Models Own Snowflake

3, 2 and 1 layers, over Barry M's Silver, and Black.

firstly, i'd like to apologise for how little i'm updating the blog lately. it's deadline month at uni and i've been cramming work in 24/7. plus i've been lumbered with load of shifts at work so i'm very busy, but as soon as uni is done for christmas, i will be better. i promise!

this is my very first Models Own purchase! If you've read my post on Marc Jacob's 'Dot' perfume, you'll know i recently gained lots of Boots points and bought some cosmetics while they were three for 2. i picked up the particular glitter for the holographic, oddly shaped pieces - i like how irregular the glitter flecks are. i wish there was a lot more glitter in it, and that it didn't have a clear base as i know this would look so stunning if you could layer it up enough to hit an opaque effect, but as you can see from my attempts, i didn't have much luck! 

this definitely looks better over darker polished like the black, as i think the light really reflects of the glitter a lot more and throws up all kinds of beautiful colours! 

my only issue would be that it can sometimes be a pain to ge the glitter to lay flat on the nail, but i'm willing to work with such an eye-catching polish.

this retails for £5, and i snapped this one up in Boots. 

i'm thinking of trying out some more Models Own once my spending ban is over, does anyone reccomend any particular shades? I've asked for Indian Ocean for Christmas, but i want more!!! 

Dot - Marc Jacobs

A signature floral heart signed by beautiful jasmine and the elegant base of vanilla with musk leaving and addictive trail.

£37 for 30ml at Boots

the day that this fragrance was announced, it was decided that it needed to be mine. previous to this, i wore Marc Jacob's 'Daisy', but when i read that Dot would have hints of vanilla i knew i would love it just as much! i waited for months and months for a launch date to surface, but unfortunately that date came and passed without a purchase because i just didn't have the money. but recently, i came into a mass of Boots Advantage Card points and instantly knew they were going on this. due to a cock-up by Boots, i unfortunately only had enough for the little 30ml bottle, so i do only tend to use it for a more dressy, going out occasion as i don't want to use it every day and run out straight away!.

i'd say this has a slightly more fruity scent than Daisy, but i absolutely adore it!

Is this anyone elses favourite?

Barry M Nail Paint - 324 Silvery Lilac

first coat

second coat

third coat

i've been eyeing this colour up the last few times i've made nail polish purchases, but gave in recently when Superdrug were offering 3for2 across all cosmetics (before i started my spending ban!). 

if you've seen my review of the shade 'Copper' then you'll see why i thought from it's appearance that it would be quite opaque with one coat, but it actually took three to build up a desirable appearance. 

i think the name 'silvery lilac' is a bit of a weird one... i wouldn't class it as lilac at all, it has hues of purple, green and blue all mixed in with the silver - it actually reminded me a little of one of the shades from Models Own Beeteljuice range.

despite this, i do like the colour - i'm really into the warmer shades for the colder months. as i write this post, i've had this on for 2 days and not had any chipping yet, which is quite a whole for me as i'm always cutting/sewing/gluing and my nails tend to suffer a lot! 

enjoy

Spending Ban Update Week #1

hello everyone!

some of you might have see that last week, I treated myself to a little Primark haul ad my poor little bank balance was feeling it, so I decided to put myself on a spending ban until Christmas. If you didn't see the post then you can get to it by clicking here. Obviously as a student, there's certain things i HAVE to spend on, and you can see what i'm allowing myself to buy in my previous post. 

admittedly, this has been a little harder than i've thought, and i've not got off to the best start in the world... i've had to buy a few essentials this week, but they aren't included in the ban, but whilst i was in the bodycare store, i couldn't resist picking up this... 

 

 

 

Pure Coconut Leave-In Conditioner - £1.99

and this was my first naughty purchase of the week. in my defence, i had seen it in the chemists at uni for £1.99 and was tempted to pick it up then, so technically i have saved myself £1? this is what i'm telling myself anyway. i've only used it once so far, but am going to work it into my hair washing routine and will let you all know what i think of it once i've bee using it for a while!

second naughty purchase (excuse the online picture, it hasn't come in the post yet!)

a new iphone case... but the paint on my old one has all started to chip off and look a bit scabby, so this is allowed, right?! it was only £2.75 so it's a bit of a bargain too. i must stop making excuses for myself.

final naughty purchase (again an online picture as the postman hasn't bought it yet!)

an MUA lipboom.... but by buying this, i was actually saving myself money!  how?! i hear you ask... MUA have 35% off PLUS free shipping in store at the moment - check the offer out at muastore.com - and i was actually ordering some christmas presents. but you had to spend £10 to qualify for the offer, so by adding this to my basket for myself, I actually ended up getting one of the christmas presents for free. so technically, spending is saving!

so there we go... my naughty purchases. i'm a little disappointed with myself, but next week i will be better, i promise! i was also going to make a topshop order to get the free lipstick offer they currently have on, but my deliver to store order was refusing to go through, so maybe they knew it wasn't meant to be?! i will be buying more! magazine later on though as they have a free models own nail polish or lipgloss in this weeks issue, so of course i have to check that out!

how's everyone else doing whose on a spending ban? let me know in a comment! 

fashionvouchers.com Christmas Party Outfit Blogger Challenge feat. missguided.co.uk

hello, everybody!

i think it's now safe to say that i love a good blogger challenge, and today is no different (i think this is my third in about 2 weeks?!)

this one is being run by the lovely people over at fashionvouchers.com and they're looking for the best Christmas Party outfits under £100. The more i thought about it, the more i realised how hard it would be to put together a whole outfit with accessories and all that jazz for just £100 with the prices in the majority of high street stores. i mean, i love miss selfridge, but their dresses can sometimes average out at around £50, and their shoes are extortionate. 

the rules are pretty simple:

-choose a merchant from the list provided by fashionvouchers.com

-create an outfit for £100 or under

-you can use any offer/discount code that is advertised on the fashionvouchers website at the time you publish your post. 

and here's my entry. i went for missguided, purely because from experience i know that they're spot on trend with affordable prices!

i know lots of people stereotypically go all glitz, glam and sparkly for the Christmas party season, but that's not something i'm much of a fan of - surely it's not just me who thinks sequins are one of the itchiest things to wear?! instead, i've gone on-trend and for something i'd feel much comfier and myself in. i adore the galactic print trend (but my spending ban is stopping me adding all the stunning pieces to my wardrobe, booooo!), so i've gone for that, purely so i can sit and lust over this outfit instead of buying it. i love that the imitation leather bralet adds a rockier edge to the floaty, feminine skirt and i've carried this through to the accessories - studs were made to go with leather! the rust and sage tones were calling out for gold accessories rather than silver, and i've picked out some pretty statement pieces here!

Dress // Shoes // Bag // Necklace // Ring // Bracelet

TOTAL - £106.94

(whoops...)

BUT! TAKE OF NUS STUDENT DISCOUNT ANDDD.

TOTAL - £96.25!

£3.75 to spare... enough for a cheeky drink!

so what does everyone think of the outfit? is it something you'd wear, or do you prefer the glitter and sparkle of Christmas?!

if you also want to take part in this challenge, then all the details can be found here and you have until December 17th to get your entries in!

Barry M Nail Paint - 335 Copper

i'm partial to a good glitter polish, but find that most of the prettier shades come with a clear base and i end up spending ages layering up the polish to get an opaque look that i'm pleased with, but Barry M have saved the day! i can't quite work out if the polish is so heavily glitter based that it looks opaque or if there's a metallicy base with flecks of glitter, but either way I love it - it's such a good autumn/winter shade. it has hints of reds and golds, with a little bit of brown thrown in for good measure to make a realistic copper shade. 

this is opaque with just one shade but i always add a second for good measure. 

the majority (literally about 95%) of my nail polish collection is Barry M and I'm currently eyeing up the red black, but i think i'm going to have to wait until the end of my spending ban or quickly throw it on my christmas list! 

what's everyone's favourite nail polishes at the moment for the autumn/winter season?

Little Primark Haul & Starting a Spending Ban!!

i've been naughty this week and had a bit of a splurge in Primark. in my defence, it's the first biggish shop i've done for myself since moving back to uni in September so this is pretty good for me and everyone (including myself!) has been convincing me that it wasn't quite as naughty as it feels.

i thought i'd share the bits and pieces i bought because after this i am going on a SPENDING BAN! but i'll explain that later...

i didn't actually intend to buy anything, i simply popped into town with Rosie to go to the bank and Superdrug, but we couldn't resist! 

oo1 // skirt // £14

i knew the second i had this in my hand that i would end up buying it! i have such a huge thing for the burgundy/wine trend that's about this winter that anything in this colour instantly catches my eye! i'm not sure how well you can see in the pictures either, but instead of having a shorter opaque skirt underneath the chiffon, this actually has little hot pants - i've always loved that Miss Selfridge did this with their maxi's but couldn't justify the prices, so this is just an added bonus. i'm also in love with the belt. i usually find that Primark piece up their garments with absolutely hideous belts that don't match at all, so to actually get an on-trend belt makes a nice change as i'll wear it with things other than the skirt aswell. £14 is an absolute bargain for this, and i'm planning on wearing it for NYE this year - this is me justifying the purchase of clothes i didn't need!

oo2 // Bust // £10 £5

me and rosie actually laughed at this when we saw it - 'oh, no wonder they're reduced!'. but the more we looked at them, the more we realised that they would actually look quite nice with the right thing. turns out the right thing was the maxi skirt that was already in my hand. i tried it on on a whim and actually loved it! i've always looked at cropped bustiers in the past, but the ones i've always liked have been far too expensive and considering i very, very rarely go out to wear something like this i've never taken the plunge and bought one, but i couldn't resist for £5! this has detachable straps which is a good thing as this is nowhere near supportive enough without them. i like that the sequins have more of a matte effect than a sparkle and shine as i think it makes it look a lot less tacky. teaming this up with the skirt means i've got my NYE outfit for just £19 as i already have everything to accesorise it up!

oo3 // Jumper // £6

yes, more burgundy! i've read a lot of ootd's which have been featuring this jumper so i'll admit that i went on a bit of a hunt for one and i'm so glad i picked one up. it's more of a thick, knitted t-shirt than a jumper, but i get a bit of a hot flush on walking to uni so i prefer thinner layers. it's quite baggy and over-sized and has a slight step in the hem, making it longer at the back so this will look great over disco pants aswell. it has a sort of marl effect and comes in a blue and grey version aswell. i'm actually wearing this today, so snapped a quick iphone picture of my outfit and accesories!

shorts - boohoo.bom // belt, necklace & cross earrings - miss selfridge // rings - ebay // helix earring - topshop

oo4 // necklace // £4

i wasn't 100% sure on this, but need to build up my necklace collection, so added it to my basket. i love that it has a mixture of silver, gold and gun metal - it's so versatile with all my existing jewellery. there's such intricate detailing on the little skulls too and instantly adds interest to a simple outfit. there's actually a stunning jewellery collection at primark right now in this punky/biker look, so if that's your thing then check it out!

shirt - dorothy perkins // disco pants - H&M kids

also got some more tights aswell as they're slowly and begrudgingly working their way back into my winter wardrobe. all in all, i spent £32 which isn't all that bad after all...

NOW FOR THE SPENDING BAN

this is probably something i should have done a long, long time ago. when i'm at uni i really budget myself, but the last couple of weeks i've found myself buying lots of little bits and pieces and thinking nothing of it until i check my bank balance and all the little things have turned into a slightly bigger thing. i think i have about £160 to last me until Christmas when i'll get Christmas money and some wages from my job back home. 

money from my uni job goes straight into savings for my car and considering my car needs MOT'ing in January then i can't risk dipping into them!

so from now until christmas i am officially on a strict spending ban. obviously as a student, there's things that i'll need to buy so my exceptions are 

- necessary food

- petrol/parking

- uni supplies i.e. sketchbooks

- my boyfriends christmas present! (i've already done everybody else!)

- bills

- work christmas meal, because i've already paid the deposit!

i must only spend money on vital/necessary things. no snacks, no clothes, no jewellery, no make-up. 

i'll do a weekly update to let you know how i'm getting on and if i've been lusting over anything that week.

this also means that any items reviewed on the blog over the next few weeks will have been purchased before today!

has anyone else done a spending ban? how did you find it?

wish me luck!

Next’s Dress For Christmas Blogger Challenge with northernmum.com

this morning i woke up to a nice little e-mail informing me of a blogger challenge that northernmum.com is currently running in association with Next. 

the challenge is pretty simple - put together a Christmas wardrobe for your family on Christmas day. 

i don't know about anyone else, but my family always go a bit dressy for the occasion, even though we'll be sat around the house for the whole day. i won't lie, as soon as lunch is over - which i'm already far too excited for - the pyjamas and comfy, slouchy jumpers are back on, but i always start out with good intentions, so I've added in some present opening outfits too that will definitely be back on when our bellies are full!

so here's my entry (the prize is a £500 giftcard, if anyone's interested!). i've put together an outfit for my Mum, Dad, brother and myself - of course! my grandparents are always around at Christmas aswell, but if i'm 100% honest, they'd much rather be comfy than fashionable so I've left them out of this!
i've added links to all the items aswell in little captions.

if anyone else wants to take part in this, then all the T's & C's can be found here!

shoes // dress // TOTAL = £98

Top // Bottoms // Slippers // TOTAL = £51

t-shirt // trousers // belt // shoes // TOTAL = £135

Pyjamas // Dressing Gown // Slippers // TOTAL = £56

t-shirt // chinos // blazer // hi-tops // TOTAL = £82

Onesie // Slippers // TOTAL = £34

dress // shoes // belt // necklace // bracelet // TOTAL = £133

Onesie // Vest // Slippers // TOTAL = £54

our little Olly is definitely part of the family now so I've thrown in this little collar. Yes, he is a boy. Yes, this is very girly. No, I do not care. 

Enjoy!