Yearly Archives: 2011

Valentines Day (A Bit Late!)

February 21, 2011 1 Comment

Hello all, I hope you all enjoyed Valentines Day?

Andy and I just had a lovely sofa evening – my present to him was a magic coin thingy, he’s good at magic tricks so seemed pleased with his present (he knew what I was getting him since he asked for it lol). When I got to his house we went to Tesco and he bought me all the food of my dreams, yum yum! We then went home and had a lovely dinner, then snuggled up to watch ‘The Wolfman’ (very romantic…) at my request. All in all it was a truly perfect evening, as we don’t get much time to just enjoy each others’ company.

I didn’t have all that much time to do my nails as I did them at about 00.30 am on Valentine’s Day and was beginning to drop, hence the messy left hand. The right hand I blame on my left hand not being my dominant hand. Oh to be ambidextrous!
So here are my nails for Valentines Day 🙂 :

In a halogen spotlight.
With flash.
For this I used L’Oreal Resist & Shine Titanium in 103, and then drew the pink hearts freehand with the Rio Nail Art Pen in the pearly purpley pink colour.
I really like the L’Oreal 103, it’s a very pearly, feminine colour, with largely a good application, not the best, but still good. These pictures were on the second day of wear of the L’Oreal, but the first for the pink hearts.
The Rio Nail Art Pen in pink was difficult to work with in that it was quite sheer and so I had to go over some of the heart, and ended up ruining a couple on my left hand. However it was the perfect colour combination with the L’Oreal 103 and so that I am grateful for 🙂
Many people commented on my Valentine’s Day hearts which was an added bonus as my nails don’t exactly take centre stage with my friends!
Hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day this year, for me it was really lovely

Love Emma xxx
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

2 x Diet Coke = Free Nails Inc Polish = Yes Please!

February 10, 2011 5 Comments

Diet Coke and Nails Inc. have collaborated this Spring to strike up a very purse-friendly deal in which one has to purchase two 500ml bottles of Diet Coke from participating Boots stores, and one will receive a lovely free 10ml (fullsize)Nails Inc. polish. There are four available colours: Heather Grey, Denim, Caramel and Plum. I might sneakily add that in Boots Oxford this Tuesday there were also two polishes from last year’s collaboration – I believe they were both ‘Milan’ (bright red).

During our trip to Oxford, I managed to drag Andy multiple times to multiple nail polish hoarding areas and requested his opinion on certain colours, multiple times. Having heard about the Nails Inc. offfer, we definitely had to stop off in Boots. When we got there there were just two colours on show: Heather Grey and Plum. Because I already own L’Oreal 603 I decided to opt for the Heather Grey (I am hesistant about spending money on potential dupes as my money supply is far from limitless!) so I stole this from the display and grabbed a couple of unsuspecting Diet Cokes, heading for the till. I always end up feeling fraudulent at the payment stage, like I’m doing something wrong by taking this free gift, or like the cashier is going to say sorry, you’re WRONG lol. You can find swatches of the other colours (sorry I can’t afford them!) by searching in Google Images.

I wasn’t so keen on the colour in the bottle as it seems halfway between Barry M Mushroom 310 and a pastelly-purple colour, which really does not appeal to the eye. However, upon application, I was needless to say more than pleasantly surprised:

So this is 2 coats and no top coat. First impressions were that this colour can either be identical to that in the bottle, or totally totally different, depending in what light you are in. I wore this to school and could not stop looking at my nails as they seemed a different colour every time! It is a really very unique muddy-purple. Having spent a lot of time trying to wade through endless stretches of heather I think I can safely say it is nothing like a lot of the more common heathers, but something in me can totally see why it has been named after heather. Top marks for uniqueness and a very subtly beautiful colour.
Application-wise, this was an absolute dream. I did this late at night and found that the first coat dried so very fast that I was able to do a second coat, which also dried super fast, so top marks on that one too. I know many people complain about the broad circular lid being difficult when applying the polish, but for some reason this really worked for me and I found it aided my usually-messy application skills. The brush was fine, nothing to write home about but easy to use and all in all I am very happy with this, especially for £2.40ish + 2 diet cokes! So so pleased I got this one over the Plum colour as I really feel that this one is very unique.

One slightly picky criticism is that the lid doesn’t seem to fit the bottle. It just overhangs ever so slightly but this really puts me off, maybe I’m just being overly perfectionistical (is that even a word?!) but it just gets to me, it looks so tatty! Oh well, I’ll put up with it for the lovely colour.

I also went in later this week for my work experience and treated myself to the lovely Denim colour, so keep a watch out 🙂

Hope your week hasn’t been as stressy as mine has,
love Emma xxx

EDIT: Looking at photos, Heather Grey seems to be very similar to Nails Inc.’s “Bruton Street”… I don’t have it so can’t do a comparison, but check it out! 🙂 xx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

My experimental (as usual) face of the day :)

February 7, 2011 Leave a comment

When I do my makeup, I usually don’t have anything in mind to begin with and just build up the colour on my eyelids according to what catches my eye at the particular moment in time.
Andy and I went to an 18th birthday party on Saturday, so here was my face for the occasion lol:
In the very natural, miserable typical English weathery light.. lol
Avec flash
Close-up with flash, so you can see the eyeliner 🙂
The completed face of me! As it looks when you look normally at me. I think.
I wanted to wear a slightly party-ish look that I could get away with during the day, but really, if I’m honest, that didn’t play much part in my decision since it wasn’t a decision, more of a faff around with available eyeshadow colours lol.
What I used (facially!):
  • Chanel Vitalumière Aqua Foundation (free sample in February edition of ELLE Magazine)
  • Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
  • Urban Decay Eyeshadow in “Strip” used over the main eyelid.
  • Natural Collection Fragrance-Free Eyeshadow in “Barley”, blended with the UD eyeshadow, and dusted over the browbone. Also used lightly on lower lash line.
  • PrettyPink Makeup Palette Eyeshadows in a pale shimmery camel colour blended over the brow bone, a pinky mauve blended into the outer corners and a rusty brown on my eyebrows. I also used a dark purple for the liquid eyeliner with the transforming potion.
  • Urban Decay Eyeshadow Transforming Potion (for eyeliner)
  • Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in “Binge” worked into my lower lashes.
  • Urban Decay Big Fatty Waterproof Mascara
  • Natural Collection Juicy Lips Lip Gloss in “Pink Velvet”
On my nails (how could I leave them out!) :
Barry M Pure Turquoise 295 with N.Y.C. 105 Starry Silver Glitter over the top on my ring finger, just for a hint of partyishness 🙂
So as you can probably see, I have a little bit of an obsession with Urban Decay. But to be honest, it’s with good reason – all the products last forever on the skin, seem to have unlimited supply in the product, and aren’t tested on animals, all at a fairly reasonable price for their quality. My only qualms are with the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils, as I find they are all used up in a matter of weeks, due to their softness. Oh and the Eyeshadow Transforming Potion stings like aif you get it in your eyes but that doesn’t happen too often. And I’d rather it happened to me than the animals 🙂
Hope you all had a good weekend,
Emma xxx
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

No.7 – Cherry Tang

February 4, 2011 5 Comments

In extended celebration of the end of my January exams I have over-indulged. *slaps wrist*. I now have good reason to, I was rejected from Northampton, :(. But anyhoo, before this news, Andy and I went for a wee gander round Oxford, and I dragged him round loads of shoppies 🙂 so one has rather a lot to talk about. I’m going to stage this in blogs, since I don’t want anyone falling asleep from boredom on here.:P

I also had a nail disaster while making brownies for my Chemistry class, as no-one bothered to tell me that plain chocolate is a bugger to break for melting! I somehow managed to bend 7 of my nails past the quick, so now I not only have short yucky nails, I have short broken yucky nails. They are sooooore! 🙁 ah well, I hope they grow out soon.

Firstly here are some Sophy Robson “Eek” inspired nails 🙂

L-R: Barry M Mushroom 310, L’oreal 603, Barry M Indigo 312, Barry M Cyan Blue 294 and Barry M Spring Green 290. The whites of the eyes are the white Rio Nail Art Pen and the pupils and the black Rio Nail Art Pen.
The same applies to the right hand but obviously starting from thumb to pinkie!

Now for the No.7, I bought this (among others) using a £5 off voucher, so it was a steal for just £2!

No.7 Cherry Tang 41.
No.7 Cherry Tang 41.
In the bottle!
So, if you look very closely on the nails in the first picture you can see the faint shimmer. It’s more obvious in the bottle, in which there are glitters that are silver and blue. I love the idea of the blue glitter as it gives the tiniest hint of duochrome, but not at all obvious.
The shimmer doesn’t translate amazingly to the nails, but I think this is partly due to the sheerness of the polish.  In the second picture you may see what I mean, I kid you not, that is 4-5 coats. And you can still see the whites of my nails! I tried a 6th on another nail after it chipped and that still wasn’t opaque, so I gave up. I think next time I will wear it over an opaque base.
As for the “Speed Dry”, I’m not convinced. I don’t own any other Speed Drys by No.7 so I can’t vouch for the name overall, but this polish has to be applied very thinly in order to benefit from a quicker drying time. Indeed, when I messily pasted a slightly-less-than-thin layer of Cherry Tang on one nail and a similar layer of the normal drying polish on another nail, the Cherry Tang took much longer to dry! So I wouldnt bother buying it for the fast-drying properties of this polish.
On a more positive note, the colour is absolutely stunning, it varies in different lights between pink, coral, red and orange. I just want to eat it! I couldn’t stop staring at my nails the whole time I wore it, so despite the sheerness I am absolutely so so glad that I bought it, and at such a naughty price! Who can complain 😀 The colour totally makes up for the pitfalls of this one.
I didn’t wear a topcoat, largely because I was so fed up of waiting for layer after layer to dry, so maybe that is why the tip wear is visible… possibly also aided by my paper round. I can’t really say much on the staying power since I only wore it for 2 days due to my incapacity to keep things the same, I was just itching to get another colour on my nails!
Pleased with the colours of No.7 polishes as a whole, more on that later 🙂
Hope the week treated everyone well!
Emma xxx
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

A Little Shoe Shop and a Clipper Teeeea

January 28, 2011 2 Comments

Shoes

Due to my having applied to 5 universities, all requiring interviews and whatnot, I as usual was not prepared properly. I’m not going to lie, I’ve put on at least a waist measurement or two since I last wore smart trousers, and so by last Friday I was feeling a little panicky (probably in part due to exam freaking-out-ness) as I wouldn’t have time before my interview (this last Wednesday) to get clothes that actually fitted and more importantly some nice shoes. Exams really are the bane of my life, I have to do so much revision to even attempt at getting a semi-decent grade, resulting in me holing myself up for the days running up to each exam. Hermit much?
So anyway, since I can’t get nice shoes anywhere but Brantanos and Evans due to my size 8/9 wide, high-arched feet (ugh!) we had to trek to Cowley to Brantanos. Luckily there is a Matalan and TK Maxx right next door 🙂 My intention was to get some dolly shoes, and, OMG, there were literally about 20 pairs in my size! I practically cried with happiness, I NEVER get choice in shoes. And to make the day even better, I fell in love with a pair of the most gorgeous boots. Since my old boots died a painful death (by rabbit), I managed to persuade my mum that I was worthy of some new boots. I tried them on, size 9 right? THEY WERE TOO BIG. I swear it must have been the most happy shoe shopping experience of my entire LIFE, I downsized to an 8 and they fitted me very comfortably, WITH SOCKS. I thought I must be dreaming, lol. So off my happy self went with my means of payment (mum – sorry!) to the checkout. So good!
Next we went to Matalan which isn’t really interesting since I only got interview clothes. So here are the shoes:

These are the dolly shoes; sooo cute, they are very comfy, kind of a happy medium between slippers and tougher dolly shoes. The support isn’t fantastic but worth it for the beautifulness of them 🙂 I think they disguise the size quite well, I wouldn’t look at them and think ‘monster feet’ lol.
The brand is “Red Level”, and the name of the shoes is ‘Showbiz’ in black, which come in sizes 3-9. £18.00 at Brantanos.
And here are the holy boots, size EIGHT! I love them. Due to my high arches they aren’t 100% comfy but then that is always an issue between my feet and anything with a heel. otherwise they are very roomy around the ankle, which is lovely.
A lovely snug fitting around the feet, but a fantastic wide-but-not-obvious ankle. This is great for those of us with cankle and calf anxiety! I was reading up about cankle-hiding shoes (not that I have cankles, but my ankles aren’t as ‘defined’ as one might like, maybe I have water retention, who knows???) and I read that low-top shoes, like these boots, are great for it because the leg looks as though it ‘grows’ out of the boot. I put this to the test and I really have to agree, my legs look slimmer than they normally do with heels. I would even go so far as to say I prefer these to my old boots for that reason.
They have a very rounded toe, more rounded than I would normally go for but having worn them a few times (as you can see!) they really have grown on me. So so happy with these shoes, despite the excessive ‘clopping’ along the street, so I am endlessly grateful to my mum for these. (And of course the brand for finally embracing those of us who need a foot-and-leg-ego-boost!)
The brand is “Caravelle”, and the name of the shoes is “Datto” in brown, which come in sizes 3-9. £36.00 in Brantanos.
Clipper Tea

Whilst pondering the box of the Clipper Green Tea that has become my life, I noticed a small box that said something to the effect of “Want to become a Clipper Tea Taster? Visit this website…” etc etc. So of course, being the tea addict I am, I immediately – well, I lie, not immediately, rest assured I waited for the kettle to boil and for my tea to infuse slowly and adequately – went off to visit said website and sign up. I didn’t actually anticipate receiving anything ever because surely hundreds of people will have done the same thing, right?
Pleasantly surprising me, less than a week later, this arrived through our letterbox:
Obvs I have blanked out my address as I know how popular I am and I don’t want EVERYONE knowing where I live…
Even a voucher for 50p off!
Brewing instructions… well it gives you something to read!
The unbleached teabags. Personally, I’m a fan, it’s better for you, better for the environment…
Firstly these teabags are just a free welcome sample so I won’t be offending Clipper Tea by saying this 😉 but I find these teabags a bit earthy in taste (well obviously not the teabags themselves – I meant the tea…) and I am not wholly converted, I am still a loyal fan of dear Yorkshire Tea with their Rainforest Alliance alliance. But seriously, for the environmental aspect of things I am totally in favour of Clipper Tea, well… I don’t know, Rainforests are important too… maybe I’ll just take turns. Clipper Tea are very environmentally friendly in that all their boxes are recycled cardboard, they don’t bleach their teabags and they are generally much more aware of the environment. I love their packaging, it is always so lovely (talk about consumer directed image) and was tempted by the Raspberry tea. I am converted to this one, what a lovely brew, very very satisfied customer! The only downside to Clipper is that their environmental friendliness comes at a price. And I do mean literally – moneywise you get a lot less for your money with Clipper. I will take this opportunity to counterbalance the negatives with: their coffee is soooo lovely! We have used it since forever so there you go Clipper. And I’m sorry.
Yet more blog posts to come… I haven’t even covered Christmas yet!
Emma xx
Disclaimer: Everything apart from the Clipper Tea sample mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.