Essays and Updates

It's Monday afternoon and I'm here in Durham's Slug and Lettuce waiting for a friend to arrive at 6pm so we can have half price food, 2 4 1 half price cocktails and swan off to use our student ID for discount tickets to see The Woman in Black. Who doesn't love a bargainous dreary wet Monday?!

Little update time:

• As you can see from the picture above I am currently in the throws of essay writing, but, best of all, I am now on the home stretch. Each essay this year accounts for 50% of my final grade for this year and will go towards my degree classification. I am, of course, wishing strongly for a 1st, but a 2:1 would suit me fine if I receive it. 
• Last week I wrote 6000 out of 9000 words of combined essays. I now have 2,400 to go, well over half way :) 
• It's exactly 2 weeks until my 21st birthday. I treat my birthday like my day, it's the one day of the year where people come out of the woodwork on Facebook to say hello, and to be honest I like it when people regain contact. And of course it's a big birthday, being 21, key in the door and all that jazz, so I am celebrating with a 4 day party. Outfits, face and present pictures to follow accordingly! 
• I wore my new uniform to work yesterday and it was surprisingly nice. I felt like I was actually going to a real job, and I absolutely love the fact that I can now wear a skirt. Goodbye trousers! 
• Absolutely loving the new Nicki Minaj song :) Cannot wait for her album to come out in April. 
• Also bought my first MAC lipstick the other day. It's from eBay and I paid a measly £6.05 for it, so I have no idea if it's genuine, but hey (post to follow).
• Also got to Shu Uemura eyelash curlers from buyapowa this week too. Lovely 3 parcels from Royal Mail this morning to wake up to :) 

So yes, not much to report to the blogosphere for last week. I should take pictures more often. I like reading/looking at people's posts of their weeks in photos. 

What have you been up to?

MUA Shade 5

MUA are a company that I have espied in Superdrug for some time and only really bought the odd eyeshadow. When you're looking at makeup products for £1 or £2 it can be hard to trust the brand on the face of it - i.e what's the catch for making things so cheap? I haven't yet found the catch with MUA because so far I have loved each product I have bought/received from them. I say received because my BF bought me the Heaven and Earth Palette for Christmas, but the rest I have purchased with my own money.

Despite my local Superdrug being quite large their MUA stand only really extends to a few single round eyeshadows and the glitter eyeliners, so with the recent addition of Swizzels Love Hearts to the packaging for a few limited edition items I decided to peruse their own website and placed an order.

This nail polish is one of the items I bought, retailing at just £1 and unimaginatively named, 'Shade 5'. I was after a jade green polish to add to my collection and thought I'd break out from just MUA's eyeshadow  to experience their other products.

As you can see on my nails it takes quite a few layers to build up the colour and it's still not exactly how I would want to wear it. The finish is quite shiny so that's a bonus but it does take quite a few layers to even get it to this point. This is probably down to the fact that the consistency of the polish is quite runny, a lot comes off the brush and plops onto your nail and then you have to smooth it out to avoid lines.

The colour itself is nice,  I'd describe it as a dull shade of jade green and although the colour does take an age to build up I cannot really fault the polish other than that.

Have you tried any of the MUA products? What did you think?

Ciate Nails SS12

Image credit to Ciate's Website

L-R: Sugar Plum, Strawberry Milkshake, Cream Soda and Iced Frappe

How completely delicious do these new shades from Ciate look?! Good enough to drink! (Please don't, strictly not for consumption). Ever since my BF bought me Cupcake Queen for Christmas, and I received a purpley shade with Marie Claire that time I have been in love with Ciate nail colours. The lovely long handled brush, coupled with a flawless consistency and gorgeous colours makes for some fabulous nails indeed. And of course the bow, who doesn't want nail polish with a bow on it! Cute or what :)  What are you waiting for? Buy the new collection here.

If I Were a Rich Girl #5

I thought I'd mix it up a bit and stick with some quintessentially British brands for this wish list.

1) I love Barbour jackets. My parents had one each when I was growing up and can still remember the waxy smell in the coat cupboard. I much prefer the quilted look and this jacket with the liberty print is really no exception. I have a quilted style jacket from RI at the moment, so does everyone it seems! But to have this Barbour would be pure luxurious coat style for me!

2) How can you say no to this beautiful Mulberry purse? Perfectly timed pastel colour for spring too, with the gorgeous candy pink. Makes me want to eat it!

3) Jack Wills perfumes are few, there's only 2 a piece for men and women but I think that English Velvet is the best scent out of them all. I have a mini rollerball but would love the actual bottle.

4) Hunter wellies in a quilter patent style to match the gorgeous Barbour jacket. They look more like a fancy boot than a practical wellie to me though, which I love :)

All pictures can be found on the companies' respective websites. 

Bodyshop Chocomania

If you're like me then you'll love a good bar of chocolate. And if you're like me you'll feel guilty for eating said bar of chocolate and probably look at yourself in the mirror in disgust. However I believe I have found the solution...THIS:

Mmmm...doesn't each product look good enough to eat?! (Please refrain from doing so, you won't feel very well!)

I bought miniatures of the products available from the Body Shop. The body lotion, shower cream and lip balm were on a 3 for 2 offer with the miniature scrub coming in at £5. I wasn't going to buy the scrub but the woman said that it was part of the 3 for 2 when it wasn't so I ended up with some hoo-hah at the till but decided against putting the scrub back. I mean look at the consistency of the scrub:

Doesn't it look just like that Betty Crocker chocolate fudge style butter icing you can buy ready made in a tub?! I literally want to dive right in and smell divine.

Speaking of smell, one would expect a strong, perhaps sickly artificial chocolate smell from these products (what with past chocolate toiletry experiences) but there is a simply delicious aroma of chocolate cake that wafts from these tubs and bottles.

My favourite product so far has to be the lip balm. It smells lush, and sits lovely on the lip, highly recommend! The body lotion is creamy and very hydrating and of course it smells lovely on the skin once you're rubbed it in. I haven't used the scrub or the shower gel yet but I am sure that when I do so I will experience the same yummy and wonderful results like I have with the lip balm and body lotion. Let's just say that cocoa butter really doesn't match up!

I receive a golden ticket style envelope with my purchases and was happy to see that I won a 50% off any product with free delivery from their website which I definitely will be using.

Find the Body Shop website's Chocomania selection here.

What do you reckon? Fancy adding a little chocolate to your shower?

Nails of the Week

In the 3 days off in-between work and more work I attend University and paint my nails. I feel better with painted nails, no doubt about it.

This week it's Nick Minaj for OPI - Pink Friday with Deborah Lipmann's Happy Birthday layered on top, aren't they pretty!?

My GlossyBox February 2012

Hello lovely people! Here I am taking a quick break from essay writing to bring you my February GlossyBox and I have to say I am impressed. I have every faith in GlossyBox, I have loved every single box from them and while I do get product envy from other people's boxes I am definitely usually fairly happy with the products I receive. However, I really wish they would use the beauty profiles that we filled in, it really would help us get products tailored to our needs!

I love the concept of this box, I knew it that LFW was upon us, but it was a nice surprise to see that GlossyBox had sort of aligned the concept of the samples with the idea of getting all prepped for fashion week and that there was something in the box for every part of your body, hair, nails, body, lips, eyes etc.

 Of course the packaging never fails to disappoint. I really loved the hot pink Valentine's themed box, but these baby pink pastel boxes never cease to not impress me. I was loving the fact that the Glossy logo is printed on the inside of my box this month, including in the lid, something that I've not had before.

I do think though, what with this being my 7th or so box (I've lost count) that perhaps they should offer an eco friendly packaging like Boux Avenue do where you can choose to receive the pretty ribbon, tissue paper and box combo or just have your purchases placed in the outer box and spare a few trees. My boxes will probably end up in the recycling bag soon enough, I have more storage that is really necessary! 

So here are the contents of my box this month. I love, love, love the nails. I am such a fan of animal print it's unreal so to receive these made me smile so much and I now know how to do my nails when I go out for my 21st in 3 weeks or so. The company I work for does not allow nail polish or falsies of any kind so to try them out and then rip them off would be a waste so I am going to have to wait - boo!
The lipgloss is a pretty nude colour, and the eyeshadow is the shade 'her majesty' which I am eager to try out on my lids. Loose pigment kind of scares me in terms of application but I shall give it a go!
The Coco Shambala shower gel is an interesting smell. I don't know if I would have really chosen to put lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus and geranium in a pot and blend them altogether but it's always handy to have teeny shower gels for when I stay with the bf, or go to the swimming baths.
Last but not least the styling cream smells amazing :) I'm not really that much into hair styling my own locks however, a casual undo or side sweep is about all I can manage but I might give this a go too.

So all in all I have seen/read mixed reactions to this box, mostly due to the disparity in the combined pricing for the samples. But I guess it's really just luck of the draw with what people receive and until they begin to use our beauty profiles, GlossyBox will just keep sending out each sample to a random selection of people. I've had nothing but good experiences with GlossyBox and am definitely excited for this 'expect the unexpected' mystery box!

Did you love your box this month? What did you get?

Quick Update

I am being naughty here and doing a quick update post from the university library because I am knee deep in essays, a mini dissertation and manager's work so busy busy busy!
But anyway:

• My idea of a frugal Feb has not been totally awash. I treated myself (naughtily!) to only 2 shops thus far, I picked up a Clinique Chubby Stick, Hervana and some Body Shop Chocomania bits and pieces. There's still over 10 days of feb to go though but I feel that I can justify my spends with,
• eBay! Now I only caught on to ebaying last week. I've been a member of eBay since 09 I think it says but never actually had any success with anything. However, in just over a week my paypal balance has reached £150+ so I'm kicking myself as to why I didn't eBay sooner!
• Macs released the name of our Olympic hotel in London to us the other day on out Olympic Champion secret Facebook page. I am very excited that I'm part of the select few going to work in the Olympic stores :) Full update and posts to follow! 
• There's only 24 days until my 21st birthday :) 
• And only 21 days until I can see J again. 
• Which reminds me that he got me the most amazing Vday card and cute little pressie. <3 him!

Anyhoo, I have 4 essays totalling 9000 words which unfortunately won't write themselves :(

Hawaiian Tropic Coconut Body Lotion

This Hawaiian Tropic body butter is gorgeous. I really cannot fault it. Some people may find the sickly coconut scent a bit off putting but it really reminds me of being on holiday and I think it's lovely. The butter itself is really thick and creamy and a little goes a long way, but if you're like me you'll just want to lather it on and let it soak in. I always have dry skin on my legs in the winter. This is pretty much down to the fact that I wear leggings and tights all year round (no, I don't own a pair of trousers, can you believe it!?) and consequently I need a rich moisturising body lotion/butter to keep my pins prepped for sunnier climes.

I know that Boots stock Hawaiian Tropic, but it seems to be a seasonal thing. I do believe they're stocking up on sun lotion and the like at the moment however, a little early? Or purely for those who can afford such winter sun luxuries?! I have checked the Boots website and the Lime Colada (I have this one too, if you want pics/review please let me know) sister butter to this one is about £10.49. A little pricey for a body butter, hey?! I got my body butter in a store called Home Bargains which does the most amazing beauty discount deals. I don't know if the stores are exclusively North East but they do have a website here. I think I paid about £3 for my coconut tub, and I can smell it on my legs right now, yummy!

In other minor news - I've listed some things on ebay, clothes and the like, for the first time to have a little try in selling. I have a few different items, mainly clothes in sizes 14/16 so please come and have a look, here.

Nicki Minaj for OPI

There's a lot of hype at the moment surrounding the concept of co-buying on buyapowa.com, and with their most recent co-buy being the Nicki Minaj for OPI I just knew I had to get in on the action for my first co-buy.

So what are you waiting for? For a little as £8 - That's only £2 a polish! - click http://www.buyapowa.com/ref/rKiZba  to get yours too!

If I Were a Rich Girl #5

Clockwise:
How adorably gorgeous is this bikini!! Now just let me lose a million pounds and it will be mine! It would definitely be perfect for my trip to Disneyworld and I can't imagine New Look would break the bank balance either.

I don't need a nightlight, I am perfectly fine in the dark but there's something about thigns with rabbits on, or indeed rabbit shaped things that I feel I need to have in my life and this cute little guy is no exception. At £4.95 from the dotcomgiftshop he's hardly bank breaking either...all I need to do is make room for him on my bedside table...!

Oh how the blogosphere has raved on about this nifty device recently and I can't help but fall on to the band wagon and want a Clarisonic Mia too, in pink, of course.

Dermablend cover-up is something I found out about when I watched their advert featuring Zombie boy, you know the bloke that's got a full body suit of tattoos and was in that Lady Gaga video? Again it would be perfect for my holiday because I plan to be bearing all by the pool and there's various marks on my body that need hiding.

Dear old Nicki, OPI churn out these colaborations at a rate of knots don't they?! Having recently found a love for mini polishes rather than big ones (who really uses a whole bottle?) I simply need to add these 4 polishes to my mini OPI collection. So far I have Fresh Stems and Pirates of the Carribbean.

Disney's Vinylmation

Anyone who is anyone knows that I am a completely Disney obsessed and am stuck purely inside the mindset of my pre teen self when I was convinced that I was a beautiful princess destined for greater things. Naturally I believe that every girl should feel like a princess, and Disney stories and merchandise just make things a little more real.
For the more grown-up kid Disney introduced the concept of 'Vinylmation' characters to the world circa 2008. They're a range of 1.5", 3"or 9" figurines and pin badge collectables, shaped like mickey mouse, but each design is unique and different. The collectables come out in different series, from the Cutestars series, to The Lion King, Star Wars and Urban series. Each series contains approximately 12 characters to collect with a mystery character called a 'chaser'. Part of the whole fun idea about Vinylmations is that you never know which character design you're going to get in your box. As you can see in the pictures above the packaging is completely non-transparent, you only know what you're getting once you rip off the lid of the box and wrestle with the foil.  I got the cactus inspired design from the Urban#6 series not too long ago on a trip to the Metrocentre and I really wish I had bought more than one :( But I think at £8.00 a pop these little collectables are quite an expensive hobby. I absolutely love these characters and really wish the UK received more in the Disney store for us to play with. Vinylmations are quite widely available on ebay, be prepared for bidding to be quite fierce, as I say the UK doesn't have the access to these that the US does. I just can't wait for Florida...only 7 months and 1 days to go!

What do you think of Vinylmation characters? Tell me about your Disney obsessions, what's your favourite film etc, I'd love to hear about it all!

Cadbury Philadelphia Cheese Spread

This is an odd post because this is, to me, an odd product. Now, I was perusing the shelves of Tesco the other night and stumbled upon this 'Light Philly blended with delicious milk chocolate'. My immediate thoughts were that it's akin to Nutella in the spreadable chocolate sort of way and then I remember that Philadelphia is, well, cheese! So I have no idea how this would taste but I am intrigued by it. My Mum cleverly identified that it'd be good for making chocolate cheesecake, but alas I hate proper cooking so no use to me there. The picture on the packaging is of a great hunk of bread smothered in the chocophilly (my name, not a legit term!) but I just don't know how it would taste and would I be willing to spend more than a £1 on something I might not even like. For now this product remains a mystery, but if anyone has tried it, or thinks I should just take the plunge and buy some, please let me know!

If I Were a Rich Girl #4

Clockwise: Mulberry Bayswater, 'Dollhouse' Kardashian Novel, Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, Disney's Lady & The Tramp.

A few things that I've found this week that would set me back a whopping £754...wishing I were a rich girl indeed! It's the Mulberry, what girl doesn't want a Mulberry in her life, honestly. I see them in House of Fraser in the Metrocentre in Gateshead and I can't help but fall in love with the colours and the textures of the leather. Gift me a Bayswater any day! 

I'm unashamedly obsessed with the Kardashian-Jenner Klan (see what I did there, eh, eh!). Kim is my ultimate body icon and I recently invested in 'Kardashian Konfidential'...don't judge me :/ It would be interesting to see how Kourtney, Kim and Khloe fare with a whole novel, just waiting for the Kindle edition to decrease in price and then I may add it to my own book kollection.

Urban Decay's Naked 2 has won the mini debate in my head over whether I'd want a Naked or a Naked 2. Something about the school pencil tin style packaging that makes me more excited for these colours that the velvety exterior of the Naked. Just wish they'd have include a primer potion instead of lipgloss though.

Disney's latest 'edition' release. My Mum gifted me 'Mary Poppins' on DVD for Christmas 2011 and I couldn't believe that it was the 45th anniversary edition. The actress who plays Jane Banks has got to be in her 50s/60s now!! I need Lady and the Tramp to add to my growing Disney DVD collection. Gotta love being a Disney fanatic!