NOTD: "space"

Welll, in preperation for my night out tomorrow, knowing that I'll have very little time to get ready, I decided to paint my nails tonight. I loooove them.

I used my new favourite nail product - NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in 105A over a crappy collection 200 polish which claims to last 5 days, but I'm lucky if it even lasts one. Not buying that again... but I need to wait until it either runs out (unlikely) or dries up (more likely) before I allow myself to buy a new one.

The nail enamel is the most gorgeous thing EVER. It's silver glitter, with larger blue and pink sparkley bits in it. The pictures doesn't pick it up very well, but it's perfect for the party season and a really good way to prevent rubbish polishes from chipping too ;)

ELF free delivery!

ELF have free delivery on all of their products to people living in the UK and EU.
BUT IT'S ONLY UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!
So hurry up and take full advantage of not having to pay that extra couple of quid.

Code: 2TODAYUK
or       2TODAYEU

"Rock That Frock"

I was reading through Cosmopolitan this evening, and came across this article:
[I recommend saving the pictures/clicking on them and zooming in. Squinting is not good]

I thought it was a pretty decent article, and will probably be trying out a few of the exercises myself - with my new skincare/haircare routine, I may was well add exercise! I'm thinking of it as starting a new years resolution early... and maybe it'll be a bit more successful this way. Pretty much ALL of my new years resolutions fail within a couple of months... okay, weeks. sometimes days. I'll work hard at this one though!!

NOTD: nails inc

I'll admit, I'm not actually a massive fan on nails inc. polishes. I generally find them really hard to apply evenly, and some of the colours aren't really too great either. However, I absolutely love this colour. It's 'Shorditch' and actually came free with Glamour magazine. It's a really gorgeous hot pink, and its full intensity isn't really shown through my camera phone picture (i really need to replace my camera....). It's a lot more neon in real life... but without being tooo bright, if you know what I mean? I had to apply three coats to get it to the thickness/colour I really wanted, but I think it's definately worth the extra time compared to polishes that only need one coat.

On a different note, I got my first 2 followers!! *squeals* I'm so happy people actually want to read what I write! So thankyou very much Small Town Gal and Emma. I would highly recommend visiting both their sites :)

5 Things I Never Leave Home Without:

1. Hair Grips!

Perfect by any hair emergencies (which are pretty frequent with my naturally curly hair which I usually straighten combined with the unpredictable English weather!). My chosen brand are the Babyliss ones which are pretty cheap and come in a pack of 50 from boots. They do the job perfectly :)

2. Hairspray!

Again, due to the "wonderful" natural curl of my hair, it never stays where it's supposed too. My saviour on these hard-to-manage days is Tony & Guy Firm Hold Hairspray - in a travel size bottle! It fits perfectly in any handbag (as demonstated by the comparison to a coke bottle) and is also lovely and affordable. Again, I get mine from boots.


3. Cover-Up Stick

As I referred to in my last post, my skin is awful. Therefore, I find it pretty handy to have a coverup stick on me when I'm out for the day. I'm currently loving Rimmel Hide The Blemish Concealer. It's lovely and pocketsized, and I find it blends really well, even if my foundation has begun to wear off.


4. Mascara/Eyeliner

I know this is technically 2 items, but I use them as one (I very rarely go out with one on, and not the other). I'm currently using Bourjois Coup de Theatre 2 in 1 false lash effect mascara. I love it - It gives me lovely long lashes (that I really don't have naturally) and doesn't seem to clump at all! Which is great as I hate mascaras that give you a spidery look with massive clumps of product both at the roots and tips. Ugh.

My current eyeliner is a Collection 2000 eye shimmer stick in 'midnight.' It's a gorgeous black, with a very subtle shimmer to it. So subtle that if you don't know it's there, you probably wont be able to notice it. Which is great for me, as I don't generally like shimmery eyeliner (I find it often looks cheap?)... but anyway, it's beautiful. I seriously recommend looking at these the next time you're in superdrug. They come in a range of colours, that I think I'll be looking at soon.



5. Rosy Lips Vaseline!

Lovelovelovelovelove vaseline. If I don't wear gloss/lipstick, I always have my vaseline on. And it makes a perfect base to any lipsticks/glosses too. The rosy lips one is pink, and I think it gives a slightly pink sheen to the lips too. It smells gorgeous (like roses) and that smell translates to taste when you breathe in. I would pretty much say this is my number 1 beauty product, and I really don't know how I'd survive without it and it's lip-softening powers!

MISSION: great skin

For probably around 7 years now, I have had not-so-great skin. At around the age of 11 I started getting spots.. and although I didn't mind so much then (they were few and far between), but as I've got older they've got worse and bothered me more.
Saying that, my skin is a lot better now than it was a couple of years ago.. and although I by no description have good skin, it doesn't impact my life as much (thank-you mineral make-up).

I can't realllly say I'm suprised that my skin has never completely cleared up - I don't take care of it. At all, really. Most days it's a cleansing wipe and make-up remover. If it's looking dry, some moisturiser... but all that's about to change. I am embarking on a new skincare regime that will hopefully reform my skin over the next few months.















I plan to use the body shop seaweed deep cleansing facial wash and clarifying toner (as I have combination skin, and this range is recommended for it) and also simple kind to skin hydrating light moisturiser. I've been using this moisturiser for a while now, and find that it doesn't make my skin oily like some do, and also doesn't result in break-outs (which is one of the main reasons I love nearly all simple products).

I chose the body shop products as I used the cleansing facial wash a couple of times a few years ago, and found it to be really kind to my skin. I'm always cautious when it comes to face washes as so many have resulted in even more spots in the past. Also, they are sold in smaller bottles (as pictured) for just £3.00 each so I thought it would be a good way of trying out this regime before buying the full size products, which may make my skin even worse.

Here's what my skin currently looks like: (excuse the poor quality - they were taken with my phone camera)

As you can see, my chin is my worse affected area. My cheeks/nose are pretty much clear apart from the occasional spot, and my forehead isn't too much of a disaster area. It'll be fun to see how much of a difference taking proper care of my skin does!
Wish me luck!

Shopping Trip!

So yesterday I decided I was in need of a quick shopping trip. I desperately needed a new mascara (I'd been living off sample tubes for months!) so after a bit of online research I decided to go for bourjois coup de theatre 2 in 1 mascara... But I can never just buy what I go shopping for and ended up with all of this:

So we have:  Elf nail polish in Royal Purple, Orginal Source Bath Milk in Almond and Coconut, Elf plumping lip glaze, Bourjois coup de theatre 2 in 1 mascara in black, Collection 200 Eye Shimmer Crayon in Midnight, Sleek eyeshadow pallette in Original aaaaaand a No 17 eyeshadow brush. Quite an impressive haul if I so say so myself!

I was really impressed with the nail polish! For £1.50 I wasn't sold on the idea that it would be great.. but I am definately pleasantly suprised. The colour is gorgeous, and the consistency is also really good (I have issues with the consistency of some nail polishes). I definately prefer it to some more expensive polishes I've tried such as Nail Inc (which retails for £10.50 per pot) and I'll definately be ordering it in more colours.

I was also pleasantly suprised by Elf's £1.50 plumping lip glaze. Again, I didn't really think it would be that great seeing as how it's around £10 cheaper than most of the lip plumpers I've seen, but it was pretty good! I compared it to clinique's long lasting lip gloss (which doesn't plump) and I definately prefer Elf's gloss.

1. elf (in baby doll)
2. clinique (in bamboo pink)
                                      
So I think it plumped them? It definately felt like it did, but it could have just been because the gloss is minty (which is actually quite nice). But the gloss is a gorgeous colour, overall.. and a lot more glossy than the clinique (which I've never really liked anyway, but it was the only gloss I had to hand).

Bourjois's coup de theatre mascara was also a good buy, in my opinion. I've never bought many things from Bourjois before (aside from some liquid eyeliner about 3 years ago). It says on the tube that it's a "false lash effect" mascara and I loved the way it made my lashes look. Especially 'cos they're not so amazing without any mascara on.

They look so longgggg. I think I have a new favourite mascara!

I wish I had this dress!!

Like, really really really. But I don't know when I'd ever wear it. And I pretty much never order clothes online incase they don't fit and I can't return them or something. Sad.

I'd also like some new boots. But all the boots I've seen in shops seem to be really ugly. I love my last year's boots, but they're starting to get a hole in them, which makes me cry a little.

Aaaanyway, at the weekend I ordered some makeup from Elf... and it was dispached today! (oooooh!) So in 1-5 days I will discover whether a £1.50 lip plumping gloss is actually any good!

I love;

New Pajamas. Possibly even more than new clothes. And suprisingly, Primark is a great stockist of said pajamas. Cheap and cheerful, and oh-so comfortable.

Fortunately, my little sister also seems to share this love :)

I hate

It was perfect! ... Until I went upstairs to find my phone.
When I came back, it was unfortunately slightly overdone. I'm not a massive fan of crispy pizza. Oh well. At least I still have my pajamas!