What spending ban?

It's over! The spending ban is through!

About bleedin' time too as I was nearly out of samples of foundation I'd picked up to replace the Shu Uemura one from a couple of posts ago. I sampled Chanel vitalumière - which I have to say is a really nice foundation, I really loved this but it's just a tad too dark for me, the lightest shade takes loads of blending to make it look okay on my pasty skin, was also worried about this making me look a bit too shiny.

Next was Nars sheer glow, I'm loving this as well to be honest, and it sits so well on my skin and is pretty much what I was looking for in a new foundation! Swoon.

I also got a tester of Mac pro longwear and I really liked this too, it honestly lasts and looks fresh for at least 10 hours, even after a night of dancing! I usually put 2 coats of foundation on and with this I only needed the one, brilliant for hot days or long days at the office.

So I got both (oops!) the Nars and the Mac - I know, I know but I've been on the spending ban and it was just after my birthday so I treated myself...and I took back the Shu Uemura disaster and exchanged it with these so saved a bit of money too! My only gripe with the Nars is it doesn't have a pump, which I was half expecting but it would be a welcome addition. Colour wise I got NW20 in the Mac and Mont Blanc in the Nars - 2 totally different colours but workable..!

Also, picked up some of the Kiss USA ez lashes, the ones with the red application strings. Amazing. I applied these after a glass (or three............) of champagne and they were bob on! I only wear falsies for a night out and these are so simple to use. Gone are the days of fiddling with tweezers and sticky glue fingers while pushing and prodding the lashes into place. I can be a bit sensitive to the glue included with lashes but this one was fine, unlike the Girls Aloud lash glue which left me with horrid swollen puffy eyes the next day!

You can see from the picture I also did my top liner after mucho champers too!

P.S The spending ban is back on..... *groan* x

My Homage To The Gods Of WAH

Hello boys & girls! And welcome new followers. Michelle & I are very excited to share our thoughts with you.

Ok, cheesy bit over with, it's been a while since I've done a proper NOTD post, I was very conscious that I was being too nail heavy so have avoided writing about my recent weird/disastrous creations. But I have to mention my current talons because I've had so much feedback on them from friends & colleagues.

 First up, these are not my design, those in the know will recognise them from WAH NAILS.
[edit] I forgot to mention that I saw a post from Little Red Fox where she did a much closer take on the design which inspired me to have a go! Maybe this could be the start of a Nail Meme? [/edit]

My interpretation is loose as I didn't have the colours to just straight copy them.

Wah

Secondly, this was my first ever attempt at leopard print nails so its a bit dodgy I apologise. My favourite nail is my left thumb as you see below (apologies for the dodgy photography, my camera took a shit fit today)

Thirdly and I think most importantly I'm setting myself a new commandment when it comes to nail art. 

Thou Shalt Not Apply The Top Coat With Lights Off

It sounds so simple when you think about it. But bright spark here thought she'd be grand applying her Seche Vite by only the light of her trusty laptop. 

Fail.

I missed loads of spots around my nails resulting in chipping, peeling and quite a few repair jobs.

Ah well, I've had them on for a few days now & really like them but tomorrow shall be their last day... Maybe.

I'll leave you with these uh... beauties. A friend sent me a link on twitter suggesting (I'm hoping jokingly) I try them out. They're a bit extreme for my tastes but each to their own I guess!

Jaws Nails

Face time

Once a week I use a face mask to try and get my face to stop being so spotty and my skin being dry. Combination skin at its worst!

The one I reach for more often is now the Waterfall spa instant vitality mask. I'm fortunate enough to live around the corner from this spa and they send me products to review (only on their website) - so I did not pay for this product - I'm getting this out there now so you all know. I have had other products from them, which are really good, but because they have been provided for me i've always been a bit wary of writing about them on here. However, I really, really love this face mask so thought it deserved as much of a shout out as other products i've purchased myself.

Phew, i'm glad we got that out of the way :) ...so, the mask itself is really creamy and I usually try and steer clear of this. But this one is different, when you spread it around your face it instantly feels nourished, non sticky and doesn't feel tight - which is something I've come to hate with facemasks. Leave it on for the usual 10-15 minutes et voila! Seriously moisturised, glowing skin.

I get redness around my nose and cheeks which is really noticeable when i'm not wearing make up but when I take this mask off you can barely notice it and my skin feels great. I also have the joy of psoriasis (not so much on my face) but my skin is so dry, the mask doesn't irritate it and really kicks the moisture levels up a couple of gears!

All in all I love this product - so the kick in the teeth is it's 25 big ones! Apart from that I can't fault this anywhere else!

Monday Club OOTD & FOTD

As my twitter followers will vouch my friends & I have a semi-weekly tradition on a Monday & that is going out dancing to a weekly club night in Belfast called Forbidden Fruit. Its cheesy & its gay (literally... its a gay night) but its our wee night out and we love it. I quite liked my outfit last night & was trying out a few of my new magazine freebies for my make-up so thought I'd show a few snaps. Opinions?

Dress: H&M Bag: Primark
Boots: New Look 915 

Eyes: Inika Mineral eyeshadow & eyeliner
Face: Benefit Playstick in Spin The Bottle & Thrrrob blush
Lips: Benefit Posie Tint & Jemma Kid Coral Gloss.

Ps Loving the Inika stuff! Gorgeous!

Rants and raves

Bit of a mixed bag this post, firstly I want to rant about my new foundation - it's terrible! I got it a couple of weeks ago before the shopping ban but didn't have to subject my skin to it until last week when my old foundation ran out. I've been left with a lot of product that I don't want to use and because of the ban I'm stuck with it for another couple of weeks *weep*

The product in question is Shu Uemura face architect smoothing fluid foundation. I don't doubt that it's probably a really good foundation for other people but for me it's possibly one of the worst. I have dry skin at the best of times, no matter how much I moisturise and told the girl at the counter this. She said about the illuminating one, which sounded perfect for me and not much of a jump from the Dior nude that I was using (and loved). She matched me up and I went away £34 lighter only to realise i've got the smoothing one rather than illuminating. So I tried it out a couple of days and the only time it looks semi ok was on a night out I had used a moisturising facemask and loads of moisturiser before putting my face on. In the end I took this one back because I wanted to change to the illuminating one and this was a little too pale for my liking. Low and behold the girl on the counter told me that they didn't have a shade light enough for my skin tone in the illuminating foundation so her colleague had give me this one (sneaky, no?) so she changed the shade for me and agreed it was a little too light and I needed a warmer tone. I'm still far away from loving this foundation but it will have to do for now.

So, on the hunt for a new foundation i've been and got a sample of the Nars sheer glow so will be face testing that for the next couple of days, i've heard good things so fingers crossed! Any foundation/make up nightmares for you girls recently?

Now for the raves!!! Did you all get your free Benefit in Glamour mag?! I'm in love. I didn't get the Benetint, its just a bit too red for me - i'd look like i'd been stood in the arctic waiting for a bus if I was to put that on my face. But the posietint and high beam are excellent! It's taken me a good 5 days of hunting down to get my paws on these, the first in Tesco nearly wrestling a woman for the last posietint and the last chance saloon to get High beam today from a smelly tobacco shop in Leeds (they still have loads left as their usual clientèle are 70 something old men looking to stuff their pipes). Swoon!

June "Freebies"

So this month there are some amazing magazine giveaways and whilst I never usually buy Beauty magazines (I find Blogs more informative & less likely to make me want to starve myself for the next 3 months) I couldn't resist this month's offerings

Instyle: Body shop £5 gift card

Red: Jemma Kid Lip Gloss worth £14 (I got the Coral)

Bliss: eyes & lips palette 

(see swatches below)

Mizz: eyeshadow collection all about eyes

(see swatches below)

Marieclaire: Inika Mineral eyeliner & shadow worth a combined £23

(see swatches below)

The Mizz & Bliss palettes are obviously aimed at teens & the shadows are quite chalky (they're not exactly premium quality) but the colours are cute & very summery. With the help of a decent primer to make them last the day I can honestly say I'll probably wear these! In fact I wore the Mizz trio to work today.

I absolutely love the Inika eye liner & shadow. Minerals are very en vogue at the minute & these are a great example. Very pigmented, lovely texture & possibly the most amazing concept for an eye liner I've ever seen... A sharpener in the lid!!

The only downside to this is that lid doesn't even come close to being tight on the pencil so you wont want this lying loose in your bag but what a great idea! 

And then of course the one we were all waiting for...

Glamour: Benefit sample sizes worth a combined £28

I've never used Posietint or Benetint before (am I the only one who finds a blood red stain daunting?) so of course I picked these up asap. Looking forward to experimenting with them.

Also this month Harpers Bazaar are giving away 3 Leighton Denny Nail Polishes worth £11 each (A red, orange & nude/mushroomy colour) which shock of all horrors I managed to resist!! Quite proud of myself on that one.

Anyway thats all for now, I've got ALOT of magazines to go and read!

xx

NOTD

Bit different Nail of the day post, just to give you a bit of an idea of what I do when doing my nails.

First is where everyone starts: removing old polish. I love Quickies nail polish remover pads, effective and cheap. They also last for ages as one pad does one hands worth of polish I've found. Then I wash my hands and apply hand cream to get rid of any polish remover thats been left behind. *Beware bald nails below*

Next is Nails inc 3 phase nail oil, iv had mine for over a year and only a tiny amount is missing from the bottle even though I use it every week. Great stuff and has really strengthened my nails. Then a quick file and shape to get all the chips out and restore a bit of order to my nails.

I have to pick what colour/s I'm using before I start otherwise I would be there forever umming and aahing over which ones to use. This time its half moon manicure using nails inc savile row and top shop polish in feisty. Base coat is always nails inc hyde park and top coat is the super marvellous Seche Vite. So do your base coat and then kind of half paint your nails in the colour you have chosen for your half moon, because the other polish is going on top it really doesn't need to be tidy.

Then leave well alone for 10 mins to dry. The easiest way to do this half mo

on mani is to get the hole reinforcers and cut them in half, stick each half to your hand or a piece of clothing to make them less tacky so you wont pull the rest of your polish off when removing them. Then take each one and lay it across your nail so some of the polish is protected. Once they are all on go over the rest of your nails with the other colour, for this one I had to do 3 coats because the half moon colour was so dark! I leave them to dry for about half an hour and then remove the sticky blighters, really slowly because the polish tends to drag a little and you don't want to ruin all that hard work! I usually fill in a little with the half moon colour again and then apply my top coat. DONE!

There's loads of videos on youtube about how to do this type of manicure and I've taken lots of tips from them, but i definitely can't do it without the help of the hole reinforcey things - genius.

Oh! Lush

I was in Lush a few weeks ago and picked up some toner tabs, BB Seaweed facemask and Breath of fresh air toner. When I go into Lush I always let them pamper me and try out everything they have to offer, plus you get a better feel of what's for you and maybe what you shouldn't be using on your skin.

I don't know about all their stores but the one in Leeds has the friendliest staff ever. I went in just over a year ago when my psoriasis was really bad and I had horrible red flaky patches all over my body and the girl that came up to me couldn't have been nicer! I was looking for things that wouldn't dry my skin out and not irritate the psoriasis. She grabbed loads of products and brought me over to a table and grabbed hold of my arms to test some of the products out, one of the first things she said to me was "is it psoriasis". Super chuffed, I don't even like looking or touching it when I have it and here was this relative stranger being lovely about it and not bothered by it at all. So I left very happy that day with a bag full of lovely natural products.

Anyway, back to these 3 lovelies... I couldn't decide which toner tabs I wanted so the girl explained what they all did and i ended up taking 2 of each (oops!). The facemask was next she grabbed about 5 different ones and asking me different questions about my skin and stuff she narrowed it down to 2 that we tried out to see which one I liked best. She did say that there isn't any point in them selling you a product you wont like or suit your skin because that's not what their about - which is fantastic I reckon. Countless times i've been into boots or somewhere and you almost feel pressurised into buying things both you and the staff know you don't want/need and let's be fair most of the time you might use them once of twice and then it gets stuffed into a drawer or thrown in the bin. waste.

So, the facemask! BB seaweed is the one I settled on as the other one left my skin feeling a bit tight. I'm loving this to be honest, I use it once (maybe twice) a week and it really wakens up my skin and leaves it glowing. There's huge chunks of seaweed in it which I think adds to the charm but I know some people don't really like this feature. All in all it's one of my favourite facemasks, but i'd really recommend getting into Lush yourself and testing some of the others out to see what suits you. I want the cosmetic warrior facemask after this BB seaweed runs out!

Lastly the toner, I haven't liked a toner since my Dior one ran out, I've tried at least 11 others since then and they just haven't fit. This one is number 2 out of all the ones i've tried, its really nice and calms my skin. It's a spray pump so you can spritz it onto some cotton wool and dab over your face or do what I do and take a deep breath and spray directly onto your face - the nozzle ensures it feels like being sprayed in the face with a water pistol - i quite like it, wakes me up in the morning!

x

Teething problems

Sunday night, 10pm and I decided to whiten my teeth.

I'd ordered the Crest 3d 2 hour whitening strips from eBay and the arrived last week (about a weeks postage from the US. *ordered before the shopping ban, promise!).

Im actually loving these strips right now. My teeth, Im ashamed to say, were a little stained from nicotine, tea and coffee, wine, beer, more wine and even more nicotine. I could immediately notice the difference so here are the before and after pics *shame*

The first one is a bit blurry because I didn't have my camera on the right setting - but wow what a difference right? Please ignore my horrid coldsore, it has since taken over my face.

The 2nd photo was take about 20 mins after taking the strips off and i'd brushed my teeth to get the residue of the strip off. I honestly cant believe the difference, in such a short time its worked wonders!!

I have sensitive teeth at the best of times and in the hour after taking these off they didn't feel any different. Then the pain came, my god I was in agony and couldn't sleep it was that bad, it lasted most of the next day too and now they feel normal again. It does say on the pack that you may experience some discomfort (pah!) and it will wear off, which it does. So if you get these be prepared to feel the pain! In saying that I would still use these again because the results are amazing.

I can't stop smiling!

*toothy grin to you all* x

Golden Eye

It seems like everyone in the world wants this palette! And its pretty hard to come by (or so I hear, I lucked out & managed to get it from Debenhams online on my first attempt!)

I was so excited when it arrived & even more excited to actually use it. 

I originally was drawn to the nude colours when perving over it on the net but found myself in a gold mood when it came to the crunch. 

So here's my look. What do you think? I used the Half Baked (lid & lower lash line) & Smog (in the crease) with a touch of Virgin on the upper lids. I wore this to work where my make up has a habit of melting off & to my joy it lasted all day! Thankyou Primer Potion!

All in all I'm looking forward to experimenting with this palette!

Instagram

I've seen a few other bloggers who post their instagram photos up either monthly or weekly. I dont really use it enough to this and when I do it's usually only NOTD posts. But here's my most recent shatter nails using Barry M black & Pink shatters with matching base polish. And a cute wee accessorize ring I bought the other day.