Not Ready for the Cold

It's already starting to get cold and now that it's September I am panicking because I am not ready for it.  Not at all.  In fact, I was so determined to ignore this end-of-summer feeling that I felt that it was necessary to keep my summer dream alive so I designed some fun, summery nail art creations to cheer me up.  Take a peek:

The shine on these is exactly why I love Seche Vite's Dry Fast Top Coat!

It's a pretty easy design to replicate, all you need are three different coloured nail polishes, one being a black shade, a base and top coat plus some dotting tools which you can buy really easily (and really cheaply!) off eBay.  I began this design by applying my OPI Original Nail Envy Nail Strengthener to my nails as my base coat and then applied my Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat to make them look super shiny as there is no base colour involved in this nail art look.  Then grabbing a smallish (technical term for you there!) dotting tool, I used Barry M's Nail Paint in Matt White to dot on the petals of my flower.  Essentially, you want five petals for the flower so think of a star shape when doing this and it'll make it a little easier, or at least that logic made it easier for me.  For the next step, I used the next size up in dotting tool and selected a Rimmel London nail polish in a yellow shade called Cute as a Kitten Heel and then added a dot to the centre of each flower.  Following on from that, I grabbed my smallest dotting tool and used Barry M's Nail Paint in Black to add a little dot to my white petals just to add a slight bit of definition.  I finished off this design with a slick of the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat and then they were good to go!

Nail polishes used from left to right: OPI Original Nail Envy Nail Strengthener, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, Rimmel London Lasting Finish in the shade Cute as a Kitten Heel, Barry M Nail Paint in the shade Black and Barry M Nail Paint in the shade Matt White.  Dotting tools purchased via eBay (and yes, some are a little broken, don't judge!).

I absolutely love my flower nail art design, it makes me smile and for a second or two I can almost trick myself into believing that it's still July and summer is in full swing and that the shops aren't already getting in their Halloween stock and displaying their Christmas cards (really Clinton's, REALLY?!).

It's pretty clear from this post that I am a 'summer girl' and I feel so blue when it's over, it's just...I really hate the cold, mostly because about 90% of my wardrobe is made up of summer clothing.  I love being able to wear crop tops, shorts, skorts, mini skirts, maxi skirts, maxi dresses, summer dresses and flowers in my hair.  I am not a fan of having to wear bulky coats, about five billion layers of clothing just to keep warm, gloves (have you ever tried to use your iPhone wearing mittens?  Just don't even go there!) and woolly hats (nobody wants crazy-lady hat hair.  Not a good look.), plus my nose, hands and feet stay perpetually cold until spring finally reappears once again to make those trees blossom and the daffodils erupt from their bulbs just to say 'haaaaai'. 

 

Only bought my favourite summer outfit last month and I'm just not ready to say goodbye yet (black crop top from Topshop and high waisted vintage Levi 501 jean shorts by Peekaboo Vintage from Topshop's Oxford Circus flagship store).

Ok, so now that I've got my anti-winter rant out the way I can move onto something else -  'Phew!' is probably what you're all thinking right now and I don't blame ya!  Anti-winter rant over.   

So I bought the last ever hard copy issue of Company Magazine this week and I've got to say, I'm pretty gutted that it's only going to be available in digital format from now on.  I mean, I get why Hearst (the publisher of Company Magazine) has made the decision to go all-out digital but personally, I think that you can't beat the actual feel of holding a magazine in your hands, flicking through it and inhaling that fresh, just-published magazine scent and sometimes occasionally using it as a fan when it's really hot on the tube and you're pretty sure that you're about to pass out.   

Farewell my old friend, I'll see you again (it'll just be via a screen!). 

Anyway, let me know what you think about anything and everything that I've covered in this post because it'll make my day that teensy bit more interesting!

 

Because you're not a true Brit if you don't enjoy a good afternoon tea...

Afternoon tea, I live for it and as harsh as this sounds, in my opinion, you are not a true Brit if you don't enjoy a good afternoon tea.  I like finger sandwiches, I like scones, I like tea and I LOVE cake.  So much. 

I like to think of myself as something of an afternoon tea connoisseur (and what I mean by 'afternoon tea connoisseur' is that I just really REALLY like cake. A lot!) and I've had a fair few afternoon teas at various hotels and cafes around the UK and even had one in the Middle East when I spent a week in Qatar last April and I've yet to be let down by one.  However, I experienced the best afternoon tea by far just last weekend for my brother's 28th birthday when I was introduced to Juliets in Tunbridge Wells (and before you accuse me of some heinous grammatical error, there's meant to be no apostrophe!) and my eyes were opened for the first time to a world of delicious cakey goodness!

When we stepped inside Juliets, the atmosphere was buzzing and it rocked a quirky, shabby chic, almost Shoreditch vibe which I couldn't help but be mesmerized and swept up by.  Everyone who worked there was lovely and they were totally on it with the service despite the place being packed out.  I also adored all their crockery (I never thought I'd ever use the words 'adored' and 'crockery' in the same sentence.  I've changed.), their mismatching teacups and saucers, plates and spoons and quirky teapots made me feel like I had fallen down the rabbit hole and was hanging out at the Mad Hatter's tea party awaiting Lewis Carroll's pen to hit his paper and write up some terrific adventure for me to partake in.  Alas though, Mr Carroll must have been busy that day as no adventure came my way other than the marvellous onslaught of tea, sandwiches, scones and cake (which I was totally ok with, by the way!). 

I'm the first to admit that I'm pretty boring with my tea, I always opt for the standard English Breakfast Tea but it's a decision I've never regretted and what with me being incredibly fussy, it's a decision that has always stood me well, however, Juliets do offer a varied selection of teas if you're feeling more adventurous than me (which you probably are, because I'm a tea bore!).  There's also the option to add a glass of Prosecco or a Bellini to your afternoon tea which is never a bad thing!

Our selection of sandwiches, scones and cakes were brought out to us and I nearly passed out when I saw them on their stands with the anticipation of the soon-to-be feast being almost too much for my excited self to cope with.  The cakes included carrot cake, chocolate brownie and lemon tart and I'm just going to put this out there - the lemon tart was like a little piece of lemony heaven hanging out on my taste buds.  Juliets offered the best scones I've had at an afternoon tea as well, in fact they were probably my favourite element of this entire tea-centred meal, which is weird for me to admit considering I'm not a huge scone lover, so you know, big deal for me and all that! 

I honestly can't wait to go back there, even if just for a piece of one of their homemade cakes.  It was such a lovely way to spend an afternoon with my parents and brother and a great way to celebrate a birthday. 

I would thoroughly recommend Juliets to anyone, even if you don't live near Tunbridge Wells, it is well worth the trip.  Trust me, you won't regret it (mostly because it's impossible to regret anything that involves cake, am I right?!).

WAH Nails: Marble Nail Art

For those of you out there who aren't already aware, I'm somewhat of a WAH Nails enthusiast and when I'm not constantly scrolling through their Instagram pics then I'm eagerly checking out their Twitter feed awaiting some new nail art revelation. 

I recently stumbled upon WAH Nails' YouTube page and their nail art tutorials and the only way I could have been more excited was if I was actually at WAH Nails getting my nails done!  I couldn't help but want to try out one of the designs so I went with the most recent video upload which was their 'Candy Marble Nails' tutorial.  I decided after watching the video that I would adapt the design somewhat and so I went for a different selection of nail polish colours as I wanted a really vibrant finish.  I also did more of a mismatched swirl in my marble design compared to the one done in the tutorial but the technique was completely the same.  I love this design as the effect comes out different on each nail and you can swirl the nail polish anyway you choose which injects a bit of personality into the overall look.

 

The beauty of this nail art design is that you don't even need any nail art tools - just a couple of nail polishes (I used 4 different colours), a base coat, top coat and some cocktail sticks.  It's a super simple concept that creates such a strikingly stunning nail art look. 

Products used from L to R: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener, Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in the shade Blue Grape, bright pink Kelly Brook Nail Polish (available from New Look), Barry M Nail Paint in the shade Foil Effect (gold), Barry M Nail Paint in the shade Matt White and cocktail sticks.  

All I did to create this look was start off with my OPI Nail Strengthener base coat and I then applied one coat of Barry M's Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in the shade Blue Grape.  Afterwards, doing each nail one at a time starting with my thumb nail, I applied some blobs of my Barry M nail polish (the same one I mentioned in the previous sentence) onto my nail followed by blobs of Kelly Brook's nail polish in a bright pink shade and then some blobs of Barry M's Nail Paint in the shade Foil Effect (Gold) and finally some blobs of Barry M's Nail Paint in the shade Matt White.  Once I was all blobbed out, I grabbed a cocktail stick and swirled it through the wet nail polish which created a marvellously dreamy marble effect.  After I had done this blobby/cocktail stick routine on each nail, I finished off the design with a slick of Seche Vite's Dry Fast Top Coat and I was good to go!

This nail art look essentially gives you a very similar finish to water marble nail art but without the clean up or sellotape prep that you would have with the water marbling process for your nails.  Don't get me wrong, I love doing water marbling on my nails but it can be quite fiddly and sometimes a little messy around the nail.

It took me about 25 minutes to achieve this WAH Nails marble design which just makes it even more amazing if you ask me - it's quick, it's simple, it's easy, you don't need any fancy tools and it looks so incredibly striking that you'll be getting compliments all day!

Here's the WAH Nails YouTube tutorial which I was referring to in this post, check it out:

Let me know what you think about this nail art design, I'd love to hear from you!

Skincare: Getting Back to Normal

Ok, so I've been pretty ill over the last few days which has prevented me from any blogging or computer-related activities so I've mostly been confined to my bed whimpering 'Oh, woe is me!' over and over again (because when people are ill, they should most definitely quote a line from Hamlet.  Don't blame me, blame Shakespeare.).  Without going into too much detail, my illness/virus/bug/whatever-you-want-to-call-it was very much reminiscent of a certain scene from The Exorcist.....I think you know where I'm going with this.......let's just say there was some nausea involved and leave it at that so I that can stick to this ladylike façade of mine.

Now that I'm feeling a little better and can actually keep food down (woohoo! COME AT ME DRY CRACKERS!) I'm just about to begin the process of getting my skin back to normal.  I'm still in the early stages of rehydrating myself and drinking bucketloads of water just to stop my incessant dreams about juicy grapes, peaches and strawberries - for some reason, that's all I dream about when I'm ill and dehydrated.  Great, now I can't stop thinking about juicy fruit.  This dehydration has affected my skin and left it in a pretty unhappy state and it hasn't helped that by being ill, my daily skincare routine has fallen by the wayside.

 

So I'm now ready to tackle my poorly skin and get it back to it's normal, healthy state.  This doesn't mean going full force, I always think it's best to just go back to using my standard products as anything too strong or too heavy could upset it (oh, the joys of having sensitive skin!) plus I kind of think it's best to gently coax you skin back to normal rather than aggressively ambushing it unnecessarily! 

I've always believed that you don't need to spend loads of money on skin products, it's just a case of knowing what ingredients you're after and what works for your skin.  I'm someone that suffers from oily/combination skin with the occasional hint of dryness throw in (wahey!) so my morning routine always includes Neutrogena's Visibly Clear Oil-Free Facial Wash (£4.49 for 200ml).  This is a great cleanser for oily skin as it contains salicylic acid which is an amazing exfoliating agent for oily/greasy skin and it was actually recommended to me by a dermatologist and you really can't argue with a skin expert!

When it comes to toner, I've always used Simple Kind To Skin Soothing Facial Toner (£3.29 for 200ml) however recently I decided to branch out when I saw that Boots had a half price offer on their Simply Sensitive range which resulted in me spending a not-so-whopping £1.34 (normally £2.69) on a bottle of their Gently Refreshing Toner (200ml).  I have to say that there is little difference between this toner and the Simple toner, it removes any leftover makeup and your skin feels incredibly clean afterwards.  Also, even at its full price of £2.69, the Boots Simply Sensitive toner is still cheaper than the Simple toner which makes it even more attractive!

Now to the moisturising and the most expensive product in my skincare routine - Olay Essentials Complete Care Day Fluid for normal/oily skin.  I love love LOVE this moisturiser, it's light enough for oily skin but still leaves your skin feeling hydrated and soft which is exactly what I'm after from a moisturiser.  It's a little pricey at £9.99 for a 200ml bottle but they also offer a 100ml for £5.99 - plus you'll often find that there is half price offers on this range in Superdrug or Boots so I normally purchase the 200ml bottle when it's half price and by the time I run out (it lasts a long time!) then there's normally another offer on.  They also offer a sensitive version of this product which is mighty handy!

Focussing on the moisturising situation, now would be the time that I would crack out my Chapstick......but I lost it and I have NO idea where it is so instead as my backup I've got Palmer's Lip Balm Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E (£1.89 for 4g) which I love, just not as much as Chapstick but it's a solid second best.

I pretty much use the above products that I've just spoken about every morning in that order and stick with it for my night time routine as well, with only a few added extras which are mentioned below!

Before I go to bed and after I've moisturised my face and my lips, I like to use a little bit of Quinoderm 10 (£2.65 for 25g), which is an acne cream.  Now, I don't have acne but like most people, I get the occasional blemish so what I like to do is pop a little bit of the cream onto a cotton bud and apply it to the blemish and rub it in.  This product was recommended to me by the same dermatologist mentioned earlier in this post as the cream is strong enough to dry out spots (or pimples if you're American!) but it's not overly strong that it's going to leave dry patches on your skin.  I normally have to get this from the actual pharmacy section in Boots or Sainsbury's but you don't need a prescription for it so it's pretty easy to get hold of.  Also, this cream is available in varying strengths, I believe that you can also get Quinoderm 5 which is a weaker composition of the cream but I don't I find this as effective at blemish removal for my skin as Quinoderm 10.

Finally, if I have any sneaky little dry patches on my skin then I like to use Vaseline Original Pure Petroleum Jelly (£2.15 for 100g) on these patches.  I find that this classic product works much better when used on actual dry skin as opposed to on my lips as it ALWAYS dries my lips out and from speaking to other people, I know that I am not the only one that this happens to.  Weird, huh?

Right, so that's my standard day and night skin care routine and it's also what I'm going to be throwing at my skin in order to get it back to its former glory, wish me luck and also let me know of any other products that you can recommend to help my skin recovery or if you're a fan of any of the products mentioned in this post!

Liebster Award

Let me start off by saying that before yesterday I had no idea what the Liebster (not to be mistaken with lobster!) Award was - in fact I'd never even heard of it before!  From the little bit of Googling that I did on it, the Liebster Award is essentially an award/nomination given to a blog with under 200 followers via another blogger. 

I would just like to say a massive thanks to Erica and Liv who both nominated me, I would also like to encourage anyone reading this to check out Erica's and Liv's awesome blogs because they're kind of amazing and so much fun to read! 

So the rules of the Liebster Award are pretty simple (thank goodness!) and they are:

1. You must list eleven facts about yourself.
2. You must answer the eleven questions given to you by the blogger who has nominated you.
3. You need to write eleven brand new questions.
4. You then have to nominate eleven other bloggers who have under 200 followers to answer your questions. 
5. Finally, you then must let your blog nominees know that they have been nominated.

Now because I've been nominated by two bloggers, I'm going to try and do it all in one blog post rather than two incredibly similar blog posts as that would seem a little pointless and incredibly dull for you, the reader! 

Here we go!

My eleven facts:

1. I hate bananas, I hate whipped cream (unless it has brandy in it) and I hate toffee but I LOVE bannoffee pie.  It makes no sense.
2. I still love Roald Dahl books (even though I'm a little bit past the target age demographic).
3. I once waved at Ben Elton going down the tube station escalators and he did the thumbs-up sign at me.  It was great.  Trust me.
4. I must watch Home Alone on Christmas Eve every year.
5. I hate the cold.
6. I find doing nail art really therapeutic and relaxing.
7. A cup of tea and a Tim Tam have the ability to cheer me up in seconds.
8. I was introduced to Chicken Shawarmas whilst I was out in Qatar and not a day goes by when I don't crave them.
9. I will never stop loving Australia.  If I could live out there then I would.
10. I will never sing Christmas songs until it's December as someone once told me that it was unlucky and it has stuck with me ever since.
11. I still don't know the words to Auld Lang Syne which always makes New Years Eve very awkward for me every year.

Erica/ Kinky Curly ME's questions with my answers:

1. What inspires your Blog? It can be anything from what I've done that week to something someone has said to me or just what's on my mind that day.
2. What is your favourite beauty item? It has to be Chanel's Le Volume de Chanel mascara, it's my HG mascara and just incredible at lengthening and volumising lashes.
3. How old are you? 24........I'm getting on a bit.
4. How long have you been blogging? Since my second or third year of uni so probably about 4(ish) years now.
5. Favourite pair of shoes? Probably my Converse sneakers.
6. Favourite accessory? A big, chunky, statement necklace.
7. What scares you most? Spiders.
8. Favourite lip balm? Strawberry Chapstick - which is a mission to find these days, Sainsbury's seems to be the only place that stocks Chapstick now!
9. Dogs or cats? Cats. Obviously - I mean, look at my last blog post, it pretty much sums my answer up!
10. What's your favourite Handbag designer? Either Chanel or Lulu Guinness.
11. Favourite makeup brand? I'm going to go with Benefit as I appear to have quite a few Benefit products in my makeup bag so they must be doing something right!

Liv/ Perfectly Popcorn's questions with my answers:

1. What do you prefer: Reading a book or watching a film? Reading a book.
2. Do you have a favourite actor or actress? I mean, there's a lot to choose from but the other day I watched a Reese Witherspoon film and it reminded me how much I love her so I'm just going to choose her for now.
3. Who is the person who inspires you most? I don't think I have a person who inspires me the most.  My Mum, Dad and brother always inspire me in that no matter what, there is always humour around us and we can make each other laugh - I'm afraid that that's as close to an answer as I can get.
4. What is your favourite makeup brand? Benefit is probably the brand that I buy from the most so I guess subconsciously that makes it my favourite brand, right?
5. What bloggers/vloggers do you read/watch/stalk the most? Probably Zoella, and not just because I love her blog and vlogs but also because it's inspiring to see how much can be achieved from blogging.
6. Who is your OTP (One True Pair)?  Ok, so I had to Google what OTP meant with this question and then hit up the Urban Dictionary, I'm so down with the kids.  Clearly.  So, my answer would have to be Buffy and Angel.       
7. What high end fashion brand would you love to be at the FROW of at their next fashion show? Either Elie Saab or Moschino, I couldn't possibly choose between the two! 
8. In a book/film/TV show, would you rather be the main character's best friend who gets killed off within the first 3 episodes, or the main character's arch enemy? I'd rather be the arch enemy as, let's be honest, I'd like to last longer than 3 episodes and also because who's to say that it's not the main character who's the bad guy/villain in this scenario, just because I'm the arch enemy doesn't mean that I can't be the 'goodie' and save the day!
9. What is the "nerdiest" aspect about yourself? I have a couple of graphic novels (*cough* comic books) in my possession. 
10. Do you have any aspirations for when you're older? As long as I'm happy and still writing then those are all the aspirations I need!
11. What's the biggest problem that you've had to overcome? I think being away from home for my first year of uni was something that I struggled with but after I settled in it was all good.

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's time for my eleven questions for my Liebster Award nominees:

1. If you could live in any country in the future, where do you see yourself living?
2. Where was the last place you went on holiday?
3. What is your favourite film?
4. What is the best thing about yourself?
5. What was the last book you read?
6. Who is your favourite fashion designer?
7. What is your HG (Holy Grail) beauty product?
8. Why did you decide to start a blog?
9. Shorts or skirts?
10. Who is your style icon?
11. What's your favourite perfume?

My Eleven Nominees are:

1. Peace. Love. Vintage
2. Pretty Loved
3. Leeannpatricia
4. hayemmy.
5. Life of a Black Lily
6. A Poke of Pretty
7. BUBBLE'S WARDROBE
8. SHEWEARSFASHION
9. LILY MELROSE
10. Sharlene's Makeup Addiction
11. Mini Adventures

Thanks so much again to Erica (Kinky Curly ME) and Liv (Perfectly Popcorn) again for the nominations and also big thanks to my nominees for creating such incredible blogs that brighten up my day!

 

Amanda x

 

Cats and Cakes

I am the first to admit that my Instagram posts are probably 60% cat-related, 30% nail art-related and just 10% randomness so having focused heavily on nail art recently, I figure that it's only right that I acknowledge that sneaky (or not-so-sneaky) 60% love of mine - CATS.

Cake time!

Cats, I love them, and not just because I'm single, my relationship status has no bearing on the fact that fundamentally, I always have and always will be a crazy cat lady and I'm very much ok with that.  Cats are just cute and cuddly and oh-so-sassy, and being sassy is possibly the best attribute to have in life whether you're a cat OR a human. 

Today, like the crazy, living-life-on-the-edge kind of person that I am, I spent the bank holiday at the Cats Protection League National Cat Centre where not only do they have, well, cats, but also a café with some of the most delicious homemade cakes ever.  I got to not only dramatically increase my daily calorie intake thanks to one incredibly indulgent piece of chocolate cake but also go around the centre and look at all the kitties.  There were SO many kittens that I very nearly passed out from an overload of cuteness and the adult cats were equally as adorable.  To be honest, if I had a big enough house then I would probably have adopted all the cats there (which wouldn't be a great idea as cats tend to dislike each other. See what I mean? SASSY!).

So sassy!

 

If you're looking to adopt a cat or a kitten then I would really encourage you to visit the Cats Protection League (and not just because of the cake......although it certainly doesn't hurt!). 

So there you have it, a day full of cats and cake - what more could you want in life?! Unless you're a dog lover on a diet and in that case - what the hell are you doing reading this?!

Nail Update: Summer, glitter and sparkles!

So last week I was working the black gloopy nail art look which I absolutely loved, in fact I loved the gloopy factor so much so that this week I decided to update this nail art design and give it a more summery twist by swapping black for pink, glitter and sparkles!

Check it out my lovelies:

I can't help but smile when I look at these - is that a bit weird?

 



This design is not only cute but also pretty damn easy to do so it ticks all those pesky nail art boxes!

If you're interested (and I'm naively assuming you are seeing as you've read this far!), here's everything that I used for this look (minus the nail glue which I threw away because I used it all up):

(Top to bottom, left to right: nail diamante pin wheel (purchased from New Look but there are loads of these available on eBay), cosmetic sponge. Nail polishes (left to right): OPI Original Nail Envy Nail Strengthener, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish (shade - Sugar Crystals), Models Own Nail Polish (shade - Snowflakes NP145), Bourjois So Laque! Ultra Shine Nail Polish (shade - Rosé Merveille 45), Barry M Nail Paint (shade - Matt White 66). Nail art brushes both purchased via eBay).



To create this look start off with a base coat, I used OPI's Original Nail Envy Nail Strengthener  which is my standard base coat because it keeps my nails nice and strong.  Then for all the nails except your ring fingers, apply one coat of Maybelline's Color Show Nail Polish in the shade Sugar Crystals followed by two coats of Model's Own Nail Polish in the shade Snowflakes NP145.  While your nails are drying move onto your ring fingers and apply two coats of the Bourjois So Laque! Ultra Shine Nail Polish in the shade Rosé Merveille 45 and leave to dry whilst going back to the rest of your nails you painted earlier.

Using a thin nail art brush, apply the same Bourjois nail polish used on your ring fingers along the tips of your nails creating French tips.  Once done, use an even thinner nail art brush (you'll want this for the precision of your 'gloops') and paint in your 'gloops' and connect them to the French tips you just painted on. 

Going back to your ring fingers, make sure that they are completely dry and if so, grab a cosmetic sponge and dab a little bit of Barry M's Nail Polish in the shade Matt White 66 onto the sponge and then blot it onto some kitchen roll, tissue or tin foil and carefully dab it onto the tips of your nails working down to create a subtle ombre/dip dye effect.  Once your happy with your ombre effect, then apply Seche Vite's Dry Fast Top Coat to blend the white and pink nail polish together even more so.  Then apply the same top coat to the rest of your nails.

To finish off, grab a selection of diamantes for your two ring fingers and using some nail glue apply the diamantes to your ring finger nails.  Finish off with a final application of your top coat and you're all done! 

I hope my explanation made sense, I'm one of those people that has a tendency to waffle on a bit so it can be a real mission for me to explain something relatively simple without making it sound incredibly complicated and daunting.

Well, there you have it, a simple guide to some super summery and sparkly nail art - let me know what you think!

I could stare at these all day!