I'm so sorry that I have been neglecting you all and this blog. Both my jobs are kicking my a$$ and frankly I am just exhausted. So here's a quick update and also a NOTD. Yes, I will admit that my NOTD is a bit chaotic with no direction.....ha! just like my life :p
Let's see, shall we...work is kicking my butt like I said, Oscar is great, hubs is the usual happy guy, and I'm just a grouchy moody tired girl lol.
I don't get a day off for quite sometime, but I promise I will be blogging the very minute that I am off. So until then, here's my crazy NOTD lol
Base: China Glaze below deck
Models own pen
What a horrible attempt at leopard spot LOLOLOLOL!!
This post is so long overdue, I swear it's not because I'm lazy. Well, sometimes :) Well I refused to let this lazy Sunday win, so I decided this is a perfect time to photograph the entire colour library mini collection set. This set consists of 28 mini polishes in a tin case. I photographed the backside of each of the polishes so that I could get a proper photo of polish, because the front has the label covering most of the bottle.
** Warning*** This is a picture heavy photo :)
A couple of months ago, I did an interview with Amanda from Nerdlacquer, which you can see here if you missed it.
And last but not least....a huge THANK YOU goes out to my friend who sent this to me, without her generosity, I would not have been able to share these with you all.
I don' t know who else feels this way, but I just can't down with all these frilly, pretty, Spring stuff. The pastel, sheer, girly clothes and accessories just makes me want to grab my black clothes and seek for cover. I think the style suits many girls, but I just don't feel comfy, so what is a girl suppose to do this spring? I'm scavenging the Internet for new spring gear, and I'm finding myself mega depressed. I want to wear black, I want to wear designs that aren't bubbly and "pretty", but I also don't want to wear winter clothes either. I spent all night and a good part of this morning trying to figure out what my spring attire is going to be, and I finally found it!
Aztec baby. Coming from a simple and minimalistic person like myself, it shocks me how drawn I am to this seasons' Aztec prints. Here are some of my favourite (direct links are under each photo)...
**Disclaimer, I'm in a chatty mood, so this post is going to reflect that and be a bit long winded***
I'm one of those people that has to write everything down! Not just once on paper, but then as an alert on my iphone. I am going mad this morning looking for my notebook. This is where I write down all my telephone conversations for my business, and I can not find it. I am just floored, it literally grew legs and walked out of my room..not cool lol. Anyways......
* Behold, Chanel Blue Boy. This nail polish took over 4 months to get here from the states. She was held up in customs since the end of January, and I finally got her in my hands and I'm never letting her go! I'll get some proper notd posts up again.
* Next, I wanted to talk about the Ciate caviar manicure that is just out of this world. I don't know about you, but this one is killing me. My ban lasts all year, and I am so tempted by this...I need to focus and NOT buy this, but I urge you all to buy it as it's just hot hot hot! It's a 2 step manicure nail art kit where you apply micro beads over the base colour coat. I absolutely love the 3D effect to this. My favourite is the black beads (shocker lol).
Priced at £18 a set, it's a bit of a splurge, but extravagant things usually come with a hefty price tag.
I wonder if you can purchase these micro beads from a craft shop and do it yourself...hmmmm...
* Also, did you all know that TK Maxx online has a Gold Label department? We are talking about Stella McCartney, Alexander Mcqueen and more. It's very affordable too!
* Just to catch you all up, my downsizing of nail polish is going successfully. I am now down to 127 polishes. I'm trying to think "quality over quantity" as space is an issue since moving here.
* Rant - Don't you hate it when you email someone and they can't email you back, even when you know that they are online lol
* Another topic that I wanted to talk about is charities and donating to charities. I recently learned how imperative donations are for the operations of charities. I know this sounds really obvious, but did you know...
a. We need loads and loads of carrier bags? So if you are inundated, please drop it off at your local charity shop
b. We even take clothes that is unsellable. Just because it can't be sold, it doesn't mean we can't sell it as a "rag" and make money off of it. Most charities sell the unsellable clothes in large bags to a 3rd party who pays for it. This company basically buys and distributes to third world countries.
c. Donating office supplies is a great help for us. We use it, and it's less money we have to spend out of our daily sales, so donating office supplies is always appreciated
d. and last but not least - donating your time is the greatest help to us.
* I'm really excited about trying this product. If it actually works, then this will be my new favourite drugstore product :) We'll see how you hold up against my layers and layers of glitter! lol.
* Here is my awesome reveal from my secret easter swap. This forum swap is awesome, because we had to stash "shop". The purpose of the thread is to actually use what we have instead of hoarding, and it's really great, because we get to swap out items that are sitting there. I was very happy as L'occitane is one of my favourite brands. The shea butter hand cream travel size is not pictured, because I used it all in one day :)
So I think I should close this post, as it took me 2 days to finish it. Clearly, I can not come up with a congruent post, so this is what you guys get. Sorry :) Off I go to enjoy the sun.
Today I shall commence with spring cleaning. I'm ready! It's time to dust, clean, organise everything. Am I a nerd for being excited about this? lol. That is my plan today. Well I do have to some paperwork, but other than that, I will be a cleaning machine until my cold medicine kicks in and makes me drowsy :)
Ok! So what am I using this week? Basically it's whatever I got new from last week, so this is a haul/"what I'm using this week" post.
My new items are:
* Aveda hair conditioner in Shampure
I love the way this product smells. It brings me euphoric pleasure, but it doesn't make my hair happy at all. It's unfortunate that I ended up with a liter bottle, because my hair is quite dry and brittle after use. Oh well, you live and learn....this won't be repurchased ever again.
* Aveda volumizing hair mist
Another Aveda product that smells amazing. It's that fresh, herbal, botanic, earthy scent that Aveda just gets so right. This helps slightly with volumizing my hair, but since my hair is so flat, it needs a bit more to make it plump up, so sadly, after I use this, I will not be repurchasing it either
* Clinique 7 day scrub cream
This lovely deluxe sample came free with a magazine. It's one of those products that I enjoy, but never enough to buy the full retail bottle of. It's a great daily exfoliater, but I tend to like creams that have a bit more exfoliating beads. It's still lovely and a great product for those who want a daily scrub. For now, I will stick to my Clarisonic.
* Elemis Soothing Apricot Toner mist spray
A gentle and lightly scented toner mist. I was worried that this would be too sweet and powerful, but it isn't at all. This is also my first Elemis product that I tried, and I'm very happy with it. I'm eager to try more from this UK line.
I actually had a day off of work yesterday. I use to be able to sit around and lounge at home and be perfectly happy, but lately that's not the case (which doesn't make Oscar very happy). I woke up around 8am, had breakfast, skimmed through my hundred emails, ran errands, went into work for an hour, and then off to lunch and shopping with a new friend. Yep, I actually made a new girlfriend that lives in the same town as me! This is big news people! lol. After some Thai food, we set out to do some damage on our accounts...well, not really as my intentions was to buy only some black tights and some small toiletries, but I ended up with this...
This unusual trench coat was designed by Roksanda Illincic for the Debenhams' designer edition/collaboration collection. I never heard of her before, but there was something about this coat that I had to have. Not only did it fit me beautifully like a glove (which is quite rare for a trench coat), but it was reminiscent of a past Alexander Wang trench coat at a fraction of the price. So I nabbed it for £49.50 (marked down from £99). If you like what you see, you can grab yours online here.
I plan to wear this with my daily uniform which consist of black skinnies and wedges :)
Such an amazing idea! Why didn't I think of this? It makes so much sense, because we wear our jewelry right at the all the pressure points of our body where heat exudes from. That is why traditionally we place perfume behind the ear, on our decolletage, and on our wrist. So Lisa Hoffman takes this concept and applies fragrance beads to the jewelry. Sure, the jewelry is not really my style, but they are gorgeous, and I am actually very drawn to it, because they look like gorgeous ornate bird nests with little eggs inside.
Each fragrance bead was made from sustainable wood flour and contains pure perfume. It's also refillable, so you can change the fragrances as you want. Another genius idea!
The earrings, bracelets, and necklaces are $65 and come in the following scents
The other product that I absolutely love from Lisa Hoffman is her spa bath soak, which I couldn't find anymore on her website. It has the Madagascar Orchid scent, and I melted away every time I used this in my bath.
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TUNE OF THE DAY Dirty Money ft. Rick Ross - Dirty Money
I recently started to work at a charity shop, and that is so bad for me as I am always buying something. I don't even know if I actually want this stuff, but for the price I have been buying.
I spent less than £3 for everything. I keep telling myself that I need to stop buying little things and save up for something substantial, but I just couldn't resist myself :)
Who else likes charity shopping? I'd love to see what bargains you have gotten xx.
Finally got a day off! sheesh, and here I am to show you guys my lovely new additions. I'm so behind, as these were purchased close to 2 weeks ago, but better late than never.
This round of hauls included:
1. Marc Jacobs Daisy eau so fresh perfume - 125ml - rrp £61. I took advantage of their 10% sale, plus used my voucher on top of it, so got this for £50, plus a bag full of perfume samples thanks to the lovely SA at Debenhams.
2. Lanvin eclat d'arpege perfume - 100ml - rrp was "way too much". I can't even remember the rrp on this, because I have always gone through ebay buyers to buy testers. I recall seeing this for $95 at neiman marcus a couple of years back. Whatever it was, it was to much, so now I rely heavily on ebay sellers. I got this for £19.99. This is one of those fragrances that aren't as popular for some odd reason as it smells identical (and even better) to D&G's Light Blue, which is a very popular scent even to this day. This is not to be mistaken for Lanvin eclat which is a very heavy and traditional scent catered to older women.
3. Phyto Phytovolume shampoo - Another ebay purchase for under £4 posted. I love phyto so much, it's one of the haircare brands that I have always enjoyed using, but haven't been able to when I'm on a tight budget. I love their botanical philosophy, and found that it works wonders on my hair. I'm very excited to try this, and will report back with my review on this.
Now that I have quenched my thirst for perfumes for the time being, I think I need to chill. I love perfumes, but it's one of those things that make a dent in your bank account, so yeah ...deffo gotta chill for a little bit lol!
What have you been buying these days? Please share with me below, I love show n tells :)
Hello everyone. Hope you guys are all embracing the season changes and staying happy. I am generally a happy person these days since I simplified my life a bit. I also have the day off my day job, so I'm in a great mood today :)
I wanted to tell you all about an etsy shop that is opening for Elevation Polish. Elevation Polish is a handmade nail polish company about to debut on March 23rd. All links will be provided below, but first let me tell you what I love about Elevation Polish.
I haven't tried any yet, but here are the reasons why I support them:
1. The owner is an absolute doll. In today's bitchy nail polish world, it's nice to see someone down to earth and grounded (yep, pun intended).
2. Each colour has a deep and sentimental meaning behind them. To some, cremes are boring, but cremes are part of our reality, and both Strangebeautiful and Elevation polish bring in a deeper and artistic meaning to cremes. Of course you guys know how much I love Strangebeautiful, so for me to find another nail polish line that applies the same type of artistic spin to cremes is alluring to me. This is a mature and sophisticated (but still fun) nail polish line. There are other finishes to Elevation Polish, so there is something for everybody.
3. Flakie explosions - I can't not deny that I love flakies. They are my new glitter, new crackle, new holographic - they are my new obsessions, and she has them.
4. They are handmade - That is what is missing in my life, something substantial and handmade and not mass produced.
Here are few of her polishes....
See the two in the middle, yep, that's bottles of fun right there :)
So if you are in love,check out the links before to see all the other polishes in the range. There are tons of shimmer, cremes, duochromes, flakies, glitter, and holos!
