Shhhhh!!!! Don't tell the Bank Manager....Haul

Last year I made a bit of a commitment to myself: Spend less on random rubbish and have money to indulge myself once in a while.

I did reasonably well.

I still have a long way to go but I felt I had been good enough to warrant a little treat.....I think things may have got out of hand......

Here is my haul, it's definitely a case of quality over quantity but I really truly love everything I got so I don't feel too guilty....just please don't tell my bank manager ;-)

All of these products are loosely related to things I've seen around the blogosphere at sometime or another but I've found blogs are a really good way of really seeing what a product is all about before buying it. To be quite honest if it wasn't for blogs I'd be aimlessly stabbing in the dark when buying high end products, and at these prices you really don't want to get it wrong!

First up is Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in Light 2 Mont Blanc (£30.50)

I had popped into Frasers on Buchanan Street and a lovely lady called Zoe helped to colour match me. This shade is PERFECT for my skin. I have to say I was pretty amazed that there is still a shade lighter than me. If you are particularly ghostly get yourself down to a Nars counter pronto!!

To go with my swanky new base obviously I had to get a swanky new finishing powder (totally justifiable.... right?)

Step up, the eye wateringly expensive, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light (£38)

I stood for aaaaaggggggeeeees in SpaceNK and hummed and hawed over which shade to get in this and eventually just bit the bullet and went for what appeared to be the most popular and got Dim light. Oh my, this stuff is beautiful. I can't quite explain it as, to be honest, its not a visible product. All I know is it adds a layer of perfection to my face. I'm actually itching to buy more of them.

Once I'd sorted my face it was time to move on to scent. I am a huge fan of my Armani Si' perfume that I picked up at duty free back when I went to Bulgaria but I was in the market to find a something a little more unique.

I had a 30ml bottle of  the cult fragrance Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 (£65.50) a few years ago and I love the weirdness of it. To me it smells a bit like tobacco and leather which sounds quite random. The thing is it is different to everyone. I know alot of bloggers and YouTubers are huge fans of this as a standalone scent but I really find that this particular fragrance plays well with others. Armani Si + Molecule01 = Heaven for my nose. Totally my own signature scent :-)

And the last thing I picked up I'm sure needs very little introduction....

Yes that would be a Rebecca Minkoff Mini Mac (£125). I've wanted one for quite a while and I was in the mood to treat myself. In the UK these bags are not terribly easy to come by. I got mine from The Little Black Book of Style website. Its in the shade Black Cherry which on ALL the pictures I found online looked a lot darker than it actually is. Online it looks Black/Red but in real life its more a red purple as seen in the picture above. Having said that I'm still not disappointed in the slightest. Its such good quality and depending on the light it really does pick up as different colours. The interior is so cute its the same teal leopard print as the dustbag which came with it which gives the classic style of the bag a bit of a hidden specialness. And I'd like to say the Little black book of style site was lovely to order from, I paid for express delivery and despite it being the festive period it was with me the next day. It was beautifully packaged and really securely wrapped, and it was a nice touch to get a little handwritten message from Melissa that runs the site. Things like that really make a difference in a world where online ordering has got so automated and clinical.

So thats what I got. Its a lot of money, I know, but its my money. I worked dang hard for it, so I get to spend it how I like. Stay in school kids!

In all seriousness though. Although I've had a little bit of a spree buying a few choice items felt far more satisfying that 10 trips to Primark. And ultimately it has spurred me on to save even more.... you never know maybe my next Rebecca Minkoff will be picked up in New York!!

What would you splurge on if you had a little money to burn?

Whats in my shower from actually in the shower!

I love a good nosey in other peoples showers. Yes I'm a bit weird, but I'm ok with that.

Thankfully there seems to be more than just me in the shower stalking boat so I thought it would be fun to share what I have in my shower.

Because I was over excited about my new phone being water resistant I decided to actually take it into the shower but the running water didn't translate so well in the actual photos so here's a slightly weird pic of me looking a bit too pleased with myself while in the shower....

Anyway if you made it past that here is a quick run through of what I keep in my shower.

Top Shelf:

L'oreal EverRiche Shampoo and Conditioner: To be honest i only bought this because Estee from essiebutton said it smelt amazing, and she was right, it does. Probably wont repurchase though as I have about 200 other shampoo/conditioner combos to use up.

In the back there you will see my favourite shower gel ever which is the Soap and Glory Sugar Crush, I did a blog post about this scent, you can read that HERE

Also on this shelf I have a can of Rituals Yogi Flow shower foam. I love this if I'm showering before bed, the scent is so soothing. Like a big hug.

On the lower shelf :

My Soap and Glory Breakfast Scrub body exfoliant which I'm trying to use up before breaking open my Sugar Crush variant. I did a mini review of the Breakfast Scrub HERE

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, I actually really rate this stuff, it doesn't irritate my temperamental skin but still actually makes it feel clean and doesn't cost the earth. (I do have an Emma Hardie cleansing Balm that I use for removing makeup, but that's kept by the sink)

And finally my Clarisonic Mia, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this, I think its wonderful for my skin but I'm so lazy I can never remember to put the thing on charge so its alost constantly out of power! 

So that is what's in there. If you've done a post like this please feel free to leave a link below :-)

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?

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.....

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

Nivea in shower skin conditioner (1st impression)

I'm blogging from my phone tonight so I hope this is going to work out ok!

Summer seems to have finally arrived in Glasgow and I'm hoping it'll stick around long enough for my day off tomorrow (*crosses all fingers and toes!*)

The only thing that bothers me about sunshine is that the excitement of digging out cute summer dresses turns to slight dispair at the thought of baring so much flesh to the outside world....

This year I've tried to be prepared by meticulously exfoliating and moisturizing and for the most part it's gone well. But standing around waiting for your moisturiser to sink in is dull to say the least!

Enter the new offering from Nivea......

The concept of moisturizing 'in shower' is nothing new, places like lush have been at this game for years but although the lush ones are great they can be expensive.

I got this GIANT bottle on offer at ASDA for the bargain price of £2.50. They also had a version for those with a drier skin but they only had that in the smaller bottle for the same price which seemed odd.

I've only used this once so far so this is by no means a comprehensive review but I shall continue using it and update if and when I create a fuller opinion.

So down to the nitty gritty.

Smell: it smells quite fresh,  if your familiar with Nivea moisturiser it's smells quite like that. I find it quite soothing.

Application: The idea is you step away from the shower, smooth it on, give it a minute and rinse it off. This turned out to be slightly easier said than done. As I mentioned the bottle is HUGE which is great because you get loads of product but also not so great when you realise that you only have small hands, that are all ready wet and now covered in moisturiser. I just couldn't get the thing to stop sliding out my hand and onto the floor! In hindsight the smaller bottle may have been easier to deal with. This isn't necessarily a problem for everyone but may be something to consider.

After effects: my skin is certainly softer than if I skipped moisturizing all together but I'm not sure I'm quite moisturised enough.  But I think oddly that might work out for what I'm planning (be sure to follow to find out what I mean)

Overall: I like the idea of this product and I think it could be great. I'll continue using this and see what the longer term effect is but I'm thinking I'll probably keep this at my folks for when I visit and I'll maybe get the smaller bottle for drier skin to see if that works out better.

Have you tried this yet?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below,x

DIY Gel Polish Haul and NOTD

For the back ground reading on why I ended up giving this a go see yesterdays post.

I did a bit of research and hit up Amazon!

The first thing i sourced was my UV lamp. After a bit of research I opted for the 36 watt with timer option, it was roughly about £17 + postage which i found to be reasonable enough.

It was the polishes I was worried about, Amazon does sell CND shellac polishes but at £15 quid a pop for something i might use once and then never again, I wasn't to sure....

While i was googling swatches of their colours though another brand kept popping up, Bluesky.

Now I'm a documented lover of a good dupe, and although i obviously bought a few, something makes me a little uneasy about these polishes. I mean its one thing to have similar colours to a high end brand but these have the same colours, the same bottles(different label) and even the same names for the colours. Its really pushing the line between 'dupe' and all out 'copy' but at around £6 a piece it's much more affordable for an at home enthusiast like myself. I'd be checking the bottles at any salons though.....

From Left to Right we have- Asphalt, Purple Purple, Hollywood, Tutti Frutti, Strawberry Smoothie, Moonlight and Roses, Silver VIP and the Base and Top coat. The colours of the bottles aren't really a good guide to the shades as, rather than the bottles being transparent, they have a similar colour overlay instead.

During my google swatch hunting travels i decided to try a nice layering effect I'd seen, Asphalt with a overcoat of Moonlight and Roses.

A quick YouTube tutorial watched, I was ready to get going.

1. I ran some Acetone over my bare nails to make sure my nails were perfectly clean.
2. 1 thin coat of basecoat cured under the lamp for 10 seconds.
3. 2 coats of asphalt, both cured under the lamp for 2 minutes each.
4. 1 coat of M&R again cured for 2 mins
5. A layer of top coat again cured for 2 minutes

Now i'm no expert so follow those instructions at your own risk but since doing this on Friday I've had people commenting on how nice my nails look, and I've not had any tip wear or even the slightest hint of a chip and my nails are horrific for chipping i can usually only manage about a day, if i'm not working, and sitting perfectly still!

The polishes are quite thick and can be a little troublesome but as long as your reasonably careful and do a clean up before you cure each layer it is fairly straight forward, if a little time consuming.

Have you ever given this a go? Any tips on technique or what colours to check out?

Leave a comment below or give me a tweet 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 #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?

Birchbox Uk January 2013

I'm sure by now everyone and their granny has seen a post (or 70) about the January Birchbox, the first one under the Birchbox branding to be released in the UK.I'd been tempted by Joliebox a couple of times but when it changed to Birchbox i thought i'd give it a punt.

I'll not bore you with the ins and outs of the whole Joliebox/Birchbox thing :-) But to keep things interesting I've held off from doing this post until I've actually used the products so its less 'this is what i got' and more 'this is what i thought' (let me know if you like this idea in the comments!)

I have previously subscribed to Glossybox which, in my opinion, started great and went downhill rapidly, and i unsubscribed after a few months. I then signed up for the feelunique.com box, i absolutely LOVED every one of those boxes and i was really disappointed when they scrapped the beauty box idea and i haven't ventured back into the subscription box world since.

Until now....

Here is what my box looked like:

Onto the reviews (from left to right):

Reverence de Bastien Unguent for nails and cuticles: this stuff smells AMAZING like berry flavoured sweets. I've only used it the once but it did the job well, and it certainly smells much nicer than what i'd usually use.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Rose: This was actually the first thing i spied when i opened the box. I've been wanting to try this for ages so i immediately had a shot. Its nice, i'm not sure what i was expecting but it makes my lips soft so that's good. I do find the lemony scent a little off putting though, to me its a little reminiscent of Lemsip, I've now got this in my bag as i will use it up but i probably wont be forking out for a full size, so if nothing else this box has let me try something i thought i wanted but now i know i can do without :-)

Teapigs Chamomile Flowers tea:  I adore Herbal tea so this was right up my street although i can see why it wouldn't be everyones cup of tea (see what i did there). I'm actually drinking this as i type, its nice, the bag is quite different, less bag of dust more bag of dried flowers. It certainly looked pretty floating around.

Wei Royal Ming firming and hydrating cream: This sample was positively teeny tiny, but since everything else was a decent size i'll overlook that. I'm actually glad it was small because i really didn't like this. After i got over the hilarious name (Ming means something nasty where i'm from) I found it was thick, kind of sticky and took forever to sink into my skin and even then my skin didn't look or feel any better than usual. I'll be giving this a miss.

And last but certainly not least..

KMS Add Volume spray: When i read on the card that this had a eucalyptus scent i was a bit concerned as i'm not usually big on that but when you spray it its not overpowering and it doesn't stick around in my hair. This did give a nice amount of volume to my flat hair and it made my hair extra shiny so happy days all round.

All in all i'm really happy with this box, i didn't love everything but they were all things i was more than happy to try. And the products we're all of a good enough size to actually try more than once, well except the tea obviously!

So how have you found your box?
If you've not subscribed are you tempted?

If your interested i have a refer a friend link: http://birchbox.co.uk/?raf=9794

I feel i should point out i'm not affiliated with birch box in any way,x

L'oreal Preference Wild Ombré

Finally a beauty post, hurrah!

At the weekend I had a day off (shock horror) so I went for a little wander around boots.

Like everyone else I've seen a million adverts for this new kit from l'oreal. And I've heard quite a lot of varying reports about how well it works and whether it's worth the money. And if it wasn't for the fact I had some points to spend I probably would've left it on the shelf.....

I'm glad I didn't.

I will say I don't think this kit is for everyone, the brush can be fiddley and you really need to set aside a good chunk of time and think be quite patient. Maybe not best for novice hair colour users. Also the colour your going to get will vary A LOT depending on what your working over.

My hair was already covered with dark brown dye, but I'd previously bleached it in September (so I could have my hair purple for my birthday) so I wasn't dealing with too much dye build up but I still expected a ginger hue rather than golden blonde.

Some people have reported the smell of this stuff to be hideous, and while I won't say it's nice it just smells like hair dye to me..

I fully expected this stuff to not do all that much, and for the first ten minutes it didn't. I was a bit disappointed but I persevered. Now in the application instructions it does say to start at the tips and work up thought the lengths. In a few reviews I've read I've seen pics of folk left with a harsh line between their base colour and the lightened ends. This is my advice,

WORK SLOWLY and if you think your going slow GO SLOWER!!!

I put the stuff on the very ends of my hair maybe an inch at the most. And left it a good ten minutes before coming back to do the next inch, and I repeated this until I got to my desired level and I left last 'layer' on for only about 5 mins before I washed it out.

Here is my after, please excuse the no makeup and horrible artificial lighting but the sun doesn't shine at 3am...

I'm actually really quite pleased with how it came out, it's slightly less ginger in real life but I think the gradual-ness of the colour change worked out pretty well. Well, as well as a non professional using an 'at home' box kit can expect.

I would've taken a daytime shot but lets just say I didn't stop here ;-)

Do follow (links in the sidebar) to see what happened next!

If you have any questions please do feel free to ask either on here or twitter.

Have you tried this product? What did you think?

Or is the ombré hair thing just a bit too cliche? :-)

 

Posted with Blogsy

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  ;-)

Fat Girl Slim

Now before I get into this I would like to say i have absolutely no knowledge of nutrition or the medical implications of losing weight. Please see a qualified professional if you are thinking of losing weight.

Nor would i say I'm actually fat, I'm just a sucker for a catchy title.

OK?......then onward we go.

I was reading a post over at missbudgetbeauty and was inspired by what i read.

For quite a while now I've been feeling somewhat out of sorts when it comes to my weight. As I mentioned I'm not what i call fat (though others may have their own opinions on this) but I'm a good 14 and as someone who has spent the majority of my life hovering about the 10 mark this feels big to me.

I'll be honest I don't eat well. I like a wee Mcdonalds breakfast, I'm fond of a cake with my meal deal at lunch and I'm almost on the Dominos delivery drivers Christmas card list.

The only saving grace i have at the moment is that i walk to and from work.

But that is about to change. The bus to my new work place goes near enough door to door. Something will have to give before my jeans button does.

There is an important social event coming up at the end of October and I'm a bridesmaid at a dear friends wedding next June.

Both of these things require photos being taken......
I'm determined that my bingo wings will not feature in them.

I used the app My Fitness Pal before and managed to lose 7 lbs relatively easily.

The app is basically a calorie counter (and FREE!), you put in a few stats, height, weight and age and it works out how many calories you should be eating.
Now instead of being a rigid number you can 'earn' extra calories by doing more exercise. Its really really motivating. You can even add friends to the app to keep each other going.
I think the thing i like most about it is that i have a free app on my phone which means I can keep track of things on the go and i can just scan the barcode of whatever I'm eating there and then.

And as an extra boost, as you finish each day it estimates what you'll weigh in 5 weeks time if you continue as you are (really accurately as it turns out)

So i think I'll go back on the wagon...

So in the spirit of publicly declaring my commitment Monday night will be weigh in night:

I'm currently  159lbs and i want to be 135lbs    24lbs to go!!

Though since I've just been invited to the two for Tuesdays at my friends I'm not sure how this will go :-s

Who's with me?!

China Glaze: On Safari - Glitters

Sallys had a VAT free day.

It would've been rude not to buy something   :-)

By the time i got there they were out of OPI: Every month is Oktoberfest so that will be a quest for another day.

What they did have though were the glitters from the China Glaze On Safari Collection.

It seems like an eternity ago that i first saw swatches of these. And in real life they do not disappoint.

First up we have my favourite of the 2 I'm Not Lion. Light Golden with multicoloured micro-shimmer. The swatch pic was 3 coats taken in natural light. I've included the blurry shot to try and demonstrate the sparkle of the polish.

And this is I Herd That. Same micro shimmer idea although more a bronzey gold almost erring on the rose gold side in some lights.
Again 3 coats in natural light.
Excuse the random awkward hand shot the sun was just refusing to shine in the right direction so some interesting wrist bending was on the go!













Did you pick up anything from this collection?

Let me know on twitter or leave a comment below.

Remember to follow for more randomness

CB

Essie: Bikini so Teeny

So we've all seen this one a thousand times 'Bikini so Teeny'

Now I'll be honest i think i may have become a victim of hype on this one. I was in Boots, they only had 1 left, EVERYBODY and their granny loves it so obviously i had to buy it!

I'll not bore you with yet another same old in depth description..........

Its cornflower blue with sparkles

Now don't get me wrong here i think this colour is as pretty as everyone says it it is but my gripe with it is that as soon as you go near it with top coat it changes shade!



Without topcoat                                                                                           With topcoat            

    

 I don't know if its just me this is happened to because i haven't seen anyone else mention it but it does slightly ruin the polish for me. There's nothing wrong with the colour it goes with top coat but its just not quite as pretty as the one without. It also gives a kind of weird soft focus colour blurring effect to the nails. (As you can see on the tip of the ring finger below)

 Now i originally tried it with Seche Vite so i thought it was maybe the topcoat at fault.
So I tried it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry, same issue.

I then had the bright idea that maybe it had something to do with the fast drying aspect of these so i broke out my OPI regular old Top Coat and it STILL changed colour.

Now I know what your thinking, go without topcoat! I tried that, i have a very hands on job (ooo-err!) and it just didn't last 5 mins without chipping.


Can anyone give me some suggestions on how to overcome this?
Have i maybe got some kind of weird duff bottle?
Or has everyone else found it does this and just not mentioned?

In other news:

I'm back at work after a couple of weeks off. It's so confusing, almost feel like the new girl again.
Also it means I've been having to get up at what i would call the middle of the night. Thank the big man for coffee and Red bull!

Primark Polish...

Now imagine the scene... i was having my usual payday stroll around Primark. I was quite happily wandering around picking up random things (lilac jeans anyone?) and merrily throwing them in the giant basket that always ends up dragging along the floor when all of a sudden my spidey senses were on edge, there was polish nearby, and i had to rescue it from the 7th circle of hell that is the Primark on Argyle street.

The idea of Primark stocking polish is not foreign to me. I have seen those little sets in the makeup bit but there was nothing there that excited me. This stand was new, in my local anyway, it was for the Angelica range.

Priced at £2.50 the stand had obviously seen quite a bit of action before i got there (9.30am!)
I picked up 2. I'd set out that morning thinking of picking up Maybelline 'ceramic blue' but then i set eyes on 'skylar' the absolute perfect pale blue.

I'd also had my eye on China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' so when i saw 'Magnetic' my wallet took a sigh of relief. Tiny glitters in a clear base, perfect.

the resulting love child of these 2 looks like this:

Pale colours can be quite streaky, but 'skylar' was perfectly opaque in 2 coats and 'magnetic' gave just the right amount of sparkle.

I have to say I'm really quite impressed with these so far, its only been 1 day but i have no chipping so far, which for polish this cheap and the treatment i give my nails is quite an accomplishment.

I have to say I'll definitely be back for more. There were some Neons there that were absolutely screaming SUMMER. Lets just hope mother nature obliges bonny Scotland with another heatwave this year.

Available at Primark in the UK and Penneys in Ireland

Have you tried anything from this range?

I'd love to see swatches of other colours!

In other news:

*I bought the mirrored fridge - and now I've stopped eating so much ice cream.

but luckily....

*It Jubilee weekend in the UK and I've had the weekend off to eat a bucket load of cake(handily not kept behind a full length mirror) and drank a gallon of tea :-)

*I may have purchased the Rebel polish from MAC...stay tuned!

On Pointe...

Hey, 2 posts in a week.

I'm suitably impressed with myself!

Anyway, i was inspired by this POST over at Lip So Facto.

I got my Mini OPI New York Ballet set about a week ago.The sheers were just to pretty to pass by and i love the little mini sets they give a great tester before committing to the larger bottles. And I'm the kind of weirdo that keeps them in there boxes so they look all pretty.

So the inspiration came from the idea of sandwiching a glitter as a layer between the coats of sheep colour. Now i don't have any glitters with overly chunky particles but the one that came in the mini set, charmingly named 'Pirouette My Whistle', seemed like it would fit the bill.

So this is two coats of the sheer white 'Dont Touch My Tutu' , a layer of the glitter, and then another coat of the sheer...

I find the overall effect quite pleasing :-) the larger sliver glitters become an opaque shining white and the tiny shimmer in the glitter is still visible adding some extra depth and dimension.

I have previously layered these 2 leaving the glitter as a top coat but only as an accent nail manicure as a full on glitter manicure is sadly not really grownup work place appropriate but this more muted effect will be joining me on the Monday morning commute.

Have you tried any thing from this collection?

The entire New York Ballet range is available HERE

In other news:

My nails are undergoing something of a test just now with some OPI Nail envy. So hopefully in a couple of weeks i will have lovely even strong nails.

If you've tried nail envy how did you get on?

Models Own: Beetlejuice Collection

My name is Jenn and i am addicted to duochrome.

There we go.

Now we've got that out in the open you can probably guess my excitement on trying out these 2 beauties from the Models Own Beetlejuice collection.

They've been sat on my table for a good couple of weeks now because i simply couldn't decide which one to wear first. Sometimes i really do think i have issues...oh well.

So my solution that came to me in one of those middle of the night wake up with the answers to all the worlds problems type moments it dawned on me, I have 2 hands!

So on my lefty here is Purple Blue...

This colour is just so very VERY beautiful. Its impossible for me to capture the richness of this one with my (currently) limited camera expertise but i have to say i spent many many minutes waving my fingers around staring at the prettiness instead of working ;-)



And on my righty is Indian Ocean...

This is one of those colours that looks almost magical. If you were to ask me what angels wear on their nails it'd be Indian ocean. The shimmer is so delicate almost glowing. It is very sheer, so even after 3 coats there is still some visible nail line which is not everyones bag but personally i love this effect. It really adds to the other worldly quality of the polish.

On of my friends has dubbed this my Angel/Devil manicure (and demanded i did their nails the same immediately!)

These colours are absolutely stunning. The collection is based on the shimmer of beetle wings and in my opinion Models own have outdone themselves here. I've always been a fan of their range. And in my opinion they are incredible value for money.

There is 5 shades in the range, i plan to get them all,roll on pay day!. The polishes cost £5 each and you can get them in larger Boots stores, but there is a brilliant deal on the Models Own website where you can get the full set + a handy topcoat for a bargain price of £20 (its the top right of the sets)! Here comes the...LINK!

Glossybox November 2011

I got my glossybox in the post this morning.
Happy days!
It's only the second box I've had from them but I love the concept of getting a special parcel full of surprise things every month :-)

As I only got it today this is an open box post ..... Here we go!

First off the packaging as usual is really pretty. I'm gonna hoard these boxes like there is no tomorrow. Simple black and pink.

Onto the products:
First off there is a jolly good bag of DEAD SEA SPA MAGIK bath salts. I'm happy about this as I've been considering getting this stuff for a while. Apparently a 2011 Beauty Awards winner it claims to alleviate dry skin (me!) and improve skin texture. Now I have high hopes for this as my skin has been playing up recently as a loooong time ago I was lucky enough to take a dip in the actual dead sea and my skin was lovely afterwards.
(word of warning ladies, if this stuff is like the actual thing it stings your bits, TMI I know, but forewarned is forearmed!)

Next up

Arbonne FC5 cooling foot creme
This in theory should be perfect for me as I have a job that means I'm on my feet all day. Looking forward to trying this later!

Monu skin perfector
A weightless cream which instantly smoothed imperfections and enhances natural radiance. Again liking the sound of this. And on the back it says it's paraben free and provides an excellent base for makeup. Hopefully this can replace the Mac primer that my skin took a funny reaction to.

There's a couple of perfume samples.
Personally I like the idea of perfume samples, especially when they are little spray ones like these, perfect for throwing in your bag and much less likely to leak than the wee ones with the stupid lids that you pull off, I get those everywhere. To be honest these scents aren't something I would buy but they are fine for if I'm in a pinch.
Both are by Serge Lutens:
L'eau serge Lutens- in my opinion is the nicer of the two kind of a clean floral smell. Reminds me of weddings...

Vitriol d'oeillet - quite strong quite incense like. Reminds me of grown ups heading out to the opera.

As you might have noticed describing scent is not my strong point.

And finally the best thing...
Nail Rock designer nail wraps
Mine are leopard print (see previous post about my love of leopard nails) now I may be wrong but I have a feeling that the glossybox already did nail wraps not long ago so it seems quite random to have more this month, not that I'm complaining I missed that box so I'm glad to have the opportunity to try these.

All in I'm quite happy with my box, I'll keep it on for now. Next month is going to be a special Christmas gift box, so i have high hopes for it. I've also subscribed for the feel unique beauty box so I'll see how it compares when I get my first one of that.

What's your favourite from the box?

Feel free to say hello in the comments, I'm still new at this so if you've got any hints and tips or ideas for what you want to see on here let me know!

xx