Purple Polish Collection and Primark Polish Addition

Currently listening to: Rose du Bitume by Diams

Hi folks,

While I was in town yesterday I popped into Primark and picked up a new purple nail polish which caught my eye.

I love purple polish but I'm always searching for my perfect shade:

Might Primark possibly have provided me with my perfect shade of purple polish?

This cost £1 for 10ml. I love the bottle's appearance and the smooth white top. I haven't tried this yet so I have no idea what application or finish will be like but I'm not expecting too much although I do have high expectations of the shade. It's a more blue, less grey shade of purple than my other pastels and oh there remains nothing more to say except I can't wait to try this!

Has anyone else tried Primark's polish?

Bye for now,
Laura

NOTD

Currently watching: Strictly Come Dancing

Hello girls,

Thank you for your messages wishing me good luck for my exam today. Unfortunately, it was a complete disaster. 40 multiple choice questions in 90 minutes. Taking 5 minutes to do individual questions only to discover that my answer wasn't one of the options. Giving up and moving on. Finding the same thing happening again and again. Only having one minute to do the last 6 questions. Guessing the answer to 15 of the questions. Pfft. I know I've failed but I will officially get my result tomorrow morning, while I'm back in the office with all my colleagues, yippee.

Anyway, the one good thing about exam days is that although the exams are in the mornings, we don't have to go to work in the afternoons :-) I went shopping, spent a small fortune in Boots (more about my purchases later) and came home to catch up with weekend tv and paint my nails.

I've gone for Eyeko Tea Rose Polish with a coat of No7 Stay Perfect in Twinkle as my first office manicure:

L to R: 2 coats of Eyeko Tea Rose Polish + 1 coat of No7 Twinkle, 2 coats of Eyeko on its own

Initially, the coat of No7 Twinkle seems to lighten the appearance of Tea Rose Polish but actually, once it's dry, there's not so much of a difference colour-wise, we just see some colours shimmering when the light catches my nails and subtle pieces of rainbow glitter.

What do you think?

Bye for now,
Laura

Randomness

Currently listening to: Toucher l'Instant by Grand Corps Malade (new obsession)

Good evening,

I'm sitting here waiting for my boyfriend to come home. He's been away for six days, visiting his family, but tonight, at midnight, he'll be back here. I had planned to study for a bit and write a letter to stay awake until his arrival but my eyes are so, so tired right now I just want to go to sleep. My job is so bad for my eyes; spending eight hours a day looking at spreadsheets, invoices and bank statements is a strain.

Anyway, this week I was working on an audit of a primary school. It's been a good week actually and apparently I've been working very efficiently. Today my senior said to the manager (who was only with us today), "I keep giving Laura things to do which I think will keep her busy for a few hours but she finishes everything really quickly!". Well I am new at this so I have no idea what's expected of me or how many things I have to do during the week (I am only working on this audit for a week). If I'm given a task to do but not given an indication of how long it should take me then I do tend to assume that I need to work quickly!
The fact that I have, apparently, raced through everything means that I have no work to do on-site tomorrow and so shall be in the office. That's going to be strange because here's what I've been used to:

Week 1: Induction, 9am-4.30/5pm, lunch 1-2pm (done)
Week 2: College, 9am-4pm, two breaks in the morning, an hour for lunch, break in the afternoon (done)
Week 3: College, 9am-4pm, two breaks in the morning, an hour for lunch, break in the afternoon (done)
Week 4: Audit. 9am-5pm, 30min lunch break (done)
Week 5: Audit, 9am-5pm, 30min lunch break

In the office we work from 9am-5.30pm and take an hour for lunch but when we're out at clients' premises we work from 9am-5pm and take only 30mins for lunch. This means tomorrow, for the first time ever, I'm going to have to stay in the office until 5.30pm. In fact, I'm actually going to have to work in the office, which will be a first. Hmm, should be interesting.

In other news:
- my driving's been really good this week :-)
- the new series of The Apprentice (UK) starts next Wednesday :-)
- I have another exam on Monday :-(
- I will have to spend the whole weekend studying :-(

Hope you're all looking forward to the weekend more than I am!

Bye for now,

Laura

NOTD

Currently listening to: Toucher l'Instant by Grand Corps Malade

Good evening girls!

I bought false nails on Saturday because last week at work I was with someone who had very long nails and I was envious. Envious of the gestures and sounds she was able to make with her lovely long nails. Anyway, I bought some cheap false nails just for fun and painted them purple then admired them while I was studying:

These looked so long to me when I applied them but my own nails used to be the same length. Why oh why won't they grow back? Urg.

I took them off on Sunday but I think I might file them down a bit, change the colour and wear them to work next week. I'm doing a course in the office in a room with another trainee so it won't matter if they fall off lol.

Do you feel comfortable wearing false nails?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mask your disappointment

Currently listening to: Just Say Yes by Snow Patrol (I'm obsessed by this song)

Good morning girls,

I start work a bit later today so I thought I'd write a quick post.

As I told you the other day, I decided it was about time I tried a Neutrogena Hydro-Boost Mask that I was given a while ago.

Neutrogena advertises "smart-fit fabric for immediate hydration" and "increased Hydro-Boost essence deeply penetrates for supply, glowing skin".

The directions for use were quite simple: "Use after cleansing. Open pack, take out the mask and unfold. Press lightly with fingertips to set in place over face. Relax and feel the Hydro-Boost essence infuse into your skin. Remove the mask after 15 minutes. Discard mask after use."

Here's what I found when I opened the pack:

Not really what I was expecting!

Anyway, I gave it a try and pressed it into my face but it didn't fit very well. However, I stuck with it for the required 15 minutes. It didn't feel unpleasant when it was on, I could feel the liquid and felt it going into my skin. The scent wasn't anything special, similar to skin products aimed at teenagers. However, once I removed the mask I didn't know what to do. My hands felt sticky from handling the mask and my face was still covered in the "Hydro-Boost essence" yet I wasn't sure if I was supposed to cleanse my face again or just pat it dry.

This really wasn't as fun an experience as I had expected. I have a few more sachets of these so I guess I'll use them up and see if I experience any benefit. I can't say I feel or see any benefit from this one. After I use my other sachets I definitely want to try a different type of face mask, the type you actually have to wash off.

Is this type of mask something you've tried before? If so, how did you get on?

Bye for now,

Laura

Beauty Buys and Good News

Good evening girls!

As the title suggests, I have some good news to share with you :-) I found out this morning that I passed yesterday's Assurance exam, yay. This is my first step to becoming a chartered accountant. So, one exam down, 14 to go! In addition to that cause for celebration, my boyfriend was offered a job yesterday and accepted it :-) He had his final interview yesterday morning at the same time and in the same building as I was sitting my exam in. Positive vibes were a-flowing.

Yesterday evening we decided to go shopping as we were both after a few items. I wanted to go to The Body Shop for a new perfume. I haven't worn perfume for a while. My absolute favourite is Gloria by Cacharel but unfortunately this has been discontinued. Anyway, I was disappointed by The Body Shop's offerings and was ready to leave empty-handed when my boyfriend noticed these sprays:

They are suitable for body, rooms and linen so they aren't true perfumes but I quite liked the scents and they were on offer (buy one get one half price) so I chose Green Tea & Lemon and Pomegranate & Raspberry.

My shopping continued this evening when we went to Tesco. I was after a body scrub and some moisturiser and spotted a St. Ives offer, buy one get one free. A couple of weeks ago I bought St. Ives Apricot Scrub when I saw it for £2.29 in Savers (compared to over £4 elsewhere) and quite liked it so I was willing to try other products in the range. I ended up with a tub of Apricot Body Scrub and some soothing Oatmeal & Shea Butter Advanced Body Moisturiser for around £4.99.
I haven't tried them yet but I'm hoping they'll be good. I can tell already that I'm going to have issues with the body scrub though- I hate having to scoop a product out of a tub and getting the product under my nails. Hate, hate, hate that.


And this isn't something I purchased but something which I've had for a while now, a Neutrogena Hydro-Boost Mask. I have a few packets of these so tonight I'm going to try using a face mask and see how I get on. Do you ever use face masks?

Bye for now,
Laura

NOTD (Grey and White)

Currently reading: ICAEW Assurance Study Manual (first exam is on Monday morning)

Good evening ladies,

Just a very quick post from me tonight as my boyfriend's just told me off for taking an extended study break.

Anyway, thank you for all your positive feedback regarding my previous NOTD. I hope you'll like this one too :-)

This was done on Thursday evening after it was pointed out to me during the day that I'd had my current manicure (the beautiful pink and white one) for three days. My college classmates are becoming cheeky.

This is my first grey polish, courtesy of Beauty UK, a random brand I found in Superdrug. I bought a lilac as well and had great plans for a grey and lilac manicure (grey background, purple hearts) but alas, the lilac didn't show up when I stamped it so I went for white as my stamping colour.

I love the colour combination although the manicure itself is a bit of a mess due to me stamping before the grey had properly dried and getting lovely smudge marks as a result.

I chose two Bundle Monster images, a floral design and lines with hearts dotted over them. It's not usual for me to mix patterns but I like this!

Bye for now,
Laura