DIY bracelet

If you've been reading my blog lately you'll know I've been going crazy for anything DIY. There's nothing better than having something homemade that nobody else will have! The things that have caught my eye are the most are the friendship bracelets over at HonestlyWTF, an amazingly brilliant DIY blog, so inspiring! I raided my wardrobe to see if there was anything I could use to do my own little take on a bracelet without having to go out and buy materials. 

I came across a very old spotty scarf which I havn't touched for years, and also a shoulder bag which I've never used, and never will use! So I unpicked the shoulder chain from it to use that. This bracelet that I made really isn't rocket science, all I did was measure enough chain for my wrist, enough material for my wrist plus a little extra to tie with, and just threaded the material in and out through the chain links. This may sound odd but I like how well the frayed material actually works on this bracelet! You can tell it's home made but stack a couple of these up on your wrist and I think they would look fab.

I have a ton of chain left from the bag I used, probably enough to make a good 4/5 bracelets! In our market in Carlisle there's a fabric stall that always has a basket with left over scraps, that's all you need for this bracelet, plus the chain links and you're good to go, they're easily taken apart if you don't like how they've turned out too!

Holly x 

Sigma F80 flat top kabuki brush

Price: $16

Availibility: Sigma

Buffing foundation rather than using the standard foundation brush seems to be where it's at these days, with the release of Samantha Chapman's Real Techniques brush line, and the ever so famous buffing brush, everyones gone mad for it! Although I am curious about the hype surrounding that brush line (which I will get at some point!) the majority of my brushes are Sigma, my absolute favourite, they're quality is undeniably good, and they're so affordable.

Long before Real Techniques, I'd had my eye on the Sigma Sigmax synthetic range, I'd seen them being used an awful lot on Dulcecandy87's channel, and have also seen quite a bit of rave about this flat topped kabuki on a few blogs, so I was really excited when I had the opportunity to try one!

I tried this as soon as I got it and I can't rave enough about it! One of my pet hates when applying foundation with a new brush is that the brush absorbs the majority of the foundation, not the case with this brush. It applies the product evenly and pretty quickly too, the Kabuki is a decent size and even gets in the tricky parts like the corners of your nose! The brush itself is incredibly dense, and gives a seemingly flawless finish to your makeup upon application.

I'm so pleased with this brush, I've never had another brush of similar shape that didn't shed or absorb too much of the product. Are you a fan of Sigma? Do you have any of their brushes? If so which are your favourite!?

Holly x

*This brush was gifted to me for reviewing purposes, this has not affected my opinion. Some affiliate links used.

Glossybox April 2012

Price: £10.00 per month (Plus P+P)

www.Glossybox.co.uk

Well, this is my final Glossybox post! After being a little dissapointed with my last few boxes, I decided to unsubscribe, luckily, I think this April box is a major improvement on the last few so I'm happy to go out on a high with Glossybox rather than a low. Here's what is included in the April 2012 edition, which is a natural, eco-friendly box I may add!

Claudalie Vinosource Thirst-quenching Serum - £29.00/30ml

Inika Cosmetics Certified Organic Eyeliner - £11.75

Ayuuri Natural Body Wash - £4.95/235g

Figs & Rouge Lip Balm - £3.29/8ml

Kai Perfume Oil - £41.00/3.60ml

What do you think of this months Glossybox? I'm sad to say goodbye to it, but at the end of the day it's £10 extra to put towards something else nice.

Holly x

Charity shop midi skirt

Price: £2

Availbility: Charity shop!

Me and my friend Naomi used to look through charity shops all the time, mostly for handbags and shoulder bags, but recently I've been reading a lot of DIY blogs, and I've become fascinated by the way people transform someone's old cast offs in to something stylish and up to date! It inspired me to go back to them, and see what I could find.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was this skirt, it's a size 12, with an elasticated waist, and looked like it should probably be about floor length. I immediately though high waisted midi skirt! There's no doubt that these days midis and maxis are all the rage, and what was £2 if my idea didn't work out? Luckily, it's worked perfectly! It's a tiny bit baggy around my waist but I think that look works well held together with a nice waist belt.

I'm looking forward to picking up some more bits and peices, and hopefully to have a go at a bit of DIY customising! I hope this has inspired you to go and have a look for some bargains, I've never been more chuffed paying £2 for a skirt in my life!

Holly x



Brilliant blogs to follow #2

It's a long time since I last did a post like this, and this time round there's a bit of a theme to it! - and that's DIY! I've been loving a bit of DIY lately, so here a 3 of my most favourite I've been reading religiously.

1. GemFatale

2. Sweet Monday

3. A pair and a spare

These blogs if you havn't already heard of them are really, really fantastic and definetely worth checking out!

Holly x

American Apparel Disco Pants!

Price: £70.00 (I got them for £60 with a 15% off code)

Availibility: American Apparel

Disco pants were something I wasn't so sure of at first, I'd always stayed away from anything that looked remotely like a pair of leggings, as leggings can sometimes be quite unflattering for me. I'm only about 5"2 and have really short legs! I started hearing about how these pants were "miracle workers" and that they sucked you in and clung on to all the right places. So after trying a pair of my friends on and having the odd night where they would be in my basket, (and then swiftly removed after having mutliple heart attacks over the price) I finally got some!

If you're wondering about the size of mine, I'm about 5"2, and I'd say my thighs are a bit larger than normal but I got a medium pair, the strange thing is my friend Nathalie who is way taller and slimmer than me is medium too, and they fit her like a glove! Honestly, I think it's all about wearing these for a little while and letting them adjust to your body shape. I had to fight my way in to these this morning, and I honestly thought I was going to suffocate! But it was so worth it in the end, and they've loosened up already.

I understand these won't be everybodies cup of tea, and at first I thought what have I bought! But they're honestly the most perfect shaping pants I've ever bought, I never realised just how much I did appreciate my thighs afterall! I think they give me pretty decent curves :) These really are great though, and if like me you've had little wobbles in the past about your thighs/legs I can gaurantee you these will make you feel good about them again!

Holly x

Estee Lauder Vanilla Truffle lipstick

(Swatches are 3 different lipsticks, read on for more info)

Price: £18.50

Availability: Debenhams, HOF

 I'm SUCH  a sucker for giving in too easily to pretty things when they're talked up by the lady at the counter, especially when they're was SO nice! I absolutely love my nude based lipsticks, but I'll admit £18.50 is a little steep when I already find Mac lipsticks dear (though you can't fault their quality).

First off, if you take a look at my swatch picture, you'll see the insane similarity between Vanilla Truffle, Mac's A Perfect day on the left, and Mac's Shy Girl on the right (leaving Vanilla Truffle in the middle!) So did I need to really buy this and part with £18.50? I don't think so, but any makeup addict would agree with me it's difficult at the time to leave something you find so pretty alone!

You can't fault the amazing quality packaging of this, nor the sweet smell, even the way it applies very creamily, and this is something I would've found AMAZING if I didn't already have so many nudes, but really, I could've gave this one a miss! I'm not saying it isn't gorgeous, because it is, but thinking back I've really overdone it spending so much on one lipstick! The one thing I will say is, if you were dying to get your mits on (and I mean dying enough that you'd want to spend £18.50) on getting Mac's A Perfect Day but you missed it, that and Vanilla Truffle are almost IDENTICAL.

So yeah, I'm a little dissapointed in myself that I caved so easily to buy this, since I never even hear of Estee Lauder lipsticks being bigged up in the blogging world, but because I have so many nudes anyway, I could've given this a miss! It is BEAUTIFUL though and I'll make it my number one priority to wear it as much as I can!

Holly x

99p Ebay nail dotting tools

Price: 99p

Availability: Look out for them on Ebay!

Can you believe I got 5 different sized dotting tools for 99p? I can't! It's not even as if they feel cheap and flimsy either, they feel like decent quality! If you're big in to nail videos on Youtube you will see these floating around alot. Most Youtubers claim you can make your own home made versions of these with a tooth pick! Let me tell you, I've tried and to be honest, it just doesn't work the same as these do.

I had a super quick play around with these and they're easy to use, but I think it will take  practise and a steady hand to keep your little designs neat. They're absolutely PERFECT for polka dot nails though! My mustaches were sort of a fail, but my polka dots turned out lovely!

I can't wait to try out more designs with these!

Holly x 

Orly Passion Fruit

Price: £6.25

Availability: Cheap Smells

I would describe Passion Fruit as an insanely bright neon pink, unfortunately this does not show on the photos! I'm not a major fan of the colour pink (love makeup but not a girly girl AT ALL.) but I thought it would be the perfect summer colour, and I wanted something really, really bright.

It applies pretty well but would advise two coats, the downside is I don't think it suits me! Maybe just because I really don't like pink that much, but I just don't think it suited my pale skintone. Orly are generally good quality nail varnishes and I love the rubber lid! I have a habit of letting nail polish lids slip between my fingers, and I usually make a mess.

 So if you're looking for a hot pink summer nail polish, I'd say go for Orly's Passion Fruit! However I would advise googling this colour as my pictures don't show the colour well.

Holly x

Everyday Makeup bag

My everyday Makeup bag.

Being a nosey woman, looking in my friends, or even just a total stranger on the internet's makeup bag is something I love to do! I mean, you can look at HUGE makeup collections on the internet, but what percentage of all that makeup do they actually use on a daily basis? Well my lovely girlies, I'm about to show you what I slap on my dish everyday! Some of them are even recent additions to my Makeup but I love them that much they've earned a spot in my little pink bag. There's nothing too much or fancy in here, just the minimum essentials!

Face: Rimmel Wake Me Up 100 Ivory,  Mac Studio Fix Fluid NC15, Mac Select Cover up NC20, Mac Studio Finish Concealer NC15.

Cheeks: Nars Laguna Bronzer, Elf Studio Blush Tickled Pink,

Eyes: Maxfactor Masterpiece Macara, Eyelash curlers, Elf Studio Eyebrow Kit Light.

Lips: Mac Lipstick Hue, Cherry Chapstick.

Extras: Rimmel Nail Rescue, Hair Bobble.

Thats is just about all I keep in a small Makeup bag on my Vanity, it's much easier to keep a few essential things in there rather than going through draw after draw of products! It's also great that you have it packed and ready to throw in your handbag if you want to go out somewhere.

What do you keep in your everyday Makeup bag?

Holly x

DIY Coloured hair highlights using Chalk.

These temporary chalk highlights are something I've read about on a few blogs now. Most recently Gem Fatale's Style Blog! Which is AMAZING by the way, could read it for hours. Anyhoo decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a go for myself!

All you need to do is soak your desired colour of Chalk in some warm water for 5/10 minutes, and just run the wet Chalk through your hair! I found this quite tricky to do, I had to try a few different ways before I got the simplest way to run the chalk through my hair! Luckily because my hair is so long, I was able to hold strands of hair out on to some paper, and just run the Chalk over my hair.

You're left with quite a wet, tangled peice of hair, (Or my long hair was) which I then put the hair dryer on, using a large barrel blow dry brush to get it dry quickly. This hurts! My hair was very matted and it pulled at my scalp quite a bit but I was willing to put up with it. I used Red, Blue, and Purple in my hair, and when it dried I was left with gorgeous faded blue pink colours.

Obviously, this is going to be to everyones taste, but I've often wondered what my hair would look like with something a bit more funky through it rather than plain old natural colours. Anyway, colours dip dyes seem to be getting increasingly popular, so I wouldn't be surprised if this takes off a little bit more! I'm hoping this washes out after one go like everybody claims it does, but I shall keep you all updated!

Before.

After.

Will you be trying out this Chalk trend?! Let me know what you think of this, because I would love to know!

Hol x

Mac Morange Lipstick

Price: £13.50

Availibility: Mac website

Morange is a gorgeous bright, orange, amplified finish lipstick, which can appear a little terrifying as it is so bright in the tube! Convinced I didn't suit this, it has been left neglected in my little lipstick box for months now. I was inspired to give bright lipsticks another go with Summer coming up, and because the ever so lovely Amy from Flawsandall payed me a visit the other day, and was rocking a lovely bright lip! (Girl about town).

Obviously accompanied by that familiar, sweet vanilla scent that Mac lipsticks always have, Morange being an amplified finish is again a winner, as it applies with ease and without tugging, whilst also not being drying one little bit! Did I mention it lasts a long time too?

Now I'm not one to really have my head round this whole warm/cool skintone business 100%, and I didn't think Morange would be my skins cup of tea, but I was amazed to see how well it worked today with my pale skin and blue eyes! Let me tell you if you have blue eyes, try this out, I promise it will make your eyes twinkle!

Do you have Morange? I think it may be my Summer 2012 lipstick!

Hol x

Mac studio fix fluid foundation

Price: £19.50Availibility: Mac website, concession stands in Debenhams, HOF etc.Shade used in pictures: NC 15 Studio fix fluid is something I've used for a number of years now, around 3. It was the first Mac foundation I ever bought, and even though I have a love/hate relationship with it, I'll always turn to it in times of Foundation need!  If you've never used this before, the first thing you will notice upon unscrewing the lid and slapping it on your face is that bloody horrible smell. Trust me, it will repulse you a number of times before you get used to it, but in the end you'll barely notice it. For me, this is a very high coverage foundation, reducing the redness and appearance of spots and blemishes, whilst also covering up any redness on the skin (which I suffer from since I'm such a ghost). This won't be every persons cup of tea, as I turn to this when I feel like I need to mask everything on my face! On my skin, it sets to quite a matte, powdery finish, again, not everyones cup of tea, especially for dry skin sufferers.  This foundation to me can sometimes be quite hard work to apply, it's incredibly thick but I find its not as pleasant to spread around your face for five minutes every morning, I'll always favour how my Wake Me Up applies to the skin over this, but you really can't beat its coverage. Another annoyance is the lack of pump, this can easily be solved by spending £2/3 on a Foundation pump which are available at Mac, a must have for me as you have much more control over the amount. I don't know wether it's just the fact that I'm too lazy to slave over finding another number 1 foundation, or that I'm too comfortable in spending no more than £20 on a foundation, but I honestly, find this is a little too yellow, don't favour the way it applies, nor  am I the biggest fan of its finish, but I've never come across another Foundation that covers as well and stays put for so long! How do you feel about Mac foundations? Love/hate relationship? Hol x

Nail art #1

Okay, So I wouldn't say this is the most creative nail art in the world, but I think I'm just going to post random nail pictures that aren't just 1 coat of polish under "Nail art". So yeah, this is what I had on my nails the other day! Think I'm going to try to do some different things with my nails in upcoming posts so stay tuned!

The polish featured in this post from left to right: Rimmel nail rescue, Something sweet, White on white, Do you lilac it?, Steady as she rose, Refreshmint.

Hol x

ELF studio eyebrow kit in light

Left: Brow gel - Right: Brow powder

I'm always on the hunt for the next best brow products since I love filling in my brows! I've been through loads of different powders and eyeshadows but most of the time I've never been 100% happy as they've usually been too dark or had too many reddish tones in them.

This is the lightest kit ELF has to offer and comes with an ashy brow powder and some gel to set your brows with. I wouldn't be fooled by how light the powder appears, it definetely gives obvious definition to your brows and with a little slick of the gel over the top it's just about the right colour for me!

The angled brush it comes with is actually ok, stiff enough to be able to define them properly, but I'm so used to using my Mac 266 that I find it difficult to get a proper hold on such a small brush. I find myself using the provided brush just to apply the gel so I don't clog up my Mac.

This is without a doubt one of my favourite purchases from ELF and I will continue to buy this! So handy and the perfect size to just throw in your makeup bag, I've always found previous brow kits to be on the bulky side, or sometimes the best brow colours come in massive palettes which are unreasonable to carry around with you. A winner in my eyes at £3.50!

Holly x



China Glaze Something Sweet

China Glaze in Something Sweet

A very light pink colour, Something Sweet dries a little more vibrant in colour than it looks in the bottle. The first application of this was pretty poor, it was quite streaky. After the second coat however, it's perfectly opaque!

There's nothing too amazing about this polish, a very nice pastel pink for spring/summer but there are many others around like this. I just think the quality of China Glaze is a little better than alot of other brands, the drying time isn't quite as good as OPI but it's much better than Barry M.

I do however have a polish coming up that is a new love of mine! It's also PERFECT for summer! I'll be sharing with you all soon.

Holly x

Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation

I wear Wake Me Up in 100 Ivory.

It's been about 3 years now since I've bought a high street foundation. Not because I'm a makeup snob, I just found they generally do not last/cover half as well as what high end foundations do. I found there was also a better selection of shades from a brand like Mac than from something like Loreal/Maybelline etc.

Even though I'd really like to try Bourjois Healthy Mix at some point, Wake Me Up seems to have had a little bit of buzz surrounding it too. In comparison to Mac Studio Fix which costs £20, this only costs £8! This seems like SUCH a bargain after such a long time of dropping the £££ on expensive foundations. Although I prefer a more classic, sleek look to foundation packaging, the colouring and design work well to convey a very fun and fresh look. Speaking of fun and fresh, the scent of this foundation is incredible! Fresh and fruity but also incredibly light, not offensive at all, again in comparison to Studio Fix which has a vile smell that my nose has become used to after all these years.

Application was pretty good, slightly streaky with your standard foundation brush, better suited to be buffed in rather than just brushed across your face. There is a definite radiance about it, I wouldn't say it would help me look "awake" if I just rolled out of bed but there is much more of a dewy finish to this than a matte powdery one. Even though I havn't done anything too strenuous today, I'm impressed to see my foundation hasn't been absorbed by my skin and is still doing okay after 5 hours of wear.

All in all I'm pretty sure I'll purchase this again, the finish is similar to that of Clinique's Even Better foundation which is one of my all time favourite foundations, so a winner to me! Have you tried this foundation?

Holly x

ELF Cream eyeliner in Punk Purple

If you have seen my latest ELF haul video, you will know that I used a code at the checkout to get a free Mystery bag of goodies. This little gem was one of the things I got in it! I was pleasantly surprised by it! I'm not sure how long the code lasts and apologies if it doesn't work anymore, but enter JACKPOT325 as a code to get your mystery bag.

This is never something I would've usually bought from ELF, and I tend to stay away from coloured eyeliner in general but I just fell in love with this gorgeous royal purple colour when I saw it. It is very reminiscent of Bobbi Brown's Starry night cream eyeshadow but without the sparkle that I got a while ago, which is probably why I love it so much!

As always I don't rate ELF's packaging, even the Studio line, it's definetely on the cheapy side. I was pleasantly surprised by the product inside though! Insanely creamy and transfers easy on to the brush which is provided. I'm wondering if it will go all Mac/Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner and dry out on me after a while? Just because if you look at the open pot picture, it's as though a layer of it has dried, in comparison to the packaged pot, where you can see the true colour of it.

This swatch on my arm dried really well, and wouldn't budge! I even rubbed my finger across it pretty hard and smudging was minimal! Only after I scrubbed with a makeup wipe was it removed completely. I am DEFINETELY going to check out the other colours they have. Can't wait to use this!

Holly x

China Glaze - The Hunger Games

Top to bottom - Luxe & Lush, Dress me up, Smoke & ashes

Luxe & Lush - An incredibly beautiful polish! A clear, almost jelly like base packed with flakes that shine blue, purple gold, depending on what light you're in. Gorgeous over other colours. I may love this as much as Rainbow connection!

Dress me up - A beautiful creamy brown. Browns are my absolute favourite when it comes to polishes. Will sit nicely with all my other similar colours!

Smoke & Ashes -  I can't make up my mind wether this polish is an incredibly dark green, or black. Whichever it is, I can't take my eyes off this. It sparkles from a range of green, blue and purple. It is just the most deepest, gorgeous colour I've ever seen!

I picked up these 3 polishes over at BeautyJoint. Had to have these as I am a major fan of The Hunger Games. They have some really beautiful polishes in this collection so you should definetely check these out. I've been waiting 2 weeks for these to come so I'm so excited they're finally here!

Holly x