Amazing giveaway!

Just in case you don't follow already, the lovely Funny Face is having an amzing giveaway to celebrate the holidays as well as reaching the huge milestone of 1000 followers!Congrats!!

The prizes she is giving away are so beautiful, as you can see in the photo, and include a gorgeous makeup bag and a UD naked pallette!!

You can find the giveaway here. Good luck everyone

Hello

Just a quick post to say hi to my new followers, I can't believe there are more than 50 now, so exciting.

I can't wait to do a giveaway to say thanks but I am a student and it is the end of term (and christmas) which equals no money. So I will be doing my 50 followers giveaway in January, I'm already thinking of the prize!

xx

NOTD and review me me me playful

Hi guys, sorry it's been so long again, third year of uni is not so fun!

This week though I have done a bit of Christmas shopping but the 3 for 2 offer in superdrug sucked me in again. I will do a post on the other things I got later but thought I would do a quick nail of the day since I love this colour so much. I've been looking for the perfect mid pink for ages now and this might be it!



Me me me nail collection long lasting gloss in playful. I have never tried any of me me me's nail polishes before, and I'm not sure if I've got any of their other products either but they seem to be the only make up stand in superdrug that has nail swatches, which is what tempted me to have a look and saw this pretty colour.

Application. This has a pretty wide brush which meant is was very fast to paint my nails and neatly too ( I don't think there was any polish on my skin!)It also dried amazingly quickly. However the product is called long lasting but i have 2 chips after a day (and it was a very lazy day!)

Overall I love the colour and the application, I think I will have to use a top coat to improve the wear. I will have a look at the other colours available and would probably buy again if there is any more I like.

I will be back later with the rest of the superdrug stuff and also boots (17 have another gift with purchase offer on and it's so pretty!)

Amazing giveaway

Karleigh at secret beauty blog is having an amazing christmas giveaway to win some gorgeous nars makeup.



You can enter here.

And mary

How cute is the and mary range on tesco's clothing website?







That's all!

For redheads

Hi guys,

I was just checking out fragrance direct when I saw they have the urban decay brow box in ginger snaps for £5.99. This is my absolute favourite for doing my eyebrows. It has two powders and a wax in a pull out drawer, along with a brush and tiny (but pretty good) tweezers. If there's anyone that has similar colouring to me (auburn/brown hair) then this is an absolute bargain. I'm tempted to get a back up, but mine has lasted ages so far.

Accessorize haul and first thoughts

Hi guys,
Firstly you might have noticed that I finally got a proper camera so my pictures are decent quality at last! woop!

Like alot of people I was really excited when I heard/read about the new Accessorize makeup range, so I made an order pretty much the day it came out (16th). I don't know if it was because it was brand new or because they were extra busy but my order only arrived yesterday. That's 12 days, pretty slow in my opinion. But anyway on to the actual products.

They came really well packaged, in a box with pink tissue paper, bubble wrap and each product was in a individual sealed bag (fantastic idea, all online retailers should follow this example, because I have seen blog posts on nail polish bottles smashing during the delivery process. If this had happened at least the rest of the products would have been fine)



Firstly I ordered the merged blusher in starlet. These have been compared to Mac MSFs due to the domed shape and the merged colours. I have only used this today but so far I like it. It reminds me a little of VV Briar rose but not quite as bright. It has the same glowy quality, without being glittery and creates a natural looking flush on me. I also loves the packaging of this (massive butterfly lover)





Next is the volumising mascara, which again I have only used once so far. Gorgeous, gorgeous packaging though! I have been using mostly Loreal voluminous for the last few weeks so I compared it to this. For a volumising mascara I didn't notice much volume (especially in comparison to the loreal) however it holds a curl really well, lengthens pretty well and my favourite thing is the separation. Wow this stuff separates my lashes and it seems impossible to clump it! Even though the formula is a bit on the wet side (I had a few smudges on my upper lid, but I get this with pretty much every mascara) Overall I think this is a great everyday mascara which gives a more natural look than the loreal so I will continue to use it.

I was probably most excited by the duo chrome style nail polishes and I ordered 4 of these in (L-R) Aztec, bronze, pink spice and purple dream. I have only tried on of these so far, pink spice as I thought it looked quite similar to Mac VV bad fairy. I'll let you see what you think from the photos.



I don't have bad fairy (so sad) but from the photos I have seen it looks quite similar although in the accessorize version the duo chrome effect is not so obvious. It is mainly a sort of metallic pink although in certain lights I can see a goldy bronze flash. Very pretty in it's own right anyway. I only put it on last night so I'll have to update with the wearability.



I am still obsessed with Barry M instant nail effects and have to try it over everything so here's a picture of that!



Sorry this was so long!

Good customer service

Hi guys,

I've read quite a lot of posts about the importance of good customer service, with some people having some horrible experiences so I thought I would just share a positive story.

Last week I saw on Lipglossiping that Nails Inc were doing a one day special offer on a Polish Mania gift set, which was 10 full size polishes for £25!! So I ordered straight away. Unfortunately when it arrived one bottle was chipped and scuffed on the silver lid I sent an email to customer services and they replied within a day to say they would send a replacement straight away and apologised for the problem.

I am really impressed with their customer service - well done Nails Inc!

NOTD

Hi guys,

Rimmel lasting finish Your Majesty with Barry M instant nail effects



I love this! The silver is one of my faves on its own and i think it looks amazing with the crackle pattern over the top.

I'm really loving the Barry M nail effects. It was an effort to find one, it was sold out in Boots and Superdrug here but I found it in Superdrug in Birmingham at the weekend, last bottle there!

Music

Hi guys,

This is a tag post started by Cat at Reaching for the Stars

Basically what you do, is type the words in bold into your iTunes (media player, winamp) library, and write down the first song that comes up!!

Happy Merry happy/ Little red - Kate Nash


Love Love, love, kiss, kiss - Alkaline Trio


Hate All these things I hate - Bullet for my Valentine


Light The all night lights -36 Crazyfists


Dark Dance in the dark - Lady Gaga


Good Just be good to green - Professor Green and Lily Allen


Bad Good girls go bad - cobra starship and leighton meester


Smile make you smile - +44


Cry Stop crying your heart out - Oasis


Girl Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off - Panic! at the disco



Boy Contemplations of the modern rudeboy - The skints


Sad Sick sad little world - Incubus



Lost Lost and Rendered - Alkaline trio

There ya go, feel free to join in!

I heart your blog award

Hello guys!

Today I got my second blog award yay! I was given this by Kelly who is a realtive newbie to blogging like me, so please have a look at her blog if you haven't.



The Rules Are:

1. Post the award on your blog
2. Link the person who has given you the award
3. Pass the award to other 15 blogs you've discovered
4. Let these 15 people know that you've given them an award

I know it's not the rules but I'm going to pick 5 people!

So here goes (in no particular order)

1) Shannon
2) Rachel
3) Emma
4) Lucy
5) Sian

Sorry

Hi guys,

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting much recently. There's been a lot going on including moving out of my uni room to my mum's and then moving again so now I'm living with a friend in Birmingham. She's quite interested in maybe doing some guest posts or just being my assistant haha so look out for that! It's so not fair living so close to the Bullring and having no money though! I am looking forward to my first visit to a Mac counter, even if I can't buy anything!

In case anyone was interested in how my cat is getting on, he's doing much better but he is going to be on medication for the rest of his life. At one point the vet told us it would be best to end his pain but luckily his condition improved before the date and he seems to be getting stronger everyday :D

Some other good news I've had recently is that I won not one but two giveaways. I really want to take some pictures to show you soon, hopefully when the second one arrives :)

I promise I will do a proper post really soon!

xx

Sorry

Unfortunately the winner of my giveaway has not contacted me by the given deadline so I have picked a new winner from my hat.

So congratulations to Meowcake!!! I have emailed you at the address on your blog.

If you haven't already read her blog you should really check it out. I love reading it because it is full of personality and extremely honest.


xx

Winner winner chicken dinner!!

Sorry this is a bit late guys, I went on a little unplanned trip to Birmingham for the weekend, it was awesome!

So anyway, I put all my lovely followers names in my lovely Primark hat, gave it a good old shake and the winner is....


x_XJenniex_x

could you please email me to let me know if you are in the UK or not. I'm sorry but if you don't do so by Friday I will pick another winner. My email address is satan_51@hotmail.com

Congratulations and thanks to everyone else again for following me.

P.S. I'm still having problems with Blogger and can't follow anyone else, does anyone know what is wrong/how I can fix it?

NOTD plus rave!

Two posts in one day!

Just a quick NOTD with my new Barbara Daly @ Tesco nail polish in purplicious. This is so worth £3, it's actually one of the best nail polishes I've ever used. It was almost opaque with one coat (I can't think of any of my other polishes that are) and the formula is brilliant, so easy to use and it dried pretty quickly (unlike some I could mention!). I will definitely be getting some more of these!

This is with 2 coats



my purple obsession continues!

xx

Cheap nail varnish buys

Hi guys, another haul (eurgh hate that word) lots of photos!

After I read this post on Rachel's blog I decided to make an order from Fragrance Direct too (so I blame her haha!)

Anyway I was so impressed with delivery time and it came all securely packaged so very happy with them. The prices of the nail polishes that I got range from 49p!! to £1.50 for the Revlon. Amazing!



Miss Sporty



Rimmel



NYC



W7 and Revlon

I also ordered a Sally Hansen base and top coat because I really need one and it was £1.99 or something and at the last minute I added a W7 cream blusher, which I am very impressed with, its about the same quality as the Topshop ones, so pretty darn good! The only negative is that it has a bit or sparkle in it, which I don't really mind.



Here are swatches of the polishes on paper



and the cream blush (blended out on the right)



let me know if you want shade names/numbers

xx

Help

Is anyone else having this problem? I can't follow any new blogs I find, it keeps coming up with the sign in box and then not signing in. How do I stop this?

xx

25 Followers Giveaway

Woo, 25 followers! I am so amazed and happy that 25 people want to read my blog!

I decided I don't want to do a giveaway to get more followers but to say thank you to the lovely people that were my first followers, so there will be no extra entries for blogging about it or any of that stuff!

So all you have to do to enter is.... nothing. I am going to wait a week, so Monday 28th June, and whoever is following me then will get their name put in a hat.

After I have picked the winner I will need them to contact me within a couple of days so if you are not going to be around early next week please let me know in case you are the lucky winner!

So the prize....

I decided rather than getting the prize myself, and risking the winner getting stuff they already have or that doesn't suit them, I would have a prize that meant the winner could choose whatever they want (well nearly)

So the prize will be



a £15 gift voucher for ASOS.com. These are delivered straight to your email address, so no waiting around for it to arrive in the snail mail, and you can add it to your account and (correct me if I'm wrong) you don't have to use it for 3 months if you can't find anything you want (there's always loads I want on ASOS though!)

From having a quick look at the site £15 could buy you some Illamasqua, or Soap and Glory, or Models Own, or some gorgeous jewellery/clothes/accessories!

If an international follower wins then the prize will be their choice of UK products which aren't available in other countries e.g. Sleek, Boots 17 etc to the same value.

So good luck everyone and thanks again!

xx

PS. Oh and by the way I will be buying the prize(s) myself and I don't have any links to ASOS.com, I just think that they will give you the best choice of prizes!

NOTD

Barry M 161 Vivid Purple. This is possibly more of an Autumn kind of colour but it's so shiny and almost metallic. GORGEOUS! I am very impressed with my first Barry M polish so far.



xx

More new things!

Hi guys,
Sorry I haven't posted anything this week, and I apologise if you don't want to read about my cat! Skip the next paragraph if you don't.

I had a phone call on Tuesday morning from my little sister saying my cat had been rushed to the vets because he couldn't breathe. I've had my cat since I was 8 and he really means the world to me (I know some people may think this is sad in the extreme!) so I rushed home to see him in case it was my last chance. I went to see him at the vets and it was horrible. He was in a cage with a glass front with an oxygen tank hooked up to it and he looked so tired and thin. They let me stroke him for a few minutes and I really thought it was the last time I would see him. Hopefully things are looking better now. They are running some blood tests at the moment, a couple of the suggestions for what's wrong is a tumour or under active thyroid, so we will get the results soon and then he might be able to come home. The vet said he was definitely looking better and he can curl into a ball now, which he couldn't do at first because of his breathing.

So on the way back to uni yesterday I had an hour to wait at the train station. Last week a new out of town Boots opened in my home town so I went to have a look and... I finally found a Boots with a Models Own stand! I was so excited but didn't buy anything (attempting to be good and cut down spending, which you will see didn't last long!) Another reason I went into Boots was that I had seen May's post on the new 17 metallic collection and then looked it up on the Boots website. Unfortunately the brand new Boots store didn't have this in yet so I also went in Boots when I got back to uni! Oh and at home I also went into Tesco because it's opposite the new Boots.

So here is what I ended up buying. Sorry the photos are so dark (damn miserable weather)



From Tesco: If you buy any two Barbara Daly products you get a free "Flutterbys" blusher. I LOVE butterflies so had to have this. Originally I was looking at the lipsticks as I recently read a post on the BD lipsticks but none stuck out to me. So I got two cute little nail polishes, kiwi and purplicious. Gorgeous colours and I seem to be obsessed with purple at the moment, especially for nail polishes! The blusher is so pretty but the butterfly overlay so isn't! It's far too glittery and I'd never put that on my face so I just got a big blusher brush and wiped all the glitter off (it came off so easily!) and you can still see the pretty butterflies because they are raised ( don't know how to explain that properly?)

From Boots: You probably know that Boots have another lovely offer on when you spend £6 on 17 you get a little gift. I so wish that this little box was a tin like the nautical one not so long ago because I'd love to be able to use it to store jewellery or something. Anyway in the box is a mini waterproof mascara, lip gloss and nail polish in pink grapefruit (loving that!) Also in the box is a voucher for 100 advantage points next time you spend £5 on 17. Very kind of them!



So what I really wanted in Boots, the 17 metallic collection. This includes a bronzer, lip gloss, nail polish and eyeshadow (there is only one colour of each, which is a shame) I got the eyeshadow trio and I have to say so far I LOVE it! Beautiful shimmery colours, which really suit blue eyes but I'm sure could be worn by anyone.



Here's some swatches, not the best quality photo but hopefully you can sort of see!



The colour on the left is my favourite, I'm wearing it today and it really is lovely. To make up the requirement to get the gift I picked up another!!! nail polish in pink lemonade. I put all my new polishes on one finger each last night and this one was disappointing, not at all opaque, but I will give it another chance with a few coats and see if that works.

Finally, my first ever Barry M nail polish! When I was at home I realised I hadn't brought any polishes with me and was worried I would start biting my nails again if I didn't paint them so I borrowed one from my sister. I loved it so much I had to buy one for myself! It is 161 Vivid purple, it looks very dark on the photo above so I think I will take a photo in a minute for a NOTD.

I've also ordered even more nail polish and some eyelashes this week so will show you those when they arrive.

Sorry for the epic post! And 2 more followers to go until my giveaway! WOO!

xx

Is it just me?

Just a little question, is it just me that thinks I look better when I'm ill than when i'm not? My skin looks tonnes better today than it has for ages but I feel awful! What is going on here?

Swatches

Yo!

Here are the promised swatches of the makeup I got the other day.



I tried to do some lip swatches but it just wasn't working!
So at the bottom Revlon colour burst in Blush (left) and Soft Rose (right)The colours look about right, although they are slightly darker in real life.

Above that are the three free Benefit products, (L-R) Bad Gal, Eye bright and It stick.

Then next to that my free Barry M dazzle dust in 39 Tan, swatched heavily. At the top I blended out a lighter swatch of this (if you can see it, it didn't photograph well, you can't see the lovely shimmer!)

All of them are one swipe and taken with flash.

xx

Fran's Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Hi guys,

Just to let you know that Fran is having a giveaway to celebrate her birthday this month! Her blog is very new but I really enjoy reading her posts so far so go and check it out!



You can enter here

good luck

xx

Some NOTDs and a question

Hi guys!

Just some quick photos and reviews on some nail polishes.

Firstly, Boots 17 Sea breeze, which I mentioned yesterday.



I love the colour, it's like blue smarties! (do they still have blue ones?) I had this on for 2 days and it was getting a bit of tip wear by the end but no major chips. It is really easy to apply but the one complaint I have is that my nails were a bit stained when I took it off, even with a base coat!

I've just put on my new Rimmel 60 seconds polish in Sky High.



I was really excited about wearing this, I ADORE the colour but the application is not great. The brush is a nice size, wide so it only takes 1 or 2 strokes to cover the nail but the formula is thick and really hard to get the right amount on the brush.

So onto the question. At the moment I don't have a proper base or top coat. I have been using this..



Avon Nail Experts 24k gold strength, which I got free when I ordered something else (can't remember what!) In the photo it looks yellow but it is actually clear with tiny tiny bits of gold in it, which on the nails is just a really subtle shimmer. I have no idea if this is actually making my nails stronger, I didn't have any problems with this anyway, but I think it does make my nail polish last longer and stops staining (most of the time!) So could you recommend me a base and top coat, which is relatively cheap? I've heard some good things about Barry M, or maybe Models Own (this is the sort of price range I'm looking at)

Finally I just want to share with you how proud of myself I am that I actually have nails! My mum says I've been biting them since I had teeth! I know it's disgusting! Over the last few years I have been trying to stop and was partly successful (I usually had about 6 long nails and the rest short!) In particular I found that I just couldn't stop biting the nails on my index fingers! But since I've been getting into reading blogs and now writing my own I've become more interested in painting my nails and now usually have polish on most days. I think I have finally beaten the habit! I don't know why I didn't think of painting them before! They look far too pretty to chew! So yay me! :D

I think I will put up my swatches of the things I bought yesterday later so will see you then!

xx

p.s. I love how when you spell check a post Blogger wants to replace Rimmel with rimmed (I know dirty mind!)

Today's buys

Hi again! WARNING long post with pictures.

I went into town to get Glamour magazine today, just to make sure I could get all 3 of the Benefit products! However I ended up getting a few other things too!

So makeup stuff first


I got the Benefit things (eye bright, it stick and bad gal) I've never tried any of them before so looking forward to testing them out. I just put the eye bright on the inner corners of my eyes and it looks so nice! The it stick seems to be a good colour match for me too.

Then I got more magazine so I could get a free barry m dazzle dust. The colour I chose was 39 (tan I think)which is really pretty and would make a gorgeous highlight on tanned skin I think. I'll probably put swatches of everything later tonight or tomorrow.

Then the 3 for 2 in Boots sucked me in again! Well I had actually planned on buying all three anyway so might as well get one free! I got 2 of the new Revlon colour burst lipsticks in soft rose and blush. I love blush so much! Swatches to come! I love love love the packaging of these - anything quilted catches my eye!

I got 2 Rimmel 60 seconds nail polishes, one was part of the 3 for 2, and I saw it last week and knew I had to go back for it (there were only 2 left in this colour too!) Anyway that one is the turquoise colour, Sky high. The other one, style hunter, I picked up in superdrug when I was getting the dazzle dust (they are on offer £1 off at the moment) I was looking for a pink shade that wasn't Barbie pink or too light either so hopefully this is it! I can't wait to put sky high on but I'm going to wait until my current one chips (17 seabreeze, which has lasted 2 days so far and looks like blue smarties!)These will all probably feature in NOTD posts soon, let me know if you really want to see any of them.

That's all of the beauty stuff, next clothes!
After seeing all of the lovely bargains people have been getting in the Miss Selfridge sale, especially all of the gorgeous jewellery I had to go and have a look! There wasn't very much sale jewellery but I did find this



It's a playsuit!! I hope I can carry it off though! It's so damn cute, with the little flower buttons! Half price from £35 to £17!

Then I had a 20% off voucher for H&M so obviously I had to find something! I found this dress, which I had seen the skirt with the same material before but it DID NOT look good on me!



Sorry I couldn't get it to hang right! Anyway I am in love with the pattern, how it looks like the sea, beautiful, and all of them are slightly different because of where they were cut from the material I think, so on some the lighter stripe is a the top etc. I was thinking about wearing this for my friend's wedding in August, do you think it is too casual though? It was £14.99 but 20% off.

Finally, this dress from the New Look sale



I wanted this when it was full price so I'm chuffed to find it in the sale and in my size! Reduced from £20 to £12.

Ha ha I only noticed when I was taking the photos but they are all blue! I think I might be a little obsessed! Also the Rimmel nail polish matches the H&M dress perfectly!

A few things I didn't take photos of: some tights from BHS. This is my new favourite, 3 pairs of 70 denier tights for £6, that's cheaper than Primark!!

I also got a present for my friend Rachel's birthday and a little present for my best friend who got her first job as a primary school teacher this week! WOO!

Bye
xx

General stuff!

Hi guys,

Just a reminder for everyone that glamour magazine is out tomorrow with free benefit make up (I'm sure you knew that!) and also more magazine has a voucher for a free barry m dazzle dust!

Also I've noticed my followers are creeping up!! I have decided on my giveaway prize today, just need to get 25 followers now! I'm so excited!!

I will do a proper post again tomorrow hopefully, I'm going to go to town to get my glamour and more stuff and possibly some makeup/clothes/jewellery. I've got my eye on some new nail polish, well I wanted it last week but didn't get it so I am definitely getting it tomorrow!

xx

Five under £5

Hello again! I'm up to 14 followers! wow, I can't believe it! Can't wait to get to 25 to have a giveaway!

Anyway the point of the post! I've picked out 5 things that are a)less than £5 b) easily available and c) that I really like. I purposefully left out ELF products because everyone knows that they are very good for the price and tried to pick some things that get less love on blogs!



Although, having said that the two 17 products I've picked are getting pretty good reviews at the moment. I already did a review on the new mirror shine lipsticks and I am still loving them! They are £4.49 I think. The blush and glow is also getting a lot of praise from bloggers and it is well deserved. It comes in 2 colours, peaches and cream and strawberry swirl, which both have the same highlight shade. I have both of them but the one in the picture is strawberry swirl (which I am wearing today) These are £3.49 I think (feel free to correct me if any of my prices are wrong!)

Then Collection 2000 shine away powder. I LOVE this! It is one of the few makeup products I've ever repurchased, I think this is my third one? I've got 2 at the moment, one which I keep at home and then one which is running out which I put in my bag because then it doesn't matter if it breaks or I lose it! I think this is £3.99?

Next is Barbara Daly at Tesco concealer. Again this is something I have repurchased, this is my second one. It's great quality for the price (£3.50), really creamy texture. I think these must be popular because when I needed a new one it was never in stock and it took me a few weeks to get it!

Finally ASDA clear skin blackhead reducing exfoliating wash (£2.49 I think, but is often on offer 2 for £3) I think this is fab! I bought the loreal face wash with the scrublet and I prefer the ASDA one so much more (although I still use the scrublet!)This smells lovely and it really did make a difference to my skin, I noticed it within a week or two of using it my skin was much clearer.

Hope you found this interesting!

xx