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Wednesday 30 January 2013

My Top 10... Make-Up Essentials!

Hello and welcome to the very first post in the 'My Top 10' series!

This month I'm talking about my top ten make up essentials! Make up is something I use everyday so it was only right that I chose that as the very first one.


1) EYELINER
 Eyeliner is definitely my number one make up essential because you will never see me without any on!

Maybelline Eyeliner-Matic in Intense Black:
This is my FAVOURITE eyeliner ever! I wear eyeliner on my waterline, so whatever I use has got to be gentle enough not to scratch my eyes/skin but pigmented enough to last a looong time. And believe me this is! So far it's the only one out of the many I've tried to last more than six hours without wiping away, which, if you've worn eyeliner on your waterline, will know is near on impossible! I love this one so much because its almost gel like in consistency, super opaque, long lasting AND doesn't need to be sharpened! So basically this is the most important make up item for me!

Bourjois Liner Feutre in II Noir:
I've only recently started wearing eyeliner on my upper lash-line but after trying liquid, pencil and pen, I decided that pen was the easiest to control and use, so this is what I've been using. Its pretty good, opaque in one layer but usually needs two to even it out. The pen nib is nicely flexible and easy to control. I know that by the end of the year I'll have found new and possibly better ones though.


2) CONCEALER
Benefit Boi-ing in 04:
I CANNOT live without this stuff! Seriously, its like magic in a tub! I found it soooo hard to find a concealer that matched my skin colour and after ages I discovered this! I've only been using it for a short time but i'm already in love. It hides EVERYTHING and lasts a long time too! The colour is PERFECT for me and its sooo smooth and creamy and a dream to apply. I love the fact that its in a little tub too because I can just throw it in my bag and know it will fit. Best of all, it doesn't look cakey or even look like its on, it literally hides all my flaws and looks invisible at the same time.


3) LIPSTAIN
Topshop Lip Marker in Get Lippy:
Lipstain is something I discovered by accident. I bought the Body Shop one by mistake when I was in a rush and was meant to be getting a lipgloss that looked virtually the same and since I first used it, I haven't looked back since! I've tried a few brands now and the Topshop ones are my favourite because they are the easiest to use, especially when you don't have a mirror, and last quite a long time. Its like the inbetweeny product of a lipstick and balm in terms of colour and truthfully probably my most used lip product.

4) PRIMER
Benefit The Porefessional:
I was given this as a sample when I walked past the Benefit counter while on holiday and since the day I tried it out, I have used it ever since! Because I have combination skin I need something that can stop my skin looking oily without drying it out and this does just that. It's supposed to also minimize pores but since mine aren't that big I can't tell if it does or not. It also gives a lovely 'blurred' look to help hide imperfections.

5) FOUNDATION
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow in Amber:
I'm not much of a foundation wearer and even less so of liquid foundation but when I need to, this is my go-to foundation because its light to medium coverage means it looks natural but still does its job.

The Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals in Natural Beige:
Powder is my preferred choice of foundation because I can sweep it on and not worry about it showing up or having tide marks. Also, I can 'build' it up to the level of coverage I want.

6) LIP BALM
Sleek Pout Polish in Pink Cadillac:
Lip balm is the one beauty product I've used from ever since I can remember. My mum always made me put vaseline on and so I'd always go for the one that had a hint of colour. Since then the whole ritual has stuck and so at the moment this is the one I'm loving. Technically its not actually a balm but oh well, thats what I call it. Out of all the Pout Polishes this is one of the few that has a gentle flush of colour, the others are quite strong and bold. It is a pretty transparent pink that actually last pretty well. They are also all gently glossy and not sticky.

7) LIPSTICK
Revlon Colourstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Top Tomato:
Remember the days when you'd try on your mum's lipstick? Well, no I don't actually because she hardly ever wore/wears make up. But anyway lipstick is something I still think I'm a bit young for and so rarely wear it. I only really like them because of the fact that they are super pigmented and normally have a colour payoff unmatched by a stain or gloss. Which is why I love the liquid lipsticks! They are the consistency of a dense gloss but "set" like a lipstick with the same rich colour. Top Tomato is a darker classic red with subtle sparkly red glitter mixed in.

8) MASCARA
The Body Shop Divide and Multiply Mascara in 01:
This is my most used mascara and definitely one of the best I've used. I'm not a fan of huge lashes, I prefer long but defined ones and that is why I love this mascara! It lengthens (the 'multiply' part) and separates (the 'divide' part) and matches my lash colour perfectly. It also lasts a reaaallly long time!

Natural Collection LashCurl Mascara in Brown/Black:
I don't really wear this much anymore but I used to wear it a lot in the past because it was very natural looking but made my oh so very straight lashes have a bit of curl to them. I still wear it when I can't be bothered to curl my lashes but less so than the Body Shop one mentioned above.

Avon Dazzling Diva Mascara in Black:
This is going to be short because this mascara is not my "go-to" one but I like I nonetheless because it was a gift from my avon distributor for my birthday because it had the same name as me! Its a standard black mascara with micro gold glitter mixed in.

9) LIPGLOSS
Rimmel London Stay Glossy in Plum Rocks:
I love this lipgloss!! I went through a bit of a gothic phase and I just NEEDED a dark purple lipgloss. After searching high and low I found this and oh my, it was a bit of a hallelujah moment! Its super smooth, applies beautifully, is really pigmented and lasts ages! Oh and did I mention the wand is amazing! It is a dark plum coloured gloss with micro sparkles shot through it. Layered on its own it gives a wash of colour but layerd over a different colour makes the base turn very vampy. I could go on and on about this lipgloss...

Jemma Kidd Make Up School Lipgloss:
This used to be my go-to lipgloss until I found out it was no longer available anywhere, which is when I began using it sparingly. Its got a lovely passion fruity flavour and gives a super glossy sheer pink shine. Mine has become a bit sticky but it never used to be, I think its just because its a tad old, haha.

10) BLUSHER
Bourjois Blush in Lilas D'or:
Blusher is one of those things I rarely wear. Its because my skin doesn't naturally blush and so it looks a bit silly on me. The only time it will look decent is if it is very very subtle, meaning bright colours are a no-no. Thats why I like this Bourjois blush. On my skin it gives a very sheer pinky glow with micro sparkles added in. I love the fact that it comes with its own brush because its ideal for on the go, but I hate the fact that after a while the top 'layer' hardens and requires some scraping before you can get some product on the brush.

2true True Colour Blusher in Shade 1:
When I need a less sparkly and obvious blush I use this one, because its basically a warmer non-sparkly version of the one above. I often find that too much product transfers to the brush though so it requires some shaking off before applying.


Anything else? Well yes actually. You probably noticed that I didn't include nail polish, and thats because I don't consider it to be make up. Besides that, I think i've included all the make up that I regularly use/like a lot.

So what do you think? And what are your make up essentials?

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snowwww

You can probably guess what this post is about by reading the title haha!

If you live in the UK, you'll know that its been SNOWING!!

Which is great news for me because I LOVE it!

It started falling on Friday, and because of that my school shut early.  However, I was sent home about an hour after I arrived for medical reasons. Anyway, that wasn't too bad because it started melting on Saturday.  But then Sunday arrived and it fell and fell and fell! We all expected school to be closed yesterday but it wasn't, instead we had a shortened day.

This was the scene at the park next to school:
Isn't it beautiful?!

And this is how deep the snow was!:
Me and one of my best friends went a bit silly in the snow :P
Snowflakes ARE real!:
And this is what next doors tree looked like yesterday morning:
I would LOVE to live somewhere that had regular snow!


In other news, I have been hauling. This is not good. I am meant to be restraining myself. Haha!

I went shopping sunday and yesterday and this is what I got:
mini Soap & Glory haul
new brand 'b.' at Superdrug
no idea what came over me, but I wanted new (cheap) eyeshadow :/
random things i really wanted/needed
MAC Fix +
I'm glad I went though because I genuinely like/needed/wanted these products so it wasn't totally reckless spending.

I have a theory as to why I like shopping. You see how some people eat when they are nervous/depressed/scared/etc? Well thats exactly what I do but by shopping instead! So insted of comfort eating, I comfort shop!

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Alsooooo, I will be making a facebook page soon. Why now you ask? Well I made a deal with myself, that if I ever got over 150 pageviews in a day I will make a facebook page for the blog. I said 150, because I genuinely thought it wouldn't happen until waaay later in the year, but it happened on Sunday, so a facebook page will soon be created!

Monday 21 January 2013

New for 2013

Okay I know technically we're more than half way through the month but it took me a while to come to the final decisions so thats why I'm posting this now.

Your probably wondering what I'm actually on about so let me tell you...

A couple of months after I started this blog, I realised that it was turning into a nail only blog and although there have been some non-nail related posts since I began, they have only really been updates on my life. So, as of this year I'm going to try my hardest to vary the content a bit. There will still be mainly nail-related posts so if thats the reason you read my blog then don't worry, they're not going to disappear!

But I am going to be posting other things and I've made a list explaining what and when these will be popping up:

  • 'My Top 10...' - This is the one I'm most excited about. It's basically a list of what, to me, are the top ten of whatever the category is. For example it could be chocolate or make up, and I'll say what my top ten of that category is and stuff. These will hopefully be up at the mid/end of every month. 
  • More nail blogging challenges - Once I finish the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, I'm planning on doing some others like it. I've made these titles up and I doubt they are actually genuine things but hey ho I don't really care. The ones I'm thinking about are 'Battle of the Brands' where a whole post is dedicated to one brand and will feature swatches and info; 'Colour Challenge' where a whole post is dedicated to one colour and will feature swatches and stuff; 'Finishes' where a whole post is dedicated to a specific type of finish and will feature swatches, info and stuff... You may have noticed that all three are basically aiming to do the same thing and that is because I need to actually use more of my polishes. These will begin appearing after the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge is over.
  • Make-up reviews - these will basically be the same as my polish reviews (I think) but about make-up instead! I don't know when these will be up and I doubt I'll stick to a schedule, they'll just pop up now and then.
  • 'This month I'm loving...' - Similarly to the 'My Top 10' idea, this will be a post dedicated to my favourite thing of the month. These will be up at the end of the month.
There are a few more ideas, however they are still in the process of being considered, hence the reason they aaren't featured here.

What do you think about these ideas?

Sunday 20 January 2013

MUA Fur Effect Nails

Furry nails. Sounds weird right? Well thats exactly what I thought when I first heard of them, but after seeing them on various blogs I just knew I needed to try them out!

Problem was, I'm not really allowed to shop online because I'm too young so getting hold of some flocking powder was near on impossible! Thankfully MUA are pretty good at catching onto nail art trends and they definitely caught onto the velvet nails one!
A few weeks ago, i think, MUA released this:
It is a littleish pot of flocking powder and comes in five different colours. I got four of them, and the one I am showing you is Fluffy Bobbin. Weird name I think but oh well. For only £2 you get quite a bit of product!
So, when you open it you see what is shown in the photo above, but with a sticky cover on top of the sifter. After taking this off, you're supposed to be able to tip some product out. However, this doesn't happen. I realized this was because the holes were blocked. To resolve this problem I just stuck a pin into the holes and hey presto I had access to the powder!
There are instructions at the bottom of the pot and well, there's not much I can say... They're pretty simple and tell you what to do.
As you can see, the powder is a very dark blue, verging on purple. However, in the photos it looks a bit lighter which isn't really the case in real life. Application was really easy. All you need to do if paint your nails in a similar colour and while it is still wet, roll your nail around in the powder. I waited a few seconds and then patted it down a bit to 'secure' it. This probably isn't necessary but oh well... After minute or so, lightly brush away the excess powder on you skin and blow! Tah dah! Furry Nails!
Your probably wondering how long this lasts, I know I was. Well the photo below is what my nails looked like after I had washed my hand 3 seperate times! Hardly and difference! The really cool thing is that the 'fur' dries in a matter of seconds, so no soggy nails!
I love these! They look so unusual and cool and actually look pretty good too! I will using this a lot more, i can tell.

What do you think about furry nails? Would, or have you, tried them?

British Nail Bloggers

British Nail Bloggers

This week Lyndsay at Pie's Eyes has created a beautiful Feather Manicure using her stamping plates.

31 day challenge still going strong over at Emma's Little Corner with this watercolour mani and this stamping over a gradient.

Wendy at Wendy's Delights found a gem of a very old untried Saffron polish which is super sparklicious!!.

Sam at Polished Art was inspired by all the Christmas chocolate she's still munching away on to create this Ferrero Rocher manicure!

This week The Teenage Shopaholic has been... trying out furry nails! She swatched and reviewed MUA Fur Effects and was pleasantly surprised!

Susan at Lacquerland has been trying the 3 day oil & naked nail challenge here and was very happy with the results!

JustTalkNails has swatches of A Englands Dragon one of the best scattered holo greens!

This week Nada tried her hands at some flocking she couldnt resist her furry nails! check it out!

Mimi tries her hand at tribal eye nails and LOVES them!

Simple Star Stamping this week for the ABC Challenge on Enigmatic Rambles

Tara at TarasTalons took her basic flock mani up a notch! Chick it out here :D Why wait until Easter!

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been doing some nail art with incorporating her latest Lush Lacquer haul. This one's a blue fishtail manicure with Dreamsicle.... sparkles!

Ruth hasn't had the chance to post since New Year's, but why not look at her New Year nails until she has the time to some more fun posts!

Steph at Never Mind Suzi is getting to grips with stamping after all, practice makes perfect.

Vic is finally back (and already has posts scheduled to the end of February, just in case she runs out). One of her faves from this week is Song of the Black Swan.


PrettyKittyClaws is trying out the new Enchanted Polish Care Bear collection with Daydream Surprise. So sparkly and pretty!

Pish Posh and Polish's Kerrie has been working on her 31 day challenge this week, but a simple swatch of ORLY's It's Not Rocket Science is her favourite post of the week and may be her top green polish of all time!

Friday 18 January 2013

31 Days of Nail Art Challenge - Day 11 - Polka Dots

Polka dots.

One of the easiest nail art techniques in my opinion.

They're just so easy to do and all you need is a dotting tool or toothpick!

So this week, I did something rather funky!
I decided to do a different colour on each nail and a paler/darker version for the dots. I originally wanted to do something a lot more complicated but since I've got school and so was only wearing this for an hour max, it just wasn't worth the effort, hence the reason the clean-up wasn't that great either :/

Strangely, this turned out to be an O.P.I only mani! I didn't even plan for that to happen, haha!

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Beauty blogging?

Hi everyone!

So, today was my first exam of 2013 and surprisingly I found it quite easy! I don't know if I should be worried about that though, haha.

But anyway, on Sunday to have a break from revising, I decided to de-clutter my make up. Amazingly I got rid of at least 90% of it!! After throwing most of my stash out (I can't really do much else with used makeup can I?) I thought about beauty blogging... Not actual make up looks and stuff (maybe in the future, who knows) but things like swatches and my opinions and stuff. Hmm, I'll think about it some more but I think it would definitely help me make sure my blog doesn't turn into a 100% nail blog, which is one of the goals I set myself in the new year here.

Also, it would make me actually use more of the makeup that I kept, similarly to how it has done with the nail polish.

It is definitely something I would want to do so I guess just wait and see!

Anyway, hope you all had a good day today :)

Sunday 13 January 2013

31 Days of Nail Art Challenge - Day 10 - Gradient

Gradients.

I looove the look of them.

But. I'm not so great at doing them. :( What I am good at though is glitter gradients!

So, thats what I did!
I used O.P.I Casino Royale, which is a lovely plumy creme for the base and O.P.I Goldeneye, which is a yellow gold glitter for the gradient. As you can probably see, the glitter would not budge from my cuticles so its a bit patchy there...

By the way, I know this was meant to be up last week but if you read my last post you'll know I've been having quite a few [technical] issues.

Also, what do you think of the new watermark?

Friday 11 January 2013

Flu

So you may have noticed that I haven't posted anything since last week and I'm sorry about that but I've got a good reason why! Okay, so it's not actually a good thing but I've got the flu!

Remember I said I was ill when I posted this post? Well, I started to get a bit better about half a week after and I thought it was all going to disappear until last sunday came around and then *bang* it all came flooding back! And this time it was even worse! God I hate my crappy immune system!

Anyway I was seen by a doctor and she said I had quite severe flu and just had to rest... That meant that I still haven't gone back to school and basically that was the last thing I wanted as I miss so much school already! :'(

And as for why I haven't posted? Well besides the fact that just staring at a screen for more the 20 minutes made me dizzy as hell, I've been a bit occupied coughing my guts up, trying to sleep it all away, throwing up every few hours and fainting... I think you get the idea.

Also, to add to my woes, after performing a routine clean up on my laptop I have no idea what I did but I must have done something because my gallery programme would not work! Meaning I can't view photo's like I used to and so can't edit either! That basically means I won't be able to post photos until I sort it out...

Then again, while I've been ill I haven't even painted my nails or even touched any polish! Shocking I know! And in a moment of madness on Wednesday, which might I add was a day I wanted to jump off a cliff, I cut my nails right down so they are basically nubbins now :(

So overall, this has been a HORRIBLE week but I can safely say I think I'm getting a bit better.

Here's to a better next week!

Thursday 3 January 2013

31 Days of Nail Art Challenge - Day 9 - Rainbow

Rainbow.

Oh I do love rainbows, haha! I just love colour, probably why I love nail polish so much!

I just could not decide what to do for this week! Actual rainbows? Rainbow skittle nails? Gradients? Well I eventually settled on this, Flakies! Actually it was between flakies of holographic, and since I've already shown you the holo here, I thought I'd do flakies instead.

And look its my right hand!
This is Andrea Fulerton Gemstone Overcoat ontop of a black creme. This was my first ever flakie polish and compared to the others I now own, its still the most dense and rainbowy one I have!

I went through a phase where i just NEEDED a bottle of flakie polish, and at the time, this was the only one available on the high street. Now, although I have many more as I've been able to get hold of more brands, this still remains a firm favourite!

Wednesday 2 January 2013

Revlon Sequins

Hey, hope you all had a good new years!

This is the mani I was wearing on new years eve:
Its a base of Sally Hansen Crinoline, which I found in poundland! It was a bit too pink so I put a layer of Sally Hansen Sheer Me Now ontop which is basically a very sheer peach toned neutral,  that I also picked up in poundland! Im glad I did because it made the colour look nicer against my skin tone.
To jazz it up a bit I added one coat of Revlon Sequins, which is a gorgeous mix of gold hex glitter and gold micro glitter, that was free! It looked lovely as it was but if there's one thing I love more than glitter toppers, its matte glitter toppers!
So once it dried I added a matte topcoat and oh my, I loooove this!! Its so soft and delicate but the glitter still shines through!
I think this was so much more suitable than a full on blingy mani because theres only one thing I want from 2013 and that is for it to be more gentler than 2012 and yet still have some sparkly moments in it!

Tuesday 1 January 2013

January Nail Polish Count

So you already know that I'm a nail polish obsessive and at last count at the end of August I had 212 bottles.

Well now its January and I have.... 435 bottles!

Shit! In my head I was thinking about 300ish!! And that doesn't even include any base/top coat or nail art only polishes!

Oh wow. That is a LOT. Whoops.

Okay. Breathe.

That means in the last FOUR months I have bought/been given a total of 223 polishes.

I wish I could say that I'm going to restrict myself and not buy more but there isn't much point in me saying that because in about two weeks I bet I'll have bought more :/

Anyway, one thing I do want to do is wear more of them! Every time I look at them I see such pretty gems just waiting to be used!
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