Valentine's Day NOTD

Valentine's day has been quite low-key for us this year. As I mentioned in a previous post we have always splashed out on presents, nights away in hotels or meals out. This year we both agreed not to go OTT so we ruled out presents, and just exchanged cards instead. He brought me breakfast in bed (for the first time ever in 4yrs and may I add it was a weird experience - a strange concoction of foods, majority non-breakfast related, bless him, can tell he's never done that before!).

Tonight we are going to our favourite Indian which I am looking forward to!

Just having a mini pampering sesh so thought I'd leave you with a NOTD, or should I said NOTN... sorry about the shadow - my camera casts a shadow over everything I photograph at night and I'm not very techy so unaware how to avoid this annoying problemo!

Polish used - Barry M 302 Fuchsia. Fimo hearts from eBay - they are actually white with pink edging but the flash has bleached them white...

I'm going to find something pink in my wardrobe to match my nails.. it has to be done tonight! Possible OOTN coming!

What are your plans tonight?

Review: Rituals Shower Gel

Picasa annoyingly wouldn't save my rotated photo of my shower gel, and I refused to put a lop-sided picture up so this photo is a stolen one..

Rituals Shower Gel

It's not often I do reviews but seeing as though I'm coming to the end of the bottle, I thought it deserved a mention.
Most of you will probably recognise it from December's Glossybox (which you can see here). I can honestly say it is sitting very high on my favourites list when it comes to shower/bath products.

Product Description
'This unique foaming shower gel gently cleanses your skin and leaves it silky soft & smooth. Squeeze a small amount of gel into your hand – in contact with water the gel transforms into a rich, relaxing foam.'

I remember having a little bit of an issue with this gel at first.. it didn't seem to want to be used! I had a little squirt (as you do) when I opened my GB in my living room. All of a sudden I heard the Christmas tree make a noise, I looked and the shower gel had travelled a few metres from my feet, hitting the tree giving it a lovely snow effect, and making 2 white lines on the carpet in the process! A similar thing happened when I was in the bath, I went to squirt it (with a flannel over it this time may I add), and again, it jumped over the flannel and right across the room onto the wall. So warning - the pump/spray, whatever you wanna call it, its powerful!

The gel itself... well.. what can I say? It is the most creamiest shower gel I have ever used. It starts off as a clear gel like formula, and quickly transforms into a foam, then as you massage it into your body, it builds up into the thickest creamiest white lather I have ever seen. It feels so luxurious on the skin and leaves it feeling extra smooth. The formula and transformation process reminds me of shaving gel. I can imagine that would bother some people but it didn't me...

GB were dishing out a variety of scents and I received it in Indian rose and sweet almond oil. I'm not the best at describing scents, however I will say that it is nice and fresh, with a little bit of sweetness in there (which was probably the almond), but nothing too overpowering. The only negative I have with this shower gel (and this is only personal preference) is that the scent doesn't linger on your skin for very long after you've had a bath/shower. I like my products to leave me with an aroma! But again, personal preference... maybe the other scents were different?

The 200ml bottle has lasted me a long time with probably 1/4 to go. A little gel goes a long way with this product. At £6.50 a pop, although a little pricey just for shower gel (I'm used to spending £2 max on showel gels in supermarkets!) I think I would repurchase this if I was feeling a little flush with cash.

Rituals can be purchased in House of Fraser and John Lewis.
What scent did you receive and were you impressed?

See their products

On a side note - I've got Mon, Tues & Weds off work so a nice long weekend for me! I love time off, it excites me! (Although still no plans for V Day :-( unless he's planning to surprise me!)

Mr Lover Lover

The day filled with flowers chocolates and tacky teddies is almost upon us!
Me and my boyfriend don't go OTT. We did a little more in the first couple of years we were together, but as the years are passing by, we are doing less and less. Maybe it's a case of me getting older and not being as bothered and not getting caught up in the social hype of it all, who knows?

Valentines day creates a lot of debate. Some people argue that there shouldn't be a day dedicated to showing the ones we love 'how much' we really love them, because it should be like that every day. For others its a bittersweet day, a reminder of what they once had. For some it can bring bad or sad memories for many reasons.

Either way, here is a selection of potential gifts I chose, and for all the single ladies (put your hands up! Sorry, couldn't resist!) use it as a treat day ;-)

Top Row L-R: 9ct gold crystal heart earrings and pendant set, Thorntons chocolate heart collection, Lush 'PS I love you'
Middle Row L-R: Bea overknee heart tights, Topshop lace balconette bra, Vera Wang Princess Night
Bottom Row L-R: A random bunch of pink roses! MAC sheen supreme lipstick 'behave yourself', a candle-lit bath that I wish was mine!

How will you be spending Valentines day?

Don't also forget that it's a leap year this year which means girls who are tired of waiting for a proposal can take control and do it themselves on February 29th! But lets be honest, which girl would do that?

GlossyBox - Valentines Edition

This is probably old news to most of you now. I’m always annoyingly late receiving my glossybox because me and my boyfriend are always at work when it arrives, then I always seem to have a problem with the post depo just lately when I attempt to collect it so it prolongs the suspense (and not in a good way!). Subsequently, I’m late posting about it and by now you would have seen a hundred and one photo’s of what people received, so I expect this post to be neglected. Bless it. However, I’m still going to post it, simply for my ‘box of memories’.

Woah, what a long-winded intro!

Ok, I’ve seen mainly 2 varieties of the contents this week, and also varying opinions (as always!).

Contents

Eyeko skinny eyeliner in ‘Dover Grey’

Clarins extra firming night cream

Clarinis extra firming day cream

FAB Body Moisturiser (although for some reason my card states body wash)

MURAD Hybrids skin perfecting primer – dewy finish

Opinions/thoughts

Firstly I LOVE the colour of the box… you know when you smell something so good that you could eat it but are obviously not meant to… well this is what this colour does to me! The heart sticker and GB rock sweet were a cute little touch too.

MURAD face primer - I’ve been after a new face primer for a while now, so this was perfect timing. I’m a little apprehensive on the ‘dewy finish’ because my skin creates enough oil to give a free ‘dewy finish’ so I don’t need any more! I’m used to a thick velvet textured primer, so this looking and feeling like liquid foundation is a little scary! However I’m looking forward to sampling this properly.

Eyeko skinny eyeliner – This has a crazy long handle and half a pencil of product which is kinda annoying! The handle is used for precise definition, however I've tried using the handle and can't get on with it. IMO to gain precise definition you have to hold it close to the nib to have complete control (just like a pen!) so this makes no sense to me. There were 6 colours to receive, and reading some blogs, I’m glad I received the grey pencil as opposed to the midnight blue and powder pink. After swatching, this appears very hard-wearing so won’t be slipping off any time soon. It has a very subtle shimmer intertwined within the product and would create a fantastic smokey eye. Can’t wait to try this out properly.

Eyeko skinny eyeliner

Clarins day/night extra firming cream – Honestly? I’ve never tried any Clarins products however I was extremely pleased to see this brand in my box this month. The products themselves are maybe a little too old for me (I tend to find GB has a tendency to send products for the more mature skin on a regular basis), but I will still sample them.

FAB Body Moisturiser – I’m going to be honest – I have a tonne of body moisturisers now. However after sampling this, I’m liking the thick consistency and how fast the product is absorbed into the skin. There is no scent to it which is a bit of a let down for me as I like my products to leave me with an aroma! However the bottle is the perfect travelling size so I will be putting this in my ‘travel products’ box and it will definitely be travelling to Vegas with me…. The lucky buggar!

Overall I’m quite happy with what I received and will definitely be getting use out of all of them over the next few months.

Were you happy with your contents this month?

Tresor Paris Bracelet - Dupe!

Just after Christmas I was at work and was talking to one of my colleagues, and everytime she moved her hand, something sparkly kept catching my eye. It was one of the most prettiest bracelets I'd seen in a long time. I commented on how nice it was and she said that it was a gift from her boyfriend. That night I was browsing my Youtube subscriptions and began watching CosmeticsCharlotte72 'What I got for Christmas' video. How much of a coincidence was it that in her stash of christmas presents was the exact same bracelet I had been eyeing up on my friend earlier. Thanks to Charlotte I became aware of the brand and began searching and it wasn't till I browsed a few websites that I realised how expensive but popular these were. This particular bracelet retails at £149 and the likes of Nicole Scherzinger and a few from The Saturdays have been spotted with this bracelet. However, straight after Christmas with big gas bills looming, this was certainly out of my budget.

Instead I resorted to my trusty friend, ebay. Would I find a similar match? Of course I would, its Ebay! Admittedly I had to wait a few weeks for it to be shipped from Hong Kong, but for £3.99 inc P&P, I really couldn't complain! If that isn't a saving, I don't know what is!

The little sparkly gem of a bracelet arrived today and I am more than happy with it. I'm a little fussy with my jewellery and don't like anything that feels lightweight, simply because it feels cheap. However this has a little weight behind it so I was pleased. It also has an adjustable strap (I panicked at first thinking either they'd sent me a child's bracelet or my wrists had got extra fat overnight!). Some people might not like the rope around the beads, however I think the black against the crystal creates a very noticeable contrast, emphasising the 'crystals' a whole lot more.

I think minus the quantity of the 'white crystal' beads and an extra magnetite bead on each end, this is a fantastic resemblence!

To check out the real McCoy's, see the official website. They have a massive selection of different styles and stunning colours to choose from.

However, if like me, and the budget is a little tight, just a simple search on ebay and a vast array of them will appear.

Happy bidding!

January 2012 in Picture

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that this year I decided to do Project 365, which is to basically take a photo every day throughout the whole year, possibly resembling something you did that day. Some days it's hard to find things to photograph (especially when your life is as dull as mine at times!). With a pile of photos slowly rising, I've decided to do a monthly collage of my antics to show you guys. I've picked the best out the bunch for the collage below, but you can probably tell January has been a very quiet month for me! I have been out to a few restaurants but I'm not the most confident of people when it comes to getting a hefty camera out in public and photographing food, or getting someone to photograph me sat at a table! I'd love to but unfortunately I'm one of these that care too much about what others are thinking! I keep those kinda photos for holidays!

Note: Some shots are a little 'weird' (i.e. the teabag!) - I'm just getting to grips with my new camera and finding new ways to be 'arty', if you can call it that!

Clockwise from top left -
Close shot of a teabag! Self Portrait. The inside of my current fave fruit, a nectarine. Friday 13th, bad luck all day for me! I heart Vegas which I have now completed. Painting time! My adorable 18mnth old niece all wrapped up. My first ever homemade lasagne.

Home Interior: Nail Polish Storage

A few months ago I let you all have a sneaky peek in my shabby chic dressing room which you can see again here.

One way that I showed how I store my nail polishes was in this inexpensive glass vase that I like to call my fish-bowl...

The size of this is deceiving, I think there is roughly 30 plus polishes in there. However, being the nail polish addict I am, this began to over-flow a month or so ago. I toyed with the idea of repurchasing another identical vase however I wasn't too keen on the glass on glass aspect of it, the fact that I had to be gentle when placing bottles back in and rummaging around for new colours was rather annoying to say the least!

I was doing a weekly food shop at our local Morrisons just before Christmas and was wondering down the aisle that was crammed with stocking fillers and gifts. Something that caught my eye was a little white 'cupboard' style box that housed English tea, jam, and 2 cute egg cups of all things! I of course wasn't interested in the contents itself but the actual wooden 'cupboard' had that shabby chic look that I thought would house my ever-growing nail polishes and match perfectly in my dressing room  And whats better, it was a mere £10 in the sale!

The shelf inside has actually got 6 holes in it to place eggs, however nothing that a piece of white card didn't sort out! When I got home I realised I had picked one up that the handle had broke off. Luckily I had an inexpensive flower ring that had recently broke, so I used the flower as a handle/knob instead. Nothing like your own personal touch! This holds approximately another 30 polishes so will keep me going for a while before I need yet more storage!

Have you ever used something unusual for storage before?