Snot very well...

...guys, I'm suffering! Where on earth is all this snot coming from. I swear my head's not big enough to produce this much. Eurgh!

Shellac - One week update.

So, it has been over a week since I had my first Shellac manicure. I thought I'd update you with the results after a week and a day.

I've been really rough on my nails to see how well they cope. I work in a busy shop and have counted thousands of pounds in coins every night and deliberately been quite heavy handed. I've also been moving heavy clothing fixtures and racks and shelves etc, so my hands have been put through the paces.

Here are how they looked the day I had them done.

And here they are after a week and a day.

There's minimal chipping - just around the edge of my thumb nail and right index finger... but it's more wear rather than chipping. The nail technician that did mine didn't seem to cap the edge of the nail very well, so I think rather than being the product's fault, I would be more tempted to blame it on the application.

As you can see the only signs of wearing really is the growth from the cuticle area. I think I'd get another week out of these, definitely. I've been so impressed with Shellac that I actually invested in buying a set for myself. I'm currently waiting for it all to arrive but will be doing my own Shellac manicures from now on, how exciting.

I'll keep an update as to how long I keep this particular manicure on for. I can see myself wanting to change it straight away when my own set comes, though!

For reference, this colour is Rosebud which is a nice purple-undertoned pink colour.

John Frieda - Full Repair Range!

Hi guys! I want to show you some videos today. These How To videos show you how you can create a basic look, and evolve it into more of an evening do, such as a top knot or beehive look.

I was kindly sent some products from the John Frieda Full Repair range, which protects your hair against heat damage without weighing it down. It's really important to protect your hair before styling, and these videos show you how.

On with the videos. My personal favourite is the Top Knot tutorial. I just wish my hair would grow longer so I could recreate it easier!

I hope these videos were helpful to you guys. I'll be reviewing the products I was sent once I've tried them out for a few weeks! 

See you soon 

x

I was sent these items from www.holler.co.uk which is a digital agency working with a range of beauty brands such as John Frieda and Revlon. I have not been paid to create this blog post and do not work for the company in question. All opinions are my own and unbiased!

YSL Touche Eclat Foundation First Impressions

Hi girls. As you saw in my last post, I've been to my local beauty counter and picked up the latest YSL Touche Eclat foundation. I wore it for the first time today and thought I'd show you a before and after application picture and a photo after 6 hours wear.

This foundation applies flawlessly and is very light and lovely to apply. It's quite a light coverage but manages to make the skin look fantastic with only a small amount of product.

I only set the foundation with a tiny bit of powder because I wanted to see how well it lasted on it's own. My skin is combination - dry around the forehead and sides of the nose and gradually gets oilier on the cheeks and forehead during the day. As you can see in the last picture, my face seems shinier than it usually does with other foundations, which I'm so unhappy about because this foundation looks so good when you put it on at first!

I'm going to use up my tester and try out a bit more powder to set it to see how that goes.

Before:

After:

After 6 hours wear:

Testing new foundations.

I went into my local Boots and Debenhams and spoke to the girls on the Clinique and YSL counters. They kindly gave me some testers for some of their foundations. I've recently been trying Clinique Even Better which I didn't like, so I went back and got testers for the Stay Matte Oil Free and Redness Solutions Foundation to see of they suit my skin any better. The one I'm most excited about, though is the YSL Touche Éclat Foundation. Going to wear that one today I think!

O.O.T.D Cross Tee, Wang, McQueen and Converse

Right, another attempt at a video went a bit better than last time... you can now watch in HD (I think!) 

Editing is still shoddy and lighting isn't the best but this was just a test for myself really to try out different settings on my camera.

Again, I'm waiting for the music to upload so if you can't hear it, come back later! :)

All outfit info below:

Cross Tshirt - Topshop

Skinny Jeans - Topshop

Socks - Primark or H&M

Shoes - Converse

Grey/brown Hoody - Topshop

Leather Jacket - River Island via. Carboot Sale

Bag - Rocco by Alexander Wang

Skull Ring - Alexander McQueen

Two thumb rings - Vintage

Watch - Michael Kors MK5137

Skull Bracelet - Links Of London

Shellac

So me and my bez went to get our nails done. Popped our Shellac cherry. I got Rosebud (baby mauve-pink) and J got Fedora (deep reddish black)

O.O.T.D & my first video fail

Hi guys and girls! I had a lovely lie in this morning as I didn't need to be up for work, hurray!

It's cracking the flags here, lovely and warm so decided to get up and do what I do best which is spend an afternoon mooching round the shops!

I decided to try out something new today and film an OOTD for you all, but me being amazing at technology somehow managed to record it in the most rubbish quality ever. I'm also super rubbish at editing so...there's pretty much none of that so it's all choppy...

BUUUTTT, it took ages to import and export and upload and process and all that jazz so I thought I may as well put it on here anyway! If there's no sound now, hopefully in a little while there should be, as I'm waiting for an audioswap on youtube and it seems to be taking forever. Bear with me!

 I said it was ridiculously rubbish quality, didn't I! It's a good job I took some pics to go with it...

I wore my studded denim jacket from Topshop.

"Damned" t-shirt from Topshop.

Second Skin black skinny jeans from Cheap Monday.

Neutral makeup, simple winged black liner.

Watch is the MK5137 chronograph gold and silver by Michael Kors.

Studded gold bracelet from Topshop.

Beaded gold and pearl bracelet from BHS.

Bag is the 11" Classic Satchel by The Cambridge Satchel Company.

White Converse from JD.

Sorry for the crap quality of the video. If I do another one, I'll try and sort my camera settings out!

O.O.T.D Assessment day and interview.

So I'm back from my interview/assessment day.

Very long day full of presentation after presentation, waiting around, interviews, more presentations and a little bit more hanging about.

Took a quick snap before I ran out of the door to catch the early morning train.

Blazer from Topshop

Stripe sheer shirt from Topshop

Leggings from....Topshop!

Watch by Michael Kors

Bag is the 14" Cambridge Satchel

Flatforms from River Island

Don't think they're going to be offering me the job! But experience is experience, eh! We'll wait and see.

Home time...

...zzz

Interview time.

Wish me luck. Far too early to be on a train.

O.O.T.D stripes and disco pants

Striped slouchy tshirt from Topshop sale.

American Apparel disco pants.

I wore my tshirt slouchy, but it looks just as good tied at the front to show off the high waist of the disco pants. 

Studded vectra loafers from Topshop.

Cambridge Satchel Company 11" satchel.

Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses.

Topshop ear cuff.

£100 ASOS Blogger Challenge!

Hi everyone! 

Something a bit new today! I'm so excited to be writing this, I had so much fun doing it.

I recently came across THIS competition run by The Discount Coder Blog and jumped at the chance to create my own post about it.

For this contest, you have to scour the ASOS website (what a chore, eh!? NOT!) and put together the HOTTEST outfit you can with a £100 budget. LOVE ITTTT!

While browsing, I chose an outfit that I would totally wear and I'm actually quite upset that I got to choose it all and not actually get to buy it! HOWEVER, if the girls over at The Discount Coder like my picks, then I could be in with a chance of winning £100 ASOS voucher to spend online...*drool*... I would deffo be purchasing all of these items if I was lucky enough to win!

Anyway, on with the show!

I started off by choosing one of my staple wardrobe pieces. The basic black legging.

I don't think you can go wrong with simple leggings and they pretty much go with anything - as well as being super cheap! GOOD START!

ASOS Full Length Leggings in black £8

I've recently been searching EVERYWHERE for the perfect basic tank top. I swear I've looked all over and while doing this competition I've literally stumbled across this little beauty which ticks all the right boxes. Scoop neck: Check! Drop arm holes: Check! Racerback: Check! Not seethrough: Check! Perfect! And it covers your booty which is vital for me when wearing leggings!

ASOS Woven Button Front Vest in white £12

Now onto my favourite part...the shoes! I've been LOVING the flatform trend at the moment and because it's Summer...(ahem, is it, really?!)...I opted for these aaaamazing flatform sandals. I really like how basic they are and they kind of remind me of Alexander Wang designer sandals - just without the designer price tag. The flatform isn't too high either, which is good for me as I walk a lot and don't want to be toppling over. At half price as well, they're a total bargain! Dying.

ASOS PREMIUM FILLIPE Leather Flatform Sandals in black £37 (Was: £75)

That's the outfit sorted, now for some accessories!

As you can probably tell, I'm a sucker for monochrome. Simple and chic with a bit of a twist is what I generally look for when choosing outfits. If I had hundreds of pounds to spend I'd probably now choose a bag that's covered in studs or spikes because I'm a sucker for them, but while browsing the ASOS bags section I came across this shopper which I think would go lovely with my picks...and for £20, who could say no!? I like how the colour block with the pewtery-silver at the bottom of the bag also matches the silver hardware on the buckles of the shoes I picked, too.

ASOS Colour Block Shopper in black £20

Rolling with the silver theme (and to make up for the lack of studs and spikes on my bag) I jumped on these little beauties from the earrings section in the sale. They are an absolute bargain at £2.50, reduced from £5, and are toooooootally me.

ASOS Spiked Stud Earrings £2.50 (Was: £5)

Look! More monochrome! I just can't help myself. I just feel black and white go together so well. 

I always have to have a watch on. I hate not being able to check the time when I'm out and about. Sure, I have a phone that I could check on, but with it floating around in a massive bag like the one above, who can be bothered routing about amongst all the crap we carry around with us to find it!? I chose this fancy number, again, in the sale for a bargainous £10. Simple, chic and MONOCHROME. Laaavly jaaably!

ASOS Aztec Monochrome Watch in black and white £10 (Was: £20)

Wait, there's more! That's right, I've not reached my £100 target yet, surprisingly! 

With a couple more pounds to spare I thought I'd spice up my arm candy a bit with these interesting bracelets. For a pack of this many - 20, I think!? - for just £3, you can't go wrong. I've a feeling they may pluck the hairs out of my arms though, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. Also, this may be the most colourful item I've chosen...now, that's saying something!

ASOS Pack of Fine Guitar Coil Bracelets £3.00 (Was: £10)

Last but not least, because it's "Summer" and I'm in England, it's a total must to fake the bronzed goddess look. So I decided, with my last £7.50, I would treat myself to this FakeBake fake tanner. Let's be honest, it doesn't look like we're going to be getting a Summer this year so I may as well fake it well!

FakeBake Tinted Body Glo 60ml £7.50

And there we are. I spent every last single penny of my virtual £100 budget. If only it were real....*sigh*

£8 + £12 + £20 + £37 + £10 + £7.50 + £2.50 + £3 = £100

You should all pop over to The Discount Coder Blog and create your own entry to this competition to be in with the chance of winning a £100 ASOS voucher! Yippeeee!

O.O.T.D ft. Outer Conch piercing!

Here's a quick post on what I wore to a casual housewarming party last night.

I wanted to be comfy so basic leggings and shirt did me proud!

Sorry for the dodgy lighting, it was early evening, the light was changing and outside it was thunder and lightening!

I got my navy leggings from Topshop.

Studded pocket check shirt from Zara.

My kitty wanted to help. He's a Chocolate Point Burmese if anyone's wondering!

Put my hair up because I just can't be bothered with it down and around my face at the moment!

I also dug out some gold jewellery to match the gold studs on my shirt.

The name necklace was a gift from my boyfriend about 3 years ago. You can get them on ebay or etsy though, I'm sure.

The studded bracelet is from Topshop sale.

I know they don't match but I was only wearing these boots for the journey there. I didn't want to traipse around the new house in boots so they came off at the door. 

They are just the classic short ugg boot in black. I got mine from ASOS but you can get them everywhere.

Here's a close up of smelly cat.

Also this is my new piercing. I went in to my piercing place to order some shorter bars for my other ear and to get my conch bar shortened...and came out with this.

I'm calling in an Outer Conch piercing. I'm not really sure if it has a name, my piercing guy called it a Conch, so that's what it shall be named. I like it because it's pretty unusual and a bit different from a regular cartilage/helix piercing.

I had one of the most uncomfortable night sleep though. Who'dve thought you put all of the pressure on the top of your ear when you're sleeping...pretty obvious!