Eyeko nail polishes

Indigo, Lilac, Vampira, Vintage, Nude and Cosmic

Happy Sunday all! Looking forward to the week ahead? Normally I totally hate Mondays but I actually have Tuesday off so going into work for 1 day doesn't feel like such a big deal

I had a fantastic weekend thanks in no small part to it being my birthday on Saturday! Everyone was sooo generous and I got some awesome pressies (pics to come - just havent got round to it yet!) I got all dressed up and went to a new indian restaurant for dinner. It was beyond scrummy and I managed to eat so much I could hardly move. Always the sign of a good meal I reckon :)

I'd gone to quite a lot of trouble with my hair, makeup and nails and it was only when I decided to wear my Eyeko Vintage Polish that I decided these polishes really deserve a full post of their own because they're completely superb and the colours are beautiful!

Vintage Polish (my personal favourite!)

I've used two coats of polish in each picture but I was too lazy to bother with a base or top coat - I still think they all manage to look bloody awesome without them though!

Lilac Polish

I've swatched 4 of my favourite shades but I also highly recommend the Nude Polish for anyone who likes more subtle understated colours. If you are purchasing anything from the Eyeko website feel free to use my code E11807 to get a free gift.

Indigo Polish

I've wanted to try the Eyeko lip glosses for a while now so they're top of my don't-actually-need-but-really-really-want shopping list. Do you have any favourite nail polish brands that you can always rely on?

Vampira Polish (Yep, I'm wearing this today)

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a fantastic week! xx

100 followers giveaway winner

Good evening all! Hope you've had a fantastic weekend. I want to apologise for not announcing the winners of my giveaway yesterday as promised but I had absolutely no idea just how long it would take to go through all the entries and input them on random.org. I'm not kidding when I say it took hours!

Anyway I'm pleased to annouce that the winner is *drum roll please* Heather

CONGRATS Heather, I'll be sending you an email shortly!!

A massive thank you to everyone who entered - I've really enjoyed reading the entries (esp the favourite beauty products) and finding loads of new bloggers to follow! In fact the giveaway has been such a success I think I might do a Christmas inspired one too :)

Bargaintastic beauty haul

Good evening all, hope you're having a nice week so far :) I went shopping for my sisters birthday pressie this evening and managed to get myself a dress, 2 pairs of shoes, earrings, makeup and a new book. Unfortunately I didn't spot a single thing for my sis so I'm just gonna give her money, I know it's soo impersonal but she's seriously hard to buy for!!

Decided to do a post on the goodies I picked up from Superdrug and I wanted to start with L'Oreals True Match foundation because it seems like everyone has something positive to say about it! I used this foundation about 3 or 4 years ago and didn't like it at all because I found it terribly drying but my skin is slightly more oily these days so I'm hoping for better results.

Also got a new True Match powder compact because I've hit pan on my current one. The Carbon Gloss is free when you spend over a tenner on L'Oreal stuff and this liner is awesome so I was a very happy bunny :)

I guess the other things I picked up kinda speak for themselves...
Shimmer and shade compact (hmmm...is it technically a compact if there's no mirror?) by Collection 2000 in shade 1 Pink Me Up and a few MUA eye shadows for £1 each. Three cheers for the bargain beauty products!
This Maybelline Line Definer in Black Onyx is one of my favourite products because it's so thin, creamy and easy to apply. If you get the chance to test this in the store I insist that you do cos I reckon you'll be amazed at just how good it is. Honestly the end result is as good as most liquid liners!

I've been using the Maybelline Pure Mineral Concealer and it works well but I cant seem to stick with one product for too long (Yep, I suffer from grass-is-always-greener syndrome) so have wanted to try this one for a while
Tea tree oil and Tea tree moisturiser cos my skin hates me and I hate it right back. Bloody spots.
Little silver heart earrings that I'm gonna wear to work tomorrow. Another bargain at 99p!
Last of all we have the Maybelline Falsies mascara. I know I'm a bit late with this because it's only been around for, oooh, a hundred years or so now but I wanted to give it a go to see what I reckon.

Anyway I'm off for a late shower and a nice cup of tea before bed. Hope you have a great Friday! :)

My first (and hopefully not last!) blog award

Hello all, just a quick post to mention my first ever blog awards! I received these from the lovely Real Girls Beauty who I've been following for quite a while cos her blog is rather awesome!

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit just how excited and pleased I am about these awards. So much so in fact that when I found out I woke my flatmate straight away to share the good news. He wasn't nearly as excited as me. Strange.

Anyway, I just wanted to do a little post on this because it was really appreciated and although I blog just because I enjoy it it's good to know someone actually likes reading my (sometimes totally nonsensical) ramblings :)

Review - Lush goodies

HURRAH! The weekend is finally here!! Don't you just love Friday evenings? Two whole days of doing, well, whatever you please. Adryen is currently making me a nice cup of tea then we're gonna eat ridiculous amounts of chocolate whilst watching Sons Of Anarchy. Living on the edge, dont you know :)

Anywho, the preposterously generous people at Lush sent me some goodies to try so I wanted to let you know what I think. Gonna review a couple now and a couple at a later date cos I haven’t used some of the products enough to be 100% sure how I feel about them

First of all we have the Sweet Lips Lip Scrub (£4.50 for 25g) I was so impressed by this product that I called into Lush the following day and picked up the Bubblegum version

This comes in a little glass jar and the first thing I noticed when I opened it was the smell! As we’ve all come to expect from Lush it was strong, sweet and smelt completely edible. Which in this case it is :)
This is basically a vanilla and chocolate flavoured sugar scrub that you rub into your lips to help keep them all soft n smooth. What I love about this is that the effect is immediate unlike a lot of lip balms where you have to wear them for hours on end before you see any sort of result. With this scrub you slather it on, give it a good old rub and the job’s a good ‘un

I guess this is just different from all my lip products which is why I was so intrigued by the idea and I’ve found it works a treat on my poor chapped lips

Secondly we have Cinders (£1.95 for 90g) which is a cinnamon and almond ballistic. As a general rule I’m not a big fan of bath bombs… I just prefer a good old-fashioned bubble bath because I find bath bombs just turn the water a funny colour and don’t make my skin feel any better
I was happy to give this a try because the smell was totally superb! Honestly it was like Christmas in bath bomb form, which has gotta be a good thing. In fact my best friend could smell it from the hallway in my house – you have to walk through the living room, kitchen and back porch to get to the bathroom so as you can probably tell the aroma is far from subtle

What I didn’t like about this was the big orange stain it left around my bath :( I know it’s not a big deal but when I get out of a nice hot relaxing bath the last thing I wanna do is clean the tub

I’m fairly new to the Lush range and haven’t tried many products so I was wondering if there’s anything you’d recommend? My sister is completely obsessed with the stuff so she can’t really give me an unbiased opinion; as far as she’s concerned every single item is a must have! ♥

My top 5 Bourjois products

Sunday again :( Hope you had a fantastic weekend! Mine was too good, it's made me not wanna start a new week!

Anywho, I've been a big fan of the Bourjois range for a number of years now (oh how old that makes me feel!) so just wanted to mention a few of my absolute favourites and I definitely have to start with my most recent purchase; healthy mix foundation because this stuff is amazing.
As you might've noticed from my previous posts I have a slight obsession with foundation so I'm pleased to announce that this is without a doubt one of the best I've ever come across. I'd happily pay £30 for a bottle so the £10.99 price tag is such a bonus. I love the colour, texture, staying power, blendability (that is so a word :p) and the fact that it doesn't make my skin break out. I wore this on a shopping trip a couple of weeks ago and my sister said I looked airbrushed. Nuff said.
When it comes to lip gloss I like a standard wand applicator so I wasn't sure how I'd get along with this because it has one of those brush applicators but Superdrug had a 3 for 2 offer so I decided to give it a try. I now have this in 6 different shades, which should give an indication of just how impressed I was! The texture is lovely and the colours are subtle but so incredibly pretty. I've included 2 in the pic because if I'm wearing the lip gloss by itself I'll usually opt for a pale pink (13 Rose a l'eau) but I like to apply the glittery gold shade (23 beige rafraichissant) over lots of my lip sticks especially anything with pale brownish undertones
As far as liquid liners go Liner Pinceau is right up there with Revlon Colorstay and N.Y.C because the colour is a properly black black and the brush applicator is very fine so it's easy to get a precise long lasting line. I should mention that the formula is fairly watery so you definitely need a steady hand when you're applying it!
Have you ever noticed how rare it is to actually use an entire pot of eye shadow? I must've bought hundreds of eye shadows over the years and I doubt I've ever completely finished a single one, not because I wasn't keen on them you understand, but just because I get bored and like trying new things so I'm constantly replacing my existing makeup!

Which is why I'm such a fan of the mini Bourjois eye shadows; they come in loads of different shades, last ages, the texture is soft but not crumbly or chalky so you get an intense look without piling on a thick layer of powder and because they're teensy you don't feel guilty for sticking them at the back of your drawer and moving onto another colour after a few weeks. Hurrah!
Last on my list is the intensive moisturising treatment lip stick. I can't express just how much I love this product! It's so incredibly moisturising and my favourite shade (18 Blouse Blanche) is a very subtle sheer slightly glittery colour which can be worn by itself or under and over any other lip products. I like that it's nourishing but extremely pretty so it's one of those 2 birds with 1 stone items. If I was to liken this to another product it would have to be AVONs Anew beauty lip plumping lip conditioner only I think the Bourjois one is more moisturising and looks prettier on :)



Goodnight for now, hope you have a lovely week!

bathroom essentials and a little favour

Good evening all and Happy Friday to you! I can’t tell you how pleased I am that the weekend is finally here. Though I’ve kinda given mine up to look after my 1 year old nephew so my sister can go out n celebrate her birthday tomorrow. More on that in a mo...

I know this might seem like an odd post, partly cos pictures of almost empty bottles arent exactly entertaining but as you can see I’ve almost run out of all my basic bathroom essentials!

I’m going shopping on Sunday and shall be bringing my aforementioned nephew along with me so I’ll be in and out of the shops as quickly as possible, which is where all you lovely people come in :)

I don’t wanna spend ages wandering round aimlessly looking for new products to try (especially whilst pushing a pram) so I was hoping you could recommend your favourites! I need shampoo, conditioner, body scrub and a body wash so if there’s any you’re particularly fond of please mention them below! It would be greatly appreciated because I'd love to try out a few new things - don't usually stick with one brand or product for too long!

Hope you have a totally fantastic weekend :)

The Body Shop Vitamin C and my 1st ever CG goodies!

Good evening all! Hope you’re enjoying your week, personally I’m very glad the weekend is nearly here! A girl in work recently referred to Wednesdays as “hump days” because it’s the “hump” of the week that everyone looks forward to getting over. Yeah, I had to drag my mind out the gutter pretty quickly too :)

So I picked up a few things on my way home from work today that I think deserve a mention!

I got a few items from the Vitamin C collection at the body shop because I’d heard great things about them and I’ve always been a big fan of the body shop products :) I got the Microdermabrasion exfoliator (£10) Facial Radiance Powder Mix (£12) and the Eye Reviver Duo (£10)
As you might’ve noticed from previous posts I’m constantly at war with my skin because it just wont do what it’s told so I’m hoping these products will help kick it into shape! The Radiance Mix lasts 10 days so I’ll do a review once I’ve given it a chance to work it’s magic
Oh oh oh! I called into my local pound shop and got my first ever Cover Girl products today! I’m constantly hearing people bang on about how fantastic the Cover Girl stuff is and loads of the American bloggers seem to create exquisite looks using them. It’s really hard to come by in the UK so when I saw 3 items for £1 I almost screamed with excitement. I’m a bit sad like that.
The only colours left were the more “unusual” options but I managed to get a Midnight blue eye pencil, navy eye shadow and plum lip stick. I reckon I could create a fairly nice navy smokey eye look this weekend to celebrate my new purchases!

My top 5 N.Y.C products

Happy Monday everyone! I’m so glad today is over cos I think Monday has to be my least favourite day of the week, especially when it’s cold and miserable out and you get drenched on the way to the bus stop after a really long hard day at work. Grrr!! On a cheerier note I thought I’d do a little post on some of my all time favourite N.Y.C goodies :)

Firstly we have the liquid liner in Jet Black and I’d rate this right up there with all the high end liquid liners which cost 5 times the price because it’s genuinely superb! Like most people I wasn’t exactly a natural when it came to my first attempts at applying a liquid eye liner (judging by the old photos I seemed to be of the opinion that more is more) but one of my friends recommend this and I haven’t looked back. It gives a sharp, smooth, extremely dark line which lasts all day, doesnt smudge and doesnt fade. Not too bad for £2.99, eh?
As for lip products I’d give the lip stick an 8 out of 10 simply because it looks great, feels lovely on, lasts a while and is cheap as chips. It’s not one of those life changing totally-cant-live-without-this items but it’s a good quality lip stick and I just think the shade Fragile Pink is so fantastically pretty on!
The Liquid Lip Shine is a whole other story... It’s completely awesome and I can’t seem to stop myself from recommending it to everyone (even people who really don’t seem that interested!) because the texture is lovely and the colours are absolutely amazing. My favourite shade is Sungold Pink which is just gorgeous and goes with pretty much any makeup look
I actually bought this foundation because there was a 3 for 2 offer in my local Superdrug and I figured it would be worth a try. Obviously for £1.99 I wasnt expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised when it did exactly what it says on the tin. It promises an anti shine effect for up to 8 hours and on the days I’ve worn this to work I’ve come home with my skin still looking fresh as a daisy. It has a nice floral smell, slightly runny texture and gives light to medium coverage. I like the non-cakey natural look this gives so I will definitely be repurchasing once this bottle runs out


Last of all we have the N.Y.C Color Wheel mosaic face powder. I’ve included pics of the Pink Cheek Glow because I find I opt for blush far more than bronzer over the Autumn and Winter months but they also do a Bronze Glow version which is just as good! This is something I’ve used every day for the last couple of months and people are always so complimentary when I’m wearing it! The colour is very pretty and subtle and thanks to the texture it’s extremely easy to blend so takes seconds to apply. Always a bonus when you’re getting ready at 6am :)

Makeup from Claire's

Is it just me or is the weekend always over waaay too quickly?! On the plus side I spent most of today reading, walking the pooch, eating scrummy cinnamon bagels and even managed to squeeze in a little shopping :)

I popped into Claire’s accessories for some new earrings because I think their jewellery is fantastic quality and there’s always sooo much to choose from

Anywho, it got me thinking about all the makeup I own from Claire’s. I haven’t come across many people talking about it and I figured it’s worth a mention because it’s surprisingly good, not to mention great value!

A particular favourite are the eye shadow palettes – I currently own two; one with 10 fairly bright shades and one with 10 neutral shades and I absolutely love both. The neutral shade selection is a recent repurchase cos I’d hit pan on 4 different shades of my last palette!
The eye shadow itself is extremely soft (but not in the flakey must-use-loads-to-get-any-colour kinda way!) and the shades are all nicely pigmented and have a little shimmer

black eye pencil, black mascara, silver glitter mascara

Also, I wanted to mention the eye pencil, mascara and lip gloss because they might be seriously inexpensive but there’s loads of nice shades to choose from, the quality is great and the packaging is always really simple but pretty. They’re not exactly luxury products but they do what they say on the tin at an affordable price and I don’t ask for more than that!

Have you stumbled across any not-so-well-known makeup brands that actually turned out to be far better than expected?

Scrummy cupcake and ice cream lip balms

Good evening all! Hope you’re having a fantastic weekend so far :) I had to work today *sniff* but I have tomorrow off and intend to have a seriously relaxing lazy day. Hopefully most of which will be spent in my pjs

I know this is totally shallow of me but I spotted these little lip balms a while back and bought them simply because I think the packaging is just beyond adorable!

Of course my reasoning is that the weather is getting properly cold, which always leaves me with chapped lips so I definitely need another 8 lip balms to add to the dozens I already own. No really, I do

It seems I can be a wee bit irrational when it comes to justifying new purchases :)

The cupcake ones smell and taste yummy and I love the texture cos it's not too sticky but still leaves a nice subtle sheen on my lips and doesn't wear off too quickly (even with me constantly licking my lips thanks to the taste)

Belgain chocolate, strawberry surprise, raspberry ripple, vanilla swirl

mint choc chip, chocolate fudge brownie, bubble gum, strawberry

The ice cream ones aren't as nice texture wise because they aren't as soft so you actually have to rub rather a lot to get a decent amount of product! Though they taste and smell good enough to eat :)

Awesome but inexpensive brushes

Good evenng all! Hope you're having a great Thursday :)

It was my nephews 2nd birthday today and I ate so much that I feel slightly ill. On the plus side he seemed well impressed with the Bob the builder digger I got him. Kids are easily amused, eh?

Anywho, just figured I'd do a little post on makeup brushes cos regardless of what kinda makeup we use I reckon decent brushes can make the application a whole lot easier!

When I was younger I used to apply the majority of my makeup with my fingers; everything from liquid foundation and concealer to eye shadow and cream blush. These days I reckon I can achieve a much better (I’d love to say flawless but it’s never quite that good) finish by using fantastic brushes!

Now I personally don’t like to spend a fortune on brushes – I want great quality but I could never afford a complete collection by brands like MAC, Bobbi Brown or Sigma. The brushes that I use on an everyday basis were all pretty inexpensive and do a brilliant job so I figured they were worth a mention :)

Eye makeup brushes

Bellapierre super thick concealer brush £19.99 - most expensive eye makeup brush I use. I actually use this for packing on powder although it’s designed to apply concealer I’ve never found another brush quite like it!
GOSH round eye shadow brush £6.00
ELF small precision brush £3.50
ELF Small smudge brush £3.50
ELF contour brush £3.50
QVS eye shadow brush £3.99
AVON eye shadow brush with smudger £5.00

Face makeup brushes

ELF concealer brush £1.50
AVON angled brush £5.50
GOSH foundation brush £8.00
Ruby & Millie foundation brush £12.00 (got mine for £7 with one of the £5.00 off vouchers at Boots!)
AVON all over face brush £6.00
ELF complexion brush £3.50
ELF blush brush £3.50 For storage I picked up these cute cupcake tins from my local TJ Hughes
Is there a particular brand of brushes that you really love? Or any bargains that you’d recommend?

Sampling the goods

Good evening all and Happy Wednesday to you! I love the second half of the week cos we’re sooo close to the weekend :)

Just wanted to mention a site I’ve been using for quite a while now because I haven’t heard anyone else talk about it! It’s called latestinbeauty.com and the basic premise involves choosing samples from whatever they have available (you get one for each of the 3 categories: skin care, makeup & fragrances, hair & body)
I’ve discovered some amazing products using this site including stuff from the Mary Kay range which I’d never have splashed out on without knowing how good it is!
Anyway – they text you a code which costs £1 then all you have to do is provide a delivery address and choose the goodies
The pics are of the most recent package I've received and I was well pleased with it :)

Oh and just a quick mention of some W7 eye shadows I stumbled across recently! I’ve seen this brand online loads but the stuff is so cheap the makeup snob in me always assumed it must be rubbish (I know I know – very narrow minded of me!)
So I figured this would be worth a try cos I’m loving greens at the minute and I’m pleased to report that it’s superb! The quality is so much better than I expected; all the shades are really pigmented and I’ve already used this to create 3 completely different, albeit green, eye looks. All for the bargain price of £1.19 :)