Mani Monday

Hey guys!

I apologise for the lack of posts recently. I've had some intense weeks at uni and didn't have time/feel like writing. Unfortunately my crazily busy weeks haven't ended as I have an exam next week which of course I haven't started revising for... As it stands I'm currently taking a break from the all-nighter that I decided to pull.

It's been a while since I've posted a mani monday so here's my current manicure! I went back to my usual striping tape.

To create this look, I used a simple black from Barry M and one of the 'Polka Dots' polishes from one of Maybelline's limited edition color show.

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great week!

#2014bloggerchallenge- high end vs high street

 

Hey guys

Today's #2014bloggerchallenge post is all about the good old high end vs high street debate.

I personally think both have their pros and cons.

But from my bank account point of things being a student and all I'm more swayed towards high street. Superdrug and Boots (even though they now have high-end brands there as well) have some great products.

The only high end products I regularly buy are foundation and concealers. I've bought some lipsticks as well but they were from the cosmetics store so they were cheaper.

My favourite high street brands are MUA and Revlon.

My favourite high end brand is MAC.

What annoys me about high end products is that sometimes you spend all that money and the product sucks! I'll never forget my clinique disaster. Which has resulted in me not having any of their products since and I don't see myself trying them any time soon!

So since I only really have experience with high street products I thought I would give you my top 3 drugstore products at the moment. (It was a difficult choice to make...)

High street:

1. Undress Me Too palette by MUA. I'm always raving on about this product but it's for good reason! It's supposed to me a dupe to the Naked 2 palette. I haven't tried the Naked Palette so I can't really say if it is a good dupe or not but it's a great palette either way. Costing only £4 from Superdrug, (£3.60 if you have an NUS extra card) you just can't go wrong.

2. Revlon Lipsticks/Lip butters. So I'm technically cheating by putting them in the same category but they're very similar and I love them both the same. The colours are well pigmented and last long whilst keeping the lips in a good condition. They cost about £7 which when I'm being cheap can be a bit much for me but to be honest, they're worth the price.

3. Sally Hansen nail polishes. I'm a nail polish addict and I'm always looking for new nail polishes that won't chip after 1-2 days! Sally Hansen polishes last about 4-5 days chip free (which is good in my book) and don't cost the earth. They cost about £6 in Superdrug and Boots but you can get them cheaper on eBay and there are ranges and effects that I haven't seen in my store that I've managed to buy online.

What are you favourite high street brands/products? Any high end products you can convince me to try? Do let me know! And if you've posted your #2014bloggerchallenge leave your links below! I'd love to read them!

Thanks for reading!

Mani Monday- Valentines Edition

Hey guys

This week's mani monday is valentines themed. 

I'm actually not the biggest Valentine's Day celebrator nor do I usually do themed nail art but I was entering a competition so I thought I might as well share with you what I entered. 

It's nothing spectacular but I thought it was cute...

 

Hope you have a great week and a Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Miss Luxe Oversized Jumper

Hey guys

Last month I found myself a winner again! This time it was from a twitter competition. I've entered countless of these feeling like I'm never going to win but there's no harm in trying. So there I was getting ready for uni and I received a twitter notification congratulating me on winning Miss Luxe's competition for that week. I was over the moon and after receiving this item I was even happier.

The prize was an oversized jumper RRP at £15.99 and I chose it in cream as I previously didn't own any jumpers in this colour. 

It's a great item of clothing and the kind of thing I would buy anyway.

I love oversized jumpers especially as I haven't quite gotten my body to where I want it to be.

I like to wear it with a pair of leggings and some boots, either knee high or ankle.

Boots: New Look

(Excuse the pictures...it's just me and my iphone)

 

 I'm already eying up some jumpers and jeans and will definitely be shopping at Miss Luxe again as soon as my spending ban is over. 
And don't forget to follow them on twitter where you can also have a chance to win the beautiful items they offer every tuesday,

Have you guys shopped at Miss Luxe before and what did you buy? If you haven't I would definitely recommend it as they have some great items and their prices are nice and affordable which is perfect for a student like myself who has a shopping problem...

Thanks for reading!

January favourites

Hey guys!

So January is over so of course I have to do a summary of my favourites for this month.

 

I have so many!!! As many of you guys out there, I'm sure January resulted in doing a lot more shopping than usual... so it's been difficult to try and narrow down my selection so this post doesn't get too long and boring.

Nail Art collection

Predictably, one of my favourites is nail related.
This first item, like most of my purchases, was not planned. I walked into TK Maxx looking to buy new gym gear but I wandered over to the beauty section. I had already resisted buying stuff from this section a couple of months ago and I think I wanted to convince myself that there was nothing there to buy. Most of the appealing stuff had items missing or had spilt or otherwise defected. I was on my way downstairs when this packet with the title 'Nail Art' caught my eye. I couldn't walk away from that now could I?

It contains 7 polishes and 1 sealer. The reason why I really like this is because it allows me to create intricate designs which I can't always do with striping tape. It does take a bit of practice especially when it comes to using my left hand to paint my right hand but practice makes perfect!


Real Technique brushes


I finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself some real technique brushes. I decided to buy a set from amazon because I don't like buying individual brushes as I find it can be quite expensive ( and these were also on offer).

 I bought the Core collection set containing a detailer brush, pointed foundation brush, buffing brush and contour brush. My favourite is the detailer brush as it's great for highlighting my eyebrows.
These brushes are so soft and great at applying the make up evenly.
I also love that the case doubles up as a stand!

Trainers

The next favourite is a pair of trainers. I was getting tired of my gym shoes so I said I would get myself a new pair of trainers which would also help motivate me.
I searched everywhere and finally found a pair from Sports Direct.

 I love that they're pink and purple especially as purple is my favourite colour! They make my gym outfit that bit more interesting and a bit more girly! They're also really comfortable which is important for any shoes but especially shoes being worn during exercise. They seem durable and I'm sure these shoes will last me a long time.

Any.do

My last favourite is a new app I discovered on my tablet. As a student, it's important to be organised. Along with everybody else I made the 'resolution' of trying to get more organised. I'm actually quite organised but when things get busy it's easy for things to slip my mind. So when browsing the Google Play Store as I do when I'm bored, I came across the Any.do app.

When the reminder comes up you can't miss it. You can decide to tick that you've done it, dismiss it (not really a good idea), or snooze it for 15 mins, 3 hours, or even to the next day. You could be like me and snooze it until you finally get around to doing it...

Another great thing about this app is that you can synchronise your account between different devices. So I can download it on my iPhone (or another android device if you have one) as well which results in me being reminded twice, so you basically don't have an excuse anymore for forgetting.

That rounds up my favourites for January. What have been your January favourites? Do let me know, or leave your links below as I would love to see them!

Thank you for reading!

Nude Mani Monday

Hey guys

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my recent Superdrug Haul. In this haul I picked up a couple of nude limited edition nail polishes from Maybelline's color show range.

I had mentioned my hesitation regarding nude nail polishes as I'm quite a dark skinned girl. However, I'm loving these polishes!

And unlike many of the polishes from this range, it hasn't peeled off and seems to be lasting quite a while which I'm pleasantly surprised about.

Have any of you tried these polishes?

I'd love to know what you thought of them!

Thanks for reading!

Shoes I bought in the sales (part 1)

Hey guys

It's time for a fashion post.

I love wearing boots. It almost makes winter bearable (I said almost). In the sales I actually ended up buying 6.

I think I've established I have a major weakness when it comes to shoes as that's what majority of my money went on in the sales.

So I thought I'd share some of what I bought.

The first two I bought from New Look. I love New Look for their shoes.

I had been looking for ankle boots with block heels for a while and I finally found some. I had to restrict myself to 2 pairs: one black and one tan.

These were originally £27.99 but I had a 25% discount code so I ended up paying just about £21.
These are the kind of shoes I had been looking for, for ages!!! The heel isn't too high and it's a block heel so much more comfortable and easier to walk in.
I can wear it to spice up an everyday outfit.

These I got for £16. I can't remember how much they were before.
If I'm being honest, I probably didn't need to buy these. But I justified it as they were black, so can be worn with anything.
It's a bit different to what I usually wear because of the square front. I usually only like shoes with round fronts, I tend to find square shoes weird but I liked these. I didn't own anything like it before, so I didn't feel too bad.

This last pair was not planned at all. I had said no more shoes but I was in Debenhams and these shoes caught my eyes. I made the mistake of trying them on which resulted in me not being able to say no. They used to be £95 but because of the 70% off Debenhams were offering, I got them for £28.50! That's what I call a bargain! On the plus side my old military boots were destroyed so I basically replaced them. That's what I call an investment...

So this concludes shoes part 1 of the shoes I bought in the sales. I didn't want to put them all into one post as I thought it would get long and boring.

What did you get in the sale? I'd love to know as I love a good sale!

Thanks for reading!!

#2014bloggerchallenge- Story time

Hey guys!

It's another #2014bloggerchallenge post! This time it's all about books.

I love to read but sadly because of the crazy timetable and insane workload uni gives me, I barely have anytime to read books for fun. I tend to use my summer holidays to catch up on reading or now that I have a tablet, I can read on the go as it's much easier to carry around than a book.

I've decided to talk about my all time favourite book series which is the 'Noughts and Crosses' series by Malorie Blackman.

Admittedly, it's been a while since I read this book but I remember when I was reading each book in the series and thinking what a great book this is. It's one of the few times I remember literally not being able to put a book down. These books are quite huge but it didn't feel like to me and I managed to finish it in a day or too.

The blurb reads:

"Sephy is a Cross – a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a nought – a ‘colourless’ member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood. But that’s as far as it can go. Until the first steps are taken towards more social equality and a limited number of Noughts are allowed into Cross schools… Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity by Noughts, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum – a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger…"

It's written so well and you can't help but feel involved and you get caught up in their emotions.

I'm not going to give away the story but if you haven't read these books you really need to! 

I've always wanted them to make a movie based on these books. I think it would be an amazing one starring yours truly as the main character... haha

Writing this post has got me all nostalgic as it reminds me of my times at school and now I want to read the series all over again. Unfortunately, I have a lot of uni work to do and can't afford a 'reading week'. Hopefully, over the summer.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? 

What's your favourite book/series? Do let me know. 

Also, if you're taking part in this challenge leave your links below as I'd love to read them!

Thanks for reading!