Xmas is comin'!

It's been a while - sorry!!! I had a really nasty cold in the last week and I have been super-busy at work both at work and at home for the last month! I haven't even been wearing nail polish a lot!! Which is almost unheard of.

I have done some shopping though, being almost Xmas and all. Mostly for myself though, haha :) I have done a couple of videos of my shopping exploits, so head over to my YouTube channel for that!

I've been so busy lately I've nearly lost my blogging mojo; I have all these ideas but not enough time to sit down and write it all! I can't wait for the Xmas holidays, not long now. I've got most of my decorations up already so I am really getting into the holiday spirit. I can't wait to work on my 'Best of 2015' post :D

I thought I would talk about Xmas beauty gifts, been watching so many YouTube videos about them lately. I don't tend to buy a lot of beauty gifts for other people because no one else is really that fussed in my friends circle (bunch of hippie ecologists), but I do like to buy them for myself! This year however I've only managed to buy one gift set so far for myself; I thought I would buy it before it sold out because it is a most excellent set! I got mine in Asda for £10 however you can also get it online at feelunique.com.

The packaging may be plain....

..but there is gold inside! :)

I maybe don't rave enough about the Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo eye shadows. I should. The "Pink Gold" colour has been my go-to eyeshadow for the last 2 years, and I've just discovered a new favourite in their Creamy Mattes collection, "Creme de rose". It is a slightly pinky concealer type colour, and it's matte. It makes your eyes look flawless on it's own, or it is a kick-ass base for powder shadows! Love it!

Anyway, the Nude Perfection gift set contains another of the Creamy Mattes - "Creamy Beige". It was what drew my eye to the set. It is a darker shade than "Creme de rose" and will likely look awesome blended in the crease and outer corner of the eye! The set also contains a nude nail polish ("Latte"), a Colorsensational Lipstick in the colour "Tantalising Taupe" and a transparent version of the excellent BrowDrama! All products are full size, and even with the £15 pricetag, I think this is a killer set! Not one of these will be sad in the 'unused' part of my makeup stash as I'm on a nude high right now :)

Anyway I have my eye on some other sets which I am hoping will make it into the Boxing Day/January sales (yes, this year I will be going to the sales on Boxing Day!). What gift sets are on your wish list?? :)

*this is NOT a sponsored post - I bought this myself, although if anyone from Maybelline wanna send me another one for my birthday, they're more than welcome!*

NOTD: Ciate "Island Hopping"

I was looking through my untried Helmer drawer and came across this. Can't believe I've never used it! It's my perfect glowy orange red,  with lots of glassfleck to cheer up any day!

I did 2 coats here and topped it with Bourjois 3D Gel top coat. I think I could have done another coat quite happily, it's a bit sheer still. But I am not complaining,  it's amazingly hot and have definitely cheered up this dull day!  :)

REVIEW: Collection #BlushAndGlow palette and NOTD!

Collection has done it again!! I finally got my hands on this palette - I wanted to see what other people thought of it when it first came out, so didn't get it. Mistake. I then had to wait for it to be restocked because it seems everyone and their auntie loves this palette!! And rightly so!

All these shades work for my skin tone (neutral) but it may not work for everyone. I think it will be exclusively used by fair to medium skin, some of these shades may look ashy on darker skins.

From left: bronzer, matte blush, shimmer blush, highlighter

Look at the #BlushAndGlow! :)

The bronzer is meant to be more of a contour but used with a light hand it is a perfect bronzer. And it isn't orange, woohoo! :) The shimmer blush (darker shade) is amazing and makes you glow like crazy; perfect for my dull winter pallor! I wasn't sure at first about the matte blush, I thought it was too light for me? BUT it is a supernatural flush which is perfect for a 'I woke up like this' look! The highlighter seems like a powder version of my beloved Collection Speedy Highlighter stick and bleands so well onto the cheek for an awesome glow! :) So I am glad I finally got my hands on this - I might have to buy another one as a backup!

This palette is exclusive to Boots and costs £4.99, go get it now if you want it! It just reaffirms how much I just love Collection. Super-affordable but fields some of my most favourite ever makeup like the holy grail Lasting Finish concealer and the new Speedy Highlighter!

I am travelling all weekend to see my friends and family down south so did a sparkly pink NOTD to cheer myself up, as there is snow (read: traffic problems) forecast. Again, I cannot believe that Sephora polishes are made in the UK but not sold here??? So p*sses me off :(

Anyway, this is Sephora Formula X "Astrolady" again, only 1 coat. Yes, that's right - 1 coat! I bought this in the Sephora in Stockholm last Xmas, wish I was going back there this Xmas :) Or better, Sephora opened in the UK. That would be even better.

NOTD: OPI "Baby it's coal outside"

I have been so busy lately!!! I cannot wait for the Xmas break, I will be having 2 weeks off to do fun things! We had a reminder of winter here today as Metoffice decided to put out a 'snow' forecast for Saturday. I will be driving south for the weekend to visit friends and their new baby so I am anxious the weather isn't too bad :O

Snow!!!!

Anyhow. On Sunday after spending all day in the rain surveying for badgers I decided I wanted a Xmas polish to cheer me up. I chose this one, a very chic black glitter from OPI from the Xmas collection "Holiday in toyland" from 2008. That's right, 7 years ago... If like me that makes you nostalgic, you can read my original post here!

I did 2 coats over my Bourjois base coat and then a slick of the Bourjois top coat. It is smooth to apply and nicely opaque but not bumpy! Love this polish a lot :) This photo was taken today and only slight tipwear from yesterday after a lot of typing!

HAPPY 1,000TH POST!!!

Happy 1000th Post!!

Yay!!

So it finally happened - 7 years after I started my blog I've actually posted 1,000 times :) I was wondering what I would do. So I decided to bake a fancy Swedish cake for the occasion! Do you have any idea how hard it is to dyed and roll out marzipan?.. I dare you to try it... Anyway it tasted amazing. It's called a Swedish Princess Cake and it's a thing, in case you've not watched Great British Bake Off. It's traditionally green but pink is definitely better!

I want to give huge thank you to all my readers (and as of more recently, viewers) who visit my blog and hopefully finds worthwhile reviews and nuggets of beauty gold! I am definitely hoping for more years of blogging as I do really love it :) I am not one of those bloggers who make millions, nor is it my job (I work fulltime). I write my blog because I love beauty and nails, and I love to share wisdom and new discoveries! :)

So I thought what I would write about for this special post? In a moment of insanity thought could I list 1,000 beauty products? Or nail polish colours? Then it occurred to me that both suggestions would be rather dull. So I settled on giving my views on 3 beauty things I didn't think could ever possibly become so popular or 'mainstream' as they are now when I started my blog in 2008! And here they are...

Nails EVERYTHING!!
We're talking everyone wearing nail polish and nail art. Girls, women, grandma's, men! They're all at it. Millions are now spent on nail related things every year. Collector's editions abound. All the lifestyle sections of newspapers have nail articles. And yet when I started, only a passionate few ladies frequented the Nail Care Board and talked nails... I collected nail polish before it was 'cool'. Like from 1989 onwards. Still have that oldest bottle too.

Eyebrows
We all have them but now you've not lived unless you endure eyebrow waxes every a month and do daily filling in with chosen product and bit of maintenance tweezing. Can't even leave the bedroom without at least a brush through. Skinny or full, we want them perfect. If you've never been to a brow bar, you're clearly weird, right? There are even instructional books on eyebrow shaping, filling in, whatevah, in case all the gazillions (well around 490,000) of YouTube videos wasn't enough.

Contouring/Strobing
I mean really. Who really believes that a Kardashian contour looks like natural cheek bones when your walking around the supermarket or sitting at your desk?... People secretly wonder if your spouse is beating you because you have such poorly blended cheek contouring and they think it's a covered-over bruise (it happened to an acquaintance of mine). Or your husband goes 'There's a bunch of birthday card glitter on your cheek'. No. Just stop. I think we should just leave contouring and OTT highlighting (strobing) to the makeup artists for photo shoots.

What is the makeup trend you thought was just a passing fad but is now established as 'must do'?

NOTD: Orly "Glam Rock"

I asked the Husband what colour I should wear on my nails and I guess he said bronze because he thought I didn't have any bronze nail polishes. Pah! As if.

This is a matte polish from Orly, some years old now, and it's a bronzey gold shimmer. It's a very autumnal colour :)

I did 2 coats here over my Bourjois Gel base coat, and it wasn't acting like a crackle polish like some of my other mattes when put on a shiny base coat. No top coat, of course, it dries quick to a velvety finish so there is no need!

Love this, reminds me of the walk we had on Sunday - a crisp, cool and sunny autumn morning! :) One of my favourites...

On our walk on Sunday we saw lots of these awesome wee critters hanging around bird feeders - our threatened native red squirrel! :)

Hair cut and Haul Video!

Soooo I finally had a hair cut. And a drastic one at that. I kept getting asked in the salon who had done my beautiful ombre hair colour?? At first I was ashamed so I pretended not to hear what they said, then I admitted that it's just a grown out, home colour bleach... Ahem. And I call myself a beauty blogger.

I am finally wearing my Shu Uemura Shupette lip palette - it's the dark plummy one. They are such a nice formula and look great as they wear off. And I think I am falling in love with my Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel foundation again now that I am back to being pale - it's the best foundation I've used in years! ❤

After my hair cut I had a splurge during late night shopping Thursday and so I did a Haul Video for ya'll!