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.

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

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?

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?

The soon to be giveaway....

Hello my lovelies!

I'm in a really very jolly mood today :-)

I have an entire week off work so i'm going to spend it doing all the things i love sleeping, eating, spending time with friends and once payday hits SHOPPING!!

Now over the past few months I've grown quite attached to my little blog here and I've even managed to get a few of you to join in.

I'd like to thank those that have clicked the button to keep up to date with my crazy going ons, so to combine the shopping i'm doing this week i'm planing on picking up a little follower giveaway present, an Urban Decay Naked Basics palette to be precise.

There will be a post letting you know when this giveaway gets going so i suggest you click on the GFC button over there -------> so you can make sure to get your entry in.

The giveaway will begin once i hit 50 friends on GFC so make sure you let others know by sharing this post on twitter, google+ etc as the quicker we get to that point the quicker someone will win!!


And on a completely unrelated point.....

Should i reinstate my crazy short fringe?

I know it looks a bit 'out there' but i'm dying for a hair cut! (sorry for the awful quality of the photo, old skool camera phones and dingey clubs don't mix well!)

Favourite Friday #1

Welcome to a new semi-regular series that i'm planning!

The title of  this series is pretty self explanatory, on Fridays i'm going to blog about a favourite.

I know this is not an entirely new concept in the blogging world but i always really enjoy reading about what people are loving right now. So hopefully other folk feel the same.

The topic of this post may vary wildly depending on what i feel like i'm loving at the moment so expect posts on beauty, lifestyle, food, fashion, and everything else in between!

I'm one of those people that once i like something i stick to it like glue, well at least until something else catches my eye,just ask my folks about the time i'd eat nothing but fish fingers!.

This week my main love has been... Essie Tea and Crumpets

Firstly lets take a moment to bask in the cuteness of its name, i mean who doesn't love a nice mug of tea with a wee crumpet on the side. The name itself screams comfort and security, and that's exactly what this polish offers.

Its nude enough to make even stumpy nails look lady like, even if it does get a bit of tip wear it still manages to look classy and the best part is it goes with EVERYTHING!

Whats your current favourite?

Penny for your thoughts?

I've seen quite a few blog posts recently talking about various "no spend" type challenges where people are challenging themselves to only by things that they've run out of or genuinely need (and things like food and bills obvs!) but not buying things that they just fancy the look of. And I've found myself drawn more and more to this idea.

Now obviously doing something like this would probably do my bank balance the world of good, after all I've a holiday to pay up and i did promise myself that i would pay off those pesky credit cards this year.

However, and this is my dilemma, short of randomly writing product posts about things like how much i like my toothpaste and lifestyle posts that way up the pros and cons of beans on toast versus beans with toast how would being a blogger work without spending a bit of unnecessary money?

I am a chronic spender, i'll buy anything if i can justify it to myself and i work in sales, thinking up reasons to justify buying stuff is essentially what i do all day everyday. But I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and today i was stood in Superdrug with a fist full of nail polish and the oddest thing happened, i went and put them all back and left empty handed.

I seem just to be musing over my thoughts here but i'm genuinely interested in what you guys think about this idea. Do you "take care of the pennies so the pounds take care of themselves" or are you in the same camp as Oscar Wilde and reckon "Anyone who lives within their means lacks imagination"?

Let me know in the comments below or give me a tweet (link in the sidebar)

And just in case you were wondering this is currently my favourite toothpaste :-)

A little catch up...

Hey, how are you?!

First off i'd like to thank all you you that left me a comment or sent me a tweet about my last post.

The night out didn't really go as planned but i ended up having an absolutely awesome night with my friends so all was not lost. We had a few (too many) drinks and at the end of the night there was a pair of ear muffs, no one can quite remember where we picked them up from (i have a horrible feeling they were abandoned on the the street, ewww!) but we all had a shot at wearing them, which amused us immensely.

Sorry for the blurfest but, as i said, we'd had a drink or 7.

Blogmas obviously fell by the way side slightly but due to a bit of a hiccup at work and trying to fit in a teeny bit of Christmas pub going fun i ended up with no time. I did do a festive mani that i had meant to blog about so here's a wee pic here....

New Year was an interesting one, I headed to a local pub/club with one of my mates. There were drinks, there was dancing but thankfully because we'd stayed local there wasn't a 4 hour wait for a taxi home :-)

Did you make any new years resolutions? Are you managing to stick to them?

The only thing i resolved to do this year was pay off my credit cards, its not got off to a great start with me booking a holiday for later this year but i haven't left the country in literally years so i could really go some snoozing on a sun lounger on a beach. We're heading for Bulgaria (does that make anyone else instantly think of the wombles? showing my age a bit there). We're going to be staying at Helena Park in Sunny Beach...

Image Credit www.firstchoice.co.uk

I've never been before but the hotel has good reviews, its all inclusive and i'll be there for my birthday so i'm super excited. Absolutely cant wait to do a 'holiday haul', i have a bit of an obsession with those miniature toiletries......

Have you ever been to Bulgaria? Do you have any tips for places to go/things to do?

I'll hopefully have a new review up on sunday, i picked up some MUA fur effects recently so i'm keen to have a go.

Is there any other new products you think i should check out? Leave a comment below or send me a tweet(link in the sidebar) and i'll check them out.

Merry Blogmas!

Now first off is Blogmas one S or two?

Answers on a postcard.


I won't make promises on this as I work in retail and have been known to come in from work and immediately hide under my duvet (while still wearing my coat) due to the utter craziness that is work. But I feel I have been quite rubbish of late on the old blog front so I'd like to get a little more back on track.

 

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Christmas.

I love all the obvious fun stuff like parties, Starbucks red cups, giving people I love presents and eating so much I might explode.


 

But I do have a couple of things that I'm really not so keen on like being so skint from buying presents that I'm drinking tap water at the work Christmas party, waiting on the bus in a complete blizzard and the inevitable awkward trip to see some relatives you only ever see once a year.

 

And don't even start me on having to perpetually answer the age old question "so have you found yourself a nice young man yet?" (which reminds me I really should pick up some mistletoe.....)

But most of the time I'll be that annoying one running around singing along to Mariah Carey and making everyone eat mince pies.

 

Are you a holiday lover or are you a bit of a Scrooge?

 

On a completely unrelated note does anyone else find Brad Pitt totally cringe-worthy in that Chanel advert?


 

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The apt polish (OPI Not like the movies) NOTD

Hey, long time no see!

Feels like forever since I've blogged.

But life just got a bit in the way.

Today's post is inspired by the random way my brain works.

It was Sunday afternoon that I realised I'm prone to a bit of apt polishing. What I mean is if I have a polish that somehow fits my mood I'll tend to reach for that one.

Like using my private jet before boarding a plane, or breaking out beach party for a trip to the beach, or last years favourite for me which was the minute it snows covering any and all manicures with a layer of snow globe.

This time it is Not like the movies from OPIs Katy Perry collection. This is by far and away my favourite polish ever in the world. All the pretty shades of purple silver and green and shimmer. There is really nothing to not like about it.

 

However......

 

This found its way onto my digits as recently as sadly I'm currently more than a little disillusioned on the old romance front. There's a guy, I like him, he's very sweet to me. I can't decide whether I'm coming or going. Guys can be so dumb sometimes........le sigh.


 

Do you ever apt-polish? If so what are you wearing now?

 

 

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All change!!

So yet again i find myself with a work related NOTD.

But hopefully this will be the last one, for a while at least.....

Due to the multi-coloured nature of my new environment I'm doing a double hander.

The 'Aqua' is Fly from OPI

The Yellow is Rimmel Lemon Drop

The Orange is the one I used in this POST

And the Magenta I used in this POST

In other news I managed to burn my face with my straighteners today.

Tomorrows post will be spooktacular ;-) 

Do make sure you subscribe to find out why!

Frankenstein Nails

I was having a browse on YouTube for some ideas for Halloween nail art and i came across THIS VIDEO by missjenfabulous. I really like her simple designs that even a nail art newbie like myself can follow.

I fell in love with the Frankenstein nails, as they are a nice change from the usual pumpkin effort i do at this time of year. There may be a couple of NOTD designs over the next couple of days as i do love a good themed manicure.

I didn't have a good shade of green for the Frankenstein design so it was also a good excuse to feed my polish addiction. I picked up BeautyUK Sage Green in a haul i did yesterday.

In Jens version she used dotting tools and nail art pen to do the art bits but i saw a post recently (sorry I'm not sure who it was) where the person used an eyeliner for the drawing part which is what i had to hand today.

I've never used a BeautyUK polish before and i found this one surprisingly nice. Opaque in 2 coats, possibly could have got away with one even.

Using the eyeliner i drew on faces and stitches and did some googly eyes with white polish to bring him to life.

Finally I did a coat Seche Vite to make it nice and shiny.

Some sort of topcoat is really important if your using eyeliner for the art, or it'll just turn into a blurry mess when you wash your hands.

Have you done any Halloween nail art? If so let me know in the comments and make sure you subscribe for a couple more spooky designs coming between now and the 31st!

(I apologize for my hideous cuticles here, I've been a bit lax on the the old glove wearing, and well its so cold that it snowed a bit today!)

25 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

I saw this TAG doing the round on You Tube and thought, as I'm quite new, that it would be a fun way to get to know each other.

Basically its a list of little known things about you (kind of what it says!)

So here's mine.....

1. I used to play in a Brass Band at championship level
2. I once got drunk on a night out, decided I wanted to go to New York, stumbled home, booked tickets and went.*
3. I've trekked across a desert
4. I'm a bit scared of potatoes
5. Tic Tacs make me feel sick, even just the smell of them Ewwwww!!!
6. I don't like Chocolate cake
7. I know how to windsurf
8. I make incredible Spag Bol (really it is incredible)
9. I don't like wet plates, cutlery or glasses (doing washing up is a challenge for me)
10. I love Poirot
11. I have a pierced tongue
12. When i was a kid i had a boat
13. I have a goldfish called Cup (Cake died)
14. I'm obsessed with self help books. Not that i need help, they are just interesting!
15. I have a scar on my bottom lip
16. I've watched all of Star Trek: Voyager
17. I LOVE  peeling the plastic off of new electrical devices
18. I have a talent for putting together flat pack furniture
19. When i was 18 i was a goth
20. I sometimes have Pink hair*
21. My iPod is a curious place of metal, rock, punk and Britney Spears...
22. I went to St. Andrews at the same time as William and Kate
23. All  my significant boyfriends names have started with the letter R
24. I've named my car Trev (but I don't actually have a car)
25. I love aeroplane food.

So that's mine.

I tag everyone that's read this far to do this and make sure you leave a comment below if you do so i can have a snoop ;-)

*Pictures to illustrate the fun facts!!

                                               

In with the new....

So i started a new job yesterday and, much like Saturdays post, it seemed only fit to do a manicure for the occasion.

As i mentioned i haven't left the company but its certainly time for a colour change....

Enter the era of pink (or as my work would call it 'Magenta')

The main colour is Barry M Shocking Pink and the accent nail is W7 cerise Pink

I've found the whole change exciting and terrifying all at once.

And i didn't help when my alarm didn't go off on my first day, I woke up 10 minutes before my shift start on the other side of town. It was horrific. Then my new boss decided, after an hour, that he was taking the rest of the day off and left me in charge......

I'd been at my old work for a very long time so I'm very much a fish out of water at the moment. I'm hoping it'll get easier soon, but there is some big changes still to come....

So I've gone from Orange to Pink I wonder what next week will hold ;-)

To keep up to date please remember to click one of the follow links on the sidebar,x

Out with the old...

Today was my last day at my current work and i marked the occasion in the best way i know how.....

With a manicure :-)

This is Models Own Beach party, with a ring finger accent of Barry M Tangerine.

Really one Orange polish would have done but this combo was a bit more interesting and throughout the day i had a lot of lovely comments on it from both colleagues and customers.

The Models own polish itself is essentially Neon Orange, very vibrant and uplifting.

The Barry M one is darker with a bit of a shimmer. It reminds me of boiled sweets.

At the end of the day, it'll be sad to take this one off.
But soon a new manicure will be in order.....

Although I've changed where I'm working I've not left the company so over the next few weeks it may get a bit obvious where i work (depending on your level of brand knowledge) especially as there will be another huge change at the end of the month....

I'm not supposed to talk about where i work online but i can show you pretty polishes :-)

If you'd like to keep up with developments please do remember to subscribe, these a couple of options in the sidebar --------->

Fantasy Fire NOTD

This one has been around for a while now, and been in my collection since it first came out but it still makes me stare at my nails like a woman possessed.

When it first came out there was a huge amount of hype that it was a dupe for the fabled 'unicorn pee' (Clarins 230).

Having never seen that one in real life i don't really think i can comment on that, but at one point bottles of this we're flying around the interweb for silly prices.

What i definitely can tell you about is that its really like nothing else i own.

It is very sheer but the range of colours that shine from it is amazing, red, pink, green, blue, purple in a jelly base. I have used this as a topcoat and it does an incredible job at that. But as a special treat i think it's gorgeous on its own.

This is 3 coats, a 4th would have made it more opaque but i like the still slightly see through effect of 3. I took this shot in quite bright light to get some of the green to show, the effect under bog standard light is more that of the bottle shot above. But as i mentioned all the colours do make an appearance when you wiggle your nails around doing day to day things.

If you can get your hands on this i'd highly recommend it.

I'll be taking part in the #bbloggers bloghop again tomorrow so if your here from there HELLO!!
I'd love it if you subscribed, i always check out new followers blogs :-)

TAG: I Heart Fall/Autumn

I had been thinking about doing a few tag style posts on here as i find it interesting to see the differences in peoples answers. Then i saw that Clare from makeroomforcupcake.blogspot.co.uk/ had done this one and i was inspired.

Now some of these things have been mentioned before on here as I'm not shy about proclaiming my love for this season but i thought it'd be nice to bring them all together.

1 Favourite Fall lip product?

I've got 2 for this as if i don't have one on i definitely have the other.



Mac Cunning. This was from the Fabulous Felines collection from a while back, Its only recently i rediscovered it, it looks scary in the tube but its a nice deep berry wine colour when applied.

And the other is Blistex Medplus lip balm. I don't think I'd make it through the bitter Scottish winter without this. I forgot to put it in my bag the other day and i swear my lips felt like they were about to explode by the time i walked home from work.

2 Favourite Fall Nail Polish?

I gave my thought on this one HERE

But it has to be German-icure by OPI

3 Favourite Starbucks Fall Drink?

I did a whole post about my love for Pumpkin Spice Latte HERE
LOVES IT!!

I did try a Salted Caramel Mocha the other day as well, most enjoyable.

(The RED CUPS are coming!!!!!!)

4 Favourite Fall Candle?

Another of the things that I've already waxed (sorry) lyrical about is my beloved Marshmallow Fireside from Slatkin/White Barn/Bath and Bodyworks. see that post HERE

My little one has all gone but I'm ordering the giant one from eBay the minute i wake up on payday. It's that good!

5 Favourite Fall Scarf or accessory?

Hedgehog Scarf from Primark.

I live in Scotland its pretty chilly round here so full on winter scarves are already being sported by many.

6 Haunted House, Haunted Hay Ride, or Haunted Corn Maze?

We don't really have the corn maze or Hay rides in the UK but i do LOVE a good Haunted House. If I'm totally honest i even love rubbish fairground haunted house. I find them freaking hilarious!!

7 Favourite Halloween Movie?

Everyone seems to be choosing Hocus Pocus for this one.

I don't have a favourite for this so I'll tell my Hocus Pocus story.

Hocus Pocus frightened me for a long time, yes really. 

If i saw it was about to come on TV I'd have to change the channel immediately, and this was until quite recently.

Thing is, when i was little i watched a DVD of this movie and i don't know how this happened but in my head i had a completely warped version of them raising billy from his grave. It freaked me right out. 

A few months ago i forced myself to watch it, the scene in my head didn't exist. I felt silly!

8 Favourite candy to eat on Halloween?

I don't know if it would be classified as 'Halloween Candy' but at the moment my favourite sweet treat is gingerbread. Nom nom nom!!

9 What are you dressing up as for Halloween?!

Well this year I'm going to a Onesie Party and I'm thinking of getting a new onesie for the occasion. 

But my Favourite thing to dress up as is Wednesday Addams.

10 What is your Favourite thing about Fall?

It has to be crunchy leaves and the smell of a clear autumn evening, perfection :-)

I tag everyone that reads this. 

Remember to subscribe for more fun TAG posts, im seeing a whats in my bag as a post soon...

If you do this one please leave your links to your post below. I do love a good nosey,xx

MUA Nail Constellation Gemini NOTD

Today i bought a nail product instead of food with my lunch money*

Don't worry i still ate, though it was just some super noodles from the back of the communal cupboard at work rather than a nice sandwich from M&S.

Anyway, i digress, i was in Superdrug and they actually had the Nail Constellations in stock. I didn't waste any time and immediately picked one up and headed to the till. I did this so quickly i didn't actually register what colour I'd picked up until i got back to work.

I got Gemini

I've paired it here with The World is Not Enough from the James Bond Skyfall OPI collection (I'm having a bit of an affair with this shade at the moment). The micro shimmers actually match the combination of colours of the Constellation nicer than what the pictures show. 

 

Those shades I'm on about are light pink/champagne/pink/green. The little balls are actually a heck of a lot smaller than i thought they would be. Even since the first time i saw pictures of the Ciate version i just thought they'd be....bigger. Do you know what i mean?

I really love the finished effect this gave, and while i don't have hugely high hopes for this making it through a day at my work it is an interesting enough look for me to go to the effort of applying it

This stuff requires a either a sturdy surface and a piece of folded paper (what i used) or I've since seen a video of someone using a small bowl to catch the excess, genius. Putting them back in is relatively simple, just pop off the top (carefully!) and put it in upside down (as above pic) and it acts as a funnel.

Funnel is a funny word....funnel.....hee hee :-)

Whats your favourite funny word?

*I am an adult, its a budgeting thing!

OPI On Her Majestys Secret Service NOTD

So as i mentioned in this post when i was at the airport i picked up another colour from the OPI: Skyfall Collection.

It was to pretty to pass up.

On Her Majestys Secret Service

Purple, Blue, Green, and a very subtle pink shimmer all squished together in a twinkly nail of prettiness.

I've got The World is Not Enough on my ring finger as i thought it went perfectly as an accent with the similar finish :-)

What are you up to this Sunday?

I'm about to embark on making some Gluten Free Brownies.....wish me luck!!