Make Do and Mend - Revamped Nail of the Day!

My Nails Inc. New York hot pink manicure (blog post on it here) was looking a bit tired the other day, but I really couldn't be bothered to take it all off, then repaint them so I decided to just do a bit of a make do and mend jobby instead! I simply slapped another coat of New York over the top to cover any chips (my nails are seriously weak so my nail varnish chips after a day or two regardless of the quality!) and I then got a pin and my trusty Revlon White on White and simply blobbed four or five white dots diagonally over my nail...simples!! When I do things with my right hand (my wrong hand if you get me) I'm a bit like an infant troll might be with regard to my command over objects - such as pins with white paint -  but I was surprisingly impressed with my attempt! I then popped a slick of top coat to seal the deal and hey presto they looked good as new (but better!) and provided me with a couple of days of fun nail art!!   Simple but very effective! I think I might start doing this more often as it is so much easier than starting all over again, and I am so up for the simple life! 

What do you do to get the most out of your manicure? Or are you just not as lazy as me?

xxx

Every Cloud

After finding out that Student Beans are no longer running the Cineworld 2 for 1 offer I was pretty distraught (I had a massive paddy about it), but my I got over it like the grown up I am because I had to and my friends and I decided to go for the good old fashioned Orange Wednesdays and see the Avengers. The cinema was rammed but we managed to get into a relatively short queue (probably short because everyone else had given up - it was manned by the slowest person EVER), and proceeded to wait for 40 minutes (yes thats right, four zero).  Whilst queuing we heard the announcement that American Pie: The Reunion was sold out and we felt sorry for those people who would be left out, but smug that our film was free and although we were pushing it time wise we would soon be sat scoffing our Pick n Mix and watching superheroes do their thing.... Lets just say we well and truly learnt that pride comes before a fall; we eventually got to the slowest Cineworld employee, asked if we could have three tickets and he was just like, "No" (haha we thought, we've got a joker here) it appeared it had also sold out so we left the queue and I had to abandon my sweets and leave looking like losers!! Now what really annoyed me about this was that in Cineworld there are massive tv screens which tell you which screens things are in, and whether it is time to take your seats etc...why, oh why could they not have put some kind of bloody notice with something short and sweet like perhaps 'Sold Out' when a film does, well, sell out.  Literally, it wouldn't be that hard!!  First they take themselves off Student Beans, and now they reject me...Cineworld you better watch your step because I'm one step away from taking my custom elsewhere!! You've been warned! 


So, having already paid our parking we felt it would be stupid to go home but we weren't really dressed to go for a drink (I thought I'd be sat in the dark scoffing my face - I dressed appropriately in a hoodie) so we went for ice cream.  Cadwaladers I salute you!! 

By far the greatest flavours - Mint Choc Chip & Double Chocolate! 

Needless to say I felt pretty sick on the drive home!  

What are your favourite ice cream flavours?

xxx

Naked Palette. Big Love.

In my manic rampage of beauty counters this week I purchased the Urban Decay Naked Palette.  I can't have spent longer than 30 seconds at the counter, I probably spend longer choosing a bunch of bananas (in fact I definitely spend longer choosing bananas because it's tricky to get the perfect bunch, but that's another story!). 

Other than on nights out (which are pretty rare these days) I'm quite unadventurous as far as my eye make up goes, usually I slick on some eyeliner (L'Oreal Super Liner in Carbon Gloss) and some mascara and I'm good to go but I really want to change this and I thought the Naked palette would be the perfect way to do this.  It provides a good range of neutrals (mostly shimmery ones but there are a couple of matte colours) and they are all there for you to choose from which I like as I hate rooting around in my make up bag because I always forget I have certain colours. 

Virgin is a really delicate slightly peachy vanilla.  These shadows are so finely milled that it feels like applying silk. This shade gives a subtle sheen as I think it makes for a beautiful highlight, base colour or works amazingly in the tear duct to really brighten the eyes.

Sin is a rich shimmery rose gold.  It's just a beautiful colour!! Worn alone I think this is the perfect subtle summer shimmer!  

Naked (sorry my fat finger is covering the name), is a simple matte base colour, it can be used to create a lovely base for other colours or to soften the insensity of other more vibrant colours (Stars N Rockets for example).

Sidecar is a warm toned pinky gold, and it's just beautiful.  End of. I've used this over the inner half of my eyes in the images at the bottom of this post. 

Buck is a warm tan colour, a soft brown if you will, and can be used to add definition in the crease for a sophisticated simply day look or to add definition and depth to basically any other shadow! 

Half Baked.  What a colour! This is just a beautiful gold with a slightly bronze tone running through it! Applied to the tear duct, this colour will just make your eyes look incredible! 

Smog is, as the name suggests, a bit of a dirty goldy with a bit of a rusty edge to it. Like the other true shimmers in this palette it is just so finely milled and highly pigmented, and the colour pay off is so full and luxurious.

Darkhorse has a really subdued shimmer to it that is only picked up in certain lights and it creates a pretty good seductive smouldering look (get my trying to be sexy!)

Toasted is a shimmery pinky brown.  I love it.  This is used in the middle of my eye in the look at the bottom of this post. 

Hustle is a purply brown, and is the third colour I used on my eyes in the photos featured at the end of this post! 

Creep is a deep grey shot through with silver glitter.  The colour can be used boldly to create the intense colour shown in the swatch above, or it can be blended right out to give quite a sheer coverage, and therefore it's really versatile. 

And last but not least, Gunmetal is a gorgeous pewter shimmer.

The photos below are of my first ever time using my Naked palette, and I'm pleased as punch! I used Tanya Burr's tutorial  which you can view here as my instruction, and obviously mine is nowhere near Tanya's (mainly because I screwed up my eyeliner big time) but I'm hoping with practice it'll improve! 

Products - Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion (comes with the palette) all over the lid

Using a 217 apply Sidecar to the inner half, right into the inner corner

On a 239 pack Toasted onto the centre section of the lid

On the other side of the 239 combine Toasted and Hustle and draw that out from the lash line to create the wing, then pack more Hustle in the outer corner to create depth

Then using the leftover product on the 239 draw the shadow under the eye.

Use a 217 or another fluffy brush to blend all the colours and soften the edges

I used Sin as a brow highlight

I then used L'Oreal Gel Intenza to line the water line, my upper lash line and to create a wing

Finally lashings of L'Oreal Telescopic mascara adds great definition

On my brows - No. 7 Perfect Brows pencil in Black

Products - Face

Benefit Erase Paste in Medium

Mac Pro Longwear in NW20 and NC25

Mac Studio Sculpt in NW25

Mac Magically Cool Liquid Powder in Truth & Light

Nars bronzer in Laguna

Mac blush in Plum Foolery

Benefit Highbeam to highlight

Lips

Clarins Joli Rouge Brilliant Perfect Shine lipstick in 06 Fig

If you have made it to the end of this blog post then thank you so much, and congratulations, it's a bit of a mammoth post!! 

The Urban Decay Naked palette is available here or at a zillion other places either on-line or at Urban Decay counters in Debenhams etc

What are your feelings on the Naked palette? What are your favourite looks to create using it? 

If you'd like me to provide links to the other products just ask in the comments and I will willingly do so :) 

As always the beautiful back drop to my product shots is by Gabrielle Vary, she makes incredible luxury knit-ware items which are available here. 

xxx

The mother of all hauls!

I have been itching to go to town and go mad on make-up for days now, and until the other day I had managed to restrain myself, but the desire got too much and I positively ran to town (lets be realistic, it was a power walk) and what ensued was some kind of snatch and grab activity at every make up counter I came across.  I literally went mad.  I now feel a bit sick with guilt but at the time I was just desperate, which does make me sound a bit like a crack addict, but what can I say surely cosmetics is a safer habit to have?! I probably wont need to ever buy make-up again after this ridiculous escapade but I wonder how long it will take for the need to take over once again?! 

I want to post a photo of the make up but I'm actually embarrassed by my actions, so instead feast your eyes on a visual representation of my insanity!! 

P.S - I promise this was for fancy dress. 

xxx

Can a tweezer really be too good?

I ask this question because I thought the answer was 'surely not', and having left my trusty Boots Precision Grip Slanted Tweezers in Cardiff when I came home for Easter, I went out and purchased these Tweezerman LTD Slanted Tweezers which carry a much heftier price tag thinking that I was making an investment and I'd have them for yonks.  This is probably the case, I expect they will last well as I find Tweezerman to be a reliable brand who make good quality stuff to help you look pruned and pretty.  However, and this is potentially a very individual however, I think these tweezers are just too sharp, and they seem to cut the hair rather than pluck it, which is not the desired result otherwise i'd just whip the razor out wouldn't I?!  I remember once I was having a wax (with a new beautician) and I said I plucked in between waxing and she asked me how did I know I was plucking the hairs rather than snapping them off, and I just thought what a silly question, of course I know I'm plucking them because my tweezers grab the entire hair and the little root is plain as day.  I now understand her query because these tweezerman tweezers do seem to just sheer off the hair instead of yanking the little blighter out!! 

For a lot of people this might not be a problem other than the fact that you'd just have to pluck more often.  But personally I find it very bothersome. I've been having my eyebrows, bikini line and thighs waxed for about eight years and as a result my hairs have finally begun to grow back a lot finer, and more sparse and this is because I don't shave them off, I just get the suckers by the root!  Anyway this has given me somewhat of a phobia about cutting these hairs off at skin level (shaving or otherwise) as I fear that I will once again have monstrous dark hairs  (this particularly applies to my thighs as obviously my eyebrows are black and that's totally fine!)

Am I the only one who has found this with tweezerman tweezers? Or indeed any other brand? Or am I just using them wrong? And on the other hand, which tweezers do you think do the trick for you?  


xxx