NYE Nails: Dip It!

New Years Eve festivities are calling and it's your last chance to whip out the sparkly polishes for another year! So this is the look I'm rocking this year. I've seen it all over the place lately, including on the new Nails Inc adverts where it looks ah-mazing! So naturally I've been desperate to try it and here we go! 

To Me, From Me...

So I admit, when buzzing around Leeds for my last minute Christmas pressies, I stopped in at Space NK to get sample of the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation and ended up coming out with a couple of extra bits than I intended...

Introducing... The New Emma Bridgewater

Sophie Allport has entered my life rather slowly over the last 6 months or so. During our summer trip to Cornwall, her beautiful crockery caught my eye in a small, eclectic surf shop on the beach. Since that point, I've seen her collection popping up in shops here and there until finally, I stumbled across a brand new store devoted entirely to her brand in the Victoria Quarter in Leeds. What a beautiful shop it was – I wish I'd have take a picture so I could show you all – a lovely browsing shop with rustic charm. Perfection!

What's on my Face? December

Beauty Hall Bargains

You may have noticed that many department stores are having a discounted week this week, including Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis. With the Christmas party season upon us, there were a few little investments that I was keen to make so I could get my 'Festive Face' sorted – a few little essentials!

November 'Dobo's (Don't bother products)

Okay so I'm two days out – I'm sorry! I've been meaning to post this for ages but I'm just too busy all the time at the minute, no excuses though... Here are my November waste-of-time products so you can avoid wasting your money like I did.

Nail of the Day

It's all too easy to get sucked in to deep burgundies and wine colours on the nails when the cool chill hits, but I like to change it up from time to time without losing the festiveness!

Pretty Perfume Faves

Anyone who has read even one of my previous posts will be quite aware of my ‘scents of choice’. Give me a deep, non-powdery, floral, very slightly sweet and woody fragrance and I’m one happy lady! So what are the perfumes that I reach for time and time again? From left, to right…!

Mac Quad #1

Clockwise from top left: Twinks, Sable, All That Glitters, Jest

Okay, I finally caved and got a MAC palette. I did wuss out a bit and didn’t get the 15 palette, mainly because of logistics – that 15 palette ain’t travel-sized ya know – but I  am super happy with the quad I’ve created.

Holy Grail – Skin Empties

So here it is – Part II of my Holy Grail Empties, this time for skin. If you didn’t see Part I, which was hair, you can catch it here, but the general gist is my empties are always my favourite products that I always repurchase! So… two birds one stone… I call them my Holy Grail Empties! Let’s begin!

Review: WoodWick Candles

Having received a little tip-off about these from the lovely Fleur de Force, I couldn’t help myself buying a couple of these candles to try. WoodWick Candles have a wooden wick (I state the obvious) so there is a sort of burning, occasionally crackling sound which I personally love, particularly at this time of year – cue super cosy feeling! They also have a fab range of scents and I love the chunky glass and wooden packaging, it feels luxe yet I can't say I'm wowed by the label design (but that's another story!).

Fall Haul

Hi Everyone! So I think Autumn has well and truly arrived and as we’re entering November (already?!) I thought I’d do a little post of some of my purchases so far this Autumn.

Holy Grail Hair Empties

This is a bit of a mish mash post but it does make sense – promise! This month I seem to have had a LOT of empties for some strange reason, and when I was looking at everything I realised that they were all my faves. When you think about it, it’s kinda obvious why because if I don’t like it, I won’t finish it! These wonder products have made the cut because I continue to repurchase them again and again. 

My Very First…

…OPI nail polish – My Very First Knockwurst. I won’t beat around the bush, this has been my nail polish of the moment since the second I bought it. I picked this little beauty up on the way back from Barcelona in duty free as a spur of the moment ‘spend my final euros’ purchase. Within one use I went and purchased a second bottle. I was hooked and knew it wouldn’t take me long to fly through the first one.

Molton Brown Birthday Goodies

It’s been over a month since my birthday so this is slightly late I’m afraid, but I did get some lovely pressies from my wonderful boyfriend (he learns so fast!). I was very impressed to receive not one (I may have dropped some particularly strong hints about a certain product) but two delightful Molton Brown shower gels.

Take a Daisy Dip

Like pretty much every other girl/blogger, I am really into my candles, especially now with my new lovely flat I have been going a bit candle crazy! But one candle that has been a long standing favourite of mine is the Lily Flame Daisy Dip candle.

Review: Mac Pro Longwear Lipglass

Love the look of lipgloss but hate having to apply it every 5 minutes? Don’t we all. Like MAC’s entire Pro Longwear range, the clue is really in the name; so surely this product can answer all our lip gloss prayers, right?

My 'Rituals' Rituals

For those who haven’t heard of Rituals, it’s a fabulous luxury brand at a not too luxury price. It’s very spa like and I suppose much of it follows a very spiritual vibe but I can’t really say I subscribe to all that jazz. Nonetheless, all the products I have tried so far are beautiful and yet I find that it’s not a very well known brand at all and it does surprise me. I’d say it really focuses on body care and skincare, though it also does makeup, which I can’t say I’ve tried. We were lucky enough to get a Rituals store in York where the staff are lovely and so helpful without being invasive, whereas I know in other places the stores are really lacking and their products are often stuffed in the corner of House of Fraser (I know they are in Leeds) without the merest hint of a Sales Advisor about. Such an incredible shame.

Rihanna Loves MAC: Fall Haul

On Thursday MAC released their new Limited Edition Fall range – a collaboration with the one and only Rihanna once again, going by the name ‘RiRi <3 MAC Fall’. I was a little late to the party, not usually paying much attention to MAC’s Limited Edition ranges (mainly because if I love it then it will only cause me torture) but oh, the packaging... the packaging of this one is just devine.  Cleverly, they’ve used rose gold (what girl can resist) and the designer in me just had to own such a beautiful product.

Reaching for Red

Well it's that time of year again and it seems that no matter what the A/W trends, red is a classic ‘never fails’ go-to for most ladies in the deeper and darker seasons. One thing that never loses its style for me, is red nails. However, as a pale-skinned blonde, I really struggle to find reds that suit me (in fact I only dare do it on the nails!) and as well as that, when it comes to red I’m just plain fussy.

In the past I’ve avoided red polishes as I’ve found them far to bright and orangey when outside, almost cheap looking, even if a lovely colour in indoor light. In order to get the right colour outside, I’ve found myself reaching for deep berries and burgundies which (though I love them to bits!) lets face it – just aren’t that iconic red. But recently, I discovered the first red which I would actually describe as perfect!

My Hair is My Nemesis Part 1: Kérastase Bain Force Architecte Review

Okay so for my first blog I thought I’d start with something pretty poignant for me at the moment – my hair mare. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending what you like), this first post is a pretty juicy one as I guess it's also a bit of an intro but don't worry – future posts will be much less chunky!

Like the rest of this generation of women, my hair has faced the extremes of drying, straightening, highlighting, weather (cheers Yorkshire) and the occasional clip-in of extensions. Unfortunately for us – all hair wreckers. As a bit of a beauty junkie, I have always looked after my hair (heat protection, quality products) but the sad, sad truth is my individual hairs are just so fine that the merest glimpse at a GHD and it just breaks off. As a result, it refuses to grow past what I call it’s nemesis length.

In the last year I’ve really turned the haircare up several notches, I’m talking Moroccan Oil, Kerastase and Lee Stafford ‘for hair that never grows past a certain length’ treatment. I even forked out £30ish for the Nioxin 3 Step System which promised to spark regrowth from the roots (but incidently feels like crap to use). I stopped straightening (doable due to the hermit nature of third year life) and avoided bleached highlights. FINALLY – after over a year, my hair has grown an extra inch and a half at least past its nemesis length.

Then on Saturday, I went to the hairdressers. Bye bye over a year’s worth of hard-earned hair growth, no thanks to you non-listening, non-caring hairdresser. In any case, you can’t cry over chopped hair (well actually you can but I drew the line after a day) and I resign myself to encouraging my poor hairs to grow again for the next however long it takes.

So there’s the introduction to my hair and though I realise everyone has different hair problems, there’s gotta be plenty of girls like me right? And lets face it – one look at the wonders of hair dye and styling tools and there was just no going back. So I’m going to log over the next few weeks the products which I find look after hair the best, restore it and encourage it to grow those extra few centimetres. I might even post some that I found didn’t work as well to help you all save money where it matters – sometimes investing is just better than trying loads of products that don’t do the job….

MIRACLE PRODUCT NUMBER 1