America's Got Talent or Britain's Got Talent? Which is the Best? - Match 1

On Tv there are hundreds of reality shows, but the ones which truly seem to join families together is the Got Talent franchise.  There are various versions of the show from all over the glove, but obviously the most popular are the American and the British versions and as both are currently on the air, BGT is in its semi-finals stage, while AGT is still in the audition stage, it is a perfect time to compare these two together. So which version is the best?  In the up and coming weeks, I will analyse the one aspect of these shows each week. Feel free to suggest a future 'match' and express whether you agree with the results of each week.

So drum roll please ..... First Match is between .....

The Hosts

Nick Cannon (AGT)

Ant & Dec (BGT)

All hosts are extremely likeable and funny.  It is difficult to compare British humour and American humour so it would be unfair to say who is the funniest, so in regards to that aspect it is a draw.  However, when one watches both shows one can immediately note a crucial difference between the hosts, Nick Cannon involves himself more with the acts and he even shows more than one time his talent, such as in the below clip;


Also Nick is also not afraid to take it a step further and help out the contestants and make their acts "better".





However, Ant and Dec do also save the day and improve contestants acts as well.



Lets not forget to mention that it hasn't been the first time that they have risked their lives during their hosting duties;



All of them are pretty great hosts.  But the ultimate question is, who gets the point?  Well, when one takes into consideration that Nick is on his own and has lap danced for us all, he does deserve the point. 
So AGT 1 - BGT 0

Next week; we will see the Singing category.  Which has the best singers?

The Good - Carrie's Coat

As a 'Sex and the City' Fan and was pretty excited to watch the 'Carrie Diaries', it isn't as good as the original series and it is more toned down and teen-friendly.  It is a cute series and am enjoying tuning in every week, even if it doesn't compare with the original series.  Anyways I was watching last night's episode 'Fright Night' and came across Carrie wearing this gorgeous pale pink/nudish coat with pink buttons, which is to die for!

 

So obviously I had to do some research and apparently it is a Marc Jacobs coat!  Through researching on who made the coat I also came across this great site WornOnTV which is absolutely great and it's administrator's are pretty up-to-date they have already matched a lot of outfits which appeared from several shows which aired yesterday. So click away, you'll definitely find it helpful!

The Incredibly Bad - Littlewoods Europe No More!!

So yesterday, I visted the Littlewoods Europe Site and instead of finding my beloved shopping site, I found this message;

And my first reaction can be pretty much summed up in the following manner;

Then this;

I know it is just a shopping site, and there are millions like it, but I am incredibly bummed for the following reasons;

1. had a great selection of plus-sized clothing 

2. reasonably priced

3. had a great selection of basics and workwear, which other plus-size sites barely offer

4. delivered to Malta

5. had a visible review section which helped a lot when making decisions before purchasing

6. had great customere service

7. great shipping rates

Now mind you, the clothes haven't always been the best quality or the best fitting as their brands seemed to have a tendency to run short on the torso length.  Regardless of such disadvantage, the advantages outweigh them.  

 Being a plus-size girl I'm very limited in where to buy, starting from Malta where the retail shops apart from selling over-priced rubbish garments, the garments themselves are outdated, look cheap (not in the material sense but in the slutty sense) and are mostly suitable for women above their 50s.  When it comes to internet sites there aren't many that ship to Malta unfortunately.  The irony is many sites state they deliver to Europe and Malta is NOT included in the list.  Hello there ... we have been an EU member for almost 10 years now!  Some of these site owners need a geography lesson asap! 

Anyway now back to Littlewoods Europe, so obviously I did some research on why they decided to no longer operate and found this comment on their facebook page explaining the situation;

For me the reason provided was quite pathetic to be honest. As all many companies need to do is just put on some stamps and ship the stuff to these countries, it is not like people have different tastes in clothing and so there isn't a supply.  If they had a problem they could have just raised the delivery costs.  Also from a purely business perspective opening your business to other countries increases profit, not the other way round! It's good that you need to focus on your UK and Ireland customers, but I do not think providing a service to other countries decreased such 'focus', especially when comparing the European site and the UK site, the UK customers still had more choices, while the European site had much less choices in comparison.  Moreover, if they wanted more customers in the international market, then they should have advertised.  I only found this site less than a year ago, because a friend told me about it and she found out about it when she was looking for a specific brand and not because she saw an advert! Other sites like boohoo, Asos and Newlook do bother in advertising and also have more active Facebook pages, which has shown to help in increasing business.  Instead of closing the site, Littlewoods should have fired their marketing team as it did a lousy job. 

I hope the company changes its mind, as I'm not the only one expressing my disappointment that the company is not offering its services to us Europeans.  

If any readers out there have knowledge of other plus-size sites which offer reasonable shipping and priced clothing and is within the EU (I don't wish to end up paying a huge amount in tax for ordering outside the EU) then please do share. 

MaxFactor Mastertouch Concealer Review

Hey all,

I'm back.  It has been ages since I last wrote something on this blog, but now I'm back with more reviews, which hopefully you'll find helpful before making any purchases.

Today I am reviewing the MaxFactor Mastertouch Concealer, which I have just now completely finished and therefore can provide you with a better review of how this product performed thourhg different seasons.

About the product in general;

It comes in a pen like shape and the product comes out from the sponge applicator after you twist it until the desired amount comes out.  When you buy it for the first time, you'll have to twist it several times before product comes out, from then onwards all you need is a couple of twists to get a little product.  It comes in three shades only, and in my opinion none of the shades available are suitable for darker skins.  

MaxFactor advertises the product in the following manner;

'Ever wondered how top models keep their skin looking flawless at all times? Tried backstage by professional make-up artists at the hottest catwalk shows, new Mastertouch Concealer is a miracle product to give you the expert touch of a professional make-up artist. With an easy-to-apply texture it hides blemishes. It’s all down to a special skin smoothing applicator and light-diffusing creamy formula that makes precise coverage a breeze!'

So does it live up to Maxfactor's claims?

The concealer did help a lot to make my complexion look more radiant.  Application was very easy.  However, I still had to use my fingers to blend the product well as the applicator in my opinion didn't help when it came to blending.  

The formula was very creamy and easy to blend.  I mostly used it under my eyes or around the chin area.  I'm not a very morning person and don't like to wake up early, which always results for me having little time to do my makeup as I would run late, so on most occasions before leaving my house I would just use this concealer, my mascara and lipgloss and I would be good to go.  As application was very easy and the formula is very creamy and easy to blend and not very messy I was good to go in a couple of seconds.  When I compare it to the Avon Concealer I have, it takes less time to apply and achieve the desired result with the MaxFactor Mastertouch Concealer than with my Avon one.  

The product hid blemishes well and was not drying on my skin at all.  However, I have dark circles under my eyes and this concealer didn't conceal them as well as it did for blemishes.  This is quiet disappointing especially since on the product packaging itself it is shown as being specifically an Under-Eye concealer.  However, to be fair it is difficult to hide dark circles.  I used many products and none of them help a lot. Regardless, it did offer some help in making my dark circles look less dark and balance out my complexion.

When it comes to lasting power, like many foundations and other makeup products during the Maltese summer it is a complete disaster.  After leaving my house and arrive at work, I sometimes would have to blot my face a little because of the sweat and the product would immediately come off.  During the winter I had no such problem.  So if you have oily skin I doubt the product would last a lot.  

Would I buy again?

This is one of the very few products which I have finished completely, so that already gives adds a lot of points.  Although as one can see from the image there is very little product (basically the transparent part showing the product colour is the amount you get, the black part is the mechanism of the concealer pen), the product has lasted me for almost 12 months and being used almost every working day (i.e. Monday to Friday), so don't be fooled by the small amount.  I found that you don't need to use a lot of it, just twist until you get a drop of product and then dab a little on all the areas you need coverage, blend and you are good to go.  However, do keep in mind that I don't have a lot of blemishes and do not suffer from acne, which is why the product has lasted a good deal for me.  

So for the price of approximately 12 Euros, if you require a lot of coverage I would not recommend this product for you as for 12 Euros you can find other concealers with more product in them and probably a good coverage as well as this one.  Otherwise if you just need a good all around concealer with no fuss and mess, then I would definately tell you to buy this.  Indeed, I am miss using it, but first I would like to finish my other Avon concealer as I don't like throwing away stuff which can still be usable even if they are not that good.