NOTD & Blog Update

I am off on holiday Monday! I am going to Menorca for two weeks - I am so excited. I haven't got any posts lined up for the two weeks while I am away, so just bear with me and when I get back I bet I will be full of ideas.

The above manicure is using my current favourite, Barry M Nail Gelly in Greenberry. The nude colour is also a nail gelly in Lychee. I am planning to do this manicure on my toes for holidays as I don't really bother with my finger nails, they are prone to breaking and with the sun, chlorine, and salt water they will just go to shot . 

Gem x

£1 Beauty Haul

I love finding bargains, and whenever I am in town I always pop to Poundland. I think I found some gems this time, especially the caviar nail beads. I also went to superdrug to have a look at the new MUA products and came away with two of their blushes - not exactly breaking the bank at £1 each.

Baker Days Letter Box Cake

I was recently asked on twitter by the lovely people at Baker Days whether I wanted to review one of their cakes. I am not one to turn down free cake, so I duly obliged :)

Baker Days are an online cake company offering a huge amount of designs - you can even send them a photo to put on a cake if you want. Their cakes come in 3 different sizes and start from £14.99.

Whats in My Handbag?

The folks over at Money Supermarket are challenging us bloggers to show everyone what is in our handbags and to add up the total amount to see what we carry around with us on a day to day basis. Show us what is in your handbag and you could be in with the chance of winning a Mulberry bag, purse and phone case - amazing. To find out more about the competition and how to enter, click here.

Freebie Alert | Mini Ciate Caviar Manicure Kit + Nail of the Day

Just a little post to let you know that with this months edition of Marie Claire magazine (June), comes with a free mini Ciate Caviar Manicure kit.

Read on to see it on my nails and a quick summary of my initial thoughts...

Whats in My Makeup Bag? | Summer Edition

I don't know about you, but I have a makeup bag where I keep all the products I like to use on a day to day basis and then the makeup that I don't use as often goes into my storage. I like to switch up my makeup when the weather gets a little warmer, so read on to find out what goes into my Summer makeup bag....

NOTD Pink Roses

 

This nail art looks so pretty and complicated, but it is actually quite easy to do. I did it using a hair grip and a nail striper. To create the flowers you start with the lighter colour and use the hair grip to create an uneven blob. Then outline it with the darker colour and create a U shape in the middle of the flower, and hey presto you have a rose.

The green colour is Essie Navigate Her. Its such a pretty colour but on my nails alone it just doesn't work. With this I can get away with wearing the colour without it looking horrendous, haha.

Have you done any nail art recently? Link me up :)
Gem x

Coral Makeup Favourites | From My Collection

I am loving Coral colours at the moment, for clothes and makeup (not at the same time - that would be coral overkill).

I think coral is a really summery colour and it looks perfect with a tan. So I decided to show you my favourite coral makeup items from my makeup stash.

May Favourites

How quickly has the month of May gone? Lets hope that June will bring some sunny weather! Read on to find out my favourite products for the month of May...

 

Giveaway Alert | Win a Michael Kors Rose Gold Watch With EtailPR and Tic Watches

Hi guys, I hope you are all enjoying this lovely weather we are having at the moment.

Just a quick post to let you all know about the fantastic giveaway EtailPR are currently running on Facebook.

Greenberry Watermarble Nails

This is my first attempt at water marbling nail art. It was pretty easy and fun to do, but beware it is really messy. As you can see from the pic even though I wrapped the skin around my nails with masking tape, it still got pretty messy. I did do a clean up job with a brush and nail polish remover, but the flash showed up bits I missed.

If you haven't heard of the water marbling technique before, google it on YouTube, there are some great tutorials, and although messy its quite easy to do once you have the hang of it.

Next time I am going to use more colours, here I just used Barry M Greenberry and a white coloured polish.

Have you tried watermarble nail art before?

Gem x

Blog Sale - Clothes - Mainly Dresses size 12 - 18

I had a wardrobe clean out the other day. Most of my stuff went to charity but I had some lovely dresses that due to my yo-yoing weight do not fit me any more. So before I eBay them I decided to put them on a blog sale first, as selling to you lovely people is far less hassle than ebay!

note - all items have been paid for by myself.

Postage will be £2, regardless of how many items you buy :)
If you like the item but not the price, make me an (reasonable) offer.
If you would like an item, please leave your email in the comments so I can contact you.

Boohoo one shoulder skater dress

size 16.

 Its Short on me and I am 5'4" so wouldn't recommend to anyone taller.

Worn 0nce. £5

 

 

 Size 12 -

quite stretchy so would fit a 12-14.

Worn twice £10

bought from local boutique

 

 

Size 14

Worn once

Primark Dipped hem top.

£4

 

 Size 14

River Island

Worn a few times

£10

Size XL (UK 16 - 18)

Forever 21+

Stain which can be seen in photo,

I haven't attempted to get it removed though

£5

 

 Size 14

Newlook

Never worn but has been washed

£6

 

 



 Apricot

Large (UK 14-16)

Worn once

£10

 

 

 Size 12

Internacionale

worn couple of times

£12

 Size 14

AX Paris

worn a couple times.

would say its on the smaller size of a 14

£10

Size 12

Bodycon dress

bought from local boutique

but brand also sold in New look

£10

Bourjois Cream Blush Review and Swatches

Bourjois have recently brought out a cream version of their iconic blushers. I have one in the shade 02 which is a peach colour.

I love the texture, it is so light and blends amazingly using my fingers. Initially I did think that the RRP of £7.99 was a little steep as the pot is really small, but I love the way they apply so much I am definitely considering purchasing another in the shade 01.

In the pic below I am wearing it on my cheeks and lips. If you have normal lips these give a really nice matte finish to the lips. If you have dry lips I would recommend using a lip balm first as it can be drying to the lips.



It lasted well on my skin, around 6-7 hours before fading. If you set it with a powder blush I can imagine it lasting much longer, but I really liked the dewy finish.

I think these cream blushes are a must have for a lightweight summer makeup look. They come highly recommended from me.

Have you tried them yet?

Gem x

NOTD: Anchor & Stripes

Drugstore Wishlist #2

MUA Power Pout | Models Own Artistix Duo | La Roche Possay Efflaclar Duo| Bourjois Healthy Mix | Collection Concealer

 

Whats on your wishlist??

 

Gem x

Summer Hair Style

I had a few hairstyles left over from my beautyandthebeach post which didn't quite make the cut, but are still really cute so I thought I would do a little post.

This hairstyle is so easy to create. basically you make a pony tail, then make a hole in the bit between the crown and the hair tie and flip the pony tail through the hole. Then create the fishtail braid. I think it looks really pretty for summer :)

Sorry for the poor photoshop skills, I had to edit out my son who photobombed my picture, haha. I have had a few of my hairstyle pics taken and used (without my permission) so I didn't want his face on it :(

Gem x

Travel Supermarket Beauty and the Beach 2 Competition

Travel Supermarket have a brilliant competition running for us beauty loving bloggers.They are challenging us to show them our favourite holiday looks for makeup, hair and nails. The overall prize is an amazing £1500 towards a holiday! To find out more go here >> http://www.travelsupermarket.com/c/holidays/beauty-and-the-beach-two/

Makeup

When I am on holiday I like to keep my makeup to a minimum. Heavy eye liner and thick foundation just don't look right to me when your are away. I love to see radiant skin and fresh colours. 

Evening look

The first look I created is one I would wear during the evening, maybe for cocktails by the pool. I used my Naked 2 palette to create the eye look, It is the perfect palette for travelling. I used Boots Botanicals BB Cream as a base, it has an SPF of 35 and I would highly recommend it for holidays. It gives great coverage and looks really glowy without being too shiny. I used Rimmel Waterproof liner in my waterline and No7 Waterproof mascara. For the cheeks I used Bourjois cream blush in 02, another product perfect for taking away as it applies amazingly well without the need for a brush. I used MAC shy girl on my lips and Benefit Browzings on my eyebrows. I finished with a light sweep of VIVOs baked bronzer on my cheeks, nose and forehead for a sunkissed glow. 

Day Look
Obviously when I am by the pool I wear no makeup at all, but if I am out and about during the day I do like to wear it. I really keep my makeup to a minimum and concentrate on making my skin look radiant and sun kissed. For this look again I used Boots Botanicals BB Cream and the Naked 2 palette. I used Foxy on the lid and No7 Waterproof mascara.  On the cheeks I used Bourjois cream blush in 02 and Vivo baked bronzer. For the lips I used Revlon lip gloss in Petal Peach on top of a sunblock for face and lips. My lips burn easily in the sun so this is an important step.

Hair

My hair gets really frizzy and unmanageable in the heat, and straighteners or curling wands don't do anything to help it so I mostly always tie my hair up when I am on holiday. When I think of holiday hair I think of braids, and I love this messy braided up do. It looks equally as good around the pool or in the evening and best of all it keeps my unruly hair at bay. To create it, I just French braided across my head, secured with a clear elastic and then created the messy bun using another clear elastic. Its really easy to create and you don't even need a mirror as you want a messy effect.

Nails
These nails are based on strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkles. I love how cute and eye catching they are and think they are really fun to wear on holiday. They will definitely be a conversation starter, I wore these out the other day and had lots of compliments on them. They are so easy to recreate. I used a hair grip as a dotting tool to create dots, then joined them up with a tooth pick to create the chocolate sauce effect. Make sure to seal them with a good top coat as you want them to last the whole holiday. I used Seche Vite.

So there are my looks I hope you like them :) We are asked to tag 5 other bloggers to take part so I tag;

BeautyBird - http://ramblingsofabeautybird.blogspot.co.uk/

HoneyGoLightly - http://www.honeygo-lightly.com/

Alessia - http://whispersfromangels.blogspot.co.uk/

Ellie - http://www.elliesramblings.com/

CSI Beauty Blog - http://cosmeticsshoppingandintoxication.blogspot.co.uk/

Gem x 

Big Sexy Hair Giveaway Winner Announced!

A quick post to announce the winner of my giveaway....

The winner is....

Zoe C.

I have sent you an email.


Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway and hopefully I will be holding another one soon :)

Gem x

I'm Taking Part in the Escentual Micellar Blind Trial

Escentual are looking to create the ultimate micellar water edit. They have given myself and 99 other bloggers 7 anonymous samples of micellar water from some of the biggest French brands. Over the course of 14 days we will be testing them out, and then will be giving our thoughts on each sample via an online survey.

I am really excited to be taking part in this, I think its an excellent idea and will be very interesting to see which micellar water comes out on top, over all and my personal preference.

I am about 3 days into the trial now and I have tested 4 of them. I am noting down my thoughts on a notepad as I go along, and I already have a firm favourite out of the 4 I have used so far.

What do you think about the trial? Are you taking part?

Gem x

Benefit Browzings (Light) Review Before & After

I have always liked the idea of brow kits. I tried the MUA one and it was OK but it smashed and I never bothered to repurchase one.

I was happy getting by using a matte eyeshadow to fill in my brows until I was lucky enough to receive Benefit Browzings, and now in the short amount of time I have had it it has become a staple in my makeup bag.

The kit is so handy and it fits perfectly in my makeup bag. The tools it comes with are good quality and so very useful; The tweezers actually work (I'm looking at you MUA) and the brushes are thin and stiff enough to pick up the product.

I have the kit in light and it comes with a pigmented wax and a matte powder. I use the wax first and then lightly apply the powder on top and this lasts all day. I have sparse brows and I don't have a problem with them being unruly but I would imagine that this kit is good for taming unruly brows too. For me I think it makes my eyebrows look thicker, and now I don't feel as though my makeup is complete without filling in my brows.

If you are looking for a brow product, I would highly recommend Benefit Browzings. It is a little on the pricer side of things at £23.50, but for that price you get an amazing quality product that is going to last you a long time.

Gem x