NOTD: Glitter Gradient

 Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you're all having wonderful days doing wonderful things, here's a little scheduled post to add to the mix!

I'd seen these nails absolutely everywhere last winter - every nail blog I followed seemed to be doing them and making me incredibly jealous of their beautiful nails. Last year I didn't have that perfect glitter top coat that I wanted to try it with, but this year I cracked out my Kardashian Kolor for O.P.I 'Rainbow in the S-Kylie' (as I always do).

Here's the result: 

 

I used a nude glitter base by Paul & Joe, then topped off the glitter tips with two coats of Seche Vite. I love this look as the technique is so simple, but the large glitter flecks are really eye-catching, perfect for accenting a Christmas party outfit. Be warned though, this was an absolute nightmare to take off!

How are you wearing your nails for the Christmas party season?

 

OOTD: Back to Autumn

Instead of fulfilling our winter dreams of snow on Christmas, where I live it's as warm as 13°C and giving nothing but torrential rain. Boo. In light of this, I thought I'd share a (sort of) layering outfit post, and show you my favourite way to deal with this weather. 

Vest top: Topshop - Disco pants (dupes): Motel - Pleather boots: River Island

Fashion scarf: Independent stall

Hooded fur-lined parka: Ebay seller

How are you wrapping up this Winter?

NOTD: Half-Moon Manicure

I've seen a lot of half-moon manicures across the blogs over the past months, and I thought it was about time that I joined in on the action too. I tried to carry on the festive nail polish choices as we are well into December, and went for Topshop's 'Zodiac' for the base, and Avon's Mirror Shine polish in 'Gold Foil' for the half-moon accents.

I do like the colour combination, but I think in future I'll opt for something a little more dramatic. I'm also hoping to get my hands on some Konad stamping plates in January so stay tuned for more professional looking nail art!

What's on your nails for the festive period?

The Christmas Tag

As you may know by now if you frequent this blog a lot, I am a sucker for tag posts. I don't know why, but I just love answering odd questions that don't normally come up. Here's another one made by Makeup-Pixi3 that I couldn't resist while I'm feeling so festive!

1) What's your favourite thing about Christmas?

LIGHTS. I love all Christmas decorations - especially lights, and how festive everyone becomes when the lights get turned on. There's a very fine line between being annoyed at seeing the decorations up in shops in early October, and being incredibly excited when the end of November rolls around. Show me a piece of tinsel and I'm a very happy girl.

2) Real or fake tree?

Although I've only ever been around fake Christmas trees my entire life I absolutely adore the idea of having a real one. I know they're very high maintenance though - what with all the dropping needles etc., but all the American Christmas films just make them look so romantic!

3) Giving presents or receiving presents?

I'm definitely more of a giver. I love buying and giving people presents and being able to see how much they love something. Funnily enough that's the exact reason I don't like receiving presents. There's always the awkward moment when everyone is staring at you and even if you really like the gift you somehow become unable to show any positive emotions!

4) Do you open your Christmas presents in the morning or evening?

Morning! I would like to know who these people are with enough restraint to wait until the evening to open their Christmas presents. I'm 20, teach me.

5) Homemade or shop bought Christmas cards?

I'm not usually one to hand out Christmas cards. I think I'm in that awkward phase where I'm too old for it to be cute if I were to hand them out to uni friends, and too young to commit to handing them out to work colleagues. I would definitely sway towards hand-crafted shop bought cards if I were a card-giver though, man I love those things.

6) What's your favourite Christmas film?

I am an incredibly guilty party when it comes to watching Christmas films early. There is also absolutely no way that I could narrow it down to just one, so here's my top 3: Home Alone, Love Actually, The Santa Clause.

7) What's your favourite Christmas food?

PIGS IN BLANKET. No more to say. Pork wrapped in pork tastes good.

Feel free to join in this tag with me!

Christmas Party Outfit Blogger Challenge!

I recently received an email from the lovely people behind Fashion Vouchers, telling me all about their £100 blogger challenge. To enter bloggers must choose one shop affiliated with Fashion Vouchers, and create a Christmas party look for under £100. There are 3 £100 vouchers up for grabs for the store that you choose to draw your look from, and the competition is open until December 17th. If you want to enter too, email a link to your blog post to competition@fashionvouchers.com.

Here's my look:

ASOS:

Lace Contrast Skater Dress: £35

Skull Knuckle Ring Clutch: £40

Pointed T-Bar Heels: £25

I love simple, classic looks, so this was perfect for my taste. The flowing, feminine cream dress against the harsh clutch and heels just kicks it up a level from 'the girl next door' look, with added studs and pleather.

Will you be entering the Christmas Party Outfit Blogger Challenge?

NOTD: Just a Little Frosting

There's an extra little Christmas present coming your way if you know what my favourite film is from the quote in the title. Well, not really - but I would be very impressed!

I'm continuing with the festive vibe, but I decided to ditch the amateur nail art and channel a (hopefully) more classic look. Here's what I came up with: 

So, what do you think? Are you changing your nail polish to suit the holiday season?

The 10 Day Beauty Challenge: Day 5

My day 5 update of this long drawn out 10 Day Beauty Challenge! Read days 1, 2, 3 and 4 first if you like!

So today's challenge is to write about 6 wishes - let's do this.

1) University:
The biggest and most important thing in my life right now is my degree. I'm 3 years into a 4 year BSc Psychology degree, and just have my fingers crossed that I can put in enough work to finish with a 2:1 grade or higher (basically the equivalent of a B grade).

2) Moving out:
This coming September I'll be moving out properly, including moving out of student accommodation. I'm hoping for a smooth transition and I just can't wait to have a little flat that is completely mine (as long as I keep paying the rent of course).

3) More free time:
When juggling my work placement, paid work, friends, family, my boyfriend, and looking after my puppy I often find myself with no free time whatsoever. It does stress me out, so one wish is that I can have a bit more relaxation time.

4) Learning to drive:
One of the things that have been sacrificed this year due to a lack of time and funds is learning to drive. I am still without a licence and hating it! Hopefully this time next year I won't be moaning about it any more!

5) Career:
After finishing university, my biggest wish after that is to actually be able to put my degree into use and pursue a career in the field I want. If everything goes perfectly, one day I want to be an Educational Psychologist, uni has gotten me one step closer, but there's still loads more to do before that can happen.

I think I'm all out of wishes now! Let's leave it at 5 rather than racking my brain to come up with something I'm not really wishing for. What are your wishes? Do we have any similar?

Garnier's UltraLift Pro-X Anti-Wrinkle Roll On

I mentioned this product in my Here For a Day Haul, where I couldn't resist sharing how cheap I managed to snag this product for! Now, my feelings have changed - I feel so relieved that I didn't pay the £12.19 RRP for this product because to be honest, I can't see what it does.

 

I don't usually find myself buying into the gimmicks that come with many products, 'dries in 60 seconds', 'see results in 3 days', you know the ones. The fact that this product had a roller ball tip did actually appeal to me though, as I could see how it could potentially increase the effects of the product by massaging it into your skin - but that's not what happened.

Although the roller top is in fact designed to massage the product into your skin, there are instructions on the bottle telling the user to just rub the excess into the face with their hands. I can't see any point in the roller top after that, because the product just seeps out of the top, and it's basically just like applying a serum from a regular bottle. The product doesn't make my skin feel especially different, but I will keep using it until it's finished as I don't want to waste it. 

In my opinion, the product could have been £3-£4 cheaper, and much less of a disappointment if it came in a regular screw-top pot or bottle. This product retails for £12.19 and can be bought here.

Have you tried this product? What were your thoughts?

My Christmas Lust Have

Do you ever spend hours browsing for one particular thing, fully knowing that you're not actually going to buy it? This is a silly habit I've developed over the years - I can do it over things I don't even want that much! Mainly it's over expensive products that I don't fancy shelling out for, or for things that I love, but wouldn't necessarily fit with my 'style'.

My latest obsession are Religion Royalty clutch bags.

Religion Royalty crowned skull black clutch bag - RRP £45

Religion Royalty crown and skull black clutch bag - RRP £45

Is it just me, or are these things beautiful? I've been eyeing these clutches up for a long time, but at the moment I can't see an event that I would be able to bring one of these to, to justify the RRP whilst I'm on a student budget. Sadly for now, these clutches will just stay on my lust list, maybe when my degree has paid off I'll be able to own a dozen of these babies!

These clutches are stocked at Oldrids & Downtown, and are also available in silver (it's just something about the contrast between black and silver that does it for me though!). Beware looking at the website - you'll find your Christmas lists magically filling up all by themselves...!

What do you think of these clutches? Do you ever internet browse with no intention of buying, like me?

NOTD: Let The Festivities Commence!

There is officially no denying it any more; we are well into the countdown to Christmas. To get into the Christmas spirit I sat down to watch one of my favourite Christmas films of all time (Elf), and let the nail polishes flow as they may. When I started this design I had an image of a wintery snow blizzard scene in my head, and was planning to adapt it from my Galaxy Nails and Pastel Galaxy Nails technique, but as I started painting, things just changed.

 

In the awkward event that I need to explain the design, the white polish is the snow building up across my nails, and increasing over each nail across a blue background with snow still falling. Let's just pretend that the nails are self-explanatory!

How are you all getting festive?