October Favourites

I don't normally do monthly favourites, and this isn't aimed to be a monthly favourites it just happens to be nearly the end of October.

1. Nubar Diamont - this is my favourite top coat of the moment. Not sure how much difference it makes with chips but it dries really quickly and gives my nails a shiny finish, and can be picked up from feelunique.
2. Illamasqua blush in Ambition - this gives a lovely natural look, I've been wearing it everyday since I bought it. Perfect for pale skinned girls like me.
3. Toni & Guy paddle brush - I got this for my birthday and love it, it handles the tangles in my hair perfectly and always smooths my hair, but it's a bit too big to carry in my bag everyday.
4. Pantene Aqua Light leave-in conditioner - I've been using this on dry hair to freshen it up. I have very dry hair so tend to need to put more moisture in to last another day rather than use dry shampoo. I spray this through before bed, or just during the day, and my feels much softer and less tangled afterwards. Love it!
5. MAC Studio Fix powder in NC15 - when I first got this I wore it as a foundation and it works really well, but lately I've been using it lightly as a finishing powder and it really helps my make up last.
6. L'Oreal True Match foundation in C1 - I used this at uni and recently got it back out. It's medium coverage and feels so light on the skin and lasts all day, it's perfect (for now).

xoxo

To dye or not to dye

I have a few days to make a decision on what to do with my hair at my next appointment. After spending all morning watching Zoe's videos I think I want to keep long hair, but who knows what i'll decide when I'm actually at the hairdressers! But I need help on deciding on the colour.

This is my hair at the moment, its a dark blonde with bleach highlights through it, slightly darker than in the photo.

I'm considering either going blonder again,

Or going a reddy brown colour, this is obviously the more drastic option if i go quite dark, i'm not sure if it'll suit me or even if i'll like it.

 

 

What do you think?
xoxo

{NOTD} OPI - Tickle My France-y

Some days I just can't be bothered to wear nail polish, but unfortunately due to my nails being stained this isn't an option if I want to look presentable. So this morning I was sat in front of 4 almost identical nude polishes, wondering why I needed 4 identical polishes and also which to wear. I went for OPI Tickle My France-y.

It matches my skin tone almost perfectly and is the perfect 'can't be bothered to wear polish' polish. This was 2 coats and it dried quickly with the help of Nubar Diamont, my top coat of choice these days.

xoxo

Charles Worthington Salon At Home: Strength & Repair

I saw this in Boots a few weeks ago and had to give it a go. There are 4 variants, Strength & Repair, Shine Booster, and 2 Straight & Smooth kits, one for coloured hair and one for non-coloured hair.

 

In the kit you get hair oil, shampoo, conditioner and 4 hair caps. They say there are 4 uses in this kit, but having used it 4 times already I can tell that there is easily more than that!

It comes with everything you need and is clearly labelled with the steps. You apply the hair repair oil, which is very runny, and put on the shower cap and leave it for 10 minutes. Then shower and rinse out the oil, shampoo and apply the hair mask and leave it for 5 minutes. Dry and style as normal.

I've used this 4 times now, once a week, and am really impressed with it! My hair doesn't seem as dry, or tangled, and has been much shinier! I will definitely continue to use this, and have also picked up the Shine Booster kit to try too. The Beauty Slice has reviewed the Straight & Smooth kit for coloured hair over on her blog so head over there for that review.

This was £19.99 from Boots when I bought it, but at the moment there are on offer for £13 I believe. This is expensive, but seeing as I have over half of all the products left then its not bad for the number of uses you get out of it, and it has made a noticeable difference to the condition of my hair.

xoxo

{NOTD} Essie - Very Structured

This is one of the Essie's I picked up from the Fall collection. It's an amazing colour in the bottle, but once on my nails it becomes browner.

You can see the slight difference between the bottle colour and on my nails in this photo. The kids at school all told me it looked like chocolate on my nails which wasn't what I was going for.

It's still different from anything in my collection, but I'm a bit disappointed with how this looks on me. Application was brilliant though as with most Essie's, and this lasted several days with only minimal tip wear.

xoxo

My week has been spent...

• Attempting to make salmon in breadcrumbs with homemade wedges, at least i didn't set the smoke alarm off this time,

• Being so tired I want to scream/cry,

• Kids having more energy than I can deal with,

• Painting my nails,

• Loving Made In Chelsea (cheesy I know),

• Being told I shouldn't send a kid out of my classroom for swearing and hitting another student with a box,

• Having my teaching ability doubted by someone who teaches only 2 classes and only has the ability to teach kids to count,

• Having my manager take credit for solving a problem I gave him the solution for last week,

• Wanting to cry,

• Catching up with family and seeing holiday photos,

• Having a kid crying in lesson,

• Having a kid telling me her dad was in court that day and probably going to prison,

• Teaching a science cover lesson and having some students say they miss being in my class,

• Freaking out by a fight in my classroom,

• Needing a beer when I got home,

• Shellacing my nails,

• Enjoying Educating Essex,

• Being called a wuss because I was too scared to break up this fight (15 year old boys throwing punches are scary),

• Having a kid telling me her friend had gone missing and she'd searched with police all night,

• With her telling me her friend had been found,

• Telling a class that since they couldn't solve equations after an hour of me teaching them I should quit as I was a terrible teacher, them telling me not to,

• Telling the class I'd go do nails full time instead, them telling me I should,

• Me smiling,

• Getting a takeaway and spending the evening on the sofa,

It's been a long week!
xoxo

(This post was inspired by Franky's weekly posts)

Autumn Polish Haul

I recently made an order on Nail Supplies, which is by the same people as Transdesign, mainly for some new Essie polishes and 2 new China Glaze. I always love Essie's Autumn collections and this year, Essie Brand New Bag, was no exception. I also have 2 new Nails Inc which I picked up in Boots yesterday when I went shopping, they had a stand with Nails Inc, Orly minis and Models Own Pro, and I managed to resist all but the Nails Inc.

Left to right: Nails Inc Wellington Square, Nails Inc Porchester Square, China Glaze Westside Warrior, China Glaze Midtown Magic (including my new cuticle oil, Nubar Sweet Almond, it smells amazing!).

Thumb to pinkie: Essie Glamour Purse, Essie Carry On, Essie School Of Hard Rocks, Essie Bobbing For Baubles, Essie Very Structured.

Other than Nails Inc Wellington Square, I think all of these colours will be favourites this Autumn/Winter. Essie Very Structured is about to go on my nails so look out for the post on it. What will you be wearing on your nails this Autumn?

xoxo

{NOTD} Bourjois - Khaki

I have been wanting this since I heard Bourjois were releasing it, they have branched out a lot from reds and pinks lately!

Once I saw it in Boots I snapped it up, I love khaki greens, and applied this straight away.

This claims to be anti-chip and that it'll last 10 days, well 7 days plus 3 days if you touch up. This lasted less than 24 hours before a chip appeared! Me and Bourjois polish don't get on well. Combined with the awkwardness of the new angled brush I am not a fan of application, but the colour is pretty.

I added a sparkle top coat to hide the chips.

This is a lovely colour, but almost definitely not worth the £5.99 I paid for it. Sad times.

xoxo

OPI - The One That Got Away

This is one of the polishes from the Katy Perry collection, originally I didn't want any of these polishes, until I saw this in Sally's and had to get it. It is beautiful!

This is the colour in daylight, unfortunately it isn't quite as pretty as in the bottle, it loses some of the duochrome effect.

Once you catch it in the light though it really sparkles! The photos aren't quite capturing how beautiful it is!

Application was brilliant, it is almost a foil finish and dries very quickly. I used 2 coats in these photos, even after top coat it wasn't quite as shiny as I would've liked. I wore this all week, but am not in a hurry to wear it again because of what happened once I took it off!

Stained, pink nails. The photo is not capturing quite how pink my nails are, my boyfriend said it looked as if I was still wearing nail polish. Not good.

xoxo

Rimmel - Beige Style

This was one of the first nude polishes I bought, and it's still one of my favourites, and one of the few available on the high street.

This was 2 coats and the wide brush is really good for neat application, I love the quality of Rimmel polishes. For days when you want a break from bright polishes, or if like me you want something natural but have stained nails then this is brilliant. For £4.50 (I think) you can't go wrong.

xoxo

China Glaze - Rodeo Fanatic

I have had this polish for a while and although I admired it in the bottle I had never used it. Well that was very foolish, this is an amazing polish!

Application was excellent as always for China Glaze, I applied 2 coats. This is a dark teal that has an incredible shimmer that glows when it catches in the light. A perfect autumn shade I think, if autumn ever turns up!

xoxo

Orly - Gumdrop

With the hot weather this week I fancied a nice summery colour, I picked Orly Gumdrop. This is very similar to other turquoises I have in my collection, but because of the amazing application it may become my favourite!

This applied so smoothly and nearly had full coverage after one coat but I always like to do two. It is also incredibly shiny! It's reminded me how much I love Orly polishes, you should definitely check them out if you haven't already.
 I recently bought OPI Silver Shatter, because of this post by Bicky, and just had to try it out. I think it looks amazing over pastel colours, and it is so sparkly in the sun. Amazing!

xoxo