how to : french manicure

I really love nail varnish and all things nail art (except duck feet acrylics, I just don't get it) so I thought I would show you how I do a French manicure.

 

all the things I use

cuticle remover cream

You want to start off by filing your nails into a shape that you like, I tend to go for rounded ends, then put a bit of hand or nail cream (I use Superdrug Hand Therapy Intensive Hand Cream, £1.99 for 75ml) on them and rub it in. I leave that until it has soaked in then I use a cuticle removing cream (I have one that a friend gave me because she didn't use it, The Color Workshop Cuticle Remover Cream), after leaving this for a minute or so I rub it down to the tips of the nails and remove the cuticles.

base coat

 

Next up I use Kiko 3 in 1 White, base coat, nail fortifier and top coat. This is super fast drying and helps keep your nails white, it costs £4.90 from the Kiko shop, which is really good value.



white tips



 

After that has dried I use Kiko 203 French Manicure White For Tips to paint the tips of my nails white. I really like this particular polish since it has a short thin brush which makes it much easier to do the tips. I'm pretty sure this one only cost £2.50.

 

I do 2 coats of white on the tips then follow it with 2 coats of the Kiko 207 French Manicure beige. I always make sure I let the polish dry in between coats as I then don't smudge it straight away, I find that it also helps it last longer. I finish with the 3 in 1 as a top coat.

beige

 

 

 

 

 I hope enjoyed reading this little tutorial and as always leave me a comment if you like it or if you tried it or both :)

 



x♥x



recent beauty buys

I thought I would compile a few of the beauty products that I have bought recently and really like. To start off with I got the Nivea Express Hydration Primer that I previously did a sample review for. I really liked the sample so I went out and bought the full size product, this one set me back £3.99. I really enjoyed this moisturising primer and it really helps my makeup to stay on my face where it belongs.



The next product I bought is a Make Up Academy (MUA) blush in Shade 1. I used points on my Superdrug beauty card to buy this but usually it costs £1. It's a really pretty peach and it has lots of sparkles in it. This blush is not too pigmented so it just adds a light colour to the cheeks without looking overpowering, I really like to use this blush when I have a red lipstick on.

 Another 2 items I bought came from MUA as well, they are eyeshadows in Shade 12 (left) and Shade 20 (right). Shade 12 is a pearly brown with blue-ish shimmer and Shade 20 is a matte charcoal grey. I use the matte shade for a smokey eye and the shimmer shade for everyday makeup looks. They cost £1 each and they are really pigmented, a little goes a very long way.

I also got a couple of lip products too. One of the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters in the shade 025 Peach Parfait which is a really pretty pink peach with little shimmers in. I really like the colour because it's subtle for everyday and perfect if you have heavy or dramatic eye makeup on. The other is a Lasting Finish by Kate for Rimmel London lipstick in shade 107. This one is the opposite of subtle being a deep wine colour, it is also matte which I really like (and I can even add a balm or gloss over it to make it shiny).

The final product I bought is the Queen Attitude Khol Kajal from Bourjois Paris. I had heard about kajal eyeliners from other blogs and youtube videos and I really wanted to try it. Unfortunately Clarins discontinued their kajal so I couldn't get one but then while browsing the makeup in Superdrug (as you do) and I spotted this one. At £6.99 it's a lot cheaper than the Clarins one and I love it, I can use it for a really dramatic look and it can blend out into a smokey eye look. I'm a bit concerned that when the conical shape goes it will not work as well but so far so good.

As always leave a comment if you have any of these products and like them or don't, I would love to know :)

x♥x



 

sample review : maxfactor facefinity 3 in 1 foundation

Another of the samples that I got free was a 2ml sachet of Maxfactor Facefinity 3 in 1 all day flawless foundation, the shade I got was Natural 50. I found this foundation to be a really high coverage product, it's a primer-foundation-concealer combo and it went on really smoothly. I personally prefer a lighter product, and I found this one to be heavy. I thought this product lasted well all day and did what it said on the packet, however I'm not tempted to buy it since it is not what I look for in a foundation. The product also contains SPF 20 so a big thumbs up for protection from the sun. The full size is 30ml and costs £11.99 in Boots, my housemate loves this foundation and will definately be buying one, but as I said before I don't think this one is for me.

 

Leave a comment if you have this foundation and tell me what you think of it :)

 

x♥x

recipe : homemade egg fried rice

This evening for dinner I thought I would make one of my favourite university cheap meals, egg fried rice. It's a very simple and, as I said already, cheap meal to make. All the ingredients you will need are: a clove of garlic, rice (about 50-100 grams per person), a handful or 2 of frozen peas, 1 egg, 3 or 4 spring onions, a bit of oil for frying and soy sauce and pepper for seasoning. As for the equipment you will need, a pan to boil your rice in, a large wok or frying pan, a choping board, a knife, a chopstick, a colander and a wooden spoon or some other such utensil.

First of all you want to cook the rice in a suitable size pan, if there are instructions on the packet follow them since I just cook things until I think it's done. While the rice is boiling you can prepare the other ingredients, the clove of garlic needs peeling and chopping up and then the spring onions need to be sliced as well. The peas need to be defrosted, this can be done by pouring warm water over them in the colander then the egg can be beaten with a little oil using the chopstick.

 Next when the rice is done, drain it off and rinse it to get rid of some of the starch. Leave it to cool down a bit and pour a little oil into your wok/large frying pan. When the oil is heated up a bit, pop the garlic into the pan and then the rice.  Stir it around and then add in the peas and spring onions and mix them in too.

 The peas and spring onions will only take a couple of minutes to cook through and when they have push all the rice mix to one side of the pan. Pour the beaten egg and oil into the space in the pan and swirl it around with the chopstick sort of like a miniature omlette. When the egg is all cooked and broken up mix it into the rice and vegetables and add soy sauce and pepper to taste.

 

That's it, easy peasy and delicious, even if I do say so myself :)



 

Leave me a comment if you give this one a try and let me know how it goes :)

 

x♥x

beauty advent calendar

 Is it bad that I am considering buying 2 beauty advent calendars? They are still somewhat of novelty to me since I heard about them all of 20 minutes ago. The one I am most tempted by is the You Magazine collaboration with Lastest in Beauty, it's £59.95 for 24 different quite high end, good size miniature products (including a L'Occitaine hand cream, Benefit mascara and Nicky Clarke hair 'calmer') which are supposed to retail at over £210. I cannot even describe how badly I want this but I am struggling to justify spending the money all in one go on myself.

Leave me a comment telling me if you think it's a good investment, or if you have bought it already are you finding it hard not to open it all right now?

x♥x

sample review : aveeno skin relief moisturising lotion

 

The next free sample review that I have tried out is the Aveeno body lotion. This product has a lot of natural ingredients and is designed for super sensitive and dry skin (something that my skin is not) so I can't tell you anything about how it works for skin that reacts to normal moisturisers. What I can tell you about, however, is the absorption and my general feelings on the product.

 

I don't think this lotion is particularly fast absorbing, maybe that's because my skin isn't very dry? I don't know the scientific ins and outs but in comparison to other moisturisers I have tried it leaves a lot to be desired. This product is also meant to be fragrance free. I think that this is supposed to mean that Aveeno haven't added any artificial fragrance to it, however due (I think) to the 'Triple Oat Complex' it has a sort of cereal-y smell which is increased when it is on the skin. I don't like the smell and find myself wishing that they had put something artificial in to mask the oatiness (this would defeat the whole natural thing

 

The sachet contained 10ml which I think was generous since I used it on both legs with a lot left over, but since I don't particularly like the product I am not going to use the rest. Available in boots at £4.77 for the 300ml bottle it is a good value product, but I'm not going to buy it. I think that because my skin is not sensitive or dry then my view on the lotion is not as useful if you do have dry skin. I have read other reviews that say how great this product is, I just don't think it's for me.

 

As always leave a comment, have you tried this lotion? tell me what you think about it :)

 x♥x





sample review : elie saab le parfum

 

The next product from my samples collection that I am going to review is the Elie Saab Le Parfum eau de toilette. This sample came in the form of a packet with the perfume on a small piece of material inside.

I quite like the fragrance, it is floral and definately very feminine, I feel that it is not a perfume I personally would wear as I tend to prefer fresher scents. I also think that the perfumes I tend to favour are quite 'young' and this one seems a bit too 'old' for me. On the Elie Saab website the eau de toilette is described as having notes of mandarin blossom, gardenia, orange blossom and honey rose.

 

The 30ml spray bottle has a RRP of £33 and the 50ml spray bottle has a RRP of £47.50.

 

As always leave a comment if you own this perfume or have tested it out and tell me what you think :)

x♥x



sample review : nivea express hydration primer

I'm starting off my freebie testing with the primer (seems logical right?), the first point I would like to make about this product is it smells really good. Fresh and clean, always a good smell for one's face. The sachet contains 1.5ml and I reckon I can get 2 uses out of it, maybe I just have a really small face. My skin feels soft and moisturised and in terms of being a primer, my foundation went on really smoothly after using this product. For 50ml at £3.99 in Superdrug the full sized product is really good value, and I will probably be buying this one later today.

As ever, leave me a comment if you have tried it and tell me what you think :)

x♥x

freebies

So for the past couple of days I have had a bit lot of a freebie frenzy, I bought a couple of magazines and went for a look around Selfridges and I got a few samples. I thought I would write a bit about the things I got and do a sort of mini review on them. I would just like to say, I didn't buy these magazines in order to get free stuff, the samples were a happy coincidence.

 

To start with I bought Company magazine (December 2012) which has a special price of £1.25, where I revieved a body moisturiser.

 

Aveeno Moisturising Lotion

The moisturiser came in a 10ml sachet from Aveeno Active Naturals. Designed for 'extra dry, irritable and sensitive skin' it contains shea butter, is supposed to moisturise the skin for 24 hours and be fast absorbing.
The foundation came in 6 teeny tiny sachets in 6 different shades from Rimmel London. It's their Match Perfection foundation with SPF 18, there are 11 shades to choose from and the samples are 6 from across the range to allow you to find the perfect match for you.

 

 I also popped over to Selfridges to have a bit of a mosey around the beauty counters. I got a couple of samples from Origins, their GinZing eye cream and No Puffery eye mask,both designed to reduce puffiness and dark circles in the general eye area.



No Puffery



GinZing







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other magazine I bought was the December 2012 issue of Glamour (£2). This one came with a free gift of a full size (10ml) Nails Inc. nail varnish, I got the navy blue 'Motcomb Street' but there were 3 other colours to choose from. Within the actual magazine were a few samples, Maxfactor Face Finity 3 in 1 foundation in shade 'Natural 50' (2ml) and a Nivea Express Hydration Primer (1.5ml). I also found a perfume sample in there, Elie Saab's 'Le Parfum'.



nails inc. Motcomb Street





 





Maxfactor Face Finity

Elie Saab Le Parfum

Nivea Express Hydration Primer

 



Leave me a comment if you have any of these products or got the same samples in the magazines. I'm off to give these a go, I will post updates on my thoughts when I have some :)

 



x♥x

 

top 10 songs right this second

I felt a small need to just write down my 10 favourite songs that I have been listening to this week, so here they are (in no particular order) -

1. If I Can't Dance - Sophie Ellis Bextor
2. Black Heart - Stooshe
3. DNA - Little Mix
4. Candy - Robbie Williams
5. Avalon - Professor Green ft. Sierra Kusterbeck
6. Secret - One Republic
7. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
8. Swing Life Away - Rise Against
9. Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer
10. In Pieces - Linkin Park

I hope that if you don't know these songs you look them up and leave me a comment if you like any or one telling me your favourite songs right now :)

x♥x