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Lifestyle Archives - Imagination In Colour

Lifestyle

Imagination In Colour Reborn!

Hello strangers… remember me? 😛 no I didn’t think so…! It’s been just over 6 months since I last posted. Firstly, sorry for the neglect of my blog, but the time away was needed and like all creative ventures, if you aren’t motivated to do it, it just doesn’t happen. Roughly 90% of my life has changed in that time – the only thing that has stayed the same is my job and I’ve been pretty busy getting everything back on track.

In the time I was away, I really wasn’t sure what to do with my blog. My two most appealing options were to leave it be as a resource but not to come back to it again, or to sell my site (the traffic alone makes it somewhat valuable). But for the last couple of weeks I’ve been coming round to the idea that I could just do a total content change, and see how it goes. I’ve missed having a regular creative outlet so that is what shall happen :). I have no idea what this is going to do to my SEO LOL, so I guess it’s a bit of an experiment too.

I’ve been the writer behind this blog since January 2011, and up until now (March 2016) this was exclusively a nail polish review blog, which is why if you go back through my archives that is all you will probably find! However as I grow older and my life has moved on to pastures new, I feel a craving for something more substantial than the monopoly of the beauty industry, which I frequent a lot but it certainly isn’t my only, or even one of my more significant hobbies.Throughout 2015 I felt disillusioned with the materialism and superficial nature of the beauty industry but couldn’t bring myself to just chuck the towel in, until life came along and made my decision for me. In a funny kind of way, everything seems to have happened exactly as it was meant to. Besides, with a whole world of information, ideas and technology, not to mention nature and history out there, one has to ask – why limit yourself?
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GOSH Limited Edition Attitude

First things first, I don’t know if you’d noticed but my follower count has significantly reduced as I decided to disconnect this new domain from my old blog, in the hope that people will be able to now see my updates when I post! Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you lovely people who have re-followed and anyone that may be new to my blog, I’ve never gained so many followers in such a short time haha! I sent a newsletter to my old followers (I think!) but since I don’t actually know what a newsletter is, I don’t know if it worked.

EDIT: I went through it with Andy and we’ve hopefully fixed it now – back to my ole 99 followers! I hope it starts updating in peoples’ Google Readers and Blogger feeds? Check out his businesses here and here, he’s good!

OH oh and I’ve done a guest post over on Polish Wonderland today, you can see this here.

Anyway! GOSH have brought out 4 ltd edition polishes this Autumn/Fall and they are gorgeous, I have 2 so far (Attitude and Forest Floor) but it is more than likely that I’ll have all of them before Spring comes around! Today I have Attitude for you, a gorgeous dark cobalt blue creme.


A very eye-catching blue, it seems to have so much depth. It doesn’t really show in these photos but it seems almost jellyish in the finish, although the formula is decidedly that of a creme.

I needed 2 coats to give a near-opaque finish, the streaks you see in the photo aren’t nearly as noticeable in real life but if it bothers you, a 3rd coat would easily remedy that. It has a very glossy finish – no need for a topcoat. Drying time was average – not super speedy but not deathly slow; manageable. Good for a TV sesh. As always it was very easy to control during application.

I’ve had my eye firmly set on Revlon Royal for a long while now and for the moment, my quest for it is postponed while I gaze lovingly into my beautiful Attitude nails… where was I?

Oh, in case you’re curious, this is very definitely darker than Barry M’s Cobalt Blue, but you can check that yourself when you’re in Boots. I promise you it’s darker (I accidentally forgot to do a comparison – sorry!) The other 3 polishes are a dark green creme, a raspberry pinky-red creme and a dark indistguishable green-grey-blue-black-brown creme. (I say indistinguishable as really, under the glare of Superdrug’s horrible lighting I really couldn’t tell). In any case, they all look lovely, somewhat similar to the upcoming rubber texture polishes from Illamasqua (check them out they look ahmayzing!)

In other news, on rather a whim I decided to dye my hair, having spent a good 2 years growing out my natural colour. It feels very refreshing. I used Clairol’s Nice’n’Easy Non-Permanent dye in 82- Dark Warm Brown. Beware, it is a little more red than one might anticipate from the box colour. Unless that’s just my hair. Anyway, the only problem I’ve encountered is that when I wash my hair some of the dye runs out in the water – don’t wear white while your hair is wet! I have one lovely (rubbish) before and after photo for you:

Left = before, right = after

I like it! I’ve had lots of compliments on it, it’s nice to have a bolder colour than my bog standard natural hair. I did need 2 boxes though – they’re £4 each.

Hope you’re all well my lovely lovely readers, I have a giveaway coming up soon but not until I can find a polish I’m hunting down as my local Superdrug is utterly utterly inadequate.

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.

Marks & Spencer Soft Pink (D6)

Just got my A level results this morning – eek – I got B in Biology, B in Maths, and C in Chemistry! Exactly what I needed to get into Oxford Brookes to do Occupational Therapy so I am VERY relieved and excited! A little bit scared too but more excited! New start and all that, I am glad to be leaving Sixth Form behind with no bitter regrets (well, other than the mere existence of Chemistry in my list of qualifications…) My hands were shaking as I opened the envelope this morning haha. Starting on 19th September so I have a whole month to go! If anyone is looking into Occupational Therapy or other Allied Health professions, feel free to get in contact as I have a brain full of tips and advice 🙂

Back to the real subject of my blog post – this lovely sheer pink, perfect for work or weddings or even school if your teachers need glasses 😛

It’s a little more pink than the pictures would have you believe, so a little more flattering than looking like you’ve spent too long in cold water at the bottom of a river… Anyway, this is lovely because it works well as a french manicure base, or as a neutral wedding nail, or just to cover up any unsightly staining (which I of course have never ever suffered… cough… cough…) I think worn alone, it works best on shorter nails, but it is still very flattering and kind of gives the impression of a healthy tan. It also looks really beautiful with black nail art detailing as it really sets off the black, but I messed mine up before I could show you 🙁

The pictures above all show 2 coats, although you can wear 1 for a more sheer look or you can build it up to get rid of the nail line. Personally I think it looks beautiful and rather dainty with a little nail-white showing through. This type of shade used to be one of my favourites before I became a nail polish addict.

It dried very quickly, the colour spreads evenly across the nail and with no streaks.

And of course the usual reason for this being a fab polish is because it’s BUAV Approved – Cruelty Free. Retails at £3 from Marks and Spencer – you really can’t go wrong.

Hope you are all well and good, and particularly anyone who received their results today – I hope it was good news! Feel free to drop me a line (or a Tweet or email) if you fancy a chat about going to Uni!
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.

Models Own Pro Limited Edition – Swan Lake

By the time you’re reading this I will *hopefully* be on the lovely island of North Uist, Scotland 🙂 as it turns out I’m a crap blogger and never managed to get round to the scheduled posts and I don’t get how to do the whole guest blogging thing. Well anyway, who knows, I may even have 3G connection on North Uist. It’s weird writing this while trying to keep in mind that you’ll be reading it next week. It is, by the way, currently Thursday 28th July. Anywho, I’m very sorry to be disappointing but I thought I’d break up those long 2 weeks away with this post.

Enter Swan Lake!

If you look at the bottle in the photo below, this was not what I paid £8 for at 3 coats!!!
As you can hopefully see, the bottle colour is *very* misleading, I was expecting a lovely taupe-y shimmer. Nevertheless it inspired this gradient mani.
I have to say, it does have a lovely unique finish even despite the sheerness. You know when you look into a lake or into the sea in the sun and it glistens in a lovely fluid, silvery way? Well it’s like that. It’s beautiful. Still I was disappointed with the price!
Anyway, layered over the top of other colours it looks absolutely beautiful. It dries quickly, and is fairly easy to control. I’m not a fan of the square lid, it doesn’t hinder the application too much but for a ‘Pro’ polish you would expect something a little easier to work with. The glittery shimmer spreads evenly across the nail so that isn’t a bother.
Overall I have very mixed feelings about this polish. For my first Models Own Pro polish, for the price, I can’t say I’m that impressed. However, the glistening effect of the polish has won my heart over. Just beware of this one if you were expecting a more opaque colour. Personally I would expect at least a hint of the taupey brown jelly base on the naked nail but apparently not – I only saw this when it was put over the Barry M Matt White!
Hope you are all well, and I’ll be back in a week!
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.

Oh My GOSH 022 Nude Champagne

I’m afraid I’m not 100% sure whether these polishes are limited edition or a permanent line. But these are 5ml bottles of nail polish in colours other than those already available (as far as I’m aware). Basically I saw them in the section of the GOSH counter in my local Superdrug which is normally used to showcase limited edition products so I can’t tell and can’t seem to find it anywhere. Anywho, these bottles cost £2.99, which isn’t bad when compared with the £4.99 for 8ml of the normal GOSH bottles. Sheer curiosity made me pick this one up, but I now have my eye on the green creme they have to offer! They have a broad colour range in this new line.



I found it so hard to get a proper colour-accurate shot of this polish! It looks a little less greyed-out than the pictures show. Not an amazing description I know but… It’s kind of in between the bottle colour and the colour on the nails. Anyways, it’s a lovely greyish-biscuity nude. It’s a bit warmer than putty colour, and a little more flattering. Argh, not doing well here! It’s just very pretty, very subtle and work appropriate without being mannequin-esque.
Application-wise, it dried in an average time, not super fast but not really slow either. Manageable. I needed 2-3 coats for full coverage because it seemed a little streaky over my stained nails and the polish dragged a little but it wasn’t anything too bad. It dried with a lovely shine too so I didn’t need a topcoat 🙂
My only real problem is that where I left a little gap between the polish and my cuticles, the colour of my nail underneath really didn’t look pretty so I’d recommend polishing all the way up the the edges of the nail for this one!
Hope you’re all doing well, my life is being pretty hectic at the mo, I’ve just been up to Yorkshire for my cousin’s wedding which was lovely! I haven’t got an amazing photo of my dress yet, so this one will have to suffice:

I know you can’t see it so well here, but basically it’s a halterneck. It’s a lovely green-grey cotton dress with cobalt blue roses and a black sash. The skirt ties back on itself to create the bunched up -ness (is there a word for it?!) at the bottom, or it can be worn loose (with the skirt lying flat, more like a maxi). You can also go half up, half down, which seems to be fashionable of late (although how would I know – queen of unfashionability!). It’s also very kind to a larger tummy, and helps to emphasise the breast area (which became a problem as my boobs have somewhat increased since my diet was abandoned!) and makes the waist appear smaller.. I found 2 links to photos of the dress on the Facebook page of the shop it’s from:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=205436339485515&set;=pu.110156945680122&type;=1&theater;
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=199714216724394&set;=pu.110156945680122&type;=1&theater;
Basically it’s from a shop named ‘Fresh’, found in the Covered Market in Oxford. If you ever get the chance to go in, DO! It’s got some lovely people running the shop, and people who are normal in body shape and attitude if you know what I mean – they don’t bat an eyelid if you ask for a dress in size 14 or 16 and they are very welcoming, helpful and friendly. The shop itself is tiny, but absolutely filled with gems like this dress. The dress cost £75, which really isn’t bad considering how versatile it is.
Anyway that’s enough of my babbling on! Hope you’re all okay and all that.
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.
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