Monday, January 21, 2013

Lust of the Week #1

Back by popular demand my Lust of the Week Post
and kicking off the first of my weekly posts is my latest obsession NEON! 
It's a huge trend for SS13, however fellow redheads with sympathise with me, not one we can easily pull off until, step forward Kandee Shoes. The amazing neon shoes and matching clutches, purse and handbags means I can add a splash of colour to my usual uniform of monochrome without looking like a pack a highlighters.

The online boutique also has a massive sale on at the moment - apologies for the hole in your bank account this will cause! As there are so many lust worthy shoes on the site! As soon as its pay day I'm investing in the Citron Heels & Limon Clutch, which I can't wait to style with a simple black dress.

Are you loving the neon trend? How are you wearing it?

Also a quick hello to all my lovely new followers and thanks to you all for entering my giveaway, without further ado the winner of my Amara Giveaway is Lucy Jarvis! Congrats!




Sunday, January 20, 2013

January Blues Giveaway#Closed#

So its January, cold, wet and generally the most miserable month of the year so I figured why not try and cheer my lovely readers up with a giveaway! After all who doesn't love a freebie?!
So when the luxury gift & furnishing company Amara got in touch I was spoilt for choice of lovely things I could treat you with!
Heres my favourite bits from the online boutique, which is great for sprucing up your house/room in the new year:



I narrowed it down to this beautiful candle I fell in love with the detailed floral design on the packaging and candle itself and it smells A-MEH-ZING! Plus it'll brighten up any room in this gloomy month! 









All you have to do to enter is be a GFC follower of my blog, like Amara on Facebook and for extra entries tweet about my giveaway! The winner will be picked at random on Monday 28th Jan.
Good Luck!



Monday, January 14, 2013

Manicure Monday

I received a lot of nail products over Christmas (my friends know how often I change my nail polish) so I thought I'd do one big post now I've had a chance to use and review all of them and hopefully give you some inspiration for your own manicures this month!

Models Own GlitterBall



I LOVE glitter nail polishes, and this does not disappoint! The Glitter is a nice combination of purple, turquoise and navy flecks that are really chunky and stand out. I got so many compliments about my nail while wearing it and to be honest couldn't stop looking at my nails, I paired it with a pastel purple originally and then tried it with a deep navy underneath a few days later, sticking to the colours of the glitter flecks. The only downside is that the polish is really thick and takes ages to dry, literally an hour later it was still tacky, but its worth it for the end results.

MUA Nail Constellation




I've wanted to try the MUA Constellations for ages, the above bottle is the Leo colours and is a nice combination of lilac and turquoise balls and only £2!! I choose to pair it with a deep purple Dior nail polish which I think works really nicely. You definitely need to do this on a flat surface with a dish, as the balls go everywhere! 
You simply paint your nail, and then tip the bottle and cover your nail creating a cool 3D bobble effect and marbling of colour. However after the above photo was taken I put a top coat of clear polish over the nail to set the balls in place and they all lost their colour and turned silver which was really strange and annoying as I had to do them all over again! So don't put a top coat over these if you are planning on trying this! However after I redid my nails without the top coat it meant that the balls came over really easily and it looks great and would be perfect for a night out but wouldn't last a full week, so its a little disappointing.

Nails Inc Glitter Polishes


Left - Right Bedford Square, Buckingham Street, Holly Place, Old Park Lane, Noel Street.


My friend got me this Nail Inc Glitter Set as part of my Secret Santa Present, all the polishes give great glitter coverage and a bright pigment colour. My favourite has to be Holly Place its a rose gold shimmer which I love, the colour lasted ages without chipping and still had a great shimmer to it after a week on my nails.

Sephora Express Nail Polish Remover


This was bought for me by my aunt when she went to New York from the American brand Sephora, a beauty lovers must when in the US! This product is similar to the Bourjois Magic Nail Remover, a product I've always wanted to try. Its the same concept, put your finger in the foam filled bottled for a minute and all the polish is removed. It even removes stubborn glitter polish which I've worn all over the xmas period. It takes a little over a minute to remove glitter polish but it still gets it all off a lot quicker than traditional cotton wool pads, I definitely recommend this and will be trying the Bourjois remover after this runs out.

Did you get any nail products this Christmas that you loved?

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Ilah Brows Review



If your a regular reader you will remember that I recently attended the Beauty Works Red Carpet Ready Event,  hereand among the many great products I got to sample, one of the main brands that I received the most interest in from you guys was about the Ilah Mineral Brows. So I thought I'd review this product first, I hadn't actually heard of the brand but Ilah offers "creative natal alternatives to harsh looking brows" eyebrow shaping kits, shading colours & threading services.


As I am extremely pale I have to shade in my eyebrows everyday otherwise they are literally non existent so the products really interested me as I've been guilty of wandering into scouse brow territory when rushing my make up on a morning and I can never seem to get my eyebrows the perfect shape everyday so when the lovely Tahira told me she could solve all these problems I was all ears!

Ilah offers two services, in spas they offer threading and semi permanent tinting and then they also offer eyebrow kits which is what I tried out at the event and was given to go home and try out further.
The kits consist of a eyebrow colour - which is matched to your skin to be the perfect shade, the precision brush and a pack of 3 eyebrow stencils in either small or large styles. I choose the larger stencils as I love a thick defined brow. The application couldn't be easier you place your chosen stencil over your eyebrow and using the brush apply the colour and voila perfect shaped eyebrows!





I actually went to the beauticians that night and had by eyebrows waxed into the style of my favourite stencil, I loved it that much, the pictures below show my eyebrows after using Ilah. I can't recommend it more, I'm shade "Disco Diva" the shade creates a defined brow without being cakey or too harsh and stays in place all day. The product has been used on a whole host of celebrities, used within many spas including The Hilton in Manchester, and it's available here.


Eyebrow Shape - Mysterious Girl      Shade - Disco Diva

Sunday, January 06, 2013

New Year, New Scent...

So I'm a little late on the up take to do a "What I Got for Christmas Post" but as I mentioned in my last post I got engaged over Christmas so I've been a little slow on the blogging front as I've been enjoying visiting family and friends sharing our news and generally being sickeningly loved up!

So I figured rather than do a full post on everything I got - I was well and truly spoilt this Christmas! I figured I'd just post on a particular present that I thought was pretty great and do separate posts and review on the beauty items I got. 

One of the presents I got this Christmas from my mum I was really impressed with and had to share it with you. 









I personally love perfumes, I have a whole load of perfume bottles on my dressing table and I know I'm not alone at picking perfumes by how pretty the bottles are first and the scent after! But I think its quite hard to buy perfume as a present unless you know the exact fragrance the gift receiver wears/wants or needs. Which is why this gift is, in my opinion so great. The set costs £34 from The Fragrance Shop and is available in sets for him & her.

The set contains 7 sample vials of different fragrances - Nina Ricci Nina, Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy, Lacoste Touch of Pink, Boss Orange by Hugo Boss, Very Irresistible Givenchy, Elizabeth Arden Red Door and Paco Rabanne Lady Million. A great selection of fragrances, the even better part is within second drawer of the pretty gift box is a voucher to redeem a full bottle of a fragrance of your choice from the above list.

Theres also a booklet that explains in depth the different perfumes the top, middle and bottom notes and helps you decide better which is the fragrance for you. I choose Viva La Juicy as although I think Juicy Couture is a slightly tacky brand I love the smell and the bottle and its one I've wanted for a while but couldn't justify the price. It couldn't be easier to redeem you just go to your nearest store and handover the voucher and ask for your chosen fragrance.

So for £34 you get 7 scents that are great for putting in your handbag to freshen up throughout the day or on a night out and a full size bottle. I think the sets a great idea and they are still available in store, I plan on buying a few for different friends who's birthdays it is in the coming months. 

What gifts did you receive and love this Christmas?

Thursday, January 03, 2013

In December...

As regular readers of my blog know I always do a monthly round up but as its December (hello brand new year! Where did you go 2012?!) I got up to the usual seasonal festivities, eating, drinking, christmas markets, present buying, present wrapping, festive make up and clothes. So I figured I put together a collage of the month rather than the usual bullet points, so heres what I got up to in December...


Christmas Treats & Lights  - Winter Ice Nails -  Christmas Jumper Day at Work







                            Celebration Time   -  My Niece on Christmas Day  -   New Years Eve



        Giant Lindt Chocolate Ball  -    Secret Santa Meal with my Girls    -  More Festive Nails


My Niece & I on Christmas Day


Festive Party Lips


Christmas Desert Baked by Me!

and I also got engaged!


On Christmas Eve my lovely boyfriend popped the question, on our first Christmas together and in our own place with a yellow diamond ring! It was lovely to be able to tell friends over the Christmas period in person, we drank more champagne than we've ever drunk, and did a small tour of Yorkshire in order to see as many family members as possible but it made it an amazing and memorable Christmas and I still can't wipe the soppy smile off my face! 

What did you get up to this December? I hope you had a great Christmas & New Year!