Models Own Autumn/Winter nail polish box set

L-R: Nude beige, Becca's Brown, Purple ash, Purple grey, Grace green, Mushroom. 

At the moment, these sets of 6 Models own polishes are £20 a pop! Now if you do your maths correctly you'll realise you're going to save £10 by buying these sets since the polishes are £5 a go! I suppose the only down side is you'll have to hope the sets come in colours you like and will want to wear.

Luckily, this Autumn/Winter collection is perfect for me. For some reason I've always found myself attracted to the "ugly" nail polishes as I call them! Muddy browns, greys etc. So I jumped at the chance to ask for this as an Xmas present. I hadnt tried Models Own polishes up until last week, when I borrowed 'Pink Fizz' off a friend of mine. I had only ever heard Amy from flawsandall raving about them, So I've always been very keen to try!

Let me tell you they do not disappoint! I always think the formulas of darker nail polishes ( especially browns for some reason ) are generally better than lighter ones anyway, but all of these are really great. They applied really well and were beautiful and shiny after just 2 quick coats. Personally I think they dry incredibly fast compared to some polishes I own, and they resisted chipping alot more than Barry M, but unfortunately don't last for a lengthy amount of time.

I know that I personally always love to see swatches of things before I buy, So I took the time to photograph all 6 of these colours on my nails. Unfortunately the pictures aren't so great but you can definetely see what the colours are like from them. The swatches are in the same order as they're shown in the first picture of them all together.


















Overall I think these polishes are great and in my opinion I think they have much better colours to choose from than Barry M. The only thing that dissapointed me about these sets is that the glitter set doesn't actually include Pink fizz, and if you ask some people they would definetely tell you that it's one of the best glitter polishes they've ever used. I certainly thought that!

Love, Hol xxx

Laura Ashley storage

I've always eyed up these pretty storage boxes in Laura Ashley, but it's always been the pricing in there thats stopped me from buying them. £38 for 3 boxes in my opinion is way too much for something you could probably find similar and cheaper somewhere else. Last year my mam bought me lots of Laura Ashley things for my room for birthday and Christmas from the same range so it all matched, so I was pleasantly surprised to see she had bought me these for Christmas this year!

Luckily right now, they're on sale for £26.60, which is still pretty expensive for a couple of boxes but if you love Laura Ashley and you're willing to spend on it, nows your chance to grab a bargain. There's also a couple more different patterened boxes on the website which you can go to here.





If you're in to storage and organising things (especially your beauty products!) Then these really are something you may want to consider picking up. Currently I'm using the smallest box to home a few of my more loved nail varnishes (and because I'm lacking anywhere else to put them!) and the middle box is housing all the lovely bath stuff I've had lying around, or that I received as lovely gifts for Christmas. I havn't found a use for the bottom box yet, I just quickly threw some xmas presents in there to move them out of the way but ended up liking the way they stored! I'm sure I'll find something to put in it very soon.






I would also love to know if anyone knows of any cheaper alternatives to this style of storage, maybe from Ikea or something?! It would be really helpful to list them below here for people who want something like this but don't want to spend a ton of money on it. I know I wouldn't, I was just lucky enough to be bought them for Christmas!

I hope everybody has had a wonderful Christmas, I'm having so much fun looking through what everyone else has been lucky enough to get, I'll be posting reviews and thoughts on a couple of things I got very soon!

Love, Hol xxx

LLYMLRS shell stone rings lucky dip!

I've always seen a lot of my freinds loading up these 'shell stone' rings on their fingers, and to be honest, I always despised them! I thought they looked like soemthing you would buy from Past Times or something! Since reading a lot more blogs and having a little go at blogging myself, obviously, I followed Lily's blog, and after seeing her working these rings in a ton of her photos, they've since grown on me!

A couple of days ago I stressed, one of my freinds told me she needed to drop off my christmas present. Christmas present?! I did't even know we were doing bloody christmas presents! So I got home and had a little look on twitter and saw that Lily had a code for 15 percent discount off her 5 ring lucky dip! I bought one set, then caved and bought another for myself. I decided if anybody else wanted to surprise me with a christmas present I had ten rings to give away if I really had to!

Safe to say I'm in love with them now! I only ordered these on Sunday and they came today, which if you're reading in the future is Tuesday! They're adjustable sizes too so should fit everyone. I suppose it's always a gamble when you buy something 'lucky dip' style but I'm pretty pleased with the ones I got given!











I think these rings make any outfit look effortlessly stylish and won't hesitate to buy another set in the future!

You can buy these rings here.

Love, Hol xxx

A giant cupcake fit for a princess

The latest kitchen adventure. Enjoy!







Feel like baking yet?!

Love, Hol xxx

Top 5 make-up brushes

Here are some of my most favourite brushes out of all the ones that I own, I have mostly Sigma but I'm not a makeup brush snob! I love my elf brushes and I'm also currently looking for some more cheaper brands to try out. I think it's definetely so important to have the correct brushes for the type of look your're trying to acheive, a smokey eye would never work out without some form of fluffy brush! My freinds frequently question how I do my eyeshadow nicely for a night out, and that they can't do it, but I always tell them they could do it if they owned the right brushes! I love to hear how people personally use makeup brushes, I was usually always very stick to the rules only use a conceacler brush for concealer kind of girl, that is until i saw Nic from pixiwoo using a blending brush for concealer, I'm continually trying to look for new and creative ways to use brushes now! :)

Anyway, without further ramble, some brushes and descriptions! Unfortunately I'm not so great when it comes to looking after my brushes, they're looking a little worse for wear however I did just give them a little clean up before I took some pictures!



Sigma F55: My ultimate face brush! I'm such a fan of buffing foundation in with the duo fibre style brushes. This is a great size but I'd really like a bigger one. I also use this for bronzer/blush.

Sigma E25: This shorter handled silver brush was actually a freebie from Sigma, I have two of them! I actually use this for a number of things. One is blending, as it's lovely and fluffy, two, its great for just applying a wash of colour to your eyelids, and lastly, it's not typically domed shaped like your usual blending brushes, it's a lot flatter, so I think its great for blending hard to get to sections like underneath your eye, and a more precise blending brush for the eye crease.

Sigma E35: Probably my number one brush of all time! A domed tapered blending brush. Gets rid of the harsh lines. Soft. Fluffy. AMAZING. Also have another one of these for blending out concealer underneath my eyes. I think everyone should pray to the makeup gods for one of these tonight because you'll soon find out you simply can't live without it!

Mac 263: Since I love to play around with my brows I had to put this in. This is actually the only Mac brush I own! It's really thin and stiff so you can acheive really accurate lines. Also great for winged eyeliner. A must have in your collection!

Elf Studio contour brush: A recent addition to my brush collection but a sure favourite! Perfectly shaped to fit right in to your crease. I love applying a nice dark eyeshadow all the way along my crease with this and then blending it out with my Sigma blending brush. The brush is also quite dense, so you can pack quite a nice amount of eyeshadow if you wish to!

Shockingly I don't have any flat shader style brushes in my little Top 5 but we've all seen them before and been told that they're great for packing colour on to the lid. Personally, I love fluffy brushes, washes of colour and buffing.

What are your favourite brushes/brands?! Any good brands for me to try out?!

Love, Hol xxx

Ebay and their Minx/Nail stickers..

So not too long ago I found myself searching Ebay for some Minx nail foils to have a play about with at home. I found some lovely Minx foils called "gold lightening cheetah" so I added those to my basket, and came across a few Ebay shops selling various other nail wraps. If I remember correctly, it was 4 nail wrap sheets for 10 pounds so I picked a couple I liked the look of and wondered how different they would be to the actual Minx brand!

I eagerly awaited my new nail goodies in the post to be over the moon with my Minx foils but sorely dissapointed by my Ebay bargain. I instantly minxed my toe nails following a youtube tutorial I had searched and didn't make too much of a shabby job of them either! It was time consuming and probably just worth it to get them done in the salon but I do like to have a go at things myself.






After being overjoyed at managing to Minx my own toe nails I thought some of the cheaper sheets I bought would make lovely accent nails. For one thing, I felt that I would've been completely incapable of doing them on my right hand at all (Since I seem to have trouble even painting my right hand fingernails!) And I can't stick to one nail varnish for longer than 2 days, so it would'nt of been such a waste if I ripped off one tiny little nail wrap from one nail insted of all ten of them.

So! I proceeded to have a little go at a nice accent nail. For some reason I found it extremely difficult to 1. Shape the nail wrap to the nail! 2. Get it to stick! and 3. Not have them peeping over the tops of my nails even after a lot of trying to file and cut them down! Meh, maybe I was just incapable of doing my hands compared to my feet because I have both hands free to do my feet with!

Anyway, the reason I decided to post this rant today after a long time of having these nail wraps lying in a draw somewhere was after I saw them on blogs in peoples glossybox's ( I think the beauty boxes! One of them did!) And the blogger who's blog I happened to be reading usually had put them on their own nails for a picture. Unless they had taken them at a good angle or if they just looked better in the pictures I don't know! But I can't help but feel a little disheartened that I struggled so much to get them on my own nails.

Honestly all in all, these Ebay wraps are very poor, these ones are definetely just glorified nail stickers so I may try again in the future with something a little but more expensive! If you've managed to stick through this rant about my nail wrap problems I'll be shocked!

Oh and my friend Laura has started her own blog which you should definetely pay a visit to here. She's already posted loads and is even doing youtube videos! So definetely worth a visit and a follow if you like it.

Love, Hol xxx

Simple festive cupcakes :)

Just thought i would share with you some very simple xmas cupcakes i made today for my mam to take in to work! Vanilla and chocolate with some Holly and snowflakes! In case you're wondering, the Holly is made from Beau florist paste, and the berries were just iced on. The snowflakes are just fondant as i didn't have any white florist paste, i prefer to use that to make shapes etc. as it dries harder, instead i had floppy snowflakes :( Both the Holly and the snowflake were made using plungers.









If anybody is trying their hand at baking and they have any questions i would love to try help answer them! I am by no means professional just self taught :) After a year or two of baking i've picked up quite a lot so would love to help :)

I am so looking forward to Christmas!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin!
Love, Hol xxx

Things i ♥ : NARS Copacabana illuminator

I think I'm illuminator/highlighter/whatever you want to call them crazy! I seem to have accumulated a few now, but my current favourite by far is this NARS copacabana one. It's a really beautiful silvery pink, very different to the gold based ones i usually pick. When i use a highlighter I'm generally tanned and looking for quite a sunkissed look, but i think this is gorgeous for a frosty look at this time of year. I'm going to put my hands up and say this is like, the first NARS product I've bought! I'll admit the prices have put me off in the past as it is a very expensive brand, but i think the packaging and everything about NARS just says luxury!

Out of a Laguna version, Orgasm, and Superorgasm (and Copacabana of course) I chose this because i also bought the Laguna bronzer when i bought this, and I'm actually sick of hearing things about NARS Orgasm, So i opted for something that i don't usually hear much about.





In comparison to other highlighters I own, this is incredibly thin and lightweight, but it still gives off such a lovely shimmer and stays put very well. You get an absoloute ton of product, and a little goes a very, very long way with this! Unless you totally pile this on, I don't see how it couldnt last you a really long time. This product cost me £21.50, and considering it's NARS which is generally more expensive than your usual brands, I would be quite happy to pay for another one of these. If you want a really lovely, decent illuminator that's not going to feel thick and greasy on your skin, I would totally go with this. I'm now even tempted to get the others so i can pick my favourite. Lovely!

Love, Hol xxx

Temporary Secretary - Peace necklace & Cross ring

My second post from my online jewellery store spree! It was wrapped just as lovely as Dainty Roses was, it came with a little postcard thanking me for my purchase, and also a christmas card! Which obviously will only came this time of year but i thought it was a nice touch :)

I bought the double fingered cross ring for £9.95, and a peace sign necklace for £10. I'm over the moon with my ring, i love any jewellery with crosses on them, especially rings since they're my favourite. I like the peace necklace although unfortunately, i didn't realise the peace sign would be so big and the chain so short, HOWEVER, this is absoloutley no fault of their own as i went back on their website, and it states the size of the peace sign, and the length of the chain. It was just me making my own silly assumptions and not reading descriptions properly :) I can't praise this company enough, they're freindly, are always talkative on twitter, and my order came super quick!










If you happen to like any of the jewellery you've seen on this post you can visit Temporary Secretary's website here. They also have a blog, which posts alot of cute outfits of the day etc!

Love, Hol xxx

Inglot freedom system palette

I first came across Inglot quite a while ago now from watching xsparkage's youtube channel. It was around the time when i was really very much in to my Mac eyeshadows as i had just got round to getting a Mac palette and had learned how to depot eyeshadows to make your own custom palette etc. So anything that popped up around then to do with custom eyeshadow palettes, i wasn't interested. Plus i thought the hype surrounded Inglot would just fizzle out after a while. However, it has since then came up quite frequently in blogs and on multiple youtube channels and i always find myself clicking on them to have another look! Inglot were always noted for their apparent enormous range of eyeshadows to choose from, even rivaling Macs!

Apparently the only place that sells Inglot is in London's Westfeild shopping center, and since i live in Carlisle, a few hours drive just to get a couple of eyeshadows seems a bit silly haha, So i had to do the next best thing and order from the internet. I'm not going to lie here, I HATE Inglots UK website, I don't know what it is about it, I just don't like it. I cant fault the absoloutly huge range of eyeshadows they have to choose from BUT, I have absoloutly no idea what some of the finishes mean! I don't know if im just being blind and not seeing a description somewhere or if as a makeup addict i should know already what they are (Apart from the obvious ones like Matte, pearl, and shine) But really, what does AMC stand for?! Or DS?! I'm not so keen on them being all numbered either, I was looking at swatches on the internet to see if there was any that took my fancy, I saw loads but for example, if you saw a green eyeshadow with the number 78, the eyeshadows aren't arranged lowest number first on the website, or there is no where you can select a number from a dropdown menu, you would just have to scroll down until you came to the green eyeshadows, and then look at them all closely until you saw the green eyeshadow with that number next to it! This might seem like a pointless rant but i really do want to love Inglot but their website or numbering system does not make it easy to choose your eyeshadows which is why more places need to stock it so you can have a look at them in real life!

With that rant over, i did finally choose four eyeshadows and a quad palette! I really like the packaging, it's sturdy, there is absoloutly no chance of the lid falling off in your bag if your travelling because i swear that the magnets that hold the lid on are like, industrial strength! On another note about the magnets, once you put your eyeshadows in, they're in! Unless you dont mind ruining your eyeshadow by trying to pull them out.. Oh dear I'm really starting to sound like i don't like this companys products! I think I've really said enough on Inglot for now, It's up to you to make up you're own mind but here are a few pictures.







Top left to right : AMC 65, DS 498.
Bottom left to right: SHINE 05, SHINE 24




The eyeshadows are lovely and velvety, also very pigmented. The eyeshadow i was least impressed with was the green colour on the very right of my arm, i found it hard to get a good swatch, or maybe that's just the style of eyeshadow it is. All in all im really impressed with the packaging and the eyeshadows themselves, some things about the website and the numbering system just annoy me! The refill freedom system eyeshadows retail at £4.50 each, and the quad palette cost me £5.00.

I would really, really love to know if anybody else has any Inglot palettes, what they think of the eyeshadows, and what they think of the numbering system! Oh, and their website, maybe I'm just being petty over something little haha.

Love, Hol xxx

UPDATE: If you would like to click here and go on over to Laura's blog, this post talks a little more in depth about the whole AMC thing! Very helpful to those as confused as me :)

Dainty Roses - YSL arty oval ring for cheap!

Recently i've been exploring those wonderful little online jewellery stores! They're usually a whole lot cheaper than what you would find in the shops and you can occasionally find little bits and peices you usually don't find anywhere else! I actually picked a few that i found to order some bits and peices from so i could do a little write up on them as i really love coming across little gems like these.

 The Dainty Roses twitter was recommended to me on twitter, and as soon as i saw that it was an online shop i had to have a look. Now I'm not sure about you lot but I LOVE my rings, and I've had my eye on the YSL arty oval ring for a while now, they're absoloutly gorgeous, I've seen a ton of celebs wearing them, everyone from Alexa Chung to Kim Kardashian! They would set you back £165 but I'm a sucker for designer rings so i will probably save up for one at some point, so you can imagine how excited i got when i saw that Dainty Roses was selling a replica of them for £8.50! There isn't as bigger colour range on DR as there is on YSL but when you can have a ring that looks the part of a £165 ring, wether you buy it or not is a no brainer really!

I actually only ordered this ring on Sunday night, it's now only Tuesday morning and I'm already wearing it! So as you can see it came super quick, the lovely person who runs the DR twitter was lovely enough to reply to me when i tweeted her, and it came personally packaged the cutest way ever complete with a little badge :)











What do you all think?! Gorgeous isn't it?! I can safely say it is my new favourite ring! If you wish to visit the Dainty Roses store, click here. Can't wait to post about my next little online jewellery store!
Love, Hol xxx

My favourite accessories - Rings

Hi everybody! I thought i would start a more fashion/accessories related post rather than the typical makeup one because fashion is something else i really enjoy! Doesn't every girl though?! So, I've decided i'm going to start a little series of my favourite accessories, starting with my ultimate favourite - RINGS! I own quite a few but i thought i would pick five of my favourite to show you all, hope you enjoy!





Alexander McQueen - I lusted after this ring for so long, i think i looked at it every day on their website, mam must've caught me looking because she surprised me with it on christmas day last year! I think it was definetely the best present, I never expected she would get me it. I think it's the perfect attention grabbing ring, however I do only wear it on special occasions! Also, if im planning on getting drunk uptown under no circumstances do i wear it! I'm terrible for losing earings and rings uptown. My most prized possession! They're always bringing out new collections and colours of this famous skull ring, if you're interested you can check them out here.






Serpant style - For some reason, I have always absoloutly loved any form of ring or bracelet that had a snake/lizard on it, I think ive gone through about 4 or 5 of them, I either lost them or bent them or my freinds borrowed and never gave back, but I am always on the hunt for a new one! This particular one is from Topshop but i got it a couple of years back now. They're very easy to get hold of and i know that Talullah Tu currently has them! Oh, and a play on the Alexander McQueen one, so if you wanted a blingy style skull ring without breaking the bank, have a look at Talullah Tu here. (Some of Talullah Tu's jewellery can be quite expensive, i suppose it's just how much you would pay personally!)




Armour ring - Recently I have seen more and more of these 'armour style' rings floating about. At first when i saw the ones that cover most of your finger, i thought they were a bit too over the top gothy for me. This one is a very simple version of the typical armour ring you can get and i think i got it from BooHoo! They've grown on me now and I would love to have a proper one, but everyone I've seen they've been pretty expensive. So maybe for xmas :)




Cocktail ring - Personally, i'm not sure what makes a cocktail ring a cocktail ring, but i would certainly call this one! This I got from mammy dearest for my 18th birthday, I loved it then and it remains loved now! Again these are very easy to get hold of, i suggest looking on Topshop, even though they can be quite pricey.



Stackable rings - Extremely simple concept, so many ways to wear them! You usually get about 6 or 7 rings in these stackable packs, you can either pile them up, or spread them around all of your fingers! I own some from Topshop and H&M, I have to say H&M is the winner when it comes to these rings, affordable, and a wide range to choose from. Another great thing about these is you can buy them quite plain looking, so if you dont want something to over the top but still want to accessorize, i would definetely suggest these!


So, I hope you enjoyed my first more fashion/style related post, I look forward to doing more of them! Where do you all prefer to shop for accessories?!
Love, Hol xxx