New Year's Resolutions Update!

My New Year’s Resolutions and how I am progressing with them!:

• Get back into reading, been slacking so bad recently!  My new Kindle will help though I think :D

I am on 12th book so far this year, my Kindle definitely makes a difference!  I am aiming to read 40 but I am sure I could do a lot more than that especially in the summer.

• Get to bed before midnight on uni nights.

Uhh... This one hasn't really worked out very well for me!!  Some days I start uni at 12 and I get a lie so no point in being in bed before 12...  Still working on it!

• Try to be more motivated for uni and read my notes etc. at the time…

Oh god, well I do think I am a lot better than previous semesters!

• Be able to give blood, uch, I will at least try!

I'm only now just able to do it as you need to wait a year after piercing, but not sure how much I weigh at the moment so that could still be a problem.

• Get back to callanetics and pole dancing and go to at least one kettle bells class!

I have been going to callanetics almost every week!  Also doing pole dancing, yoga and zumba, so I am doing well with this resolution!  Sadly I've not been to kettle bells class because my friends have stopped going now!

• Be better at saving again even if only putting a little bit away every month.

I've been good with this one.  Because I halved my hours I can only put £25 away instead of the £50 I was doing previously.  But it's better than nothing!

• Continue to cut down meat consumption.

I am only eating fish now!

• Ironically - spend less time on social networking sites….

Ahem... well this one hasn't really worked!  I've stopped using Facebook and Tumblr as much I as I did previously, Twitter as much as ever and of course I've recently started my blog so I've spending a lot of time on here!  However my blog can be counted as a hobby I think so I don't feel guilty about it, it's worthwhile!

Which is 4 out of 8, not too bad for a quarter of the way though this year!



How are you getting on with yours?

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NOTD: Not Like The Movies

This is 3 coats of Not Like The Movies from the Katy Perry collection, a silvery colour with a green and purple duochrome and small silver glitter.  I did start off with 2 coats but when I photographed it, look how it shows up:

It looks so sheer!  It really doesn't look as bad as this in 'real life' I think it was just the flash that affected it!

I noticed that this seems to look quite similar to Knackered by Butter London, I don't own this but my friend does and I am hoping she will paint her nails and take a photo for me so I can compare them!

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OOTD: My Wee Gran's Birthday!

I wasn't in uni until 2 today and it was my gran's birthday so we went out for morning tea (worst thing ever; I had brunch, mozzarella, tomato and pesto panini!).  It was a lovely sunny day so I decided to wear a dress - also I haven't done a wash in far too long and have ran out of socks...  Anyway my dress is from Therapy by House of Fraser and I got it ages ago in a sale.  It has a cut out back and little buttons and a zip to fasten.  I paired it with my orange blazer from New Look which I love and my cute wee daisy earrings, no idea where these are from... Peacocks perhaps?  

And while I was in my mum's room taking photos of myself in the mirror I thought I'd take one of our elderly (20 year old) cat Kali!  She is half Burmese and half feral... very unique!

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8 Favourite Nail Varnishes: Swatches

So this is a sort of follow-up post from my Day 8 of The 10 Day Makeup Challenge. I showed my 8 favourite nail varnishes (very difficult decision) but only in the bottles, and I definitely prefer seeing swatches of colours cos you can't really tell when they are just in the bottle! I got my nail wheels the other so I thought that this would be a good use of my first wheel!

Barry M - Navy
O.P.I. - Russian Navy
Nubar - Prize
Barry M - Raspberry

Nails Inc. - Victoria & Albert
O.P.I. - Up Front & Personal
O.P.I. - Designer... de Better! from The Muppets Collection (swatches here)
Models Own - Juicy Jules

The photo definitely does not do Prize any justice, it's a beautiful bright pink holographic polish but it doesn't show up well with my camera.  This is a really good toenail colour!  It's my only Nubar polish but I love it and can't wait to get some more.

I also wanted to show a combination of two of these which I love.  It is Designer... de Better with Juicy Jules over the top, it's sooo sparkly and gorgeous!  I did a NOTD on my tumblr using this a couple of months ago, click here to see it.

While I was there I also decided to demonstrate just how much glitter is in Nails Inc's Shelton Street!  It's crazy!  Shown below is one coat, compared to two coats of Juicy Jules in 2nd photo down.  I kind of wish it wasn't so opaque to be honest, glitter is one of those things you should be able to build it up you so wish.  Never mind, it's impressive alone anyway!

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NOTD: Watermelon Nails

This isn't actually a NOTD as I did this quite a while ago and had it on my tumblr but I love them and just wanted to show them off again!  I took inspiration for this from a photo I saw on tumblr and couldn't wait to recreate it.

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Superdrug Update

In my post about Superdrug I said I'd find out whether this was still continuing and I had a look on their website and came across this:

Since 2006 we have been working to raise fund and awareness to support charities which work on skin cancer campaigns. We have worked with the Institute of Cancer Research, the Teenage Cancer Trust and CRUK and this year will see us exceed raising over £1 million for skin cancer charities over the last six years.

Which can be found here, and pretty much answers the question, unfortunately they are still doing it and are not showing signs of stopping any time soon!

Complimentary cat photo!

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Nail Wheels!

Just home from work and my nail wheels have arrived!!  Going to have fun with these :)

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Why I try to avoid Superdrug...

I have mentioned in a few posts and on twitter recently that I try to avoid Superdrug and understandably I've had people asking me why, so I am writing this to explain why!

I found out last summer through CCTV for Slaughterhouse's facebook page that although BUAV approved, Superdrug were raising money and donating it to charities such as Cancer Research UK and The Institute of Cancer Research who both use animal testing in their medical research.  This seems very hypocritical to me and is annoying that BUAV don't take this into account (they also don't take parent companies stance on animal testing into consideration).

So sent Superdrug the following email using their contact link:

I am just writing to you to say how pleased I was when your own brands were BUAV approved - which is fantastic.  However I am now very disappointed to discover that you are raising money to donate to charities which use animal testing in the medical field (Cancer Research UK, The Institute of Cancer Research).  I find this very hypocritical and if you really believe that testing on animals is wrong then you should not be contributing to these institutions who believe that animal testing is excusable.  It is also unethical for you to be using people who are against animal testing’s money to pass it on to companies who do so.  This is completely unfair, and in my honest opinion just plain vulgar.  I really hope you review your decision and in the future donate to cruelty free charities instead.  Until then I am very sorry to say I will be boycotting all your products.
Sincerely,
Louise Brown

Please feel free to copy and paste this if you want to contact them yourself!

And here is the reply I received:

Dear Miss Brown,

Thank you for your email enquiry regarding Cancer research UK.

Superdrug supports Cancer Research UK as part of its campaign to educate customers on the dangers of skin cancer and the ways this disease can be avoided by taking some simple steps during the summer.  Rates of skin cancer are increasing each year in the UK and we believe that offering our customers the expertise and advice of the country’s biggest charity cancer research UK, is vital to help stop this growth.

Neither Superdrug or its own brand manufacturers commission animal testing on any of its own brand products or ingredients.  All Superdrug’s own brand beauty and health products carry accreditation from the BUAV.

Thank you for contacting Superdrug.


Kind Regards
Miss S Berry
Superdrug Customer Relations

Which in my opinion is a load of crap.  How about you stop selling low factor sunscreen (pointed out to me by one of the wonderful members of the facebook group “CCTV for all slaughterhouses”)?  Why don’t you do your own research and find a cruelty free charity to support?  By advocating a cruelty free charity I am sure they would gain a lot more of support from various groups!  I am pretty shocked by their sheer ignorance to be honest.  I know that there are a lot of people who shop there for the sole reason that they are cruelty free and vegan, so taking these people's money and putting it towards the very thing that they are against?  They have been ‘unliked’ and ‘unfollowed’ by me!  I urge you to email them if you agree with me - they need to know that this is wrong!

Admittedly, I have bought a couple of things from Superdrug since I found out about this, but I did use my points so only had to pay for a pound of it!  I am buying a lot less than what I would be buying anyway!

Also this was last year so I am not 100% sure if they are still doing this, but considering it is coming up to summer again the chances are that they are.  I will look into this!  Click here for an update.

Thanks for reading, a very boring wordy post again boo!!

 

Cute kitty picture!

<3

*EDIT: I no longer avoid Superdrug as buying cruelty free is tough enough as it is, however if there is an easy alternative I will try to use it!*

NOTD: Slightly Hunger Games Inspired!

With flash

Without flash

I used the Nails Inc Cavier base coat, then two coats of Sally Hansen's Black out (not CF),  and then one coat of O.P.I.'s Warm & Fozzie (not CF) from The Muppets Collection.  I also applied one coat of Shelton Street by Nails Inc onto my ring fingers then covered them all with Seche Vite top coat.

Going to see it in a few hours, ahhh so excited :D

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Recently Read: To Kill a Mockingbird

Whether I will make this a series kind of thing or not I am unsure, but I am just going to give some of my thoughts on this book I read recently.  It's not going to be any in depth book review so don't worry - I got a C for Higher English okay!  If you do like this sort of thing and would like me to keep doing it then please let me know, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

I don't know if you will have noticed but to the right of my blog I have a little widget thing which is the 2012 Reading Challenge and I am aiming to read 40 books this year.  I love reading and I would always have a book on the go but I am quite slow!  One of my new year's resolutions was to read more so I thought this would be a fun way to keep track of it and I also got a Kindle for Christmas which has definitely encouraged me to read more, and also quicker!

For the past few months I have created a wee routine of reading a more intellectual/thought-provoking book (ie. Jodi Picoult books, classics...) and then I will read a more simple 'beach' type novel (ie. Shopaholic series, Pretty Little Liars...).  I find this a really good method because after reading something which you need to use your head more for you tend to just want a book to have a break with, something really easy and entertaining to follow it up with!  I decided to read To Kill a Mockingbird for one of the more 'difficult' reads as I have never read it before; I know it is quite a popular book for schools, but we didn't do it.

It was completely different to what I expected!  I think most people know the gist of the story - a white lawyer defending a black man convicted of rape, but from the perspective of the lawyers children.  What surprised me was that there actually wasn't all that much mention of this in relation to the rest of the book.  It is divided into two parts and the first part is all about the children's lives and how they spend their time and then in the second half they start mentioning the father's case more and then they have the court case nearer the end which the children sneak into.

I did really enjoy it and only had to look up a few words (some I just assumed or guessed what they meant...).  I would like to read it again now that I know what to expect!  So if you have not read this book then you definitely should read it once!  The protagonist Scout, who is about 7 I think at the beginning of the book, is just cutest little girl with such a big personality.  It is so interesting seeing life through her eyes.  Also the ending is just fantastic and so gripping!

On another but related note, Goodreads is a really good website for keeping track of all the books you've read and more importantly I find, the books you want to read!

<3

EOTD: Copper on Mother's Day

Today was Mother's Day so we had my grandparents and a family friend over for afternoon tea!  I decided to do something with my eyes - as much as I love eye make up I hardly ever do it, only really for nights out or special occasions!  This is a really quick and simple look which I've done a few times now.

I took this quite late on so it's a bit creased (even though I used primer!)

• I applied Urban Decay Primer Potion all over my eye up to my eyebrow and underneath too.
• Next I used Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Whiskey over the lid and I blended it in with my finger.
• I then used the darker side of Too Faced eyeshadow duo in George & Weezie all over the lid and used the lighter side to blend it in slightly.
• I used the eyeliner pencil under my eye along the outer half.
• Then I used the darker side of George and Weezie again over the eyeliner under my eye.
• Lastly I applied Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect mascara on top and bottom lashes and filled in my eyebrows with the E.L.F. eyebrow kit.

I was going to put either a liquid eyeliner or pencil in black on my top lid but by this time I was supposed to be making pancakes and tidying the living room so I just finished it off with mascara!  I also used a peachy/orange blusher from a random Virgin Vie kit I got for Christmas and my Mac Studio Finish Concealer under my eyes.

Hope you all had a lovely day and my thoughts are with those who have lost their mums as today must be so difficult.  My mum's friend's mother died on Friday so today must be so hard for her.

<3

Ganguro Make Up

Here is another post I've taken from my tumblr!  Warning: below are some extremely obnoxious photos of myself - enjoy! *cringe*

I did this ages ago but I thought it would something a bit different to put on here!  For more detailed description of this unusual Japanese trend just type Ganguro into Google and you will find plenty of results!

The aim is to basically over do make up which is typically overdone in the first place, such as a really dark/orange foundation or bronzer (mine doesn’t even look that dark in the photo!), big panda eyes, exaggerated brow highlight and nude lips (or foundation over lips - always a sexy look!).  They also tend to have bleach blonde hair and wear very bright scene-esque clothing i.e. lots of coloured bracelets, cutesy hello kitty necklaces etc.!

It is basically the typical Western blonde bimbo image on steroids!  An expression of freedom against what can sometimes be an oppressive traditional culture.

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Yaby!

I mentioned in my recent post that I would find out if Yaby are cruelty free so I emailed them and they sent me a really thorough reply:

"Thank you for contacting us at yaby.  We do not test our ingredients or products on animals, neither do our suppliers.  The only two animal derived ingredients we use in our products are beeswax (in liquid foundations and lip colors) and lanolin from sheep's wool (in our lip colors)."

So I think I am quite happy with this, although I'm not sure why it's not mentioned on their website?  Maybe I missed it?

So I will put Yaby on my good list :)

[photo from Love-Makeup no copyright infringement intended]

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Wedding Make Up!

I posted this on Tumblr a few days before my friend's wedding when I was trying to decide what to do with my makeup so I thought I'd put it on here too for anyone interested :)

Trying out make up for the wedding!  For some reason I totally forgot about my lips so I've just cropped them out... whoops, I'll worry about them later!  Also I am getting my eyebrows waxed tomorrow, cannot wait! They're actually driving me crazy so just try not to look at them...

• I didn't use a primer but I will use UDPP on the day as it is going to need to last!
• Painterly Paint Pot by Mac over the lid.
• I then used a mixture of Sin and Virgin from the Naked palette over the lid.
• Then using the two purpley colours from a limited edition Mac mineralize eyeshadow in Eccentricity, I applied these to the outer corner but unfortunately they ended up looking quite muddy and didn't appear very pigmented - probably my manky brushes...
• So I then used my Sugarpill eyeshadow in Poison Plum which is really nice and strong, to go over this in the outer corner and into the crease.
• I also brought this underneath the eye, and went over it with Last Call from the Urban Decay Ammo palette, to darken it as the red pigments in the purple made me look slightly ill!
• I also tightlined using Avon Glimmerstick in Black.

Here it goes slightly odd because I used different eyeliner on each eye:

• On the right eye (pictured) I used blue gel eyeliner in Indigo from Coastal Scents and used Avon Supershock pencil in Golden Fawn on my waterline.
• On the left I used Mac Fluidline in Blacktrack and Avon Supershock in Blackberry on my waterline.
• Lastly I applied Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect Mascara.

So now I just need to decide on eyeliner colours, how big to make the wing, lipstick and blusher!

<3

Day 10. If you were given $100 to spend on makeup, what would you spend it on? List products and their prices.

First things first let's make that £100 not $100!

So I decided for this one to go a bit crazy.  You saw on Day 3 a few things I wish I had and they add up to just over £50, but for this challenge I thought I'd just pick one big thing and see what's left over...

[photo from Love-Makeup no copyright infringement intended]

This is the Something Bright Yaby Palette and it is £74.99 (their pearl palette is £89.99 eek!).  I saw this used by Sam from Pixiwoo - I've mentioned them quite a lot during this 10 day challenge! - and I just thought it was gorgeous!  It is really small actually, smaller than a Mac eyeshadow palette which fits 15, and this one holds 40!  I have no idea if they are cruelty free or not as I just had no intention of buying one because of how expensive they are!  However I am going to try and find out because like Mac palettes you can just buy the palette (available here) and pick the eyeshadows to go in, which are only about £2.75 each.  So at only 9.99 for a 20 piece palette and 10.99 for a 40 piece one I think it would be perfectly reasonable to slowly create a palette!  The only downside I'd say would be that you would need to pick the colours online without seeing them in person so perhaps some research beforehand would be required.

That leaves me with £25.01 and with this I would like to get the Real Techniques Starter Set which is £20.99 available from Boots and Love-Makeup in the UK.

[Image from Love-Makeup no copyright infringement intended]

I mainly would like to get this to try out the eye brushes from her, I have a few of the face ones which I love but as I mentioned in Day 5 I really want a synthetic equivalent of Mac 217 and she said that her Base Shadow brush is similar - the one on the far left I think in the photo.

So I'm now left with £4.02...  Hmm I think I'd just donate that to charity or something haha!

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Day 9. Your Nine Step Daily Makeup Routine

I'm going to be honest... I am terrible with routines!  So, hmmm, this will be interesting!  Okay so let's assume that this is a day where I have enough time to do my make up - minimally - but properly i.e. not on the train!

Rinse face (I don't cleanse in the morning... or at night - BAD!)

Apply Origins VitaZing Moisturizer and leave for 5/10 minutes.

Foundation: Avon Cream-to-Powder foundation in Ivory - I don't love this product but I did a big clear out so this is the only foundation I have left, it is nearly finished so I'll be getting a new one soon.  Hopefully Illamasqua Skin Base!

Concealer: MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20 under my eyes.

Blusher: At the moment I am just trying to use up and old Covergirl one (not cruelty free) to get rid of it!

I then fill in my holey eyebrows using No7 Beautiful Brows Pencil in Blonde.

Lastly I apply my Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect mascara. 

 
but if I've got time... I like to put some liquid eyeliner on, I'm using MAC Penultimate Liner in Black, but NYX also do a really good felt tip one too.

Powder!  I am trying to use MAC Blot powder as I smashed it so it's just in a wee tub now all loose and I'm trying to finish it!

Yasss I think I managed to fudge 9 steps there!  Proud!

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Day 8. Eight Favorite Nail Colors (and their brands)

In no particular order...

From left to right;

Barry M - Navy
O.P.I. - Russian Navy
Nubar - Prize
Barry M - Raspberry
Nails Inc. - Victoria & Albert
O.P.I. - Up Front & Personal
O.P.I. - Designer... de Better! from The Muppets Collection (swatches here)
Models Own - Juicy Jules

These are all cruelty free brands except for O.P.I. who are owned by Coty.  They themselves appear to be but Coty are not.

If you would like any more swatches or a description of any just let me know and I'll be happy to do it!

<3

Day 7. One Favorite Of Each: lipstick, lipgloss, eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner, blush, contour

Lipstick: Avon Ultra Colour Rich Mega Impact Lipstick in Fuchsia Fun

L - MUA Shade 12, R - Avon Fuchsia Fun

I really found choosing a favourite lipstick difficult!  I don't wear lipstick on a daily basis only on special occasions and I have quite a lot so I change it often.  I have chosen Fuchsia Fun by Avon as I think I've used this quite a lot, it's so sparkly too and I love a bit of sparkle!  Because Avon are not cruelty free I have also found this alternative by MUA in Shade 12 by Superdrug who are BUAV approved.  In 'real life' The MUA one is more corally but they are quite interchangeable, both have nice sparkles!

Lipgloss: Bourjois Gloss Effet 3D in 48 Rose Romantic

Again, like lipsticks I found it hard to choose a lipgloss 'cause I don't really wear them.  My favourite lipglosses are these Bourjois Gloss Effet 3D and I have them in 3 shades.  I have chosen Rose Romantic out of these as my favourite as it is the most versatile and because of the gorgeous gold shimmer in it, it can make any lipstick more interesting.

Eyeshadow: Sin by Urban Decay

Top right eyeshadow is Sin, underneath is YDK.

I had my first experience of Sin in the Ammo palette and I fell in love with it.  It's a lovely shimmery shell pink colour which can be used in so many way - wash over the eye, as a brow highlight (with a gentle hand!), as a base colour then add definition in crease and outer corner.  It is also really pretty as a face highlight.  Unfortunately the eyeshadow pictured is no more, tragic!  I really want to get another one as although it is in the Ammo and Naked palette, I don't want to use these ones too much!

Mascara: Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect

I have mentioned this a few times before so yeahh... It's good!  See Day 1 for info on it.

Eyeliner: Avon SuperShock in Blackberry

On the left in both photos.

I got this at the end of January just before I found out about Avon testing on animals - grrrr!  So this was on my last Avon purchases!  I did a mini haul/review here talking about the other colour pictured and another item I got if you are interested.  The eyeliner is a deep, warm brown but it has got purple glitter specks which are subtle but really pretty and unusual.  It is also very long lasting and it does not move once you've put it on!

Blusher: Any berry colour!

I just love purpley/berry blushers and the one I have used the most is Berry Merry by E.L.F.  Sorry the photo is quite blurry, it's from a while ago and I only seem to have one!  It can also be seen in the wee palette above which is more recent - but I thought it would be better to show a photo of it before I hit pan.

Bronzer (instead of contour):  Nars Laguna

On the right, also in palette are Orgasm and Albatross.

I don't use bronzer very often, only really if I am going on a night out, and I only tend to apply it to the back of my cheekbones.  I like this one as it isn't muddy looking, and also isn't orange - which is good!  It does have some gold shimmer in it which some people might not like but it's not overwhelming.

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