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Metal, News

2 Girls 1 Band: Missing In Action

April 10, 2015

dakesis-quinphonic

Photo © Ian Black

Well we may not have been kidnapped or fallen off the face of the earth, but we have definitely been held prisoner by our own lives most recently. Those of you who have been following us may have wondered where we have been and it’s been driving us crazy being away from our very own ‘blogosphere’. The truth is, that we’ve been putting a lot of our time and effort into the band and haven’t really had any left over for all the fun things, like talking about makeup and beauty! A long while ago, we started our first blog “2 girls 1 band” where we would review the dressing rooms ‘dressing rooms’ of some of the venues we played in which I have to admit was most fun and pretty hilarious to look back on. But it’s something we may consider carrying on under the Hellbent for Lipstick name if there is some enthusiasm sparked for it.

Alas I guess this is a rather short post to tell you all what exactly we’ve been doing with the band and why we’ve been surrounded by mic stands and cables instead of our all too familiar mascaras and lipsticks. Over the past few month’s we’ve been working flat out on the writing process for our upcoming album and part of this preparation was getting two new songs ready to play live for some upcoming gigs, the first of which was the Saturday just gone. This has meant full days spent in the studio rehearsing until our fingers and throats were sore, but we came through Saturday’s gig feeling overwhelmed with joy that we’d managed to pull off not one but two brand new songs in such a short space of time.

We’re still super busy with all the preparation that comes before recording our next album, but we’re still here we promise and will make sure we still get our dose of beauty blogging into the mix, even if it is interspliced with a bit of band news and us squealing mindlessly about how excited we are to be in the midst of album prep.

Here’s a few shots from Saturday night where we played the Quinphonic Prelude Party at the Barge and Barrel in Tipton. We had an absolutely amazing time, not to mention meeting some new friends with Rainover and Temperance the other bands playing – and our month away from the real internets truly paid off.

amie-gem-quinphonic

 Photo © Ian Black

amie-quinphonic

 Photo © Ian Black

gemma-quinphonic

Photo © Ian Black

If you’re interested in following the band you can also head over to the Dakesis Website although we’ll most likely be shouting from the roof tops as album 2 progresses (however our next post is definitely beauty related!)

Totally hellbent for girls who surprisingly -can- play metal

Pants

Nails, News

Free Nails Inc. polishes with Glamour

November 11, 2014
Free Nails Inc with Glamour

Free Nails Inc with Glamour

Free Nails Inc with glamour magazine

 

This month Glamour are really spoiling us with four very autumnal polishes from Nails Inc – Tate, Hanover Square, Marylebone Mews and Wigmore Street.  They are all absolutely gorgeous shades and worth £11 each, so considering the magazine is only £2.00 you’re getting £44.00 of nail polishes for £8 (which is far too much of a bargain for anyone to resist I’m sure!)

All four were instant must-haves for me, but I think the very vampy purple hues of Wigmore Street have stolen my heart and pride of place on my nails for the foreseeable future!

Also included is a 20% off H&M voucher and a Body Shop “Little card of Christmas wishes” worth between £3 and £1000!

Usually I find I have to search around a bit to complete a magazine freebie collection, but I’ve seen all four shades in plenty of shops this time around so if you’re after all four head out now whilst they are plentiful!

Totally hellbent for Glamour filling up at least half of my Nails Inc collection over the past few years!

– Gem

News

Back on Track

September 3, 2014

 

Ever notice how you see a lot of posts about “Getting back into blogging” or “Getting your blogging groove back” around this time of year? I can totally appreciate the slump of activity that happens over summer and then the sudden rush of content once the new school year starts.

I’m a real (sort of) grown up with a round-the-year job so it’s not so much that I go home for summer or enjoy a flood of new inspirational uni stationary in September, rather that I’m in a long distance relationship and the only extended time we get together in during his university break in the summer. We’ve had a wonderful summer together, but parted ways tearfully on Sunday when he returned to Holland for his final year of studies. Being in a long distance relationship can be very trying even with an end in sight, but the upside is that every moment together is absolutely cherished.

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So whilst I’ve still been spending far too much on cosmetics, and have had plenty of inspiration to write posts, quite simply I’ve been drinking up the time with my other half and blogging has fallen by the wayside. I have the handy back-up of sharing HBFL with Amie who has kept content flowing in my absence, but in truth I’ve really missed my little corner of the internet and  feel really good about a sudden rush of inspiration for writing and blogging in general.

It can be a bit intimidating writing that first post after such a long break, but here I am and once this one is out of the way I can get back to the far more interesting topic of shiny make-up.

Totally hellbent for getting back into the swing of things.

Gem

 

News

Free Ciaté Nail Polish & Caviar Set with Marie Claire

June 5, 2014

ciate-nailpolish

I know that both Gem and I have said in some of our last few posts that we are on a spending ban, but when we found out we could grab a Ciaté bargain, we just couldn’t help ourselves. (It’s 100% Gemma’s fault for actually telling me about this.)

If you haven’t seen these already, you can grab yourselves a free Ciaté Nail Polish and Caviar set with the June issue of Marie Claire, worth £10 each. Each issue of Marie Claire is just £2.50, meaning you can pick up all six sets for just £15 instead of £60.

ciate-nail-polish-set

Gem and I went on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to track down some of these colours, but thankfully managed to complete the set and what a beauty they all are, especially lined up next to each other! My favourite by a mile has got to be the Sunset Shimmer set, which is a bright red and the Starry Night set, which is a very pale blue and absolutely stunning.

Have you picked up any of these sets yet? If so which ones?

Totally hellbent for blaming Gemma for spending money whilst on a spending ban!

-Pants

News

Support Us for Race for Life

May 23, 2014

raceforlife-banner

raceforlife

In 2011 we both completed Race for Life and managed to raise a heartwarming £158 towards Cancer Research. Now it’s that time of year again and we’ve signed up for the 5k Race for Life. With so many of our friends and family being affected by Cancer every year, this really is a cause we hold deep in our hearts.

We will be running on the 15th June 2014 – this time in Redditch and with only three weeks to go until the event, it’s time to spread the word and encourage you all to support us.

Any donation no matter how small (minimum donation is £1) is welcome. You can give via our justgiving page here or if you’d prefer, simply send a text message to 70070 quoting “HHII63” and your donation amount (e.g HHII63 £1)

We really hope you can find some time to give a little (or a lot).

Totally hellbent for doing our bit

Gem and Pants

 

 

News

Get three Ciate Paint Pots for £1 with Sun+!

April 17, 2014

Have you seen this amazing offer from Sun+? You can pick up three Ciaté paint pot nail varnishes in Paparazzi, Knickerbockerglory and Butterscotch for absolutely free when you sign up for the £1 month trial to Sun+.

The set of three is worth £27 so it’s quite a saving, and a great chance to try an amazing nail brand out if you haven’t had the chance yet (or add to your collection!).

Just follow this link to www.thesun.co.uk and follow the directions to sign up.

Totally hellbent for stumbling across such an awesome offer!

Gem & Pants

 

News

Birthday Beauty Haul!

March 24, 2014
Hellbent for Lipstick Birthday Beauty Haul

Hellbent for Lipstick Birthday Beauty Haul

 

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you might have seen that it was my birthday yesterday! I had a lovely day with family and friends that started with a lovely elegant brunch and ended in a drunken mess of a house party.

There were quite a few beauty based gifts given so I thought I’d do a quick post to share my treasure with you and give a hint as to some of the reviews coming up from this haul soon!

In no particular order I was lavishly presented with

Urban Decay Naked 3

Benefit “They’re Real” Mascara

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat & Sally Hansen Magnetic Polish

Soap & Glory Clean on Me and Scrub ‘Em And Leave ‘Em

Ghost Enchanted Bloom EDT

Baylis and Harding Royale Bouquet 

Ikea Kulort beads (for filling up my make-up brush storage jars!)

Handmade blue zebra print Real Techniques style brush holder!

Boots Gift Voucher

Also here is a bonus picture of the amazing (and healthy!) World of Warcraft cake that Amie made for me! For the Alliance!

World of Warcraft Alliance Birthday cake

So many lovely things from so many lovely people! Not sure what I’m going to spend the voucher on just yet – any suggestions?

Totally Hellbent for all the shiny treats!

– Gem

Enter our competition to win MUA and Etos goodies!

Giveaways, News

100 Bloglovin’ followers giveaway! [Closed]

March 14, 2014

mua-competition-two

Since starting Hellbent for Lipstick, we have literally been overwhelmed by the response we have had from you all. Not to mention how our eyes have been opened to the wonderful blogging community which has been truly inspirational to meet like minded individuals.

Because of this, we’ve been wanting to launch our first giveaway for a long time, but we both agreed that we would set ourselves a target first. We’d decided on 100 Bloglovin’ followers and low and behold, you wonderful people have helped us reach it! So to give something back to you all, it’s now time for our very first (of many we might add) competition! *Squees*

All you have to do to enter, is complete the steps below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

mua-competition-palette-open

 

When picking our prizes, we really wanted our first giveaway to be something that wholly reflected us both. After a few months of pondering, we finally came up with the perfect products that we hope you will love as much as we do.

Our first competition will be for the following prize:

Two ETOS long lasting nail varnishes – all the way from Rotterdam in our classic “things that look like Gem and Pants” colours – Red and Blue

MUA Luxe Lip Lacquer in Atomic – again, another staple amongst us is a red lipstick and this is one of our new favourites – you can read the review here

MUA Luxe “Pretty Edgy” studded palette – since we are a heavy metal blog, we had to include something leaning towards the heavy metal style and what better than this beautiful studded palette – you can feast your eyes upon our review of this product here and fall in love with the swatches.

Good Luck and we will be announcing our winner shortly after the closing date on 28th March 2014.

Totally hellbent for all our followers and our first ever competition!

– Gem and Pants

Terms and conditions:

  1. No purchase necessary to enter the prize draw
  2. The closing date for the competition is 12:00am on 28th March 2014
  3. Uner 18s must request permission from a parent or guardian
  4. Competition available to International entrants
  5. To enter simply complete the instructions above
  6. The winner will be picked via Rafflecopter and will be notified by the within 48 hours of the closing date – 12:00am on 28th March 2014
  7. The winner must claim their prize within 14 days of being notified or another winner will be picked
  8. For further information or details of the winner after the closing date, please e-mail info@hellbentforlipstick.com
Make-up, News

MUA LUXE Velvet Lip Lacquer Review

March 12, 2014

mua-luxe-lip-lacquer

I’ve seen a host of reviews on this product all talking about how amazing it is and with the temptation of the shade “Atomic” (you’ve guessed it, a bright red) being too much for me to resist, I ended up buying this a few weeks ago. Usually not being a fan of wand style lip applications, I was sceptical to begin with.

mua-luxe-lip-lacquer-2

I tried it out the day I bought it and slapped it on quickly, whilst running late for a meal with friends. Wondering if I’d made the right decision to indulge in a red lip shortly before stuffing my face I can safely say it was probably -the- best choice I could have made. During application, I ended up with a rich, yet bright full bodied red with a matte finish. This dried in less than a minute and didn’t rub off onto my wine glass during the evening. I also remembered when getting home, that I had swatched this on my hand with a tester in Superdrug and it remained there even after scrubbing it in the shower – however this seemed to come off pretty easily at the end of the night with my trusty micellar water.

mua-luxe-lip-lacquer-swatch

The next test was during our last gig – with more time to apply this evenly and with two coats – this remained absolutely perfect after a half hour set on a very hot stage and even survived further on into the night after Gem and I ditched the venue for a slightly stranger environment – a 90’s esque bar, for our friends birthday.

asylum-gig

Here’s me rocking the new MUA Luxe Lip Lacquer in “Atomic” on stage last week. Photo Copyright our lovely live photographer Tony Gaskin at Stagedive Photography. (Sporting the mouth wide open and sweating like a mofo look)

I am absolutely over the moon with this purchase, I really hope MUA release some more neutral “everyday” shades since this red is going to be reserved for less ordinary days and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of it. And if the product itself wasn’t enough – it comes with a purse friendly price tag of only £3.00 and you can find it here at Superdrug. My next purchase is definitely going to be “reckless” which is a much darker red.

Have you tried this out yet? What were your thoughts?

Totally hellbent for lipstick that stays put until the end of a very sweaty night!

-Pants

News

Valentine Grinch or Keen Enthusiast?

February 13, 2014

valentines-post

Once again this soppy love-fest is upon us and tomorrow will bring about mixed feelings between all of those in my social circle. Once a Christian festival, I have no idea how this evolved into the commercial day that it is widely celebrated as these days. Not usually being one for celebrating such traditions, and since I lead more of a Pagan lifestyle which incorporates a lot of different festivals I don’t usually bat an eyelid.

Despite this, the day is a far different today to one that would have been celebrated hundreds and hundreds of years ago, so instead of being my usual grinch worthy self around this time of year, I’m using it as an excuse to have a lovely evening in, away from work with Brains. So I urge you to also reconsider your plans for this Friday and either spend it with friends and family whom you love, have a little “me-time” or spend it with that special person in your life.

I know a lot of you think that all this nonsense is just an expensive commercialised day and that you should be spending time with loved ones all year round and not limit this to one day a year, but we are all guilty of letting life take over and sometimes you need an excuse to unwind, so I’ve gathered a few ideas for you all if you are looking for some things to do.

If you’ll be alone this Valentine’s day:

Grasp the opportunity with both hands! Plaster that face-mask on, have a nice long soak in a bubble bath (if you’re that way inclined – I hate bath’s!), shave your legs, paint your nails – dig out your favourite pyjamas (you know those ones that you probably should have thrown away ten years ago?), don a fluffy gown and your comfiest slippers. Spread yourself out on the sofa, choose a film that -you- want to watch (no compromising!) or crack open that book you’ve been meaning to read. Whilst everyone else is spending hundreds of pounds on ridiculous fluffy cards, expensive dinners and dozens of roses which will probably be dead within the week, sit back, relax and smile at your wonderfully pampered yet cheap as chips evening in, dedicated to the -most- important person in your life – yourself.

If you are around friends and family:

Grab a jug of your favourite fruity drink, plonk some glasses on the table – bust out a bowl of doritos and if you are feeling creative you could make some cookies and cupcakes. More commonly known as “Gateaux in the Château” where the band and our Dakesian photographer and family get together for a night in with cake – or our “Dakesian film night” where we hang out as a band, stuff ourselves silly and watch films/music DVD’s. This is a great way to spend time with your family and friends and have a good cheap and cheerful Friday night in.

Spending time with your loved one:

This doesn’t have to be expensive – far from it! This year I’ve had a little advanced preparation and Brains and I are planning on having a cheap night in, watching a film. We bought some quick cook Indian food which usually I turn my nose up at and make myself, but it’s far cheaper than going out to a restaurant or going for takeaway, so we have starters, a main meal and the sickliest desert we could find, all for under £10. Once we’ve eaten this – on our living room floor, surrounded by pillows and blankets – we can crack out some of our stashed Christmas booze and lounge in front of the tv. Work is banned – no facebook – no twitter  – just the two of us.

If you don’t have the luxury of living together or you work different shifts, how about getting up a little earlier and having breakfast in bed together? Even if this is just some toast on a big sharing plate and a cup of tea and if you are both unavailable on Friday – book a day out in your diary when you can have an evening together.

Last year Brains and I were in Amsterdam with Gem and Roode – I skipped out on buying a card, but Brains didn’t – like I said, I’m not usually one for getting down with the “Valentine” spirit, but if you do want to go down that route, a few minutes searching the web and there are hundreds of free customisable and printable cards on the interwebs for you to make your own, saving both your bank balance and adding that special little touch. For a quirkier approach, you could scatter the house with a few sticky notes of soppy and endearing comments – or rude and silly ones. Generally speaking Brains and I always leave hidden messages for each other, especially if one of us is away for the evening. When we first got together, before we lived alongside one another, Brains used to leave a crudely drawn picture of himself and leave it under the duvet ready for when I returned to bed alone. Not just for Friday’s festivities, but it will certainly brighten up someone’s day!

 

I hope whatever you decide to do tomorrow, you’ll enjoy it and my Valentine’s inspired post and given you some ideas. I’d love to hear your plans for this Friday and what cheap and cheerful things you are hoping to get up to!

Totally hellbent for not spending my money

-Pants