London Days...

Hey guys! 

It's Sunday again, where does the week go?

But only one more week and it's a bank holiday.. Which means one thing..  4 day week!!

Yesterday, Alice and I went into London for some shopping, food, and just to chill! 

I've just got a few pictures of what we got up to, what we ate, and what I bought!

We bought a deal on Wowcher for Blocks Cafe which has locations in Soho & Charing Cross! We got 2 waffles and icecream and Bubble tea each for £8 which was actually so good! I had a banana waffle with vanilla icecream, and a lychee & passionfruit bubble tea! Bubble tea was weird, it was strange to drink and all of a sudden swallow a little ball, I nearly choked! But the flavours were great!

We then dandered around MOST of London, once again I swear we walked the whole Monopoly board and did some 'sightseeing'! Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Pall Mall, Westminister, we did the lot! There was a Festival going on in Seven Dials so the whole area around there was buzzing, such a good atmosphere! We loved the guy in Trafalgar Square with his 'You should be here sign'!  

'Bufalo' Pizza from Cafe Vergnano 1882 - YUM.

When it came to shopping, we didn't specifically go anywhere, we just walked and seen where we ended up! We made it to Illamasqua on Beak Street (just off Carnaby St) and they had the sale in store rather than just online which was amazing! I picked up a few things, 'Speckle' Nail Varnish (keep an eye out for a Manicure Monday post to see what it's like on the nails!) and 'Growl' Lipstick. Both of these were £5 in store so a lot cheaper than online!! Swatches of Growl further below :) It looks like quite a deep brown colour in the bullet but on the lips I'd say the colour is more like the lip stain you get after drinking a big glass of red wine! It's beaut but it is a bit tricky to apply, a lipbrush is the easiest way!

I also popped into MAC (cheeky, I've not been in in a while!) and discovered they had 'Whirl' lip liner in stock, Whirl is the lipliner that Kylie Jenner has been apparently wearing to perfect those huge lips! It's been sold out everywhere so it was pretty lucky to discover it! It's a dusky pink shade and it's gorgeous on, typical MAC lip liner, it's quite drying to apply but once it's on, it's on. I definitely think it's what Kylie's been wearing now I've tried it! It's so easy to overexcentuate your lips with!! Pics below:

MAC - Whirl

Illamasqua - Growl

The eyeshadow I'm wearing in both shots is Vernau by Illamasqua, I got it, Vapour and the sealing gel as well! Vernau has definitely become my new go to easy eyeshadow, it's a warm yellowy brown and it's SO easy to blend out. It's going to get a lot of wear! Vapour is a Tangerine orange and it's got the same easiness to blend as Vernau, I'm loving it under my eyes with Vernau on my lid!

L-R - Vernau, Sealing Gel & Vapour

Hope you've enjoyed reading this and seeing what I've been up to in London this weekend!
What do you think of 'Whirl', do you think it is what Kylie Jenners been wearing??

Manicure Monday

Hello ladies!

Another Monday, another Manicure!

This time you may notice in the length and shape of my nails.. because I finally got my infills yay!
Don't know if anyone in Surrey is reading (hello if you are *waves*) but my landlady suggested I visit Horley Nails, and I did and they were very good, super quick! I think the infills, filing, painting and drying only took about 20 minutes! Super impressive! Infills are £15, little bit cheaper than I've been paying in Manchester so I was happy with that!

I decided to reduce the length of my nails, my claws look beautiful but when you're entering in numbers on the computer it's very easy to make a very big mistake so I thought it would be safer! I rounded them as well, the points are hard to keep up with and I actually broke one not that long ago and I didn't want that to happen again!

The shade I'm wearing is China Glaze's 'Traffic Jam' it's a deep raspberry pink colour, and I've kind of been obsessed with that shade for a while now, so when I seen it I knew it was going straight on my tips! If you like the colour, you can buy it for £4.17 at BeautyBay at the minute!

What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Let me know! 

Thanks for reading! xxx

Manicure Monday

Evening guys! 

Hope you've had a good Monday! Usually Mondays are a bit depressing but today I've been feeling positive! I like this Instagram pic I stumbled upon, it's a good way to wake up in the morning thinking good thoughts for the day ahead!! 

This is just a quick post to show you what's on my nails at the minute. My acrylics are seriously overgrown so I needed something to disguise it until I could get to the salon!

On the base I have Headline Colours in 'Gunmetal' and China Glaze 'Your Present Required' on top! I think the grey background really works with all the multi coloured sparkles!!

What do you think of this combo? 

What are you wearing on your nails this Monday? Leave me a link to a pic if you've blogged about it! 

Thanks for reading!

Xxx

Nails of the daaaaay!

Hellooo!

Just a quick post to show you what colour and polish I'm currently rocking on my nails because I loveee it!

Just to let you know my nails aren't natural, I do have acrylic nails on that I get done at Lilly Nail and Beauty! They're so professional and last SO long! I've had mine on a fortnight and there has hardly been any growth at all! I usually get them infilled every 3-4 weeks! All the girls at Lilly's are lovely and so welcoming! 

Currently I'm wearing Barry M's Hi Shine Gelly Nail Paint in the shade 'Watermelon'!

Watermelon is a dark teal colour that dries lovely and dark on the nails! It's a perfect autumn colour because of its deep rich colour and I think I'll be wearing this colour a LOT. 

The colour actually dries darker on the nails than it does in the bottle!

I love these polishes - they're so glossy and shiny, they really do look like you've paid for gel nails whenever its a bargain at £3.99 from Boots or Superdrug!

It dries well on the nails even if the application is a bit streaky, within a few minutes the polish settles out to give a glossy, streak free finish!

At £3.99 these are some of the best nail products available at the moment from either the high street or high-end beauty products! They're the only type of nail varnish I even consider purchasing anymore!

If you haven't tried them I suggest you do! They have a great colour selection and every time I dander into a Superdrug store they have more colours available in this finish!

Barry M have also recently released more new autumn shades in a matte finish so I'm really looking forward to trying them and seeing how they compare! I love matte nails as well as shiny, glossy nails.. Oh to be honest I love most nail varnish finishes and Barry M have a finish to suit you!!

Barry M is currently on offer at Superdrug, and if you spend £9 on their products you get a free mascara so everyone hot foot it down there now or there'll be none left because I'll have bought them all.. :)

What do you think of these Hi Shine Gelly Nail Paints?

Are there any shades that you would recommend? 

Let me know!

I'm off to Alton Towers tomorrow for my first time so I'm hopefully going to get a good few photos up for all you thrillseekers out there!

Speak soon lovelies!

Rachel xxx 

My first Glossybox experience - part one!

Hi! Hello! Bonjour! Hola!

It's the 7th of September and today it is officially COLD! Say goodbye to summer clothes and prepare for an influx of autumn clothes, umbrellas and random animal hats and scarves over the next few weeks!

I've been reading about Glossybox for so long and always wanted to try it, bu for a poor student £9.99 per box (plus p&p) was a bit of too much commitment! Glossybox had been running an offer that you could purchase 2 boxes for £12.00! I thought this was a bargain and went for it! 

I received the Glossybox 2nd birthday box for May and the Seaside Splash box which was released for July 2013!

I'll talk about the boxes in two separate posts! First the 2nd Birthday box!

There were 5 products with 2 other small additions in the box!

The products were:

1. Headline Colors Nail Polish - 'Gunmetal'

2. Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara

3. Awapuhi Wild Ginger Shine Spray

4. Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner - 'Black 1'

5. Beautiful Movements Cosmetics Prime & Create Mixing Medium

There was also a packet of Glossybox mini nailfiles and a Green & Blacks chocolate! 

This nail polish is fullsize and costs £9 per 10ml! It looks gorgeous in the bottle but it looks even better on the nails! You are advised to apply two coats of polish to the nails, the first to apply the polish to the nails, and the second to provide a glossy top coat! I followed this advise and didn't even need a topcoat on top to make it shiny! This polish has UV absorbers to reduce chipping and flaking of the polish! From this I'm really impressed with Headline Colors and would be interested in trying another colour from them! The colours on their website (here!) look really vibrant and glossy!

Jelly Pong Pong's Fairy Lashes was the next present to be discovered! This has an RRP of £15 and there was a full size sample in the box! This mascara is said to be "non-clumping, lengthening and volumising".. I would agree that the mascara is non-clumping but I didn't really thing it did much for my lashes! In fairness to the product I have a mascara combination that really works for me at the minute so it probably was a little disadvantaged! Mind you the mascara is £15 for a tube, I'd rather splash out a few extra pounds and repurchase Benefit's They're Real or Lancome Drama mascara!!

Awaphui Wild Ginger is a brand I've never heard of before so it was good that the box would introduce you to products you maybe wouldn't have found before!! This Shine Spray retails £18.95 per 125ml can, and thats what you received in the box! 

The ingredients of this product are meant to condition and illuminate hair! It provides shine to hair and also protects your lovely locks from daily wear and tear! When I opened the box I presumed I wouldn't use it as my hair is generally quite silky and shine, but when I read into it I thought it would be good to give it a go as my hair needs a bit more protection since I began my transition to blonde! It smells like hairspray infused with ginger (which I suppose is obvious from the brands name!!) but it's quite refreshing on your hair because it makes it smell fresh! I don't know if I would repurchase as my hair routine is pretty simple but I'll certainly make sure I use up the can!

I was glad to see the Collection eyeliner in the box, I love their products and its always nice to see what eyeliner works best for you to create the cat eye look! This eyeliner has a really fine nib and a long handle which I love on a liquid eyeliner! It's a really black black which is great especially considering the liner is only £2.99! Happy with this product and I'm definitely gonna use it up! There's a blue version as well which I'm now tempted to try... ;-)

The product in the middle of this photo is a strange one! It's a clear Aloe Vera multi-use gel that can be used to create cream blushes, liquid eyeliners and help that last drop of foundation go a little bit further! I have to be honest I haven't really tried to use this yet! I'm a little afraid of it but I do plan to use it to turn some of my favourite eye shadows into eyeliners! My best friend is a make-up artist so this might go her direction as she'll probably have more of a clue what to use it for! You received a fullsize version of this gel which retails for £20 per 20g. It's pricey in my opinion!

The wee square of dark chocolate was a nice treat as well ;-)

I've been really impressed with my first Glossybox experience and my review of the Seaside Splash box will be up during the week! It's got some goodies hiding in there too so come and check it out!
Unfortunately this 2 for £12 offer is now over but I still think Glossyboxes are a nice wee investment! £10 a month (+ p&p) to get a present delivered to yourself for products that equate to waaaay more than £10! I'm thinking of asking for a years subscription for my birthday! :-)

Talk soon lovelies! xxx

Nails Of The Day!

Hi guys! Just a quick post on my current nail look! I'm a bit of an acrylics fiend but because I'm home and can't afford to keep up my addiction I've tried to go cold turkey!! My nails are in such poor condition because of the acrylics, so please excuse their disgustingness! 

This is a very simple nail look but I think it's quite an effective one! If you used other colours you could have the other 4 fingers painted the other colour, but unfortunately the white wasnt strong enough to cover the blue!

I just used Sellotape to cover over the white and give me a straight line for the blue! Easy peasy!! 

I used Miss Sporty's Cool Clubbing Colours in the bright blue shade, but it doesn't have a name unfortunately :( I think you can find this cheap as chips in Superdrug, probably around the £3 mark!!

The white is an Essie polish in Waltz! It's not the strongest white and you do need a few layers to make it opaque.. But it was a bargain! I got this on Fragrance Direct at £1.99!! Definitely worth checking it out to see if they're still at this bargain price! I got 4 Essie polishes for the price of one in Boots!!

Finally the top coat I used was MUA's Clear Top Coat.. As per usual with the majority of their products it was £1! Can't beat that :-) I think it's a good top coat, and if you use it every other day it really does keep your nails looking shiny! I had Seche Vite's top coat but it went gloopy far too quickly and the brush was too short, so half the polish went to waste! I wouldn't spend £8 on Seche Vite when you can buy one I find just as good for £1!

Let me know of any other simple nail art, I really struggle and any ideas would be appreciated!!

Rachel x