Pastel blue nails

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to paint my nails in pastel colours but couldn't because my nails were in bad condition and needed a break!  Now that they had healed enough I decided to go with a pastel pink polish I had.  It was a cheap brand though and after three coats and a top coat the result was a disaster so I took it all off and started again.

I went with my China Glaze polish in a pastel blue shade and could really tell the difference.  Two coats and a new Top coat later my nails were much prettier.  I might just through the cheaper polish away.  It was really streaky and took forever to dry.

Anyway here are some pictures of my new pretty nails.

I love putting on a pretty ring with freshly painted nails.  I'd love to experiment with some nail polish designs soon.  Maybe some white polka dots on top?  I just need to have the time and the patience!

xxxx

What I wore- Lace Dress

Posting about my Dahlia dresses the other day inspired me to wear another one of my floaty dresses from my wardrobe.
I got this cute dress from H&M last summer

Lovely lovely lace.  I love how it looks in the winter sun.  It was -5 outside though so I had to layer it up with black thermal leggings, my dark blue Mango jumper and also a long Mango cardigan under my coat but at least it had an outing!

Do you wear your summer clothes in winter?
xxxxxx

Fantasy Dress Shopping - ASOS

Today there's 20% off at ASOS on selected items.  I'm already waiting for a dress to arrive in the post so can't really justify another but I thought I'd write a post of the dresses that caught my eye!

A Wear Daisy Print Tea Dress
I like the 40's feel of this style and print.  A glamorous day dress.  I think it would definitely be a useful addition to my wardrobe!

ASOS Skater Dress in Contrast Lace & Mesh Back

I like anything with a bit of lace at the moment.  I think this dress is unusual and I love the back.

Sugarhill Boutique Lace Up Back Dress in Milkshake Print
This Sugarhill Boutique dress is such a sweet spring colour.  It has a crazy cute milkshake print on it!

Ted Baker Spot Dress with Belt
Finally this Ted Baker dress (definitely just a fantasy buy for me!) is super cute perfection for Spring.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and my fantasy shopping post!
If you check out the sale will you be having a fantasy shop or a real one?
xxxxx

Dahlia clothing

Hi there!

It's finally the weekend.  We made it, yaaayyy!!  I hope your week wasn't too stressful.  Mine was up and down but we definitely got a lot done so it was worthwhile.

I've noticed that one of my favourite clothing stores, Dahlia, has got their Spring Summer 2013 line up on their website.  I always try to pop in to their little boutique just off of Carnaby Street when I'm in the area.  I have a love of pretty floaty clothes and they seem to do them in a unique way.

Here are a couple of Dahlia items I own.

This one I bought in the sale off of ASOS.  I love it because I can easily dress it up or down, so I can wear it anywhere any time of the day.

This one I found half price in the boutique.  I needed a dress to wear to a Premier after party.  I love it's unique embroidered peter pan collar.  I feel like a pretty little doll when I wear it.

 I love the broderie anglaise detail on the skirt

Finally last summer I picked up this Dahlia skirt in Topshop on Oxford Street.  It seemed everyone was long skirt crazy last summer but this one struck me as a little different from the rest.

I loved traipsing round London in my long swishy skirt....feeling very bohemian in the sunshine with my sunglasses on.

These are some of my favourite pieces in the wardrobe so I will definitely be keeping my eye on their label in the future.  You can check out their new collection on their website here.

I hope you have a great start to the weekend.

xxxxx

Wishing for the weekend

Hi there!  I am in the middle of a pretty busy working week.  In a brief moment of calm it's made me think of my weekends and the things I enjoyed during my last one.

Lazily making a coffee late in the morning!

Using our his and hers Herdy mugs!

Bargain hunting at the shops in the sale...and finding something you actually need!

These jeans were reduced to 12 euros in the sale!

Going to a favourite cafe and spending time trying to capture the steam coming off from my posh tea: black with cherry

becoming obsessed with plaiting my hair!

What simple things did you enjoy this weekend?  I'm glad I took some photos to remember my lazy Sunday with.  Hanging on until the next one :)
xxxxx

Evening attire

Next month my boyfriend and I will be attending an important event together; the first night of his first full length stage production.

As I'm in the piece I decided I wanted to wear something special to the after party, and only something new would do!  I'm waiting for my black velvet and lace dress which I ordered yesterday from ASOS to arrive.  I can't wait to try it!  I'll take photos of it when it gets here.

In the meantime here are some pictures of my boyfriend in the new suit jacket he bought for the event.  This was also purchased from ASOS which I thought was risky as it was a suit but seems to fit him quite well.  He also has trousers to go with it but wasn't wearing them in the picture.

What about you?  Do you like internet shopping for clothes or do you think it's too much of a risk?

xxxxx

Valentine's Day

This is a late Valentine's Day post but I've been a busy girl at work!

For Valentine's Day this year my boyfriend and I both made each other Valentine's Day cards

 I love simple handmade cards.  Can you tell who's is from whom?

I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day last week whether you were with someone or single and treated yourself!

I signed my card with some Art Deco lipstick!


xxxxxxxx

Cameras - Olympus SH-21

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while but haven't on account of the fact that I hadn't spent enough time learning about my new Olympus SH-21 camera yet to write about it.

I'm not a camera expert at all, my boyfriend has a much deeper interest in photography than me.  He bought himself a Canon 1000 D a while ago and recently upgraded to a Canon 60 D which he takes gorgeous pictures with.  For the purpose of taking nice photos for blogging those camera's are way out of my price range right now (plus I can always just grab his if I'm in need of a super fancy photo) so I was on the lookout   for a fairly decent digital compact camera.

Fantastic camera, but does it come in pink....?

I'm a super wussy girl so one of my main aims was to get a camera that was light otherwise I know I'd never take it anywhere with me!  I narrowed it down to a small selection and when I eventually went to the shops to purchase one I was swayed by the HD quality video recording and high number of megapixels this camera offered for the price (plus it was on offer in the sale!).

Trying to get my camera to take a picture of itself!

Obviously this camera takes much greater quality photos than my old old Kodak with it's 6.1 megapixels.  I still haven't got to grips with everything this camera can do.  I've mostly been playing around taking photos with it's manual setting which I take the majority of my photos with to avoid using the flash.

So far I have enjoyed using it and it's light to carry around in my handbag (which was my main objective really!).  I still take pictures with my boyfriends Canon and his super magical lenses and wonder if it's possible to get my Digital Compact Camera photo's to turn out like that.  I highly doubt it but if I figure it out I'll let you know!

xxxxx

Fantasy Shopping Trip - Vero Moda

I wondered in to Vero Moda the other day and saw some cute things that I liked for Spring.  I can't afford to buy them all so I thought I would write a blog post about them instead!

They had this Sequin Jumper in a few colours but my favourite was this spring green!

I really like this lace top which would go really well with skinny dark blue jeans

I don't have a pair of floral jeans yet and I'd love to get hold of a pair to wear with a plain cream top.

I like this bright short trench coat which would also brighten up dark blue skinny jeans.

You can check out these clothes and more at their on-line website here.

I hope you're as excited for the weekend as I am!

xxxxx

What I Wore - Coffee Date

Today I went out for coffee with my boyfriend.  I wore my lovely dress by Love from Topshop.  I don't wear my favourite dresses enough because of the weather or because I worry I'll stand out too much/ look too dressy.  I think I'm going to make more of an effort to give my favourite things more outings, they deserve it!

It's such a cute a cute 60's style and is light and flowy.  Of course I had to wear woolly tights as well because of the cold weather!

I wanted to wear a nice light scent to go with it so used this lovely light body moisturiser by L'Occitane in Cherry Princess.  I bought it together with the matching shower gel as a treat and I'm glad I did, it's really lovely stuff with a subtle, light scent.

I went for simple pearl earrings and just blusher and mascara.  Really natural make-up!

I hope you enjoyed this post!

xxxx

I want Pink hair!

Browsing through Tumblr I have been exposed to some gorgeous images of long pastel coloured hair.  I'm so drawn to it for some reason.  I know I can't dye my hair that colour right now, there's no way I'd be allowed on stage with pastel pink hair, but in another universe, that would be me...... long pastel coloured hair flowing in the wind, flowers in my hair.  Ethereal and pixie like.  I'm sure that it's extremely difficult to pull off in real life outside of an arty fashion shoot!  I remember when I was shopping at Topshop in Oxford Street I saw this new hair salon called Bleach on the bottom floor that seemed to be doing this very thing!

I would probably have to just get the ends of my hair done as my skin is so sensitive I doubt it could tolerate bleaching.  Sigh.

For now I might have to go for this comb in-wash out colour that I saw in Urban Outfitters!

Much safer and less permanent for now!
xxx

Nivea Face Care Pure and Natural Moisturising Day Care Review

Recently I have been trying to use products with more natural ingredients.  These ranges tend to be a bit pricier than what I'd normally buy so I was happy to come across this new Pure and Natural range by Nivea.  My experience of Nivea moisturiser in the past is that it stung my sensitive skin so I've avoided using any of it's products.  I liked the sound of this new moisturisers's 95% natural ingredients.  It's free from Parabens and an affordable price which convinced me to give it a go.

I got the day cream for normal to combination skin.  I found it was a very rich cream.  I don't need to use much of it at all to cover all of my face.  There was no stinging feeling!  I've been using this as a night cream as it is a little too heavy maybe for day for my skin and there's no sunscreen protection in it.  It is good in the cold weather though when I do need something a bit richer.  I've nearly used it all up so that is a good sign that it has been useful!

Overall I would say it is a nice rich cream with more natural ingredients at a good price.  I would bear in mind though that this cream is rich and if you have naturally greasy skin it might be too heavy for it.

Having used this I definitely will be checking out the rest of the Pure and Natural range.  I'd buy this again to use when my skin is feeling dry and need of more moisture.

Hope you found this review useful!

xxxx

Today I Wore...

...My Topshop Baxter lilac jeans (again! I love the fit and the unusual colour) and this pale green jumper by Pins and Needles that I got from Urban Outfitters in the summer.  It's another grey day here so I'm craving pastel spring shades as usual.

Always nice to wear cute socks and these dotty ones from H&M make me happy.

 I was going to paint my nails pastel shades to match but having inspected my nails polish free I decided they needed a break from the varnishing!

I love these pastel shade nail varnishes!  Maybe I'll put them on next weekend!

I hope you are having a great Friday and looking forward to the weekend!

xoxo

The Body Shop Rainforest Shine Shampoo review

Like most of my skin my scalp can sometimes be sensitive to certain shampoos.  It's really hit and miss as most shampoos are absolutely fine and then suddenly after maybe even years I'll try a new one and find that it's irritating.  I recently had just such a problem with a shampoo from a more expensive brand that I decided to treat myself too (!) so decided to try out a shampoo that has as natural sounding ingredients as possible.  This Body Shop Rainforest Shine Shampoo sounded just the ticket with it's ingredients containing no parabens, sulphates, silicones or collorants.

I'd used sulphate free shampoo before and found it really difficult to get out of my hair.  I also found it doesn't lather up well and I end up needing to use quite a lot of it as I have long hair.  I decided that my scalp needing some time off from any unnatural ingredients though so decided to give this shampoo a try.

The instructions say you should add a few drops of water and lather it up in your palm before you apply to your hair.  I did this but I still needed to use quite a lot of it to cover all my hair and I paid special attention to rinsing it all out.  After using it a few times I would say that I still struggle to get it all out of my hair.  Even if I feel like I'm rinsing it under the shower for five minutes I can still feel it on some of the roots when it's dried.  The rest of the hair does seem really nice, healthy and shiny though so I plan to persevere with it and maybe turn the shower up to it's highest setting to try and make sure I get it all out!  I've found that adding a small amount of shampoo with a sulphate in it helps to get it to lather up and rinse out.   Then I don't have to use so much of the natural shampoo which is good as it is expensive.

All in all I think it's worth trying but bear in mind that you have to try a lot harder to get it all out of your hair than with your average shampoo.  If you can manage this you just might love it!

I'm Not a Paper Cup - review

Check out my cool I'm Not A Paper Cup ceramic thermal travel mug.  It was also an awesome Christmas gift.  I love it's plainness.  It's got a silicone lid and works well to keep my coffee or tea warm in the morning.  It's nice to have a lid if you're clumsy like me!  It's got a double porcelain wall with an air cavity in between for insulation which means it doesn't hold as much liquid as you would think looking at it from the outside but that's how it works I guess!  The insulation means that the outside stays cool to touch even with a hot drink inside.  It's re-usable so it's eco-friendly.  I suppose it could save you money too if you take your own coffee to work instead of buying it at coffee shop on the way.
Ultimately I just think it's fun and useful!

Monday Things - What I wore

My Sunday Things was starting to develop itself in to a regular feature and then I never managed to get it up yesterday!  So this week I'm going to do Monday Things.  My usual weekend is Sunday to Monday so that's why Monday's as good a day as Sunday for me to capture a few things to blog about!

Today I wore my Mango jumper that I bought last week.  I can never stop wearing new things over and over when I first get them!  I decided to wear it with my white pleated Monki skirt instead of jeans to change  it up.  

I'm also wearing thermal tights as it's the only way I can get away with a floaty skirt in the below zero temperatures!

I painted my nails dark blue a couple of days ago so.  Probably sub-consciously influenced by my new jumper!

I used China Glaze which also has a lovely rich pigment like the Sally Hansen polishes do.  The formula is a slightly runnier consistency than the Hansen ones but is still really nice to apply.  My application process still needs practise though!

I wore a cute ring from Accessorize which I think contrasted nicely with all the dark blue.

I put my hair in a plat across the top of my head.....

....and added a splash of bright pink lipstick!  It's Art Deco Perfect Colour lipstick in Pink Thistle number 36.  It's a really good pink that's bright but not too bright for day.  It has a nice rich pigment and creamy consistency.

I also wore some lovely earrings I made for myself in dark blue topaz and Sterling silver.  My boyfriend bought me the gorgeous blue topaz drops for a present and I wrapped them in sterling silver wire.  If you're interested in something similar take a look at my shop here.

Then it was time to go out for coffee!

We went to one of our favourite coffee shops here called Werner.

I hope you enjoyed this post about my Monday and that you had a great start to your week!

xoxo