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.....

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??

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!

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:

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

I got a little bored....

I am an intrinsically impulsive person.

I get an idea in my head then i set about doing it.

I woke yesterday morning and decided i wanted a haircut. Now while most people would call a hairdresser, make an appointment and so forth...... I decided i wanted it now. I probably could've got a standby appointment at a place in town but every penny i have at the moment is ear marked for feeding me until payday.

Now I happen to own a basic pair of hair scissors so well one thing led to another.....

And now i have a jaw length bob. Its by no means perfect, but i reckon it could pass for 'shaggy' and it'll certainly do just now. I decided to curl it, which maybe wasn't the best move, i think it'd look better wavy, but either way i think the messier i make  it the cuter it'll look :-)

Its actually a wee bit shorter than it looks in that photo. And don't i look grumpy, lol!

Have you ever had a go at cutting your own hair?

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????

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.

That was the day that was...

Tonight my dears this blogmas post will be short.

I've had the day from hell and I am getting comfy in a slightly saggy couch in a bar as we speak.

So tonight's question is....

What are you having?

In my case I'm having a watermelon martini.

It's got fruit on the glass so I'm classifying it as one of my 5 a day ;-)

 

Until tomorrow my dears, CHEERS!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Googly Eyes NOTD

Just a quick post again today, I've had such a hectic weekend what with the party last night and the resulting revelation that has actually confused the heck out of me.....

Todays nails we're going to be something else altogether but i wanted googly eye nails. So that's what we've got 8-)

I used China glaze liquid leather for the black, White on White for the , erm, white and my eyeliner for the eyes.

This is not going down as my neatest manicure ever (yes that is remnants of Frankenstein on pointy) but i was really quite hungover* so it was the best the shakes would allow.


*I am not a good role model. Please drink responsibly!

Onesie Party OOTN

Just a quick post today as I'm off out for the evening.


Instead of the traditional Halloween party my friend its having a onesie party.


Here I am in my sexy onesie ready to go.

Oh dear, just realised, I'm about to leave the house wearing a onesie!


What are you dressing up as this Halloween?

(this onesie was £25 HERE )

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!!

                                               

Eat, drink and be scary....

I was a bit at a loss about what to write about for blogtober day 17.

I'm still in love with my manicure from yesterdays post so i knew it wouldn't be nails.

I left my umbrella at work so i currently look like a drowned rat (It's Scotland, I got rained on, A LOT!)

So i knew it wouldn't be a beauty post.

On my bleak walk home, i wandered into the the supermarket (grocery store)  to warm up a bit.

They only had freaking Fiendish Fancies!!!!

Is it weird i get excited about things that I'd ignore everyday? Honestly put something in a seasonal box and I'm all over it!!

If anyone is unfamiliar with what a fancy is its a tiny cake with a bit of fondant covered in icing. They are little bites of heaven! Perfect with a nice cup of tea on a rainy evening :-)

Since i was feeling the Halloween love I also picked up a pumpkin while i was in. I'm going to a onesie party (yes, you read that right) this year and i want to take an immaculately carved pumpkin as a hostess gift.

Could someone give me some pointers on how to carve a pumpkin?
Mine always look kind of wonky.
Also, any ideas on recipes for the pumpkin flesh that i scoop out?

Love or Hate? and Smiley Faces

So I'm not long in from a ridiculously long and tiring work day.

Just had a very pleasant trip around the #bbloggers bloghop accompanied by a lovely cup of tea... I'm so rock and roll when it comes to Saturday night!!

I'm starting to run out of time to make my deadline for blogtober day 13 so i thought I'd keep it simple.

Earlier on today i had yet a wee 'made it through a hellish day' Starbucks. And my current love seems to be causing a marmite reaction up and down the nation.

So I'm curious.....

Pumpkin Spice Latte, Love it or Hate it?

I'm evidently in the Love camp on this but reactions seem so varied.
If you haven't tried it make sure you get cream on it.

And if you Hate it whats your favourite Starbucks drink?

Oh and the smiley faces....cute barista boy not only knows my name without me telling him but has taken to drawing smiley faces on my drinks. Smiley faces all round  ;-)

Went to work...

OK so I'm sticking my hands up here....

I shouldn't be posting......

I'm a bit tipsy.....

Went on a work day out....there was a business class lounge at the airport on the way back....enough said??

Here is some pictures from the day.


Normal service shall resume tomorrow.xxx

I went here

I saw this

I did this (His name is George)
And yes i know I'm chubby!

I bought this!!

So until tomorrow good night my friends. I'm so glad I'm home in time for Red Dwarf!!

Girl Gone Geek

I love nail polish.

Mr Panda and Penelope Pineapple

I love makeup in general.
I love Shoes.
I love shopping.
I love The Little Mermaid.
I love the penguin case for my phone.
I have jolly looking coin purses.
I love cupcakes
I take FOREVER to get ready for a night out....

and i love Sci-Fi.

Were you expecting that last one?

Not many people do.

I guess i just don't give off that vibe.

Tonight is the start of Red dwarf X in the UK and I'm really really excited. I'm also a bit nervous that its going to be a bit rubbish but I'm mostly excited.

But its not just Red Dwarf that does it for me. I have been known to plan Saturday nights around Doctor Who. I've lost entire days to watching Star Trek and entire weeks to reading the Hitchhikers series (i love this to the point where I'm planning a tattoo based on an idea from it).

The list could go on....

Anyway i think the point i should be trying to make here is something about first impressions and not judging a book by its cover but really i just wanted an opportunity to tell folk how excited i am about Red Dwarf.

Any fellow Geekettes out there?

Or have i just lost the followers i did have?

Follow @cotton_buddle for more of my random musings

Until tomorrow,

LLAP  ;-)

Blogtober

There I was minding my own business watching You tube videos seeing everyone getting all excited over Vlogtober and I got to wondering if there was a blogging equivalent.

A quick Google search later and i found out there is!

So since I've been quite good over the past few days I think I'll give it a go.

I don't think I've quite got time to change my polish everyday so there may be a a few more general life posts but since I'm new at this it could be a way for you to get to know me and hopefully by following #blogtober on twitter I'll get to know a few new folk as well.

If you'd like to stay updated there is a few options for following on the right there ---------->

And if your taking part feel free to link your blog in the comments and i'll have a gander round your corner of the interweb as well :-)

Since i like to include pictures here's a random pic of myself i took on my Ipad

(note: i don't really look like this!!)

OPI: I Have a Herring problem

My Nail of the day today comes from the lovely Holland collection by OPI.

I picked up the mini lacquer box for this collection a while ago and i have to say all the colours have been completely lovely.

The one I've gone for today is charmingly called 'i have a herring problem!' here is the 'on the nail' pic...

And here is the in the bottle pic....

I think i may have to scout out a full size of this. Its a perfect stormy cornflower blue with such a pretty silver sparkle. Just the perfect shade to sport until summer comes to play in my neck of the woods and i can break out the neons :-)
(note to self, dont wear a bright orange jumper when taking pictures of shiny things!)

The Holland collection is available here

Have you tried any of the lacquers (that's OPIs preferred term) from this collection?

I'm trying out my shiny new phone camera here (Sony Xperia S) so do let me know what you think compared to the pics in my other posts.

Currently i have my eye on:

Rebel from the new Mac Fashion Sets Collections
and
Ratin Jot from the Thakoon for Nars collection - I'm not usually one to splurge so many pennies on single polish but i think the colour could be worth it.

What collections are you loving right now?

In other news:

*My fridge freezer decided to die today. Is it wrong to base the purchase of the new one entirely on the fact that it has a mirrored front?
*Its one of my close friends 30th birthdays. Suddenly felt old + ran to the mirror to check for wrinkles.
*Still addicted to San Pellegrino

Hows your day going?

Arrrghh...

This is a photo of some random condensation rings.
Hey, we were in the pub and it was funny at the time :-)
I think it looks like a cute pirate.

What do you think?

XOXO
CB