USA Nail Polish Haul!

 Hello Lovelies!

I spent near on a year lusting over Zoya polishes, taunting myself by looking at the new collections and having a little strop every time i was reminded that they don't ship to the UK. Sad face. So on my recent trip to the States Zoya was at the top of my hit list. I was a bit underwhelmed with the selection that the Ulta i visited had, but with a few trips i managed to pick up some right beauties! I also grabbed a couple of China Glaze ones too as they had a 3 for 2 offer on that i just couldn't refuse. In a way it was kinda good that they didn't have the best selection, or i could of easily picked up double what i had! Anyways, on to the pretties!

 

 Paper Chasing - Fairy Dust - I Herd That - Frostbite

 I only own two other China Glaze polishes which i adore so i didn't really need an excuse to pick up more. I love I'm Not Lion from their Safari range and as I Herd That is pretty much the gold version of it i had to have it! If i remember rightly these were around $7-$8 each, so not the cheapest, but you can find China Glaze online in the UK for around £5 a bottle.

 

 Nidhi - Daul - Gilda - Meg - Charla - Opal

After all my lusting for months on end i finally got my hands on some Zoya, only to find when i arrived home that there is now a website that stocks them in the UK for just under £6 a bottle, DOUBLE WIN. I'm not sure how up to date they are with collections or how reputable a company they are but they have quite a few colours i want... Luckily for my bank account my spending ban has well and truly kicked in and quite frankly, i have enough! But if you'd like to check out the website click here!

Mimi - Myrta - Feifei - Ivanka - Sarah

I don't think i could even pick my favourite out of these because they are just SO pretty. As you can see I'm a fan of sparkly, glittery, bright colours! I'm not really a dark or nude nail kinda gal, although I'm loving the berry shades that are everywhere right now, so i may have to make an exception. I am SO thrilled i managed to pick up so many pretties, i think i am pretty stocked up on polish for a while!

Whats your favourite Zoya colour? Let me know!

xox

Current Favourites & My Everyday Face

 Heya lovelies! My favourites posts are few and far between, but as I've been loving a whole load of new and rediscovered products i thought I'd share the best of the bunch with you lot! I'm never going to be a monthly favourites kinda gal, i just don't change up my routine enough so those posts would be pretty samey, but from time to time i love to show off the bits and bobs in my collection that have been getting a lot of love recently...

Royal and Langnickel - Flat Top Kabuki Brush
I picked this little beauty up at IMATS. Now if you've watched a lot of IMATS videos you'll have seen these pop up quite a lot over the years, normally to be never seen in a video or post again but lately i have been LOVING it. This had been sat on my shelf for a good few months without use, so after cleaning all my brushes i hooked it out and was determined to give it a fair ol' use. I've been using it to apply my Dream Matte powder, its perfect for setting foundation by just pushing the powder in to the skin. Its ridiculously soft and only cost me around £6 with the IMATS discount, but can be found on the Royal and Langnickel website for about £12.

Natural Collection - Apple and Lime Body Spray

I was introduced to this one a month or so ago by the bestie and I've got to say other than being a teenager and drowning myself in the vanilla version I'd been a bit of a snob about these. After a girly night i could smell DKNY Green Apple, so being nearly out of mine (and about four other favourite perfumes, sob) i asked her if i could have a squirt of hers, turns out it wasn't DKNY at all, but this little beauty. Now on further inspection it isn't an exact dupe as it has a lime element to it that the DKNY doesn't have and it isn't quite a sharp, but its pretty damn close. At £2, its a real bargain if you're not in the position to splash out on the real deal, and if you have an unsophisticated nose like me, you may not even be able to tell the difference! It obviously doesn't last as long on the skin, but for the price difference, who cares?!

Revlon - Kissable Balm Stains

I want more of these and i want them now! Near enough the only thing on my lips for the past month, i just wish they had more shades! For someone who isn't a fan of creamy lipsticks, this is perfect for me. It adds gorgeous colour without me feeling conscious of smearing it across my face, win! The stain lasts a good few hours for me and the chubby stick like packaging makes it ridiculously easy to apply. I'm planning to get my paws on a whole bunch of these while I'm in the USA next month.

Origins - Drink Up Overnight Mask
I'll keep this short and sweet. Gorgeous mask, leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised without feeling greasy. 100ml for £20, so not bad at all price wise! I've recently reviewed this beauty here.

 China Glaze - I'm Not Lion

I'm Not Lion is an absolutely STUNNING shade. Its a beige, champagney glitter that would work beautifully for both warm and cool toned skin. I've been wearing it for every night out over the last few weeks! Its opaque in two coats and in any form of light sparkles like an absolute dream. Me and my amateur camera skills haven't been able to capture its full beauty yet... But google swatches... Do it NOW! If you don't have this, you need it!

Maybelline - Dream Matte Powder

 Another product that had been sat in my drawer for quite some time, i think i have faaar too many of those! Up until recently I'd preferred quite heavy coverage and had been loyal to setting my foundation with either Elfs HD Powder or Mac Studio Fix, but as HD isn't really travel friendly and Studio Fix is on the heavy side i hooked this out of my collection. Its matte without looking heavy and powdery, its not the longest lasting powder but its easy enough to shove in your handbag and reapply on the go.

Milani - Corallina Baked Blush

 My only coral blush, although I'm still eyeing a few! After seeing these all over American blogs and Youtube channels i caved and eBayed one of the Milani Baked blushes. Its a gorgeous orange coral with quite large silver shimmer. Now at first the silver shimmer REALLY put me off, but it buffs away to be mostly unnoticeable, so i can live with it. I think these cost around $6 but i payed a little over £8 with delivery which isn't too bad. The only downside is that my Mother has taken a shine to this blush, so i am constantly having to steal it back from her!

Mac - Cream Colour Base Pearl

Possibly my favourite highlighter ever! Stunning goldy, pearl, cream highlighter. Gives the face a real radiant glow! I absolutely love it! And taking into account how little product you need to use, I've actually hit pan on this which says it all really!

Wow this post is getting lengthy! I've worn this look for about 75% of the last 4 - 5 weeks, i should really change it up soon but I'm really loving to easy it is to apply in the morning. And as it involves quite a few of my current favourites i thought I'd share it with you!

Eyes:
Makeup Forever - Smoky Lash Mascara
Mac - Omega Eyeshadow (brows)

Lips:
Revlon - Kissable Balm Stain in Rendezvous

Face:
Missha M - Perfect Cover BB Cream
Maybelline - Dream Matte Powder
Mac - Cream Colour Base in Pearl
Milani - Baked Blush in Corallina
Nars - Laguna Bronzer

What are you're current favourites?

xox

Spending ban... What spending ban?!

Hiya Lovelies!
So about that spending ban...

Everyone needs a little treat now and then so after working way more than i have done over the last year and having much less fun than usual i thought it was about time to buy a couple of new "necessary" bits and bobs. So i thought I'd share my little collective haul from the past month.

GHD - Glossy Back Straighteners
I've needed a new pair of GHD's for quite some time now as mine were reaching their 7th birthday and not really performing like they used to. I really begrudge paying a ton on hair care items so the thought of spending around £100 on a pair of these wasn't really a happy thought. I found these beauties for £84 on Look Fantastic, although i cannot find them again now they were a lot cheaper than the same style on other websites. Win!

Banana Boat - Aloe Vera Gel
I spent my Boots point on this so it doesn't really count as breaking my spending ban. I wasn't going to include this as its really just boring sun care, but as its the run up to my holiday, buying things like this puts a big ol' grin on my face. Also on smelling this it brought back memories of my last stay in the USA. So a lot of smiles from a pretty boring buy!

New Look - Sunglasses
Another little holiday buy! Something about these screamed CUTE and Hello Kitty at me so i HAD to have them. Its not often i find sunglasses in a flattering shape for my face that are this cute! New Look had a BOGOF promotion on their sunglasses so i got two pairs (the second not quite as cute) for £4.99.

Origins - Drink Up Overnight Mask
So this little beauty has been doing the blogging rounds so i wont go into too much detail until i get round to reviewing it. But after seeing all the "What i take travelling" videos and posts this product really intrigued me. For some reason I'd had it in my head that Origins was SUPER pricey, I'm not one to spend £40 on a cream even though I've been lusting after some of their Mega Mushroom range for quite a while now. So when i found out this was £20, 100ml and perfect for my skin type, i just had to have it!

Chinovi Cosmetics - Minis
If you've read my blog for a while you would know i have a soft spot for indie cosmetics. I think a lot of indie brands have something special due to the time, effort and creativity that goes into their products. Chinovi is a relatively new brand and after seeing Beauty's Bad Habits swatch post i knew i had to order some. The website is SO easy to navigate and my goodies arrived within a week, preciously packed with some added American sweeties. ADORABLE. I cannot wait to review them!

China Glaze - I'm Not Lion
After reading Powdered Almond's post on I'm Not Lion i had to have this polish, right this second! I literally ordered it within two minutes of reading the post. It is one of the prettiest polishes i have ever seen. Its an absolutely stunning champagney, beigey glitter with multi coloured flecks, god i suck at descriptions. Simply put, its gorgeous, go check it out!

IPhone 4S
Another one that doesn't count towards my spending ban since it was an upgrade. So i have now jumped on the iphone bandwagon, so at some point in the near future, when i can work it all out (god i feel old), expect some Instagramming from me!


So that's it! A bit of a modest haul from me for now if you ignore the GHD's *slaps wrist*

Have you bought anything naughty lately? Feel free to link in the comments!

xox

A bit of a cliché collective haul...

Ello lovelies!

I hummed and hawed over whether to do this post. I personally love having a nose at what other people have bought, but it just feels a little bit strange to me. Unintentionally the majority of these products are featured regularly by bloggers, so you might be sick of seeing them but i just thought I'd quickly share the products I've picked up over the last month or so and what you can expect reviews on soon!

After depotting all my individual Mac shadows i had enough to "Back to Mac" for three lipsticks! They'd been sat in the back of my drawer for months so i jumped at the chance of a day trip to Bournemouth knowing full well there is a Mac counter there. I'd gone in with the idea of a pinky nude for smokey eyes, and a brighter, not pink, colour for summer. After a bit of a debate with myself i settled on Hue and Costa Chic, and gave the third choice to my Mum. I also picked up Omega for my brows, and so far, I'm LOVING it.

 Other bits and pieces i picked up:

 Nars Sheer Glow - Mont Blanc - Space NK
Nars - Laguna - Catcus Flower - ASOS (20% student discount + no willpower)
Graftobian Creme Foundation - Bombshell - Ebay
China Glaze - Riveting – Ebay
Beauty Blender type sponge - Ebay

Anything in particular you'd live a review on? Let me know!
Oh and yeah, my saving is going great...

xox

Riveting NOTD

Ello lovelies!

So I'll just point this out first... I suck at nails.

I get real nail envy when i spot people with pretty or arty nails, then sigh and remember how much i actually suck with them. My Mother owns enough polish to stock her own shop, but her collection is lacking more "out there" colours that i love so much, so when i spotted this beauty i had to have it!

When i first heard about the Hunger Games collection of polishes from China Glaze, i literally squealed with excitement. I adored the books (not so much the film, boo!) and the geek in me was well and truly pleased. Luckily for my bank balance there was only one that took my fancy, and to be perfectly honest i found the other 11 rather boring. The Hunger Games collection consisted of 12 polishes each inspired by a district, and as much as i REALLY wanted to love district 12... i didn't. But district three on the other hand was the sparkly, orangey goodness I'd been searching for! Yay!
 

Nerdy part over!

Riveting is an absolutely gorgeous and pretty unique shade. I've only tried one orange polish in the past (Nails Inc Atomic) and as much as i loved the colour in the jar, it looked pretty "blah" on the nails. Riveting is a stunning bold orange chock full of orangy / goldy glitter, so nothing blah or boring about this one, its a beauty!

Hello flooded cuticle!

Excuse the appalling nails, in an attempt to grow them out and stop them flaking i sadly chopped them off the other day and smothered them in OPI's Nail Envy. I will have nice nails one day!

Not having tried China Glaze before I'm pretty impressed so far, in terms of application i really like the formula, not too thin or thick and nearly opaque with one coat. Big thumbs up from me! And for just over £5 on Ebay, it didn't break the bank either, result!

To check it out, you can see the listing here!

What are your favourite polish shades? I'm currently eyeing a few Zoya beauties!

xox