Nails of the Day

Hello gorgeous people! I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately - I've had a bit of a writers block and couldn't think of anything to say :-( I didn't really fancy doing a Christmas post either!

Did you all have a lovely Christmas? I spent mine with Family and Friends and it was amazing.

Anyhoo... Last day of 2011! I don't really think that a new year brings any form of difference or change to your life, but it's nice to see out the current year with family or friends and hope that the year to come will bring happiness - plus I get to have an excuse for a large glass of wine ;-)

I got this nail polish as a stocking filler from my mum and was a little sceptical as I hadn't heard of the brand Bobby Pin before (have you??) I was pleasantly surprised as it's a lovely bright red that will compliment the black dress I'm planning on wearing tonight. The bottle's pretty cute too! Xx

Soap and Glory - Hand Food

My lovely friend gave me Soap and Glorys Hand Food for Christmas, I'm a sucker for their products - I love the fun pink packaging :-)

It smells pretty much like every other Soap and Glory product, and it does get a little greasy if you apply too much - although if used sparingly this soaks in quickly, but this is such a lovely treat for poor dry hands like mine. Once the cream has soaked in you will be left with super soft, smooth healthy looking hands and the tube is perfect for handbags. You really can't go wrong with this, for yourself or as a gift.

What's your favourite handcream?

xx

Jessica's Geleration Manicure

Hey lovlies - It's been a while. I have been a very very busy girl, but all the while I've been thinking of fab blog posts to do!

My lovely friend and I decided that we needed to treat ourselves before Christmas so we visited a gorgeous salon and opted for the Jessica Geleration Manicure. I'm such a fan of Jessica products I knew that this would be perfect  for me! Retailing at £40 this treatment involves the cleansing and moisturising of the hands, shaping the nails and cuticle care and the application of a long lasting gel nail polish, with each coat cured by a uv light.

I don't know about you, but my nails never seem to stay looking good for more than about two days before my varnish starts to chip so I thought this would be right up my street - who wants to keep re-applying polish to their nails at christmas?!

I chose a classic red colour :-) The lovely beautician started by applying a base coat, then popped my hands under the uv light for 30 seconds. This was followed by three coats of colour, each coat again was cured with the light then finally a top coat to seal it all in, this time the nails were popped under the light for 1 minute. I can't describe how glossy the colour is - my hands look amazing!

It's currently been two days since the gel polish has been applied and my nails are looking tip top and so shiny! This polish is supposed to last for around two weeks, so I shall report back and let you know! I don't really think the picture below do it justice - I'm not the most skilled girl at photography! :-)

xx

Scruffy Little Cat Bags

I stumbled upon this company purely by chance - I was browsing twitter one night and came across the twitter profile for the company 'Scruffy Little Cat'. From what I gather they are a very small company who specialise in bespoke handpainted hessian bags and other small gifts.

Being a lover of all things bright and glittery one of these bags had to be mine! Bring the kind daughter that I am, I decided to get a small one for my mum too :-) Once on the website you basically choose the bag that looks the most like you and then fill in the form for your choice of eye colour, hair colour, hairstyle, colour theme, name or message and a personal extra - I chose a wine glass!!

It was also I really nice touch that SLC e-mailed me a picture of the finished products before they posted them out, just to check I was happy with everything.

Being a made to order product, I naturally expected to wait a while for the parcel to be delivered. The website advises 4-6 weeks, and I ended up waiting nearly 8 weeks from the time of order to the day it was delivered. It was ok though as I'm really pleased with the end result. Just maybe if you were thinking of buying one as a gift it might be best to order well in advance!!

Mum's Bag

My Bag

Taming the CURLS!

Hey Guys :-) So not may people know this, but I have very curly frizzy thick hair. It's like my little secret. I battle daily against the curls to strive for smooth, sleek, glossy straight locks. I discovered ghd's as soon as I hit my early teens. Before that it was the crimpers with the dodgy metal plates that used to fry your hair, or the pulled back pony tail with lots of gel - eurgh!!

Since then, I've straightened my hair pretty much every day, I'm guessing roughly around 10 years. Combined with bleaching it every other month how I still have any hair left is anyones guess!!

I have tried every product going in order to achieve gorgeous Shakira/Beyonce -esque curls, but nothing works. At all. The only thing that can give me remotely decent looking curls is applying copies amounts of Moroccan Oil and then going to bed with my hair still wet. Come anywhere near it with a hairdryer and you might as well have plugged me into the mains for all the good it will do.

Shameful pic coming up.... This is my barnet au natural for all to see

This is just on a good day! (and still a bit damp)

I've gotten it down to a fine art and can straighten it in about 10-15 minutes...

Straight and shiny :-) and it makes a massive difference to the colour too!

Obviously I avoid the rain and damp weather like I'm the wicked witch of the west, and it's a bit annoying to have such high maintenance hair, but this is me and regardless of whether I like it or not, I have to deal with it! 

I hope one day I learn to embrace my curls and wear them confidently but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.

How far do you go for your hair? Do you prefer curly or straight hair?

xx

Hi My Name's Charlie and I'm an Internet Shopping Addict

Hi my name's Charlie and I'm an internet shopping addict. No seriously, I actually am. I can't help it, I just browse the internet and see too many pretty things that have to be mine. I don't splurge my hard earned cash on really expensive items, just lots of reasonably priced things. (is that worse?!) Mostly clothes and make up. I really should be saving for my future, but hey ho you can't take it to the grave with you, can you?

£ £ £ £ £ £

Some of my recent purchases include

The Naked Palette - Image in post below

Curling Tongs - I have naturally curly hair, I don't even need to use curling tongs!

The book 'It' by Stephen King - It cured my boredom right (and scared the crap out of me too!)

This gorgeous glitzy dress from Asos - In case I get invited to any Christmas Parties

This glam dress from H & M - to wear to my friends wedding in a couple of weeks

Some earrings to match the gold dress

&

A top that was on sale - I don't even think I like it.

I kid you not, this is just this weeks shopping. I have issues.

xx

Face of the Day

Well, not so much a face of the day, more like testing my new Naked Palette! :-)

I'm a little ashamed that I'm inflicting my ugly mug upon you all once more, and I'm even more ashamed that the pictures are taken in my bathroom! I'm using the excuse that the light is better in there than anywhere else in the house!!

 

I used...

Garnier BB cream mixed with a little Liz Earle Moisturieser to 'water it down a little'

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealor

The Naked Palette in colours 'Sin' 'Sidecar' and 'Toasted'

HD Brows Palette

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream on lips

Urban Decay - The Naked Pallette

I know, I know, This beauty has been reviewed by everyone but this doesn't deter my excitement for it! I was made up when the parcel was dropped on desk at work yesterday afternoon  I ordered it from lookfantastic, and I got 17% off it's usual price of £35!)

Like I said, I won't drag this out as I'm sure you've read similar posts many times -

 The complete product!

 Free Primer Potion :-)

 In it's full glory

My two favourite shades so far - 'Sidecar' and 'Halfbaked'

The main selling point of this kit for me, is that I actually will use every  shade in the palette. There's nothing worse than spending a mini fortune on a set of make up and then only using half the colours. I tend to stick to fairly neutral colours anyway but prefer the sparkly darker tones for nights out and weekends.

It's not a cheap set, but it's the only piece of make up that I've been genuinely excited over - well apart from my beloved Benefit Blushers!

Have a fab weekend lovelies, I'm off to play with my new toy!! :-) xx

Face Of The Day

I had the good intentions of posting this at 7.30am this morning, hot off the press but got distracted slightly but ugly betty... Being taken at 7.30am it isn't the best picture!!

Liz Earle sheer skin tint, Benefit coralista. Soap and Glory kick ass concealor, Maxfactor xperience mascara, Rimmel eyebrow pencil, Rimmel glam eyes liquid eyeliner and Benefit jing a ling lipstick. Fairly neutral for work <3

I Want...

This dress from Forever Unique is stunning! It's on my dream dress wish list, but at £165 it's a bit out of my budget. A girl can dream though...

Nails Of The Day

Models Own in 'champagne' - picked this up at the weekend and its fab as both an alone colour, or with a touch of nail art. I say 'nail art', well this is my attempt :-/ i've splodged on some purple and detailed it with a Models Own nail art pen. It's not very original i know, but i'll be searching google for some inspiration soon i'm sure!

Xx

Nails of the Day

Rocking the ring finger detailing, gave it a little twist by including the thumb too.

Rimmels 'your majesty' and Nails Inc 'glastonbury'

Xx

Liz Earle Essentials 'Try me' Kit

You may remember I mentioned that I was keen to try products from the Liz Earle range in the hope that they would help with my skin problems. I have very spot prone, dry yet oily and senstive skin. I don't just get one spot, I get ten - it doesn't rain it only pours.

I remember watching Liz Earle on QVC in the mid ninties with my mum, I guess this was fairly early on in the formation of her company. So when I came across a few good reviews of her products lately I knew I had to try them.

After browsing around the website it soon became clear that the major selling point of this brand is their fantastic ethos. They are a british skincare brand based in the Isle of Wight, which isn't too far from me. They are really passionate about the ingredients that go into each product and responsibly source these (it has never really occured to me how much rubbish really goes into most other brands!) I had a quick glance over the ingredients list of the products and can't even begin to list all the fantastic oils, and other divine mixtures that are part of this range. I could ramble on forever I think so go ahead and check out Liz Earles principles here - http://uk.lizearle.com/our-principles

Being on a bit of a budget at the moment I decided to opt for the Essentials Try Me Kit. At £23.25 it wasn't bank breaking considering it contained trial sizes of the Hot Cloth Cleanser (the one I was really eager to try) Instant Boost Skin Tonic toner, Skin Repair in dry/sensitive, Skin Repar in normal/combination and a Muslin Cloth. All these products in the full sizes are very reasonably priced, but I simply didn't want to be stuck with big bottles of products I wouldn't use again if it turned out this skin care range wasn't for me

I will hold my hands up and admit I'm guilty for using facewipes most days as cleansing and toning seemed at bit too long winded for me. Using these products however seems more of a treat than a chore. After slathering on the Hot Cloth cleanser and wiping clean with the muslin cloth soaked in hot water I lightly swept over my face with a cotton wool pad doused in the Skin Tonic then lastly smoothed on the Skin Repair cream. Amazing. These guys even threw in a free face cream into my parcel! I am one happy customer.

I have followed this skin care routine for four days now and all I can say is 'wow!' I had high hopes for Liz Earle, but this has gone far above and beyond my expectations. Of course, like with anything in life, you don't see instant results but I feel that my skin is smoother, softer, I feel confident without make-up - even my mum pointed out how great my skin looked (she couldn't pin point exactly what it was however) and most importantly...my spots are clearing up! I really am hooked. 

I realise I've confessed my love for Liz Earle for quite a few paragraphs now, so I'd like to point out that this isn't a sponsored post and that I just really love Liz!!

Have you tried any of these products of even tried a skincare range that you think might knock Liz off her well deserved throne?

xx

Nails

Hello prettyfuls! I have been very slack at blogging this week - I do apologise, I've been very busy at work and have been catching up on sleep the rest of the time. I've also been having trouble with my bank, who decided to block my account for no apparent reason, cue lots of stress today!

My love of the moment is anything nails from polish to handcream to nail glitter. I can't seem to get enough. So much so infact, that I can't have bare nails anymore, it just doesn't look right. I am a bit of a nail polish snob though I have to admit and prefer using brands such as OPI, Leighton Denny and Nails Inc. the only budget brands I tend to use are Barry M and Rimmel.

My favourite nail polosh of all time has to be Nails Inc special effects in Glastonbury. It's an *amazing* chunky glitter nail polish with sparkles of green, gold and purple. I would show you lovely people a swatch but sadly it's complete nightmare to remove which on the flip side, makes it very long lasting! Perfect for toes (and for Christmas parties coming up)

I'm currently sporting OPI red (shade - colour so hot it berns) a little chipped but I love it all the same.

For the skincare side of nail products Liz Earles Superbalm is a must for cuticles. If you're anything like me and forget to regularly moisturise your hands, this handy pot of balm will make rough jagged cuticles look instantly perfect. For Around £3.99 for a 5g pot it's great as treat for yourself or as a stocking filler.

Do you have a favourite brand or shade of nail polish?

xx

Excitement

I have a new laptop! I can write detailed blogs again and upload good quality images! Excitement...!!

Cheese!

I love cheese! Just thought I would share a picture of our amazing cheese board from last night. I'm having a bit of a greedy weekend and might even have a sneaky curry tonight with the X Factor. Tomorrow however, I shall be back to eating reasonably healthy, as I'd really like to get in shape before Christmas - tone up and hopefully loose a few pounds. Although I have to admit I'm not too fond of the gym!!

Garnier BB Cream

Hello all! How are you today? I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday watching films and eating pringles :-)

My Boyfriend had a suprise saturday night off work for a change and took me out to dinner last night, which was lovely. When we got to the restaurant I found a nice bottle of fizzy at our table that he had pre-ordered! What a sweetie!

I tried out Garniers BB cream yesterday, I'm not sure what I was expecting but I was pleasantly suprised by it. The cream comes in a 50ml format in two shades - light or dark. I went for light as i'm a medium to light shade normally. This cream has the creamy consistency of a tinted moisturiser and claims to "even tone and boost glow, blur imperfections and redness, smooth fine lines and hyrate for 24 hours" it also has spf 15 in it which can't do any harm!

To be honest, I'm not sure if it does everything it says on tin, but i did notice the even skin tone benefits and didn't have to use quite a much concealor as usual. I usually have a couple of spots, and this cream didn't hide that fact, but i did feel slightly more confident that they weren't quite as noticable. I didn't notice any other major benefits after application, the cream seemed on par with my usual tinted moisturiser. (now here comes the but...) The major plus side of this cream for me, bearing in mind products do work differently for every person, was that after a couple of hours my skin looked fab! I had a healthy dewy glow and it seemed to make the rest of my makeup look perfect! Maybe the BB cream improves with wear? I've tried it again today and had the same results - average, then after a while an amazing glow. It's not a great cover up for me, but it's given me that 'healthy every day look' that I normally can't quite achieve.

Has anyone else tried this yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you haven't yet tried it, give it a go at roughly £6.99 per tube depending on where you buy it, it can't hurt to try!

Aplogies for the poor quality images below, I'm still blogging from my phone whilst desperatly trying to save for a new laptop!!

Much love xx

This Week

Hey guys! This week I have mostly been very busy! I've had a massive Nandos on my weekly cinedate with my bestie (every week without fail we have a Nandos and see a film - we both have Cineworld cards) We saw The Ides Of March which was amazing, without even accounting for my hideous girly crush on Ryan Gosling. I <3 him more than life itself!!

I've been stocking up on winter jumpers to keep me warm from the H&M website and Dorothy Perkins 25% off weekend. I quite often pick up bargains from the H&M website, this week i got two jumpers for £13! I feel the cold so much over the winter so for me it's essential that i wrap up and sometimes even wear a thermal vest!

I'll also be testing out Garniers BB cream. I've heard so many mixed reviews on this product I've just got to try it out for myself. £1 off the normal price is tescos made me instantly snap it up this morning :)

The highlight of my week was seeing Jessie J live at the Brighton Centre last night. It wasn't planned at all - my friend forgot that she was going and her sister ended up double booking herself so I bought the spare ticket and headed down straight from work looking such a state! I wasn't sure if i would enjoy it, but she is AMAZING live! Such a powerful voice and she truely loves and appreciates her fans (Yes, i do realise how corny this sounds!) She's also incredibly 'normal', Jessie has a gorgeous figure, but it made me so happy to see her thighs wobble a little like the rest of girls! The only disappointment I had was forgetting to pop home for my camera :(

How has your week been? Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween lovelies! It's monday morning, its cold and dark outside and I've woken up with an awful headache, not the best start to the day.

I'm not good up doing up- close photos, nor do i feel that comfortablw with it, so I'm not going to put a 'face of the day' pic up hower i will share the make up that i'm wearing today, and usually wear to work most days. It's a whole different story at the weekend! :-)

So, today i'm not wearing any foundation (!!) as i thought i'd let my skin breathe. I've covered up unsightly areas with Soap and Glory kick ass concealer, I'm wearing Maxfactor xperience volumising mascara and a sweep of Benefit coralista blusher along with Benefit jing a ling lipstick. I'm a massive fan of Benefit blushers and won't use anything else now, I can't reccommend them highly enough!

As i generally only see about 4 people on average (sometimes even less) at work, I don't really feel it's that important to wear a full face of make up, but i always like myself to look neat and presentable hehe!

Today i am wearing Emu boots, River Island leggings, h & m top and black skirt and a Dorothy Perkins cardie.

Have a great day!

My Amazon Kindle

I love to read. I've always read 'grown up' books, infact I don't even remember reading childrens books at all apart from a select few including Harry Potter; which I still love even as a twenty-something.

*Harry Potter Memory*

Joining the queue at midnight at Asda in Brighton waiting for the last Harry Potter book to be released. I didn't sleep until I had read the whole thing, it took me around 36 hours from what I remember.

For me theres nothing better than curling up with a blanket, a massive cup of tea and a good murder mystery/crime book. My favourite authors of all time are Val Mcdermid (the genius behind The Wire In The Blood), James Patterson, Dan Brown, Sue Grafton, Ben Elton, Peter James and I'm sure as my library grows I'll find more great authors that will captivate my ever expanding imagination.

I wasn't really fully aware of the e-book until the beginning of this year and was rather sceptical about the whole thing. I am admittedly a creature of habit and hate anything new, or anything that changes my routine, but I knew I had to embrace the e-book immediatly! It is sad to loose the feeling of having a well loved book, with pages falling out, and that fantastic musty book smell, but I cannot recommend the Kindle Highly enough and it's one of the best e-readers out there as far as I know.

What great features does the Kindle have? An advanced e-ink display screen, that delivers words and images clearly without the 'pixely' appearance and you can read outside without the awful glare - I took mine on holiday and it perfomed fantastically outside in the bright sunshine. The Kindle can hold roughly up to 3,500 books with around 750,000 books available to download from Amazon including bestsellers and new releases. UK and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs, plus lots of these books are also FREE! (and they put the paid-for books on sale regulary!) The battery life lasts up to two months, as long as you're aren't logged into the wifi or 3g and you can download and read books anywhere from this thin, lightweight, portable gadget, and lets face it - I need all the space in my handbag that I can get!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Wireless-Reading-Display-Generation/dp/B002LVUWFE/ref=sa_menu_kdp32

I've made mine a little more 'me'

What I Wore Tonight

Friday night, staff night out with tapas. Boo for me then, avoiding alcohol after being dosed up on massively strong doctor prescribed painkilling anti-inflammatories for my back pain. I drove, and still had a lovely time even though i only stayed for dinner and not the drinks after.

My outfit: Lipsy Dress, H&M thick warm tights, Monsoon ballet pumps (not pictured) Pauls Boutique black patent clutch bag and glittery star studded earring from River Island.

Friday, Friday

There's nothing like a Costa Coffee to cheer you up on a Friday morning.

Have a good one x

Minx Nail Wraps

Ok so here goes, my first review. I'm actually multi tasking and attempting to watch Hollyoaks too. I've recently had a little obsession with all things nail based from varnish to glitter, cheap nail wraps and even trying my hand at nail art. There's nothing like an in-salon finish, however i'm on a bit of a budget and like to try things myself.

Although there are many cheaper nail wraps out there Minx does have the best reputation and many salons charge around £30 to apply them.

(for those that have never heard of nail wraps or Minx - they are basically very think vinyl like heat applied strips that contain intricate patterns that cannot be achieved through nail art alone, and have a reputation for being much more durable and longer lasting than nail varnish)

I found these beauties on ebay, and literally took 20 minuted to trim to size and apply with the heat of the hairdryer to my own nails. I'm very heavy handed and these lasted around a week for me before they started to lift at the edge. Very impressive as usually nail varnish only lasts a day or two on me without chipping. :-)