The leopard Manicure...

Ages ago I attempted leopard print on my nails. Surprisingly, it is very easy to do and using regular leopard colours I made a pretty good attempt...

Leopard Nails

Excuse the picture! The picture was taken when it was very dark around. For the base i used Model's Own - Gold Rush and then for the 'spots' I used a taupe colour (I cannot for the life of me find the actual colour but any taupe brown colour will work!). I then used the Model's own nail art pen to do emphasise the spots. This may seem complicated, but basically all you have to do is draw round the brown splodges you make. I tend to completely outline some, outline part of the spot and then add a few all black spots in large gaps. It is also good to add some different thickness's. This was honestly my first try and believe me it is fairly fool proof and looks really different and interesting. Plus it also makes you look like you are a near professional (at least on your non-writing hand anyway :) )

Today i decided to try the leopard nails again when it dawned on me that I read a blog post a while ago ( I cannot for the life of me remember who's blog it was on, so if you read this comment below and I will link to your post) using a multicoloured leopard effect so I decided to give it a try...

MultiColoured Leopard Nails

I did these in a semi rush so apologies about the neatness but i totally love the effect. Obviously it will look better with a tan (white nails always do) but I have already had a bunch of compliments on them already so girls/guys get painting! I used Model's Own - Snow White as the base and did various spots using Barry M - Coral, China Glaze - Gothic Lolita, Model's Own - Jade Stone, Model's Own - Feeling blue and China Glaze - Fushia Fanatic. I also used the Models own nails art pen in black for the outline. There are many different types of nail art pen and frankly I have only used very few so cannot tell you that the model's own version is better but it is a good pen and i got both my white and black pens whilst on promotion where you buy 2 polishes and get the pen free (I think this is on in boots at the moment so hurry down)! I cannot vouch for the pen but Model's Own nail polishes are great quality and the formula and brushes are as good as my OPI. They have an amazing colour range and are slowly becoming my favourite brand of nail polish! The price of £5 may help too!

Hope yous are having a wonderful week!

Steph

xxx

Sunny Days & Polka Dot Nails...

Isn't the sun wonderful? It puts everyone in a better mood and the sunglasses and bright clothing comes out!

As usual, I have picked up a few new products over the last week while some which I need to show you!

Firstly, anyone that reads blogs knows about those products that take over blogosphere and everyone and their mother blogs about them. Whilst in boots over the weekend I intended to do just this and Pick up Essie - Mint Candy Apple from the new diffusion line. As I was heading for the till I noticed that models own were offering a free nail art pen with every two purchases. Immediately I grabbed one of those other cult products - Indian Ocean and then I spotted a gorgeous mint green. I love Model's Own formula, they’re cheaper and I actually prefer the slightly deeper colour.

L-R: Jade Stone, White Nail Art Pen, Indian Ocean

And of course the nail art pen has come in handy...

Using Model's Own Nail Art Pen & Rimmel Lycra Pro Urban Princess 

The next thing I shamelessly picked up was the Revlon lip butters. I’m not the biggest lipstick fan so really I have no idea what drew me to these but I am glad I picked them up. I mainly wear a bit of Carmex and a lip gloss when I’m out but these are worth all the hype. They come in gorgeous shades, are shamelessly creamy and at £7.99 they aren't the most expensive lip product.

Top - Strawberry Shortcake, Bottom - Cupcake

L-R - Strawberry Shortcake, Cupcake

The next thing I picked up was a new moisturiser that I had read about on another blog. The Good Things Miracle Mattifer is a moisturiser made of entirely natural products and helps keep the skin matte throughout the day. The moisturiser was £7.99 and for that price I wasn’t expecting miracles, but it truly is such a good makeup base and I do feel that my makeup lasts a lot longer whilst wearing this! It is defiantly worth the hype!

Good Things Miracle Mattifer - Boots £7.99

Finally I picked up a baby Sudocrem for on the go! Sudocrem should be a staple in every girls make up routine. I have tried countless spot treatments and I don’t think anything works as well as Sudocrem. It dries the spot out without making it look really flaky so I love it plus look how cute the baby tube is!

Baby Sudocrem!

That's all my lovelies! Enjoy the Sunshine :)

Steph

xxx

Swatchy Swatchy...

Hello Beautifuls!

As promised here are a few swatches of all the lovely nail polishes I have purchased over the last wee while. I'm really pleased with them all apart from golden peach. With a tan it is beautiful but against my paler skin it gives me a sort-of sickly glow but it is still a beautiful colour. I will just have to tan more often - Hello St. Moriz!

China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Model's Own Golden Peach

China Glaze Electric Beat

Model's Own Aqua Violet

Apologises for the dodgy painting, especially on electric beat. Most of the painting was done on the go!

Which one is you favourite?

Love
Steph
xxx

Buy Now Syndrome...

Buy now syndrome is a serious condition and whilst I have been neglecting my blog I have been seriously sick with a bit of buy now syndrome. Now this is not a post to brag in anyway. I bought all this stuff with my own money and over a period of around a month so there was no one big splurge. This was also helped by my handy student card and a salon services discount card! So i hope you enjoy this sort of post. If not you know where the comments go... :)

Nailpolish is a guilty pleasure of mine. I see a pretty colour and I have to buy it - Im a magpie in human form! Over the last month I have bought a shameful amount of nail polishes but I have no regretted a single one! I will post swatches in a later post, so you will just have to cope with the bottles for now...

L-R: Bleu Violet, Bleu Asphalte

L-R: Fuchsia Fanatic, Electric Beat, Gothic Lolita

L-R: Rimmel Nail Rescue, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

L-R: OPI Russian Navy, Barry M 311

Model's Own Golden Peach

Models Own Aqua Violet

Sorry about the rubbish pictures. My Camera died so I am stuck with my silly iPhone Camera.

Anyways after the nail polish i turned my attention to shoes. I have wanted a pair of Toms for a while. I have heard how amazing comfy they are and I like the idea that if you buy a pair a pair of shoes will be sent to a child in Africa who needs new shoes. At £35 they are quite expensive for what they are but out of all the pairs I have tried there is no comparison to the Toms, so I finally caved and bought a pair. After purchasing I found a lovely similar pair in New look which at £7.99 were a total bargain and although they are not as comfy, they are just as nice!

L-R: Navy Toms £35, New Look £7.99

I also went into lush to pick up a bubblegum lip scrub. I heard a lot about this in the blogging world and you truly do need to smell it to believe how good it smells. The scrub leaves you lips so smooth and there is not a bit of dry skin to be seen. My boyfriend even used it (Not that he will ever admit it!) after he worked with cement all day and was left with terribly dry lips. After using this it does leave you with soft lips but I like to use some Carmex over the top to give them a nice shine.

Finally I have an update on the bobbi brown foundation I raved about. After a while the foundation really lost its wow factor. I still like the consistency and the dewy glow it gave me but the coverage isn't the best, so I decided to look for a new foundation and ended up picking two! I'm suffering with bad breakouts at the moment due to an intense amount of stress! So I decided to try Clinque's Anti-blemish solutions liquid make up. It has medium coverage but it is defiantly buildable and really has helped with my breakouts. I wear shade 02. To Counteract this I ended up caving and buying Estee Lauder's Double Wear light. I also loved double wear but I hated the heavy feeling it left me with. The light version gave me the same amount of coverage but didn't seem to feel as 'cakey' on my skin. My only issue with this foundation is the shade range is appalling. I ended up with Shade 02 but realistically I needed a shade 2 and a half. It has a tendency to wash me out, so I have to mix it with a darker foundation which really defeats the purpose. I would recommend both foundations. I don't know if any of them will be repurchased but If you can get double wear light to match your skin then it is defiantly one to buy!

Double Wear Light £26.50

Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions £22

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! I'm feeling incredibly guilty for spending so much but awk well you only live once!

Stay tuned for some swatches of all the nail polish purchases!

Steph

xxx

The Lust List...

I have been a terrible blogger! I mean truly terrible! I don’t think I have posted in almost a month! I would bore you with all the reasons why but I'll save you a few hours. In a nutshell I have been swamped with work, moved house and frankly I also found out that you can watch Jeremy Kyle on iplayer and this consumed my life for a considerable period of time. It really was a curse as opposed to a blessing as I assumed that having something to watch whilst I packed would make the whole process a hell of a lot easier but frankly I ended up drinking too much tea and getting sucked into the complex lives of these people. How one family can scream so loud baffles me every time! So essentially it took me twice as long to pack, I neglected my blog and probably killed a few brain cells – I am yet to decide if it was truly worth it.

Anyways onto this post…

Everyone should have a wish list. It is truly the best thing I ever did. Amazons universal wish list gives me an outlet to store everything I want in the world without me actually clicking the buy button. So here are a few things I defiantly want yet have zero money to purchase them (such is life eh!)

1)      The new iPad

This is serious lust! I have the first iPad and I am not lying when I say I love it to depth. It stays with me at all times and I do everything on it but then I experienced the new iPad! My brother, mother and I purchased one of these bad boys for my dad. To cut a long story short he didn't want it so my boyfriend bought it and I am literally the green eyed monster. I only want it for 2 specific features. 1) The camera – I want to face time too! And 2) The speed – I’m not going to bore you all with the techy side but mine is slow! It can’t play anything in HD and I frequently get a warning telling me that ‘This iPad cannot play this video, try anyway?’ It is infuriating! I will buy one when I stop spending all my money on nail polish and food but that isn't likely to happen in the near future – Sigh!

At £399 for the standard model it isn't cheap – I may resign from buying nail polish for at least 2 years!

   

2) Tweezerman Tweezers

These beauties have been on my wish list for ages! These I can afford but        every time I go to buy them I shudder at the price! I have heard amazing reports but frankly my 50p tweezers do the same thing but just take a longer time. £22 for tweezers is scary but look how pretty they are!

I seriously cannot resist an animal print.

3) Shamballa style Bracelet

I am a creature of habit. I wear the same jewellery every single day! The only time I don’t is when I’m out clubbing and that is of genuine fear that I will lose them and then break down in snotty drunken tears in the middle of a nightclub. So I stick to my staples; my zebra print toy watch (serious loveee!), my Pandora and my Thomas sabo. I think this bracelet will be a perfect addition to my already crowded wrists. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want a real one but there is this gorgeous one from Argento for a steal at £50!

 4) Books

As it is an Amazon wish list there are about 30 books I want to read on there. This is where a wish list really comes in handy. No one wants to buy a million books at once, so a wish list is a great place to store all your great finds until you are finished with the books you have. As I read electronically, I really do not need to stock up on books so this is where I store all the good ones I see. It is also useful for when you don’t want to preorder a book (you always run the risk of you forgetting about it and the money trying to come out when there is just no money there!) but you want to store it somewhere to remind you to get it when it's out.

      5) Iphone Case

I love quirky iphone cases. Currently mine is just a boring pink glitter one but I want something that stands out a bit more then I stumbled across this adorable case. At £17.82 it is on my wish list cause that price for a cover that does not protect the phone in any way is a bit steep, but its prettiness leaves me dangerously close to clicking the ‘buy now’ button

Hope you enjoyed this post. What would be on your wish list?

Stay tuned for a haul of all the various things I have actually clicked ‘buy now’ on in the past month!

Love

Steph

xxx