Pinstripe flower nail art!

I know it's been a horribly long wait for another post and I apologise! I've been working a lot of hours and have had very little time to really do anything with my nails - nightmare, I know! I've got a few posts lined up including another nail art look and my skincare routine which all should be up within the next week or so :)

On to todays look!

Now this was completely inspired by Sammy from The Nailasaurus from a few weeks ago! I fell in love with the look straight away and knew I had to try it. It didn't turn out anywhere near as good as hers but I was still pleased with the results anyway!

For my base coat I started off with the ever trusted OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and followed it up with two coats of Sinful Color's Snow Me White. After letting that dry a little, I took Essie's Licorice and a striping brush and carefully striped each nail with black. After that dried, I dabbed on random dots of Sinful Color's Why Not? and swirled around Snow Me White to create the "flower". After they turned out okay I drew on the leaves with MaxFactor's Cactus Green and topped it all off with a coat of Essie's Matte About You!

I do like the way this came out and it lasted literally around a week and a half - and with the work I've been doing that's impressive going!

 

Fragrance Direct haul!

Fragrance Direct has very quickly leapt into my "favourite website" spot. How could you not love a beauty suppliers website that saves you a huge amount?! On this haul I saved a whopping £60 on the RRP which is absolutely amazing! I thought I'd do a quick post showing exactly what I got and how much I saved per item!

Burt's Bees Beeswax and Banana Hand Cream (57g):
"This super rich, all-natural hand cream is made with aloe vera and vitamin E to moisturise dry skin and beeswax to help seal and shield your hands from the elements."

RRP: £9.99
FDP: £7.99

The first item is some hand cream that I'd been eyeing up for a while and decided to grab when I saw it on FD. Whilst this item wasn't hugely cheaper than the RRP, it was still a saving of a couple of quid and it's so worth it - this smells divine! I must admit I haven't tried it out yet as I'm still working my way through a bottle of Vaseline hand cream which is serving me well but can't wait as all reviews I've read for this have been amazing!

Astor Anti Shine Foundation - Super Matte in 100 (Ivory):

Transparent microfine powder and oil absorbing for the ultimate supermatte finish all day long.

RRP: £9.99

FDP: £2.99

I've mentioned before that I suffer with slightly oily skin and so have been on a drive recently to buy beauty products that are "matte" designed. When I saw this foundation I initially had reservations as I'd never heard of the brand Astor before but thought that for £2.99 I might as well give it a go! I'm really glad that I did as this is perfect! It matches my skin tone very well and gives a nice finish. The bonus is that the matte power lasts for ages! I used it for the first time today and it kept my face "dry" all day! I'm ridiculously happy that I managed to get it for £2.99!

Rimmel Stay Matte Concealer - 010 (Ivory)

Rimmel Stay Matte Concealer, effectively covers the blemish without clogging pores, whilst the inner core treats the blemish. 

RRP: £4.99

FDP: £1.99

As mentioned above, I've been wanting all the matte products and decided to snap this up for the stupidly low price tag of £1.99. I have been using a liquid concealer which I tend to favour as I feel it gives a more even and less chalky coverage but thought what the heck? And yet again this product has proved my initial thoughts wrong! It gives a fantastically pigmented coverage and even has the "green dot" centre which claims to reduce redness. It matches my skin tone really well once more so I hit the money on this baby!

NYC Quick Dry Nail Polish - Big City Dazzle:

Quick drying formula with minerals! Features cutting edge shades with high impact shine. Infused with high levels of pigment for brilliant colour & a touch of shimmer for dramatic depth and shine.

RRP: £1.99

FDP: £0.99

I'm a massive fan of the NYC cosmetics range (in fact the next two items are also from NYC) and had seen a few bloggers swatch Big City Dazzle. Immediately I knew I wanted it but couldn't seem to find it anywhere. Even Fragrance Direct didn't seem to have it when I first looked a few weeks back but I happened to check again and saw it sitting innocently on the list as "in stock" and I'm pretty sure that bullets have left guns slower than the time it took me to press "add to bag". Love the glitter topper, love the measly 99p price tag attached!

NYC Applelicious Glossy Lip Balm - Garnet Gala and Apple Blueberry Pie

NYC Applelicious Glossy Lip Balm will deliver colour, shine and moisture in one single swipe! Fun and fruity with a hidden apple core of care it?s also delightfully moist. This ?oh so cute!? apple-shaped core reinforces the moisturizing properties of the rest of the balm and gives your lips a healthier look! The fruity apple scent will makes your lips irresistibly kissable.

RRP: £2.49

FDP: £0.99

Do these babies need any introduction? I've already got two other shades of the lip balms and they are simply incredible so when I saw the colours that should only be available in the US and not over here in the UK I was like oh hell to the yeah (and yet again over the moon at the 99p price!!) and got them straight away. So prettyful!

Garnier Pure Active 2-in-1 Tinted Roll On - Fair 

Garnier Pure Active 2in1 Tinted spot roll-on conceals and targets spots in a single step! Invisible, long-lasting spot coverage thanks to a high concentration of mineral pigments which don't block pores. Targeted action. The metal roller ball allows you to target imperfections. Thanks to a high concentration of a drying active combined with HerbaSoothe, it helps calm and soothe skin and has an instant drying effect to help protect against spots before they appear.

RRP: £7.99

FDP: £2.99

This purchase was one of those "why not?" moments. My skin has had a couple of breakouts recently and I wanted something that packed a punch to combat them. I haven't had enough time to find out whether it's that effective yet but given time I'm hopeful that it will! It does give a good coverage, especially on top of the Rimmel concealer that I bought too!

Coryse Salome Anti Cellulite Active Cream with Seaweed:

Coryse Salome Anti Cellulite Active Cream. Body slimming formula with "lifting effect" containing seaweed.

RRP: £20

FDP: £5.99

Now, some of you may be wondering why an 18 year old with no cellulite has gone and bought an anti-cellulite product and you have a legit point. I saw this product randomly as I was trawling through all the brands and the reviews for it were phenomenal. All of them were saying how much firmer it made their skin look and, whilst I may not suffer from cellulite yet, my legs could always do with a bit of improvement on their appearance. Plus, for a saving of £14 I felt that I was almost being forced to buy it down to the huge saving. I've only had the chance to use it once so far so can't update with any skin  miracle results yet!

Dainty Doll Eyeliner and Mascara duo - 002 (Shape Up):

This duo product combines two must-have beauty essentials that no makeup addict would ever be seen without. The rich liner smoothes effortlessly onto skin, whilst the lash boosting mascara adds the finishing touch to a stylish eye look. Forties glamour has never been so simple!

RRP: £17.50

FDP: £1.99

A whim purchase once more, I'd never heard of the brand Dainty Doll. After a little bit of research I'd found out that it was the brand of Nicola Roberts, the notoriously pale member from Girls Aloud. The product range is aimed at those of the paler-skinned variety so I felt that getting any kind of facial products like foundation would be a no-no. However, I stumbled across this nifty eyeliner and mascara 2-in-1 duo and felt like trying it - especially when there is a whopping £15.51 off the RRP! I again haven't had the chance to try it out yet but will definitely be trying it soon!

Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Cuticle Eraser + Balm:

Salon Manicure Cuticle Eraser & Balm: Combination remover and creme 2 in 1 formula with white tea & cucumber quickly eliminates excess, ragged cuticles & hangnails as it conditions nails and healthy cuticles. You Have: Dry cuticles & nails. You Will Get: Instantly healthy, beautiful, conditioned cuticles that look up to 80% smoother.

RRP: £9.75

FDP: £1.50

Bravo, Fragrance Direct, bravo! I have been wanting to try this for months after seeing Sammy from The Nailasaurus say that she used it. I've never really justified the tenner price tag that everywhere seems to have (Boots, Asda etc) and was jumping for joy when I saw this for only £1.50! How ridiculously cheap are these products?!

Almay Time Off Revitalizer Daily Solution 112 pads:

 - A Dermatologist approach to visibly rejuvenated skin 
- Helps your skin to look more radaint, less lined, more even toned 
- Time-Off beauty treatments reveal smoother, brighter, fresher, younger looking skin 
- Improves the texture of your skin, leaving it smooth, visibly rejuvenated with dry lines diminished 

RRP: ?!?!?!

FDP: £2.50

I can't seem to find out much about this product, including the usual price tag. Again this is a product you would probably not connect with an 18 year old but I felt like £2.50 was a steal for something which claims to make skin appear firmer, brighter, smoother and visibly rejuvenated. I've only used it twice and already my skin does feel firmer so I have high hopes for these pads!

Witch Oil Control Foaming Face Wash:

Witch Foaming Face Wash is a gentle foam that has a deep cleansing action to wash away excess oils and impurities. This product will leave your skin feeling tingly clean, refreshed and smooth to the touch.

RRP: £3.99

FDP: £2.99

Not a huge saving on this one (though anything is better than nothing so no complaints here!) but I wanted to try a daily face wash that would help control the oil and Witch is one of my most trusted skincare brands so I had to go for this! I've used it a few times and so far, so awesome! I really like this product and within one day of using it (in conjunction with the new matte foundation and concealer) my skin seems so much better!

Forgot to take a picture of this one.. whoops! Y'all get the drift though ;)

Overall I'm ridiculously pleased with this haul and I'm so obsessed with the Fragrance Direct website that I trawl through it near daily to see if there are any bargains that I can snap up! Hope this provided a little inspiration  - go spend! 

July/August favourites!

If you guys can remember I posted a monthly favourites last month and it got quite a few views so I've decided to do another for this month. Again I've included all sorts of random things and some have already featured in previous posts!

To kick us off I'll start with nail related items and move towards the more random ones.

1. The first item that I've been absolutely loving is Kawaii's Lois Lane (a custom order I had her create!). I've reviewed it here if you want to check that out! I love how this glitter looks, it's such a beauty!

2. The next item is one that has also featured before in my haul blog and is Vaseline's Spray & Go Body Moisturiser. I use this daily and it's absolutely fantastic! One of my favourite moisturisers due to the way it applies, the way it makes my skin feel and look and the smell! 

3. Number three is yet another item that featured in the haul blog and is n-spa's Vanilla Fragrance Body Mist. Wowwwwww I love this so much! This is just amazing and I will certainly be repurchasing when it runs out.

4. This is a bit of a naughty item - sweets! Haribo Smurfs to be precise. None of that dieting rubbish in this belly ;)! These are so dang tasty and at only £1 from Asda I have a hard time resisting buying them every time I go in there!

5. Number five technically comprises of four things - four books! All belonging to the Demon Trappers series by Jana Oliver. I picked up the first 2-in-1 book at Asda on a whim and holy mother of all things I LOVED these books! I was so obsessed with them that I managed to finish all four (I purchased the other two on my kindle as soon as I'd finished the second) within a week. I really really recommend these books if you're into anything supernatural/romance/dry humour/amazing - this series is perfect!

6. Winding down now and next up is Maybelline New York's Dream Pure BB Cream for Oily Skin. With a much thicker texture that the normal version of this, I love how this makes my skin look! Thumbs up to Maybelline!

7. The seventh and last (but not least!) item on the favourites list for the last month is the purse that I also showed in the haul blog. I've been using it a lot and I just love it so much! It's got a huge amount of card room and is just so nice! Go me for buying this beauty!

Kawaii Nail Lacquer - custom order review and swatches!

Today I've got two of the four custom order polishes I asked Jamie from Kawaii Nail Lacquer to create for me and boy are they perfect! She got them exactly how I wanted and I'm so happy with the way they look!

You can check her out here and place custom orders for practically any design you could think of! (within reason, ladies) : http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KawaiiNailLacquer?ref=pr_shop_more. I've ordered three or so custom orders for several polishes and they've been super amazing every time!

Here's the first of the two I'm showing today - Confetti Party! It's millions of little glitter bars in a clear base with microfine holo glitter chucked in for good measure! I've teamed it over one coat of Sinful Color's Why Not (as seen in yesterday's post!) and I love this combo! I think I'll pair it over black or white next to really bring out the colours though it can work with literally anything!

The other polish I have to show is called Lois Lane (I'm so original with names ;)) and is to DIE for! It's a clear base again and is jam packed with blue, red and purple glitter. Sounds simple but it works hella well! I absolutely love this over black with a matte top coat on - wow! Probably my favourite colour/glitter combo ever! Mattified glitter is always good in my opinion though so I may be a little bias!!

Sinful Colors - Why Not review and swatches!

Today's post features one of my new all-time favourite nail polishes. Sinful Colors has impressed me with their colour range and polish quality in the past but this has taken the biscuit! This polish is a ONE COATER! Apart from one Essie polish, this is the second I've come across that has managed to achieve full opacity in one coat! It left no bald patches and the smile line was covered too! And here's the real kicker: you can pick it up for £1.99 at Boots! Truly, truly impressive work from Sinful Colors!

The only downside that I found was that it stained quite badly upon removal and unless you have something like ORLY's Cutique cuticle and stain remover (which worked incredibly well, by the way!) then you will be left with some ghastly blue stained nails which can be a problem if you're not planning on painting them again soon!

On to the swatches!

July purchases - haul blog!

Hey guys! Sorry for the horrendous two week gap in posting but I've been so busy over the last couple of weeks as I've got a new full-time job on top of my part time job which has also given me more hours! I've been too tired to do anything worthy of blogging about so saved up the items in this post to show you! So in the last month I went a little mad with spending apparently.. Oops! I thought I'd make a post to show all the bits and pieces I bought and what I thought of them! I've put these into two separate "hauls" according to when I purchased them too.

First up we have haul number one, item number one - a new purse from New Look! As soon as I spotted this I loved it! The stud and zip detailing is gorgeous in my opinion and it was only £8.99 so I grabbed it!

Item number two is a pair of THE NICEST sandals ever! Bonus - they're one of the comfiest pairs of footwear that I own! These were around £22 from New Look again from what I can remember and I love love love them!

Number tres is another item from New Look - a simple t-shirt with "BOOM" written on it. I love how simple this is and it's a classic fitted t-shirt which you can never really go wrong with! This was an absolute STEAL at £4 in the sale! 

Item four is a new BB cream by Maybelline, this time for oily skin! I have quite oily skin around my forehead and nose so need to control it and thought this could help! I haven't given it a go yet as I've only just run out of my previous bottle but I'm looking forward to giving it a go.

The next item is rather items.. Four nail varnishes from Sinful Colors! I've loved my experience with this brand so far and they have such an amazing colour range for only £1.99 (!!!!!!!) which is just incredible!

From l-r - Exotic Green, Mint Apple, Boogie Shoes and Snow Me White

The penultimate item from this haul is NYC's Applelicious lip balm in Big Apple Red. This was just as good as the previous Applelicious balm I've tried though it seemed slightly less pigmented which was a shame! 

The last item was Collection's Illuminating Touch Brightening Concealer in the shade Natural. This liquid concealer is absolutely fab and from what I can remember it was a steal too!

Haul number two! To start we have two products from Lush - Tea Tree Water toner and a Cupcake face mask! Unfortunately the Tea Tree Water toner seems to be a bit pants.. I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong or something but it doesn't seem to have prevented any oily skin or blemishes appearing but it does leave my face feeling slightly refreshed after use which is a plus! The cupcake face mask is to die for! Well, at least the scent of it is anyway. It smells like chocolate and looks like it too - and probably does as much good as it too.. Granted, it made my face feel slightly softer but didn't really seem to clear it as such. Maybe I just need to give it more of a chance!

Next on the list is another type of facial spray - this time from the Body Shop. It's a Vitamin C energising face spritz and true to it's word it does give my face a nice refreshing boost and the smell is lovely. It doesn't do that much in the long term but when you're tired and in need of a little wake-up this is about the equivalent of splashing some water on your face only it doesn't remove all your carefully put on mascara and eyeliner!

After this I purchased THE best item IN THE WORLD. Well, okay maybe not but holy smokes I love the Vaseline Spray and Go body moisturiser! I got it in the "cocoa radient" type and it is to die for! It comes out in a perfect constant spray which allows awesome coverage and the perfect amount on your legs. It smells incredible and moisturises incredibly well. If I were to give it a rating out of 10 it would be a solid 10!

Next we have a buffing tool that I got from fragrance direct. It has served me perfectly so far and makes my nails look really clean and healthy after using it! A bonus that it was only a few quid too!

 I've never tried any nspa products and ended up picking three up at once - all from Asda! I never even knew they did this kind of range and felt like trying a different toner to the one I'd already tried. This does seem to give my skin a cleaner look but the smell isn't that great which is a shame! I still use it daily though and will probably repurchase due to how cheap it was. I think it was only £3.99 which is much better than the tenner I paid for the Lush Tea Tree Toner!

 The other two nspa items I got were on an absolute bargain of two for £4 and boy oh boy oh BOY am I in love with them. I'm obsessed with anything vanilla and this body spray is absolutely incredible! The raspberry is a much fresher scent though and is nicer in the muggier days! The only quarrel I have is that they don't seem to last too long on my skin no matter how thoroughly I spray them on me! But yeah, I will DEFINITELY be repurchasing these babies!

More now varnish now (hehehe), the first group being from h&m. I spotted these glitter bombs and knew I had to have them! The picture really doesn't do them justice but for £2.99 each I had no worries picking up all three!

 The last item on the list (apart from two dresses, two pairs of jeans and a top which I didn't feel like including due to them photographing terribly!) are two more Sinful Colors polishes. I picked up a blue (Why Not) and a lovely neutral shade (Easy Going)!

Phew! That was a long list (and didn't actually include every single thing as I either didn't feel them important enough to include or totally forgot about!) - goodbye money! There may be a few clothing posts to come as I'm holiday shopping! I'm going to America later this year and need to get a few more bits and bobs (did I mention that HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, I'M GOING TO AMERICA ON HOLIDAY?!?! WOOP!!). Hope you enjoyed this long post! :)