent shine
Contact lens safe and Ophthalmologist tested

The shape of the mascara’s very cute; it’s shaped like a stiletto heel!

The mascara wand is, I have to say, probably the longest I’ve ever used. It didn’t give me any clumpy lashes or any mess on the sides of the eyes. In fact, I was impressed at the length of the lashes it produced.

The mascara gave me the length, but not the volume. For the latter, I’d very much prefer Majolica Majorca’s Lash Enamel Glamour Neo. I reckon this mascara would do very well for those with a full set of short eyelashes (not with sparse hairs). If you don’t need the volume, but want your lashes to go one forever, this should do the trick.

The staying power of the mascara is, sadly, rather mediocre. I had it on for 9 hours, and when I got home, the stiffness of the lashes had significantly subsided. However, if you want it on for less than that amount of time (e.g. 3-4 hours), then you should be able to maintain the length sufficiently.

Maybelline’s Lash Stiletto mascara is not out in Australia yet. In the US, this retails at around US$6, which is cheap as chips. You can read more reviews on the mascara on Makeupalley.

What I like about it: Gave me va-va-voom length, no clumps and no mess.

What I do not like about it: Not available in Australia; not enough staying power

“What’s the best mascara you’ve ever used, and why?”

Winners will be picked at random. The giveaway deadline is April 21, and I’ll contact and post the winner on April 22. And knowing me, you won’t be getting just the mascara; I’ll even throw in a goodie or two (or three!) as well.

Good luck!

PS: This giveaway is not the surprise 😉