Urban Decay Naked Basics Matte Eyeshadow Palette

As you've probably seen this beautiful palette from Urban Decay on many blogs recently, I won't go into detail tooooooo much about it.

However if you're interested it's the latest offering from Urban Decay in their Naked range and consists of 6 beautiful matte nude shades, which I assume is the reason for the 'Basics' name.

Boxing Day Sales Shopping

With the spending ban looming I quickly made some purchases in the sale after Christmas and used my work discount to good effect...

Here's a quick preview of what I picked up and will in all likelihood be posting about soon!

This is photo heavy but I don't waffle on too much :)

I hadn't seen this in the Christmas section but someone brought it to the till, and at £15 before discount I needed it!

Also couldn't resist this set. I got the gradual tan one for Christmas and with discount this set was down to £10.........epic!

I did not plan on buying this but as soon as I saw these fragrance gift sets on offer for 1/3 off I went sniffing away at them until I found this lovely Ralph Lauren one.

It is part of their new ish fragrance range that I first smelt in America and I loved the pink one, number 2. Unfortunately it would seem so does every one else so that had sold out everywhere (even online!) so I picked up number 4 for £20.

I've had my eye on these beauties for a long time, and eventually made the purchase!

I bought them off ASOS in the sale which was crazzzzzy and I really shouldn't have bought them or at least not as many but I did and I love them allllllllllll.

Expect lots of gushy posts from me about these beauties, I love nail varnish, love OPI and am a complete Bond freak (I love the drama, action and glamour!)

Here are two new pairs of shoes I also picked up from the Dorothy Perkins sale, they cost £35 altogether, which was before student discount so I did reaaaaaaaaally well with these!

I also picked up some new jeans. Nothing special, just a black skinny pair and a normal dark denim pair to replace two that are now too big for me.

Lastly I had a splurge on Urban Outfitters where I picked up the following three for around £25, which was amazing considering the top was originally £28!

I love the galaxy feel of the top, with the space and zodiac vibes! It has low cut arm holes too so will be great for comfort.

The studded item is my new phone case to stop it getting bashed in my bag and keep it looking chic and the bangle was a random buy that I absolutely love already!

It goes with so many things and considering its so long is quite comfy and I'm sure will feature in my life quite a lot!

So there's my splurge before the ban and the reason for me being ok with the ban.....11 days in ;)

Do you like my purchases? What do you think of the shoes and cosmetic goodies?!

L xxx

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