Something for the weekend - free mascara, new eye cream, the latest "it" bag and celebs with little doggies!

Product Junkies don't miss out this weekend!  Take an old used mascara to your local Clinique counter from Saturday 14th January and receive a free mini mascara in exchange.  There are two products on offer, High Lengths (5ml) and High Impact (4ml). They are about half the size of the normal ones which are 7 and 8ml respectively, so your free sample will be worth approximately £8!

The offer runs until Wednesday 1st February, but stocks are limited and Clinique have found this offer to be very popular in the past, although they apparently have increased stock levels for this promotion.

Talking of Mascara's, I am really fussy which ones I use as such a lot of them seem to smudge under my eyes and with very short and sparse eyelashes (sickening when I spend half my time applying eyelash extensions to others) I need a really good product that can give them a complete overhaul and make them look somewhere near what most women consider a normal length and thickness when they aren't wearing Mascara!
Lancome and Chanel are my "go to" products of choice, especially the Inimitable Intense by Chanel, but I got bought the Sublime for Christmas and am not at all impressed, it does nothing except coat them with colour, no lengthening and no curl, it really is a case of "from the sublime to the ridiculous" especially when you consider how much it costs!
I am sure it would be fine for somebody with thick, lush and long lashes, but for me, the Inimitable Intense beats this hands down and is a product I would highly recommend.

One thing I didn't put on my Christmas List and should have, was a new Eye Cream.  I didn't realise I was so low and after recieving a £5 Boots voucher when I bought all next years (or this years) wrapping paper, cards and christmas crackers, I thought I might as well put it to good use and try a product from their Protect and Perfect range, the Protect and Perfect Intense Eye Cream.
I bought the moisturiser when the product first launched amid a flurry of positive press, but I didn't really notice any change in texture or decrease of wrinkles and went back to using something at least double the price.
I think I have finally admitted to myself that nothing will take the lines away and that the most important thing is to keep the delicate eye area and indeed the rest of my face, hydrated, and console myself with the fact that if I hadn't have used a cocktail of high end creams on my skin for the last twenty odd years, I would probably look more late fifties than forties!  That said, with the £5 voucher, the cream was a great price and the tube is a really generous size for an eye product.  It sinks in easily and leaves the eye area feeling really comfortable and I no longer expect miracles and am under no illusion that by placing the cream on a copy of Harpers Bazaar with Uma Thuman on the cover, that I will be magically transformed into having her wrinkle free skin if I use this product, we all know that ain't gonna happen without a complete face lift!
If you don't have a £5 voucher but want to give the Protect and Perfect range a try, Boots currently have a 3 for 2 offer online here.

As most of you will know by now, we become home to a delightful and mischievous Pug called Albert at the beginning of November and we have all gone a bit "canine crazy" ever since, so I thought I would share with you some pictures of celebrities with their very own furry friends.....

Aren't they cute, even though I am all about the "Pug" at the moment.....

Jessica Alba has a pug, but he is not as good looking as our boy.....

Claudia wearing her David and Goliath "God save the Pug" pyjamas she got for Christmas!

When it comes to "Arm Candy" most fashion types are so over the words "it bag" even though every season there is always a must have tote, shoulder or handbag that can be seen on the arms of Fashion Editors, WAGS and anybody who has enough money to fund a serious "handbag" addiction.

Personally I am still lusting after a Celine tote and a 2.55 and lets not mention the word "Hermes" and now the latest offering from design house Valentino the Rockstud Tote, which according to net-a-porter has become the fashion editors bag of choice and was seen everywhere at the pre-fall shows in New York.

Being a fully paid up member of the "I love a bag with studs" Gang, since I purchase the Alexander Wang Rocco from The Outnet last February, this gorgeous tote just confirms my adulation of a bag with a stud or two.  Structured, sleek and with a cool girl edge, this bag and I are destined to be together, well in my dreams anyway!

There are many colours and variations of the Rockstud, you can view them all here.

Talking of Hermes, check out this gorgeous picture of my style icon, Kelly Rutherford looking gorgeous in basic jeans and v-neck sweater topped off with killer heels and a mini Birkin bag. Sometimes the simplest of looks really work, especially when you have legs like that!

What are you loving this week? Bought anything I should know about?