One of the best top coats I've tried

Hello!

I thought I would let you know about this top coat I purchased recently.  I have real issues with ruining my nail varnish before it dries.  Maybe it's the cheap polish I've been using; maybe it's the fact that I can't sit still for long; or maybe it's the way I apply it; but I almost always always smudge at least one of the nails because I think they're dry when they're not.  I had been testing out some quick dry top coats to see if that would help, but I'd only had pretty average success with them.
My Mum bought me a selection of mini nail varnishes for my birthday last year from nails inc. and the caviar top coat impressed me with it's drying speed and longevity.  Now it is almost running out and I can't buy nails inc. products from any shops here so when I spotted Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry Top Coat on offer I decided to give it a try.

I was really surprised by how good it was.  This top coat dries sooooo quickly.  I dared myself to touch a nail to see if it had set when I was sure it wouldn't have yet and couldn't believe it was completely dry!  My nail polish did last longer too without chipping.  I'd say it lasted pretty well for around 3 days which is pretty spectacular for my nails.  I would definitely recommend this top coat and I'm glad I didn't waste my money.  I'll probably just throw away all the cheap average top coats in my nail varnish drawer (OK it's actually a nail varnish cupboard but lets keep that between us!).
I'm so glad I bought this as the fact my nail polish would either smudge or chip so quickly put me off painting my nails very often.  Now I'm eager to put on all those many colours of nail varnish I've got hiding in my collection!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Why Blogging?

Hello!

How is your day going?  I thought I'd write a bit about why I blog and what I think attracted me to blogging in the first place.  I guess like most people I started reading other people's blogs before deciding to try to write my own.  I was really surprised by the number of beauty and lifestyle blogs there were out there when I first started looking and by how professional and enjoyable to read they were.  My full time job is being a ballet dancer and as much as I love my job and that world, sometimes things can get rather intense.  When I come home from work I can really really do with any method I can to switch off from my job and relax.  Reading and writing blogs has become the perfect distraction.
What type of blog appeals to me most changes from day to day.  I started off pretty obsessed with reading about everything beauty: every new release, every beauty favourites, every person's look of the day.... Then I would go through a phase of loving everything home related; followed by an obsession with every featured wedding post etc. etc.  Now I just pick and choose a selection of different posts to look at and I feel like I'm curating my own personal magazine to read.  That's also one of the great benefits of reading blogs, it's like reading a magazine except for free.  I love that the internet has given people the chance to express themselves and reach an audience if they feel they have the desire without necessarily having the right qualifications or job experience for the role.  I can understand why professional writers might find this distressing but if you're doing it for the love of it and for free than why should anyone stop you.  If you're making a living or a small extra bit of money on the side doing it then good for you, I don't see how that makes you any different from a smart business man or woman.
Being a dancer can be a lonely life because of the strange hours we work and the fatigue which makes it hard to get out in your free time.  Part of the appeal of blogging is being able to connect with others from the comfort of your own home who probably also have similar interests to you.  This is something that is often seen as a negative, connecting with people on-line as opposed to in real life.  I see plenty of people during the day at my job, and when time allows will happily pop out for a coffee with a friend.  Connecting with people in the virtual world of the internet is merely an addition to this.  The type of relationship you might have with an online community might be a completely new kind of relationship dynamic that didn't exist before the internet, but that doesn't necessarily make these relationships all bad.  The world is always changing and the internet is a big part of that, the pro's and con's of which this generation is having to navigate.
I really love taking pictures and enjoy a bit of writing and having a creative outlet to express myself by writing blog posts now and again when I feel like it helps me to fulfil those need.
What are you're reasons for blogging?  Do you also do it to cut off from the rest of your life and relax or do you do it for any other reasons?

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Books and french plaits

Hello!
I think it's time for a little life update mostly illustrated by photos!

I bought this book to read on a whim when I saw it was on sale in the shop.  I pretty much bought it because I liked the look of the cover, haha!  I doubt that's the best way to pick a book to read and I haven't got far with it yet but so far it's pretty unoffensive.  A bit whimsical and definitely based in a fantasy world, I sense it will be an easy and quick read.

The sun was shining and as I'm pretty obsessed with it I had to snap a picture.  I find my mood is hugely improved when the sun is shining and it really hasn't been much lately which is a big problem for me.  I take vitamin D and hope that helps me to stay positive alongside the exercise I do almost every day for my job.

I have an obsession with mini eggs.  They're my favourite chocolate treat.  As soon as they come out for Easter I'm all over them!  These were brought over by my family.

I've never been able to do french plaits until recently.  I have tried to on and off for years but found my attempts completely useless!  Suddenly I figured out how to do it by holding one of the strands in my mouth whilst I work with the other two and then swapping over when I'm ready to use that strand.  I usually do a side parting and then plat both sides all the way to the ends.  Then I fold them over each other across the bottom of my head and pin them securely with the end of each plait tucked under itself so the bobbles aren't visible.  It's one of my favourite styles to wear at the moment for ballet class.  It just means I have to start getting ready about 15 minutes earlier than usual because it can take me a little while!

  Sometimes for a night out I'll french plait down one side and then leave the rest of my hair loose or curled.  I'm not very good at doing fancy hairstyles so this is a huge improvement for me!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Lipstick Review: Shade 53 Wildly Pink

Hello!

So my last post was about one of my birthday enabled beauty purchase.  Well here is another.  Actually this was more of a sales enabled purchase because I can't bring myself to pay full price for a designer brand lipstick.  However I do like carrying around a posh lipstick in my handbag and have had a fetish for them since I bought my Chanel lipstick in the sales back in January.
So this time the brand in question was Estee Lauder.  I've never bought anything from the range before, essentially because of the price.
When I spotted these lipsticks in the sale I was excited at the prospect of adding another expensive lipstick to my collection.  I went for a shade I knew I'd get a lot of wear out of.  Shade number 53, Wildly Pink.is a bold true pink, bright enough without being too bright but still striking.

The design of the lipstcks is really pretty.  I love the gold and clear casing and that the gold square  with the Estee Lauder logo on it sticks out a little in front of the lid which slides in behind it.   Unfortunately when I took off the lid after purchasing and inspected the lip stick inside I noticed that it had in fact been used!  The top of the nib was definitely not the perfect, smooth matte untouched nib of a new lipstick.  It was barely detectable but I could definitely tell someone had swiped it at least once.  I was extremely annoyed and upset because, sale or not, this was an expensive purchase for me and should have come damn well brand new!  I did consider going back to the shop and kicking up a fuss but in the end decided to try and disinfect it myself at home.  This is not like me, normally I go and complain if I feel something is out of order but that day, my birthday, I just wasn't in the mood.  So I came home, scraped off the top with a knife and sprayed it with disinfectant.  I left it to air dry and decided to leave it at that.

This really did put me off the lipstick, it seemed tainted in my mind but I will try to review it anyway as unbiased as I can.  The quality of the formula is really good.  The colour is bright and bold which you would expect from the name of the range (Pure Colour).  The formula is very creamy making it very comfortable to wear on the lips.  More comfortable than the Chanel lipstick I bought but because it is drier the Chanel is probably slightly longer lasting.  The Estee Lauder lipstick is probably the creamiest lipstick I own but the colour still stays on the lips quite well.  If you are eating/drinking and you want the colour to stay bright all night you will want to retouch it a bit.  The best thing about this lipstick is the vibrant colour and the comfortable wear of the formula.  It goes on the lips really smoothly and evenly.  I do think you can tell it's a higher quality lipstick from the formula.  The Pure Colour lipsticks come in two different finishes and Wildly Pink is from the Lasting Shimmer finish range but I really can't tell there's any shimmer when it's on my lips, which is what I prefer.  It does have a nice sheen to it though which I like.  If you like bright colour and a formula that's comfortable to wear then I would recommend these lipsticks.  I looked online and found them for sale at John Lewis for £18.90.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

GOSH Forever Eyeshadow Stick Review: Shade 03 Light Bronze

Hello!
I hope you're having a good week.  It was my birthday recently and I've developed a little tradition of buying myself a couple of things to celebrate.  I usually end up purchasing cosmetics and this year was no exception.
I had been eyeing up the Gosh Forever Eyeshadow Sticks for a while after testing them on the back of my hand and finding they had really good staying power as well as being very pretty shades.  I particularly loved the neutral shades.  My favourites were 01 Silver Rose, 02 Beige and 03 Light Copper.  I went for the light copper because it's the kind of shade I knew I would wear every day but the other two were really beautiful too.
The eyeshadow sticks have a metallic sheen which is pretty and shimmery without a hint of glitter and the colour payoff is rich and opaque.

As with most crayon stick type make-up products it is really easy to use.  The crayon is just the right size, not too chunky so that you get more control over where you apply the shadow.  It glides on a creamy consistency and I don't tend to blend it out but I imagine it would blend really well.  Having worn it many times now I noticed that it does eventually start to disappear in to the crease of my eye lid yet it does remain on the lower part of the lid near the lashes.  This hasn't stopped me wearing it regularly as it's what I expect now as the same happens to me when I wear the Maybelline 24hr Tattoo cream eyeshadows.  I have sensitive eyelids that become dry easily if I don't moisturise them every day so I put it down to the moisturiser I put on underneath the shadows causing the cream eyeshadows to slide about.

It claims to be waterproof but I haven't worn it swimming or anything like that so I can't attest to that.  My favourite thing about this product is the colour.  It really is a beautiful bronzey-coppery-gold which is subtle enough to wear everyday but is also visible enough to make an impact.  This cost me about 10 euros which is a fairly reasonable price, but sadly too expensive for me to feel like I could buy the other shades I like too!  Maybe I will purchase at least one of the others in the future but for now this eyeshadow stick is being used enough to make the purchase worthwhile.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Birthday things

Hello!

I haven't written for a few days now, it's been a busy time.  I had my birthday/ hen party celebrations which also involved family coming over.  I also had an important work event to prepare for.  These things left me pretty drained of time and energy for other activities such as blogging.  Now luckily things are calming down again.  I thought I would share some photos from my birthday celebrations!

 Pom poms and heart garlands were hand made by my family.  They did them in lots of pretty colours which made for really pretty and simple decoration.  The top hat and wedding dress cut outs were for hen party games!

Some of the presents I got were this super awesome polaroid camera!  Also this really pretty patterned kimono and these Scandinavian vintage cup and saucers.  It was really nice to spend time with family and celebrate with friends.  I was lucky enough to have a couple of days off over Easter as well which meant I could relax a bit and really enjoy spending time with my family.

till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

March Make-up Favourites!

Yes I know it's a little in to April already but I've been busy the past weeks celebrating Easter and my birthday so the March favourites are coming out now!

Gosh Forever Eye Shadow Stick
I bought this fairly recently but was excited by it enough for it to already be in my favourites.  I need to do a full review and hopefully I will get that up soon!  In brief it's easy to use and the colour is gorgeous.

Manhattan Lip Lacquer in Rose & Shine
 I wrote a full review on this here.  I've added this as I've been wearing it a lot.  It adds just the right amount of pink to any eye look I'm wearing.  It's really pigmented and leaves a nice stain once it's worn off.

Lumene Blueberry Liquid Eye Liner 
A liquid eyeliner had been missing from my life for a while.  I've been trying not to use it every day because when I did that in the past with another brand of liquid liner it seemed to irritate my eyelids.  It's hard not to use it every day though because the brush is so easy to use and the liner is a rich liquid black making for a striking eye look.

The Balm Hot Mama Blusher 
I'm sure I will have put this in my favourites before but I have been wearing it almost every day.  I have to go quite sparingly with it as it is quite a bright shade but applied lightly it leaves a lovely warm colour and the gold shimmer in it means I don't need to use any highlighter.

Eyelash curlers from Misslyn  
I haven't curled my eye lashes in years but when I bought a new mascara that didn't give me the curl I wanted I bought these so I could make use out of it.  It did the job and for the price I feel like these are pretty good quality.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie