Review of 'Barry M Silk Collection' in 'Heather'

Hi everyone! We slowly easing our way out of winter which means it's nearly spring time meaning new spring collections are being released! Barry M have released their spring collection in the form of these new 'Silk' nail varnishes in 6 different colours. I picked up the colour Heather for £3.99 as I thought out of the 6 it was the one I'd be most likely to wear. It's sort of a lilac colour infused with pink and it's definitely not as dark as the colour I'd associate heather with is.

I don't really feel that this silk trend is a new thing as I remember the kids kind of nail varnishes used to have a similar look and to be honest I never really liked it because I always felt the brush strokes were really visible. However, I did discover that this drys matte which is something I don't remember my old ones doing which is why I wanted to give it a go.

I used my Sally Hansen base coat first which dried super fast; always a plus with nail varnishes!

I then applied the first coat of colour. It wasn't too streaky like I remember my old ones being and if I was in a rush I think it looked actually okay with just one coat of colour. It drys really quickly and once it was dry it sort of reminded me slightly of my holographic one from Topshop. It also seemed to have a sweeter scent to normal nail varnishes when I was applying it but it still dried with no scent!

I applied a second coat even though one probably could've been enough but I had the time! I found it was better to kind of dab it on or just apply a thicker coat because it eliminates any sign of brush strokes.

Originally I didn't apply a top coat because I thought it would ruin the matte look but I did test a top coat out on one nail and it didn't actually look too bad. I don't think I'll put it on the rest though as the matte finish is what I think makes this nail varnish original.

Personally it's not my favourite kind of nail varnish because I'm not too keen on matte finishes and it just reminded me of something a small child would wear on their nails when they had first been allowed to paint them. But despite of that the nail varnish it's self is just like all the others from Barry M in quality so if you like that style I'd recommend you go check it out! Let me know if you've tried any others from the collection and which is your favourite, thanks for reading!

Manicure - Beauty For Everyone

Hi everyone! So I am heading back to school (well technically sixth form) and I thought I would treat myself to a little manicure, so my nails would make a good impression! My friend had given me a manicure voucher for my birthday and I just hadn't got around to using it yet so this seemed like the perfect opportunity! I think I've had a manicure once before (?) and I've had a few pedicures, but they have all been when I have been staying with my aunt up in London so I had never been to this place.

It's called Beauty For Everyone (their website) and is based in Chippenham. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was the adorable interior design. It's very vintagey, which in my opinion gave it such a welcoming and homely feel to the place.

Photograph from Beauty For Everyone Website

I think the lady that did my manicure was called Lauren (I've got a bit of a short term memory so sorry if that's wrong!) and she was absolutely lovely and she had amazingly long eyelashes which I was very jealous of as I'm burdened with having short stubby lashes!

I chose a lovely shimmery purple pink colour which was a China Glaze one but I have absolutely no idea what the exact colour was and completely forgot to ask! Amazingly I've had it for 4 days now and they've barely chipped which is great as I won't need to paint them again for another week! Annoyingly I smudged my pinky nail a little bit as I went into town to pick up some things straight after, but it's not awfully smudged!

If you live in Chippenham or the surrounding area, I would recommend you check them out! They are a little bit expensive in comparison to other beauty salons in the area but are always doing great offers so keep an eye on their Facebook page and you might get a great deal!

Let me know if you ever get your nails done professionally or if you just do them yourself? Thanks for reading! (:

Quick Update: My Hair

Hi everyone! So I know it wasn't that long ago since I dipped dyed my hair pink, but after 2 weeks in Europe where I wasn't able to care for it with colour protection products it was pretty faded, so I've re done it (or rather my sister re did it for me!) but this time purple!

I used the Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL in 94 Pink Purple but it is only supposed to last 6-8 washes so we will have to see about that! When we were doing it the tube looked pretty small but I ended up not even using half of it so if it does wash out in 6 washes I can do it again.

I'm not sure what colour I expected my hair to turn when I decided I wanted it purple and bought the dye as my hair is pretty much the colour on the box but it looks really pretty, but it's just not the shade of purple I had envisioned when I imagined doing it purple but it wasn't what I got. Don't get me wrong though - I'm really happy how it turned out and I think it looks better/me more than the pink did.

Also another thing that's happended with my hair that didn't go at all to plan is well... this! I cut a little bit!

I had a braid in my hair that I did in Europe, but the day after I came back I had a job interview and the braid was looking a bit tacky so I tried to take it out. Then I got tired and it wasn't coming out so I made the stupid decision to cut it out. I thought because it was at the back and bottom of my hair, no one would notice it, and no one did... until I put it in a pony tail! I forgot that cutting it would make it too short to tie up so now I'm left with that little stumpy bit of hair. I think low side pony tails will be the way forward until it grows back a bit.

And also it's so obvious in the photo how different my hair colour is! It's not that noticable normally but I think with the flash on it really picks out the red in my hair from where I dyed it. The brown underneath is my natural colour although it never really was that brown as it lightened like highlights in the sun!

Thanks for reading (:

Review of 'Holographic Nails Topshop' in 'Wistful'

Hi everyone! I have never actually tried any of the range of cosmetics that Topshop has to offer and thinking about it I don't think I have ever bought any clothes from there either?! But I was given a gift card from the family I  babysat for almost every day after school for nearly a year, as they are moving away and this was sort of a thank you present!

So I went into the Topshop in Bath and had a little look at the clothe,s but the store isn't really that big and nothing exactly caught my eye until I went over to the nail varnishes. A few of my friends and lots of other peoples blogs I read love the nail varnishes from Topshop and I have to say there is a huge selection! Instead of getting a plain colour (although there were some gorgeous colours) I thought I would be a little adventurous and I got this holographic one!

It is £6 and it is really different to other nail varnishes I have seen in Boots and Superdrug and I have never tried anything like it before! They also had a bluey one and a sliver one but as I wear a lot of flowery clothes I thought I would get the pink!

So I applied my base coat from Barry M. Please excuse the state of my nails but they got completely ruined whilst I was travelling around Europe as I didn't really take time to take care of them as I was just having so much fun!

I then applied the first coat of colour. I needed to apply it quite thickly in comparison to what I normally do as it dried quite quickly so when I went I tried to spread out the nail varnish across my nail it just sort of made it really uneven and gloopy if that makes any sense! But once I got that sorted it was all good!

I felt it needed a second coat as in some places it seemed sort of opaque. But the effect was there are after one coat and I actually was surprised how much I liked it! It is very shimmery and does look like those hologram stickers that I always seemed to have when I was younger. I did think it felt slightly odd when I ran my finger over the nail as it wasn't smooth like my other nail varnishes.

I then put a top coat over the top and I was worried that it would ruin the effect but it didn't do anything like that - it just gave it a nice gloss over the top and it made it feel a lot better when I felt it! I also cleaned up an bits of rogue nail varnishes that had crept onto my skin and all done!

I actually really like this nail varnish because the effect it one I haven't seen before and it looks really nice! I don't know if it is the same with all the nail varnishes but I found it dried really quickly which is a huge plus to any nail varnish for me!

Let me know if you've tried any of the other colours from Topshop and if you like the hologram effect? Thanks for reading!

My Hair History

Hi everyone! So if you read my last post you will know I have dip dyed my hair pink and this made me want to show you my hair throughout the last 16 years of my life. Please be warned: there are some shocking pictures and I don't just mean the quality of the photos (although that is pretty awful too) but more some of my hair cuts!!

So this is a picture taken of me at Nursery School around the age of 2/3? This is probably the lightest my hair has been. However - I'm not sure what my Mum was thinking letting me out with a very lopsided fringe!

Age 2/3

So my hair seems to have grown and my fringe seems to be a lot better!! Can't say I know what was going on with the face paint but at least from the hair side it's looking up!

Age 5

Clearly I spoke too soon! Age 7 now & my fringe is super short but at least it isn't lopsided! Personally I blame the mess of a pony tail is due to me having 2 crowns which makes it very hard for me to tie up my hair without it bumping up!

Age 7

Well the quality of this photo is awful but at least my hair is getting better! I'm 8 years old now but I still have that awful block fringe!

Age 8

Oh wow! Age 9 and I decided to grow out my fringe and this is the terrible stage of it being too long to wear as a block fringe so I chose to pin it back which was clearly a big mistake!!! And I also seem to have cut it short again.

Age 9

Now at age 10 I have opted for a side parting and a long fringe. Not my worst cut I have to say! Although definitely not my best!

Age 10

Skip forward 2 years and my hair is looking so much better!!!!!! I think I had my hair highlighted for the first time here as my hair is looking slightly red? The first time I had my hair proffesionally highlighted I wanted to keep it natural so she put in a very faint red and a couple of shades of redish browns.

Age 12

Forward one more year and I think this was when I got dark brown highlights put it. I also had red ones in but they faded within a week. Cut wise my hair pretty much stays them same now but it does get longer. It's mainly the colour of my hair that is now changing.

Age 13

Here at 14 years old is the first example of me using a home kit to dye my hair instead of going to the Salon to get it highlighted. I really wanted hair like Emma Stone when it is red (I still do!) but as you can see it went more gingery than red. But the style is the same.

Age 14

Now here was where I got a little more adventurous. Age 15 I bought what was supposed to be a mahogany hair dye however it ended up turning my hair purple for a little while!

Age 15

I wasn't happy with it being purple so I bought a brighter red to try and balance it out. Still age 15 and I ended up having bright red hair! This made me look even paler!

Age 15

Which brings me up to now - age 16. A few months ago my hair you can see my hair is various browns thanks to all these dyes (even though apart from the highlights they were all semi permanent). My ends are really light and it sort of looks slightly like I've got ombre hair? I've still got the same style

Age 16

And this is me now! My hair is basically the same but instead of having slightly blonde looking tips they are now pink!!! You can still pretty much see where my hair has been dyed previous to the pink as it is a lot lighter than my roots.

Age 16

Age 16

I really would like to cut my hair differently or get a fringe but I have no idea what to do so if you have any suggestions let me know!! Until then I would really like it all to grow out but as that could take ages but I don't particularly want to dye it again because I hate re doing the roots - maybe I will highlight it? (I've been considering electric blue streaks as my next hair adventure!?)

I hope you enjoyed laughing at my awful haircuts over the years and I would really love to see how your hair has changed since you were born! Thank you for reading (:

Prom 2013!

Hi everyone! So last Thursday I had my leavers prom so I thought I would share it with you. I know it's not my usual beauty review but fear not - more of them will be coming soon!

So, the most important thing first: THE DRESS! In year 7 (5 years ago) me and my friends went to Bath to go shopping and we were all trying on prom dresses and we went into Jane Norman and I absolutely fell in love with this dress. So 5 years later I thought I would see if I could find it on Ebay and lo and behold someone was selling a brand new one in my size and without any hesitate I bought it for around £25 and I love it so much!

Then came the shoes. After getting my dress at a bargain price I thought I would push the boat out a bit and I ended up getting my shoes in Kurt Geiger. I cannot walk in heels - I look like a baby giraffe; but not in a cute way! So I decided to get shoes with a tiny heel and found these black sparkly ones for only £29 - amazing price especially for Kurt Geiger! They are so comfy and I can easily wear them again as they could easily be worn dressed down if I ever find a job!

Onto the accessories. I got my bag in Debenhams with the ticket price of £16 but I'm pretty sure I got it half price in one of their many sales. It's got a lovely bow design and held my money, phone & make up so absolutely perfect.

I then got my earrings from San Francisco. I have no idea where exactly they were from but I'm pretty sure they were from a shop on Pier 39 and I think I got them from about $15. My necklace was then from F.Hinds for around the £20 mark. They are so gorgeous and I will definitely be wearing them both again so I have no regrets on the price!!

I then got my hair clips from the Dorothy House Hospice shop where I used my volunteer discount (oh yes!) and got them for just £1.

My hair was done by my lovely hair dresser: Donata who works at Centre Stage in Chippenham! They are so lovely there. I got my ears pierced there and my hair has been dyed several time by student hair dressers and I've never had any issues! The prices are great and the atmosphere is also lovely. Anywho, all I wanted done was to have my hair curled and she did a great job - so thank you!!

Then my make up. Now normally I don't wear much make up; a dab of mascara and some concealer usually does me! So I got Rachel (Neate Beauty) who has done my eye brows a couple of times and my Mum goes to her for facials. She made sure it was quite natural as I'm not used to wear that much and she was so lovely so I would definitely recommend checking her out if you live in the Chippenham/ Wiltshire area.

Finally - transport! We went in a VW Campervan! My friend knew some guys (who were friends of her Dad) who were re doing it so she asked them if we could borrow it for the night and they said yes! As cute as it looks on the outside, the inside was amazing! My friend had decorated it with pictures of all of us over the years we had known each other along with some cute bunting.

So that was my prom! I hope you enjoyed this slightly different kind of post (:

Review of 'NYC Quick Dry Nail Polish' in 'Lincoln Square Lavender'

Hi everyone! So again another of my current favourite nail varnishes at the moment: NYC Quick Dry! If you haven't read my previous blog post you will not understand my obsession with this brand! They have recently been on offer in Superdrug: 2 for £3 which is an absolute bargain! And they are only £1.79 by themselves anyway!

So I chose this one as another summery pastel like colour. Although the name suggests lavender it is in no real way any sort of shade of purple - which is my understanding of the colour lavender! But the colour is such a nice dusty sort of pale pink colour and is something that you could easily wear without attracting too much attention  if that is what you are after.

So of course I applied my base coat first. I can't stress how important it is to wear a base coat. Not so much with this sort of shade of pink but last summer I made the fatal mistake of painting my nails a lovely grass green colour without a base coat!!! My nails were stained so bad and I had to keep painting them just to hide the fact that I was stupid enough not to use a base coat! Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there! So yes, this is the base coat I always use from Collection for I believe £2.99.

I then applied the first coat of colour and as I've noticed with this range one coat just doesn't give me an opaque enough colour but it wasn't awful and I always apply a very thin coat as for some reason regardless of the varnish being quick dry or not it still takes a while to dry! (Personally I blame my poor circulation!) Again please ignore the mess of my painting - I will sort it out at the end!!!!

Still a little bit see through 

I then applied the second coat and immediately looked so much better and more like the colour in the bottle.

Much better!

Recently, I've been pretty obsessed with the fashion of having an accent nail. For anyone who doesn't know (sorry, but where have you been?!) it's where you paint one nail slightly different to the rest whether that be a contrasting colour, glitter or beaded!

I decided to use another one from the NYC collection! I was debating whether to do this as a separate review like last time but as I only did only 2 nails I thought I'd just make 1 extra long review.

So this is the 'NYC Expert Last Nail Polish' in 'Gramercy Glitz' and it's a gorgeous really pale pink in the bottle but could easily go on any nail varnish colour as it isn't hugely pink on the nail. Again I got it in a 2 for £3 deal and on it's own it's £2.49.

I went on really easily and smoothly and there was a fair amount of glitter on the first coat but as I was using it on only one nail I really wanted it to stand out so I ended up putting on a further coat to make it really noticeable.

One coat of glitter on my ring finger

Two coats of glitter - much more sparkly! 

I then finished it all off with my make shift top coat - a clear nail varnish from 'The Natural Collection' at Boots.

It's not actually pink! 

Et Voila! All cleaned up and looking lovely! I think it looks so cute and girly as it's not in you face like brighter shades are but that's the joy of pastel colours!

I would really recommend both the base colour and the glitter nail varnish as they are just so pretty and you really can't go wrong for £3! Thank you for reading (: