A Sunday Stroll (well, ok, i went shopping!)

Some days you just need a simple trip up the shops with a good mate.

Today was that day.

If you follow me on TWITTER you'll know that i missed out on going to the opening of Farever 21 in Glasgow as my work decided to schedule a meeting for me on that day (which was also meant to be my day off!) So i had to bide my time until i could go.

If you follow me on INSTAGRAM you'll know today was that day.

Obviously I'm still on that whole not spending money unless its really really necessary kick. So i promise all these things were entirely necessary (cough cough)

My intention was to hit forever 21, renew my travel pass and go home , but my mate needed to find a dress and i felt the need to support her in this task, my debit card didn't thank me but i had a lovely day out.

Here are my purchases:

Rimmel Precious Stones Diamond Dust

Today i have a little polish review for you. First off i apologise for the gnarly looking lid on this polish, i had a bit of a hard time getting it open so i resorted to using my teeth, do not try that at home!

The Precious Stones collection has been out for a little while now but i'd kind of passed it over until i saw this polish on one of my friends. See the thing is i had been debating getting one of the OPI liquid sand collection but i wasn't overly enamored with any of the shades, i kind of liked the ones with the more noticeable glitter but nothing was pulling me in. Then, as i said, i saw this...

Diamond dust has a dark grey base, with a crap tonne of glitter of all sizes/colours packed into it and its all kinds of pretty.

 I applied 2 coats of this in a quick fashion, i recommend the speed as this is one of those polishes that tend to get a bit gloopy in the bottle while your painting. But the finish? Oh my, hello prettier cheaper liquid sand! without topcoat this has the same matte effect as the OPI incarnations but i'm a scaredy cat and had to apply a quick coat of Sally Hansen Insta-dry. Having said that this polish is a bit of a top coat eater and after 1 coat you can still definitely see texture on the nail.

At the end of the day i think this has satisfied my liquid sand urge and at a much more purse friendly cost of £3.29 on promotion (usually £3.99) HERE i think i may have to spash out on the red version as well ;-)

Have you found any great dupes for liquid sand, or anything else recently?
Let me know in the comments below, and if your feeling friendly please do give one of my follow links a click,x

The Worlds Latest Birchbox UK February Review

While many people are posting there 'what i got in my March birchbox overviews' I have finally got round to sampling all the products in my February one!

As i mentioned last month i'd rather do review than an overview on beauty boxes as personally i love to read about how people got on with actually using the products.

So here we go.

This is what the box looked like when i first pulled everything out.

The first thing that caught my eye was the Nick Chavez Plump 'N Thick

I'd received a hair volumiser in last months box which was quite nice and this one followed suit. I think the best thing about this is that it doesn't have a scent. I find a lot of hair products to be overly scented which gives me headache so it was nice change to have something scent free. And the product itself did the job, and didn't weigh down my fine hair.

Next up was the Gerda Spillmann Bio fond Foundation

i was excited to see a foundation sample in the box as i am constantly searching for the perfect base. I was a little troubled when i noticed on the side of the box it was shade 4 , i'm casper the ghost pale so im usually looking for the lowest number possible on these things. I'd filled in a beauty profile when i'd signed up for Birchbox so i was horrified to open it and see a dark tan colour! I thought i might attempt to make use of it as a bronzer but when i swiped across the product it seemed to lighten significantly. I'd still say its a few shades dark for me but if i pick up a bit of colour in the summer it might work out for me then,

Eboost Daily health boost

I'm not so much a fan of vitamin drinks, in my opinion they're pretty overpriced and don't do that much. As these sorts of drinks go it tasted ok, but i didn't suddenly have the urge to run a marathon or climb a mountain, so i wont be running out to buy more.

Korres Guava Shower Gel

I've tried a few Korres products before and found them a bit of a mixed bag. I do however like the shower Gels and this was no exception. To me it smells like holidays so after a quick test i've put it straight in my bag for my holiday later in the year. Its the perfect size for travel :-)

Vichy Eau Thermale

Again i only gave this a quick spray to try it as its now also popped in my bag for my holiday. What i like about this is that it has a nice fine  mist spray that has a wide enough spray angle(?) to cover my big round in one go. It'll be lovely for when i'm laying next to the pool.

As an added extra there was a set of eyelash curlers in this months box. As curlers go they were fine and i'll probably use them but they are nothing special.

So all in all i found this to be a another decent box, i am a bit concerned about what this month might bring, as from overviews i've seen so far there seems to be 2 very different boxes doing the rounds. Hopefully mine will be waiting for me at work on monday so we shall see.

If you'd like to give Birchbox whirl this link will take you over to sign up:

 http://birchbox.co.uk/?raf=9794

I am not associated with Birch box in any way other than when i hand over my pennies every month to get my box!

Friday Favourite #7 My bedroom (and a big old philosophical ramble)

I mentioned in yesterdays post that i'd done a little bit of re-jigging in my flat.

I really love it all, it feels very me but the bit i'm loving most is definitely my bedroom.

You see I have a thing about the colour white, and before anyone says i know white is not really a colour. My entire place is painted white, i like it like that A: because it goes with everything B: because it makes my small flat feel airy and C: because i hate painting, this way if i fancy a change i can just change a few soft furnishings to get a completely different look.

My bedroom has always been a bit of an after thought on my home decorating crusade as well, its not really a room a parade of people get to see. So it was plain as could be, white walls, cream carpet, white bedding and dark wood furniture......boring.

But i can feel spring in the air! (though in Scotland at the moment spring seems to consist of rain and snow!)

And i wanted a fresh start, After all 'a change is as good as a holiday' and all that.

In my search for inspiration i was browsing the H&M website when i came across the cute Pink Flamingo Bedsheets and i instantly knew they were for me. The flamingos are quite the departure from plain white, but i find them fun and quite girly. They look exactly like something you might find in a Miami motel so i feel almost liek im on a nice summer holiday whenever i look at them.

The canvases on the wall are also new, well the canvases aren't, but the wording is. They may not look perfect but that's because i'm no artist.

If your wondering what they are all about it let me explain.

In the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 42 is put forward as the answer to THE question of life universe and everything, no one is terribly sure what THE question is but hey ho! Its a bit of an odd idea but a long time ago i became a bit obsessed with it, i love the idea of the randomness of it and i think that is the answer to THE question: randomness.

Life-Random. Universe-Random. Everything -Random.

And that's why i wanted a constant reminder of that on my bedroom wall.

Offt I've gone all philosophical there....... but if you still with me, don't you think the flamingos are cute?

Does the change in seasons spur you on for a change?

Let me know in the comments,x

Not lost at all.....

You may have been forgiven for thinking i'd disappeared from the face of the planet.

I didn't.

I've just had a very busy/frustrating couple of weeks.

This is what i did....(i'll leave out the frustrating bits)

Last week went by in a blur of fun-ness (yes that's a word!)

In between working like a maniac:

I took some time to reorganise my flat, there will be a little post on the best bit of this on Friday ;-) but i'm 1 picture frame away from feeling totally happy with the place. I've lived here 7 years so it's certainly been a long time coming!!

I went to a fashion show!

Glasgow School of Art has an amazing Fashion and Textile show every year that's run by the students to show off their wares. And this year I was an invited guest due to being involved with a charitable foundation that provides grants to some of the students. We got to sit in the front row which was a little cramped but the show itself was awesome, some very beautiful pieces were strutted down the catwalk along with some, er, more unusual designs. I really enjoyed being there. (Random Fact: When i started working i was firmly set on being in fashion in some way, i miss that now, follow your dreams kids!)


Also while i've been missing i had a couple of house guests, one of my dearest friends brought their boyfriend up to meet us Scottish lot for the first time. My friends can be a little much to take and i think we frightened him a bit but hopefully all will be forgiven by the time we go on holiday together in September...

We went to Khublai Khans which is legendary in Glasgow (and presumably Edinburgh as well). Its a Mongolian Barbecue restaurant and its one of those places where you can eat all sorts of unusual meat (not for the veggies really!) We had the feast option where you get a starter then you can go as many times as you want to the 'create your own' buffet and then a pudding. It was so much fun the boys all tried to out do each other with how much chilli they could down and everyone had a great time trying out all the different meats, my favourite is the springbok, but you can have just about anything, Kangaroo, Zebra, Ostrich etc and they had a big bowl of horse if anyone was missing having it in there frozen lasagne ;-)

Somehow we managed to spend 4 hours in there. I'm not sure how that happened but still we were well fed. then we headed out for a few drinks and a bit of dancing, one thing led to another and although many pictures were taken few are appropriate for public viewing....

Free lolly at the end of the night!

Me looking a hot mess, i presume this was an accidental selfie as i have no recollection of it being taken...

Needless to say it took a few days for me to recover.

Anyhoo, I'm back in action so hopefully i'll be able to get back to posting on a regular(ish) basis,x

And the winner is....

The winner of the Get your dupe on! Giveaway is..........


Courtney


If your Courtney, please check your email. If not don't worry I shall no doubt be having another giveaway in the future.xxxx

Friday Favourite #6 The Q&A 5 Year Journal

Early this year there was a little bit of a craze in the blog community around the Q&A journal.

But just in case you've been living under a rock i thought i'd through in my thoughts.

The basic concept of the journal is that every day of the year asks a question and under it there is space for 5 years worth of answers. Its a simple concept but also quite a clever one.

I reckon it'd be interesting to look back and have a snapshot of how life and probably more importantly my perspective on life has changed. Kind of like writing little notes for your future self.

Maybe it is the fact that i'm evidently trying to have a bit of a early mid-life crisis (see HERE and HERE) but i'm hoping that i can stick to keeping this diary as every time i pick it up it somehow gives me a bit of hope for change in the future (oh dear i've gone all deep again!) Seeing those blank spaces wondering what i might fill them with......

Are you doing a Q&A journal?

i got mine for £6.19 from Amazon HERE