Back to School Fashion

Hi everyone! So something a little different form my usual nail posts today - I thought it would be nice to show you what I've been wearing on my first week back to school! I'm in my final year of sixth form (which means university next year :O ) so we don't have a uniform to wear although the policy is you shouldn't be able to see "up it, down it or through it"! Even if you have to wear a uniform I thought this still might give you some weekend outfit ideas!

Day 1

Top - New Look

Jeans - New Look

Boots - New Look

Oh a very New Look day! I really like the dark purple colour to wear especially in the winter months because it's just so pretty. Aside from the colour I also love the detailed Aztec print around the neckline as when the whole aztec pattern started to become popular I didn't really feel I could pull of wearing a whole top or dress patterned with the print so I found this to be a nice compromise. The jeans are actually high waisted  because I just prefer that style of jeans even if I'm not wearing them specifically to be high waisted. My boots (or rather my Mum's boots) will probably be what I wear for the next couple of months as the weather starts to get too cold for pumps :( 

Day 2

Top - H&M (It's got little Eiffel Towers all over it)
Jeans - New Look
Shoes - Primark
This top was a bit of an impulse buy in order to try and use up the remains of a gift card so I just picked up a size 12 and bought it... it wasn't until I got home I realised that it was actually a size 16 that had been put on a size 12 hanger! Although it's not as bad as I thought it would be as getting a larger size does mean it's looser and floaty which is lovely however as great as that is on my stomach I quite often find it slipping down and revealing a little too much as unfortunately I don't quite have the boobs to fill a size 16. I'm really loving the style of the back and I've seen quite a few other tops with a similar bar on the back. It does mean that when wearing this top I have to wear a strapless bra which isn't as comfy but it does look cute! The shoes are really more summery but I needed a pair of blue pumps as I only had some sort of half pumps half converses. Sadly, they are a size 7 (my feet are 5 1/2 or 6) although they aren't overly huge I'm not sure I'll be wearing them on a day where a lot of walking is required!

Day 3

Top - Forever 21

Jeans - New Look

Shoes - Primark

So again same jeans! I tend to find myself always wearing jeans because I've yet to find a skirt that I'm really comfortable wearing... or one that I can match with my tops! I'll just say normally I will wear this top with a vest top or something underneath because it is quite see through but what annoys me about that is it kind of spoils the back again as it's kind of netted. At least now you can see the high waisted jeans for what they are! I noticed after this that the majority of my wardrobe consists of blues, purples or reds!

Day 4

Vest top - Forever 21

Jumper - Forever 21

Leggings - Forever 21

Boots - Debenhams

Necklace - Primark

I absolutely love Forever 21 and I really wish that we had more stores over in the UK as I think the nearest to me is in London. So when I was over in America this summer I made the most of it and got some new clothes. Now this jumper isn't something I'd usually wear and I pretty much never wear leggings outside the house because I feel for me it's just a bit too casual and I don't often feel I can pull that off! But I've really been loving this jumper because it's nice and over sized and it's quite long at the back so I feel a bit more comfortable pairing it with leggings. In order to look a bit more like I'd made an effort I decided to brave it and do my hair up which as you may have noticed in the previous pictures is something I never do except for work and the gym! I really like the mermaid/ fish tail braid and I've gotten pretty good at doing it quickly now although I've not fully mastered the way to make it look slightly messy. I also thought I would brave it with a dark red lip tint! I really want to start wearing lip tints more as over the summer they've become my new favourite thing but I'm finding it hard to get the right balance between looking autumnal with dark shades and looking like I'm dressing up for Halloween. I got these boots a couple of years ago now and they are without a doubt my favourite! I love the knee high look and the small heel gives me that extra boost in height, but the only issue I have is they've got no grip on them what so ever which is really annoying as it means I can't wear them in the rain or anything like that.

Day 5

Vest top - Forever 21
Top - New Look
Jeans - New Look
Pumps - New Look
I have so many of these style of tops because I just find them very flattering for me even without high waisted jeans. I'm not comfortable with showing my stomach though so I always wear a matching vest top underneath and for a while my friends thought it was all one top with two layers!  I love how they look with the jeans and I will without a doubt be wearing this look more often. I really like the style of my pumps too as it's something different and they are so comfy as originally I had bought them for working in Boots.

I hope you liked it and sorry I couldn't provide links to the items I wore as some of them I bought a couple of years ago or in the sales so aren't available online but I hope it gives you some inspiration so maybe like me you just like to have a nosey at what other people pair things with! What's your favourite item to wear as we head into Autumn? Thanks for reading!

World Cup Nail Art - Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire)

Hi everyone! So not too long ago I got an email from Emily over at Nailsxo asking if I wanted to join a World Cup Nail Art competition she was running. Now, I don't really know anything about football and I haven't really done much nail art before but that's never stopped me before! The idea was once you'd been allocated your country you had to create a manicure design that reflected that nation and I was given the Ivory Coast!

Again, I have to admit I knew very little about Ivory Coast so of course I used all my powers, by which I mean Google, to research the country itself as well as the culture so I wanted to share a couple of facts I found out!

Location

The official language spoken on the Ivory Coast is French.

As of 2012, the population stood at 22 million making it the 54th largest population in the world.

Average life expectancy is 57 years old. (It's 80 in the UK!)

And it has many names! 

• Conventional long form: Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
• Conventional short form: Cote d'Ivoire
• Local long form: Republique de Cote d'Ivoire
• Local short form: Cote d'Ivoire
• Formerly known as: Ivory Coast

So bearing that all in mind I set on thinking up a couple of designs that I could create and here is the finished design!

I based the design on my thumb to mimic the coat of arms coloured with the colours of the flag!

On my pinky I tried to mimic the referee kit!

And then on my remaining three nails I went with the slightly easy option of the flag but I think it looks very effective in contrast to the other nails!

So I hope you enjoyed reading this slightly different blog post and I'll keep practicing my nail art and maybe write another post when I improve because my hand wouldn't stop shaking drawing those lines! Thanks for reading!

Review of Barry M Brushes

Hi everyone! So back in April I entered a competition run by Barry M on Twitter to win all their make up brushes and if you haven't already guessed by the title I won! Last year I bought a selection of about 25 brushes on eBay for just under £10 for them all but as I'm sure you can guess the quality of them weren't great and the bristles were falling out all over the place. Since then I've just applied my make up with my fingers but my sister who has a load of brushes from the Real Techniques collection was just as excited as I was to hear I had won the giveaway. In the collection there are 7 full sized brushes and a travel set which are all synthetic and 100% vegan which is always nice to know.

So lets start with the packaging. I love the colour scheme of the pink, black and white and on the back of each of them there is a cute little quote instructing you on how to use the brush. The colour scheme continues on the brushes themselves and they are all light weight and so soft which is nice. My one criticism would be that the brushes themselves don't have any labels on or numbers indicating the purpose of the brush which would've been nice as the eye shadow and the concealer brush are pretty much identical.

Foundation Brush - £4.99 Barry M/ £5.99 Superdrug

I'm not exactly sure why the price varies for this one as it doesn't for any of the others but hey ho! The brush is very soft but quite sturdy which I know is not always everyones cup of tea when it comes to foundation brushes but I really like it. I don't often wear foundation but I have used it once and it doesn't leave any streaks and blends really well.

Concealer Brush - £2.99 Superdrug

I used this brush everyday and it is so much better than using my fingers. It's also really soft and again quite sturdy but it's perfect for concealing those dark circles! It looks pretty much identical to the eye shadow brush as the only really difference is this one is about 1cm smaller.

Eyeshadow Brush - £2.99 Superdrug

Again this is a brush that features in my everyday routine. Personally I prefer using sponge applicators for applying eyeshadow but this brush has really started to grow on me. It picks up powder really well and is perfect for blending.

Angled Eyeliner Brush - £2.99 Superdrug

My sister has had her eye on this brush ever since they arrived at the front door. I've used this brush once to apply some darker eyeshadow in place of using eye liner but my sister who is a big fan of gel eyeliner says it feels as though it would be a great brush for gel. The bristles are sturdy so you do get quite a defined line but the are soft enough that you don't hurt yourself.

Blusher Brush- £4.99 Superdrug

I love that this brush is angled slightly so whilst it is supposed to be to apply blusher I think it would also work really well for contouring as well as for blusher. Again it's so soft and feels really nice on your skin.

Bronzer Brush - £7.99 Superdrug

This brush seems very big to be used as a bronzer brush for contouring but it would be perfect to give you that natural sun kissed look when you blend the bronzer in. It is so soft and I love just stroking it across the back of my hand (not as weird as it sounds I promise!)

Powder Brush - £5.99 Barry M

I love using this brush every morning because it's so much softer than the brush I had been previously using. It doesn't pick up a huge amount of powder but it's perfect for when you want a light covering.

Mini Brush Set - £9.99 Superdrug

In the set there appears to be a powder brush, concealer/foundation brush and an eyeshadow brush along with a lash/brow comb. They are just as good quality as the rest of the collection and just as soft! I love travelling and I normally only take the essentials when it comes to make up in a my smallest make up bag which these fit in nicely so no doubt they will come in use on my next adventure.

I really love this collection of brushes and would give them an overall strong 9/10 because they are affordable but still great quality!

So what do you think of the collection? I love that they are so affordable but still great quality - Barry M have really hit their target market! Let me know if you've bought any and what's your favourite brush? Thanks for reading!

The Next Few Months...

Hi everyone! So when I started this blog I said I would post at least once a week but in the last month or so I've been struggling to get just one post up a week! I have loads of idea and loads of photographs of products I just haven't found the time to sit down and write about them and the next couple of months aren't going to be any better I'm afraid! It's now May and you know what that means... exams. I've got my As Level exams this year and I'm not going to lie to you I'm stressing out a little bit because I'm really not ready for them! I chose to take 5 subjects plus general studies which has left me with 13 exams which I think is more than I had last summer at GCSE!

Basically this means for the next month or so I can't guarantee that there will be a new post every Sunday but I will try and do one even if it's just a little one so there is still 1 going up a week. But I promise as soon as my exams and everything are done I will get back into a routine and maybe for a little while do 2 posts a week to make up for it! So bear with me please! Thanks for reading!

EuroQuest: Day 11 - German Scout Camp/Cologne

Hi everyone! So it was our last day at the Scout Camp so after we cleaned up and packed our bags we were faced with the challenge of finding our way back to the train station. We decided it would be a great idea to walk through the woods to get back into town and it didn't take us long to realised we were lost after the path we were following disappeared. Jenny then took the lead and led us on 'Jennys Magical Mystery Hobbit Tour' which eventually got us back on the track and to the train station.

As we were waiting for the train to arrive the heavens opened for the first time on the trip and at first it was so nice because in most places it was around 30 degrees but then it got heavier and it turned into a mad scramble to find shelter. Our rain jackets were at the bottom of our bags because we didn't think we would need them so made makeshift shelters using our bag covers - well we are Girl Guides after all!

After several train journeys including as usual a sprint to the train after we realised we were waiting on the wrong platform we finally arrived in Cologne. There were so many shops in the station! There was a whole shop selling different things all made out of jelly sweets which looked amazing! I was very tempted to buy something but I didn't think it would still be in one piece by the time I got home! We then wandered into a clothes shop which had loads of really nice but cheap clothes and shoes! I got a dress and a top (which I'm still waiting for the weather to improve to wear) and Hayley found these shoes which were amazing and they were so cheap she had to get them!!

After our little shopping break we headed to a restaurant to get some food because we were so hungry after a day of travelling. The restaurant was primarily pork and had an amazing interior design. As the two veggies on the trip Evie and me decided that we would both order a macaroni cheese from the snacks menu and then share a portion of chips and some hash browns as we assumed being from the snack menu it would be small portions but oh how we were wrong! I don't think I've ever felt so full and neither of us could finish it all!

We then headed to the hostel and it was so nice! I was sharing a room with Frances, Evie and Hayley and as we got to the room we found the door literally wouldn't open. We were pushing against it with all our force but it would budge. Some guys in the room next to ours came out to see what all the noise was and apparently we were opening the door all wrong because you had to do something first with the key. Our room so so nice (once we finally got in!). We had a balcony and a proper walk in shower! This meant we could wash stuff and hang it over the balcony to properly dry rather than just hanging it over the bars on the bunk beds!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out here:
The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent at the Scout Camp in the Harz Mountains and in Cologne as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

SCOUT CAMP VIDEO: COMING SOON

COLOGNE VIDEO: COMING SOON