Merry Christmas, Lovelies!

A quick post to mark the occasion of Christmas Eve. I want to Thank you all sincerely for your overwhelming support so far this year. 


Life is hectic for everyone yet you've found time to check in, read a couple of posts and get involved and for that I'm truly grateful. 


Here's to a wonderful Christmas for each & every one of us. 

We Gots Winners!!

The past few weeks have seen more than the average amount of prizes cropping up on this here blog, some courtesy of one or two of the finest beauty online sites and the rest from my own póca. Just as a way to give a little back for the overwhelming support you've all shown. 

Without further ado... Winners!

First up: The Christmas Pamper Kit courtesy of Cloud10Beauty.com goes to...... Louise Duffy Kelly!! 

Next: The iTunes Vouchers go to ......Charlie Kelly! 

TheLikeMakeUpLoveUs goody bag goes to.... Jo Turner! 

The Movie Passes go to..... Cheryl Moulton! 

and last, but not least 

The NYX fabulousness courtesy of beautyemporium.ie goes to.... Ann-Marie Sexton!

Huge Congrats Folks! Please send me an email or message with your addresses so I can get this awesomeness out in the post. 

If you haven't been lucky this time, fear not. Giveaways will resume in the New Year & they won't be regifted lavender talc, I swears.

Thanks so much for your support up to this point. Being able to give back like this is enough to swell the heart. Three times ♥

Monday's Moments - 19/12

The last Monday before Christmas, can you believe it?! There have been so many moments this week that I've had trouble whittling them down to five. That could be put down to the season that's in it or the copious amounts of mulled wine consumed but hey, an awesome moment is an awesome moment, right? 

1. Could I be any prouder? Nope!

This here is the handy work of the youngest Gorgebag, he's 14 and, quite clearly winning at school. I'm actually not sure when I last saw a 100% score on a test. 

Who am I kidding, I was lucky to see double digits when it came to Maths. Yes he's a genius and yes he's reminding us at every given opportunity. For a perfect score? I'll allow it!

2. Janey MAC that's generous!

Behold Unconditionally Fabulous from the Ltd Edition Glitter & Ice MAC collection. I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it. As some of you will know I've been tinkering with Christmas nails and am working on a snow globe design. I knew this'd be perfect. 

In BT2's Dundrum, I picked it up immediately and headed for the counter purse in hand. Aidan, the lovely SA shook his head mournfully though. I was just about to protest about gregging the public with testers that aren't available when he leaned back to speak with his boss. Out whips the BT bag and he handed over the full tester bottle Gratis! Now that's customer service!

3. We'll keep you!

There are some mundane tasks that drive me a little nuts. Making sure things are always charged is one of them. Considering at any one time that I could have my phone, iPod, Kindle and laptop with me, that's a lot of chargers to remember. 


More than once I've left a dead as a dodo gadget behind having forgotten to charge. That's why, when I popped back on Tuesday to pick up post, I was over the moon to see my iPod sitting on my pillow, fully charged, courtesy of my eldest. There's little else so simple that makes my life so much easier. He got a noogie for his efforts. Thoughtful hog like 'im. 

4. Holla Back Gurl!

There are certain songs that when they come on the radio, I have to boogie, singing at the top of my lungs a definite accompaniment to the boogie (Specially when the lads are in the car). 

When we were stuck driving round the car park on Sunday we had one such occasion. This song came on, who doesn't sing every word? I was met with 'Ghawwd, Mam, you're soooo embarrassing', 'Excuse me, this is a classic', 'Yeah, sure, no one's ever heard of it'. Cue a girl driving past losing her shizz to exactly the same song! Shoulder dips and angry face included. They couldn't stop laughing. Point. Proven. 

5. Mamty Clause FTW!

Finally this week we have the moment I saved €200 on the boys' Christmas presents. 200 smackeroos by simply playing one shop against another, 4 in total, and promising brand loyalty should they do the best deal. To be honest I can't believe it worked as well as it did. I think I may have just been on a roll. 

Either way Casa Cherry is going to have two ecstatic Gorgebags come Christmas morning but if you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you'll know that they deserve it. I'd love to tell you what they got but those shrewd hogs are no doubt reading this and looking for clues. If that's the case, put on the kettle there lads, your oul Mam is parched!

And that us. 5 moments of awesome that have made my week better & my Monday more doable. I'd like to give an honourable mention to the 5 hour chats and laughs had with the gorgeous Karen & Mags on Saturday, Thanks Gals. 

Got any moments you'd like to share? 

 

Cherry Pick of The Week - Lloyd - Dedication to My Ex

Ever get one of those songs that just won't leave your noggin? One that causes involuntary shoulder movements? Yep, this is one of those, I'll apologise in advance. 


I do feel I've redeemed myself by finding the clean version to share though, Lawd but the original is durrty!


With vocals very like The Prince of Pop himself and a great ear for a beat I'm expecting we'll hear huge things from Lloyd in the future. 

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows - Review

 

Whos in it?

Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris & Noomi Rapace

What's it about? 

Picking up where the first Sherlock movie leaves off, Game of Shadows is a Guy Ritchie stylised version of the classic. Watson is about to be married but Holmes' mind is on chasing the evil genius and would be War Lord, Moriarty. There are rumbles of war throughout Europe that are on the verge of explosion. Mystery, action and adventure abound as the investigating duo race against the clock to stop him. 

Any Good? 


Game of Shadows starts off slowly but certainly isn't short on action. Robert Downey Jnr, looking fantastic and Jude Law (who I don't hate in this) is affable enough as his trusty Watson.

The plot should be straightforward but is unfortunately a little convoluted in parts. I do appreciate Downey Jnr's efforts with the accent but the early scenes were a little laborious. Far too wordy for an action film.

Bobby Downey Jnr - The Benjamin Button of Movies

Fear not though, as once we pass the opening 20 minutes you're in for a treat. This Victorian game of cat and mouse thunders along nicely with intrigue and laughs aplenty. Not the least of which, a nudey Stephen Fry, sorry, Stephen. Followed closely by a heavily made up Holmes in drag, in fairness 16 hour makeup wasn't available in Victorian times, I'm guessing. 

Ritchie's working of this is probably the coolest thing about this film. The third person sequences that see Holmes foresee his course of action in slow motion are slick & well thought out, especially when they don't go to plan. There is a slowed down chase scene toward the end of the film that is so beautifully shot that it in itself deserves the price of the cinema ticket.

Unfortunately poor Noomi Rapace is completely forgettable in her role as the gypsy woman, Rachel McAdams in her early scenes made a much greater impression. 

The Ladies. Noomi, barely recognisable from her movie roles. source

If you liked the first Sherlock you will Love this. It's not the best I've seen this year but the cinematography is beautiful. Purists will be outraged at how far the material is removed from the original Holmes, but hey, this is the movies, stay home & reread the books if that's your thang. 

   Rating: 

Have You a Go To Sing Along Song?

The season of Christmas shindigs and family get togethers with inevitable sing alongs is upon us. Here’s my question, do you have a go to Karaoke number? Or a sing along party piece that you wheel out every year?

Lámha súas here, I’m the very person, while sober, would balk at the thought of a roll call when the sing alongs are happening. In the same vein, I push the Karaoke book away as if the pages themselves are poisonous. When a few festive 7Ups have been imbibed, however, I’ve been known to bodily wrestle the mic from the Hawaiian shirt clad compère. I’m not proud.

Song choice can be crucial when it comes to these matters and can say a lot about you too, take for example my earlier go to choices:

In time though, bitterness abated and my song choices changed. These days I’ve been known to croon a medley of Mamas & Papas:

or Tina Turner (Backing dancers essential, preferably male)

For the more nervous singers amongst us i.e. sober here’s a little hint, the trick to an epic Karaoke outing is to pick a song that people will take over and sing for you. Prime example: 

or 

People can’t help themselves. You then get to mouth the words á lá Sunday mass choir, circa 1988, without ever singing a note & you still get all the glory.

Theory in practice? On a night out in Tenerife last year a good pal was nervous when her name was called; I gave her the Journey tip off. She'd only managed to sing the first words and when I say the place erupted I’m not exaggerating – granted it could have been my air guitar, air keyboard and air pan pipe renditions behind her but she went down a storm! I have abiding memories of German men dragging their wives from their seats to Hooley, English families belting out the tune into the top of their beer bottles and the barmaid giving it socks on the bar. Nailed it.

I’m not saying you’ll get the same reaction in your living room on Christmas day, actually on second thoughts; Nan attempting the electric eel on the lino is probably a bad idea, stick to 

yeah?

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol - Review

Cruise, the best thing to happen to a hood since Ezio. 

Whos in it? 

Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton


What's it about? 

All bets are off when the Kremlin is bombed and the IMF are implicated (Never liked those Guys). To avert nuclear war, Cruise and his newly assembled team have little choice but to accept the rogue mission in an attempt to clear their names and save the world. No biggie. 

Any Good? 

MI Ghost Protocol opens with Agent Ethan Hunt in a Russian prison, we have no notion how or why he's there but there isn't time to explain. Cue Benji (Pegg) and a slick, at times comic, prison break. By the by if Russian prison gives you the phenomenal grúaig that Tom is sporting I want in. 

The movie picks up pace quickly as the mission is explained. Action sequences are almost dream like and some utterly breathtaking. Once more Cruise has performed all of his own stunts and like him or no caps must be doffed. 

While the script is not razor sharp it is very funny, well as funny as foiling a super villain intent on worlds end can be. There are some real gems from Pegg and surprisingly from eye candy extraordinaire and Agent with a secret, Renner. The chemistry from the entire cast only helps to bolster this explosive action thriller. 


There are high tech- gadgets aplenty as we've come to love with Mission Impossibe, some that had my Road Safety hat twitching on my head, has to be said, GPS on your windscreen in a high speed pursuit = bad idea, buckling up before an intentional 100ft drop into concrete = good. 

Hanging out on set 

Brad Bird as the director here and Abrahms as producer have created a rip roaring action thriller that still flows beautifully. Cruise is back to his best, of not better and you'd be hard pressed to catch a better explosive spy thriller this year. (Tinker Tailor? Yawnsies)

Having shot over 25 minutes of the sequences in IMAX, MI Ghost Protocol could teach the 3D crowd a thing or two. Scenes are epic, bright and at times nerve shredding. 

Get yourselves to see this one. It's one of my top five of the year. 

Rating:

CherrySue's Christmassy Giveaways - NYX Fabulousness!

Where did those past few weeks go to, eh? Christmas is nearly upon us and I need to get people winning these prizes!


In one of my final Christmassy Giveaways, the gorgeous Folks over at Beautyemporium.ie have very generously donated two beautiful products. The NYX Grow Lash Serum and the stunning Morocco palette.

If you'd like to get your talons on these for yourself or a loved one, listen up! 

Same simple rules as before, entry is open to all followers GFC, Networked Blogs and Facebook but you must be a follower somewhere. 

Either a) Leave a comment below to let me know you're interested or b) Like my Facebook page & share the picture. That's all there is to it!

Of course you can do both, if you're so inclined, for two entries. Competition will close on Wednesday 21st  & is open to both UK & Éire. If you're under 18, do please get permission to enter.  Good Luck!

17 Eyes - Some Really Superb Shimmers

Yes, it is the season to shimmer & sparkle but I'm going to go right ahead and admit I've been loving these bad boys for months now.

17 is a budget beauty range, exclusive to Boots, that has never really caught my attention before. I think I always assumed it was for younger lasses. In and around 17, let's say, but once I picked up one of these metallic shimmer shadows I was hooked.

So far in my collection we have:

1. Statuesque:  a light, bright pinky taupe shimmer
2. Rose Quartz:  a duskier pink with a more brown undertone
3. Mardi Gras:  a deep, taupey brown with, again, high shimmer

Swatches in natural light: L-R 2, 1, 3

Under artificial lighting the shine is just gawjus!

I think I've been most impressed with the longevity of 17 Eyes, only €4.89 a pop gets you highly pigmented shimmer in a pretty decent sized pan. I've been using these with brushes and barely made a dent! While I haven't tried any of the mattes or brighter colours in the range, as yet, I can safely say this is a collection that'll be growing. 

Have you tried 17 Eyes before? Impressed?

Monday's Moments - 12/12

Monday's Moment's were MIA last week. For this, soz. Was probably the most manic week of the year with work, a weekend away & graduating but Hey, here we are, 12 days to Christmas, lets get going! 

1. Flash Unmob

Wait, what? source

There's a Storbocks right beside my office. Some days when I've had just about enough of the job I head in there for coffee instead of the canteen. It's a nice little shop, though the cushy chairs are limited and since I'm not an animal, they're my favourite. 

Usually I can rock in, order my drink & take my pick of the seats, Kindle in hand. Not so last Wednesday. Place was jammers. 'How unusual', I thought and proceeded to sit on the hard seats. Just as I went to take my first sup they all got up & left. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. There didn't seem to be a signal, or a worrying ticking sound, they just left. Leaving me alone. With the cushy chairs. Odd & awesome in equal measure.

2. Getting to know you...

Last weekend saw the Sis & I jet off to Vienna for the Christmas markets. I could fill several Monday's Moments posts with that weekend alone but instead, I give you this. That, dear readers is a see through shower, in the middle of the room, with no frosted glass. 

What kind of over sharing, no boundaries designer thinks this is OK? How do business trips fare? Imagine you were there with your parents? Ah we got a right ol' laugh, along the lines of 'Stop looking at me', 'Look at me', 'Look at yerself' and we laaauuughed, until it came to getting dried. To see saw the towel or not? It may be a while before she and I make eye contact again. 

3. Just the two of us...

Source

There's only three of us here in Casa Cherry, if you don't count the fatness that is Diesel. So we get to spend a lot of time together. But it is nice, though rare, to spend time one on one with the lads as well.

Picking up some Christmas shopping this week the eldest Gorgebag decided to join me. Huge rarity, heading shopping with Mam is just not heard of and only ever happens on a 'Bags I'm not it' basis. He wanted to pick out paint samples for his room, which is a whole other story. We got to chat, catch up and try not to elbow each other too much so as to draw attention from strangers. We went for hot chocolate and just shot the breeze. I even got a 'We should do this more often' out of him. Bless.

4. Timbeeerrrrr!

Source

Just outside the shopping centre every year there's a pop up Christmas tree shop. I say shop, I mean container. Every night the chap lugs each & every unsold tree back into the container to be sold another day. Meaning every morning he has to lug the same trees back out again & spruce them up for sale. 

Passing by on, possibly one of the windiest days Dublin has ever seen, I noticed that he had just put the last out. So pretty. Then there was a gust of wind. In the space of the two minutes it took me to drive past I saw him lunge for the toppling tree but missing, it collapsed into the next and the next and the next. It almost choked me. That poor chap. Those poor trees. My poor ribs from laughter. 

5. Lifetime's Moments

Finally this week we have this. Worth four years of blood, sweat, copy & paste. A degree. My degree, no, my honours BA, if we're being precise. It hasn't been an easy road getting this piece of paper as anyone having read my post last week will know but here I am nonetheless. Here we are. 

I'd like to say the paper itself is what makes me proudest but it's not. My Dad brought the lads into Dublin Castle on Tuesday to see the ceremony. Seeing him puff out his chest with pride, seeing my eldest rub my arm when I came out and the youngest tell me 'You look great, Mam and you've done great an' all'. They're probably moments that will stay with me forever. It almost makes all the stress worthwhile. Almost. 

And that's us. Five moments that have made my week brighter and my heart lighter. How's about you? Care to share?  

Good Deed, Anyone? - St. Vincent de Paul's Giving Tree

Since 2003, St Vincent de Paul have used Giving Trees at this time of the year. The one pictured above is located in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre but they're located in shopping centres and club houses the length & breadth of the country. 

Each year, since '03, when we're Christmas shopping the lads will choose a tag each and I'll double their wages for one week. They then get to pick out a present for the child on their tag and bring it back to the centre.

It's not a huge thing but it's thoughtful and they're more than happy to do it. I'd like to think it's encouraging them to be a little more civic minded and gives them some perspective too, which is definitely no bad thing. I've noticed they always pick older children, even when they were younger. It's enough to warm the cockles.

This year it's tougher than ever for families to make ends meet but if you find you could help in any way this is the ideal way to do it. As St Vincent de Paul say themselves 'You're not only donating a gift, you're giving hope'.

And who doesn't want to feel the warm & fuzzies from a good deed well done, eh?

If you're part of the Beauty Blogging Community & have gotten more goodies than you know what to do with, this tree is full to the brim with teen girls that'd love a goody bag of products they might not otherwise have the opportunity to try. I know I'll be putting together one or two and dropping them off with the lads' pressies.