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Monday, 31 October 2011

Happy Halloween!

I thought I would put together some pictures I took today while thinking about the seasons.

october


1. Obviously today is Halloween, so the first picture is of my candy corn scented Yankee Candle. I love candy corn, which we don't have in this country (but my awesome American friend is sending me some, she really is amazing!!) so I had to make do with the scent for now. I had to get the little candle because they didn't have any larger ones at the garden centre, typical for this country unfortunately.

2. I spotted this plant randomly while I had wandered outside into the back garden to take a picture of the trees in picture 4, everything around it was still a lush green and there was just this fiery plant in the middle of the bed, it looked really quite striking.

3. You wont see this often, because I hate feet, especially my own, but these are my toenails at the moment, rather seasonal yes?

4. The red tree is actually in next door's garden, while the half yellow half green is in ours, it was screaming at me from my window and got me out of the house for a short while to take some snaps. I didn't manage to capture how bright the red is from so far away (it's a bloody tall tree) plus the clouds, and the wind making it hard to get it in focus, but trust me that it really is very bright red and truly hard to miss!

I hope you have all had a spooky evening, I am watching a bit of Poirot :)
xo

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Tutorial: Halloween Spooky Nails



I forgot to post this to the bloggy! It is my pumpkin and ghost nail tutorial which I uploaded last week. Obviously this is in the halloween spirit, and here is a close up for you. 



I also almost filmed a tutorial for this look:


These are werewolves and vampires, if that wasn't clear, complete with sparkly skin for the vampires but I wasn't entirely happy with them so I didn't film, I shall definitely be thinking about how I can improve them for next year :)

Happy Halloween everyone!!
xo

Friday, 28 October 2011

OOTN with Rouge Noir

Terrible lighting, but a diddy OOTN, black H&M flippy skater hem dress and blazer, M&S opaque black tights and I am wearing some black patent Mary Jane block heels from ALDO.

The lippy is the awesome Chanel Rouge Coco in Rouge Noir, topped with MAC oyster girl gloss :)
Wish I had had time to take a picture of my eye makeup, it's a pretty grey crease with winged liner though, and perfume is Armani Diamond.

Happy Friday people :)

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

September Favourites



My ridiculously late September favourites are up on the YouTube, apologies for the delay, but be cheerful that I also filmed my October ones on the same day (because I'm oh so for forward planning like that) and so they shall be up on time next week! 
xo

Monday, 24 October 2011

Can you hear that clicking?


So I picked up some knitting needles today for the first time in months in order to make a special item for a friend.

I can't even explain to you how great it makes me feel to be doing this again, it really is a bit like coming home. I get all excited as I complete each row and it turns out successfully. It was great to dive into my antique leather suitcase and rummage through the yarn in there too.

To happy knitting from this point forward!

Roaccutane VLOG 13: 4 weeks later



During my crazy little filming session the other day I also managed to do a quick little roaccutane update. 
If you don't follow me on twitter you might have missed that I was finally discharged from the dermatology unit after seeing the doctor last tuesday.

Suffice to say I was ecstatic, and they were really pleased at the change my skin has undergone. 
I still have 4 weeks left of my "wash out" where the drug will still be working its way out of my system, but as of right now I am classed as a roaccutane success story.

I will still be keeping you updated on how things go, and I shall definitely be filming a concluding video for the little series.

I would just like to take a second before then though to encourage anyone who has ever been self conscious about their acne to at least go and see a GP, and if what they try doesn't work then to be asked to be referred to the dermatologist. At the end of the day, your happiness is the most important thing, and if your skin can make you unhappy every time you look in the mirror, then it is worth taking the time to get help.

xo

Review: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum


I reviewed the new Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation the other day.
I picked this up for around £8 in Superdrug (though I can't find it on the website),
 but it is also available at Boots.

After using the product for a couple of weeks I am really enjoying it as a light coverage, fresh looking and feeling base. For the winter I feel it will possibly be quite moisturising and might help me stave off the dreaded dry skin dullness.

Definitely worth taking a look at!
xo

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

NOTD: Sex Kitten

ldsexkitten

Leighton Denny - Sex Kitten

This polish popped through my letterbox the other day as a part of my GlossyBox (more on that in another post) and I was a bit dubious about whether I would like it or not to be honest. 
If you have followed my nail of the day posts for long you will notice that I don't really favour the whole pearlescent metallic look very often, I am more of a creme polish lover or i go for shimmer so the finish wasn't something I was looking forward to.
This is the first Leighton Denny polish I have ever used, so I can't comment on all the other ones out there, but the finish on this polish did exactly what I thought it would upon application, and its the reason I don't go for them, they streak.

Now obviously I am not talking streaking as in uneven coverage, I am talking streaking as in I can see where the brush bristles were. It drives me insane, I openly admit I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my nails, but the lines in the application are something I can't tolerate, and I have actually just taken this off after wearing it for a day.

Other then the streaky appearance this went on fairly well with two coats. I can still see the whites of my nails which is always an issue when dealing with a light shade polish, but the colour was fairly opaque and it is pretty being what i would call a true ice blue.
I did find the brush to be a little hard to control because the cap is quite large but fairly short, which never allows for graceful application (all polish producers should take note of Ciate bottles I think) and this probably increased teh streaking as it meant on my fairly slim nails I had to attempt to curve the brush away from my skin. 

At £11 each these polishes aren't cheap, and I think that although I would be happy to try a cream finish polish by them I won't be rushing out to pick one up, if I happen to spot some in T.K.Maxx though I might grab some to try.

xo


OPI Muppets collection


Picked up some limited edition OPI polishes just now from the muppets collection, the Fozzie Bear one reminds me of the Chanel Peridot Polish.

OPI - Warm and Fozzie and Rainbow Connection

Friday, 14 October 2011

NOTD: Ombré Nails


OPI-Just A Little Rosti At This

This is my first attempt at an Emma Watson inspired ombré nail look.

Emma had these awesome blue black airbrushed cuticles in the November Elle magazine that immediately drew my eye and I have been excited to try them ever since!

Obviously i don't have a nail art airbrushing kit, so i just used normal polish and it did take a bit of practice, but Once I have the technique perfected I shall film a quick tutorial for you :)

XO

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Roaccurane VLOG: 12, 2 weeks later


So here is my little vloggy video which I think is at about 2 weeks after I had finished treatment. It takes between 6 and 8 weeks for the roaccutane to evacuate the system, so I should still be seein effects for a short while yet but I will keep you posted on any major changes.

I also have a doctors appointment coming up so I shall give you an update after that too!

xo

Sunday, 9 October 2011

NOTD: Oh so Perdy!

I succumbed to the whole dalmation thing and broke out my OPI Alpine Snow and Bourjois So Laque in Noir de Chine to give it a go.
I tried to do just random splodges but it didn't quite work so I had to break out my nail art pen too for the smaller dots.

I do like how it turned out though, very funky!!

Thursday, 6 October 2011

NOTD: OPI Ink

opiink


Another almost impossible to capture nail colour today:
This is OPI Ink

It really is beautiful, I have it on both my fingers and toes at the moment, that is how much I love it.
As you can (hopefully) see the polish is a purple/navy colour with purple, blue and pink shimmers in it.
It is one of the few polishes that I own which has an effect in the bottle which translates accurately onto the nail, the almost oil slick look that the shimmer has in the sunlight actually works, though I will say it works more so on my toe nails.

My favourite Barry M polish, if you have followed/known me for a while you will know is called Navy, and I like to think of OPI Ink as Navy with extra juice, it really is beautiful.

:) xo

Sunday, 2 October 2011

NOTD: Sweetheart


Random on the go post today, as I am off tutoring and forgot it would be dark by the time I got back.

This is OPI Sweetheart, taken with two coats, most people say they need three but two medium coats always seems to work for me!

xo

Saturday, 1 October 2011

NOTD: OPI Lincoln Park After Dark


Well I think October officially means that I can start wearing dark nails again!
I have had my eye on this one for a while so I knew I had to grab it up when I was recently at Sallys, I also grabbed OPI Ink so expect to see that soon too.

OPI LPAD (Which ALWAYS without fail makes me think it says Linkin Park, as in that band that I used to listen to at school lol) is actually an aubergine colour, even though it just looks black here. Next time I wear it I will try to photograph it again, but it is very difficult to get the purple to show up on camera.

In person natural light let's the deep shade reflect the purple however and it looks smart and sophisticated, perfect for pairing with my favourite winter lipstick, Clinique's Black Honey.