Cath Kidston inspired nails...

I don't think I've written a nail-related blogpost before, but I've received so many compliments on my nails today that I thought I'd share this look with you all.

The inspiration behind my current nail polish combo came - believe it or not - from my Cath Kidston shopping bag!  I love all things Kidston and so although the look may not be entirely office appropriate (or to everyone's taste), I love it nevertheless.

What do you think?

Please excuse the polka dots - I've lost my dotting tool so I created

these dots using a cocktail stick!

Base: Two coats of Barry M Nail Paint in Blue Moon (317)

Polka dots: Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White (66)

Topcoat: Barry M 3-in-1 Basecoat, Topcoat and Nail Hardener (54)

I have quite a collection of the Barry M Nail Paints now. I love their colour range and often treat myself to a couple of bottles (especially when they're on offer in Superdrug!). As ever, the quality of my most recent addition, Blue Moon, is right up there with the rest of them. 

The original inspiration - I think the colours I used are spot-on (groan!):

(Without flash)

(With flash)

I hope you liked it!

I've also worn a "beach hut" inspired look using these colours but didn't think to take any photos. 

I painted alternate nails with two coats of Blue Moon. I left them to dry and then drew a few thin vertical Matt White stripes over the top.

I then painted my remaining nails with two coats of Matt White and then drew the stripes in Blue Moon. I completed the look with a topcoat of the clear 3-in-1 and it was done. Easy to do and oh-so-summery!

xx

Summer Favourites

I've never done a "Favourites" type post before, but as I love seeing "favourites" videos on good old YouTube and similar blogposts I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon too - as with everything blog-related I am way behind the times!

As much as I'd like to, I'm not going to be silly and promise a monthly favourites post - firstly, because sadly I don't have enough disposal income to be able to regularly buy lots of different beauty products to try, and secondly because I am boring a creature of habit and tend to repurchase the same products if they work for me!

I think I'll just call this a seasonal post ;)

Apologies in advance for the questionable picture quality - I think it's because I uploaded via Picasa.

Nivea After Sun - unfortunately a necessity as I managed to burn myself to a crisp last weekend... a classic case of "wind burn"! This doesn't really count as a regular favourite, but I've included it because I've used it so much lately.

No.7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes - I always stock up on these when Boots are running their No.7 £5.00 discount voucher promotion. These are hands-down the best wipes that I've tried and they don't leave my skin feeling tight afterwards. I'm not sure whether I would pay the full-price of £7.00 for them though.

No.7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser - I love, love, love this stuff! I'd been lemming after the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish for ages, and then I saw this No.7 version for a fraction of the price so thought I'd give it a try. It leaves my dry and sensitive skin feeling hydrated and amazingly soft. I use this around three times per week and it hasn't irritated my skin at all.

I still haven't tried the Liz Earle range so cannot compare the two, but I'm really happy with the No.7 cleanser. This is the second bottle that I've purchased. If I had to find a negative it would be that it only comes with one muslin cloth, but I buy extra muslin cloths from the baby aisle in Tesco to go with it (or you could use a normal flannel).

Shower stuff - The last bottle of my beloved Snow Fairy is almost gone so I'm currently using The Body Shop's Dewberry Bath & Shower Gel. I remember this scent from the 90's (showing my age here!) and it's light and fruity for summer.

Too Faced Natural Eye Palette - Since buying this a couple of months ago I've been using it pretty much every day for work (the middle row mainly).  I was lucky enough to be able to get hold of UD's Naked Palette when it was first released last year and I've used it to death. The Too Faced palette makes a nice change and I'd say that the quality is on a par with UD too.

No.7 Triple Protection Tinted Moisturiser (Shade: Light) - Another repurchase. I always turn to this once the weather turns warmer and only wear my usual Revlon Colorstay when I go out for the evening. The only negative I've found with the tinted moisturiser is that I look somewhat orange if I apply too much, but it's fine as long as I use it with a light hand.

Soap & Glory Hand Food - I always carry this (travel size version) in my bag. I love the scent and it moisurises my hands nicely. Job done.

Missoni Acqua - my current summer perfume of choice. I alternate between this and Clinique's Happy, which I much prefer, but as I'm running out of Happy I'm using this every day. I'm rubbish at describing scents (so I won't bother trying) but something of Acqua reminds me of Ralph Lauren's Polo Sport For Women perfume.

To borrow Missoni's description of Acqua:  

Missoni Aqua is a fragrance of 'the beach, water and sunny summer of Sardinia'. The beginning is fresh and juicy with citrusy notes of bergamot and grape, united with melon and narcissus. The floral heart combines violet, peony, blue freesia, and lily of the valley. The base notes are iris, jasmine, and 'the sunlight which is sparkling on the surface of the open sea'.

Umm... yes.

 

Tigi Bed Head "Small Talk" - Forget mousse! This is the only thing that gives my limp, flat, flyaway hair some serious oomph! I use around half a pump on the midlengths through to the ends when my hair is wet, then blowdry and style.

Small Talk is supposed to smell of blueberries, but I smell bubblegum and actually I really like it!

A bottle of this stuff will seriously last you forever.

BaByliss Waving Wand - I also have the red BaByliss Conical Wand, which I adored until I got this. I find the Waving Wand MUCH quicker and easier to use as my long hair doesn't keep sliding down the barrel and overlapping like it does when I use the Conical Wand.

I'm really, really crap at doing hair but this makes glamorous hair a doddle (if I can master it anyone can!) and it's given me a lot more confidence when it comes to styling my hair. Overall, the Waving Wand gives a more natural look compared to the spiral curls that you get using the Conical Wand.

Adding some other things into the mix... I'm currently loving these too:

The Family (series 1) DVD - I missed this series of Channel 4's The Family when it was shown on TV, but my lovely friend Gemma (she tweets here) raved about it. I saw the DVD online recently and thought I'd give it a home! Oh my goodness I've been obsessed! IMO the Hughes family are definitely the best family to be featured so far (and I love their house too!). I'd love to see a catch-up episode to find out what they're all up to now.     Did any of you guys watch this? 

"I Heart Hollywood" by Lindsey Kelk - The second in the series of the "I Heart" series. I really enjoyed the first New York book (possibly because I'd been to NYC and was obsessed with the place!) and it made me desperate to return. So far this instalment is a good read and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out - I have the third "I Heart Paris" book ready and waiting!

Yankee Candle in "Creamy Caramel" - If you're a long-term reader of my blog you may remember this post from last summer - and I'm still loving Yankee Candles! I love anything toffee/fudge/banoffee related and this candle truly smells good enough to eat. I will definitely repurchase this again! 

Strawberries and Raspberries - Since starting WeightWatchers I've eaten more fruit than ever before (which is all good!). These are two of my favourite fruits and I have been buying punnet upon punnet of these lately - may as well make the most of them while they're in season :)

For an extra yummy treat I add a spoonful (or two) of Nutella. Oh so good!

I hope you enjoyed this post - something a little different from me!

Have you blogged or YouTube'd about your summer favourites? If so please leave me your links so I can have a nosey :)

Thank you for reading, have a good weekend xx

This is me, now (the return to blogging instalment)

Hello!

I hope that you are all well? Soo, here I am again! I've taken a very long break from blogging but have decided to take the plunge and write here again. I feel like "the new girl". Eeek!

I've still been reading blogs and honestly never intended on being away for so long... I'm astounded that I still have followers so a huge THANK YOU for sticking around :)

This used to be my regular "monthly round-up" post so I thought that I would start again with the old faithful to get me back into the swing of things. I hope you will excuse my lack of originality!  
                               

source

Listening... I still love 21 by Adele even though it's been out for ages. I like to really belt out the songs whilst driving home from work as it's a great way to de-stress! And I've just downloaded my first audiobook via Audible - and for my first book I chose "The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography" by Stephen Fry. I think he's great. I'd love to chat to him for hours.... well, in all honesty I'd probably stand there like an idiot hanging onto his every word and wondering if I dare join in the conversation, but you get the picture :) 

Reading... mostly blogs, lately. I've realised just how much I've missed writing down my musings on my little internet space!

Watching... aside from good old EastEnders, I've been absolutely ADDICTED to one particular YouTube vlog channel - LeFloofTV featuring the gorgeous Anna Saccone from The Style Diet, her fiance Jonathan Joly and their cute doggies, Sina and Albi. It used to be all about the Shaytards with me (and I still love watching them), but I find that I can relate to the LeFloofTV daily vlogs far better, as they live closer to home, in Ireland. Love that they vlog whilst grocery shopping in Tesco!

Buying... I finally have the Nikon D3000 DSLR that I've had my eye on for... ooh..two years? now. It was a complete impulse buy after seeing it massively discounted on Amazon recently - they had a promotion on lots of cameras and accessories, and I couldn't bear to miss out again. They had a similar offer last summer, and I'd kicked myself ever since for not getting it then. The price has increased again now, so I'm glad I went for it this time!

I just have to work out how to use it.... any advice welcome!

Wanting... - lame answer, because I can't think of anything else - to update this blog layout I think. It must have been a year since I last gave it a bit of a facelift.

Trying... to get back into my WeightWatchers programme. I started the ProPoints plan mid-March and have lost a stone and a half so far (21 lbs). I am now at my original goal weight, but would like to lose another half stone. I've had the last couple of weeks off WW due to going on holiday so I need to focus and get back into it!

Loving... the warm weather (but not the sunburn), the light evenings, the company of good friends, finally feeling somewhat content in my own skin.

Planning... my outfit for my friend Amy's wedding in a couple of weeks. Maxi dress shopping is not going too well so far. I also need to update my wardrobe, which is something that I've been putting off. This sounds weird, but it's strange being slimmer and not really knowing what size I am any more. I also have this fear of buying lots of new clothes only to regain the weight again. I can't carry on counting WW points and tracking what I eat forever. I know it's all about eating sensibly and learning to gradually "let go" of WW guidance but I'm really scared that I'll slip straight back into my old habits (if any of you have been in a similar situation, I'd love to hear how you felt towards the end of your weight-loss programme - any tips?)

Writing... a blogpost, finally - amazingly!

Cooking... I haven't baked a thing since I started WeightWatchers - too much temptation! I wish I could say that I've been really adventurous and have experimented cooking lots of different healthy meals... but I haven't, really. I completely fail at "proper" cooking. Yummy desserts are definitely where my (limited) cooking skills choose to appear!

Inspired by... catching up with blogs, amazing photography on Flickr, and my Aunty Sue who sees the good in every day despite living through the worst year of her life.

xx

Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sundays are THE best. I love having an entire day to relax and potter around doing as I please. I wish I could have a Lazy Sunday every week!

Why does Gizmo cat always decide to snooze in my bed

when I'm about to change the sheets?!

Can't beat a nice cup of tea on a Sunday morning...

Books and slanket... bliss.

Giz snoozing in his favourite spot on the rug - so cute!

Ronan O'Gara. I think he is FIT.

The only reason I watched the rugby today, tbh...

Dinner. Stew and dumplings from the slow-cooker.

Three dumplings because I am a pig :)

I love my bed.

How have you spent your Sunday?

xx

Shopping Spree: Benefit Cosmetics US Haul

Hands up if you missed out on Benefit's LE Christmas offering, the "Her Name Was Glowla" kit?

*hands up here*, even though I initially saw it in stock on the Boots website but stupidly refrained from buying it in favour of Christmas presents... clearly I'm all heart ;)

I have a tiny Benefit collection (although I wouldn't call myself a make-up collector at all), consisting of two Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liners (blooming LOVE these!) in My Date's My Brother and Sippin' & Dippin, the three pencils that came with Glamour magazine last summer, a bottle of Moon Beam and a bottle of Posietint that is almost empty. However Benefit is the one range that I have always wanted to "collect". I'm completely sucked in by the friendly, gimmicky marketing and packaging!

The more I saw "Glowla" advertised, I knew that I had to have it. And I don't get that with make-up too often. 

But surprise surprise, I had already been cursed with "youshouldhaveboughtitwhenyousawit" syndrome - something that affects me on a regular basis - and it was sold out everywhere I looked.

I accepted that this addition to my little stash of Benefit wasn't to be, and pretty much forgot about it. But look what popped up on my facebook Newsfeed at the end of January...

LAST CHANCE and LIMITED QUANTITIES??? I was on it like a shot! I hadn't visited the US site before, and it made the UK site look.... empty... for want of a better word! So many lovely products that I've never seen in the UK... sigh.          I'll be back, benefit.com!

My little box of Benefit took exactly two weeks to arrive. Impressed!

Love the packaging!

While I was online I couldn't help but pop a little bit of Bella Bamba in my basket too (especially after I converted the $ into £ !).

Her name was Glowla $36.00

(equivalent to £22.47 at time of purchase,

a saving of £7.03 on the UK RRP of £29.50)

Bella Bamba $28.00

(equivalent to £17.47 at time of purchase,
a saving of £6.03 on the UK RRP of £23.50)

A closer look at Glowla:

The message at the top of the protective film says

"keep your glow going... remove makeup tray for your collectible box"

Glowla also comes complete with a little make-up lesson booklet - uber cute!

Everything is pretty much self explanatory - eyeshadows named as above,

Coralista blush and a full-sized "Life on The A List" lipgloss

Bella Bamba:

Bella Bamba is marketed as a 3D powder, whatever that means!

It smells gorgeous - kind of like a melon-y apple-y scent.

Why on earth haven't I tried Benefit.com before?! The shipping cost was $9.97 (equivalent to £6.22) which I thought was reasonable considering that I saved a very impressive £13.06 on UK prices for those two items.

I also received a couple of little samples and a Spring 2011 catalogue.

I'll definitely be using the US site to buy my future Benefit goodies, and I'll let you know what I think of my purchases when I've had more time to play with it all! I'd love to know what you think of Glowla and Bella Bamba if you own them.

I'm not sure if the Glowla kit has sold out on the US site yet - apologies if it has and you've been lemming it!

I'm probably way behind everyone else on this, but do you shop on international sites to save money on make-up? If you do, which sites would you recommend ?

xx

**All photographs belong to me. All items bought with my own hard earned cash, 

and I have not been compensated for this blogpost, blah, blah, blah...**

The wintersmith is loosening his grip...

Until Friday, I honestly couldn't remember the last time that it was "daylight" when I left work at 5pm (hmmm, October maybe?)... and what a comeback from Mother Nature !

I stood in the office car park and stared for a while, because I'm a bit of a sunset geek. And when I'd finished staring, I took these photos. I hope you don't mind me sharing them with you :)

Welcome back Spring. I have missed your light.

xx

Ikea bedroom furniture.... I really want you!

I'm getting itchy feet to change my bedroom furniture. At the moment, I have a large antique pine wardrobe with matching bedside cabinets, and a few other pieces (such as my dressing table) that I've literally owned since I was eight years old. It's grey and white MDF nastiness that was really cool in the 80's but definitely should not be seen in 2011! Retro chic it isn't!

I don't mind the pine stuff too much, but it's not to my taste any more. Needless to say, my bedroom is WAY overdue for a makeover! I think I've been putting it off as one of those "next year" jobs  but now it's really playing on my mind and I hate having to look at it. To be honest the room embarrasses me!

My dream bedroom looks a lot like this.... light, airy and peaceful with lots of book storage ;)

image from IKEA's website

I already have a cream coloured wrought iron bed and feel like brightening up the room with some white furniture. I LOVE the Bramley range from Laura Ashley:

Sadly, the Laura Ashley furniture is too far out of my price range but I've had my eye on IKEA's Hemnes range of (white) bedroom furniture for a while now. I recently went to IKEA with my friends Gemma and Amy, and seeing the range in person has just made me want it even more! Do any of you guys have this range of bedroom furniture? Would you recommend it?

 

What does your dream bedroom look like?

xx

**Photos from Laura Ashley and IKEA**

Life Update: A Wedding and A Bad Back

Big fat fail on the blogging front so far in 2011!! I'm so annoyed!

In my defence I've had the dreaded lurgy which lasted for two weeks and left me sounding like Mutley with a tres annoying barking cough, and then I put my back out on Sunday.

"How did you do that?" I hear you ask..... well it pains me (ha!) to admit that I fell out of bed. Which would be embarrassing enough in itself, but I was actually dreaming of being at the Zoo. It was one of those vivid dreams that makes you feel really involved and emotional. The Zoo then flooded and I was trying to rescue the animals... a split second later I was on the floor and the "elephant" that I was clinging onto actually turned out to be the bedsheets! I have to admit that it is quite funny.

The verdict is that I've torn the ligaments in my lower back (from trying to hold onto the elephant I expect!) and my gosh it hurts. My GP wanted to sign me off work for a week so that I can rest it, but I honestly can't afford to lose a week's pay this soon after Christmas so I've been dosing myself up with tablets and going into the office - on the condition that I sit at my desk and stay there!

I know that I must be mad going into work feeling like this. My long-suffering colleagues deserve a gold star this week too!

In between the Mutley illness and the Bad Back I went to my good friend Jenny's wedding. My best friend Louise and her hubby came over from Germany for the occassion and so the old gang of us were all together again. The whole day was wonderful from start to finish and I was honoured to have been asked by Jen and Adrian to read a beautiful text during the ceremony. I almost started crying after making the mistake of catching Jen's eye but took a deep breath and got to the end... aaaand I didn't trip over my floor-length dress! I was very proud of myself :)

Jen and Ade had the fantastic idea of planning some games inbetween Afternoon Tea and traditional speeches etc, and the "evening" part of the day. Afternoon Tea was amazing btw. Home-made cakes, cupcakes, jam tarts and scones sitting on shabby-chic cakestands with little pots of various home-made jam, and beautiful tea and coffee pots dotted along the tables... I was in heaven!

The children had a little games room just off the main reception room so they were happy (although it wasn't long before they discovered the balloons. One of my worst fears is a child plus balloon!) and we had a wine tasting game followed by a charity quiz.

Our team won the quiz!!! Jen and Ade kindly donated £50.00 towards a charity of the winning team's choice, and we chose the Cystic Fibrosis Unit at Papworth Hospital in memory of my cousin Mike. Another wedding guest donated another £25.00 which was an unexpected and wonderful gesture. I was quite emotional at that point. I'm so pleased that the unit at Papworth will benefit from their generosity.

This is what I wore:

from asos

Don't you just love it when you go back in to look and it's in the bloody sale?!

I haven't included a photo of myself wearing it because I don't have any photos of myself that don't include other people, and I didn't want to upload wedding photos without asking Jen and Adrian first - hopefully I'll edit this later or create a separate post and show you some pictures!

Am I rambling? Yes. As usual a massive post! Is this even making any sense? It really is the tablets :(

xx

100th Post!

And sticking with the New Year / celebration theme, I thought I'd celebrate in style! I was just browsing on YouTube and saw this on the homepage - London rocking the beginning of 2011 and showing the rest of the world how it's done ;)

Enjoy! xx

Stick with it, there is music!

Happy New Year!

Well hello there lovelies!

How are you all? I hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. I had a brilliant time! I've been really busy over the past few weeks but have had so much fun! It was my friend Jen's Hen Day on Tuesday, and we finished the day at the Panto where we saw Jack and the Beanstalk. It's been years since I've been to a pantomime and it was fantastic, a real giggle. John Altman (aka Eastenders Nasty Nick) tried to steal my handbag - how rude! He was in character though, dont worry!

I'm off to (finally) see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows at the cinema tomorrow with my lovely friend Gemma, one last treat before I go back to work on Tuesday... but we won't talk about work here.

I can't believe it's been a whopping three months since I last blogged!! It was a lovely surprise to see that I still have followers, more so in fact than when I last spoke to you. And I've repaid you all by been a very bad blogger indeed. (Hmmmm, I think we've had this conversation before. I really need to get my blogging head back on!)

As regular followers may know, 2010 was a terrible, heartbreaking year for my family and I, and I'm so, so pleased that the new year is here at last!

I was looking back at some of my old blog posts before sitting down to write this, and wow so much has changed since this post. Very sadly I didn't get my nos. 14 & 15 wishes, and I told you all about that here.

You guys have been amazing over the last year, and in return I will try my very best to make sure that I pop up in your blog reader more often in 2011!

Thank you for reading, following and supporting me xxx

**Image courtesy of weheartit**