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.