Leaving Party!

In case you missed yesterday's post, I explained that I am currently in America at University completing a 6 week module which was ridiculously last minute and I had no idea what to pack and I was going completely on my own but I am so excited to finally be here!

My amazing friends came back from wherever they're living at the moment and we all went out last Saturday and had an amazing leaving party for me.

We started off at mine, with a few jugs of Pimms and some crazy photos in the garden, including one of them picking me up for a photo which went horribly wrong and all of it was caught on camera, lush!

Me and M both went all out for the night, both wearing dresses, heels, hair curled, make up plastered on, nails polished and painted and limbs tanned to perfection!

Essentially, our make up and hair looked like this ^^

Both rocking a red lip and lined eyes! 

My base is created using Mac ProLongwear foundation (here), Mac Pressed Powder and Rimmel's Wake Me Up Concealer.

I also have on Benefit's High Beam and New Look's Giles Deacon Blusher palette in the brown colours (here) (Currently featuring some of these products in our giveaway, don't forget, it ends today!)

I do have some eyeshadow on but stuck with neutral pigments that I have from the Mac Green Tartan collection. I absolutely love them because they blend together so well and look good with anything!

I'm also wearing Mac lashes but the number of them escapes me!

They're my favourite and I use them all the time.

Lastly I am also rocking the wonderful Russian Red lipstick from Mac that I bought for my birthday (here), I love the colour so much and I'm so glad to have finally found a true red lipstick that looks good.

M is wearing Mac ProLongwear Foundation as a base. Eyes are made up using Front Cover eyeshadows in Powder Puff, Twinkling Gold, Frosted Almond and Baked Bronzed which are currently all on offer in Boots for £1 each!

Her blush is courtesy of Sleek's new Blush by 3 in Lace, that I'm sure has a post coming up soon!

She also has on Jelly Pong Pong lashes and her lips are Maybelline's 24 dual ended lipstick in 510 Red Passion.

Here's what we wore!

I had on a dress from the Cameo Rose boutique from New Look, this dress was a bargainous £19.99 so I picked up the belt and some tan wedges (all from New Look) too! The wedges were £25 and the belt was around £8. The metal part was originally straight and looked horrendous on, but M had this clever idea of bending it, so we moulded it around me and it looked perfect! She's a genius. All of this was bought with student discount too as it's one of the last times I can use it!

M also wore a dress from New Look that cost her £8 in the sale! Absolute bargain, the colour and print are gorgeous and it has a cut out back that's perfect for going out or lounging at the beach or pub. 

M seems to be the perfect bargain hunter as her belt is from the one and only Primark (£3) and her shoes are from New Look, but bought from a seller on eBay, I never seem to find stuff as nice as this on there!

M stacked a combination of mine and her bangles up her arm and they look lush!

Her bag is also from Osprey and is the perfect staple bag that any wardrobe needs.

My friends bought me a very patriotic union jack glittery sticker which I was forced to wear for the evening.

Originally they wanted me to wear it on my forehead but I refused so they agreed I could wear it on my thigh as long as I flashed it for a decent part of the night....which of course I did after the large amount of Pimms they made me drink!

Bit of a drunken photo, but you can see M's beautiful nails with the Leighton Denny polish that she blogged about here, and of course a knuckle duster of a ring!

Again, more thigh flashing, I'm surprised I wasn't thrown out the amount of leg I was showing at everyone in the bar!

This was found on the bar's website the next day, at least we did look fabulous at the beginning of the night haha!

And the last photo is of a few silly poses at the beginning of the night...probably a sign of what was to be expected for the rest of the night!

We both had an amazing night out, and felt horrendous the next day (when I had to pack!) but it was definitely worth it.

These photos are going to keep me going for the next 6 weeks, hopefully we can have just as good a night for when I come home, right M???

Hope you enjoyed the photos :)

L and M 

xxx

Don't forget out giveaway ends today! If you want to be in with a chance of winning a whole load of make up goodies then just head here quick before it closes!

My first professional Manicure

For Christmas my OH got me a Manicure at our local spa. I've been growing my nails for a while now after biting them for ages so I was excited to get my first manicure done.

The spa I went to used Leighton Denny nail varnishes, a brand I'd hadn't tried yet. I was excited by all the gorgeous colours they had and found it hard to choose. In the end the beautician suggested one from the new collection - shipwrecked a gorgeous pastel mint cream polish.

 I also had a glitter topcoat put on top. This one is Angel Dust. This left a very subtle glitter top coat and only showed up in some lights.

It was great having them done and chatting to the beautician as she gave me a few tips to keep them at their best (apply a cuticle oil, use hand cream regularly, file and buff them gently once a week) I do most of these except buff. I need to get a buffing block soon as I was impressed with how smooth they felt after and the nail varnish applied so well.

As I said before I've never tried Leighton Denny before but I was impressed with the perfect finish of such a pale pastel after 2 coats (we all know it goes nicer when someone else applies it, but still).

Here is the overall finish, my nails were all shaped to match (something I never do) and looking pretty.

If you look closely you can just see the glitter. It was a light covering. The nail varnish is more warm toned than the photo shows.

But them the problems started. I'm not sure if it's just me but since I had it done (sat) I'd broken four nails by Tuesday and they felt week. I'm not sure if it was the buffing and filing process and my nails weren't used to it, or my nails are used to having OPI Nail Envy before being painted or all coincidence. 

By Tuesday I was fed up of them breaking and there was a lot of chips on my nail tips so I took it off. For lasting four days is good for me for nail varnish but I'm slightly put off trying other nail varnishes from this range. Them breaking has made me worry about having other manicures done and makes spending £25 on one seem pointless.

Have any of you experience breakages from using Leighton Denny or after a professional manicure?

Any Advice?

Love M

xxx

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