NOTD: Roses

I've seen many roses nail art tutorials so I thought it was about time I finally got around to trying it myself. I love being creative with my nails and love the look of rose nails but have never got around to doing them yet.

There are so many step by step tutorials online I've read lots so just did it from memory. I'm a nail biter. Last year was the first time I stopped so for nearly a year I actually had nice nails. You can see these in my posts from the start of this blog. Stress, uni and work has got me biting them again and I hate the way they look. Until I can kick the habit again I'm wearing false nails a lot.

False nails can get an expensive habit. I love acrylics but not the price and the damage they do, plus I like to do my own nail art. I get my nails from Boots. The kiss brand sell 100 nails for £6.49 (here) I can get between 5 and 10 uses out of these depending on if I file down the nails that are too big. It makes them great value. I don't like the glue in them so I get the Elegant Touch Brush on Glue £3.10 (here) This last ages. The combination of these two products means I can have nice nails reasonably cheap. The brush on glue is much easier to apply and less messy. I find it lasts about 5 days too.

For my nails for this look I painted all my nails except my ring finger in Ciate Dangerous Affair (Ciate polishes can be picked up here for £9) I found two coats gave a gorgeous pinky red shade. It's lasted well without chipping.

For my ring finger I painted them using the Ciate Cutie Pie. It's a creamy nude pink. I left this to dry well before starting the nail art. Once dry I applied 3 oblong shapes to my ring finger in Dangerous Affair. Then left those to dry.

Once they were dry I used my handing dotting tool and Ciate Cupcake queen to make the oblongs round with two lines of cupcake queen. I then applied a dot in the middle of the smaller one's and swirls to the bigger ones.

To add the leaves I used the dotting tool again, this time using Avon Midnight Green (reviewed here). I adding two leaf shapes using my dotting tool.

I left it my nails to dry then painted with a coat of my trusty Seche Vite (reviewed here) I can't be without this top coat now.

Sorry they look a bit scratched. They are four days old now!

One last thing I'm loving at the moment is this Nail file and buffer from Avon (found here for £3). It has a great cuticle trimmer on the end which makes neatening cuticles so easy. I don't like the file much but the £3 is worth it just for the cuticle trimmer in my opinion. I get much better results then any liquid cuticle remover.

Have you done rose nail art? Would love to see your colour combinations!

Love M

xxx

Spending Ban Update 7

This week has been a very hard one for me. 3 years ago this July I graduated! I had the most gorgeous Carvela heels for it. Come August I was skint and decided I'd sell them and make money. My mum told me I'd regret it if I did but of course I didn't listen to her. 2 and a half years of eBay searching I finally saw them on there again! I almost put in a bid immediately, determined to not break the ban though and after a chat with my mum we've decided I'll have them for my birthday should I win them. (my birthday is July, I'm well known for having presents early but this is definitely the earliest I've asked for something)

The beautiful shoes on!! Note to self. Listen to mum and don't sell sentimental shoes just cause I'm skint. I really hope I get these back!!

I did break the ban once this week. My phone case broke this week and I couldn't resist this one.

This one cost me £9.99 posted. I could have gone for a cheaper one but I wanted something pretty. As my current one is broke I don't think it's too bad to spend on it. Plus it's so cute. I got mine from Get Nailed (link here) She does such reasonable priced covers and great nail art too!!

This week has been all about the shoes teasing me. I've wanted Vans or Converse for a while now. I need a shoe I can wear with jeans that won't make my feet cold like dolly shoes. For ages I've talked myself into thinking they wouldn't suit me. Mainly to save money. After trying on Van's I'm completely sold and love them. I determined to wait till April 21st. It's going to be very hard though. Here are the four styles I love at the moment. I prefer the trainer shape to the plimsole but the plimsoles are a lot cheaper!

Schuh £45

Van's £47

M and M direct has the plimsole version of the floral ones for £29.99. So many choices. For now I'm resisting.

My lovely mum has bought me a few make up bits which will be up in a haul so that's curbed that shopping craving for a while. For me it's all shoes. It's hard to resist the converse!!

My Wishlist.

MAC Brick-O-La (this has been there since the beginning. I've still not seen it in person)

Urban Decay Setting Spray

Illamasqua Pigment Base

Origins Cheeks and Balance

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Daniel Sandler Water Colour Blush

Elf Brush Cleaner

Stocking Tights

Maybelline Colour Tattoo

Laura Mercier Undercover Pot Concealer 

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation or the Tinted Moisturiser. I want to get samples of both of these.

Maybelline Super Stay 10 hour tint gloss. 

Maybelline Super Stay 14 hour lipstick.

This week I'm adding 

Van's

Skinny Jeans

I'm starting to want new clothes now. I will stick to this though. It's L's birthday soon. Luckily I have a few dress options so won't be tempted to purchase a new one.

How are your bans going?

Love M

xxx

Spring Series: Fitness!

This is the second in our new Spring Series of getting your body ready for some sunshine!

Last week's post was dedicated to Body Care and we discussed our favourite products we use to scrub and moisturise our skin into silkiness.

This week is dedicated to fitness, as we both have our own ways to keep fit and healthy, which all helps when you have to lessen your layers after indulging over Christmas!

My personal favourite ways to stay fit involve going to the gym, taking a range of classes, walking the dog and swimming.

A few years ago I wouldn't have been seen dead in a gym.

Just over a year ago though I signed up to a gym which has everything, a new personal trainer program every 6 weeks, a swimming pool, and a massive range of classes to keep even me entertained.

I am the kind of person who needs variety to keep me going in my quest to tone up.

I have classes that I dislike - pilates isn't physical enough for me and I love to hate spin though it is a great feeling when you've completed a class.

But there are so many that not even I can be bored!

My favourites are Body Pump (great for fat burning) and Body Combat (amazing for stress relief!).

The gym program is great, I would never have tried half the things that my trainer has given me to do and this I think is priceless.

I've tried swiss ball, TRX and more importantly kettle bells.

These are my absolute favourite as you really do see results after using them, they burn so many calories and require multiple muscle groups to work together maximising your workout time.

So basically what I'm saying is, if you were thinking about joining a gym 100% go for it!

It has quite literally changed my life and although it is very expensive I most definitely think it is worth it, for my health and general fitness, as well as how my body has changed.

However I don't think that you HAVE to join an expensive gym to get the most out of your workout.

Walking my dog or wandering around local areas such as beaches are a great way to burn calories and tone up, particularly if there's some sort of elevation involved like hill walking or hiking.

This is not my dog but I have such a similar picture I had to put it up!

The zumba classes at my gym aren't particularly energetic, so I have been to others that have a younger instructor and found these were BRILLIANT.

Zumba workouts are great fun, dancing around with your friends to the latest music is fun and burns a substantial amount of calories.

Swimming is also a great way to burn calories but I'll leave that to M to talk about as she's the bigger fan!

If you're lacking in motivation I find that Pinterest is one of the best places to look at.

They have so many pictures of inspirational women doing all sorts of exercises with beautiful bodies to aspire to and hints and tops for anything you can imagine.

If you're still lacking in motivation I find a new gym outfit or trainers always helps too!

If all else fails, I think about what makes me angry. It's a weird thing to do I know, but i think of what really gets on my nerves, things that have happened etc that I need to physically work off my stress or anger.

It works for me and I always feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders after doing it.

What are your work out tips??

If you'd like to check out my pinterest board the link is here.

(all pictures in this post are from there!)

L xxx

L was right I do love swimming. I used to run and did a lot of it during summer last year. You can read about how I got on with Couch to 10k here. This program made running so enjoyable for me and it really is great if you've not run before as it makes it so easy to build up running. 

I ran until October but by then an old knee and hip injury had resurfaced. When new year came around I decided to start again as I enjoyed going out and it's a great way to burn calories quickly. After one run my knee was hurting again so I had to find a new way to lose weight and tone up.

Since moving I was now near a great pool and after looking on line I saw a great deal for just £23 a month for unlimited swimming. Swimming is always something I enjoy and it's a great all over body tone. I tend to do 45 mins swimming and that burns around 500 calories. I favour breast stroke at the moment but need to vary my swimming to get better toning.

I'm someone who favours at home work outs to save money. One of the best work out DVDs for me is 30 Day shred. This is a great program and only takes 20 minutes a day. Until you've tried it you won't believe how much you sweat in just 20 minutes. It's also great for when you are busy. I've written about it a bit more  here.

I also recently bought an indoor skipping rope. Most people thought I was crazy but you can remove the rope and it has weighted ends. Skipping is also a great cardio exercise.

Lastly when I had the Wii I loved Wii Zumba. It's such great exercise and fun too. I'm thinking of getting it for my others halfs play station.

I like to find ways to do exercise at home and vary the types of exercise I do so I don't get bored. L is right motivation is key. I sometimes get up super early and go before work. It's nice to finish work and know I don't have to leave the house again. Also it means you can't make up excuses all day not to go. I'm great at these.

For me at the moment my motivation is Weddings. I have two this summer to go too so really want to be toned.

What's your favourite exercise? Any tips for us?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: OPI James Bond - The Living Daylights

Today I have an absolute corker of a nail polish for you!

As I have mentioned before I am a bit partial to a James Bond film, and also glitter.

When the Bond range came out just before Christmas I was head over heels in love with it all but unfortunately at the time completely penniless.

I've made a dent in collecting them since getting a job and only have a few more to get now, if anyone knows of anywhere still selling them could you let me know??

So here's my glittery favourite!

This is The Living Daylights.

I have to confess i am yet to see this film, but the nail polish is certainly making me lean towards watching it due its beautiful colours.

This is an unusual glitter containing silver, gold, bronze and teal coloured hexagon shapes.

The light hits off it wherever you are and the colours, though seemingly a bit of a different choice, actually go really well together and due to the different number of metallic glitter particles go with so many outfits!

Even in the bottle it looks like a kaleidoscope and I feel like a magpie looking at it!

It does require 3 coats for a fairly opaque covering but as you can see they are pretty big pieces and it does apply quite easily.

I find I wear this one at the weekends more, as although I do sometimes wear glitter to work this one is a little too over the top for that (unless you work somewhere that has minimal uniform rules!).

This one is best suited to a night out or a weekend out with the girls.

I am wearing it this weekend whilst meeting up with a friend I haven't seen for a while, so looking forward to it!

Have you tried this polish or any of the other Bond polishes? Do you love collections from films like this?

I'm a sucker for them and I also wanted the Snow White Diego Della Palma palette, and will hopefully getting my hands on the Urban Decay Oz palettes.....but we will see!

L xxx