My Very First Blog Award!

I have been very kindly nominated by Louisa Mary for the versatile blogger award! I'm so happy about this because I thought that no one would be remotely interested in what I had to say but there we go! :)

Right so, for this, I have to give you 7 facts about myself and then nominate some other blog which you think deserve the award :)).

7 Facts About Me:

1) I have been with my boyfriend for over 2 years and met him through work :)

2) I am at university studying Education, and hope to become a primary school teacher when I graduate.

3) I work part-time in a DIY store - I absolutely love it (suprisingly) and will be gutted when I have to leave.

4) I have a major addiction to nail polish and paint my nails almost every day :| aha.

5) I started a blog before just about nail polish and nail art, but felt too restricted and so made this one so I could incorporate everything.

6) I love playing on the xbox with my brother and boyfriend, which some people think is odd for a girl (my favourite is call of duty but I cannot stand fifa).

7) I own over 70 pairs of shoes and can't stand to throw any out, even the ones I don't wear anymore (and that is A LOT).

Nominations:

1) http://xunderscoreclaree.blogspot.co.uk/ 

2) http://jaanika-mybeautyblog.blogspot.co.uk/

3) http://emmerliejay.blogspot.co.uk/

4) http://beckysmakeup.blogspot.com/

5) http://lucy-abigail.blogspot.co.uk/

MUA Lipstick Shade 11

Helloo everyone!

Firstly I want to thank the lovely Louisa Mary for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award. As you know, I haven't been blogging long and for someone to actually be interested in the stuff I waffle on about is amazing, haha. I will definately do the 7 facts about myself and other blog nominations soon :).

On to today's post. I have only just really discovered MUA, which is a brand exclusively available in Superdrug. I rarely wear lipstick or lipgloss and have been wanting to experiment more with them, and so figured MUA would be a good place to start seeing as it's only £1.00 per lipstick! The shade I really wanted was a kind of "my lips but better" shade which sadly was out of stock (I can't remember the shade number sorry), and so I decided finally on Shade 11, which is actually quite a difficult shade to describe haha! It's got a red hint to it, but it's not in your face red.

The packaging is simple, which I would expect from a lipstick costing £1.00, but it's not horrible or anything like that. The reason I have only swatched it on my hand and not on my lips is actually because this shade does not suit me at all! I'm quite pale and I found this colour almost washed me out and looked really silly on my lips :\. Besides this, it was actually really nice to apply, and glided over my lips with no problems. It's fairly pigmented which is good, but I would definately choose a lighter more neutral shade next time. I might grow to like this but because I am not used to having colour on my lips I couldn't stop staring at it and didn't like it much haha.

Overall for £1.00 I would buy this brand again just in a different shade. I may pop back to Superdrug later in the week to see if they have the shade I wanted in the first place. Obviously I cannot comment on the staying power of this because I did not keep it on my lips long enough, but it was quite easy to rub off my hand with some tissue, which could mean that it isn't very long lasting?

On a completely different note, I bought some new shoes! :)

I have been looking for some shoes like this for ages because I like the style and think they go with pretty much everything. The peacocks website is down at the minute, so I can't post a link, but these were £12.00 and off the top of my head they had them in a coral colour and maybe blue as well. I chose black because they go with more, but I may have to pick up a coral pair because they were really pretty and summery :)

xx

Paris Hilton by ElegantTouch False Nails

I'm not normally a huge fan of false nails. Don't get me wrong, I love how they look, but I hate having really long nails as I find they get in the way, especially when I'm trying to type on my phone or when I'm trying to get change out of the till at work. I saw these nails in Tesco, and I wouln't have normally picked them up but they were in a reduced to clear basket and were marked down from £6.50 to £3.25, so I picked up 2 packets and decided to give them a try as the designs were really pretty.

The 2 designs I chose were "Party Girl" and "Natural Beauty", though there were 2 other desgins as well. I applied the "Natural Beauty" nails but I forgot to take a picture of the packaging first so the pictures are of the "Party Girl" packaging.

You get 24 nails in each pack which is good as there's a wide variety of sizes and you may even get more than one wear out of a pack. The nails also come with a mini nail file and a tube of glue (which is extremely difficult to get out of the tube!). The packaging of the "Natural Beauty" nails was exactly the same but the box was pink instead of black. The nails were quite easy to apply; you put the required amount of glue onto the natural nail, and then press and hold the falsie onto the real nail for about 10 seconds and the nail will be stuck on.

In terms of lasting power, these were in fact very good. I applied them on a Sunday night, and then went to work for a 9 hour shift on Monday, and they survived. I didn't actually lose a nail until th Thursday which I thought was good seeing as I had done 3 shifts at work and I am a very clumsy person anyway!

These were the natural beauty nails:

As you can see, these are a typical French Manicure design, but instead of plain white tips.they actually have little flowers on with a glittery dot in the centre of each flower which I thought was cute. I didn't file these down at all so this is the actual length of the false nails, but you could file them down to the length you wanted.

Overall, I was impressed with these nails. They stayed on for a long time and looked pretty. I probably wouldn't repurchase normally as long nails tend to annoy me after a while, but for a special occassion, I would definately buy these again.

Has anyone tried these?

xx

Wish List #3

#1. Button Through Mini Skirt

RRP £28.00 from Topshop

#2. Miss Real Blue Skater Dress

RRP £34.99 from New Look

#3. Blue Floral Wide Leg Trousers

RRP £25.00 from River Island

#4. Denissa Belted Skater Dress

RRP £12.99 from missguided.co.uk.

#5. Bailey Pleated Tailored Shorts

RRP £18.99 from missguided.co.uk.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation

First, apologies for the two foundation reviews so close together. I have been using this foundation for about a month now and haven't blogged about it yet because I wanted to give it a fair try before voicing my opinions. Now almost everyone has blogged about this, but I wanted to share with you what I thought about it.

The foundation comes in a thick glass bottle, which I like, with a bright orange cap and an orange pump dispenser. The glass bottle is embossed with the Rimmel logo on one side. I personally like packaging of this, it looks quite expensive, and although the bottle is glass, it is thick and looks very sturdy.

As you can see I use shade 100 Ivory.

Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation claims to "visibly reawaken and illuminate skin with a radiant glow and a flawless, natural looking finish". It contains an SPF of 15, which is a bonus in my book as I like to have some kind of sun protection on my face daily, and to be included in a foundation is just more convenient. The dispenser makes it very easy to get out the right amount of product, and I tend to use about 1-2 pumps for my entire face. The consistency is perfect for me; it's quite thick but I prefer this to a foundation which is too runny, though it is quite difficult to blend  in properly with your fingers - you will probably need a foundation brush/sponge.

Now, onto the one thing I dislike about this product, and you all probably know what I'm coming to here. The shimmer. Don't get me wrong, it's not like a glitterball or anything, and in fact it is barely noticable in certain lights, but under artificial lighting, you can see it. In fact, somebody I work with actually said to me "you have glitter on your face" (cringe moment!). The shimmer I think actually is a shame because other than that I do like this foundation. I still use it most days as I can't bring myself to buy another foundation when I have practically a full bottle here. It's fine for a night out or something like that because the coverage is amazing, just not if you dislike the glitter effect and are going to be under a lot of artificial light. The claim of reawakening skin and illuminating it, I believe it lived up to. My skin did look brighter and I did look more awake, which was good.

Overall, I probably wouldn't repurchase this. Don't get me wrong, I will use it, and I do like it APART FROM THE SHIMMER. Rimmel, bring this exact foundation out without the shimmer, and I am sold. Unfortunately I am not a fan of having glitter on my face, which is a shame :(

Kind of a mixed review here, and apologies for the lengthy review but I wanted to share that I do like it. Just not the shimmer.

What are your thoughts on this?

xx

NOTD #1

I feel like all I have written is reviews lately, so I thought I'd mix things up a bit with a nice new Nail Of The Day. So here it is:

I used:

2 coats of Barry M "Bright Pink"

1 coat of Models Own "Ibiza Mix" (accent nail)

GOSH "Matt Effect Top Coat"

Barry M nail paints are available from Boots, Superdrug and from the Barry M website

RRP £2.99

Models Own nail paints are available from Boots and the Models Own website

RRP £5.00

GOSH nail paints are available from Superdrug

RRP £5.00

Quite a simple look and a very quick blog post but thought I'd share :)

What do you think?

xx

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid

I usually use Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation (review to come), but for days when my skin is super dry, I turn to this one as I find the Rimmel one clings to the dry patches. The foundation comes in a glass bottle with a pump dispenser and a clear plastic lid, and I used shade 010 Ivory (though I don't think all Maybelline foundations have the same shading as I found I am a "Nude" in Dream Matte Mousse, so I'd double check the shade if you were to purchase this).

Before I discovered Rimmel's Wake Me Up, this was my absolute favourite foundation. Being a poor student means I can't afford the high-end brands and so have to make do with the "drugstore" ones, but actually I really like this one. As I said, daily I normally use Rimmel, but this one is really good for dry skin as it just glides over the dry patches rather than sticking to them.

Maybelline claims that this is "the lightness of a mousse in a liquid foundation". This, though, I may have to disagree with. A little goes a long way with this foundation, and if you apply too much it will end up looking cakey. It doesn't feel incredibly light on my skin and I can definately tell I am wearing foundation with this. I prefer a medium coverage as I am prone to the odd spot here and there and this is amaing for that, it gives good coverage with a little product. The consistency is what I would call normal for a foundation, not too thick but not runny. It blends in easily either with your fingers or a brush, though it must be said that with the brush you will get a more even, flawless finish.

That said, I really like this foundation. It gives good, even coverage, and even though it isn't as light as a mousse which it claims (I didn't actually find the dream matte mousse very light though so maybe it's me?), it is still not too heavy as foundations go; I have used lighter and I have used heavier. I would definately repurchase this to have alongside Rimmel for those days when my skin is playing up and being very dry. Just to point out though, if you suffer with oily skin, I probably would steer clear of this because it does give you quite a dewy finish and if you had oily skin it may leave you looking a bit shiny.

RRP £7.99 from Boots, Superdrug etc.

Have you tried this? Which foundation do you use?

xx

Andrew Barton Hair Products

Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts over the weekend, I've been super busy but I think now I am back into the swing of things :)

Today I have for you 3 hair products that I actually recieved for Christmas but I completely forgot about until about 2 weeks ago. They are Andrew Barton Gloss Boss Shampoo, Gloss Boss Conditioner and The Straight Answer Protection Spray.

The products are from Andrew Barton's "Shiny Happy Hair" collection, and the claims

 they make are "a collection of no fuss, no nonsense hair products that work" and "leaves your hair feeling magical and gorgeous". The products in this range don't have a very strong smell, just a light, pleasant, kind of floral-y one, which is nice.

I have been using these 3 for about 2 weeks now, and I have noticed a difference in my hair. After washing, my hair feels soft and looks shiny, which is the claim the products make. I tried using the shampoo without the conditioner afterwards to see what effect the shampoo had on its own, and while my hair still felt soft, I think you would need to use the conditioner from the range as well to see the full benefits. The heat protection spray is the product I like the most out of these. I straighten my hair almost every day and it's fair to say it's not in the best condition. Since using the spray, I have noticed that while my hair has not got any better, it certainly has not got worse, which I am positive it would have done if I wasn't using the spray. I'm actually getting my hair cut at the weekend so I will see if the spray still works wonders once my split ends have been chopped off :).

There are quite a few Andrew Barton collections, and I also have tried the "SOS Help Me" one, which I thought was really good too. If you are interested in these products, they are available at ASDA; the shampoo retails for £4.00 for 400ml, the conditioner is £4.00 for 250ml and the heat protection spray is £4.00 for 250ml. They are currently in ASDA's 2 for £6.00 event though so if you would like them, stock up now :)

What do you think? Have you tried these products?

xx

New Models Own Polishes

After waiting with much anticipation for these babies, they finally arrived this morning!

L-R, Ibiza Mix, Indian Ocean and Tropical Sun

Ibiza Mix is from the new Hed Kandi collection which if I'm not mistaken, is made up of 5 polishes - 3 neons and 2 glitters. Ibiza mix is a clear base packed full of different sized glitters in so many different colours - mainly blue, green, gold and lilac. I haven't swatched this yet but will report back when I do as I'm pretty excited!

Indian Ocean is one of Models Own's new additions to the Beetlejuice collection. It's a light blue colour with a pink shimmer, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Be warned though, it is VERY sheer, and will require about 4-5 coats for full opacity. i find it best to layer it over a light purple or light blue. This is the only one of these polishes I have actually swatched so I will put that at the end of this post :)

Tropical Sun is another one from the Beetlejuice collection, and is an orangey, almost coral colour with flecks of tiny silver glitter. It is literally like summer in a bottle! The beetleuice collection was originally marketed I think as a collection of duochromes? Now, Indian Ocean and Tropical Sun aren't as much of a duochrome as the older beetlejuice collection and I technically wouldn't label these as duochromes but I suppose some might.

Now, I tried Indian Ocean this morning, and I can not stop staring at my nails! I think I'm in love.

This is a poor picture which doesn't do this polish justice at all, sorry. But this is 2 coats of Indian Ocean over 1 coat of 17 Lasting Fix in "Heart Beat" which is a baby blue colour. In terms of application, this polish was amazing. It applied smoothly and dried extremely quickly. The formula was quite runny but still easy to work with. The brush was also good, which is usual for Models Own polishes. The only negative thing about this is the sheerness of it. I personally hate layering tons of polish on my nails so would avoid trying to make it opaque on it's own. However, you could try this over a lilac or even coral, and actually I've seen some swatches online where this is over black, which also looks fab.

The colour overall is super pretty, summery and girly. I absolutely love it, and Models Own is fast becoming one of my favourite nail polish brands.

 What do you think? xx

Models Own is available at Boots and www.modelsownit.com for £5.00 each.


DISCLAIMER: This post is in no way sponsored and I bought these products with my own money. It is simply my opinion and a true reflection of what I think of these products.

17 BB Cream

After umming and ahhing for a few weeks about whether or not to try out one of these BB creams which every blogger and his wife seems to have reviewed, I decided to bite the bullet yesterday in Boots, and opted for 17's version as it was reasonably priced and a few people had recommended it to me.

As you can see, the BB cream comes in a black box, which to me, made it look and feel more expensive than it is, which is a plus. The tube inside is your average plastic tube, but I personally like this as it's easy to get the product out, and easy to get the right amount of product out. This only comes in two shades, light and medium, so if you have dark skin, unfortunately this product is not for you! I chose 'light' since I'm quite pale and 'medium' I found quite orange.

"The weightless, all-in-one creamy formula blends seamlessly into skin, moisturising, concealing, smoothing and protecting". This is the claim that 17 make about the product. Does it deliver? Well I have only used this product two or three times and I have to say, I'm impressed. Although it doesn't give as much coverage as I am used to with foundation, it's sufficient enough if you happen to be having a good skin day. I love that it feels very light on the skin and doesn't actually look like you are wearing any make-up. If I was in the middle of a breakout, I would have to move back to Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation, however, this is perfect for when you're feeling confident about your skin but don't fancy going out bare-faced. It also has an SPF of 25, which is an added bonus.

The texture is quite smooth, in fact it almost feels like you are applying moisturiser. It also claims to control oil, which I have to say was my one gripe about this product. I don't have very oily skin, in fact my face is quite dry, and this made me look a little shiny at first, but after about an hour it looked fine so I don't know if this is a common problem or just something I experienced?

Overall though, this is a perfect lightweight alternative to normal foundation, and probably a product I will be reaching for regularly during the day. At night if I'm going out, I will still porbably favour foundation as it gives a better coverage, but this is perfect for holidays or for everyday use.

RRP £6.99 from Boots.

xx

FOTD #1

I've been debating whether or not to do this for a few days now. Even though I love make-up and beauty, I am not the most confident person in the world, and I certainly don't photograph well! However, you'll just have to excuse the poor picture and my poor skin cause I'm having a slight 'mare at the min with my skin, I'm just at the end of a bad breakout (eek!).

This is pretty much my everyday look, nothing too special or interesting. I don't wear anything on my lips as I hate lipstick (shock horror!) and don't particularly like lip gloss. Occassionally I will have to resort to lip balm but that is rare.

(By the way, my pictures aren't very good because I'm having to rely on my iPhone, my camera broke!)

Base:

17 Photo Flawless Skin Primer

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in 100 Ivory

MUA Pressed Powder in Shade 1

17 Instant Glow Shimmer Pearls

Eyes:

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Zero

Bourjois Volume Clubbing Mascara in Absolute Black

I've just realised how boring my make-up is haha! I tend not to bother with eye shadow or lipstick/lipgloss so it doesn't actually take me that long to do this. Maybe I should start being more creative! Anyone know where would be a good place to start?

All of my make-up is high street brands tbh, though I am saving up for some more high-end brands at the min, might take me a while though as I keep getting distracted by the 3 for 2 in Boots!

xx

Mee

This is probably rather late since I've been doing this blog for just over a week and this probably should have been my first post! I decided to do a post about me because I realised I kinda just jumped head first into blogging without really giving any information as to who was behind it. So, here goes.

I'm Hannah and I'm 18 years old. I live in Cheshire and have a lovely boyfriend called Matt :). I'm currently studying Education Studies at University and hope to become a primary school teacher when I graduate. In the mean time, I work in a DIY store (glamourous, I know), and suprisingly, I actually quite like it,. I have always had a passion for all things girly, mainly make-up and clothes, and I have a MASSIVE obsession with nail polish. I paint my nails nearly every day, sad I know. 

I decided to start a blog because I had been reading (stalking) so many beauty blogs that it inspired me to start my own. I'm not the world's greatest writer by any means, and so my posts probably won't be the best written ones or even the most interesting. I wanted to share my passion with others and hopefully meet some new people and get some new inspiration along the way.

Don't know if this was of any interest to anyone but I wanted to do it anyway, ha!

xx

Inecto Pure Coconut Exfoliating Facial Scrub

Hi everyone! Today I have for you an exfoliating facial scrub by a brand called Inecto. It claims to smooth and soften skin, and contains tiny grains of actual coconut shell, which I thought was pretty cool.

I have been using this two/three times a week now for about a month, and I can honestly say that although I can see a difference in the softness and smoothness of my skin, I'm unsure if its the best exfoliator I've ever used. It is cheap though, so I would probably repurchase. The consistancy is relatively normal for an exfoliator, quite thick with tiny shards of the coconut shell. The smell is divine though, but obviously, it smells of cocnut so if you don't like the smell, stay well away from this haha. It smooths around your face pretty well, and you can feel the shards scratching you, which is one thing I did dislike about this product as I have quite sensitive skin and prefer my exfoliators to be quite gentle. However, there has been no irritation so far so that's good.

I picked this exfoliator up actually in my local Home & Bargain for rougly £1.00 I think. I have been doing some research to see if it's available anywhere else, and the Inecto website says Superdrug, though I can't find any on the actual Superdrug website, so I don't know. However, there are some on amazon here for £3.49.

Also, I've been thinking of doing some Outfit of the Day shots, so may put some up later, I don't know yet! I'm currently still in pyjamas (lazy, I know), so will have to see what I'm wearing!

Thanks for reading. :)

My Week in Pictures

Jumping on the blogger bandwagon here for a well-deserved break from uni work!

I don't know if anyone will actually be interested in this, but I thought it'd be fun to do, so here goes..

#1. Playing xbox with my lovely boyfriend.

#2. Reliving my school days with lots of old CD's.

#3. The sims!

#4. My first MUA purchase.

#5. Work, work, and more work.

#6. Much hyped Fantasy Fire.

#7. New Barry M shades.

#8. New fave exfoliator.

I realise this is a very poor attempt! I'm not very arty so this is the best I could come up with, any tips would be much appreciated. :)

Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire

I know, I know. You've probably seen a million posts on this, and I am rather late jumping onto the bandwagon. However, I didn't actually buy this polish because of all the hype surrounding it, I bought it because I genuinely like the colour and the duochrome effect. Needless to say, the formula left a lot to be desired. I knew this was a sheer colour before I bought it, due to reading numerous reviews and blog posts about it, so I didn't even bother trying to layer up the polish, as I hate polishes like that as they smudge so easily. I layered Fantasy Fire over Barry M's Bright Purple, though I want to try it over a lighter shade such as Barry M's Berry Ice Cream to see what that effect is like :).

Excuse the backgrounds of these pictures, this was where I could actually capture some of the colour shifts, aha.

This polish is a purple colour, which shifts to gold, pink and green in certain lights. I couldn't seem to photograh the green anywhere, so you'll have to take my word for that one! The top picture shows more of the gold shift (excuse the tipwear on there, this was the 3rd day of wearing it), and the second picture shows the pinky shift. Application was good once layered over another colour, and you could use purple (like I did), blue, lilac etc for your base coat to give different shades, making it very versatile. The polish gave an amazing glass-like smooth finish even with no top coat, which I thought was good.

Overall, I really like this. I haven't used any other Max Factor polishes before, and after this one, I may give a few others a try. This polish comes in a very small bottle (it doesn't actually say how much is in it, and I can't find it on the Boots website, so apologies) and costs £3.99 from Boots and Superdrug (though it's on special offer in Superdrug at the minute for £2.99). It's quite expensive for the amount of polish that you get, but because of the effect, I would repurchase. It's apparently the "it" shade at the minute and because of this is hard to find, but I found it in both Boots and Superdrug on the first attempt. 

What do you think? Would you purchase this shade?

ASOS Wish List!

I adore ASOS.com, and here's just a few of the things I have my eye on this week.

#1. River Island Sunflower Print Playsuit



RRP £25.00

#2. Vero Moda Scalloped Edge Sleveless Top

RRP £22.00

#3. M2F Coloured Skinny Jeans

RRP £95.00

#4. ASOS HOST Gladiator Espadrille Wedges

RRP £42.00

#5. UGG Mini Bailey Button Boots

RRP £155.00