Spending Ban Update (1)

Well this Spending Ban business isn't all it's cracked up to be is it!

And yes I did give it capital letters. It needs to be addressed properly seeing as it's taking over my life so much.

Firstly I have to say that I haven't really broken the ban, so pat on the back for me!

I've had a few close calls however.

I lost my head phones one day and thought i was going to have to purchase another pair. 100 days without music to and from work, every journey, the gym and also going to sleep just isn't a life worth living and technically doesn't come under our spending ban.

Luckily for me in my drunk state on New Year's Eve, for some reason I tidied everything away and put them all in 'safe places' where sober me didn't know! I did however find them eventually.

I have bought a magazine, and it is actually a fitness magazine which I'm hoping will spur me onto the gym more often.

So far I have successfully eaten the free cereal bar that came with it this month (Nakd bars anyone?!) and only had a quick flick, but I'm sure I'll be hooked soon enough.

I have bought some fruit and some drinks in work due to hunger pangs and running out of my drink which I think is acceptable in any body's books!

Lastly I have also bought toothpaste which I'm sure you'll all agree is perfectly acceptable and definitely not on the 'banned' list.

So really I've been angelic?! I'm not quite sure how this has happened.

I have had an interview for a new job last week which I successfully got and as it was within the company I finished one job Saturday and started the new one Monday, which was lovely to have 1 day off to prepare myself and get all my crap sorted!!! Russsssssssssssh.

Never mind eh!

I assume it's because I've been so busy that I haven't had time to think about shopping yet.

I have also received my second credit card bill for Christmas which is a little daunting the say the least and have been trying to beat the bulge at the gym in my spare time.

Another thing I've been hooked on at the moment is reading (Game of Thrones series if anyone's interested) which is a shock to me as I thought it would take me ages to get back into it after uni.

So there's a quick update for you, and I've completely lied.

....the reason I'm still ok with not buying anything is because I went completely wild in the sales and stuff has still been appearing in the post even this week!

Haaaaaaaaa, whoops.

So look out for my next post which will either be finished tonight or tomorrow morning with my sale buys.

Have you gone wild in the sales?? 

Send me links to your posts if you have!

I figured as long as it was before the ban it didn't count.....right??!

;)

L xxx

NOTD Studded Nails

When I was picking a nail varnish on Saturday I wanted to do some nail art but I was feeling very uninspired after routing through my nail varnish. I chose to use one of the Ciate ones I had in my advent calendar as it was one I loved the colour of but hadnt used yet. It's called Cabaret. 

I love the wear of Ciate polishes. They are streaky after one coat but after two give a gorgeous finish and last really well. When looking for my top coat I spotted some studs I'd ordered from eBay. You can find similar ones here. I always get nail stuff from eBay and usually from China as it's so cheap. You just have to wait a while for delivery.

These particular studs are great as they have flat backs so I don't feel the need to pick them off. When I've done this before and use Caviar type beads they annoyed me quickly.  Caviar manicures annoy me after 24 hours and I tend to pick them off.

This manicure lasted me over 48 hours. In that time,  I cooked, cleaned, had a bath and spent a whole day in work. In that time only one stud fell off. That's pretty impressive to me. The only thing was some of the studs ended up looking more silver than gold as the colour wore off.

To do this manicure.  I painted two coats of nail varnish. Then used my Seche Vite and applied it one nail at a time. I sprinkled the studs onto a DVD case and touched them gently with my dotting tool till they were all the right way up. 

Using a not very hygienic method (but it's my nails and easiest so doesn't matter) I lightly dabbed the end of my dotting tool on my tongue then found it was easier to get a stud on the end. I've tried other methods and they don't work as well. If you don't have a dotting tool you could get one cheap on eBay when you order studs or use a toothpick, tweezers or something similar.  When a stud was on my dotting tool I gently pressed this into the wet top coat and continued to apply them.  Once one nail was done I applied top coat to the next nail and repeated.  When they were all done I added a layer or top coat over the top.

I'm so impressed with how long this manicure lasted and how quick it was to do. Which surprised me. I'll be doing this more as I love the way it looks. Im gutted I lost a nail on the way home so I've had to take a them off but all studs were still strong, none were loose and I think I'd have got another couple of days out of it.

Do you like stud manicures?

Love M

Xxx

Spending Ban Update 1

So after one week I broke it already. I was organised or so I thought on New Year's Eve and went and got what I needed from ikea to organise,  Staples for uni stuff and boots for make up wipes, eye make up remover (boots you're evil bringing out the No7 vouchers at the start of the ban. The eye make up remover is my favourite and the best by far). But on New Years day (the start of our ban) I realised I still needed a few bits for the flat.

This flat is bigger and I have the room to be tidy and organised so I wanted everything in it's place. Off to Staples again I got 3 folders for uni. As the ban started I got the cheapest one's, I also got a clear acrylic holder for my make up brushes and some hooks for my straighteners and hair dryer. I then popped to B&M as I wanted new bedding to match the bedroom. As I'd already spent I went to Costa and bogghr a coffee.  Spending money on Starbucks and Costa will be the hardest for me to stop! I don't think this stuff is too bad as it was stuff I needed and now my flat is organised and tidy!

I haven't broke it since the 1st and haven't got any make up or anything.  Since the ban started I've found I'm lusting over even more things.

Here's a few things on my list at the moment.  Im going to just add to it weekly so I can look back at it at the end and see what I still want.

Mac Brick-O-La lipstick
Urban Decay Setting Spray
MUA Eyelid Primer
Nars Sheer Glow
Bobbi Brown Corrector
Mac Naked Lunch

My list is going to be a very by the end of this ban!

How are your bans going?

Love M

Xxx

You can check out Marvelle From Blog of Shadows post here to see some of the other lovely bloggers who've put themselves on spending bans

Review: Origin's Brighter By Nature

We've both previously mentioned an event we went to at the John Lewis beauty hall in November where we both spent a hefty sum of money in Origins resulting in us getting a bag of goodies.

Not that we were bribed with the offer of freebies at all.... ;)

One of the products in the gift bag was the Brighter By Nature face pads which we've both been intrigued by and after finding out there were 20 in the gift set for free (worth £20) we couldn't resist!