Xmas Fashion Souk at the Waterfront

A wee quick post about my adventures at the Fashion Souk last week - thanks to the snow, my restock order only just arrived in time, & so I was up until silly o'clock the night before making samples - as you can see from the video my eyes were falling out of my head!

My sister and I had a fab day at the Souk, not least because we were 3 stalls down from the lovely John of the Sugar Room, & we invested heavily in some of his divine cupcakes!
I also finally got the chance to meet the lovely Amanda of BoopyDoodle - she's a FaceBook friend of mine who makes fun and quirky jewellery - I have one of her Love Heart bracelets & it always commented on when I wear it!
Thanks to everyone who came along to the Rock Face Minerals stall & also Aly, her team of helpers & the other stall holders for making it a great day.

Fashion Souk 12 December

Last post of the evening! The RFM girls are very excited to be let out for the day once again, this time we'll be at the Fashion Souk in the Waterfront, Belfast on Sunday 12 December 12-5pm. The Fashion Souk has grown from strength to strength since it started back in February - it's held on the 2nd Sunday of each month & normally it's in the Ulster Hall, but for December it moves up the road to the Waterfront. Check out the Fashion Souk Facebook page for more details & if you're there, please do come & say hello!

Ulster Tatler People of the Year Awards 2010

I really am having a catch up - just realised this was way back in September (which seems like a distant memory - it was warm then & there was no snow!) Anyway, I was chuffed to bits to be shortlisted as a finalist for the Ulster Tatler Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2010, & the ceremony was a glittering occasion in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. Lots of "people watching", though the awards did drag on a bit & of course I was up for the last one! I didn't win (but hey, neither did Christine Blakeley!) but it was a great experience, and James Galway on the penny whistle was a very special treat - click on the video below!

NI Natural Health Fair

Blimey! It's December already! Lots of blogging to catch up on! A couple of weeks ago Rock Face Minerals was at the NI Complementary Therapies and Natural Health Fair in Belfast. It was the first time I'd taken RFM "out on the road" & as you can see I brought my Mum & sister along to help out. Which was just as well as I was rushed off my feet all day, talking to people about the products and handing out samples to try! It was a really great event with lots of interesting people all under one roof & I did miss the small of incense & sound of relaxing music when I went home - to find that the rest of the family had spent the day in their jammies!
One of the other brands exhibiting at the fair was Natures Inspiration, a range of gorgeous natural skincare product, handmade here in Northern Ireland. I bought a jar of the Ylang Ylang moisturiser and my sister bought some of the lavender & we are both loving the products.This pic is of me & Shauna Gallagher, the very talented young lady behind the brand- please do have a look at her website.

Rock Face Minerals feature in Nov issue of No.1 magazine

I  have been neglecting my blog terribly in recent weeks - I've been busy with press releases and journalists' requests, & there's so much to do & not enough time to do it! So I thought I'd do a quick post this evening, as I'm thrilled to bits that Rock Face Minerals has got a mention in No.1 magazine.

Beauty Blog Reviews

Where has the last month gone! Wherever it went, it took the summer with it & we have survived the back to school stampede & are well & truly into Autumn. Which is great - I can cover up my legs again, & put the fake tan away till next year.
 Thanks to the wonders of Twitter I've had a number of very lovely beauty bloggers review some Rock Face Minerals products on their blogs.
Starting with May of MayLovesMakeup who reviewed Brown Eyed Girl & Mourne Heather eyeshadow, along with Clear Lipbalm and then rustled up a beautiful peacock eyeshadow effect using Lammas Fair and Mourne Heather.
Next is Gemma of TheBeautifulNews who reviewed Brown Eyed Girl & Ballyholme Bay eyeshadow along with Pixie Kisses blush.  
Jane aka Modesty Brown also reviewed Pixie Kisses as well as Sherry Darlin and Toffee Apple blush.
Rachelle of BehindtheShoes reviewed the Rock Face Minerals clear lipbalm.
& last but very definitely not least the lovely Kellie aka BigFashionista reviewed the hot new shade for AW10 Monaghan Mauve.

If you are a beauty blogger and you would like to review some Rock Face Minerals products on your blog, get in touch on the Contact Us page of the Rock Face Minerals website.

And the Winners are....

choosing the 3 winners!

Congratulations to the 3 winners of the Rock Face Minerals August Blog competition! Karen Monaghan, Suzi Hares & Amanda from Boopy Doodle who each win a Rock Face Minerals eyeshadow of their choice.
The answer to the question "which star sign runs from 23rd July to 22 Aug?" was of course Leo, & I was chuffed to bits with the number of RFM fans, old & new, that took the time to enter.
Thank you too for all the lovely birthday wishes; I had a fab birthday, camping in gorgeous Fermanagh, & I'll get some pics up on my blog soon.
Watch out for the next Rock Face Minerals competition in September, to coincide with the launch of the new & improved website, which is nearly complete.
In the meantime, it's the last week of the school holidays over here, so it's officially "School Uniform Name Tag Sewing Week" - Groan!

new smartphone - whoo hoo!

Call me a late developer but I've finally got a phone that can do more than make calls and text messages. Considering we got our first phone when I was 13, and even then you had to submit a business case every time you wanted to make a call (why do you need to call your mates? sure you sat beside them in school all day - what's left to talk about?) now I can blog, tweet, surf and generally find my way about with a cute bit of kit that fits in my pocket.
And the best bit? Magic Marker app - hours of fun!
Don't forget to enter the August blog competition; question is in the post below - get your entries in by 8pm on Sunday.

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Competition time again! & Happy Birthday to me!

http://www.claireshandmadecakes.com

Well - without giving the game away, suffice to say that my birthday is this time of year - somewhere between 23 July and 22 August. So, I thought that was as good an excuse as any to have another competition!

3 lucky winners will win the Rock Face Minerals eyeshadow of their choice - you just need to email me via the Contact Us page on the website, with the answer to the following question "what star sign runs from 23 July to 22 August?".

The competition is open until 8pm on 22 August & the winners will be drawn shortly after & no, there's no extra prizes for correctly guessing how old I am.

Photo credit goes to Claire Melvin of Claire's Handmade Cakes, a fellow case study in Emma Jones' book "Working 5 to 9" (available in all good bookshops!)

Back to Work Blues

here at RFM HQ the RFM elves have been on holiday for the last 2 weeks, so it's "back to work tomorrow" Sunday. Yuk!

aftermath of the "snow ball" fight

tractor racing at Castle Ward

For the last week we've had lots of relatives home from near & far, so we've had some great family get togethers, & a few days of chill out time. We spent most of the first week of our holidays camping at Castle Ward, a National Trust property in a fabulous setting, on the shores of Strangford Lough.
The weather was mostly kind to us, with just one night of continuous rain, which saw some fellow campers leave in a pretty soggy state the next morning! Thankfully, our trusty Vango stood up to the downpour no problems. Course, there's nothing like finding that the kids have decided to have a paper "snow ball" fight, the morning that you are trying to pack up everything to go home!
The kids had a great time - with the Monday being a public holiday in NI, a huge "pirates picnic" event had been laid on, so there were lots of pirates - young & old - wandering about. There's lots of lovely walks around the estate, and plenty for kids to do - as you can see, tractor racing was a particular favourite.

On the Rock Face Minerals front, work continues on the new website - fingers crossed I get it ready for launch in the next few weeks. In the meantime, the Rock Face Minerals eyeshadows and lipbalm have got a rave review by beauty blogger, MayLovesMakeup.Also check out the Charity Blog Sale - there's some lovely things (including some Rock Face Minerals products) which will be auctioned, for 2 great causes.

Summer Holidays!

Well the summer holidays are here & hopefully the glorious weather we had in June will stay around for July - we've got more camping lined up in a few weeks, so fingers crossed.
Don't forget, in this sunny weather, Rock Face Minerals foundation gives natural sun protection, thanks to the 2 ingredients zinc oxide & titanium oxide, which are both broad spectrum sunscreens. The beauty of mineral powder foundation is that it doesn't slide off your face in this weather.
Behind the scenes, I've been busy working on the new improved Rock Face Minerals website, which I'm hoping will be ready by the end of July. It'll have lots of great improvements, including better layout, customer product reviews, & Rock Face Minerals newsletter - most importantly the facility for offers & discounts - so watch this space for exclusive launch discount codes.
The pic is of the annual Waringstown rally held last week - if you have a vintage tractor, bicycle, car or motorbike it is the place to be!

Baltic in the Sperrins

Well, we went camping in the Sperrins over the Bank Holiday Weekend, which turned out to have night-time temperatures more like the middle of January! We now know what sleeping outside when it's 2 degrees above freezing - as we say in Norn Iron "Baltic!" Despite the weather we had a great time, & when the sun shined, which it did now & again, it was beautiful. We were just down the road from Gortin Glen Forest Park, and these are some of the Sika Deer that live there. Lovely part of the world, I'm sure we'll be back many times...

May Competition Results

We had great fun on Sunday picking out the 3 winners as you can see! & the winners are.... Jan Henry, Julie Haveron & Nichole Monteiro - each will receive a Rock Face Minerals lipbalm of their choice.
In addition, we reached 50 Rock Face Minerals fans on FaceBook, and 100 fans soon after! To celebrate each milestone, I had a random draw, and Trixie Sidebottom and Vicki Mse were the lucky winners of a Rock Face Minerals eyeshadow of their choice!
Thanks to everyone who entered!

Read all about it!

Got confirmation today that Rock Face Minerals is one of the 60 case studies features in an up-coming book by Emma Jones, about how to start a business in your spare time. Click on the whizzy link below for more details and 35% off the publisher's price:

Competition Time Again!

My New Year's Resolution to blog prolifically has fallen by the wayside in April - it's been a particularly busy month for one reason or another!
I should of course mention (again!) the thrill of seeing a picture of Rock Face Minerals Chocolate Toffee eyeshadow in print for the first time, having been Highly Commended in the Best Eyeshadow Category of the Natural Health Beauty Awards 2010.
We're off camping this weekend in the Sperrin mountains, which are over in the West of Northern Ireland. It's somewhere we've never been before, so hopefully we'll have lots of lovely sunsets like in the pic, & it won't actually be as cold and changeable as the weather forecasters suggest.
So - to celebrate our first award, it must be time for a competition. This time, 3 lucky winners will each win one of the new Rock Face Minerals lipbalms, which are handmade with all natural ingredients.
To enter the competition, just drop me an email via the Contact Us page on the website, with the answer to the following question - "what's the name of the magazine behind the Natural Health Beauty Awards 2010?"
All entries received by 15 May will go into the hat & 3 winners will be chosen at random on 16 May (the kids love that bit!)
Get entering!

March Competition - Quick Reminder!

Don't forget! The March Competition closes on Wednesday! See below for the super-easy question, and get your entries in!

Rock Face Minerals Bronzers now available!

I'm also pleased to announce the arrival of the Rock Face Minerals bronzers. Thanks to Rebecca, one of our lovely Rock Face Minerals fans, for requesting this addition to the range. Currently, there are 2 shades available; Bangor Belle is the lighter shade, for fair and medium skin tones, and Tenerife Tango for those blessed with darker skin tones. Priced at £12 each, they are available exclusively from the Rock Face Minerals website.

Rock Face Minerals Lipbalms now available!

Finally, finally, the new Rock Face Minerals lipbalms are now available on the website! Available in Clear and Sheer Plum, these got rave reviews from everyone involved in the trial process. They are packed with natural ingredients such as Cocoa Butter and Sweet Almond Oil, and don't contain any mineral oils, parabens or chemical dyes. Loving crafted by hand in small batches to order, they are £5 each and only available from the Rock Face Minerals site.

At Last! Dusk Foundation Shades Now Available!

It's taken a while, but I'm delighted to say that the 5 Dusk mineral foundation shades are now available. In addition, there's also a beautiful deep brown shade Cafe Noir, which I believe is one of the darkest mineral foundation shades available. All 6 shades are available as both full size products and samples, so like all the Rock Face Minerals foundations, you can try before you buy.

Lemon Parade is a new eyeshadow shade for spring (ok, so I promised it at Halloween!) - a lovely pale lemon shade with lots of sparkle.

Our First Award!

I'm absolutely thrilled to bits! In amongst the big names of the industry, Rock Face Minerals was Highly Commended in the Best Eyeshadow category of the Natural Health Magazine Beauty Awards 2010!
The eyeshadow shade which I submitted was the universally popular Chocolate Toffee, which is a fave with the customers of Rock Face Minerals - seems like it was a hit with the judges too.
So, Rock Face Minerals will get a mention in the Beauty Award book which will accompany the May issue, which hits the shops on 9 April.

March Competition

As promised on the Rock Face Minerals Facebook page, it's time for another competition. The previous competition had a geographical theme, being the name of the mountains in the current RFM logo (the lovely Mourne Mountains was the answer btw). However, one of my friends berated me that the subject was geographical in nature, since she only did celebrity gossip this days. So just for her (and you know who you are!) the question for this month's question is.....
"Which member of Girls Aloud recently announced her separation from her husband, a few days after appearing at the BRIT awards?"
(I thought it best not to make any mention of affairs, text messages, dodgy pants or lip-synching...)
Anyway, once again the prize will be a Rock Face Minerals eyeshadow of the winner's choice, and to enter, just click on the Contact Us page on the website, and email me your answer.
The closing date is 31 March and the winner will be drawn at random on 1 April.
Good Luck!

Half Term Already?

It's been half-term here, & of course Valentine's Day yesterday - we don't bother with all that commercial nonsense, but I did make a Nigella lemon drizzle cake as a love token (& I have surreptitiously scoffed most of it).

Saturday afternoon was a bit of a baking session, as the cherubs & I made some cookies. Cherub #1 made some very edible cookies; as long as you like a lot of chocolate sprinkles & 100's & 1000's on your cookies (yep, I've been scoffing them too). Cherub #2 however, just made a mess, & was very happy at it.

I'm pleased to report that today I managed to work off a fair few of my calorie credits with a trip to Belfast Zoo. The zoo has a wonderful location on Cavehill, so the animals have a great view over the city & Belfast Lough, but it is effectively a day spent hillwalking. We have a knack of choosing to go on days when the weather is atrocious; today it was just freezing rain & hailstones for Cherub #2's first visit; the first time we took Cherub #1 there was 3 inches of snow.
It just wouldn't be as memorable if it was sunny!

the shape of things to come?

I'm quite excited... my friend has come up with what could well be the new logo for Rock Face Minerals - & I quite like it. In fact, I like it a lot.
I had 2 broad ideas for the logo - it could either be edgy & modern & shout "ROCK!" at you (think Tommy Vance on the radio, if you are old enough) or work up the Northern Ireland theme & have a Celtic feel.
He sketched out an idea, said "leave it with me" & by the time I got home he'd come up with this.
Let me know what you think - I'd love to hear your comments!

whoops! I forgot to mention...

also now available is Sherry Darlin, which is the matte version of the very popular Rosalita, a deep pinky-rose shade of blush -perfect for a touch of glamour!

New Year's Resolution #2 - check!

Good news for those of you who like your foundation to be on the pale side, & aren't yet fans of Goth Girl mineral foundation - samples of Goth Girl are now available!
Also new on the site this week is Strangford Lough, a lovely sparkly lavender-grey shade, which blends beautifully with Mourne Heather.
The January stock order arrived this week, so all the products which were out of stock over Christmas are back in stock.
So now I just need to get the camera & light cube set up & take pics of the new Dusk shades - I'm quite excited to finally have the full range of shades from pure white to darkest chocolate!

1st New Year's Resolution - check!

There's nothing quite like that feeling of smug self-satisfaction when you can put a great big tick against one of your resolutions, even if it isn't the one about eating less cakes and chocolate. I'm all pleased with myself - I have finally, finally, finally uploaded the rest of the Rock Face Minerals brush pics onto the website. I won't tell you how long it's been on my to-do list; I'd be embarassed.

So, do have a nosey at the brushes, they are all specifically designed to be used with mineral powders. I hope you like them.

Next on the list are the new eyeshadow shades, & also the Dusk foundation shades - which will shortly be in stock. I have samples of the Dusk shades available now, just not uploaded on to the website, so if you are blessed with a skin tone darker than the shades currently available, & would like to try a sample or two, just click on "Contact Us" on the site, & drop me a line.