I've had a real corker of bad day today and it all went downhill at precisely 07:15 this morning when I woke up, probably because I was supposed to be out of bed when the first 2 alarms went off at 06:00. Bloody marvellous.
Well I was lulled into a false sense of security by having a good morning and then lunch struck and it all spiralled into a pile of disaster. I won't go into the tedious details of what happened but my afternoon ended in a trip to River Island and Marks & Spencer...
I left with this playsuit which I had been after for a little while and I think I'll have to wear it with a little crop top underneath otherwise there's a little too much on show up top! Tights may also be called for until my legs are a little more toned too, I'll put some proper photos up soon though :)
Picture courtesy of River Island website
I also picked up a Food to go chunky chocolate cheesecake in M&S in a vague attempt to feel better, it was my first venture into choccy cheesecake and it was yum but I think I'll stick with forest fruits in the future!
That's correct, I eat my feelings...I only really like fruity cheesecake.
Until today I had forgotten just how much I used to dislike Tuesdays (worst day of the week apart from Sunday) Things just always seem to go wrong on a Tuesday for me even when I forget it's a Tuesday. Oh well, tomorrow is Wednesday and from there it's just 2 days until the 4 DAY WEEKEND!! X
Thank you Greg James for reminding me how much I love this song today
This Friday finally came around and it meant that I had to decorate all of the cakes for the engagement party of the friend that I work with! I thought I would let you know how I got on :)
I stayed up late on Thursday evening baking the 48 cupcakes, it would have been SO much quicker if I had been organised and bought more than 1 tin that held 6 cakes...8 rounds later and the oven and I were pretty tired. Don't fret, I have now purchased 3 more tins!
I decided I would do 6 different designs on 8 cakes each to try and keep things simple and I think what I ended up with was 5 designs of 8 and 2 designs of 4.
Here is the finished lot, sorry for all the pictures!
I was SO relieved that these boxes arrived on Friday, I ordered them over a week in advance and I was beginning to panic that they would arrive on Saturday and be too late.
I listed to the advice from you about keeping the pink a little softer and I was so glad I did. You can't see the different shades so easily in these photos and the light pink had dried and gone a little darker and the darker pink was yet to dry and darken so they all look similar. I hope that sort of makes sense?
I love the little flowers on these ones
They're not what I would necessarily choose for my engagement party but they were fun to make and I do love glitter and of course the main issue was that my friend loved them and she said she did so all was good!
What do you think of them?
x
P.S This may be controversial but is it just me that LOVES the look of the Charbonnel et Walker truffle boxes but just thinks they taste old and not nearly as luxurious as the box would suggest. Dare I say it, I prefer Cadbury giant chocolate buttons...
... that's not to say that I won't keep trying the different flavours in the hope that I will strike gold!
Hasn't the weather been amazing here in the UK for almost and entire week now?!
woooop
This week I decided that if I want to make/sell flower themed cakes then I should probably start practising and figure out how to make more lifelike flowers. I discovered the weekend before that icing is not going to be my forte and basically my beginners technique is sh1t, therefore modelling the fondant icing is what I'm going to attempt to improve at!
For a first attempt I'm actually quite pleased, they aren't any particular variety of flower but I think I will try red icing and black thousands in the middle next so that they are just like poppies...
Up close and personal
I've also been going a bit mad with teacup trios and old china in general really and have had lots of eBay parcels arriving at my door recently.
I've been going for lots of delicate gold patterns for the wedding fayre displays because I thought they would look pretty and keep my cake decorating options open, colour wise.
One of my new favourites
I love this song right now, the band really remind me of Muse!
There we go, this was a bit short and sweet but I've got another coming up- sorry, 2 posts in one day!
So much for writing a really long post last Sunday eh? I don't really have an excuse, I was really tired and my laptop has been playing up AGAIN, shock. To give you an idea of the laptop situation, I have to keep my laptop tilted at a slightly downward, right position or it turns itself off, it won't charge and if the cable isn't plugged in at a certain angle, it turns itself off. This turning off happens A LOT and I always end up losing something important online. The battery is at zero so the moment the cable moves it's game over which makes trying to type with one hand whilst the other keeps the laptop tilted is a real bore when it take 9 attempts :( whing whinge moan moan- sorry, I'll stop!
In my previous post I mentioned that the matte curtain road from Nails inc. chipped really easily so I thought if I was going to ruin the matte effect with a topcoat then I might as well make it a little more interesting. I picked up these two Models Own polishes in Boots with their 2 for £8 deal from the new Hed Kandi range which I just LOVE.
L-R, Beach Party, Ibiza mix
I will give a proper review of Beach Party soon, the photo just doesn't do it any justice- it glows so brightly!
What do you think? I just love Ibiza mix on top of curtain road, the different sizes of round pastel glitter look so nice with it. I think it will compliment blue even better so I did a couple of patch tests below... I think I'll try Peacock next. This is just 1 coat of glitter so 3 would probably get you close to opaque, although 1 coat took forever to remove so I would love to know how many days 3 coats would take to remove!
Apologies for the dodgy card tester but my nail wheels haven't arrived yet and I only have one pair of hands
On to mascara...
I find it really difficult to leave the house without any mascara, probably ever since I received my first Diorshow mascara in a gift set for Christmas...hmm maybe 8 years ago? God I hope not because that makes me feel ancient and I'm only 23.
I have fairly large eyes and would probably consider them my best/only feature. My eyelashes used to be longer, thicker and darker but after years of abuse they are suffering a little and are quite pale so on goes the bucket of mascara on a daily basis.
Even my mum stares for a while and says 'Aha, that's what's different-
I'm not used to seeing you without any eye make-up' when it isn't on.
Thanks mum.
I am a big fan of Chanel mascaras, the don't flake like Dior and they almost always have the effect that the advert says which I've discovered isn't always true with other companies.
Chanel Sublime Mascara
The INCREDIBLE Chanel Sublime mascara
I picked this up in Sephora in Paris in January on a bit of a fluke, I had loved their Cils a Cils in the past and also their Inimitable so I thought this looked promising and would give it a go.
BEST.DECISION.EVER
My plain, scary looking boggler
A swish of the magic wand
One coat
I think I have my photos confused, this is supposed to be 2 coats and I have a feeling it's still one...
Two coats & eyeliner
This is halfway through the tube I reckon, which is my only gripe with every Chanel mascara I have ever used- You will never have as good an effect as with the first week of using it. It is so formula heavy on the wand to start with that they run out very quickly and even after a week or 2 it is noticeable how much less is being used; it's still always a fantastic mascara but nowhere near as good as the first use. I didn't want to blink the first time in case I blew cars off the road!
I am now on my 3rd Sublime, the 2nd was a waterproof version which was good but it seems that something in the formula detracts from it's length, volume & separation capabilities and I would just stick with regular panda mascara with Chanel now.
I also usually only use DEEP BLACK but picked up Deep Brown in a hurry by mistake. It's thw brown I am wearing in the photos and do you know what I thought it would be too subtle but it's great and I can't really tell that it isn't black at all.
I would definitely recommend this to any mascara addicts out there, it's just so good!
Well that's this post over with, I will try and get my arse in gear and post every night again because I've got SO MUCH to talk about on here!
Good morning :) It looks like we'll be having great weather this weekend, yay!
I bought this lovely little nail polish from the Nails inc. website for £5 thinking it it looked like a nice shade of pale pink and I'd not seen the matte effect before. On the Website it's called Curtain Road, when it arrived though it was called Curtain Street, so who knows!
Picture courtesy of Nails inc.website
OK, looking at my photo it looks just the same as the website, perhaps I had just imagined it to be the colour I was hoping...
It looks a lot pinker in real life than on the website so I was a little disappointed but actually I really like the shade now and think its the perfect match to a matte polish as it's a very powdery, girly sort of look.
Apologies for the state of my shoddy index finger
More 'satin' finish than true matte
The polish itself is a bit of a nightmare to apply, it's quite thin and runny and the 1st coat is a wonderful streaky one. The 2nd coat improves things but it's still not quite right, so it takes 3 coats of this bad boy to get it looking opaque and streak free. One thing working in its favour is that it is the fastest drying polish I've probably ever come across, I don't just mean touch dry either. You can press on this after a a minute or so and it leaves no mark, even after 3 coats it is still a quicker dryer which at least makes up for the fact that 4 coats could be needed.
Another thing to mention is that this chips SO easily and hasn't even lasted 24 hours on me. I really like the look but I think I'll just use this now and then as a novelty and definitely not everyday!
Right, I'm off now; my friend and I joined the gym yesterday and we're going to attempt another 50 lengths of the pool and then we're going to watch Beauty and the Beast 3D at the cinema! I am so excited about this, gutted it's only in 3D because I really don't like wearing those glasses which make no difference at all but it's in my top 3 favourite Disney films ever. I LOVE IT.
I'll be back tomorrow with a very looonnnnggggg post.
I'll finish this post with a quick feel good song for the weekend!
Sorry for not posting anything last night, I was so tired when I got home that all I could do was finish some ironing, have dinner and then go to bed. I know, I know- my weekday life is like a scene from The Hangover 3.
I thought in this post I would chatter about moisturisers
STEAMCREAM
I bought this EARTH edition just before Christmas, half because I wanted to see if it was as good as people were saying and half because I just really liked the tin.
They're currently selling for £12.95 for a 75g tin which I'm not entirely convinced is great value if you were to use it all over your body on a daily basis.
All the tins have different patterns on and limited editions are released on a regular basis so you can collect the lot if you fancy!
To quote the STEAM CREAM website:
'We use our unique steam process to make an amazingly effective cream that your skin can absorb instantly. When it touches your skin, the naturally moisturising ingredients and pure, calming essential oils are released from our light emulsion so that they can penetrate past the surface. Your skin will feel softer for longer.
Steam is pure water, heated under pressure past 100°C, and we harness its power to fuse our beautiful ingredients together instantly, to make a gentle emulsion. This forms the natural base of our smoothly textured cream. By using steam to combine them, the natural materials in STEAMCREAM remain pure and effective.'
So mine arrived in the post and stupid me just went right ahead and opened it. For some reason I was expecting a light, air whipped type of moisturiser that wasn't too fluid but NOPE, it had the consistency of pouring cream and went all over me. Great start.
The first thing that hits you is the smell, it's quite strong but not unpleasant in any way- similar to a LUSH shop but more herbal? It's the Neroli oil and Lavender that I can smell the most and it's definitely a grower.
As it was all over me already, I thought I'd use it as a hand/arm cream but although the website says it absorbs easily I was still able to feel it. It's probably the vegetable glycerine that I could feel because it does feel incredibly smooth and light when you are applying it, it just felt a little too rich afterwards for my personal taste.
I really don't like that feeling when you put clothes on after moisturiser and you can still feel it, too much like wearing tights under trousers for me, so I went further south.
My feet bloody love STEAMCREAM, it's a great intensive moisturiser but still light enough to not stick your feet to everything if you're using it overnight. I really would recommend it but probably only for very dry areas such as elbows, knees and then feet too.
I'm right at the end of my tin and although I don't LOVE it, I know that I am a sucker for packaging and will probably definitely buy another and probably another after that for the tins and the nice effect it's had on my feet.
One important thing to mention and a great reason to just try out this cream is that the company have a wonderful ethos. They are apparently the sister company of LUSH Cosmetics and this shows in the fact that the ingredients a approved by the Vegan Society, it is produced in the UK and Japan, minimum preservatives & packaging and finally they do not test or use any suppliers associated with animal testing. All of these can only be good things in my eyes!
MY NEW FAVOURITES
SBC (Simply Beautiful Cosmetics)
(L-R, Aloe Vera,Vitamin E, Vitamin C)
I saw these gels in John Lewis around the end of last summer and thought they looked interesting and then bought the Aloe one for my holiday to South Africa in October and now I'm totally obsessed!
These gels are designed as moisturisers,soothers and therapy products and there are dozens of 'flavours' to meet ever need:
There are so many more,take a look at the SBC website :)
What I like about these so much is that I can jump out of the shower and put this on straight away, it locks in the moisture and dries so quickly without leaving any residue at all. My skin is left soft and moisturised and I don't have that horrible feeling you get when you put your clothes on, even after waiting half an hour with other body moisturisers.
Another thing is that this is one moisturiser you really can use on your body AND face, I used the Vitamin C on my face during the winter to perk it up a bit and it was great. I do find the orange smell of this one a little strange but the other two that I've used have been great.
The aloe vera gel was great as an after sun on holiday, especially when I popped it into the fridge.
The one I'm currently using everyday is the Vitamin E gel which is just a nice gentle moisturiser.
They retail for around £12 for a 250ml bottle which you can get through pretty quickly but if you look around you can find them cheaper, their website also has an offer of 50% off the £55 1 litre bottles right now. I know I shouldn't say this but the eBay shops normally have them all quite cheaply, the 1 litre bottles at roughly £26 or less which is pretty good!
I don't know if anyone else uses them but I don't think they've been all that popular, they went in the sale in John Lewis after Christmas and now they don't stock them on their website either; perhaps people don't like the idea of a gel moisturiser instead of a cream one? Either way I would 100% recommend giving them a try!
P.S No animal testing here either
Well I hope that wasn't too boring but at least the weekend starts tomorrow and I'm going to be doing a few Nails Inc and Models Own posts :)
Wasn't it hard going back to work today after the weekend? I had a terrible nights sleep last night and so did quite a few people I was chatting to today - I think it's because there was a full moon at the weekend and that can make people a bit restless. Honestly, I'm not loopy- it's a well know fact amongst care homes that around the full moon all the old people start roaming around and won't sleep properly! Either that or I slept too much and just wasn't tired but I'd like to think it's down to the moon if I'm honest.
It was so dreary when I woke up this morning that I decided my work attire called for something special, something a little more chirpy than the grey outside...
They're from Zara and I'm not sure how well the pictures show this but they're covered in (quite a yellow )gold oval sequins. I saw them on the Zara website before Christmas and wasn't sure if they would just be a bit too much and then I did that thing where you wait a bit to see if you still like them but they sell out in your size and never get them back in stock. Aaannddd I really wasn't sure whether I wanted to pay £55(or roughly that) for them.
Then, one day I was browsing eBay and watch should be there looking up at me- tadaaa! They were in one of those shops, BNWT with a starting bid of £15 and somehow even though I had to sneak of at work and bid on my phone with the VERY SLOW internet I was the only bidder and got them :)
This is one of so many reasons that I am totally in love with Ebay.
The only thing is that obviously not everyone in my office was ready for the disco that was on my feet and they received a few admiring comments. I'm sure they just wanted a pair themselves, either way I LOVE THEM so I just don't care what people think.
I probably won't be wearing them on any nights out though,just in case I am confused for an adult 6 year old or something.
This all sort of leads me to the fact that I am slowly building a collection of impractical flat shoes- they're pretty, they're comfortable but they are just too embellished/delicate to wear out without trashing them.
Like my Monsoon 'slippers'
I love these too but with a summer like we're having at the moment I can't wear them without staining the 'satin' sort of upper. Gutted.
At least with heels I can accept they can be too high or uncomfortable but surely all flats should be OK? Has anyone else got this problem??
On another note, tonight I went to my 2nd TRX session and it was so tough. If you've never heard of TRX before it's this form of exercise that was designed by a navy seal so that you can build strength and exercise anywhere (so very useful for deployed troops). It's meant to build core strength and stability using your own weight as a workout without adding bulk. Who knows if it's working but my friend and I are just hoping to stop being so clumsy and kick start the bikini body. I might look like Kim Kardashian at the end of the 6 week course but I am beginning to highly doubt it.
After our 'taster' session, my friend and I felt great, totally knackered but like it must be having a positive effect. The next morning, I still felt great because I could jump out of bed and not just crawl into the shower like I was expecting.HOWEVER, by lunchtime neither my friend nor I could move, we couldn't really lift our arms, change gears in the car and typing was a major pain. Don't even get my started on the trauma of going to the loo. This was a Wednesday and we hadn't really recovered until Saturday...
So last week I made sure I had a Radox Muscle soak bubble bath and it was phenomenal, I barely even ached the next day and although maybe it's because we are a little stronger that we didn't ache as much but all I can say is God Bless you Radox because I am sure you were the only reason I could walk the next day.
That's why I jumped in the Radox cloud again tonight- fingers crossed!
I'll let you know what I think at the end of the 6 week course but I'm pretty sure that my balance has improved and I'm less likely to randomly fall over now which can only be a good thing :)
Woah, sorry for such a long post. I'll warn you now if you haven't already guessed it but I am a serial waffler and can't tell a short story so I'm sorry about that now but I just can't change it.
P.S My friend loved the cakes and Nazia, you're completely right- too heavy handed with the pink food colouring so I'll be more delicate next time! Thank you for your comments :)
It's Monday and instead of doing the serious amount of tidying I really should have spent my day doing, I was making cakes.
I've offered to make some fairy cakes for a girl who I work withs engagement party, now that I think about it I'm really not sure what possessed me to do such a thing because they all went a bit skew-whiff. Actually, I know exactly why I offered, because I love making cakes and really wanted the chance to make lots and lots, but like all of my plans its not really going to be the buttercream dream I was imagining.
She basically said just saidPINK&BUTTERFLIESfor a theme, something fit for a little girls party...so I said that I'd make some over the weekend so that she could see if we're on a similar wavelength and I'd bring them in tomorrow.
So, this is what happened
I cut out lots of butterflies from the fondant icing and the laid them in the seams of books in the hope they would dry at an angle...
...made the taster cakes...
...and then this is what happened next=
I do like them butthey just aren't what I had envisioned. I think they would probably be fine for my little cousin but they don't look particularly polished (I'm thinking Joey's letter to the adoption agency in Friends when they think a child's done it)
Well, hopefully my friend will like them tomorrow but I will let you know either way!
What do you think of them? Family & friends can only be so honest...
Hand cream's such a funny thing, sometimes I look at peoples hands that don't ever use a drop of it and they look baby soft and other people can't go a day without it. Sadly, I think I'm beginning to fall into the latter- I've used it so much over the years I think my hands have become dependant of it and now its a vicious cycle that I just can't quit. Believe me, I've tried to wean myself off but it just does not work. It probably doesn't help that I can be a little OCD when it comes to washing my hands every 10 minutes...
That's why I've decided that my first proper post should be about my joint 1st addiction (joint with lipbalm but that will be dealt with later), there's no point in spending all this money on nails if my hands look like scaly pieces of this
I've tried dozens of different hand creams and right now this is my everyday favourite:
Marks & Spencer Essential Extracts in Cocoa butter & vanilla
Its only £1 and if you can get it when there's an offer on or have a friend with a discount card then it can be £0.60-0.80 which is just AMAZING VALUE. I really can't recommend this stuff enough, they do other 'flavours' such as peach & almond, aloe vera, passion flower etc. which all smell lovely but I feel this one does by far the best job.
It is lightweight and absorbs very easily and quickly leaving no greasy residue, even when you put too much on it just leaves your hands feeling softer. I bought 10 after my first tube and put them in my bags, bedside table, desk, car, sink...literally everywhere.
I'm sure some people may be turning their noses up a little, £1? M&S? NO THANK YOU.
Well I am a big fan of all the Elizabeth Arden 8 hour products, especially their hand treatment and I have to say that for everyday use, the M&S one wins. I always feel as though there is a residue left from the EA 8 hour hand cream which is why I like to use it at night because my hands still go all slippy in the shower the next morning from it.
I still like something a little more intensive now and then, for in between my fingers and and dry areas and this is what I use in those desperate times
Herbacin Wuta Kamille Glycerin Handcream
It comes in a cute 20ml tin or a tube and I think mine came from John Lewis for £1.50 or something close. Its great. I would recommend keeping one of these in your bag, especially over the winter as its quite good on sore little noses too! I personally don't use it as an all over hand cream as it leaves a bit if sheen like the Elizabeth Arden that can make typing, driving etc. a bit of a pain but I do think it does a slightly better job at being an intensive treatment than EA.
That's my hand cream rant over...for now at least.
It's the bank holiday weekend and although I really should be doing other (possibly more productive) things, I've decided to start this blog. WELCOME! This welcome doesn't really go to anyone right now as I've had no visitors but when you get here, visitor numero uno, this welcome goes to you! :)
I've gradually built up a huge amount of cosmetics since leaving uni and my particular favourite at the moment is everything nail art. This blog is mainly going to be about all the new products and styles I'm going to be trying as I can't find reviews already, but there will be lots of other bits thrown in too and I doubt it will be long before my mind changes the direction of my little corner of internet.
Right, now I'm off to have a peek at PostSecret because I just can't get enough of it at the moment.
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