NOTD: Avon Sequinned Turquoise

I didn't actually go out for New Years Eve but despite staying in I kinda pretended I was going out and got all done up (sad I know!!) which obviously meant I had to do something with my naked nails. I really wanted to find a use for the Avon nail polish I was bought for Christmas and thought it would be a perfect glittery colour for NYE celebrations. However when I swatched two coats on my nail wheel I didn't think the colour really suited me so I came up with the idea of layering it over a black glitter polish by W7 that I'd kinda impulse purchased when I was doing a bit of Crimbo shopping in B&M's.

And this is how it looked, I'm gonna apologise now for how untidy my nails are, I was literally only having a little experiment and didn't expect to like it so much! I'm not a big fan of blue or green nails as I really don't think either of the two colours do anything to compliment my skin tone however I really like this teal sort of shade. I know that the colour on my nails is almost identical to the colour you see in the bottle but for some reason my camera has made the bottle seem a lot darker than it actually is :S

Products used from left-right: W7 Cosmic Black, Avon Nailwear Pro in Sequinned Turquoise and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.

 As you can hopefully see in the above picture, the Avon polish is more of a turquoise colour. I used one coat of the W7 polish, then painted one coat of the turquoise over the top and finished with the Seche Vite Top Coat for a glossy finish.

Top 10 Favourite Products of 2011

Hey everyone, just thought I'd share my favourite products for the year seeing as it is the last day of 2011. I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone!! This time last year I'd finished the first semester of my final year in Uni and was just generally enjoying Christmas after the past few stressful, deadline filled months...now I've graduated with honours and I have a baby, madness!


There's quite a few things included here that I've still not posted about on my blog but I'm afraid I have one rather demanding child so I've just literally not had time. Hopefully now we're all in more of a routine I'll have a few more spare moments to dedicate to my blog :-) Anyways, here's my favourites of 2011!

Barry M Nail Polish in Peach Melba
I wore this to death over the spring/summer months and I'm yet to find a colour that suits my skin tone more than this.

 Estee Lauder Double Wear Maximum Cover Foundation
This is quite a recent purchase but I love it so much that it just had to be in my top 10. It's without doubt, THE best foundation I've come across for covering blemishes and acne scars which I'll be reviewing next month so keep an eye out for that.

Sigma F80 Synthetic Kabuki Brush
Another recent purchase that I fell in love with immediately. This helps blend foundation seamlessly whether your using it to stipple or brush normally. 

HD Brows Eye & Brow Palette
I've never really done much in terms of grooming my eyebrows until I received this in September's Glossybox. The shades are perfect for me and really pigmented.This has also been a true lifesaver recently after some silly woman got overexcited and threaded my eyebrows to within an inch of their life :-\

 

Make Up Academy Heaven & Earth Eyeshadow Palette

My daily used, go to palette, I love love love this! Full of neutrals, super soft, easy to blend and well pigmented for a bargain price...what more do you want?!

Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer
I've repurchased this soooo many times over the past year and despite purchasing the much raved about Studio Finish Concealer by MAC, I still reach for this every time.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
One of the most raved about products amongst the online beauty community and I can certainly see why.

Hugo Boss Orange Perfume
As I mentioned in my Christmas gift post, I received this as a gift and I've not stopped wearing it ever since. A gorgeous floral scent with a hint of fruitiness.

The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask
I don't wanna say too much about this as I'll be doing a full review of it soon. This tightens my pores, extracts all traces of oil resulting in instantly mattified skin. One of my favourite face masks ever!

Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara
Hopefully if you read my blog you will of seen my review of this so you can see the results for yourself! My favourite mascara ever, period!


And that concludes my top 10 favourites of 2011!! Hope you all have a great night tonight whatever your doing! 

Happy New Year Dolls!!

Christmas Goodies

Hey everyone, hope you've all had a lovely Christmas!! I love giving out presents at Christmas but this year I received so much great stuff that I just had to share my loot with you. I know many people hate haul posts/videos but as it's Christmas I thought I'd make an exception and I'm pretty sure theres also some people who love having a nosy at other peoples stuff...I know I do now & again :-)

I'm such a lucky girl and was soooo unbelievably happy with every present I received. My lovely boyfriend bought me the Clarisonic Mia which was the one thing I wanted more than anything but never thought I would get because it's stupidly expensive. Below, I've pictured all my lovely gifts and rather than blabbing on about each one I've just mentioned a few little tit bits about each thing. I also received a few pyjama sets & lingerie which are always nice to receive as you can never have enough really. Here's an overview of what I received anyways...

From left - right: 

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Starter Kit 

 First impressions are that this cleanses the skin thoroughly and my skin felt nice and squeaky and polished after using.

 Clarisonic Cleanser

 I have to admit I've not even opened this yet as I've been trying to use up my Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions soap.

Clarisonic Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing System

I'm definately, definately going to be reviewing this sometime later in the year with photo results and all that shebang.

 Hugo Boss Orange Gift Set

This gift set included the Hugo Boss Orange Perfume, Body Lotion, Shower Gel, Mirror Compact and Make-up Brushes. This was never a perfume I'd immediately thought of trying but when someone bought me it in a gift set last year, I instantly fell in love! It's one of my favourite perfumes ever so I was very, very happy indeed to receive this. The brushes included are also surprisingly soft and will come in handy for nights out when bag space is pretty limited!

 

CK IN2U Perfume 

I love receiving perfume and this is a lovely fresh scent that I'll probably be wearing a lot over the spring/summer months.

N-Spa Hot Butter Fudge Body Polish 

This was one item I nearly ended up buying so many times in Asda and I cannot stress how tempted I was to eat this when I was in the bath earlier.

Avon Nail Enamel in Sequined Turquoise

As I have quite a lack of glitter polishes in my life this was a nice little addition in a colour I wouldn't of normally picked.

Aromatic Butterscotch Shortbread Candle 

 Another welcome addition to my growing candle collection! I haven't burnt this yet but it smelt gorgeous when I first opened the jar for a sniff.

Yankee Candle in Blueberry Muffin 

Okay, admittedly...I bought this for myself...before Christmas Day but I'm so glad I did as it smells bee-ay-uuuu-tiful and what's even better that it was only £10 in TKMaxx...winning :-)

Style & Co.Watch

I'm not a big watch wearer but strangely included two watches on my wishlist??? lol... Anyways, mummy dearest bought me this but I'll definitely be getting some wear out of it,once I have a couple links removed so it doesn't slide up & down my childlike wrists :-\

So was there anything you've been pining for that you were lucky enough to receive at Christmas?

Xmas Treats for....Me ;-)

I'm so excited it's nearly Christmas and while I was browsing for pressies online, I think the excitement might of took over a teeeeny bit and I kinda bought stuff for myself instead of family & friends I should of been buying for...epic fail :-\ I have began to kinda hate when people do huge haul blog posts or videos because in a nutshell it's kinda annoying watching someone drone on about how they just "popped" over to the MAC counter and only bought "a few bits" which "only" cost them at least £50....BORE OFF with your indispensable amounts of money! Anyways, on that note I thought I'd share my haul with u haha....

 Witch Cleansing & Toning Wipes
These do the job in terms of removing make-up and freshening up the skin but I was especially impressed at how gentle they are on the eye area. With other face wipes that are marketed in a way to help fight spots, I've found them to be too harsh to use around the eye area so I was pleasantly surprised with these.

Nivea Visage Facial Cleansing Wipes for Normal & Combi Skin
My go to face wipes, basically because they always seem to be on offer in Asda. I have to admit I quite like the smell of them as well even though I'm sure all that fragrance is probably crap for my skin!

The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask
As I've mentioned in my previous post, I had a facial which included a clay face mask being applied and whilst I would've loved to shell out and buy the Dermalogica mask, I thought I'd opt for something cheap and hoped it would provide some cheer for my skin. Anyways, I am soooo happy with this as a cheap substitute and I would love to babble on about its merits but I'll save that & some before/after photos for another post :-) On a money saving tip, this costs £10 from The Body Shop but there's some great deals on fleebay *hint hint*

Stargazer Nail Polish in Silver Chrome
 I bought this specifically to do nail art stamping with as it's supposedly a good stamping polish. I was definitely impressed with how opaque it is and the consistency of it for stamping is spot on.

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
I'd heard good things about this top coat from one of my fave nail bloggers so was quite keen to try it out & it didn't disappoint too much. It's really shiny when dry & obviously it's an added bonus that it dries super fast but it's not exactly the longest lasting top coat I've ever come across. I'll definitely be doing a mini review of this soon anyways if anyone wants to know about the pros and cons of this much raved about top coat.

 China Glaze Nail Polish in Midnight Kiss
 This is another nail polish I bought with the sole intention of using for nail art stamping...unfortunately it's not quite thick enough to show the colour & pattern off that well but it does still create pretty enough designs that I'll be sure to upload in the near future.


Sigma F80 Brush - Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki
I bought this whilst Sigma were offering free worldwide shipping a few weeks ago during the annual Black Friday sales and I could not be more pleased with it, so pleased that I think it may even deserve a post dedicated to how much I love it!


Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Considering this is such a staple product in so many ladies make-up bags, I quickly snapped one up when my new favourite website buyapowa were offering them for £10. Yet again, another product that I think deserves a mini review as I did a little comparison against another eye primer I had the other day and this basically blew it out of the water so yeah, watch out for that soon.


Wow...I can waffle on sooo much but I hope at least one person got something out of reading this?!? Have any of you tried the products I've babbled on about and what did you think of them?