Tea Time Bliss

Since things have all been quite crazy lately I've been trying to make a bit of extra 'me time' when I can and there are 2 simple things that are always guaranteed to make me feel a little better...

A nice cup of tea and a couple of episodes of QI (or 1 big episode of QIXL, depends on what Dave is showing)

Every autumn I like to try out new teas until i find 'the one'. This year I did not have to search for long.

I'd heard a few people mention the peppermint and liquorice tea from Tea Pigs and thought it sounded a bit weird, but when my friend dragged me in to Holland and Barrett the other day I saw a box of the same flavour by the Pukka brand and thought, Acht I'll give it a go.

OMG I LOVE this stuff!!  Don't get me wrong it does taste a bit odd but odd good. When you first drink it tastes like regular peppermint tea, but then it gives an out of nowhere sweet liquorice after hit. Gorgeous.

Even if you don't like liquorice I still suggest you give this a whirl as its very much a liquorice bark taste rather than a Liquorice All Sorts kind of taste. And for those of you wondering what I'm on about here is a pic of a twig that you can chew on that tastes sweet, yes really.

source: www.4ayurveda.com

I'd still really like to try the Tea Pigs version but I've never seen it in the shops around here, so I'll keep an eye out as if I go on their website I can only imagine the damage that would be done to my bank account :-)

What's your favourite tea?

Riding the river of life....

Ever feel that everything always happens at once? and its all just a bit much?

Since coming back from my holiday i threw myself back into work and started to prepare myself for the onslaught of the Christmas rush. Then i was knocked sideways by a few unfortunate circumstances, we we're working short staffed at work, which these days is nothing new, during trying to hold everything together my boss trundled off on holiday leaving me to run the show, again not a problem in itself. Then my work threw a huge curve ball into the mix, right before Christmas they are going to be changing the commission structure for our monthly payments, essentially meaning if you miss even 1 target by 1% you get absolutely nothing, not a penny more than your basic wage. If this was to happen to me i would lose out to the tune of about 300 quid on any given month. My mortgage was worked out by my bank to include my commission as regular payment as, well, it's been a regular part of my income for the past 10 years!

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days.......

Have you ever sat down to write a post and suddenly thought that nobody else is probably going to be that interested in what your about to say, but your going to post it anyway?

This is one of those moments for me. The thing is I went on and on about going on holiday for so long, I'd feel a bit odd if I didn't actually share the story of what happened when I was away.

This is going to be long, and I took a huge amount of pictures so it might be worthwhile going to get a nice cup of tea (or a wee cocktail) and find somewhere comfy to sit.....

Fat Girl smoooooth!

Better late than never... its 4 weeks until i fly out to sunnier climbs!

So here is my update on my progress on project bikini.

This past week i was meant to be trying out Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and working through Paul McKennas' "i can make you thin"

I've had somewhat mixed success, I haven't really bothered much with I can make you thin. I just haven't had time. my plan had been to use it as bedtime reading and work in the hypnotherapy CD at that point as well. As with many best laid plans the real world got in the way. Work has been so stressful recently that i've been asleep the minute my head hits the pillow!

On the other hand i have managed to stick to the 30 day shred, which i am quite pleased about. I wish i had taken before pictures at the start as to my eye i can't see any difference, but i'm hoping its doing something. Its only been a week though so i'm hoping that it'll kick in soon. What i am finding difficult though is the fact that i don't seem to be getting any better at it, about half way through Jillian bangs on about how folk on day 5, 6, and 7 should be seeing a huge improvement from day one, i'm not one of those people, Level one is still killing me but i will persevere!

So my tasks for this week are less weight loss related and much more superficial (lol) If i cant be the most toned lean goddess on the beach i'm going to aim for the lovely curvy girl with skin as smooth as butter...

I'm putting myself on a strict programme of body brushing and moisturizing. Apparently the body brushing is going to be flushing toxins from my body to reduce the wibblyness of my cellulite (now there's an image for you!) and the moisturizing will give me a nice even glowing appearance to my, so pale i'm almost see through, skin.

You can follow my efforts on the 30 day shred on twitter (link in the side bar) and if you've got any words of encouragement/tips on staying motivated please leave a comment below or give me a wee tweet.

Fat Girl Slim: Keep Calm and Clutch at Straws

Its the final countdown ( Dana na naaa dana na na naaa!)

The fear has finally set in.

There is a sun lounger in Bulgaria shouting my name and its get louder by the day.

In a little over a month I will be sat on a plane winging my way towards my first beach (read: only) holiday in 5 years and like most women who are no longer 22 I am dreading that moment where I have reveal my not so bikini ready body to the world.

So in a last ditch attempt to not be too self-conscious while i'm there i'm going to reinstate my rather quickly abandoned Fat Girl series.

For the next few Fridays i am dutifully going to check in on the weird and wonderful things i'm doing that week in aid of being a bit more beach goddess and a bit less beached whale.

This week is all hands to the deck as I am going to embark on two rather different ideas. One being the rather self explanatory, well known as being a bit mental and almost guaranteed to do something as long as I actually DO it. The other is a bit more erm..... out there.... well whats the harm if it works, amazing, if it doesn't at least i'm going to see results from the other thing.

So this week it's:

Jillian Michaels: 30 day shred

and 

Paul Mckenna: I can make you thin

I have attempted the 30 day shred on a few occasions now, most recently i little over a month ago when I managed 8 days straight, and even felt ready to move on to level 2 of it, but i fell off the bandwagon when I had some friends stay for a few days, much eating out was had and much wine was drank...needless to say I haven't been back on it since. This will change today.

And as for the Paul Mckenna randomness, this is a book i bought a long time ago when i was on a bit of a 'hypnotherapy will cure the world!' kick. I'm somewhat skeptical about how listening to a CD will help but I've read the first few chapters of the book and there seems to be some simple ideas and tips on how to recognize if your actually hungry and how to recognize when your full. I have a really bad habit of shoving as much food as i can into my mouth as quickly as possible and then i'm stuffed for days, so the idea of putting my knife and fork down between mouthfuls so i can finish chewing what i'm eating is so far helping me realize when i'm full before i'm stuffed. We shall see how it goes.

If you've got any tips or ideas of things I can try (no crash diets though, thats never healthy!) please leave a comment below. And if you'd like to keep up to date with my spectacular achievement/failure in this task please have a click on one of the many ways to follow this blog in the side bar.

Holiblogs

Things may have been quite on the old blog front recently but so much has been going on its all been a bit of a blur.

After the highs of the wedding came some real lows for a few of my friends, its so heartbreaking to see people you care about going through tough times :-( All you can do is be there for them when they need you. So that's where I've been. I'm on holiday from work just now which has come along at exactly the right time.

Part of my mission of bringing a little light back to the world came in the form of going shopping, who doesn't love shopping? After the usual toddle around Boots, Superdrug (yes there will be a haul!) and numerous clothes shops we headed to the Lego store. It may sound a bit of a random choice but its amazing how much being confronted with those little bits of plastic can transport a fully grown woman back to being an excitable 3 year old!

My main reason for going was that I'd heard that you can make a miniature you in Lego. Its awesome.

My friend and I made ourselves and one of our other friends who we meeting up with later that day. The girly face/clothes options weren't very good but we made the best of it, so mine looks slightly deranged but I suppose that maybe makes it more believable...

Now the above photo pretty much sums up what happened for the rest of that day, beers, best mates, mobile phones and a whole heap of silliness. It all sounded like such a good idea at the time... 

As I've been helping my friends out with there troubles recently they decided to pay back by 'helping' me out with a guy I like, facebook messenger is a dangerous place and I should know better than to leave my phone laying about unsupervised... Cant quite bring myself to read the entire conversation back but since it started with talk of a snorkel i don't think I can ever look this guy in the face again....but hey, at least he knows I like him! (I'll be expecting the restraining order any day now)

What have you guys been up to recently??

Friday Favourite #8 : Soap and Glory Sugar Crush

Todays favourite was entirely caused buy my propensity to read blogs.

Numerous people had mentioned in passing that the scent of this line of products was incredible. I never really took any notice. Until one day when i was casually wandering through Boots (as you do) and spotted there was a 3 for 2 on just as i was looking for a new shower gel. 

I actually picked up the body buttercream first as I wanted to smell the stuff before i committed to anything. one lung full of the gorgeousness that was contained in the tub and i was hooked. I got the shower gel and 2 of the body buttercreams.

Out of the citrus family lime is definitely my favourite, and when it comes to comforting smells cake batter is one that makes me happy. Thankfully this smells EXACTLY like lime cake batter!! Honestly if they were to make this into a fragrance i'd spray it on everything I own. (Dear soap and glory, If your reading this please please please bring out at least a body mist in this!!!)

But the thing about this stuff is that it more than just a pretty scent. The body wash lathers nicely and isnt drying and the body butter is ridiculously moisturizing, come to think of it this might be the reason I felt slightly un-moisturized by the Nivea body conditioner.......

Anyhoo have you smelt the wondorousness that is the sugar crush line yet?

Let me know in the comments below,x

If you want a job done properly.....the story of a manicure.

Get a cup of tea apparently i'm penning a novel on this one!

This story starts in a sad place. Well really it starts with me having a few to many while out to see a crazy gig last Friday night....and yes it did end up a bit like the Katy Perry song...i think ;-)

Needless to say i wasn't exactly feeling tickety boo the next morning but these things happen and i had a nail appointment to get to!

Once i'd managed to scrub most of the random band autographs off of my booby area (don't judge!) I headed off to my favourite Beauty place in town armed with a carton of coconut water but no umbrella, which was a little foolish considering it was tipping it down.

I'm not going to name the salon in this post as this is where things get a little messy, I've been to the salon on numerous occasions and its been great, I've never been for a nail treatment there before, i'll not be back for one again.

It was so odd, i sat down, and the girl seemed nice enough. I was in for a shellac and the first thing she asked was what colour i'd like, i mentioned a classic french, she said no.... that should've been my first warning. She asked if i minded having my cuticles done, i said it was fine, then she went to town-ish. I obviously wasn't on top form but i didn't fully realise what she'd done until after i was home, raggedy doesn't cover it and 2 of them had evidently been bleeding :-(

When it came to the application of the polish we'd got round to chatting about polishes, I mentioned my collection and she seemed genuinely amazed that someone would be that into polish. I know, I know, i should've ran at that point.

But for some reason i stayed.

What came out her mouth next was so shocking i believe my jaw may have hit the floor. She actually told me to just buy a lamp and get some polish to give it a go myself at home, she even explained how to remove it and how to paint over with normal polish if i fancied a change. Now this is something i'd considered to do eventually anyway but to be sat in a salon being told by someone i was paying for a service that i could do it myself really easily was bizarre to say the least.

But then again the paint job she did on my nails was truly awful. I once let my friends kid paint my nails when we were playing salon and even she did a better job.

Some nails the polish was flooding the cuticle area some had the polish starting so far up it looked like i had regrowth, it was so uneven and it was all set in place for my long term pleasure!. Had i not been so ill i would've noticed at the time and refused to pay.

I was enraged, so as like any full grown woman would, i took it out on some internet shopping....

Hello Mr UV lamp...

Hello my cheap dupe UV polish friends......

and

Hello manicure i'm not ashamed of....

I'll be back tommorrow with more details of what i got/ what i used but i thought some background on how i came to this point would be useful.

Also if you've been to a great salon in the Glasgow area please let me know in the comments section, i'll be on the hunt for a pedicure next and need some recommendations!

Haulage of ridiculous amounts of polish...

This post was entirely brought about by the stars aligning.

For the past 2 weeks I've had access to a car to head to out of town shopping centers (well tha'ts more a happy by product of having the car) then  I won a gift voucher at work and Sallys had a VAT free day and obviously Boots is having its glorious 3 for 2.

Ramble: You don't ask, You don't get

Don't you just hate it when life goes haywire and you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place?

Yup that's me right now.

The trouble with being stuck between that rock and a hard place is that eventually there comes the point where you have to make a choice. Kind of like that guy that had that accident while climbing, you can sit there and die or you can take a chance, chop your own arm off and maybe, just maybe, you'll make it out ok.

Now obviously i'm not in any immediate mortal danger nor am i suggesting that i'll be chopping of any body parts anytime soon but more and more i'm being drawn to the old saying 'you don't ask, you don't get'

As I've got a bit older I've become more of a laid back, go with the flow, if it aint broke why fix it? type of person but sometimes that doesn't get me very far. Opportunities slip past and chances aren't taken and more and more life seems a bit like its just passing me by. And i don't like it.

The other day i decided to make some changes, I strolled into work asked for a meeting with my boss and asked for a promotion. I didn't get it but the point is i asked and now my boss is aware of my wish to progress and has paired me up with someone further on at the company to mentor me to be in a position to get the promotion when it  becomes available.

I asked and although i didn't get what i want immediately i am now in a much better position than just sitting hoping something would happen of its own accord.

Since this happened I've been seeing more and more opportunities popping up around me. Opportunities that have probably been there for a while but I've just not gone after. The most exciting thing about this is that i just pitched an idea that could give me the chance to do something I've wanted to do for a really really long time. If it works out it'll be incredible but if it doesn't work out? Well at least i tried.

As they say, You don't ask, you don't get!!!  ;-)

What are the words you live by?

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

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

And so it begins...

Today is a little bit of a difficult day for me.

Its Payday.

Its pathetic I know. Having a payday should be a reason for joy, laughter, merriment.

But this month, which i think is the first month ever, i'm filled with fear.

Last months musings about the state of my finances made me wonder about what im missing out on in life. Don't get me wrong i'm still definitely wanting to achieve those things but this fear im feeling is to do with the fear of not being able to not just run out and buy everything in sight.

The theory of not buying random stuff when you have no money is very easy to deal with, the reality of having money in the bank and trying to persuade yourself you still don't need those things is very different.

I knew this would be hard so I've assigned myself a small budget (£40) for buying a couple of new things so i  thought it'd be easy to start and make a change but there's a whole world of pretty things swirling around and my inner teenager is throwing a proper strop about not being let loose in Primark.

So I chopped my nails off....

Yeah, so kind of what the title says.

You may have noticed that this 'life and nails blog' has been a little short on the nails front recently.

There is a reason for this, i'm still as obsessed as ever with my polish collection, but my poor nails have decided to give up on me altogether.

I don't know if its because of the cold and my seeming lack of ability in wearing gloves. Or whether the fact that where im working at the moment means i never receive any sort of daylight) but my previously slightly peeling but not that bad nails have flat lined.

Bending peeling and breaking, you name it im suffering for it. I've tried using a multitude of nail treatments and i really thought i was getting somewhere with the Sally Hansen Miracle Cure but eventually enough was enough so as you can see i've cut them back to nothing. Its not terribly practical for my work and i have to grab a hairbrush every time i get an itch but i know ultimately that if i keep them short, out of harms way and give them a bit of pampering all will be well with the world once more.

I am hoping to get a few more nail posts up in the next while but please bare with me during this difficult time...

Does anyone have any suggestions on good polish colours that look nice on short nails? 

Friday Favourite #5 Burt's Bees Beeswax and Banana Hand Creme

Todays favourite is back to being beauty related, Hurrah!

I picked up this jar of Burts Bees Beeswax and Banana Hand Creme back in a haul last October, put it in a drawer and promptly forgot all about it. Honestly this happens to me so often.

Anyhoo i dusted it off last weekend....

First off the scent this product has is quite strong, this doesn't bother me but if you've got a sensitive nose it could be a little much. The other thing about the scent is that its FULL ON foam Bananas. If your unsure what a foam banana is, its a kind of sweet shaped like a banana and it has the most synthetic banana sugary sweet chewy foam texture. They are awesome.

 

I love the scent, and i love this product i think it leaves my hands lovely and soft. It is really quite greasy so if your after a sinks in and your ready to go kind of product i'd maybe not suggest splurging on this as it is pricey for a hand cream, but if your after a good treatment for your hands or something to use with some cotton gloves this is definitely worth a look.

I keep it on my nightstand and apply it, liberally, before i go to bed, and in the morning i wake up to soft smooth hands.

Happy days :-)

Whats your favourite this week?

Meanwhile in another world....

So my last post was perhaps slightly heavy in the self indulgent wittering front.......this is about to continue.

Since than I've become a little bit obsessed with the concept that the life i would love to live is not actually that far out of my grasp.

I took stock of my bank account, yes ladies  in the cold harsh light of day i took that big bull, grabbed it by the horns and stared it square in the eye (that's a saying right?)

Horrified doesn't cover it. 

I reckon on average I spend nearly £300 a month on unnecessary rubbish. Part of this spent on paying off previous 'buying stuff' misdemeanors (which obviously needs to be done) and part is caused by getting over excited when there's a deal on in Boots (which, not matter how i justify, does not need to be done).

Now some people will think oh that's not so bad, but others, like myself, will see that number and feel a little bit sick.

Imagine for a moment that money didn't wander off every month. 

I wonder what i could do....*if blogs went fuzzy and into dream mode that would happen here*

If i had £300:

I could get myself 'Trev', my beloved imaginary fiat 500- I could even afford the insurance and filling him with petrol and probably the odd day trip, maybe a jaunt to Ikea or visiting friends that i hardly ever see due to public transport being utter poop.

Mind you i'd also quite fancy a weekend in Rome

or

I could spend a week in Marrakech!

or if i could be bothered to hold off for a whole month £600 would get me

A weekend in NEW YORK!! I could be that annoying person that goes to New York all the time, oh how i want to be that person.

Once i get to 3 months worth (£900) things get crazy that would get me

8 nights in Sri Lanka - Random fact: my Grandmother lived in Sri Lanka when she was a child, i'd LOVE to visit there. 

And in 4 months i'd have enough for a ROUND THE WORLD plane ticket.

All this stuff is pretty travel orientated but there really is a whole world out there and i want to see it. I want to be the granny in the old peoples home with albums and albums full of photos bothering the nurses by retelling the anecdote about how i once stayed awake all night because i could've sworn i saw a scorpion in my tent, though that's already happened, but you get my drift.

What would you do if you had the money?

I promise i'll back to more of the lighter nail polish/beauty/tea posts soon but by golly imagine how cool it would be to incorporate some of the above on here????

Fat Girl Run??

As you will know if your a regular reader last year i had a series called  Fat Girl Slim. It was short lived to say the least, i mean Christmas just isn't the same if you don't keep your sugar levels sky high with a constant intake of Quality Street.

But now we're at the start of February and my habit of having cake for dinner really must end. There's a bridesmaids dress to fit into and even more scarily there's a bikini to be donned on my beach holiday. The good thing about these 2 events is that i only need to lose a bit for the wedding (June) and once i get to that its only a bit more and a case of extra toning for the holiday (September) so i have a decent run at this timeline (see what i did there....)

My problem is that when it comes to exercise i have the attention span of a 3 year old. I've lost count of the amount of workout DVDs that I've used once and lost interest in. They get wheeled out from time to time but not with enough regularity to actually achieve anything.

So onto my next fad, running. I've never seen the point, you'd never even catch me running for a bus but i have friends that run and live quite close to a jolly big park so it seems logical that i give it a go.

Now obviously this requited me to go and buy some running shoes (any excuse to shop!)

They're so pretty! The recommendation is that you should go to a specialist store and be 'fitted' for running shoes so you don't do yourself an injury. I haven't done that  but since i'll probably run to the end of the street and pass out before shoving them in the bottom of my wardrobe i didn't want to spend to much. If this works out i'll go and get a special pair.

So here i am ready to go, i should probably stop procrastinating by babbling on here :-)

Are you a runner? how do you stay motivated?
And can anyone recommend a good android running app?

Seche Magnifique

I have a confession to make. I haven't been into Sallys for MONTHS. Most of the time i can recite the approximate stock of each nail range in each branch of my city but with moving my work to an out of town location i no longer just have a wander down on my lunch break :-( 

But i went into Oswald Street the other day I've just been paid and it was VAT free day, that's a combination i couldn't ignore. I also couldn't ignore the big Seche colour stand that they had right next to the checkout. I've no idea whether these were new in or had been there for a while but i was curious so i had to pick one up. There wasn't anything that was out of the ordinary in the colour range that i could see, which was a bit disappointing but i've been looking for more summery colours so Magnifique seemed to fit the bill.

I've been a fan of the Seche Vite fast dry top coat for a while so i was looking forward to see i got on with this. The formula was nothing special it was easy enough to work with, the brush was very similar to the one with the top coat (but that's hardly surprising) I could possibly have got away with 2 coats but i did 3.

 Its more a deep magenta than the pink that it photgraphs but the pictures do show the really pretty blue shimmer that made me pick up the polish in the first place, i think it gives an unusal edge to the colour, and will look even nicer when i get a bit of colour (as much as i get colour!) in the summer. What i've found with a lot of polish with shimmer is that the prettiness doesnt show up on the nails, not with this! It inst quite as bright but its definitely still there.....

Is it just me or does it look like Simon Cowell reflecting in old pointy??

The picture above shows the pink more true to colour. I really like this colour, and i probably would by more from this brand but the colour range seems a little 'meh' at the moment but i will be watching to see if more are released over time.

Have you tried anything from the Seche range? What did you think?

Friday Favourite #3 Activia Kiwi

Ok, so its not as exciting or glamorous as an Urban Decay giveaway but these posts are about what my favourite of the week and this week its a yoghurt.

I was at my folks a few days ago for dinner and I decided to help myself to a yoghurt, as you do!

I realize kiwi sounds a bit odd as far as a yoghurt flavours go, but its SOO GOOD!

Sweet but not sickly, slightly tart so quite refreshing and the bits of kiwi that are in it still resemble kiwi instead of being squishy mush. Really love this stuff.

The only down side I've found to this is it only comes as part of  the summer fruits 8 pack so for every 2 of these i get i need to eat my way through 6 others, but according to the lovely Gok Wan apparently eating all this will make me feel good on the inside.

i don't know about that but i do know i'll be eating this like its going out of fashion, and be warned, if your round my house any time soon i may force you to eat a strawberry yoghurt.....

Whats your favourite this week?