Thursday, March 31, 2011

Thursday's Talons (No7 and Barry M NOTD)

Currently watching: Glee

Hi ladies,

Thursday's talons have been done using No7 Queenie as a base and applying Barry M Pink Iridescent as a top coat.



As always, the glitter effect is best captured by a blurry picture. I've said it before and I'll say it again, applying a glitter top coat is the easiest way of jazzing up a manicure or covering up any smudges and can easily be re-applied if any chips appear.

Are you a fan of glitter top coats?

Bye for now,
Laura

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wednesday's Wishlist

Currently watching: Live at the Apollo

Good morning ladies,

Here's what's on my wishlist this week: DENIM. Denim shorts to wear with tshirts and a dark grey blazer I don't yet own and a denim jacket to go with dresses and skirts.

Will it be easy finding my desired items of clothing? I doubt it. All the shorts I've seen have turn ups, which I don't want.

Are you a fan of shorts? Do you wear them in your home town or only when on holiday abroad? Up until now, I've tended to wear shorts only when away on holiday but I'm willing to change :-)


Bye for now, Laura

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tuesday's Talons (No7 Queenie NOTD)

Good morning girls,

How are you today? Did you have a good start to the week? Today I'd like to show you a No7 Speed Dry nail polish called Queenie which I bought a few weeks ago when Boots had yet another No7 voucher offer running.

It's true that I'm usually disappointed by No7 polishes and yet I can't resist picking another one up whenever I get a voucher.


I chose this shade because of the very fine particles of red glitter. I thought it would be a good polish to hide the imperfections in my nails. I chose to use it for my manicure because I wanted a polish which would dry quickly. What a mistake. Two of my nails smudged very badly over two hours after I had applied the polish. I love this shade and it is a dramatic, sophisticated colour which will be noticed but it doesn't live up to its name of "speed dry" and durability is rather poor too- tip wear and chips after less than 24 hours. Disappointing for a supposedly good quality nail polish that retails for £7, tolerable for a brand I don't have much faith in. Do you like this shade? What do you think of No7 polishes?


Bye for now, Laura

Monday, March 28, 2011

Monday's Manicure

Currently listening to: 7 Colours by Lost Witness


Hello girls! I'm back in England now after spending two weeks on a business trip in Paris so it's back to blogging as usual :-)


Today I'd like to show my most recently acquired nail polish which is Barry M Nail Effects. Yes, I finally jumped on the crackling nail polish bandwagon.

I don't know why I waited so long to try this- I absolutely love the effect


Even my optician admired my nails


I wasn't sure how easy the polish would be to apply and as my thumb nail shows, it took a little getting used to, but after it was smooth sailing after the first nail

One coat is all you need. Great for dramatic nails, easy to use and handy for covering up a smudged base colour!

What do you think girls? Have you fallen for this look? Do you own any crackle polish?


Bye for now, Laura

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Wednesday's Wishlist

Womanity by Thierry Mugler. Hate the bottle, love the scent.

Do perfume bottle designs influence which perfume you buy?

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Eyeko Vintage Polish and MUA Comparison

Currently watching: Fan de Stars

Hello ladies,

Yesterday I mentioned that I was disapppointed with Eyeko's Vintage Polish as it seemed very similar to MUA shade 5, which you can see here

Here we can see the two shades on my colour wheel, Eyeko is on the left, MUA on the right

As we can see, the two are very similar although Eyeko Vintage is a tad lighter. The difference can be seen more clearly on the picture below.

So not an exact dupe but not a million miles away either.
Do you have any dupes in your collection?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Eyeko Vintage Polish

Currently watching: French tv

Salut les filles!

Sorry I've been absent for the past week, I came to France last Sunday and did plan to blog but for various reasons it just didn't happen. I have so much catching up to do with all your blogs!

This evening I'd like to show you Eyeko's Vintage Polish, which I bought from ASOS for £2.10 but which is sold on Eyeko's website for £4.

This was two coats. Drying time was fine. I can't comment on lasting power as I changed my manicure soon after taking these pictures.

I was a little disappointed with this polish purely because once I applied it, I felt it actually looked like a dupe for MUA shade 5. Is it? Well we'll seen when I do a comparison during the week!

Do you have this shade? What do you think of Eyeko's polishes?

Bye for now,
Laura

Friday, March 11, 2011

Friday's Food (Lentil, Carrot and Tomato Bake)

Currently listening to: Bells of New York City by Josh Groban

Hello ladies :-)

Today I'm off work so I went into town for a quick spot of shopping this morning. I do have a few purchases to show you but first I'd like to introduce something new to my blog, cooking recipes.

This recipe is for a lentil, carrot and tomato bake.


It's quick and easy to prepare and takes about 45mins to cook in the oven. Do you like the look of it? If so, read on to find out how to make this delicious meal :-)

Ingredients: lentils, carrots, one tin of chopped tomatoes, water, cheese, salt and herbs if desired

Step 1: Pour one cup of lentils and one cup of water into an ovenproof dish

Step 2: Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, mix so the lentils are covered and add salt/herbs if desired. Cover and put into the oven at approximately 180 degrees for 20 minutes

Step 3: Remove from oven, stir and add a layer of sliced raw carrots. Cover and place in oven for a further 20 minutes

Step 4: Remove from oven, add a sprinkle of grated cheese and put dish, uncovered, in the oven for a further five minutes

Step 5: Remove from oven, serve with vegetables and enjoy :-)


What do you think girls? Is this something you'd try? Have you tried a lentil bake before? Hope you enjoy it if you decide to make it!

Bye for now,
Laura

Thursday, March 10, 2011

NOTD: New Twist on Polka Dots

Currently watching: Mock the Week

Hello girls,

Are you having a good week? My weekend has now started so let's celebrate with a colourful manicure :-)

Remember Tuesday's manicure with E.L.F Pearl polish? Well I added three layers of polka dots to it using Barry M Pure Turquoise, Barry M Purple Berry Ice Cream and Nails Inc Spitalfields.

It was a fairly successful manicure although making the dots symmetrical was slightly tricky. And of course I ended up smudging some nails (please pretend it's not obvious)

Then I had the genius idea of photographing both hands at the same time. Don't think I'll be doing that again.

What do you think of this manicure? Is it something you'd try?

Bye for now,
Laura

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Wednesday's Wishlist

Currently listening to: Oceano by Josh Groban

Hello :-)

How are you today?

Let's take our minds off work and instead turn to films! These are the films that are currently on my wishlist this Wednesday:





Out of these five, the only one I've seen is My Sister's Keeper and while I didn't think it was great (of course I found it disappointing because I read the book before seeing the film), I'd like to see it again at some point.

Have you seen any of these films? Are there any you'd like to add to your DVD collection?

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Tuesday's Talons (E.L.F Pearl)

Currently listening to: 3AM by Busted

Good afternoon ladies,

How's your week going so far?

Today I have a nail polish from E.L.F to show you, Pearl, which I ordered in December.

This is a frosted shade which means you can see brush strokes and drying time is relatively long. I didn't try it with a matte top coat but I'd be interested to see if it had a strong effect on the appearance.

I quite like the shade although it's not one I would wear on its own; I prefer to add colour by stamping or simply adding a glitter top coat.

Wear wasn't great, I had visible tip wear and chips after less than a day and a half. It's hard to complain if you take price into consideration though. E.L.F polishes cost £1.50 for 10ml and are available from the brand's website (beware of relying too heavily on the site's colour swatches, I'd recommend looking at blogger's personal swatches).

Have you tried any E.L.F polishes?

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday, March 7, 2011

Monday's Manicure

Currently listening to: Halo by Beyonce

Greetings folks and welcome to the week :-)

Have you got anything exciting planned for the week? I'm once again working 7.30am - 5pm Monday-Thursday and having the day off on Friday then .... on Sunday I'm flying to Paris on a work trip for two weeks! I suspect auditing in France will be pretty much the same as auditing in England but a change of scenery will be nice and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend in Paris. It's one of my favourite cities.

Anyway, on to today's post which is a NOTD featuring Electric Purple by Accessorize and Desert Haze by E.L.F



Do you like it? I think it's quite a flattering manicure as I *believe* Desert Haze helps to elongate my fingers since it's not dissimilar to my skin tone.

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Weekend's Haul

Currently listening to: The Flood by Take That

Hello girls!

Have you all had a good weekend? I had the day off from work on Monday so my mum came down to Manchester for a visit. We walked around Manchester on Friday, spent the day in Liverpool yesterday and didn't have time for much this morning before she took the train back to Edinburgh. It was a great weekend though :-)

Of course on our travels we did do quite a lot of shopping. Here's my haul from the weekend:

What can you spot? A pair of work shoes from M&S (£25) and flipflops from Primark (£2.50)

A scarf from New Look (£3)

A belt from New Look (£3) which I intend to wear with my maxi dress when I get one and an umbrella from Dorothy Perkins (£5)

A tshirt from Primark (£8) although I haven't tried this on so I'm not yet sure if it's a keeper

A stripey blazer from H&M (£25)


Simple Hydrating Moisturiser, Eyeko Vintage nail polish (ASOS, £2.10), MUA nail polish (Superdrug, £1), Clinique moisturiser and lip gloss from Glamour magazine

A silver curb link chain, silver heart necklace, pearl ring (all from shops in Liverpool) and amazonite earrings from my mum (which I believe she bought from QVC) - what a great match for my new Eyeko polish

So as you can see I did spoil myself this weekend although all items (apart from the jewellery) were things I had on my spring/summer wishlist.

What did you do this weekend?

Bye for now,
Laura