Halal Food Festival review (London)

Salam lovelies.
I went to the Halal Food Festival yesterday Saturday 28th September.

Halal Food Festival London 2013 guide/wristband

I was soo excited especially with all the hype and advertisements. I imagined it to have a vast array of delicious multicultural foods and products. I regularly visited the site to check on the list of exhibitors and all looked promising. Being the organised person I am, I made a list of stalls I wished to visit -around 12 in total. Of those, 4 were not there!! One of them was completely empty (Bobo Macarons) and Exotic Tagine was replaced with something else. An Indian affair wasn't there either.

People were crowded around for free samples which some stalls offered such as chocolate samosas, Malaysian pancakes, cheese and so on. Some sampling visitors wouldn't budge an inch. With that in mind plus the crowds as it was a small space, it was hard to see everything on offer.

Source

I also received a £5 voucher for Sisters Magazine which stated it was no strings attached. But indeed upon visiting the stand it became clear that you were expected to sign up for a subscription before being given a free (old) copy of their magazine with the voucher.
There were non food items such as itr, books, scarves and clothing.

I did purchase some vegetarian sweets from goody good stuff, a scoop of pistachio ice cream, a falafel wrap and a pack of chocolate & nut samosas which I am yet to sample!
All in all, I would give the event a 5/10. They should maybe cut down the number of days to two and work on hiring a larger space and more stalls. I liked the demo classes they held where you can watch chefs prepare different dishes. When we got there it was quails that were being made.

Bhangra Burger Stall

Falafel Wrap

Pistachio Ice cream

Were any of you guys there and what did you make of it?

Falsh lashes in a bottle! Divaderme Lash Extender review

I recently purchased Divaderme Lash Extender after hearing about it from groupon. I did some research and found that it is a tube of brush on fibres designed to go on wet lashes (i.e. that have just been applied with mascara) which they cling onto. This is then sealed with another coat of mascara creating a false lash effect.

Divaderme lash extender

I used an Avon mascara with this and they recommend that you use a "wet" mascara so that the fibres can cling on easily. A tip I found for getting waxy mascaras to become runny again is to put your tube of mascara in a basin of hot water for a few minutes.

Once you have applied a coat of mascara, immediately apply the fibres to your lashes...you can concentrate on the roots for volume or ends for length. It's best to have the lash extender tube already opened and the wand on a piece of tissue so it's ready to use straight upon applying mascara. To avoid fall out, place a  piece of tissue under your eye area and LOOK DOWN! You don't want to get fibres in your eyes (although, you can easily blink them out).
After you have applied the fibres, put on one more coat of mascara to seal the fibres in place. Then repeat with next set of eyelashes.

I found that if you apply many coats of mascara in between applying the fibres, then you can end up with spidery eyelashes, so it's best not to go overboard with the mascara or use a separating mascara.
You do end up with longer lashes so I would definitley recommend this product as it is cheap and can bring out the shortest of lashes and makes good use for any mascaras that you have lying around that you don't really use/feel is not that good.
I did experience a bit of fall out, but then again I did use a mascara that wasn't runny so maybe that was why. You can just brush them away anyway.

Here are my pictures just for you!

Bare lashes before Divadereme lash extender and any mascara

Lashes after Divaderme lash extender applied in between coats of mascara

Before (right) and after (left) Divaderme lash extender