Oh crap.

I totally caved in and just bought something that I shouldn't have. Such a failure at keeping to my ban!

Although I do have a lovely new jacket and shoes on the way!

Ugh, I feel so guilty.

O.O.T.D. 13/03/12

This is what I'm wearing today for a day with the other half. Last night I ombre coloured my hair and as expected it went a bit orange, still not confident that I like it but I'll be trying a cooling toner sometime in the next week to see if I can make it less reddy.

I'm wearing top from Topshop.

Jeans by Motel and they're called the Jordan skinny jean.

Studded loafers from Topshop.

Bag from Cambridge Satchel Company.

Variety of bracelets from top to bottom:

Sam Ubhi studded bracelet from asos.

DKNY watch.

Hamsa hand bracelet from ebay.

Pandora double wrap black leather bracelet with buddha charm.

Four leaf clover bracelet from Accessorize.

Links of London Skull friendship bracelet.

And my nails are still the chevron style that I did a tutorial on the other day. See older posts on how to do it!

Hope you all have a lovely day x

How to: Chevron nail tutorial.

Here's a quick tutorial on a chevron nail design.

You can choose any colours you like for your design but the best type of varnish to use is either fast drying or varnish that is relatively opaque with one coat. (Saves drying time between coats!)

I started with a coat of a pink nail varnish.

You need to wait until your varnish is dried COMPLETELY before you carry on with the  next step.

Get your sellotape ready. Cut ten squares of sellotape and lay them out so they are easy to pick up.

Dab the sellotape on the back of your hand a couple of times so the stickiness isn't going to peel off the nailvarnish. Apply onto the cuticle area of your nail as far down as desired. Your nails should look like this:

Next add a coat of your next colour. I decided to add two coats of this varnish as it was quite sheer. I decided not to add another chevron but if you want more than one stripe on your nail you can wait for this coat to dry completely and then repeat the process as many times as desired.

When you peel off the tape it should look like this.

To tidy up slightly and add an extra pop of colour, I used a nail art pen in turquoise to line the edges of the triangles.

And here's the finished look!

Shopping Ban Update...

Hi girlies. I thought I'd do a quick shopping ban update. Im not doing very well, haha!

It has been a week and today I was very naughty and bought two little rings from Topshop. I spent £5, and could have spent a lot more so I'm quite happy that I restrained myself to just two little bits.

Other than today's little mishap I have only spent money on the essentials that I've run out of.

I did make an online order from Boots yesterday because I've run out of moisturiser and I'm close on running out of deodorant, too, so we can't be having that! With this I did take advantage of the three for two offer as I was buying two things anyway, so may as well get one free ey? I'll show you what I got on that order when it arrives.

So all that I've spent money on is posting parcels that I've sold on ebay/returning items I'd previously bought before my ban. I've not got any busses and have walked to and from work every day and also taken packed lunches.

I've also been concentrating on using up any products I have that are half empty or less. I think I've done pretty well as I've managed to use up the last of my old foundation, two dry shampoos and a heat protectant spray. I'm also close to using up my Cetaphil cleanser, two perfumes that I've been savouring the last dregs of and a hairspray that's nearly empty.

All good!

I'll leave you with some passport photos I had taken today for an ID card. I definitely have one eye bigger than the other! Do other people have this or is it just me, haha!

See you soon!

x

Little Trip To The Park!

Today we went for a little bike ride to the park and saw some swans...

...and a guy walking his cat and dog...

....and then fed some duckies...

See you soon!

x

What's In My Bag?

Wouldn't you all like to know!?

You nosey buggers...

My most used bag is this one. It is by Alexander Wang and is the Laser Cut Leather Rocco with Antique Gold Hardware. I love my Wangy dearly even though it's super heavy. He's my pride and joy!

And these are the contents...

I never leave the house without my phone, keys or purse. My phone is a ghetto iPhone 3G which is super slow and the home button is dying a death. The purse I use is by Osprey London and I got it from TKMaxx on sale for £4.00. I'm not particularly fond of it but I got it so it would fit in my Cambridge Satchel because it's tiny. I have my keys which have a little Morph and Lucky Leprechaun keyring from the boyf and an Italia keyring from the Godfather. There are a random assortment of keys on there for various doors to other lands as well as my brum brum key. I also carry my little date book which has all my hours for work written in it and a Hemp Hand Protector from The Body Shop.

I also try to carry essentials such as chewing gum (no brelly smeath for me!), a pack of tissues because my nose always runs and my feet always smell. I mean...

I carry a couple of plasters incase of bloody ankle emergencies and a stash of sanitary products for the other type of bloody emergency. Along with all this lot I tend to find a thousand kirby grips floating around the crevices of my bag, as well as a pair of headphones in an untieable knot.

Finally, I tend to accumulate ten million lip products in my handbag. Here I have a little tub of Vaseline, a Blistex Moisture something or other lip balm, a Burt's Bees chapstick and a Barry M lipgloss (my fave! it smells like toffee!) I make sure I take with me a little Kabuki brush and powder to touch up any oily bits throughout the day. Of course I also carry a little compact mirror in which I look to see if I have chocolate on my face or lipstick on my teeth. And lastly I have my Travalo perfume atomisers with little pink case which I got for my Birthday last year. The silver one holds the last dregs of my favourite Calvin Klein Euphoria perfume and the pink one holds my Stella by Stella McCartney.

And that's it...give or take a few screwed up receipts and sweet wrappers and maybe a few crumbs...but who wants to see that?!

I'd love to see what you have in your bag...do you have a blogpost already? Link it to me in the comments if you do. If you haven't done a What's In My Bag post then I tag you to do it!

See you soon 

xx

£5 off Benefit Cosmetics

I have three discount codes for £5 off Benefit cosmetics in conjunction with Diet Coke. You can get them on special packs of Diet Coke which are dead cheap anyway, but I have three that I'm now not going to use because of my spending ban. So I've decided to give them away...

If you would like a code for £5 off Benefit Cosmetics, just give me a comment and I will pass one of the three on to you.

You can find out more about the offer HERE!

My NO SHOPPING pledge!

Right. That's it... I need to do something drastic!

Many of you will have seen Danielle's (ablogfromblackpool) 100 Day No Shopping Challenge...If not, you can read about it HERE. 

She has pledged to herself and the readers of her blog that she will not be spending any unnecessary money for a whopping 100 days. She is a couple of weeks in at the moment and I've been inspired to take up a challenge myself. I'm not as brave as Danielle yet but here goes!!

I pledge to you that from tomorrow, Saturday 3rd March 2012, I will not spend any money on anything other than necessities* until the first milestone of the 3rd of April 2012. For one calendar month I will be avoiding the highstreet, ebay and online shops and I promise to myself that I will not buy anything at all. If I complete this challenge, I will then continue for another calendar month and for as long as possible after that. From this challenge I aim to use up products I already have, create new outfits out of current clothing in my wardrobe, save money and not be so unhealthy.

*necessities include things I need such as: 

food and drink whilst I'm at work (I will also try and take packed lunches to save money)

gifts - birthday, mother's day etc

toothpaste and sanitary products if I run out

But, same as Danielle, I cannot buy something I already have a duplicate of. For example if I run out of my current makeup cleanser, I will have to use up any other cleansers I have instead of buying a replacement.

Rules: No shopping what so ever except if I need anything from the above necessities list.

Danielle is noting down anything that catches her eye that she would have bought if it weren't for her challenge, so I will be doing the same and blogging about it here. 

Keep checking back and keeping me encouraged, guys! No one...not even me...believes that I can do this!

As for now, I will leave you with my last sneaky purchases before this challenge starts!

See you soon...if I'm not shrivelled up in a corner somewhere from shopping withdrawal...

Neeny x