Lyd's Blonde Thoughts

{Nails} China Glaze - Sugar High

2012-01-28T12:30:00.000Z

I'm nearly in spring mode and decided I was fed up of neutral shades, only for a bit, so got out this polish from China Glaze's Up & Away 2010 collection. It reminds me of Barry M Pink Flamingo, which is a good thing as my Pink Flamingo is so thick and nearly unusable now.

This was 3 coats I believe, but only to make sure it was completely even. I do love China Glaze polishes, the application is always brilliant!

xoxo

{Blog Sale} China Glaze & OPI

2012-01-22T18:30:00.000Z

These are a few polishes that have sat unloved in my collection, I will be selling some other brands too but thought I would start with these two brands.

All prices include postage to the UK, if you are international please let me know in the comments.
If you would like an item please comment below saying which item you would like and your Paypal address. It's first come, first served.
Items will be posted by next weekend, I will do it as soon as possible but it may not be til next Saturday, just to warn you.
If you are buying several items I will combine postage so it will be a bit cheaper.

I apologise for the quality of the photos, I took them last night so had to use flash.

1. China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le - £5

2. ~~China Glaze Agent Lavender - £5~~

3. ~~China Glaze Ahoy! - £5~~

4. ~~China Glaze Pink Underground - £5~~

5. China Glaze Pool Party - £5

6. China Glaze Breakin' - £5

7. China Glaze Tree Hugger - £5

8. China Glaze Towel Boy Toy - £5

9. China Glaze Skate Night - £5

10. China Glaze Cords - £5

11. China Glaze Latte - £5

12. China Glaze Lemon Fizz - £5

13. China Glaze Naked - £5

14. China Glaze Frostbite - £5

15. OPI Time-Less Is More - £6

16. OPI Pink Of Hearts 2 - £6

17. OPI Suzi & The Lifeguard - £6

18. OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy - £6

19. OPI Flower To Flower - £6

20. OPI Houston We Have A Purple - £6

21. ~~OPI Pretty & Privileged - £6~~

22. ~~OPI Ali's Big Break - £6~~

23. OPI Sweet As Annie-Thing - £6

24. OPI Queen Of West Web-Erly - £6

25. ~~OPI Dim Sum Plum - £6~~

26. ~~OPI Give Me The Moon! - £6~~

27. OPI Skull & Glossbones - £6

28. OPI Over The Taupe - £6

29. OPI Cuckoo For This Color - £6

Enjoy

xoxo

{Nails} OPI - Mermaid Tears

2012-01-21T13:00:00.000Z

This was one of the polishes released with the OPI Pirates Of The Caribbean collection, I swatched it but I hadn't worn it properly.

Recently I have got into mint greens, I always preferred a turquoise personally, but this murky green shade is lovely! And it's OPI so application was lovely as always.

xoxo

{Nails} Rimmel - Urban Princess

2012-01-15T16:00:00.000Z

This is a polish that I hadn't worn before but I was wearing a neutral coloured dress and wanted to wear bright coloured nails, inspired by Sarah of Temporary Secretary.

This was 2 coats and 1 coat of Orly Polishield. This is one of Rimmel's Lycra Pro polishes which are meant to last up to 10 days, it lasted 5 days on me before I needed to change the colour. Rimmel polishes are one of my favourites, and I think this has become my favourite pink, it almost has a jelly finish which I love.

xoxo

{Nails} Nubar Jeans Collection

2012-01-13T21:30:00.000Z

Both Nubar and Chanel have bought out nail polish collections based on jeans recently, I picked up 2 of the Nubar polishes. I can only justify Chanel if the colour is unique or a cult colour (Particuliere). I left out the lightest blue shade as I knew I just wouldn't wear it.

Boyfriend Jeans:

Dark Wash Jeans:

Both of these were 2 coats, the application was very similar of both, they were uneven on the first coat but evened out when the second coat was drying. This is also with no top coat, they're so shiny!

I am a huge fan of Nubar polishes, and their top coat Nubar Diamont is amazing, application is always brilliant. I picked these up from eBay, but Feel Unique sells Nubar polishes so no excuse not to try them!

xoxo

{Nails} OPI Gel Color - Suzi Says Feng Shui

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000Z

OPI have decided to jump on the soak-off-gel polish bandwagon, OPI Gel Color is the same as Gelish and Shellac, click here if you haven't heard of these polishes before. The advantage of OPI Gel Color is that it's available in the most popular colours of their normal polish range.

I ordered 2 of the new gel polishes from an American site and this is the first My Private Jet is the 2nd one I have to try. Application was brilliant, this was one of the easiest gel polishes to apply.

I love the shine, I think this is why I love gel polishes so much! This lasted for 1 and a half weeks before I removed it, but I think it would have easily lasted 2 weeks without any chips.

I'm not sure if this is available in UK nail salons yet, but if you like Gelish then I would definitely recommend this as the colour range is lovely.

xoxo

{NOTD} Essie - School Of Hard Rocks

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000Z

Firstly, I love the name of this polish! This came out with Essie's Winter collection, and its actually a pretty unique shade. Its a bluey/greeny/grey shade.

It's been a while since I've used an Essie polish so I forgot how small the brush was, but I actually like them, they take more strokes but I find you can get a nice application. This was 2 coats, but it dried quite slowly.

xoxo

2012 Beauty Resolutions

2012-01-04T07:00:00.001Z

I know it's a huge cliche but I have decided to make some resolutions for this year, mainly related to my spending and beauty addiction!

I will start Project 10 Pan. I have so many products that don't get used, so I have to use up 10 products before I am allowed to purchase anything else! I'm thinking of posting mini reviews at the end of each month of what I've used up like Joy does, as I personally love to read these posts..

This is the current contents of my shower, I am going to aim to use all of this up, it has sat in my shower too long!

I have made one little exception to the spending ban. I have recently started using Superdrug's version of the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish, so have told myself if I use this everyday to take my make up off then I can buy the Liz Earle version when I finish it.
I will have a nail polish allowance. I am only allowed to buy 10 nail polishes this year, I have taken this idea from Sandra, she managed it last year and has encouraged me that I can do it! I have enough and there really can't be that many unique shades coming out this year that I will need! If I can get rid of some as well, even better!
I will finish off at least 2 nail polishes. I'm sure if I try I can easily do this, not actually sure how long it takes to finish nail polish, we'll find out I guess.

These are my most used polishes it seems, Nails Inc London, Barry M Pink Flamingo, Rimmel Rose Libertine, OPI Tickle-My-Francy, Maybelline Ivory Rose.

I will keep you all updated on whether I achieve this! Have you made any beauty resolutions?

xoxo

{NOTD} Nails Inc - Portchester Square

2012-01-02T15:00:00.000Z

I'm going to start 2012 with one of my favourite polishes from 2011, I first saw it on All Lacquered Up and have wanted it ever since. I always resisted buying it online, but caved when I saw it in a Boots store, it's so pretty.

I have already worn this polish 3 times and can see myself wearing it many times more! This was 2 coats, and no top coat, it dries pretty quickly! Nails Inc polishes cost £11, it's a lot of money, but this one is definitely worth it!

xoxo

2011 Favourites

2011-12-31T19:00:00.000Z

I saw this on Lydia's blog and thought it was a great idea so have decided to do my own 2011 favourites. These are the products I have reached for most this last year.

Source

Make Up

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15
Powder: Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder
Concealor: MAC Select Moisturecover in NW15
Eyeshadow: Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP
Eyeliner: Maybelline Define-A-Line Eyeliner
Mascara: L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes
Blusher: Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Ambition
Bronzer: Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder
Highlighter: MAC MSF in By Candelight
Lipstick: MAC Lipstick Chatterbox
Lipgloss: Revlon Colorburst in Orchid
Nail polish: China Glaze Below Deck

Skincare

Cleanser: Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub
Toner: LUSH Tea Tree Water
Moisturiser: Vichy Normaderm
Make up remover: Garnier 2 in 1 Make-Up Remover

Haircare

Shampoo: Herbal Essences Smooth & Soft
Conditioner: Herbal Essences Smooth & Soft
Deep conditioner: Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate
Leave in conditioner: Pantene Aqua Light Leave in Conditioner
Hairspray: Aussie Hi-Hold & Hi-Shine Hairspray
Hot tool: Babyliss Waving Wand

This will be my last post of 2011 as I really should be getting ready to go out right now. So I hope you all have a lovely evening, whatever you are doing.

Source

xoxo

{NOTD} New Years Nails

2011-12-31T15:30:00.000Z

I needed something sparkly for New Years Eve and saw this combo on another blog, it was in fact a guest post by Oooh Shinies on Ivana Thinks Pink. I had wanted to try it out and my boyfriend suggested it for tonight, I think he loves Party Hearty just a bit.

This was 2 coats of China Glaze Jolly Holly, and then one coat of China Glaze Party Hearty. Party Hearty is an amazing polish! It is basically Christmas in a bottle, which sadly means that today will probably be the last time I wear this for about a year.

As Bregje did, I then added a matte top coat, but I think I prefer it shiny, it just sparkles more!

xoxo

How I Spent My Christmas

2011-12-29T19:00:00.000Z

Christmas lasts several days for me, it started with a visit to Laura on the 22nd and continued through to Boxing Day. Here's how I spent it:

Wrapping my Christmas presents - they all had to be in matching paper :)

Visiting Laura, Jamie and Lucy where we watched Christmas movies all day and drank mulled wine (not Jamie, in case you were wondering)

Receiving cards from my Grandpa and Uncle, these made me smile a lot

Losing the turkey meat! Only my family could manage this, the turkey was cooked upside down by mistake so we had quite a panic thinking we didn't have enough meat
Eating a lot, I can't resist pigs in blankets and roast potatoes
Going for the usual walk along the seaside

Playing with our musical crackers, everyone has a numbered whistle and you try and play tunes from the music sheet, and fail and laugh a lot

Drinking a lot of pink fizzy wine

Playing with our tree presents, Lego in this case

Reading books about fairies

Eating more
Drinking more
Dressing up the dog

Sleeping to recover from Christmas

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas

xoxo

{NOTD} Christmas Day Nails

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000Z

I spent last night doing my nails, which will hopefully be my Christmas nails! I can't have chipped nails so if they chip before Sunday I may cry and have to re-do them. I went for striped nails again, I couldn't decide what colour to go for so thought I would combine two. For me Christmas is all about the China Glaze polishes so that is what I went for.

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Jingle Bells, what an appropriate name, and then a coat of Orly Polishield, my latest top coat. Then once it was dry, I used nail polish tip strips, I used tape last time but these are easier to get strips all the same size.

Then I applied China Glaze Phat Santa, and peeled off the strips straight after I had painted each nail. I was left with this.

The red is slightly brighter in real life, and it's not as messy either. Amazingly Christmassy though!

Since this will probably be the last post before Christmas, and it is Christmas Eve now! Merry Christmas to every one of you, hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

xoxo

{NOTD} Topshop - Phenomena

2011-12-23T22:00:00.000Z

I remember hearing about the Topshop metallic nail polishes a while ago but wasn't overly interested, until I went in store and saw them in 'real-life'! I wanted about 3 of the colours, but only picked up one to start with. I am really impressed with Topshop nail polishes, the colour selection is brilliant and so far the quality has been great so far.

This was 2 coats, and these photos were taken after I had worn it for 2 days, there are no chips at all! I couldn't stop staring at my nails when I had this on, I will definitely be going back for some more colours. These are £6, which is a lot but based on this polish I definitely think they're worth it, available from Topshop or Topshop.com.

xoxo

Soap & Glory Big Splendour

2011-12-17T17:00:00.000Z

Boots and Soap & Glory often have this offer, Soap % Glory's big box set is reduced to less than half price for one week. I missed out last year and wasn't really planning on getting this year's, but I was in Boots yesterday and they had loads of them so just had to get one! I believe last year's was in a hatbox, this year it all comes in a case.

Inside are all the goodies, I haven't really tried Soap & Glory products before but I can't wait to try out some of the classics in here!

Included are:

Clean On Me
The Righteous Butter
Pulp Friction
Face, Soap & Clarity
Off Your Face
Heel Genius
Hand Food
Mist You Madly
Sexy Mother Pucker
Calm One, Calm All

This has now sold out online, but my Boots store had plenty yesterday. If you love Soap & Glory or just want to try them out you can't go wrong with all this lot for £25! Plus Boots points obviously.

xoxo

December Favourites

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000Z

I know it's only the middle of December, but I wanted to do a favourites blogpost and i'm going to call it December favourites!

OPI Wocka Wocka - this is my favourite red right now and my most worn nail polish, this has been on my nails at least 3 times lately! If you don't have many metallic red polishes then you need this.
Garnier Essential Day cream - my skin needs more moisture in this winter weather and this has been doing the job very nicely.
Redken Glass Look - my favourite product for putting on dry hair, this leaves my hair really shiny and smooth.
Matrix Vavoom Gold Heat - this is an excellent heat protectant, it gives a list mist on the hair so you dont end up with damp patches that take ages to dry before you can straighten it.
Next Diamonds - a few people have mentioned this so I finally caved and bought it, I love it! It was £10 for a 75ml bottle and smells lovely. Cat mentioned this in a recent blogpost.

My last favourite thing is my new hair colour, even though I only just posted photos of my new hair it has been 5 weeks since my cut so I went back to my hairdresser. I'm not actually loving my long bob so am growing it out again, I just didn't realise how much hassle short hair is compared to long hair!

xoxo

{NOTD} OPI - It's My Year

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000Z

I picked this up after seeing it on several blogs, I also picked up Swimsuit...Nailed It! from the same collection. First time I wore this I was disappointed, it came off really gold on me and wasn't pink at all, but this time I gave it a good shake and it was lovely!

Sorry for the blurred photo, but I thought it showed the sparkles nicely. Application was brilliant, I've become a big fan of the wide OPI brush and this has a almost foil finish so dried nice and quickly.

This will be lovely for Spring I think!

xoxo

{NOTD} Leighton Denny - Babydoll

2011-12-11T23:00:00.000Z

I'm sure you've seen this polish around a lot lately! I don't subscribe to GlossyBox but saw that lots of people had received this polish in their box and thought it was lovely! After asking on Twitter, Sparkles_x said she didn't want hers and I could have it! Thank you!

It's a lovely creamy pink shade, but I was a bit disappointed with it. Application wasn't amazing, the brush was quite awkward and made it really hard to get a neat application around my cuticles. Not sure if this is just mine.

I am really glad I managed to get this, I rarely wear pink polishes but I can see myself getting this out again soon!

xoxo

Giveaway Winner

2011-12-04T20:00:00.000Z

The winner of my giveaway for the 17 Magnetic polish is:

CurlyMoomin

Please email me on addictedtolydia@gmail.com, or send me a DM on Twitter and I will get it sent to you this week. Thank you to all the girls who entered.

xoxo

Gone for the chop!

2011-12-04T17:00:00.000Z

So I posted in October saying I was unsure about what to do with my hair at my next appointment, well I went for the chop about 4 weeks ago (this post is a bit late).

Here is my hair before (looking at this now makes me miss it!):

And here it is now (sorry for the serious look):

I have been having to straighten my hair every time I wash it so need to find some products to keep it in good condition. But today, after someone mentioned it on Twitter, I got out my Remington Spin Curl dryer and love the effect it gave, will definitely be using this a lot I think!

Luckily the colour has faded as my hairdresser used light brown dye on it and it was just a bit darker than I wanted, I'm going to ask for some more blonde put through it next time so it lighter straight away rather than after 3 weeks.

What do you think?

xoxo

{NOTD} Artistic Colour Gloss - Avant-Garde

2011-12-03T14:00:00.000Z

As much as I love painting my nails sometimes I just want my nail polish to last past a few days without looking scruffy, which is why I have quite a few gel polishes now.

Artistic Colour Gloss are the same as Gelish but have a better colour range. Avant-Garde is a sparkly turquoise colour, this is one of my favourites from the range.

After a week the colour still had the same shine and no chips. The other thing I love about Gelish is how smooth it feels, it is thicker on the nails so smooths out all little bumps.

If chipping nail polish annoys you then you should definitely look into having Gelish or Shellac done.

xoxo

{NOTD} Sally Hansen - Fedora

2011-11-30T09:00:00.000Z

I've wanted this for a while but I'm fairly certain this colour is not one of the ones available in the UK so I searched eBay for it.. Sally Hansen polishes are now stocked in some Boots stores and on the Boots website. This is one of the Complete Salon Manicure range and supposedly you do not need a base coat or top coat with them.

Fedora is a nude polish with a lovely shimmer in it, that obviously shows up better in the bottle than on the nail. The application of this was brilliant, (I always say that, I rarely come across a nail polish I don't like) and it has an excellent wide brush that gave a neat application.

I do not know about the wear on this i'm afraid as I just swatched it while there was some sun around. I'm sure it will be worn very shortly and I will update this post when I do.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a 17 Magentic Polish!

xoxo

{NOTD} Christmas Nails!

2011-11-29T10:00:00.000Z

I went Christmas shopping at the weekend and was feeling festive so thought I'd get out some of my China Glaze Christmas polishes. For me China Glaze Twinkle Lights is the Christmas glitter of the year!

I started with China Glaze Jingle Bells, a warm, almost red, toned gold from last year. The application on this was lovely, and it was so shiny! This is 2 coats.

Then I decided to layer it with China Glaze Twinkle Lights to make it extra Christmassy! This was 1 coat of Twinkle Lights, I had no problem with placing the glitter at all since it is very fine.

Hopefully this is just the first of many Christmas nail combinations!

xoxo

{NOTD} Gelish - Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Busy

2011-11-27T20:00:00.000Z

As I've been feeling really crappy this weekend, I knew I wouldnt have time to re-do my nails during the week, think I will be spending all my time sleeping this cold off! So I thought I'd dig out my Gelish again, especially after Lucy's enthusiasm over Shellac.

Gelish is the same concept as Shellac but slightly different, Shellac is a polish hybrid whereas Gelish is a gel polish. They are both meant to last for around 2 weeks, but Shellac never did for me so I much prefer Gelish.

I started with 2 coats of black, I used Artistic Colour Gloss in Swag, and then 1 coat of Gelish Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Busy, this polish is meant to be used for layering and is beautiful!

It gives the polish a blue/purple shimmer, I am a little disappointed though as I thought it was going to be pink! But it is still amazing, and so sparkly!

I do this myself but wouldn't recommend it to most people as it does require precision and equipment, however if you are going to have a go at this yourself check out Lucy's excellent post on how to apply.

xoxo

{NOTD} Look Beauty - Kimono

2011-11-27T12:30:00.000Z

This is the real star in the Look Beauty nail polish line, this is the reason I ended up with 3 more polishes last weekend. I saw this and had to have it!

It is a green/gold/brown duochrome, that was incredibly hard to capture on camera! I imagine it may be similar to Models Own Golden Green, but I don't own it so can't compare.

Believe me that this polish is even more beautiful in real life and sparkles even more. Beautiful!

Look Beauty polishes are £5 from some Superdrugs, and I believe Superdrug still have 3 for 2 across all their cosmetics.

xoxo

Giveaway - Closed!

2011-11-25T21:00:00.000Z

I posted about this polish last week, I mentioned that I now own all 4 of the magnetic polishes but I actually have 5 in my possession right now as I picked one up an extra blue one for a giveaway.

I wanted to say thank you to all the 302 people that now follow me, you have no idea how happy this makes me!

All you need to do is:

Comment on this blog post
Be a follower of this blog
Have a valid blogger account

The giveaway will be open for a week and closes 2nd December at 23:59. Winner will be chosen at random on 3rd December.

xoxo

{NOTD} 17 Magnetic Polish - Blue

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000Z

I finally managed to track these down in my Boots (I somehow have ended up owning all 4 colours now, don't judge me!) The blue is currently my favourite.

It took me a while to get the hang of holding the magnet, on some nails the effect came out really well and on others it only really appeared on one part of the nail.

I did find that if I didn't get much pattern on one section of my nail I just put another coat of polish on that bit and held the magnet over it again. I did this on my middle finger and thumb, it gives a good effect that way.

People seem torn on this latest effect, what are your thoughts? Do we love or hate?

xoxo

{NOTD} Look Beauty - Petticoat

2011-11-20T11:30:00.000Z

I was in town yesterday and wanted to check out the Look Beauty stand again, it was quite empty but I was just pleased that my Superdrug stock the Look Beauty range. All cosmetics are on 3 for 2 in Superdrug so I picked up 3 polishes which I will show you this week.

First is Petticoat, a lovely pinky nude.

This was 2 coats, with no clean up needed, and it applied beautifully. I think this may be my new favourite nude polish. I will update in a few days with how well it lasted.

These are £5 in Superdrug, and they have a brilliant range of polishes, I would definitely check these out of you can.

xoxo

{NOTD} Look Beauty - Catsuit

2011-11-13T15:00:00.000Z

I picked this up in my local Superdrug, I saw they had a new stand of Look Beauty make up and couldn’t resist picking something up.

This is 1 coat over a black polish. It sparkles a lot but sadly it doesn’t have a shiny finish even with a topcoat, so I tried it with a matte topcoat.

I can’t decide which way I prefer it!
This polish lasted 2 days before the first chip appeared, and it took it off on the 3rd day. As expected it was an absolute nightmare to remove, as most glitters are.
Look Beauty nail polishes are available from Superdrug and cost £5. Let me know if you’ve tried any of these!
xoxo

October Favourites

2011-10-29T10:30:00.000+01:00

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.

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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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

2011-10-25T12:30:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-24T13:00:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-23T10:30:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-22T16:30:00.000+01:00

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...

2011-10-14T19:30:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-09T20:30:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-09T15:45:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

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

2011-10-02T12:00:00.000+01:00

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

A few things I'm loving ...

2011-09-26T18:30:00.000+01:00

My new Topshop hoody - I had a gift voucher so managed to pick this up for £2 and its so cosy for winter months.

Grey's Anatomy - I've finally started watching season 7 and am loving it! I watch it on my iPod while I do my marking and was actually excited to do marking today, this is unheard of!
Sparkly nails - OPI The One That Got Away is an amazingly sparkly foil polish, I love it.

Golden Hello - this month I get my teaching bonus which you get at the start of your 2nd year. I have worked very hard over the last 2 years for this, and it'll be the only bonus I'll ever get as a teacher so I'm going to enjoy it.
Long hair - its actually quite healthy now, but I keep wanting to straighten it so that won't last!

Fairy lights – I was given these for my birthday and they look so pretty on the mantelpiece. Like Christmas lights that are acceptable to use all year long.

Friends - I'm finally working on some friendships that I've let slip lately and it feels good. If you read this and I consider you a friend I do appreciate you, even if I'm not always there! Promise!

xoxo

Accessorize - Khaki Folly

2011-09-17T10:00:00.001+01:00

I love the colours of Accessorize polishes, they have brought something different to the high street. I own about 10 but haven't got around to swatching them all yet. Despite the bad application of Sunny Days I decided to try another one.

I am in full Autumn mode right now, I am sat here looking out at the cloudy skies with jeans and a hoody on. I was made for Autumn!

The application on this was much better than Sunny Days and it only needed 2 coats and applied smoothly.

This is one of the only khaki polishes available from Boots/Superdrug, hopefully there will be a few more in the coming months as I love these grungey shades. If you are after a perfect autumn shade you cannot go wrong with this one, especially for only £4.

xoxo

My Beatiful New Watch

2011-09-09T20:00:00.000+01:00

I have wanted this for a long time! But this purchase was prompted by Sinead, Carly and Lydia (yes I blame you!). They were all wearing versions of this watch and I decided I had to buy it there and then.

Alas we couldn't find it in Selfridges and didn't have time to go anywhere else. So being the obsessive person that I am I had to start looking on my phone to buy it online. Cue this purchase which arrived last Saturday from ASOS and turned out to cost less than the usual price, perfect!

I love it!

xoxox

Illamasqua - Faux Pas

2011-09-04T12:30:00.000+01:00

I was lucky enough to receive 2 out of the 4 nail polishes in my goody bag from Illamasqua, they know me very well clearly, and I couldn't wait to try them.

Illamasqua say "Taking a lead from the colour-coded specialities of the Wittenberg Platz’s domineering Boot Girls, Illamasqua introduces confident new shades, in a brazen display of utter indulgence. The Theatre of the Nameless proudly parades a kinky new waxy “rubber-look” finish to Illamasqua’s hardwearing, chip-resistant" Apparently the four colours picked were the colours of the boots that the Boot Girls would wear to advertise their, ahem, services.

Faux Pas is a medium purple, that is incredibly hard to photograph! These polishes have Illamasqua's new 'rubber-look' finish which leaves them with a satiny finish, not matte but not shiny either. To celebrate this new finish the polishes have a rubber feel cap to match the rubber finish.

This is a pretty accurate representation of the colour, but it did require some photoshopping (who knew I could even do that).

I have had this on a day so far and have no chips, this is impressive for a matte polish. In order to make nail polishes last longer when I can't use a top coat I do what lacquerized calls a nail polish sandwich. You apply your base coat, preferably one that helps nail polish last, one coat of your polish, then another coat of base coat, and another coat of nail polish on top.

What do you think? So far I'm loving these rubber finishes!

xoxo

Welcome to the Theatre of the Nameless

2011-09-03T18:38:00.000+01:00

On Thursday I went to London to meet up with some lovely girls and attend the Illamasqua event for their new Autumn Winter collection.

The event was spectacular as always, they always put so much thought into their events and the setting and atmosphere.

We had a play around with the new products, and I got swatches as best as I could, but the light wasn't the best for swatching.

Top to bottom: Belladonna Intense Lipgloss, Violate Sheer Lipgloss (green, I warned you the swatches weren't the best), Facade Intense Lipgloss.

Top to bottom: Ambition Powder Blusher, Morale Powder Blusher.

Clockwise from top: Kontrol Lipstick, Androgen Cream Pigment, Depravity Cream Pigment.

Left to right: Zeitgeist Pure Pigment, Zeitgeist and Bequile Pure Pigment mixed, Bequile Pure Pigment, Berber Pure Pigment (Brick Red).

Havoc Precision Ink (Aubergine purple, almost black).

The 'Rubber' Nail Polishes, these dry to a finish between matte and shiny, almost a satin.
Left to right: Vice, Taint, Kink, Faux Pas.

Thank you Illamasqua for a lovely evening once again! And thank you to all the lovely girls I met.

xoxo

One Of The Reasons I Love Blogging

2011-08-11T12:02:00.000+01:00

Last week I went to visit one of my favourite people, Laura from Live, Laugh, Love.

We met through blogs/twitter a few years ago and are now really good friends. I am so grateful that I met her because she is an absolutely amazing person and I now visit her every few months in my holidays (I would go every week if I could). We always have an amazing time!

We played with Jamie, Laura's son and my favourite little man. Then went to Zumba and nearly died, exercise in heat is not a good idea!

And then there was lots of baking, to cancel out the exercise!

Then we settled down and ate this lot!

All recipes are on Laura's blog, I thoroughly recommend you try some, the golden syrup loaf cake is amazing!

xoxo

Holiday Nails!

2011-08-08T14:42:00.001+01:00

This time next week I will hopefully be just arriving at a villa in Turkey! I think I have nearly decided what clothes to take and have just started the task of washing and packing everything.

But I can't decide which nail polishes to take, I have decided to limit myself to 4! I would love your thoughts on which ones I should take.

Illamasqua Lament:

OPI Steady As She Rose:

Orly Lollipop:

Essie Van D'Go:

Essie Tart Deco:

Illamasqua Jo'Mina:

China Glaze For Audrey:

Orly Cotton Candy:

Essie Lilacism:

Barry M Peach Melba:

Barry M Pink Flamingo:

Which 4 would you take? Please comment below, or tweet me!

xoxo

OPI - Steady As She Rose

2011-08-08T12:11:00.000+01:00

This is the 4th polish I picked up from the OPI Pirates Of The Carribbean collection and I love it. It is a light pink, that looks slightly lilac in some light.

The application of this was brilliant! It was 2 coats which applied really smoothly and with the OPI brush I was able to get a really neat application that needed no clean up.

xoxo

New Glasses

2011-08-06T12:30:00.000+01:00

After an incident at the weekend, where I couldn’t read a sign post that I should’ve been able to read, I decided to get my eyes re-tested. I’ve had to wear glasses since about 16 when I couldn’t read the board at college, and now have to wear them pretty much all the time.

I got myself an eye test at Boots for £5 using a voucher I found online here, and then headed to Specsavers for my glasses. I have always used Specsavers and am very pleased with them.

I picked 2 pairs, one pair of prescription sunglasses for my upcoming holiday and one pair of everyday glasses.

I’m not used to wearing sunglasses because I can’t see anything without my glasses, so wearing sunglasses and being able to see is very exciting! Sad I know!

What do you think? Do we like?

xoxo

Topshop - Cloud

2011-07-31T20:00:00.000+01:00

I wore this nail polish this weekend for a wedding, I needed a colour to go with my dress and with help of the lovely girls on twitter we decided I needed something dark and that a bluey-grey would work. I got out about 4 polishes that fit the criteria (being the nail polish addict that I am) and this was my favourite.

I absolutely love this colour, and application was brilliant, I did 2 coats but it was nearly opaque after one. I applied this on Friday and took this photo this afternoon and there are no chips at all yet. I used Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Base Coat and Top Coat.

xoxo

Accessorize – Sunny Days

2011-07-31T17:30:00.000+01:00

I have been looking for a yellow nail polish but the only one I own became almost fluorescent on my nails, which wasn’t what I was going for. Then I came across this polish in Superdrug and it looked a bit darker and much creamier than most.

The colour is lovely, the application wasn't amazing though, I think this needed 3 coats and was very streaky until the final coat.

Compared to China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

This can be picked up in Superdrug for £4. If you find most light yellows too bright then I would definitely recommend Sunny Days.

xoxo

Stripey nails

2011-07-29T15:30:00.000+01:00

I saw this on Kim's blog who got the idea from Jane’s blog, and I just had to try it! Despite my hesitations it was really easy to do!

Not the best attempt, but very pretty, and I got a lot of compliments and all the kids were asking how I did it.

All you need is 2 nail polishes, a quick drying topcoat and sellotape. Head over to Jane’s blog for a much better tutorial than I could do.

I used:

Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Basecoat
Model’s Own Beth’s Blue
Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Topcoat
China Glaze Coconut Kiss
Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Topcoat

xoxo

My Hair Routine

2011-07-26T07:30:00.000+01:00

I recently had my hair dyed from bleach blonde to a more natural dark blonde, and my hair has had a struggle adjusting!

I have an addiction to hair products, that and nail varnish, and am constantly searching for new ones! Before now I had always used products for dry hair but I’ve had to start using ones for coloured hair. I had my hair coloured before but it lasted about 4 days before it had faded back to bleach blonde again.

The hair products I have on hand in the front room (where I do my make up/hair for now)

Background info: My hair is coloured, it is now a couple of inches past my shoulders and is very dry. On the whole I have given up heat (though I have straightened my hair twice in the last week :s)

What I have been using:

Shampoo: Pantene Colour & Smooth – this smells lovely, the smell of Pantene transports me back to my teenage years. This leaves my hair feeling clean and tangle free.
Conditioner: Pantene Colour & Smooth – this also smells good. It is quite thick and spreads easily through the hair, I leave it on for a few minutes while I wash my face and body. When I rinse my hair it is left feeling soft and usually with no tangles.
Treatment: Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate – I have got in the habit of using this once a week since my hair was coloured. I leave it on for 2 or 3 minutes and when I rinse it off my hair is left feeling amazing, really silky. I have done a separate review of this here.

I usually wash my hair every 2 days. Once I get out of the shower I wrap my hair up in a towel and leave it for 10-30 minutes. Once I take off the towel I comb my hair through, with a comb if I'm wearing it straight or with my fingers if I want it wavy.

Matrix Fortifying Leave In Conditioner – I spray this all through my hair every time I wash it and it helps detangle and strengthen. I ran out of this and my hair became much drier very quickly. I also love the smell of all Matrix Biolage products!
Moroccan Oil – I received this in a swap recently and love it! It’s tricky working out how much to use but now that I have my hair is left so soft and silky. I’ve heard that the VO5 Miracle Oil is very similar for a smaller price so I will give that a go soon.
Tigi S-Factor Smoothing Lusterizer – I apply a pea size amount of this on my damp hair and it seems to help soften and de-frizz my hair. The only problem with this is that it has small sparkles in it so I end up with sparkly hands.

My damp hair once I am done with the products:

The finished product (when straightened):

xoxo

My Everyday Face

2011-07-25T10:00:00.000+01:00

I seem to have got myself in the pattern of wearing the same make up everyday for work and decided to take some photos, it’s nothing special but enough to make me look awake for work and can be done quickly in the morning.

What I used:

MAC Select Moisture Cover Concealer in NW15
Bourjois 10 Hour Sleep Effect in 72
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Light Medium
MAC Pink Swoon blush

On my eyes:

MAC Femme-Fi eyeshadow all over lid
MAC Satin Taupe on outer half
Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Liner
Rimmel Day 2 Night Mascara

I have rediscovered my love for 10 Hour Sleep Effect foundation, it doesn’t cover completely (as shown by the huge spot on my cheek) but it evens out my skin tone and lasts nearly all day.

xoxo

Rimmel - Peppermint

2011-07-24T17:30:00.000+01:00

I have avoided the mint trend for a long time, but every time I saw someone with green nails I would always ask what it was. I have of course forgotten all mint suggestions I was given. So I dug out Rimmel Peppermint, one of their recent releases.

This is a light mint green that is slightly blue, it seems very similar to Essie Mint Candy Apple. The application of this was brilliant, it comes with a wide brush and required no clean up. This is 2 coats and it dried quickly. If you are after a mint green I would definitely recommend you head to Boots or Superdrug and pick this up, Rimmel polishes never let me down.

xoxo

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation – First Thoughts

2011-06-29T21:30:00.000+01:00

I was unable to attend the Illamasqua event for the launch last weekend but they kindly sent me some samples so I could try out the new foundation and find my shade. I haven’t had a chance to test this foundation properly, i.e. wear it for a few days, but I have got some swatches and colour comparisons for you.

Warning – The colours in these photos are not completely accurate due to evening light, but they should help for comparisons.

From left to right: Shade 4, Shade 3, Shade 2.

Shade 03:

The main foundation I wear is MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15, this is mainly due to it being the palest shade in the MAC range, so I started here with comparisons.

Left to right: MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15, Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 03, Bourjois Healthy Mix in 51.

Both of these foundations are very close to shade 03, it is slighter lighter than NC15 and a slightly different tone to Bourjois Healthy Mix.

Shade 02:

Left to right: MAC Select Foundation in NW15, Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 03, Maybelline Super Stay Foundation in Light Beige.

Left to right: Clinique Superbalanced in Alabaster, Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 03, Estee Lauder Double Wear in 1C1.

Looking at these swatches makes me realise how light shade 02 is, it is the lightest pink tone shade but it is very light so be careful as I thought I was a Casper but I think this is too light for me!

I will be trying out this product for the next few days and I will be letting you all know my opinion.

xoxo

OPI – We’ll Always Have Paris

2011-06-23T17:00:00.003+01:00

I have had the suede version of this for a while and saw it in Sally’s so went and ordered it off eBay obviously, I have to be very desperate to pay £10 for a nail polish!

I have fallen in love with the colour, and also with OPI again! China Glaze is my favourite brand of polish and I didn’t quite get the hype around OPI, despite having plenty of them, but this one applied brilliantly and the pro-wide brush was actually useful for once!

I’ve had this on my nails all week and have loved it, I think the miserable weather has made me want to wear dark colours again, pastels just don’t seem appropriate.

xoxo

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Review

2011-06-22T19:00:00.000+01:00

I am on the hunt for shampoo and conditioner that my hair likes and leaves me happy! I purchased these recently after reading a review by Laura. I chose the moisturising shampoo and conditioner, and picked them up in Boots when they were on offer for 2 for £7.50.

After just one use they left my hair feeling much softer than it had been, when I got out the shower I was able to run my hands through my hair without a fight which is a miracle! The next day my hair was still soft and shiny. I am really pleased with these two so far, hopefully they will continue the good work.

My hair in its natural state after a day at work (please excuse the shiny face):

I cannot comment on how well they help coloured hair as by the time I started using these all the colour had washed out of my hair, it is nearly back to the bleached colour it was before.

I will be using these for a few more weeks before I switch to Aussie Miracle Moist shampoo and conditioner, which Kelly uses, to try those out. I am on the hunt to find the best high street shampoo and conditioner for my hair!

xoxo

20% off Illamasqua

2011-06-22T16:00:00.000+01:00

Illamasqua are currently offering 20% off their whole line with the code JUNE48. This expires at midnight tonight! I made my order last night, with a few too many nail polishes included. The great thing about it was that I still got my 10% loyalty discount too so definitely worth an order.

And if you needed any more encouragement to order why not take a look at the latest promo pictures, amazing as always!

National Make-up Artist Clare Lille used:

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation (launching Thursday)
Cream Pigment in 'Dab'
Powder Blusher in 'Hussy'
Precision Ink in 'Glister'
Eye Brow Cake in 'Peak'
Sheer Lipgloss in 'Tantrum'

The nails are Scorn with Jo’Mina for the tips, definitely a look I'm going to try.

I’ll post photos once my order arrives. Let me know if you make an order using the discount code.

xoxo

Free Nails Inc – The Beauty Collection

2011-06-18T20:00:00.000+01:00

No probably not the Nails Inc you are expecting, this is to do with the Dove offer. If you buy 2 Dove deodorants in Boots you get a free Nails Inc polish, there are 2 colours to chose from. I obviously picked up both, one is a lovely nude colour, Havana, and the other is a bright coral, Copacabana.

2 coats:

3 coats of Havana, 2 coats of Copacabana:

The application of both of these was brilliant as always for Nails Inc. I didn't apply top coat so as you can see both polishes are very shiny. I applied 3 coats of Havana but it was smooth and fairly opaque after 2 coats. On me Havana is very similar to my skin tone, I have NC15 skin in MAC terms.

I’m very pleased I picked both of these up! I also managed to 1/3 off one of my deodorants from a voucher from the Boots card machine so its worth checking!

xoxo

Nail Care

2011-06-18T17:30:00.000+01:00

A lot of people have asked what i do with my nails and I always say not much, which is true, but thought I'd actually show you.

This is my weekly routine, usually on a Sunday.

My natural nails after a weeks growth before their trim (they are stained from all the nail polish):

My tools:

Ms Manicure nail clippers
Ms Manicure nail file
Glass nail file from Wilkinsons
Cuticle pusher
Mavala Scientifique
Mavala Cuticle Remover

I trim my nails as short as possible, I don’t like long nails, then tidy them up with a nail file. I put the Mavala Cuticle Remover on my cuticles and leave it for about a minute before gently pushing them back with the cuticle pusher.

Then I apply some Mavala Scientifique to the tips of my nails to try and stop the peeling that happens on about 2 of my nails.

Then I apply base coat, lately I’ve been using First Base Base Coat, my polish, and then a coat of top coat, Essie Good To Go.

The final step is to apply cuticle oil daily, at the moment I’m using CND Solar Oil which smells of marzipan, which helps to soften your cuticles and keep them moisturised.

If you want more details about any of the products just let me know.

xoxo

Blog Sale Part One

2011-06-12T16:45:00.001+01:00

I need to have a clear out but it all seems too daunting to do at once so I shall be selling things bit by bit.
Payment by Paypal only please. All prices include first class postage within the UK, if you want recorded delivery or are not from the UK please let me know so I can adjust postage.
Comment below with the item you would like and your paypal address.
1.

~~Sleek Safari palette, used lightly - £5~~ SOLD
2.

MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Play On Plums, never used - £8
3.

~~MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Shimpagne, never used - £18~~ SOLD
4.

~~MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Blonde, used – £12~~ SOLD
5.

~~MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Smooth Merge, swatched - £15~~ SOLD
6.

~~Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette, never used - £40~~ SOLD
7.

Urban Decay Book Of Shadows 2, swatched and the black liner and primer potion have been used - £25
xoxo

Leighton Denny – Supermodel

2011-06-05T16:30:00.000+01:00

This is one of the few Leighton Denny polishes I have heard of and wanted to try, I've umm-ed and ahh-ed over buying it for over a year now. So imagine my delight when I realised this was one of the 3 Leighton Denny polishes free with this month Harper’s Bazaar, I had to go out and buy it!

The application of this was like butter, so smooth, and fast drying too! First coat was dry in a minute and 2 coats were dry within about 5 minutes with no top coat.

I have been looking for a shade like this for a long time, a nude that leans brown but is not too dark, I'm very pleased with this.

This polish is quite similar to Nails Inc Fashion Fawn which was a recent freebie with InStyle, but is a bit darker and browner. If you’re not a huge fan of nudes you probably don't need both.

If you want the chance to try Leighton Denny polishes for the bargain price of £4.20 instead of £11 I would get yourself to a local newsagents, there is also a red and orange shade available.

xoxo

Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate

2011-05-31T21:40:00.000+01:00

I’ve had this a long time, as soon as it appeared in my local Boots I picked up 2, but I haven’t blogged about it until now.

What started as this:

Is now this:

I love this! I just jumped in the shower and my hair was a mess, I tried out a new shampoo and conditioner yesterday and it left it feeling rough, and there was just one product I wanted to reach for! Every time I use this my hair is left so soft, shiny and tangle free! I put it on for around 2 minutes after I have used shampoo and conditioner and it always gives amazing results no matter what condition my hair was in before.

I can’t comment on how well it keeps colour in as until now I have had bleached hair that doesn’t really fade. I will be using this now that my hair is dyed though and let you know.

If your hair needs a boost then I thoroughly recommend you try this out, for £3.99 you cant go wrong!

xoxo

Going neutral

2011-05-30T18:00:00.000+01:00

I love neutral colours! I think I could happily only ever wear neutral nail polishes! I was reorganising my drawers and was admiring all my Nails Inc polishes (yes I am the only person who buys them, well me and Snowdrop85), I started off by testing a few on my nails but then decided I actually liked the combination and have left it as it is.

The polishes used, left to right, were:

Hyde Park Mews
Foubert’s Place
Goodge Place
Jermyn Street
London (from the Diet Coke collection)

It’s sort of ombre nails, but not quite. What do we think?

xoxo

To the darker side. . .

2011-05-29T14:00:00.000+01:00

On Friday I went off to my hairdresser’s and had decided I wanted to go a darker blonde!

The before:

The after:

So far I love it! I just need to try and look after it now, I’m not used to having dye that could fade after having a head full of bleach for 2 years.

If you have any amazing hair products for coloured hair please let me know!

xoxo

Zoya – Caitlin

2011-05-25T20:00:00.000+01:00

This is from Zoya’s Intimate collection, I think of it like Zoya Kelly’s little sister. It’s a blue-grey shade.

It applied like butter and this photo is after 2 days wear, other than slight tip wear it is still perfect so far.

xoxo

Artistic Colour Gloss – One Week On

2011-05-25T18:00:00.000+01:00

An update on my last post, I wore this nail polish for a week, the only reason I took it off was because i wanted to do my nails for a trip to London! But I wore the colour for a week, and loved it, that is very unlike me!

I had one chip, but the nail underneath had peeled so I feel this is the cause.

Other than that it was still perfect and had just grown out a bit, definitely a good idea for weak nails or those that get a lot of chipping!

xoxo

Artistic Colour Gloss – Vogue

2011-05-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

Artistic Colour Gloss are a new line of gel/polish hybrids very similar to Gelish, they are even in the same bottle! As with Gelish and Shellac you cure each layer in a UV lamp and these polishes should last up to 2 weeks. We shall see how long it lasts on me.

I currently own 2 of the colours and have some more on the way to me. The first one I had to try out was Vogue, a purpley-grey, my favourite sort of shade!

There is a slight shimmer running through this. And the shine is incredible.

If your nail polish always chips within days then I thoroughly recommend you look into Gelish or Shellac nails, if you Google you will be able to find someone in your area.

xoxo

Nail Polish Haul

2011-05-15T18:30:00.000+01:00

At the start of the month I made an eBay order for some of the new OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection. I wasn't planning to get any but I couldn't resist the murky shades! I love everything that I ordered, can’t wait to wear them all!

OPI Mermaid Tears, OPI Stranger Tides and OPI Skull and Glossbones (not very accurate colours):

OPI Stranger Tides, OPI Skull and Glossbones and OPI Mermaid Tears:

OPI Princess Rules, OPI Who Needs A Prince?, Color Club Revvolution and China Glaze Golden Enchantment:

2 coats of all polishes were used.

The eBay seller I used was beautyzone2007, she is brilliant, has good prices and my parcels always arrive in about a week with no custom charges.

xoxo

Nails Inc – Fashion Fawn

2011-05-09T22:00:00.000+01:00

I picked this up with the latest InStyle which went on sale on Thursday (5th May). There are 3 colours available, this taupe colour, a teal and a bright orange.

One coat:

Two coats:

This had the creamy formula which most Nails Inc polishes have. If you like taupe colours I think this is definitely worth picking up as it is only £3.70 for the magazine and is worth £11 (I may have picked up 2, what can I say, I cant resist taupe colours!)

xoxo

Mission Rescue Skin and Hair Is Go!

2011-05-08T18:30:00.000+01:00

I have decided that I need to take action on my skin and hair! My skin lately has had break-out after break-out and its getting me down, and my hair is so dry, I went 4 days without washing it and there was not one ounce of grease just a very knotty mess!

After seeing a review by Lucy over at Lipglossiping.com about some new skincare for blemished skin I had to pick it up.

The Doctor Brand set is £19.95 from Boots, I was lucky that I was able to get this on my Boots points. It is a 3 step system with a face wash, a pore cleaning gel and a moisturiser. I used it for the first time today and so far so good, my skin doesn’t feel oily but doesn’t feel tight either. It says to use twice a day, I'm not going to lie i don't normally wash my face properly in the morning so I will be getting up a few minutes earlier from now on!

I also have some new hair products to try out:

Matrix Biolage Fortifying Leave-In Treatment – I used this for a year and then my hair got really bad after this ran out and I didn’t replace it, I'm hoping there is a connection! – from http://www.gorgeousshop.co.uk/, £11.48
Tigi Catwalk Headshot Reconstructive Intense Conditioner – from http://www.gorgeousshop.co.uk/, £4.98
Joico K-Pak Deep-Penetrating Reconstructor – from http://www.gorgeousshop.co.uk/, £11.96
Tigi Love Peace & Planet Cranberry Orange Mint Moisturising Shampoo – from TK Maxx, £4.99
Tigi Love Peace & Planet Cranberry Orange Mint Moisturising Conditioner – from TK Maxx, £4.99
Kerastase Elixir Ultime – from http://www.gorgeousshop.co.uk/, £26.80
Kerastase Nutri-Thermique range samples.

I recently found my Joico K-Pak shampoo and conditioner again so have been using that at the moment, but once I've used that up I'm going to try the Tigi as I've heard good things about the range.

Please let me know if you have any other recommendations to help my dried out bleached blonde locks!

xoxo

Bourjois - Rose Lounge

2011-05-02T18:00:00.000+01:00

This nail polish has become famous this weekend as it is one of the nail polishes Kate Middleton wore for her wedding. She wore a mix of Bourjois Rose Lounge and Essie Allure. You can find out the supposed details of her hair and make up here.

2 coats:

I needed 2 coats as I have stained nails so needed to cover that up, but one coat gave a touch of colour so you could leave it at that if you have nice nails.

3 coats:

With 3 coats it becomes more opaque and smoothes out some of the streakiness that happened on some nails.

I think this is a lovely subtle colour, and would look lovely as the base for a french manicure. I’m pleased Kate wore this as it made me get it out of my collection and I was pleasantly surprised!

xoxo

April Favourites

2011-05-01T21:30:00.001+01:00

I don't normally do these but there have been a lot of products I've used a lot throughout April so thought I'd mention them.

Vichy Normaderm moisturiser - I've gone back to using this, after switching to Clinique for a while, and it moisturises while helping with the oiliness of my skin. It makes a perfect base for make-up.
Maybelline Define-A-Lash Volume mascara - this has one of those rubber wands but it separates brilliantly! I can apply this in a rush in the morning and guarantee that my lashes will be separated and volumized.
Benefit Cream Creaseless Shadow in RSVP - this is my go to shadow every morning, I just sweep some of this over my lids with my fingers and i'm good to go.
MAC MSF in Petticoat - this is such a lovely colour, I've found myself reaching for it most days.
Tigi S-Factor Shiny Happy People shine spray - I have blonde hair so need all the help I can get for shiny hair, and this spray smells lovely!

xoxo

Barry M Peach Melba Comparisons

2011-04-25T14:00:00.001+01:00

I picked up Barry M Peach Melba, I kept telling myself I didn’t need it but I caved. The first thing I did was to compare it to some other peach shades.

Left to right: Essie Van D’Go, Barry M Peach Melba, Illamasqua Purity, Essie Van D’Go.

Looking at this you can see that Van D’Go and Peach Melba are nothing alike. Van D’Go is very pink toned, and Purity is more orange toned.

Then I pulled another peach from Essie, Tart Deco which is more on the orange side, almost coral.

Left to right: Essie Tart Deco, Barry M Peach Melba, Illamasqua Purity, Essie Van D’Go.

I wouldn’t say that any of these were dupes, so if you like peach like so many bloggers do then you need Barry M Peach Melba. Peach Melba also had the best application, I did 3 coats and they all went on smoothly but if you were more careful then you could easily get away with 2 coats. All the others were 3 coats.

xoxo

UPDATE: As a few of you have suggested I am going to leave my nails like the last photo adding in Orly Cotton Candy to make it up to 5 colours.

The Girl In The Green Dress

2011-04-24T23:10:00.000+01:00

I visited London 2 weekends ago and while there had a wander round the New Look on Oxford Street, a lot of it was the same stuff but there were some brands that aren't in my local one. While rummaging around I managed to find a lovely green dress by Apricot, it was £24.99 i believe.

I’ve been wearing a lot lately with tights or leggings, but when the weather gets warmer it’ll be perfect to wear without tights.

I thought I'd show you my make-up from the day as well, I’ve been trying out all my foundations lately to try and find one I'm happy with.

What I used:

MAC Face & Body foundation
Rimmel Stay Matte powder
Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP
Maybelline One By One Mascara
I’m afraid I cant remember what lipstick i have on.

I also decided to paint my nails to match when I wore it, seeing as I have such an excessive collection I should make the most of being able to co-ordinate with my outfits! OPI Jade Is The New Black was a pretty good match.

xoxo

Barry M – Pink Flamingo

2011-04-23T16:30:00.000+01:00

This is a polish I've had since it came out but I'm not sure I've actually worn it! The application of this was amazing! So smooth and not streaky at all.

With this I used CND Stickey as my base coat and CND Air Dry top coat, this polish doesn’t seem to have as much shine as I would like which is probably the top coat’s fault. We’ll see how long it lasts!

This polish is available from Boots or Superdrug, or the Barry M website for £2.99.

xoxo

Shellac and Gelish Nails

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

So recently I’ve been playing around with Shellac and Gelish. If you’ve not heard of these they are soak off gel polishes, they apply like polish but are cured under uv light and act like gels. They typically have a wear of around 2 weeks. The advantage of these are that they give your nails strength and protection but without damaging your natural nails, and they have incredible shine! Soak off gels are normally done in salons, but being me i decided to do it myself, but i wouldn’t recommend it to everyone as it’s quite fiddly.

The polish comes in a bottle like normal and you have to apply base coat, colour coats and top coat as normal, but you cure under a uv lamp after each coat and then they are dry immediately once you have cured the top coat.

My latest manicure is Gelish Medieval Madness, this is a light taupe with a hint of grey and it’s love!

This is day one:

This is day four:

As you can see so far there are no chips and no tip wear, which for me is brilliant! And can you see the shine, still there after 4 days!

I’m not going to lie, I will struggle to have the same colour on my nails for 2 weeks! When I'm busy at school I can see the advantage of knowing my nail polish will stay perfect, but whether I'll make it to 2 weeks we’ll see!

I’ve also tried Shellac in Romantique, a light pink.

And Shellac in Gotcha, a lovely bubblegum pink.

xoxo

New Rimmel Pro Polishes

2011-04-15T11:00:00.000+01:00

So on Thursday Rimmel released their Spring nail polishes. I’m a big fan of the Rimmel nail polishes, I think they’re one of the best of the high street. I found them in Superdrug and picked up 3 as they are on 3 for 2.

Peppermint – a mint green that has a hint of blue.

Aqua Cool – a lovely cornflower blue.

Ultra Violet – a bright lilac that reminds me of Illamasqua Jo’Mina.

They have also released two more polishes, a pink and a dark taupe that is similar to Chanel Paradoxal.

If you are looking for some new polishes for summer you should definitely check out Rimmel.

xoxo

Bourjois Ballerine Collection

2011-04-12T11:30:00.000+01:00

Bourjois have a new spring collection out which has 2 nail polishes. I obviously picked up both of them!

Rose Satin – a lovely nude pink.

Bleu Asphalte – this is an amazing dark blue/grey colour.

Both of these polishes were 2 coats and applied really well. I love the shine on them!

These are available from Superdrug right now, as is the rest of the collection.

xoxo

Illamasqua Toxic Nature

2011-03-27T17:30:00.000+01:00

So I'm sure you’ve all heard that Illamasqua have released a new collection, I have the promo photos but will post them later for now I thought I'd post nail polish swatches instead.

The collection contains 5 new polishes! I received one from Illamasqua and went on to purchase 3 of them myself, I am missing the orange polish in Gamma though.

Stagnate – a lovely purpley taupe colour.

Bacterium – another taupe colour with a metallic blue flash running through it.

Purity – a lovely peach shade.

Radium – a lime green with a slight shimmer.

They’re all lovely colours and all applied well with 2 coats, Purity was a bit streaky on the first coat but evened out. I’m still not sure if Purity and Bacterium suit my skin tone, but I love them anyway!

The Toxic Nature collection is available from illamasqua.com and they are currently offering free delivery until Tuesday 29th March with the code UKFREE02.

xoxo

China Glaze–Cracked Concrete

2011-03-27T13:10:00.001+01:00

So I recently picked up 4 of the new China Glaze Crackle collection, I’ve seen lots of swatches on blogs and one combination stuck with me.

Cracked Concrete looks amazing over pastel colours. So I dug out Models Own Beth’s Blue and China Glaze Cracked Concrete.

This cracked really well and i love the look. I put a shiny top coat over it but it hasn’t given it much shine, but enough to cancel out the matte. I have 3 other colours of Crackle polish to try but I'm struggling to think of what colour combos I want.

xoxo

Nails Inc–Cromwell Road

2011-03-19T20:00:00.000Z

This is from the Cashmere Collection which I picked up from Asos.

This is a light beige with a very fine shimmer. On me it is very similar to my skin tone and gives me the mannequin hands effect. I’ve been wearing dark colours lately so it’s nice to have something more natural.

This was 2 coats with Nails Inc Kensington Caviar base coat and top coat.

xoxo

My weekend will be spent

2011-03-19T17:00:00.000Z

With these 2 angels

Wearing my hair wavy, this is my new favourite hairstyle!

Trying to take care of my nails. I picked up some Nails Inc products. The Cashmere Collection from Asos with my Groupon voucher and the Kensington Caviar duo from Boots for £8. Now just to decide which colour to pick first!

Getting a chinese
Going for cocktails with a friend
Buying a new TV!

xoxo

Misa–Office Polish-tics

2011-03-13T19:45:00.000Z

This is my first Misa polish and so far I'm impressed. This is from their latest collection, 9 to 5, I don’t work 9 to 5 nor do I have to worry about what colour nail polish I wear but I love neutral colours so this collection is perfect for me! I ordered 3 as the others didn’t appeal to me or I have dupes of them. I got mine from transdesign.com for those that are interested.

It’s a lovely dark bluey grey shade.

Application was good, this is 2 coats but they both applied smoothly and it was nearly opaque after one so if you were careful you could get away with one.

I’m also trying out a new top coat. I picked up Seche Ultra-V from eBay, you apply it the same as the usual Seche Vite but then pop your hands under a UV lamp for 3 minutes and it’s dry. I’m currently playing around with gel polishes such as Shellac and Gelish so have got myself a UV lamp.

First impressions are that it is incredibly shiny! It has a mirror shine! But we’ll see how well it wears.

xoxo

Dilemma of a pale girl!

2011-02-26T18:00:00.000Z

I’ve just had a look at the foundations I’ve been wearing lately and none of them are the same shade at all!

From left to right:

Bourjois Healthy Mix in 51
Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid in Ivory
L’Oreal True Match in C1
Rimmel Lasting Finish in Ivory
MAC Studio Fix Finish in NC15

I’m so confused, I don’t know which is right for me anymore! I though the Maybelline worked well for me and the Rimmel was too orange, yet here they look similar!

I need advice from you other pale girls, what foundation do you wear?

xoxo

Chanel - Particuliere

2011-02-22T09:00:00.000Z

So I finally caved and bought the original taupe polish, I have plenty of dupes but there’s just something about the Chanel (even though it is overpriced).

This is 2 coats and Seche Vite for top coat. It applied really well and the brush is really good for precise application.

xoxo

My New Bag

2011-02-21T18:00:00.000Z

I recently bought myself a new bag, it’s from Paul’s Boutique which I know has some tacky items but I really like this bag and think this is one of their best.

It’s the large Maisy bag in cream.

xoxo

Essie - Chinchilly

2011-02-21T13:00:00.000Z

I adore this colour! It’s been sitting in my box of used polishes staring at me so I had to reuse it and I’m glad I did. I picked this up over a year ago and it was my first Essie. The colour is a grey shade with a hint of purple and it looks lovely on my pale hands.

This is good Essie, it needed 2 coats to get a good coverage but it wasn't streaky at all. In the photo I have used Essie Good To Go top coat.

xoxo

China Glaze Anchors Away Collection

2011-02-21T10:30:00.000Z

So I'm sure you’re aware that China Glaze have just released a new collection, and I love it! I wasn't too keen on the red shades, but I got all of the neutrals!

Sunset Sail:

This was 3 coats, it was quite thick and hard to get even coverage, but it evened out on the 3rd coat.

Sea Spray:

This one applied really smoothly and only needed 2 coats. It has a slight shimmer to it but that isn't showing up in the photos at all.

Below Deck:

This was 2 coats and again applied really well. This is near enough a dupe for Channelesque so if you wanted to get your hands on it then I would pick this up.

Pelican Grey:

This one is possibly my favourite. Again it was 2 coats.

White Cap:

This is 2 coats over bare nails, if you have nice healthy nails then this would work well, but with my yellow stained nails its not so great! However this would look great layered over other polishes.

I purchased all of these from eBay, from beautyzone2007 who has a store here.

xoxo

Sephora by OPI – Go My Own Way

2011-02-16T09:00:00.000Z

I recently did a swap with the lovely Anastasia, she wanted some Umberto Giannini Backcomb In A Bottle and I wanted Sephora by OPI Go My Own Way.

She also threw in some other lovely goodies! Thank you so much!

And now for swatches of Go My Own Way, it’s a lovely dark teal with light blue specks that catch in the light. This was 2 coats.

Natural light:

With flash:

xoxo

To fringe or not to fringe?

2011-02-13T20:00:00.000Z

I'm considering a blunt fringe, I need to change my hair and i'm thinking this is the way to do it!

This is how my hair is now, both straightened and plaited to give it some waves.

And now a photo from when I last had a blunt fringe, not the best picture at all, but all I can find!

What do we think? Shall I go for the cut?!

xoxo

China Glaze Channelesque

2011-01-22T09:00:00.000Z

I love this polish! I’ve had it a week and worn it a week! This doesn't happen for me. Its a taupe colour with a purple hint to it, but unique compared to all the other purpley taupes i own.

Looking at these pictures is making me want to reapply it, its a beautiful colour.

China Glaze has brought out a supposed dupe with their latest collection Anchors Away. I own this and have had Below Deck on one finger all week, they’re very similar but very slightly different, Below Deck is darker. If you don’t have Channelesque but like the colour i would definitely check out Below Deck. For a proper comparison check out Swatchaholic’s post.

xoxo

Nail Polish Haul

2011-01-18T17:00:00.000Z

My nail polish buying has slowed down a lot recently! I’m realising the excessiveness of my collection so haven't been quite as compulsive with my shopping.

I caved and bought some polishes I’d wanted for a long time. We have China Glaze DV8, China Glaze Channelesque and Mavala Elle. The China Glaze were from eBay and the Mavala was from lookfantastic.com.

During the week I was on the hunt for a red nail polish and found one at the Maybelline stand. I also saw that they have some new polishes and as I’ve said before I love nude shades. Here we have Maybelline Ivory Rose, Maybelline Deep Red, and Maybelline Taupe Couture.

And of course I picked up some of the Diet Coke Nails Inc polishes, I didn’t pick up the 4th but I may go back to get it just so I have a complete collection. These shades are Caramel, Heather Grey and Denim. I’m a bit disappointed with Caramel, its just a plain nude shade that is very similar to both Nails Inc Basil Street and Rimmel Beige Style.

I also preferred the bottles last year, I'm not keen on the Diet Coke sticker on the top.

xoxo

Topshop – Big Smoke

2011-01-17T17:00:00.000Z

This is one of my favourite polishes at the moment! I’m in love with nudes, nude polishes that is!

It’s a lovely taupe polish and applies so easily! It dries quickly, is opaque in one coat and i love the brush.

This brush makes it really easy to apply the polish so that it looks neat with no clean up necessary.

This is definitely my go to taupe when I need something that applies quickly.

xoxo

Illamasqua Throb

2011-01-16T15:30:00.000Z

Illamasqua are releasing a mini collection in time for Valentines Day. It’s released in stores and counters Monday 17th January.

I’m in love with the promotion photos!

To create this look you need:

Cream Foundation 100
Rich Liquid Foundation 115
Powder Foundation 105
Powder Blusher in ‘Disobey’
Powder Blusher in ‘Intrigue’
Pure Pigment in ‘Furore’
Powder Eye Shadow in ‘Heroine’ [on cheeks and eyes
Powder Eye Shadow in ‘Sex’
Cream Pigment in ‘Emerge’ ** NEW for SS11 collection! **
Eye Liner Cake in ‘Mislead’
Sealing Gel [for eyebrows]
PI in ‘Abyss’
False Eye Lashes '021'

About the collection

Cult British beauty brand Illamasqua invites you to step into a world where your heart will race and your pulse quicken. Inspired by your Alter Ego’s inner depths of desire, and in celebration of Saint Valentine, the new Throb Collection consists of three new Nail Varnish shades, an Intense Lipgloss and a blood red Lipstick.

Nail Varnish - £13.50

Leave your mark with Illamasqua’s bold, rich, vibrant colours. ‘Throb’ is a powerful red Nail Varnish, the colour of blood spilled by desperate, rejected lovers. ‘Load’ is a rich, cream coating for the nails and the midnight matt finish of ‘Scorn’ is a deep statement of obsession.

Intense Lipgloss - £13.00

Come out of the shadows with Illamasqua’s high-shine, colour-rich Intense Lipgloss. Sure to be a cult classic, awaken your mouth’s erotic sensuality with the seductive red of the new ‘Succubus’.

Lipstick - £15.50

Let your lips speak volumes. Indulge in Illamasqua’s colour-intense Lipstick with a highly pigmented formula. Assume the role of a femme fatale with ‘Sangers’, Illamasqua’s new blood red Lipstick.

I cant wait to see swatches of this collection! I’m loving red on the nails right now, and don’t actually own any red lip products!

If you head over to Holly’s blog she has some great swatches of Throb and Succubus.

xoxo

My new flat!

2010-12-30T09:00:00.000Z

So me and the boy have just started renting our own flat and I thought I'd share some photos. I’m now getting very stressed with moving and juggling school work and marking so need to post this while I get the chance.

Me and my front door:

Our lounge:

Our bedroom with our new bed:

Our spare bedroom:

The bathroom:

The kitchen:

I’m sure once I’ve got all my stuff in I wont be quite so stressed, but we’ll see!

xoxo

The Last Year In Hair

2010-12-29T22:30:00.000Z

This was my hair back in October 2009.

But then I got fed up and had it cut off in November 2009.

Since then I’ve been growing it, I think, its hard to keep track, I probably kept it short for a while. I was amazed today at how long it looks, hence my reason for this post.

I love how textured it is as well, unfortunately this normally only lasts the day it’s washed, once i sleep on it it just kind of flattens. I just need to find some good curl products now! Any recommendations?

xoxo

My Favourite Hair Masks

2010-12-19T18:00:00.000Z

I am obsessed with hair products and I think I have found some hair masks that I really love.

We'll start with the most expensive:

Redken All Soft Heavy Cream, £16.65 from lookfantastic.com – I love this stuff, the smell and texture is amazing. I tend to use this on special occasions and try and leave it on for as long as possible. When my hair is feeling really dry this really helps to get it back to softness.

Schwarzkopf BlondMe Shine Moisture Mask, £11 – I picked this up in Sally’s and I love it. It really makes my hair shine and puts some moisture back in, but it isn’t the best if my hair is extremely parched. I usually put this on my hair for around 10 minutes, while I shave my legs and everything else in the shower.

Aussie Take The Heat 3 Minute Miracle, £5 – This is a brilliant mask and excellent for the price! It leaves my hair so soft and usually only needs around 3 minutes. This is what I use if I don’t want to stay in the shower any longer than usual. I am on my 4th bottle of this and always make sure I have one in the house. I haven’t tried the normal 3 Minute Miracle but I assume it’s just as good.

I have repurchased all of these and will continue to do so! I like having the different masks depending on how long I have. I love using the Redken, but think the Aussie is a brilliant budget version.

xoxo