Burning a hole in my pocket| Haul

Well as the title suggest, I have been hauling my bum off recently, once while I was in Spain and the another last weekend, and lets just say I don’t really have the funds to be shopping like a crazy person. However as always, that never stops me! I have thankfully paid my overheads, so there will be no debt collectors on my doorstep, however I should be saving, not spending my money, but what is a girl to do. The items I have bought are needed… not urgently but still needed, so I’m not beating myself up too much.

My first haul was when I was in Spain on holiday. There was a few sales going on, and as I needed clothes for work I indulged and bought the blazer and two t-shirts above. Like many others I am obsessed with blazers, I have quite a little collection going on, and it’s still growing. I love how versatile they are, and how they instantly smarten up any outfit. This one is from Pull and Bear, which I’m not sure we have in the UK. It’s very high-street; key new styles mixed with essentials all at reasonable prices. The blazer was only 20 Euros, so a bargain really. My T-shirts like the blazer are bargains as well. They are both from Zara where there was a huge sale going on, which was more like a jumble sale; picture girls grabbing anything, clothes thrown everywhere, and girls trying things on in the middle of the shop. I got both t-shirts for 8 euros, and they should of been 45 euros collectively, so I was pretty pleased with that.

My second haul is from last Saturday, I only went into town for my bridesmaid dress fitting and to pick up a few things, but ended up with this lot and £120 down. Again, it is stuff I need, but maybe I shouldn’t of bought it all at once. I got the two bags from Tkmaxx, the large teal one is now my new work bag. I had been searching for one that was large enough for all my lunch and paperwork, as well as all the other crap I carry around, that was in a design I loved and would last me a while. This one turned out to be the winner, it’s teal coloured leather, has many pockets and compartments, zip fastening, and only cost me £60. The second more interesting bag is the clutch bag I am going to wear for my mums wedding. I needed a silver glittery one to match my shoes which I blogged about here, with it being only £15 I picked this one. The perfume again is from Tkmaxx, but thankfully my boyfriend was being a star and treated me. Overall I was pretty impressed with Tkmaxx, its not normally a place I shop, but it’s one of the few shops we have in Kendal so I don’t have much choice but to try it now.

The beauty products, are all form Boots, and I’m pleased to say they were discounted or on offer. However it seems that doesn’t stop me spend any less money, I just end up buying more! The Maybelline products were my best bargain as they had an offer on where all Maybelline products were 2 for £10, so I pretty much got an item free! I’ve never come across such a good offer before, and was hugely impressed. The 

Soap and Glory products are some that I have wanted to try for a while, and as it was buy one get one half price I indulged and added to my huge Soap and Glory collection at home. The Rimmel products were both reduced, the powder was just needed, and the primer is something I have been wanting to try. I have been struggling with my foundation recently; it hits about 3 o clock in the afternoon and my makeup has slid right off my face, so I’m going to try using a primer and see if it will help make my make up last at least till the end of the working day. I started with a cheap one, and if this doesn't work will venture into more expensive territory, but expect a review in a few weeks.

Have you been indulging recently? Did you take advantage of the Maybelline offer? Also if anyone has any primers they recommend let me know!

NOTD| How to remove glitter nail varnish

1- Pretty glittery nails

2- The struggle to remove the varnish as you would normally

3- Tools needed to remove glitter nail varnish with ease

4- Nails all wrapped up

5- The results

6- Tad-ah all gone!

As many of you will have seen I recently fell in love with a Nails Inc glitter nail polish. I did not waste any-time in applying many layers to all my nails and giving myself some super sparkly nails. However I felt they were a little too sparkly for a week full of meetings at work, so wanted to remove it. I started to remove it as I normally would, with a cotton pad and nail varnish remover, however found that this was not budging the glitter in the slightest, rather the cotton just stuck to the glitter. So after much difficulty I Googled a technique for easy removal and found an article which helped me, so I though I would share it to help you also.

For this you will need;

*Nail Varnish remover* *Tin foil* *Cotton balls/pads*

This technique saves you probably about 30 minutes, millions of cotton pads and gallons of polish remover; Just follow the simple steps below.

1. Firstly you soak the cotton pads/balls in nail varnish remover… and I mean soak! You then apply this to your nail.
2. Secondly rip the tinfoil into strips then wrap this tinfoil tightly around the nail with the cotton pad between the nail and the foil. Proceed to do all your fingers. Your hands should end up looking like a cross between Freddie Kruger and a robot.
3. Now sit back a grab a magazine, chill and let them soak for 10 minutes.
4. To remove, apply a little pressure to the nail and twist the cotton and foil from side to side, a couple of twists should do the trick. When you remove the foil, your glitter varnish should have vanished.
5. Make sure you give your hands some love and care after this, as the nail varnish remover can make them a little sensitive, after soaking them.

So there you have it a simple, stress free to remove you beautiful, if not persistent glitter nail varnish. I hope this helps you as it did me.

Have you tried this technique before? Or do you have another little trick?

P.S Don’t forget, if you enjoy my blog to vote me for Best Newcomer in Cosmo’s Blog Awards… it take two minute and means the world to me.. thanks! Vote Here

Dressed Up Nails| NOTD

Just a little quick post today to share some of my new nail polishes with you. As I mentioned earlier this month, as my new job is office based, as opposed to hospitality based, I now have the luxury of being bale to wear nail varnish! I know it’s only a small thing, but after working in hospitality for 7 years and only being able to paint my nails for nights out, to be able to take time and effort to create pretty nails is great.

Nail varnishes 3,4 and 5 are from a pack I bought this past weekend from TKMaxx. I’m not the biggest fan of this shop, as I don’t like the jumble sale atmosphere it has, however every now and again I take a look it to try and find some gems, and found a variety of 3 pack Nail Inc selections for only £11. Considering a single Nail Inc varnish can cost £11 I essentially got two free varnishes. Sometime soon I aim to buy some nail art pens and nails stamps so I can create more complex nail art looks. So keep your eyes pealed for more nail of the day posts.

Which on of my new polishes is your favourite? Do you have any recommendations for nail art pens and tools?

P.S Don’t forget to vote for me for the Best Newcomer at the Cosmo Blog Awards. Its would mean so much to me!

Just click the link and select my blog-Vote for Me :D

Heavenly Heels| Bridesmaid shoes

Firstly I apologise, I actually bought these shoes last weekend, but have been too busy to post about my weekend shopping. Yet I am still going to share it with you as I am in love with my new shoes! More shoes I hear you say… these ones, like my Graduation ones are essential as they are my bridesmaid shoes.

Last weekend, I visited Manchester with my Mum (the Bride) and the other 3 bridesmaids, of which I am the youngest. My mum has the most random bunch of bridesmaids in the world; her daughter, her mum, and her two friends. Not only do our ages vary, so does our body shape and fashion sense, so buying our outfits has been difficult. We have managed to settle for the same dress, however for shoes we decided that we would each have a different pair of shoes so we could reflect our our style. The only necessary being that they had to be sparkly.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of everyone else shoes, but of course I have plenty of pictures of mine. I must of looked for a pair in every shop in Manchester, and the only pair I loved were a pair of £400 Jimmy Choos, which my budget did not stretch to! Finally I stumbled into Moda in Pelle and found the pair pictured; despite them not being a silver sparkle, more a grey shade, my mum approved. Although I think she just wanted me to settle upon a pair and not leave Manchester empty handed. They are very high, but I love them, I just prey I can last all day in them at the wedding.

While we were at Manchester we had afternoon tea in Marks and Spencers, which was an absolute bargain and very yummy. While in Marks and Spencer we found this display of DIY bra’s by their staff. They had been asked to decorate a bra for Breast Cancer, and the Bra with the highest votes wins; voting was done by putting money into a collection box. I voted fro the Percy Pug bra, as I think its simply amazing, but the whole idea was a great effort by the store to help raise money.

Overall we had a great girly day, and I am very happy with my purchase. I just can’t wait till September so I can finally wear them!

What do you think of my bridesmaid shoes? Do your prefer more traditional shoes for weddings of something fun?

OPI Glitter| NOTD

So another little peek of my nails and how they are dressed up today. Hope you girls like them. Still on the glitter, despite it not being the holidays anymore. I suppose I'm just bringing some cheer to a dull January!

The look was done by using the gold 17 nail varnish on all fingers bar the ring finger. On my ring finger a plain white nail varnish was used as a base, then topped with the OPI gold glitter nail varnish.

Topshop Nail Varnish| NOTD

Glitter and Gold| NOTD

My first actual Nail of the day Post! I unfortunately don’t get to paint my nails as much as I want to as I work in hospitality, and we are not allowed to have nail varnish on at work, so with working at least 4 days a week, it’s pretty pointless. However over the holidays I always paint them, plus I have a week off work this week, so I may paint them every day… YEAH!!

I received a few nail varnish sets, and bought a few shades in the sales so it has inspired me to try a few new styles.

This one is the one I wore to New Years Eve. (Please excuse my orange hands)

Lovely and glittery to see in the New Year.

Christmas Time, Tree time| Christmas Tree Inspiration

So it's that magical time of year again where all the Christmas tree's start appearing again. As someone who is very proud of her tree decorating skills, and see's herself as being creative I love nothing more than admiring other peoples Christmas trees.

This evening I was lucky enough to be spending a few days at my family home, so was there in perfect time to help put the tree up. I love my dad's house at Christmas as it has an old fashioned vibe going on, everything is colorful, glittery and miss match, but yet cosy and heart-warming. We get a big real tree, and have lots of fun and arguments disputing when the tree is level and even. We then have a section each to ram as many baubles, beads and glitter on. I had such a great time with my little brother and sister, Dad and Step mum.

I've also Included a few pictures of my very different tree at my own flat in Newcastle. It's not quite the same, a bit more artificial and modern, but I still love it. 

How does everyone else decorate their tree? Modern, Traditional, miss match or minimalistic?