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Oh Buoy – Brown Thomas’s summer promotion, complete with €250,000 beauty giveaway

May 12, 2012 @ 4:07 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

Have you heard about Brown Thomas‘s big summer giveaway event, Oh Buoy? Until May 20th, the department store is running a promotion that includes complimentary Murphy’s ice-cream, photobooths, live music and DJs and demonstrations from top international make-up artists. Plus – and here’s the sweet part – Brown Thomas is giving away €250,000 of gift card credits!

To enter, all customers have to do is to spend €60 on beauty in a single transaction, after which they bring their receipt to the competition desk on the ground floor, complete a skills test (basically, a quiz question or two!) and then pick a piece of paper from a tombola, on which will be written the value of your prize (if any!). Some lucky customers have already walked away with €1,000 to spend in-store!

I love free money, but even more than that, I love Daniella Moyles in the photocall for the event – so, in honour of her happy, smiley, bikini-clad self, more pics after the jump! (more…)
Competition: win a €100 voucher for Jervis with Jervis’s Top Model search

May 10, 2012 @ 2:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

Jervis Shopping Centre is currently running a model search, in association with 1st Option Models, to find Ireland’s next top model – every day until May 16th, contestants can enter between 12pm and 5pm in the centre by recording a video audition.The top 10, as voted for by the public on Jervis’s Facebook page, will strut their stuff in a catwalk show in Jervis on May 19th and the winner will be chosen by Brendan Courtney.

To celebrate the launch of the competition, which offers as its prize a contract with 1st Option, a €300 shopping spree in Jervis and a double-page spread in U magazine, Jervis is offering one lucky Fash Mob reader a €100 voucher for the shopping centre!

To enter, leave a comment below! But first, make sure you like Fash Mob on Facebook, Jervis on Facebook and either share or tweet about the competition – easy! This competition will close on Wednesday, May 16th at midnight.
Rachel Bilson covers InStyle – and a task

April 18, 2012 @ 12:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

So, for the rest of the day, I shall be attempting to figure out where Rachel Bilson’s dress – seen here on the cover of InStyle Australia – is from. If you can beat me to it (leave your answer in the comments!) I’ll give you the contents of my goody drawer (currently: a perfume, a mascara, a nail varnish and a gift card for Forever 21). And I don’t want guesses – I want well researched discoveries. Have at it!
Winners! Nokia Lumia 800 and €75 at Oasis

April 9, 2012 @ 7:03 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

So! Last week’s competitions have ended and it’s time to reveal who won what!

Firstly, the winner of the €75 Oasis voucher, courtesy of Oasis, is: #10 Maire! Congrats, Maire, an email will be winging its way to you soon – and after that, a voucher!

And then the winner of the Nokia Lumia 800, which racked up more comments than any competition ever on Fash Mob, is: #4 Robyn! Congrats – see above for email / prize expectancy

Thank you all for entering, and stay tuned for more competitions! (Right now, for example, you can win a Lancome goody bag!)

Winners selected using random.org.
The Irish Grand National courtesy of Carton House

@ 6:55 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

Today, as you may know if you’re following me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, I’ve been being spoiled rotten courtesy of Carton House, with a hotel stay, racing at Fairyhouse, Champagne through a straw and – yet to come – delicious dinner at the hotel and another great night’s sleep!

Here’s what I wore for my day at the races – a wrap-style multicoloured dress by Diane von Furstenberg, with a pink lip courtesy of Nars‘s Funny Face and (unseen!) brown wedges from Office. I had my hair blow-dried on Saturday by the lovely ladies at Steel Magnolias (€20 – bargain!) and it’s lasted until today and, hopefully, through tomorrow!

And here’s my lovely friend Clare, my date for the day, also in DVF – with a red lip from Lancome (more on which later …).

When we got on the bus to Fairyhouse we were greeted with a mini bottle of Piper Brut – and a bottle of water – along with a straw! Then it was a short hop to Fairyhouse and our private suite, from which we had a birds’ eye view of proceedings:

It was a great day, although I’m ashamed to admit I came home with very little in my pockets! Made some seriously wrong decisions, but I blame distraction – too much staring at the style on Pippa O’Connor, Celia Holman-Lee and Rosanna Davison, not to mention Brian Ormonde, who won Brendan Courtney’s tongue-in-cheek most stylish man award earlier on in the day!

And finally, here’s the reason we were there – Michelle O’Connor, from Navan, won the most stylish lady award, sponsored by Carton House and judged by Brendan Courtney and Rosanna Davison. Michelle was wearing a navy jumpsuit, accented with touches of red (the theme was “a touch of red”), and a cream faux fur stole. She looked really cute and quite different on a day that’s usually full of women in mid-length dresses!

Now – for you! As a guest at Carton House I was treated to a gorgeous Lancome goodie bag, which I am passing on to one of you! Inside: Lancome Nutrix Royal nourishing and restoring hand cream; a Lancome Ink Artliner in black carbon ink; a Lancome Rouge in Love lipstick in Violine Lamée; and Lancome Génifique youth activator. In order to win, leave a comment below – and make sure that you like the Fash Mob Facebook page first! (The competition closes on Friday, April 13th) at midnight; one entry per person; no correspondence will be entered into.)
Why do fashion bloggers dress so badly?

April 5, 2012 @ 3:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

This is a question asked by a commenter on an article on Showbiz.ie featuring me in the ensemble above, with Xposé‘s Kirsteen O’Sullivan, while we mooched around Grafton Street and watched the moddles have their photographs taken for Oasis‘s high summer 2012 press call. I called a friend to tell her about the offending comment and, when she defended me (as friends are wont to do), I said, “no, it’s okay – I was wearing my mismatched pyjama outfit with blue shoes”. Her silence spoke volumes.

Here’s the same outfit, in dim lighting, with different shoes and no jacket. Miles better, I think you’ll agree. In my opinion, fashion bloggers don’t dress badly – some, in fact, dress very well, while others dress very interestingly, and show no concern for what the general consensus will be. I, personally, like to play a bit of a fashion game – some days, like today, I am casual (in Levi’s, a men’s Arran sweater and a pair of Converse, with my mother’s old printed scarf); other days, like that day on Grafton Street, I nod to trends in full-on fashion, and alienate all who dare to look upon me. But I don’t care – fashion should be fun, and if some days I look better than others, well, it’s all good! Life would be so boring if I looked amazing all the time … wouldn’t it?!

Anyway, enough rambling! As congratulations for reaching the end of the post without falling asleep or dying of boredom, I’m giving you the chance to win a €75 gift card for Oasis. All you need to do is like Oasis on Facebook, like Fash Mob on Facebook (as if you don’t already!) and either tweet about or share this competition on Facebook. Don’t worry about wording or hashtags; you can even tag it with #desperateforfollowers if you want, I care not! Oh, lastly, leave a comment below reassuring me that I don’t look all that bad. Or, you know, tell me I look awful – honestly is king*!

* Nobody cares for honesty; just be nice.

One entry per person. The competition closes at midnight on Friday, April 6th, 2012. A winner will be chosen by me and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is not an April Fool: win a Nokia Lumia 800

April 1, 2012 @ 7:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

A couple of weeks ago I got a Nokia Lumia to try out – and it is seriously slick. It has a tonne of functions that you can read all about over here, but most importantly it’s super social, with Facebook, Twitter and email at the touch of a, ahem, screen. It’s also got an amazing eight-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and you get free sat-nav with Nokia Maps. (I blame sat-nav for the fact that I could barely find my way off Grafton Street without reaching for my phone.)

It also has thousands of apps (I think I’ve got about, oh, 0.02% of the way through exploring it) and, above all else, it looks great – it’s really sleek and light and thin! (I know, so fashion – I love how thin my phone is!)

I’ve got one Nokia Lumia 800 to give away to one lucky Fash Mob reader, and because this phone is worth a whopping €420 (minimum pay-as-you-go price; cheaper with a call plan), we’re going to make it a wee bit trickier than usual. (It’s a three-step!)

Firstly, like Nokia Ireland on Facebuke. C’mon, you gotta! Next, like Fash Mob on Facebuke if you don’t already! Lastly, tell me (in the comments): what type of camera does the Lumia 800 handset have?

This competition closes on April 8th, 2012 at midnight. One winner will be chosen from the entrants on a random basis provided all competition stipulations have been fulfilled; no correspondence will be entered into.
Mother’s Day competition – mother and daughter make-up lesson at Make Up For Ever

March 17, 2012 @ 10:29 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

Now here’s a competition worth getting in there for – worth €190, the lovely folks at Make Up For Ever on Clarendon St have offered me a mother-daughter make-up lesson and makeover for Fash Mob readers! You’ll both be treated to a glass of champagne at the Make Up For Ever HQ in Dublin 2 before your hour-and-a-half lesson begins, tailored to your needs – so, suitable for novices or absolute pros.

To enter, head on over to the Make Up For Ever Facebook page and like it (you obviously already like Fash Mob). Then come back here and leave a comment telling me your funniest mammy memory – everyone’s got one! If you tweet / share the competition, you will make me happy and I will be more likely to let you win. Simple!

The competition closes at midnight on Mother’s Day, March 18th (tomorrow). One entry per person. Good luck!
A pitiful whine – Lifestyle Sports winner

March 13, 2012 @ 5:21 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

I know, I know, what date is it again? I have been run off my feet … but the winner of the Lifestyle Sports competition is Ruthie at comment # 10, congrats!
Flash giveaway: one night B&B plus Crafternoon Tea for two at Carton House

@ 3:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

It’s a St Patrick’s Day to remember! You and a loved one / friend / frenemy / other half (etc) can experience all that Carton House has to offer this Friday night with one night B&B and tickets to Saturday’s Crafternoon tea. Say wha? Well:

Carton House in Maynooth, Co Kildare will be celebrating St Patrick’s Day with crafternoon tea – combining craft workshops and locally-sourced gourmet treats. There will be a knitting clinic hosted by the experts from This is Knit in Dublin’s Powerscourt Townhouse, along with pottery workshops and handbag making, with materials supplied. Cathal Kavanagh, executive chef, has created a menu of traditional Irish fare, which will be served in the kitchen bar. Crafternoon tea costs €15 for adults and €10 for children; under fives go free, See cartonhouse.com, tel: 01-5052000.

This competition will run until 6pm, Wednesday, March 14th, 2012. To enter, leave a comment below saying whatever you want, but be sure to put a real email address in! And if you’re having trouble commenting, refresh the page and then try. Often does the trick for me!