Manicure Monday: Olympic Medals

L-R 17 Magnetized in Gunmetal (used without the magnet), OPI Spark de Triomphe, Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment, Nails Inc Old Park Lane, and Nails Inc Chelsea Square

     

As London 2012 has officially started I thought I'd do an Olympic themed manicure this week for Manicure Monday, this was inspired by the Olympic medals, gold, silver and bronze, and it's jam packed with glitter! 

1. I took my chosen gold, Nails Inc Chelsea Embankment, and this glitter is really packed with glitter so I didn't use a gold metallic as a base, it was opaque in 2 coats! You might want to put a gold metallic underneath a gold glitter if yours doesn't go opaque. I then chose my base silver, and I went for 17 Magnetized in Gunmetal, and I didn't use the magnet as I wanted a dark silver base. I then chose my bronze base, which Nails Inc Old Park Lane is a lovely antique rose gold which fit s beautifully for bronze.

2.  I painted my middle finger in gold, to act as the centre, I then painted my ring and index fingers with 2 coats of 17 Magetnized in Gunmetal, I then painted my thumb and little finger in Nails Inc Old Park Lane.

3. Then for the rest of the glitter, I went for OPI Spark de Triomphe for silver and Nails Inc Chelsea Square for bronze.

4. I then went over my ring and index fingers with one coat of Spark de Triomphe, so you can see the 17 Gunmetal silver just showing through as a base. Then, as Chelsea Square is Just like Chelsea Embankment, jam packed with glitter, and for bronze I wanted some of the Old Park Lane showing through soI took a lot of the glitter off the brush before I did one light coat on my thumb and little finger. 

And there you go, podium Olympic nails manicure!

Let me know what you guys think of my Olympic manicure? Have you been wearing any Olympic themed nails?

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Wishlist #1

1. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser £33 - I have had really dry skin in the last few weeks and I want a tinted moisturiser to replace my foundation until my flaky nightmare ends, and Laura Mercier seems just about the best one out there.

2. Nars Deep Throat Blush £21 - Nars are famous for their blushes and bronzers, and now that I have their Laguna bronzer I now want one of their blushes and it's not orgasm, I really want to get my hands on Deep Throat.

3. Topshop Black Peplum Top £18- Peplum tops are popping up everywhere and I have my eye on the topshop sleeveless black one.

4. Dogeared triple textured large karma mixed metal necklace $72- I want any piece of Dogeared jewellery but I do like this mixed metal triple karma necklace.

5. Ren Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask £30- You can never have enough skincare and I don't tend to use masks all that often as I have dry sensitive skin however this REN one has caught my eye and I wouldn't mind trying it so se its results.

6. Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm £9.50- This had been making its rounds on the beauty blogs so naturally I have to have it, but I'm going on holiday to the South of France in a few weeks so will pick one up out there.

What's on your wishlist?

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Recent Buys #1

I've done a bit of shopping recently, so I thought I'd share what I have brought, and I've probably spent a bit more than I usually would but I blame that on the summer sales and all the tempting bargains. Most blogs I read have haul posts, but I really don't like the word 'haul' so I calling mine 'recent buys'.

First on to the beauty buys, as you can see after buying Nars pressed powder in Flesh, which I really like, I couldn't resist picking up Nars Laguna bronzer too, this was a bit of a treat to myself as I had wanted it for ages and saw it on Asos so I took the plunge. Also in my Asos order I also picked up OPI I Have a Herring Problem for £7.50 from their sale, which I feautred in my Manicure Monday: rainy day colours post. As well as the OPI I also picked up two new Essie's to add to my nail varnish collection, I got these from the new diffusion line launched in Boots and chose Mint Candy Apple and Cute as a Button, two of their most popular shades.

Other makeup I've picked up was a Topshop creme blush in Head Over Heels, I'm loving wearing this at the moment and the creme formula is great in the hot weather we have been having, and it's such a nice coral shade for summer. And like every other beauty blogger I could not resist picking up one of the new Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Cherish, this is a bit bright on my lips so I don't wear it as an everyday shade, it's really just for evenings out, well for me anyway.

I also made an order with Escentual.com for some skincare bits where I picked up a new moisturiser as my skin has been  really dry recently and my foundation has been looking very bad and flaky sitting on top of my skin. I chose La Roche-Posay Hydreane Riche as I do also have sensitive skin to help sort out my foundation nightmare, and it has definitely improved the problem, but not sorted in completely, and I do think it's time for me to invest in a tinted moisturiser for these times where my skin chooses to be difficult, I have my eye on the Laura Mercier one! I also got some sun protection for my summer holiday, which has come in handy with the heat wave this week, also from La Roche-Posay and I got the Anthelios XL SPF50+ Melt-In Cream, which is just a great high protection sun protection for my face.

I then also went a bit shopping mad on new clothing, first I got a lovely sheer printed shirt from the River Island sale, which is right up my street as I have a few sheer printed tops in my wardrobe already. I then also treated myself to some much needed new shoes, as I seems to have lots of boots but as summer starts to creep in I need some nice flats that aren't always my Topshop salmon ballet pumps, I found these navy suede loafers in the sale at French Connection which suit my annoyingly narrow feet perfectly. Finally I popped in Gilly Hicks which has recently opened in Kingston, and I got this lovely bikini reduced to under half the price in the sale, and I also picked up two tops which where also in the sale, on v-neck t-shirt and a polo shirt.

Ok I know I have been on a bit of a spending spree but these were all brought over June and July, and I have already got my eye on quite a few beauty bits, what beauty addict hasn't!

Have you brought any good bargains in the summer sales? Or been on any great shopping sprees?

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YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat

 

Le Teint Touche Éclat is the new foundation lauched by YSL earlier this month, based on their famous Touche Éclat, it is an illuminating foundation meant to highlight any contours and enhance your natural beauty. It has been 20 years in the making but it's finally here! I managed to pick up a sample to give it a test drive.

Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation with a voucher that you printed off. I got mine at my nearest YSL counter and the YSL counter lady was very nice and took the time to match me with my correct shade. I wanted something that matched my skin tone, not something a bit darker, and in my last hunt for foundation I found colour matching a particular challenge for me as not many counters went as light as my skin tone. However the YSL lady did well and matched me with BR10, one of the lightest if not the lightest they do, but this matches my paleness very well. This is a good start YSL!

On to the foundation itself, it's very nice and easy to apply, I placed a few dots around my face and buffed it in with my Real Techniques buffing brush and it went on like a dream. Recently my skin has been very dry and I've been having a real love hate with my current foundation (Bobbi Brown skin foundation) as its not working with my dry skin and looking very patchy and flaky, I have even changed my moisturiser 3 times! In Bobbi Brown Alabaster 00 is such an excellent colour match to my skin, but I think this new YSL in BR10 is a very similar colour but is sitting so much better on my skin! My face felt so smooth and flawless, and best of all not dry flaky patches! It has light to medium coverage, which is my personal preference, and the only negative I have to say is that it doesn't last as long as my Bobbi Brown one, but as it seems to agree with my skin better so this can be overlooked, and there are ways to fix this which I didn't use, eg primers and powders as I wanted to test the foundation itself not hiding under or over other products

Overall I might actually go buy this full size, but I will use up my sample first then make my decision, but it is looking likely. It's £28, which is what I paid for my Bobbi Brown one, so not a bad price at all and it can be brought from all YSL counters.

Have you tried Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation yet? What is your opinion?

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Manicure Monday: Classic Red

L-R Barry M Brit Red 262, Nails Inc Tottenham Court Road, OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where?, Nails Inc Holly Bush Vale, Nails Inc Special K Red

The classic red nail is a staple bold powerful colour, and a great choice to make your nails look glamourous and dramatic. You'll find every nail polish brand has at least one classic red in their collection, and many have a few versions of a classic red. You can see it in just the ones I have in my personal collection there is a lot of choice out there, but quite a few of them are all very similar and will give you near enough the same classic red nail look. 

There are so many different shades of the classic red and the one I've gone for today is Nails Inc Special K Red. I actually got this polish after entering in a code on my box of Special K on their website and about 3 weeks later this little beauty came in the post free! This is a lovely shade of the classic red, with slightly more purple tones in it than a bright red would have. Nails Inc polishes do have lovely formulations, and although this was free the quality of a Nails Inc polish is still there. This polish has a creme formula and is opaque in one coat, but it's always best to slap on a second to give it more days wear before those dreaded chips start to appear. This Special K red is not as classic as you can get, and if you were after the typical bright classic red then Nails Inc Victoria and Albert or The Hurlingham would be what you'd be after. However as this was free I am giving it its wear this week and I have to say there is just something special about it having a crystal cap!

Which is your favourite classic red shade? What do you think of Nails Inc?

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Best Boyfriend Ever and I got my Results!

  

At about 4pm on Thursday I got my much anticipated results for my LPC (for those of you who don't know the Legal Practice Course is a compulsory extra postgraduate year you have to complete to be a solicitor, you then need a training contract for 2 years to qualify, which I am still looking for). I was very nervous all day, and although I'd already had half my results earlier in the year, I was feeling nauseous about receiving my overall result.

But to my hope and relief I got this email through...

'Following the publication of your final LPC results today, we can confirm that you have also been awarded the College of Law Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice with Distinction.

The classification of Distinction will appear on your certificate of award.'

YAY I got a distinction! It's basically a first in Uni terms as you need 70% or above, and because of my results my boyfriend got me the best presents ever!!! A Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag and a MAC lipstick. First off the handbag, I am a handbag lover, collector, and overall obsessive of designer bags, and yes he did also buy me my first Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag last christmas (which makes him doubly amazing!) and I do love it and it is my everyday bag. But this one is so different and I just love it, it is the Classic Natasha cross body bag in Indigo, and most of my other bags are shoulder bags including my other Marc by Marc Jacobs one so this new cross body one definitely stands out from all my other ones. Not only do I love handbags but Marc Jacobs is definitely my go to designer brand (Chanel is also up there too), I just love everything he produces, so double thumbs up for the best boyfriend ever!

It's as the name says it's a cross body bag with one long adjustable strap, it has a main compartment secured by a magnet, which is a reasonable size with two phone holder type pockets at the front and a small zip pocket at the back. It also has another huge pocket which is the whole length of the bag which is accessed by the zip along the flap, it has an impressive amount of pockets. It has the standard Marc By Marc Jacobs logo on plaque on the front which is silver, along with all the hardware details. It is lovely soft leather and in a dark indigo colour, which is great as my other Marc by Marc Jacobs bag is black so its nice to have a different colour than all black as a lot of my other bags are also black. Basically I love it so much!!!

I also got a MAC lipstick in Cut a Caper which is part of the Heavenly Creatures limited addition collection, he did know I wanted it and I went with him to get it. This is a lustre formula, which is not my favourite but the colour more than makes up for it! I just love the pinky coral colour and I will do a full post on this soon!

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Holiday Snaps from the Lake District

Ok I am going to start off by apologising for the amount of pictures in this post, but as previously mentioned, last week I went on holiday to the Lake District with my boyfriend's family. We stayed in a cottage near Ullswater Lake, which is the second biggest in the Lake District. Over the week we went on many lovely walks and chilled in the cottage, so here are a few of my best pictures from the week!

     

These are money trees which we came across on two different walks! I think someone has hammered in coins to a dead tree. Who says money doesn't grow on trees!

Our cottage for the week

 

Me with Jess the dog at the top of another big hill, and a beautiful fountain to come across in a garden centre, which wasn't like a usual garden centre more like planted gardens with plants for sale, it was beautiful!

As you can see the weather wasn't too bad and there was only minor use of the waterproofs for light showers and we went on a few very lovely walks. You can also see from my photos a waterfall called Aira Force, which was actually only 5 minutes away from the cottage we were staying in and you could hear it from our cottage. It was a very lovely chilled out week in the country and all the walking helped with the bikini body for my summer holiday to Cannes in September!

I hoped you like the photos!

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Nars Pressed Powder in Flesh

I recently went into my local Space NK for the FIRST TIME! It was amazing, and thank you to beauty bloggers for encouraging me to go into that beautiful shop, I knew it existed but had never really looked to see what they sell for some reason and oh my, beauty heaven! I went in really to look at the Nars makeup. Nars is a brand that I have been lusting over a while, and I just really like how it is packaged, so sleek and gorgeous! I was running out of loose powder and was after a replacement, so I chose the Nars pressed powder in Flesh, I was going to go for the loose powder however I seem to make a bit of mess around me when applying it, so I'd thought I'd try some pressed powder instead.

Nars have 6 colours in their range of pressed powders and naturally I had to go for the lightest being one of the palest people on the planet, and I was anxious that the lightest shade would still be too dark for me so I went in Space NK and had a test of it first, and went home looked in all different types of light and decided it was as good a colour match as I could hope for. I went back to Space NK the next day and purchased it.

I do like to wear powder over my foundation, but only a light dusting as I do think for me it does give my foundation wear an extra to its longevity, I know a lot of people don't wear powder at all and I think it's all down to personal preference, and on really good skin days this can be the only base I wear over my moisturiser. The Nars pressed powder does make my face feel silky after applying it and at first I couldn't stop touching my face (that didn't do wonders for the longevity factor!) I have fallen in love with Nars powders and have already purchased their Laguna bronzer (review coming soon) and am lusting over their Deep Throat blusher (which is very much on my wishlist).

Also so sorry for the amount of photos of this powder I just think it looks so beautiful in its packaging especially so new, and went a bit snap happy and thought I'd share my purchase from all angles.

Do you wear a powder over your foundation? Have you tried any of the Nars powders? And how amazing is Space NK, heaven or what!

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