January Favourites

January seems like the longest month ever for some reason. Lucky I don't get paid monthly! It's also probably the most boring month ever as everyone is on a come down from Christmas and New Year, it's freezing cold (and snowing!) and there's not much to look forward to...

Luckily, January has been a good month for beauty products and I've put together a little collection of my favourites!

OPI Rainbow Connection / Nicki Minaj OPI Minis / MUA 3 in 1 eXtreme Contour Pens / No7 Midnight Enchantment Eyeshadow Stick

MUA Professional Eye Primer / Korres Lip Butter in Guava / Barry M Croc Effects Polish

MUA and OPI definitely dominate the favourites pile this month, thanks to the release of the Muppets and Nicki Minaj collections which both have some amazing shades within them.

OPI Rainbow Connection has got to be one of my new favourite polishes, it's just amazing and the colours are lovely. It looks great over any polish as well as looking great on it's own!

The Nicki Minaj for OPI collection is also lovely and I particularly love 'Metallic 4 Life'. The mini collection has certainly been doing the blog rounds recently, just proving it's popularity. I can't wait to see what OPI come up with next!

I picked up the MUA Professional Eye Primer and 3 in 1 eXtreme Contour Pens this month and absolutely love them. The eye primer instantly lifts any shade of eyeshadow, making it brighter and more intense. It's a definite hit as I even got a compliment on my eyeshadow on the very day I used it! As I have mentioned before, MUA are going from strength to strength so I'm also excited to see what happens for them this year and what great products they're going to come up with!

What have been your favourite products this month?

Republic S/S 2012

I was recently contacted by the lovely people at Republic and shown some images from their new Spring/Summer 2012 Lookbook and I was really impressed by the vivid colours, so much so that I wanted to dedicate a blog post to it!

I'm loving the prints and patterns on jeans, dresses and tops as well as the clashing of neon colours. This Spring everyone is either going neon or pastel and personally I would only get away with wearing pastel shades, but that doesn't mean I can't still look at neons and love them!

I like the inclusion of denim shorts, jackets and tie-tops in different shades of denim as well as the casual take on shoes, such as converse style high tops. Overall I really love all of the looks in the new collection, I love the girly/feminine edge and how it's toughened up with faded denim and cut offs.

What do you think of the new collection?

A spending week in photos

For someone who barely has any hours at work and barely gets paid over £100 a week, I do seem t buy a lot of stuff I don't really need! There seems to have been quite a lot of new products this week, including nail polishes, beauty products and even a new top! Oops!








Fox tail rings / OPI Rainbow Connection / Books galore! / 'Blog of the Day' on Hellocotton / More new purchases / Nicki Minaj for OPI Minis / Benefit £5 off voucher / Benefit goodies / Goodies from John Frieda / Vince creating music / New River Island Zebra print top! /

I originally brought the Fox Tail rings from eBay to go into my Blog Shop, but unfortunately they didn't arrive before I shut the shop. I decided to keep one for myself and I'm not quite sure what to do with the rest, maybe a giveaway?

My new favourite OPI Rainbow Connection polish! Absolutely love this so I'm so glad I got a full size, my post on it also made it as into the 'Blogs of the day' section of HelloCotton, which I was so pleased about! You can follow me and my little blog on HelloCotton now!

Some more products I purchased this week were Collection 2000's new metallic eyeshadow cream, which will be reviewed very soon and the Red glittery Barry M polish that I've wanted for ages! My Nicki Minaj OPI polishes arrived as well and they're so lovely! You can see my thoughts on them here!

My mum brought home one of the £5 off vouchers that you can get with Diet Coke, which of course meant I instantly brought something that I didn't really need. I was originally just going to order the full size Porefessional, for £23.50, but then found the Porefessionally Pretty set, for the same price, that also includes a small Erase Paste and a Girl Meets Pearl. Also got two samples free which I can't wait to try out!

Received some lovely goodies from John Frieda, which has got to be one of my new favourite hair brands! I've got some product reviews for them coming up soon! A quick pic of Vince creating a new song on his Keytar, I swear he is the best musician I've ever met!

And last but not least, I ordered the River Island Zebra Print tee which you might have seen on my Wednesday Wishlist post! It was only £12 and I never usually buy from River Island so I was really surprised to find something so nice! Still need to try it on yet though!


This week I started out with barely any hours at work, only for them to shoot up due to staff illness etc, thankfully I've got a day off tomorrow which will allow me to catch up on blogging etc..Vince is in London until tomorrow afternoon(ish) so I'll probably spend the evening with him, maybe stuff ourselves with food? Probably! Definitely!

Celeb Style Steal #13

Almost forgot to do this weeks Celeb Style Steal! Luckily, I found this image of Kirsten Dunst relatively quickly and it really impressed me!

I love the simplicity of Kirsten's outfit. She always dresses great. She wore this Roland Mouret S/S 12 Dress underneath the absolutely lovely Derek Lam Pre-Fall 2012 jacket with fur detailing! I'm not sure if it's real or faux fur? I'm hoping faux!

My recreation of her outfit definitely features faux fur! It was really easy to copy and it's a great smart/casual outfit. I love the cute lace up ankle boots and the clutch bag but unfortunately we don't all have the money to afford Chloé, so we'll have to settle on something a bit cheaper!

Topshop: Crop Back Jacket - £65, Faux Fur Stole - £16
Oasis: Faux Leather Lexi Dress - £60
ASOS: Ariba Lace Up Ankle Boots - £32
New Look: Colour Block Envelope Clutch - £15.99

I know it's all black but sometimes black just looks so much better and more sophisticated than other gaudy colours. There is a little colour injection with the envelope clutch, which New Look are great for!

Skater dresses can be worn with anything really, this entire outfit would be great for every day wear, smarter more formal wear and probably even for interviews as well!

What do you think? Will you be recreating Kirsten's style?

*Image courtesy of FashionPatrol

Nicki Minaj for OPI

Nicki Minaj OPI Minis - eBay - £12.95.
(L:R - Did It On 'Em, Fly, Pink Friday, Metallic 4 Life)

After falling in love with the OPI Rainbow Connection polish, I was keen to check out some more of OPI's collaborations, so I opted for the new(ish) Nicki Minaj collection. I originally ordered a full size version of the 'Fly' shade, but then saw the mini collection floating around and desperately needed to try 'Metallic 4 Life'.

The mini collection contains the shades; Did It On 'Em, Fly, Pink Friday & Metallic 4 Life and they're all rather lovely. 'Did It On 'Em' is probably my least favourite as it's a yellow/green snotty kind of colour but the others are gorgeous. I think Metallic 4 Life and Pink Friday will work brilliantly together!

They're quite thin polishes that need a couple of coats but they dry relatively quickly and leave a lovely finish. 'Fly' is particularly striking. They're all fun colours and I guess they represent Nicki Minaj pretty well. There's also a shatter polish (Super Bass Shatter) available in the collection, as well as a holographic glitter polish (Save Me).



As I said, the colours are lovely! They're really easy to remove as well, and don't stain the nails, which is great. Metallic 4 Life is a little harder to remove because it's a glitter polish, you might need to scrub the nail a bit with a cotton bud and remover or use the old foil trick to remove!

What do you think of Nicki Minaj's OPI collection?

Wednesday Wishlist #17

I'm currently enjoying a few days off work. Yesterday I had an interview at a Advertising/Marketing company which was quite possibly the worst interview I've ever had. I'm not quite sure it was advertised properly as I was expecting that it would be sourcing clients/writing/admin but when I got there it was pretty much a quickfire maths test and I just crumbled. The job description said basic arithmetic...which is fine but what I was tested on I wouldn't exactly call basic. Anyone that knows me will know I'm bad with numbers and not good at working things out on the spot. I basically felt I was in my Maths GCSE again and as they were waiting for me to answer the questions I was just getting more and more frustrated and teary and it just put me off for the rest of the interview. Anyway, I'm not holding out any hope of getting it so I'll put it down to experience and keep searching!

I haven't really got up to much today yet. I've just come back from a 'work meeting' which I was expecting to just turn into an argument. Luckily it didn't and we all got our views heard. My hours will be going up again when the place goes back to half board and I'll be grateful when they do!

So, now I'm home again I can finally get on with today's post. I usually schedule my posts to publish at 9am so this one is a bit late today!

Topshop: MOTO Rose Supersoft Skinny Jeans -£38, Perforated Cross Body Bag - £25
Miss Selfridge : Charcoal Colourblock Legging - £20
River Island: Cream Zebra Print T-Shirt - £12
Ever Ours: Triple Triangle Ring - £5
Matalan - Stripe Canvas Satchel - £8

Having just added the Topshop Rose Skinny Jeans to my wishlist, I've found out that the colour in real life is pretty much nothing like the colour on the website, which is such a shame! In real life I think they're more of a Barbie Pink colour which is just not for me. I could be wrong though, I think I need to see them with my own eyes!

I've been toying with the idea of the Miss Selfridge Leggings as I think they make a nice, subtle change from plain black ones. I wasn't 100% sure that they'd look nice in real life though, but I spotted a girl in Bristol yesterday wearing a pair and they're really quite nice, so these have gone straight to the top of my list!

I can never have too many bags. I picked one up in Primark yesterday and got into a tiff with Vince because I already have so many and don't need any more! You can never have too many bags to be honest. I did end up putting the Primark one back because I decided that it looked a bit cheap and tacky, but the ones featuring above are lovely!!

I found the triple Triangle ring after searching Ever Ours, which Michelle featured on her blog recently. They have some really lovely stuff and this ring quickly caught my eye, only £5 too!

Last but not least, a rare River Island find. Such cute zebra print that I couldn't resist not ordering it, so it will hopefully soon be on it's way to me! Oops!

Sarenza Ambassador

Sarenza: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Et Melissa Lady Dragon Vii Sp Ad - £143.70

Becoming a Sarenza Ambassador would be a total treat for my feet!

After spending so long infront of the mirror and throwing all manner of clothes around the room in the midsts of getting ready, my footwear is often a very last minute thought. Usually I throw on whatevers nearest or whatever will survive the weather. So, it's about time I thought long and hard about my choice of footwear on a daily basis and becoming a Sarenza Ambassador will give me a great reason to dress my small size 4s in some fabulous looks, for they do deserve it, having kept my upright for 23 years!

I know that every fashion lover and her mother would probably choose Vivienne Westwood Melissa's if they could, but I firmly believe that you should stick with what you know, and I know for a fact that these shoes are gorgeous, practical and fashionable! To have that little slice of Westwood on my shoe rack would be an honour!

Becoming a Sarenza Ambassador would get me out of my footwear comfort zone and quite frankly, Christmas would come every single month with the £150 voucher. I'm not sure that I can dream of anything better?

OPI Rainbow Connection

OPI Rainbow Connection - $8.44

OPI Rainbow Connection & No7 Betty Blue Eyes

This is one of the blogging community's latest trends. It seems that every blogger has got her hand's on the OPI Rainbow Connection, which is part of the OPI Muppets Collection, and every blogger seems to love it!

I actually brought this on eBay from an individual seller. They're actually selling the entire collection aswell so definitely make sure you have a look!

The polish has very quickly become a new favourite. It's absolutely beautiful and looks amazing! I love the tiny coloured specks as well as the larger bits. It looks amazing on top of any polish and it also looks really pretty on it's own in lots of layers!

The polish is great for rainbow tips or accent nails but I just love having it on every nail as it sparkles and twinkles in the light!

A two weeks in photos...

I didn't get round to posting this last week as I was ill and in bed the whole day, so I thought I'd post two weeks worth of photos today instead. Aren't you lucky?!






Beauty box full of Blogsale items / MUA Eye Primer & Barry M Croc Effects / Packaging up Blogsale items / Pub Quiz! / Stuffing ourselves / Getting into Freelancing / Photographing products / Spending endless hours in the office staring at my CD collection / New Company mag / Korres Lip Butter!

So, before I got ill I pretty much had the entire week off and spent it not doing particularly much. Managed to get my blogsale up and lots of items sent, but now interest has dropped and it's all gone a bit quiet! There's still a lot left so if you fancy it, have a peek!

Did the local Pub Quiz again which was ridiculously packed. We had to carry our own table and chairs down the stairs just so we had somewhere to sit. We did do better than last time but still didn't win! We did manage to get one question hugely and embarrasingly wrong!

Spent the week also looking into going freelance 'properly'. Not really sure where to start to be honest. I'm kind of doing it already with bits here and there, but would quite like my own little business. More of that to come!

On Saturday the dreaded vomiting bug struck so spent the rest of the weekend in bed. I was well enough to open a little ASOS package that arrived though, containing my Korres lip butter! Lovely!






Few minutes peace / MUA 3 in 1 Contour Pens / McDonald's lunch with Dad / Elemis Hand & Nail Cream / Cleanser / OPI Rainbow Connection! / Celebrating being able to eat again / Waiting for job interview

This week has been the week of writing blog posts and other bits and pieces. Received a few bits in the post for review purposes and finally my OPI Rainbow Connection arrived! 'Tis beautiful!

Vince and I celebrated being able to eat normal food again this week. Dad took me to McDonald's randomly for lunch and Vince and I ordered a chinese last night! We usually always order the same things so we tried something a bit different this time and it was yummy!

Yesterday I went to my Nan & Grandads in the morning and spent the rest of the day being a bum. Today I'm back at work until 4 and then again 9 til 11. Normal 'week in photos' will resume next week!