Nail polish time

Hello!

I hope you're having a nice December.  I'm glad it's not been as cold here as it usually is at this time of year but I am really missing sunlight.  The daytime is so short and the weather is cloudy and grey more often than not.
I've hurt my rib and it is quite sore to dance with so I'm hoping that will heal up fast.  Luckily I only have one show to get through before I can rest up a bit for Christmas.

The other day I decided to experiment with my nail varnish as I hadn't worn any for ages.  I couldn't decide between pink or dark blue so I decided to wear both and then added some glitter to the last two nails.

 The dark blue and glitter polish were both China Glaze and the pink shade was by Misslyn.  The glitter polish is called Bad Kitty which is an awesome name for a varnish!

I think it's such a fun way to wear nail varnish.  For performances I can't wear anything so colourful but I've been doing something similar using pale pink polish and just some glitter on the ring finger.  I definitely want to experiment more and make use of the many varnishes I own!

I think I need to have a little bath to beat the chill I'm feeling right now in my flat!  I think an evening of bathing and nail painting are in order.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Clinique High Impact Lashes gift set review

Hi there!

I hope your week is going well.  There has been such little sunlight around here recently that apart from taking vitamin D I've also started hoarding body and beauty products as if they contained the suns rays themselves.  One such item which I bought on a massive whim (so unlike me, normally I ponder over purchases for weeks!) was the Clinique High Impact Lashes gift set.

 To be fair I had been wanting to buy a new mascara for weeks already.  I've lost my The Balm one somewhere during the move (grrrr...) and my Bourjois one was starting to dry up a bit.  I was planning on trying out a L'oreal one as I keep reading that the Telescopic one is meant to be popular but when I realised I could get this Clinique set for the same price as the mascara on it's own I purchased on straight away!

The set contains the Clinique High Impact Mascara, a Clinique Cream Shaper for eyes in Black Diamond, and a small sample of the all about eyes serum.

Also contained is a little mini see through make-up bag in shades of neon pink and orange.  Not my favourite shades but it's not what I purchased this for anyway.  It is currently storing small change and making itself useful!

For some reason I was expecting the brush to be a bit thicker because I thought it was the same as a sample size Clinique mascara I own from a set.  Maybe I'm confused, I'll have to check it later.
So how was the mascara?  It's different from what I expected as I seem to get more length from this mascara wand than thickness on my lashes.  The formula seems quite wet compared to the Bourjois one I've been using so I have to be careful not to push down on the lashes with an eyeliner pencil or anything until it's dried.  I feel like after quite a few strokes I end up with quite doll-like looking lashes but with still quite a natural feel.  I really like this effect.

The cream shaper for eyes is quite a soft liner in more of a grey/black than black black.  It is quite creamy and it has some subtle shimmer particles in it which I personally like.  If you want to smudge your eyeliner for a softer look I can imagine this would be quite smudge-able.  Because it's quite a soft formula it applies really easily to the water line.

In this picture I'm wearing both the eyeliner and mascara.

I need to use the eye serum a bit more before I review it.  Also I'm getting quite sleepy so I think that post can wait for another day.
Don't forget to follow this blog using one of the options in the right hand column for future reviews of my purchases!
Ultimately I'm glad I bought this gift set as I think I'll get a lot of use from these products!
Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Tea time

Hello!

it's been a little while.  I've been quite busy moving and getting this years production of the Nutcracker underway at work.  I thought I would write a little post about my current favourite teas.

I've been drinking rosehip tea since I was given some at work because it was high in vitamin C.    Apparently it's quite good for warding off colds so now is the perfect time to be drinking it.  I love drinking coffee and normal English breakfast tea but I find that caffeine really affects me so I have to stop drinking anything caffeinated after about 4pm....did I mention that this tea is a deep pink colour too!!

Yay!  Pink tea in my favourite mug.  I know it says coffee but you know, I don't have a tea one yet!  You can brew this tea for 3-5 minutes and I tend to brew it for less time because otherwise it has a bit too much bite for me.

The other tea I've been enjoying recently is this gunpowder tea

This is a form of green tea that I've been trying.  It's still a bit caffeinated so I tend to stick to drinking this earlier in the day but it makes a nice lighter change from my usual black tea with milk.  Also I'm always reading that green tea is supposed to be really good for your health because it contains strong anti-oxidants.  I usually brew it for about 2 minutes or I find the taste becomes too bitter.

What about you.  Are there any particular teas you're enjoying lately?  I've done a bit of naughty shopping this past weekend so I'll be hopefully getting some more posts up of those items soon!

Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)
xxx