Monday's Manicure- Mattified Storm

Currently listening to: The Flood by Take That

Morning folks!

Back to the daily grind it is. But let's start the week on a positive note with my very first Accessorize nail polish :-)

This is Storm, a shade I purchased a couple of weeks ago when Accessorize nail polishes were on a 3 for 2 offer. Some caught my eye so I thought they were worth trying.

Storm is a dark grey colour which applied well and took three coats to achieve good coverage although two might be passable.

I'm not sure how to describe this polish, it's slightly frosted/pearlised, meaning that brush strokes are quite visible.

It didn't bother me but for some reason I decided to use my Rimmel top coat to mattify it.

I really love this colour and the matte effect.

As for staying power, I find it hard to comment as I chose to keep this on for only two days before removing it. However, during those two days I didn't experience any top wear or chipping.

Accessorize nail polishes cost £4 for 10ml and are available from Accessorize and Superdrug.

Have you tried any of the Accessorize make up range?

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday's Stationery Bargains

Currently listening to: Only Girl in the World by Rihanna

Good morning girls!

What are you up to today? I'm heading out to have lunch with a friend and a little jaunt in town but before I go, I thought I'd show you the bargains I picked up yesterday.

I absolutely love stationery although I don't have much need for it these days unfortunately. Still, it's hard for me to resist a bargain. I bought these two notebooks in Tesco for £1.50 (A4) and £1 (A5).

The covers are really smooth and the paper inside is lined with a cherry motif in the bottom corner. Aw.

I also picked up an A6 notebook for £1 and four Uniball Fusion pens. These are from Ryman (formerly known as Stationery Box) and were on a 2 for 1 offer so I bought 4 for £1.98. I've had this brand of pens before and I love them; they're nice writers plus the design is pretty :-)

So what am I going to use my new stationery for? Language learning and accounting notes!

Do you like a good stationery bargain?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday's (Satchel) Style

Currently listening to: Halo by Beyonce

Hello girls!

I hope you're all enjoying the weekend :-) Has anyone indulged in some retail therapy today? I bought a satchel from Primark to replace the one I bought from Matalan a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful bag but it didn't lie very well on me. This one, however, lies well and looks really stylish I think.

I love the braiding on it

This cost me £8 from Primark. They had other colours and styles available so I might find myself going back to see if there's anything more suitable for spring.

Do you like my new satchel? Have you bought anything this weekend?

Bye for now,
Laura

Wednesday's Wishlist (from Dorothy Perkins)

Currently watching: Live at the Apollo

Hello folks,

How's your week going so far? Are you like me and already looking forward to the weekend? Silly question perhaps! Last weekend I had a little look around the shops and discovered there are quite a few things I'd like to purchase in the coming weeks and months. However, I'm on a budget so I've decided to be sensible and limit my buying to only a few key items such as a maxi dress (I've never had one, missed the trend last year, but now have an urge to own one), a short dress, a maxi skirt, denim jacket and a navy and white striped blazer. Apparently a boyfriend blazer will suit me best as I'm tall so that's what I'm keeping an eye out for.

Dorothy Perkins is a shop where a lot of items caught my eye. I feel their range has really improved lately although some of the prices are a bit steep for me.

These are the key items I'm thinking along the lines of:

All pictures taken from www.dorothyperkins.com

What would you like to add to your spring/summer wardrobe?

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft Leona Lewis

Currently listening to: What's My Name by Rihanna

Morning girls!

A quick post before I scoot off to work. I saw this picture in Reveal magazine at the weekend criticising the outfit Leona Lewis wore for the premiere of Justin Bieber's film. I'm definitely not a fan of her outfit but look at the nails! Mint green! I definitely need that colour for spring.

Are you ever inspired by celebrities choice of make up and clothes?

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday's Manicure (NOTD)

Currently listening to: Shine a Light by McFly

Good morning ladies!

Did you have a nice weekend? What do you think of my new background and banner?

Today's manicure comes courtesy of a Yves Saint Laurent polish in Pink Moon which I was given for Christmas.

As you can see from the bottle, there's a lot of shimmer in it and even some purple tones.

On my nails and in natural light the colour is less pink and more terracotta. The shimmer is very noticeable but I would definitely say this shade is suitable for both work and play.

Application was good, two goods gave good coverage. Drying time seemed fast but was slightly deceiving as I promptly smudged two nails after thinking me and my manicure were ready to go when we weren't. As for staying power, let's wait and see. I first tried this polish in January and wore it for a week with very minimal tip wear and chipping. I'm hoping that wasn't a fluke.

Have you tried Yves Saint Laurent nail polish before?

Bye for now,
Laura

Coming Soon

Hi girls!

Just wanted to say that I'm planning a major overhaul of my blog with an exciting new layout and blogging style to look forward to!

I really hope you'll enjoy the newstyle blog and will try not to keep you waiting for too much longer!

Bye for now,
Laura

That Was The Weekend When

On Friday
*I got home from work before 6pm, yay.
*I helped my boyfriend transcribe interviews he conducted for his dissertation.
*We relaxed and watched EastEnders. Can't wait for the baby-swap storyline to come to an end.

On Saturday
*I shopped
*Saw Black Swan at the cinema. Have you seen it? I really don't like thrillers so I had my eyes closed for at least a third of the film. It was well filmed though and I enjoyed the bits that I did manage to watch. Vincent Cassel is one of my favourite actors so it's always a treat seeing him, especially in an English language film.

On Sunday
*We did our food shopping at Tesco. No bargain flowers to be had this week unfortunately.

*I started watching Glee. I didn't see season one but I've caught up with season two. I really like Emma's wardrobe. Wish I had such pretty and well-coordinated outfits.

*I made a healthy, nutritious and declicious soup for tea. Ingredients: onion, potato, carrot, tomato, courgette, sausage and herbs. Plenty left over for tomorrow's tea too.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday Shoe Shopping

Currently listening to: Perfect by Pink

Greetings girls,

How are you all on the bright and sunny Saturday?

Today I went shopping although I didn't buy much, just a work shirt from H&M (I now own three blue and white shirts from H&M although the patterns and shades of blue are all different so I think that's okay) and a bag from Primark. I had wanted to buy shoes but nothing caught my eye. My feet are slightly special, meaning slip on shoes just slip off my feet so I always need laces or a strap to hold my foot in place and my size varies from a 6 to a 9. This makes shoe shopping a real treat. I'm also not a fan of buying plastic shoes or shoes which have a sole so thin I'm guaranteed to feel every stone I walk on.

With all that in mind, when I came home I decided to have a look on the Marks and Spencer website. I saw a lot of shoes I like the look of but finding out how many of them will be suitable for me will have to wait until next weekend. If neither money nor fit was an issue, these are the shoes I'd be interested in (all images taken from http://www.marksandspencer.co.uk/):

All of these are priced at under £40 so hopefully at least one or two pairs will fit me well when I try them on. What do you think of these styles ladies? Where do you usually buy your shoes?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saving My Face (skincare)

Currently listening to: Saving My Face by KT Tunstall (see what I did there?)

Greetings girls!

Today I thought I'd do a post about skincare. To start with, let's take a look at the skincare products I've bought since September 2010 and recap on my recent skincare routine history:

The brands are Superdrug's Essential range, Tesco's Clear Skin range, Asda's Clear Skin range, Clearasil, St Ives and Liz Earle. I don't mind investing in skincare if I know a product will really work but I do tend to stick to supermarket/drugstore brands.

The first range I tried was Tesco's, which attracted me because it is paraben free and contains salicylic acid (an ingredient which is supposed to promote good skin). When using this product my face broke out quite badly, it got to the stage where a new spot would appear every day. I stuck with this product for three weeks to see if my skin would improve but eventually I became tired of seeing the condition of my skin gradually worsen.

I then tried the Clearasil product but that didn't help at all so I began to wonder if salicylic acid was the problem.

I was really happy when I read the list of ingredients for the Asda product and discovered it didn't contain salicylic acid. I used this for a couple of weeks and saw a drastic improvement in my skin. Hurray.

However, things took a turn for the worse after Christmas when I incorporated Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish into my routine. I don't want to believe that this product everyone raves about isn't suitable for my skin so I'm doing a trial now, using no other skincare products apart from Cleanse & Polish. I've been doing this for a week or so now and so far I haven't had an adverse reaction. I'll stay with it for a couple more weeks to really give it a good go before seeing if it's worth adding the Asda face wash back into the routine. Perhaps I won't need to, who knows.

What skincare products do you use? Are there any that you've tried which didn't agree with your skin?

Bye for now,
Laura

That Was The Weekend When

On Friday
*I had a 9 week review at work last thing on Friday afternoon, which went very well. Looks like I might have a couple of work trips to look forward to in March and April but ssh, nothing's official yet so my lips are sealed.
*Relaxed with my boyfriend in the evening.

On Saturday
*We gave the supermarkets the cold shoulder and headed to the local market to do our food shopping.
*I met up with my French friend for a girly chat and a slice of cake. It was great.
*Then we met up with 8 other French people for an evening meal and a drink. I drowned in that sea of French conversations. It wasn't very fun to be honest and I was often put on the spot as the official Scottish spokesperson.

On Sunday
*I was invited to eat lunch with two of the French girls, at one of their houses. I ate very well and enjoyed myself much more than I did the previous evening.
*I spoke to my family on the phone, lounged about, read blogs and went to bed early.

Not a bad weekend but Saturday night was a bit depressing.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Bye for now,
Laura

Nail Polish Storage

Good morning girls!

Last night my boyfriend came home with these 3 pretty gift boxes for me.

They are gold and silver with a red and green design. The red bits are velvety and feel lovely :-)

My boyfriend suggested I use them to store my nail polish. Good suggestion as my previous nail polish box was overflowing and was very inconvenient to move around the flat. It also wasn't big enough to store my polishes upright- something which should be done in order to help keep polishes in good condition for longer.

I had a great time sorting through all my polishes. I have half my collection here and half at my parents' house. Here's how I've arranged my polishes here:

In the big box: pinks, purples, blues, reds, greens, browns

In the little box: silvers, greys, whites, topcoats, basecoats, nails tools, image plates

I'm very happy with my new storage system. It can neatly be stored away and looks classy :-)

How do you store your nail polish collection?

Bye for now,
Laura

Thank You!

Currently listening to: Science and Faith by The Script

Hello dear readers,

Today I want to thank two lovely bloggers for giving me awards :-)

Firstly I'd like to thank Clever Rabbit for nominating me for this awesome blog award. She has a great blog so if you aren't already a follower, I recommend you become one!

The rules for this award are:

*Post about this award and copy the rules. Link the person that has tagged you.
*Choose 3-5 blogs you would like to tag and link them too. Leave a comment on their blog telling saying you've linked them.
*Important: this award is for unknown blogs or the ones that are starting out.

The blogs I'd like to give this award to are:

Alicia

Wing

Cathryn

Secondly, I'd like to thank The Girlie Blog for giving me this Stylish Blogger Award. Again, this is another great blog which I enjoy reading so head on over there to join in the fun :-)

To accept the award you must accept the following rules:
*Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
*Share 7 things about yourself
*Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
*Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

7 things about myself:
*Every morning I have porridge topped with sultanas, papaya and pineapple for breakfast.
*I like gemstones.
*I haven't painted my nails for two weeks. I really miss my nail polish.
*I'm a Scot living in England who's joined the local French community.
*I don't own a tv but my favourite programmes are The Apprentice, EastEnders and Grey's Anatomy.
*I've been listening to Rihanna and Josh Groban on repeat for about two months.
*My favourite chocolate bar is a purple Yorkie (the one with biscuit and raisins). Yum yum.

I was actually given this award by another blogger quite recently and in my post I said that a lot of the bloggers I follow already seemed to have been given this award so I chose to nominate all of my readers who didn't already have this award as you're all stylish bloggers. I would like to do the same this time, with one exception, which is for Clever Rabbit, as this is a blog I recently discovered and really like.

Enjoy your awards everyone :-)

Bye for now,
Laura